Luna 9 was the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, on 3 February 1966.
The Soviet probe landed in the Ocean of Storms and transmitted panoramic photographs of the lunar surface. Its success showed that a spacecraft could survive touchdown rather than crash into the surface, a crucial step toward later robotic and crewed lunar operations.
Luna 9 used an airbag-supported landing approach and then deployed a scientific station from its landing capsule. Its photographs also helped settle a long-standing question: the lunar surface was firm enough to support a spacecraft rather than swallowing it in deep dust.
Luna 2 had reached the Moon seven years earlier, but only by impacting it. The U.S. Surveyor 1 achieved America’s first soft lunar landing later in 1966.