Luna 10 was the Soviet spacecraft that became the first human-made object to orbit the Moon.
Launched on 31 March 1966, Luna 10 entered lunar orbit on 3 April after a flight lasting about three and a half days. The spacecraft separated from its propulsion stage and began studying the Moon from orbit.
Its instruments measured the Moon’s weak magnetic field, radiation environment, and gravitational irregularities. Luna 10 also carried a small radio transmitter that broadcast a melody during the 23rd Communist Party Congress.
Luna 9, launched earlier in 1966, was the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, not the first to orbit it. Luna 10 therefore represents a different milestone in lunar exploration: successful insertion into orbit rather than surface landing.