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
