On Aug. 9, 1976, the Soviet space program launched its last moon mission.
Luna 24 was a robotic sample return mission and the third of its kind. It lifted off on a Proton-K rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and safety landed on the lunar surface nine days later. The probe landed in a dark plain known as Mare Crisium, or the "Sea of Crises" and collected 6 ounces (170.1 grams) of soil samples, which is brought back to Earth on August 22. Scientists then found that the samples from Luna 24 contained tiny traces of water — about 0.1 percent by mass.
Luna 24 was a robotic sample return mission and the third of its kind. It lifted off on a Proton-K rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and safety landed on the lunar surface nine days later. The probe landed in a dark plain known as Mare Crisium, or the "Sea of Crises" and collected 6 ounces (170.1 grams) of soil samples, which is brought back to Earth on August 22. Scientists then found that the samples from Luna 24 contained tiny traces of water — about 0.1 percent by mass.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:03In 1976, the Soviet space program launched its last moon mission.
00:07Luna 24 was a robotic sample return mission and the third of its kind.
00:11It lifted off on a Proton-K rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
00:15and safely landed on the lunar surface nine days later.
00:18The probe landed in a dark plane known as Mercresium, or the Sea of Crises,
00:23and collected six ounces of soil samples, which it brought back to Earth on August 22nd.
00:28Scientists later found that the soil samples from Luna 24 contained tiny traces of water,
00:33about 0.1 percent by mass.
00:36And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:39♪