Space Probes

Processed images from the Luna 3 mission

Here are processed images from the Luna 3 mission. These are the first images from the Moon's far side and are of extreme historical importance.
They might look crude, but we must remember that they are from 1959!

The original images (and extensive information) can be found here: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/mission_page/EM_Luna_3_page1.html, www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogMoon.htm and www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind/luna3/Luna3story.html.
These images suffer from severe degradation because of the analog transmission system used. On Earth, images were displayed on a Slow Scan TV monitor that was photographed, further degrading the images.

Processing consisted of removal of vertical and horizontal image stripes and noise reduction.

Camera system data

Yenisey-2 camera system

Film: 35mm isochrome
Transmission: FM analog
CRT: Slow Scan Display?

General operation

Scanning: 1000 lines
Frames: 40 possible frames, 29 obtained, 12 to 17 transmited
Image Reading time: ~800 sec / image
Objective lens: 200 mm, f/5.6 and 500 mm, f/9.5