Luna 9 was the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon.
The Soviet Union launched Luna 9 on 31 January 1966, and it landed in the Oceanus Procellarum region on 3 February 1966. Earlier lunar probes had either crashed into the surface or entered orbit, but Luna 9 survived the impact of landing and began transmitting data from the ground.
Luna 9 used a spherical landing capsule protected by an airbag-like cushioning system. After settling on the surface, it opened its exterior petals and deployed cameras and scientific instruments. It returned the first photographs taken from the lunar surface, showing a rocky, uneven landscape.
A soft landing means reaching the surface without destroying the spacecraft, not landing gently by modern standards. The achievement helped demonstrate that the Moon’s surface would not swallow a spacecraft in a deep layer of dust, an important question before crewed lunar missions. NASA’s Surveyor 1 became the first American soft lander later in 1966.