The Luna program was launched by the Soviet Union in 1958 with the goal of landing on the Moon and returning lunar samples to Earth. However, despite numerous attempts, many launches failed to make it past Earth orbit or crashed into the lunar surface. The program faced numerous setbacks, including delays in landing due to difficulties in analyzing the lunar surface.
In July 1969, when the Soviets learned about the upcoming launch of Apollo 11 from NASA, they accelerated their launch schedule for Luna 15 in an attempt to be the first to bring back lunar samples. However, Luna 15 entered lunar orbit ahead of Apollo 11 but crashed into a mountainside just hours before Apollo 11 was set to lift off. The Soviets kept details of the mission secret from the United States, leading to confusion and speculation.
Despite its failure, Luna 15 paved the way for future missions in the Luna program, such as Luna 16 which successfully landed on the Moon and returned samples to Earth through robotic probes. The Luna program continued to achieve milestones in lunar exploration and sent a rover to