Red Star: A Soviet Lunar Landing

[Bahamut-255]

Despite the Soviets levelling the score with their own Manned Lunar Orbit mission, the fact remained that NASA (and the US) had done it first, yielding a much-needed boost to their Morale. That said, they still had some way to go simply to get a Man on the Moon, and to be the first ones, they would have to pull all the stops out and give it everything.

The most important step now, was proving that their own Lunar Lander, the LEM, could actually operate in the Lunar Environment. On the 3rd of March, 1969, the Saturn V carried Apollo CSM/LEM into Earth Orbit, where the LEM would receive its first manned test with James A. McDivitt (Cmdr), David R. Scott (CMP), and Russell L. Schweickart (LMP) as the crew. One of the unique aspects of this mission was that it was the first time since Gemini 3 that the crew had been permitted to name their spacecraft, with the CSM known as ‘Gumdrop’, and the LEM referred to as ‘Spider’.

A few hours after the S-IVB had inserted them into LEO, the Apollo 9 crew separated from the S-IVB before turning the CSM back around to dock it with the LEM. Once they had safely checked out and extracted the LEM, taking it and the CSM to a safe distance, the S-IVB was fired again to take it into a Solar Orbit. Not long after, they began their series of tests that would prove the CSM/LEM for Lunar missions, mainly a series of SPS burns that would simulate course-corrections and LOI with the LEM attached, raising their Apogee to ~283nm as they did so

The following day was to be rather more nerve-wracking. While preparing to enter the LEM to check out its systems, Schweickart suddenly vomited, though managed to keep his mouth shut until he could get a bag, and a second time while he and McDivitt were inside the LEM. So while they could still conduct activities inside the LEM, it was decided that they couldn’t risk an EVA in case Schweickart were to vomit again, especially inside a sealed EVA Suit. By the following day however, he was feeling a lot better, and he was able to perform a short EVA test, although it was still less than half the original time in part due to not wanting to tire Schweickart out following his brief sickness, but also because they had a lot of preparatory work to do for the next day’s activities.

Which would be the tests that would prove the LEM’s ability to operate autonomously with a crew, without the CSM providing it with power. Essential for the Lunar Landing. Once McDivitt and Schweickart separated their LEM from the CSM, they performed a 90-degree pitch and 360-degree yaw manoeuvre which allowed Scott to see the legs of the LEM. The first burn to take the LEM away from the CSM started well, until the thrust was raised from 10-20%, at which point it began to chug noisily, the throttling was stopped and seconds later, the chugging stopped, allowing them to increase the thrust to 40% with no further problems. In their higher orbit, the CSM slid ahead of them and was close to 103nm ahead of them when they flipped their LEM over to fire the engine against the flight path, reducing their orbital speed to drop below Scott’s and therefore be able to catch up to him again. This burn completed, they detached their Descent Stage and closed the gap to 69nm before firing the ascent stage engine to circularise their orbit and begin a long chase, making small manoeuvres with the thrusters as they did so.

Once they were back with Scott, the LEM Ascent Stage was rotated in all directions, to permit Scott inspect the exterior. Over six hours after leaving the CSM, the LEM re-docked with it, proving that the LEM could leave, find, and return to the CSM in a mission, clearing another major hurdle for the NASA Programme. Now they had to prove that they could do it around the Moon.

Which was the task for Apollo 10. While there had been those who wanted Apollo 10 to make the actual Lunar Landing attempt, and therefore make sure that they would be able to beat the USSR to the Moon, winning the US the Lunar Race. The fact was that the first LEM to be light enough to safely enable it - LM-5 - simply wasn’t ready, and since LM-4 was overweight, NASA couldn’t risk a manned landing with it. So Apollo 10 would take the LEM as close to the Lunar Surface as they were able to, before returning them to the Orbiting CSM.

The crew comprised of Thomas P. Stafford (Cmdr), John W. Young (CMP), and Eugene A. Cernan (LMP), the first Apollo crew to already have prior spaceflight experience on Gemini’s 6, 9, and 10. And on the 18th May 1969, their Saturn V left the launch pad to take them to the Moon.

Three uneventful days later, and they became the first crew to take both the Lunar Lander and Orbiter into Lunar Orbit together. On the very first orbit, they passed over the area that had been selected for Apollo 11 to make the landing attempt, whose features they described in the best detail that they could. Six hours later, and they were ready to prepare the lander for its job, when they were greeted by a blizzard of mylar insulation which had come loose in the transfer tunnel which took them some time to clean up.

