Editing Luna 10 (section)

==The flight==
Luna 10 launched towards the [[Moon]] on 31 March 1966 at 10:48 GMT.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x-ooAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Luna+10%22+-wikipedia|title=A New Photographic Atlas of the Moon|first=Zdeněk|last=Kopal|date=23 September 1971|publisher=Taplinger|isbn=9780800855154|via=Google Books}}</ref>

After a midcourse correction on 1 April, the spacecraft entered lunar orbit on 3 April 1966 and completed its first orbit 3 hours later (on 4 April [[Moscow]] time).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IdlaAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22Luna+10%22&pg=PA3&article_id=7351,515261|title=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|publisher=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|via=Google Books}}</ref> A 245-kilogram<ref name="auto"/> instrument compartment separated from the main bus, which was in a 218 x 621 mile orbit inclined at 71.9° to the lunar equator. <ref name=Reichl>{{cite book |last1=Reichl |first1=Eugen |title=The Soviet Space Program The Lunar Years: 1959-1976 |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-7643-5675-9 |pages=89-90 |url=https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/0764356755 |access-date=19 October 2024}}</ref>

Luna 10 operated for 460 lunar orbits and performed 219 active data transmissions before radio signals were discontinued on 30 May 1966.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHQnAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Luna+10%22+-wikipedia|title=Soviet-bloc Research in Geophysics, Astronomy, and Space|date=19 November 1968|publisher=U.S. Joint Publications Research Service; may be ordered from National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Va|via=Google Books}}</ref> The spacecraft eventually crashed on the moon on an unknown date.<ref name="Reichl" />