Random conversation in Matt McGrath’s office a couple years ago after reading Nick Chrisman’s book we all knew

Soviet space probe Luna 3 was the third spacecraft sent successfully to the Moon

• Soviet space probe Luna 3 was the third spacecraft sent successfully to the Moon

• It returned several rather poor pictures by later standards, the historic, never-before-seen views of the Moon's far side caused excitement and interest when they were published around the world

• 29 pictures were taken, covering 70% of the far side
• The Atlas of the Far Side of the Moon was created after image processing improved the pictures
• Soviet scientists had exclusive right to name new features, resulting in a large number of Russian names