On the following day, after breakfast, Stafford and Cernan undocked the LEM (Snoopy) from the CSM (Charlie Brown) and once Young had manoeuvred the CSM to a safe distance, following his visual inspection of the LEM, they powered the descent stage engine to take them down close to the Lunar Surface. For this mission, the LEM ascent stage had deliberately been given the propellant load they would have at the point of planned descent stage separation had they been lifting off from the surface, to more accurately measure the precise requirements for the next mission.

Charlie Brown

Reaching a low of just over 8nm, they fired the engine again to maintain their current altitude (which with as-near-as-makes-no-difference no atmosphere, was quite possible for a short time) and surveyed the area. As they waited to dump the descent stage, the LEM unexpectedly suffered wild gyrations that very nearly put them into Gimbal Lock, caused by the LEM abort guidance computer being accidentally put into “automatic” instead of “attitude hold”.

Snoopy

Fortunately, after taking manual control, they were able to stabilise the LEM and fire the ascent stage to return them to the CSM where Young waited. Two days later, they fired the CSM’s SPS engine to take them back home. Having accomplished all that was needed for a Manned Lunar Landing, save for actually landing on the Moon itself.

 

[SpaceGeek]

"I Come in Peace for All Mankind"

The successful launch of Apollo 9 and 10 had given many Americans confidence that the United States was leading in the Moon race and that the first man on the Moon would be an American Astronaut. After all the US had launched two Apollo missions since the Soviets made it to lunar orbit and the Russians hadn't done one.
Some more cautious academic observers noted that the USSR had already performed LEO testing of the LK and LOK in 1968 and had done significant testing of the LOK not just in Lunar Orbit but also during the three L1 missions. The US and USSR were obviously neck and neck. It was anyone's guess who would win. The news of the N1 launched LK lander in lunar orbit wasn't too threatening, after all it was without the LOK and apparently an unmanned test in lunar orbit. Its launch on June 30th came just as school children across America raced out of school for summer vacation, the summer of 69, the summer when everything changed.

The Fourth of July was a day of intense patriotism and pride for the American people as they celebrated America's achievements and accomplishments. By this time it was obvious the United States would be the first ones to the Moon as the planned lift off date for Apollo 11 was less than two weeks away. What could the Soviets possibly do in that time anyway? Apparently a lot as Alexei Leonov and Oleg Makarov walked the path to their N1's launch pad. After being strapped in their seats and the finishing of the Russian countdown, humanity's first voyage to another world began. July 4th 1969 and it was done from the Soviet Union

The racing acceleration of the N1 was more than the either of them had expected. Komarov was not kidding when he said the whole thing felt like a giant explosion happening slowly, it really was. The launch was held in total secrecy as they anxiously waited for the separation of the Block A stage. Like the previous three N1 flights all went according to plan and the crew was placed in a near-perfect parking orbit. It was now that Soviet State media began reporting the successful launch of another space mission to the Moon. Like previous the wording was vague enough that if it failed it's objectives it wouldn't be a public failure.

Rendition of the interior of the Soyuz 7K-LOK

The roar of the TLI stage sent the Soyuz-LOK coasting silently towards the Moon before (most crucially) it was braked into an orbit nearly identical to that of the LK. This was no lucky co-incidence but precisely planned by mission designers. The rendezvous and docking with the LK, crucial to performing the rest of the mission, was successful. Leonov opened the hatch to find the tunnel between the LOK and LK to be unblocked as he entered the cabin. After a few hours of check and re-checks the LK was undocked, drifting slowly and silently from its LOK mother ship as if from science fiction. Meanwhile his long-time colleague and friend Oleg Makarov watched and filmed his descent towards the lunar surface. What followed set the rest of the mission apart from any other mission.

The LK's Block D stage that had done so much to put the lander into low lunar orbit was now required to perform one last task of itself. Burning all its propellant to not only de-orbit the spacecraft but also kill off the vast majority of orbital velocity. Its task done it was safely jettisoned when a brief firing of the LK's motors sent it tumbling down towards the lunar surface. Onboard the lone cosmonaut searched for his flattest easiest landing target and he found it in southern region of the aptly named Sea of Serenity.

