Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Luna 18 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 18. Luna 18 was placed in an earth parking orbit after it was launched and was then sent towards the Moon. On September 7, 1971, it entered lunar orbit. The spacecraft completed 85 communications sessions and 54 lunar orbits before it was sent towards the lunar surface by use of braking rockets. It impacted the Moon on September 11, 1971, at 3 degrees 34 minutes N, 56 degrees 30 minutes E (selenographic coordinates) in a rugged mountainous terrain. Signals ceased at the moment of impact. Launch Date/Time: 1971-09-02 at 13:40:40 UTC On-orbit dry mass: 5600 kg This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.