Luna 9 launched 1966

Close-up image of the moon's surface after landing.

Luna 9, launched January 31, 1966 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, was an unmanned Soviet lunar probe, which became the first spacecraft to accomplish a soft landing on another planetary body, besides Earth.  Earlier probes had contacted the lunar surface, but without much success.

Sergei Korolev (remember him?) oversaw the design and development of Luna 9, but died about 2 weeks prior to its launch.  It landed on February 3 in the Ocean of Storms, west of craters Reiner and Marius, and began transmitting data about 5 minutes after touchdown.

Soviet authorities did not release pictures from Luna 9, but scientists in England, also monitoring the craft, realized the signal format being used was identical ot the Radiofax system, used internationally by newspapers for transmitting pictures.  The images were decoded and published world-wide.

Contact was lost February 6.