The final seconds were a tense and nerve racking experience for the flight controllers back in Moscow. Constant updates about the state of the descent were pouring in as the worried motherland watched her child leave home for somewhere anew. The Moon greeted Leonov with a sudden thump and a clearing of the dust cloud the lander had made for itself. The LK's success officially earned it a name as the Soviet press announced in triumph "Lenin has landed!!!!" meanwhile Makarov celebrated on his own onboard the Tsiolkovsky.

As Leonov stood silently in his tiny, cramped and now depressurized can, he looked up to see the Earth suspended in the void through his window. Then he opened the door. Stepping down the latter as the world watched he declared "I come in peace, for all mankind", a phrase that would be remembered for the rest of history. Leonov’s stay was a remarkable yet fleeing experience with the Moon. After just twelve hours on the Moon, a concessions made after mission planners wanted to cut it to just six, Leonov bid his fare-well to this strange new world and ascended to Lunar Orbit. One successful docking later and Leonov was resting with Makarov onboard. A few short hours later they watched as the Block D's engines roared one final time and their respective year and a half long love affairs with the Moon, starting with the L1-1 mission came to a serene close.

After another three days basking in the glory of the Earth from space, the crew prepared for the ending of their lives beyond Earth as a far different one awaited them. The experience of Leonov and Makarov weaving through the skip re-entry, they settle down in the deep blue ocean they had found so beautiful from orbit. Crowds greeted them with even more fanfare and excitement than in December of 67. The Moon Race was won, the technologically superior Soviet Union had proven itself to do the impossible. This was the beginning of a glorious communist Space Race many remarked as Soviet optimism shot through the roof.

The reaction from the Americans was somewhat like the ones made immediately after Sputnik 1, 2 or Vostok 1. Except this time it was worse, they had spent nearly a decade and were still behind the Soviet Union. The image of Russia as a technologically backward peasant state was being quickly replaced with a formidable world superpower technologically superior in many respects. And yet it was still a thrilling and exciting time. To think that the beginning of the space age was here, that the gates of the wonder worlds had flung open, was remarkable in the least, even if the Communists were the ones doing it.

 

[Constantinople]

Yay! I'm okay with the Soviets getting there first as it should push the space race even harder. I mean the US is weeks away from their own moon landing. Please make it successful.

 

[brovane]

Great update and interesting read. I figured that everything was lining up for the Soviets to get to the Moon first. The question becomes what does the US do know? Do they pull back or take things to the next level. They have a more robust Launch capability than the Soviets right now, have a Superior lander and have a superior capsule. Did the Soviets televise the moon walk live?

Nixon is not happy right now.

 

[SpaceGeek]

Yes they did televise the lunar walk live. IOTL the Soviets have televised important Space Missions such as the Soyuz 4 & 5 missions IIRC. Sorry I didn't mention that.

 

[brovane]

Not trying to be exceedingly nit-picky. I would assume the landing date was around July 8 with a launch on July 4th. The problem is lighting and the Sea of Serenity is mostly between 10-30 degrees East Longitude. Cannot say with more certainty because I don't know the exact location of the landing. In order to land on the moon at a certain spot you need the lighting conditions just right. The launch dates for Apollo where picked so the LM would be landing with the sun about 10 degrees over the Horizon which gives optimum lighting conditions for the pilot to see to land. When Apollo 11 landed at 24 degrees E longitude it was essentially early morning on the moon and the Sun was just coming up so it was behind the LM. Based on my research with a landing date of around July 8 1969 on the Sea of Serenity, the entire Sea of Serenity would have been in darkness for anyone attempting to land. I could certainly be wrong in my research. Isn't calculating lunar launch windows a pain? It was a good thing that the Saturn V was so reliable because a scrubbed launch might of very well meant waiting another month for lighting conditions to get just right on the moon.

 

[SAVORYapple]

Taking questions during the Press conference on why the US didn't get to the Moon first.

I suspect questions are going to be about why apollo 10 didn't actually land.

