Editing Lunokhod programme (section)

===''Lunokhod 2''===
{{Main|Lunokhod 2}}
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2019}}
[[File:Lunokhod 2 in Kaluga 01.jpg|thumb|Lunokhod 2 model in the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics]]

''[[Lunokhod 2]]'' (vehicle 8ЕЛ№204) was the second and more advanced of the two Lunokhod rovers. The launcher put the spacecraft into Earth parking orbit on January 8, 1973, followed by a [[translunar injection]]. On January 12, 1973, ''[[Luna 21]]'' was braked into a {{convert|90|by|100|km|mi|abbr=in|0}} [[lunar orbit]].

The ''[[Luna 21]]'' spacecraft landed on the Moon to deploy the second Soviet lunar rover, ''Lunokhod 2''. The primary objectives of the mission were to collect images of the lunar surface, examine ambient light levels to determine the feasibility of astronomical observations from the Moon, perform laser ranging experiments from Earth, observe solar X-rays, measure local magnetic fields, and study mechanical properties of the lunar surface material.

The landing occurred on January 15, 1973 at 23:35 UT in [[Le Monnier (crater)|Le Monnier crater]] (25.85 degrees N, 30.45 degrees E).

After landing the ''Lunokhod 2'' took television images of the surrounding area, then rolled down a ramp to the surface at 01:14 UT on 1973-01-16. It then took pictures of the ''Luna 21'' lander and landing site.

The rover was equipped with three [[slow-scan television]] cameras, one mounted high on the rover for navigation, which could return high resolution images at different rates&mdash;3.2, 5.7, 10.9 or 21.1 seconds per frame (not frames per second). These images were used by the five-man team of controllers on Earth who sent driving commands to the rover in real time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astronaut.ru/luna/crew.htm|title=Экипажи Лунохода|website=www.astronaut.ru}}</ref> There were four panoramic cameras mounted on the rover.

Scientific instruments included a [[soil mechanics]] tester, solar X-ray experiment, an [[photometer|astrophotometer]] to measure visible and [[ultraviolet]] light levels, a [[magnetometer]] deployed in front of the rover on the end of a 2.5 [[metre|m]] (8&nbsp;ft 2 in) boom, a [[radiometer]], a [[photodetector]] (Rubin-1) for laser detection experiments, and a French-supplied laser [[corner reflector]].

====Payload====
* Cameras (three television and four panoramic [[telephotometer]]s)
* RIFMA-M [[X-ray fluorescence]] spectrometer
* [[X-ray telescope]]
* PROP [[odometer]]/[[penetrometer]]
* RV-2N-LS [[radiation detector]]
* TL laser [[retroreflector]]
* AF-3L UV/visible [[photometer|astrophotometer]]
* SG-70A [[magnetometer]]
* Rubin 1 [[photodetector]]