Editing Luna 16 (section)

==Overview==

The spacecraft consisted of two attached stages, an ascent stage mounted on top of a descent stage. The descent stage was a cylindrical body with four protruding landing legs, fuel tanks, a landing radar, and a dual descent-engine complex.

A main descent engine was used to slow the craft until it reached a cutoff point, which was determined by the on-board computer based on altitude and velocity. After cutoff a bank of lower-thrust jets was used for the final landing. The descent stage also acted as a launch pad for the ascent stage.

The ascent stage was a smaller cylinder with a rounded top. It carried a cylindrical hermetically sealed soil-sample container inside a re-entry capsule.

The spacecraft descent stage was equipped with a television camera, radiation and temperature monitors, telecommunications equipment, and an extendable arm with a drilling rig for the collection of a lunar soil sample.