 

[SpaceGeek]

Not trying to be exceedingly nit-picky. I would assume the landing date was around July 8 with a launch on July 4th. The problem is lighting and the Sea of Serenity is mostly between 10-30 degrees East Longitude. Cannot say with more certainty because I don't know the exact location of the landing. In order to land on the moon at a certain spot you need the lighting conditions just right. The launch dates for Apollo where picked so the LM would be landing with the sun about 10 degrees over the Horizon which gives optimum lighting conditions for the pilot to see to land. When Apollo 11 landed at 24 degrees E longitude it was essentially early morning on the moon and the Sun was just coming up so it was behind the LM. Based on my research with a landing date of around July 8 1969 on the Sea of Serenity, the entire Sea of Serenity would have been in darkness for anyone attempting to land. I could certainly be wrong in my research. Isn't calculating lunar launch windows a pain? It was a good thing that the Saturn V was so reliable because a scrubbed launch might of very well meant waiting another month for lighting conditions to get just right on the moon.

I wasn't the one who picked the landing location. Bahamut-255 was the one who did. I did pick the July 4th launch however. Mostly because the OTL second N1 launch was on July 3rd and because the Soviets launching to the moon that day would totally ruin the American patriotism.

So we are each half to blame for that. We could edit it out and place the landing somewhere else.

Or why Apollo 9 didn't land for that matter. The reporters must be swarming with lay criticisms.

I can just see the Newspaper Headlines "Apollo 10 travels 250,000 miles and backes out at the last 8 miles from the Moon, causes Red victory in Space Race".

 

[e of pi]

There's not really anyplace good to land on the moon on July 8th, 1969. It's a half moon and fading fast, so either dark or near dusk over the entire nearside. You could maybe pull off a landing with a low-sun condition in Oceanus Procallerum, but you'd have to be down and back up pretty quick, otherwise the terminator's across you and the entire landing site is plunged into darkness. That's maybe okay for a nominal flight, but an ascent failure could leave you trying to troubleshoot in darkness. I think you'd really need to be either launching more like June 17, or wait until July 16 like the American's--which makes it really a horse race.

Also, I really think the N1 should be having more teething issues. Unless a consequence of the PoD is a substantial uptick in Russian quality control and failure planning, I'd be surprised if they don't lose one pretty soon. Terrible plumbing, failure to put FOD filters on the engine intakes, lousy wiring...I mean, in OTL, in addition to N1, 8 of 10 Proton launches failed in 1969, and of the two that worked, the payload of one broke after launch. It'd been slightly better over the previous two years--an awe-inspiring 50/50 record over ten launches, with a similar 50/50 failure rate among the actual payloads that were successfully orbited. Now N1 isn't Proton, but...there's a pattern here that to me says a lot about the overall program, and Proton wasn't starved for cash.

EDIT: Something obvious about the picture you adapted: the shadow of the astronaut taking the picture can clearly be seen in the center foreground, and I think the shadow on the right is from the dish of the Lunar Rover. Neither a second crewman nor a rover are part of this mission. Might want to pick a different photoshop?

 

[Bahamut-255]

There's not really anyplace good to land on the moon on July 8th, 1969. It's a half moon and fading fast, so either dark or near dusk over the entire nearside. You could maybe pull off a landing with a low-sun condition in Oceanus Procallerum, but you'd have to be down and back up pretty quick, otherwise the terminator's across you and the entire landing site is plunged into darkness. That's maybe okay for a nominal flight, but an ascent failure could leave you trying to troubleshoot in darkness. I think you'd really need to be either launching more like June 17, or wait until July 16 like the American's--which makes it really a horse race.

Sorry, my bad. Forgot to check the Lunar Sunrise/Sunset Times for a given location. And still can't find a good chart/calculator for one so had to go for the next best thing and make an educated guess as to the best launch time.

Also, I really think the N1 should be having more teething issues. Unless a consequence of the PoD is a substantial uptick in Russian quality control and failure planning, I'd be surprised if they don't lose one pretty soon. Terrible plumbing, failure to put FOD filters on the engine intakes, lousy wiring...I mean, in OTL, in addition to N1, 8 of 10 Proton launches failed in 1969, and of the two that worked, the payload of one broke after launch. It'd been slightly better over the previous two years--an awe-inspiring 50/50 record over ten launches, with a similar 50/50 failure rate among the actual payloads that were successfully orbited. Now N1 isn't Proton, but...there's a pattern here that to me says a lot about the overall program, and Proton wasn't starved for cash.

But the 3/4 stage Proton that kept failing did suffer from a crash development that crippled its reliability until they were able to work out all the kinks. And the N1 and Proton were two very different LVs. Here, the N1 has a little brother in the form of the N11, which gave them a chance to test out the upper stages prior to the first N1 launch. And here as well, its the first stage that's been giving them grief with two failed flights and one partial success before their first successful N1 flight.

