"January 9, 1973: Another Luna Mission Launches to the Moon"

On January 9, 1973, the Soviet Union launched an unmanned satellite, Luna-21, towards the moon as part of its scientific exploration of the lunar environment. The satellite was first placed in orbit around the Earth before being sent towards the moon, with all systems reported to be working normally. This mission followed the successful launch of Luna-20 in February 1972, which collected samples of lunar rock and returned to Earth. Luna-21's main purpose was to further scientific studies of the moon and near-lunar space in line with the Soviet space study program.