Editing Luna 24 (section)

== Mission ==
{| class="wikitable" align="left" style="font-size:smaller; margin-right: 20px"
!Lunar<br/>mission
!Sample<br/>returned
!Year
|-
| ''[[Luna 16]]''
|align="right"| 101 g <ref name=nssdc-16/>
|align="right"| 1970
|-
| ''[[Luna 20]]''
|align="right"| 30 g <ref name=nssdc-20/>
|align="right"| 1972
|-
| ''Luna 24''
|align="right"| 170.1 g <ref name=nssdc-24/>
|align="right"| 1976
|-
|}

''Luna 24'' was the third attempt to recover a sample from the unexplored [[Mare Crisium]], the location of a large lunar [[Mass concentration (astronomy)|mascon]] (after ''[[Luna 23]]'' and a launch failure in October 1975). After a [[trajectory]] correction on 11 August 1976, ''Luna 24'' entered [[lunar orbit]] three days later. Initial [[Orbital elements|orbital parameters]] were {{cvt|115|by|115|km}} at 120° [[Orbital inclination |inclination]]. After further changes to its orbit, ''Luna 24'' set down safely on the lunar surface at 06:36 [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]] on 18 August 1976 at 12°45' North [[latitude]] and 62°12' East [[longitude]], not far from where ''Luna 23'' had landed.<ref name=solarsystem.nasa/> Exact landing location (12.7145° N, 62.2097° E) was determined by the [[Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter]] probe orbital cameras in 2012.<ref name=lro-2012/>  The crater adjacent to the lander was subsequently named ''Lev'' by the [[IAU]].<ref>{{cite web |url = https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/14952 |title = Lev |publisher = [[IAU]]/[[USGS]]/[[NASA]] |work = Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |access-date = 23 December 2024}}</ref>

Under command from ground control, the lander deployed its sample arm and pushed its drilling head about two metres into the nearby soil. The sample was safely stowed in the small return capsule, and after nearly a day on the Moon, ''Luna 24'' lifted off successfully at 05:25 UTC on 19 August 1976. After an uneventful return trip, ''Luna 24''{{'}}s capsule entered [[Atmosphere of Earth|Earth's atmosphere]] and parachuted safely to land at 05:55 UTC on 22 August 1976, about {{cvt|200|km}} southeast of [[Surgut]] in western [[Siberia]]. Study of the recovered {{cvt|170.1|g}} of soil indicated a laminated type structure, as if laid down in successive deposits. The Soviet Union swapped a gram of the mission sample for a lunar sample from [[NASA]] in December 1976.<ref name=solarsystem.nasa/> ''Luna 24'' was the final lunar spacecraft to be launched by the Soviet Union. It was also the last spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon until the landing of China's ''[[Chang'e 3]]'' on 14 December 2013, 37 years later. For over 40 years, it was also the last Lunar sample return mission until China's [[Chang'e 5]] in December 2020.