I went for that for the following reasons:

1. N11 flights that help to debug upper stages
2. It's still only the 75,000 Kg form of the N1, without the reliability-destroying payload enhancements
3. A few more years to get it right
4. With the N11 as well, they do have a bigger budget

It's still far from perfect, but no LV ever is perfect. After all, Apollo 13 nearly failed during launch when violent Pogo Oscillations (68g IIRC) from the S-II Inboard Engine almost tore the stage apart.

 

[brovane]

Sorry, my bad. Forgot to check the Lunar Sunrise/Sunset Times for a given location. And still can't find a good chart/calculator for one so had to go for the next best thing and make an educated guess as to the best launch time.

If you have a Android smart phone their is a free app "Phases of the Moon". Their probably is something similar for iphone. The cool thing about the App that I realized last night is that you can set the date in the past and it will tell you the phase of the moon at any date. On Tuesday July 8, 1969 the moon was 24% illuminated and a waning crescent.

 

[Bahamut-255]

If you have a Android smart phone their is a free app "Phases of the Moon". Their probably is something similar for iphone. The cool thing about the App that I realized last night is that you can set the date in the past and it will tell you the phase of the moon at any date. On Tuesday July 8, 1969 the moon was 24% illuminated and a waning crescent.

I did find something online for the task, which gave me the lunar phases for 1969, then made an educated guess as to the best time for launch from that.

 

[J.D.Ward]

Looking at the photographs you used to show Nixon speaking to the press after the successful Russian moonflight, and given his character, how likely is it that the President loses control completely in public at this point?

Specifically, is it possible for Nixon to claim in public that the Russian moonflight is a propaganda fake which never took place? What would be the consequences of this? (Probably a future in which Watergate never happens, but Nixon's reputation is even lower that OTL).

Even without that specific allegation, a public breakdown by Nixon, denouncing both the failure of NASA and the general goddam-Commie-ness of the Russians would be a public event, and not in a good way.

 

[brovane]

Looking at the photographs you used to show Nixon speaking to the press after the successful Russian moonflight, and given his character, how likely is it that the President loses control completely in public at this point?

Specifically, is it possible for Nixon to claim in public that the Russian moonflight is a propaganda fake which never took place? What would be the consequences of this? (Probably a future in which Watergate never happens, but Nixon's reputation is even lower that OTL).

Even without that specific allegation, a public breakdown by Nixon, denouncing both the failure of NASA and the general goddam-Commie-ness of the Russians would be a public event, and not in a good way.

Those pictures where not authorized by the authors of this ATL. Sorry for any confusion. I think publicly Nixon would hold it together but privately he would be seething and heads would probably roll at NASA.

 

[SpaceGeek]

Allow me to explain away Leonov with the flag and the shadows.

Transmitter of some kind that's been deployed
A sampling rig that's shadow happens to look like a second person's shadow.

And that's right the Nixon Press conference was never approved by either me or Bahamut-255.

 

[brovane]

And that's right the Nixon Press conference was never approved by either me or Bahamut-255.

To prevent any confusion for this ATL I have removed the Nixon pictures my apologizes for that.

 

[brovane]

I did find something online for the task, which gave me the lunar phases for 1969, then made an educated guess as to the best time for launch from that.

The cool thing about the App is that you can swipe you finger and you can go back and forth by day and see exactly where the Terminator line shows on the Map. The Map also shows major lunar craters and you can also display the Apollo landing sites. A interesting coincidence is that Apollo 15 and 17 sites kind of straddle the Sea of Serentiy so you can get a fairly good feel for where the actual Terminator line would be in reference to the Sea of Serenity.

 

[Bahamut-255]

The cool thing about the App is that you can swipe you finger and you can go back and forth by day and see exactly where the Terminator line shows on the Map. The Map also shows major lunar craters and you can also display the Apollo landing sites. A interesting coincidence is that Apollo 15 and 17 sites kind of straddle the Sea of Serentiy so you can get a fairly good feel for where the actual Terminator line would be in reference to the Sea of Serenity.

It's too bad I have neither an i-Phone or Android then. But thankfully, what I found is good enough for re-working the launch/landing date to something much more believable.

 

[brovane]

It's too bad I have neither an i-Phone or Android then. But thankfully, what I found is good enough for re-working the launch/landing date to something much more believable.

