Luna 3's Grainy First Look at the Moon's Far Side
In Oct 1959, Luna 3, a small Soviet spacecraft, flew behind the Moon, captured 29 35mm photographs, developed the film onboard, and scanned/transmitted the images back over about 480,000 km. The resulting frames—though grainy—gave the first view of the Moon’s far side (covering roughly 70% of it; 17 frames are commonly cited as successfully transmitted), revealing a terrain with fewer maria and more craters and laying the groundwork for future lunar mapping and exploration.