Courtesy of NASA's National Space Science Data Center
Launch Date/Time: 1976-08-09 at 14:04:00 UTC Launch Site/Country: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.R. Launch Vehicle: Proton Booster Plus Upper Stage and Escape Stages On-orbit dry mass: 4800.00 kg. (10,560 lbs.)
Description
The last of the Luna series of spacecraft, the mission of the Luna 24 probe
was the third Soviet mission to retrieve lunar ground samples (the first two
were returned by Luna 16 and 20). The probe landed in the area known as Mare
Crisium (Sea of Crisis). The mission successfully returned the samples to
the Earth on August 22, 1976.
Space History