Living in Southern CA I though everyone has one.

 

[SpaceGeek]

NASA and the United States was not about to throw in towel and give the Moon to the Soviets. Meanwhile "We come in peace for all mankind" was originally going to be written on a plaque left by Apollo 11. It was subsequently removed so it didn't look as though they were copying Leonov's first words. Many in NASA and the State department were concerned about how the Soviets could gain access to knowledge of exactly what was going to be written on their Apollo 11 plaque. They suspected operatives.

In stark contrast to the military secrecy of the L3-1's launches the launch of Apollo 11 was experienced by millions of people throughout the western world. Rather than the sudden surprise that they had launched the Apollo's launch date was publicised and highly anticipated. The excitement mounted each day closer to launch. On the day of launch thousands lined up along the highways and beaches nearby the launch pad while millions watched listened in on television.

Finally, July 16th, 16:50:35 UTC the Saturn V's engines burst into life with an explosive spectacle that lived up to it's expectation. A few hours later, the Apollo CSM-LM stack was coasting gracefully and silently towards the Moon. All the mission actions and techniques first performed by Apollo 10 were successful on Apollo 11. Every inch of the journey was publicised, broadcasted and advertised in full vision of the press. The Americans did their own fair share of propaganda as well as they described the superior and advanced LM that could conduct a "multi-day extended duration on the Moon" that it was "capable of two-astronaut flight" and that it was a "miniature lunar base".

Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins had become household names as the Apollo spacecraft edged ever closer to it's planned landing date. Finally, after achieving lunar orbit insertion, the two man landing crew were ready to bid their farewell to Michael Collins. Unlike the L3-1 mission they had no need to rendezvous with their lander, meaning just one fewer thing to do before going straight for landing.

As the descent began Aldrin and Armstrong discovered they were passing landmarks four seconds early and reported they would be landing west of their landing site. Five minutes into their descent, and just 6,000 feet above the surface of the Moon, the LM navigation and guidance system distracted the crew with several alarms. When Armstrong and Aldrin looked outside again, they saw that the computer's landing target was in a boulder-strewn area just north and east of a 300-meter (980 ft) diameter crater. Manoeuvring away from the field the Eagle touched down safely in the Sea of Tranquillity, with just 20 seconds of fuel (though upped to 45 seconds following analysis of the data). After uttering the immortal first American words on the Moon, "contact light" the crew prepared for the American moonwalk.

After just two and a half hours Neil Armstrong was standing on the surface of the Moon, an astounding achievement for America despite the fact they weren't the first. The world watched as America levelled the playing field with Russia and showed that they too could achieve miracles of science and technology. Buzz Aldrin followed a few minutes later before the two began assembling the United States flag on the lunar surface. The US and USSR flags now both stood proudly for their respective nations as the Earth watched in the sky. After sampling several times more than Leonov ever did, a moment that felt eternal ended and the crew lifted off in the lunar ascent stage.

Re-docking with Columbia, the crew was received by a cheerful Collins after they had spent just under a day on the surface of the Moon. The three returned to Earth national heroes like John Glenn or Ed White or Jim Lovell. Unlike the Soviets the Americans were concerned about even the remote possibility of pathogens on the Moon and quarantined the astronauts extensively before finally releasing them, weeks later.

The Apollo 12 mission was designed to further the scientific aims of the Apollo Program even as the American pride for Apollo tried to surpass the L3 in all respects. After a November 14th 1969 launch date the second mission, piloted by Pete Conrad, Richard Gordon and Alan Bean successfully made it to lunar orbit. Unlike Apollo 11 they would test the ability to perform precision, accurate, pin point landing on the lunar surface. They did this in order to recover parts of the Surveyor III spacecraft for study on earth. The landing was surprisingly close as the LM came within 12 meters of the Surveyor lander, now long silenced as it rested on serenely on the lunar surface. November 21st 1969, Pete Conrad stepped onto the lunar surface, becoming the fourth person to walk on the Moon while Alan Bean followed him becoming the fifth. Despite being another regular H-class mission the crew still managed to perform two moonwalks, something neither L3-1 nor Apollo 11, dared to do.

Finally after another day on the lunar surface, the LEM’s ascent stage fired it straight back into the lunar orbit. The calm returned, it appeared as if the USSR had given up on moon landings, maybe it was just a one off stunt. That is, until L3-2 took to the skies.