Editing Lunokhod programme (section)

==Locations and ownership==
[[File:Lunokhod1 l 17 with map.jpg|right|thumb|''Luna 17'' and ''Lunokhod 1'' landing site photographed by [[Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter|LRO]]]]

Until 2010, the final location of ''Lunokhod 1'' was uncertain by a few kilometers.<ref>{{cite conference|url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/1194.pdf |last=Stooke|first= P.J.|year= 2005|conference= Lunar & Planetary Science XXXVI|title=Lunar laser ranging and the location of Lunokhod 1}}</ref> [[Lunar laser ranging experiment]]s had failed to detect a return signal from its retroreflector since the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060327_mystery_monday.html |publisher=SPACE.com |title= Lunar Lost & Found: The Search for Old Spacecraft |first= Leonard |last=David|date=March 27, 2006}}</ref>  On March 17, 2010, Albert Abdrakhimov found both the lander and the rover<ref>{{Cite web|first=Emily|last=Lakdawalla|title=And now for Luna 17 and Lunokhod 1|date=March 17, 2010|url=http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002395/|publisher=Planetary Report|access-date=April 12, 2010|archive-date=March 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318040855/http://planetary.org/blog/article/00002395|url-status=dead}}</ref> in [[Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter]] image M114185541RC.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/lroc/view_lroc/LRO-L-LROC-2-EDR-V1.0/M114185541RE|title=LROC Observation M114185541R|publisher=Arizona State University}}</ref> On April 22, Tom Murphy ([[University of California, San Diego|UCSD]]) and Russet McMillan at the [[Apache Point Observatory]] detected the robot's retroreflector using the Apache Point telescopic pulsed-laser rangefinder.<ref name="Bleicher"/>

''Lunokhod 2'' continues to be detected by [[lunar laser ranging experiment]]s and its position is known to sub-metre accuracy. Ownership of ''Lunokhod 2'' and the ''Luna 21'' lander was sold by the [[Lavochkin]] Association for {{USD|68,500}} in December 1993 at a [[Sotheby's]] auction in New York<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://discovermagazine.com/1994/apr/thebloconthebloc363 |title=The Bloc on the Block |first= Jeffrey |last=Kluger|journal= Discover Magazine|date=April 1994}}</ref> (although the catalogue incorrectly lists lot 68A as ''Luna 17/Lunokhod 1'').<ref>Sotheby's Catalogue - ''Russian Space History'', Addendum, Lot 68A, December 11, 1993</ref> The buyer was computer gaming entrepreneur and astronaut's son [[Richard Garriott]], who is also known by the name of his gaming character [[List of Ultima characters#Lord British|Lord British]]. Garriott stated in a 2001 interview: "I purchased ''Lunakod 21'' {{sic}} from the Russians. I am now the world's only private owner of an object on a foreign celestial body. Though there are international treaties that say no government shall lay claim to geography off planet earth, I am not a government. Summarily, I claim the Moon in the name of [[List of Ultima characters#Lord British|Lord British]]!"<ref>{{Cite web|last=Yans|first= Cindy|url=http://demiurg.net/games/lb/ |title=Lord British, we hardly knew ye|work=[[Computer Games Magazine]]|publisher= via Demiurg.net |date=April 13, 2001}}</ref> In 2007, Garriott said he is still the owner of ''Lunokhod 2''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-100207a.html |title=The Astronaut's Son's Secret Sputnik|publisher= CollectSPACE |date=October 2, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite interview|last=Garriott|first=Owen|url=http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Sputnik_50_Years_One_Month_Two_Weeks_Later| title=Sputnik: 50 Years, One Month, Two Weeks Later|work= Are We Alone |publisher= SETI Institute |interviewer=Seth Shostak|date= December 10, 2007}}</ref>