[FPSPACE] Soviet stamp of Luna 3 with lunar farside image
ljk4 at msn.com
Sat Oct 9 11:32:41 EDT 2004
The Averted Side Of The Moon
Credit: Courtesy William Keel<http://www.astr.ua.edu/keel/telescopes/> (Univ. Alabama, Tuscaloosa<http://www.astr.ua.edu/>)
Explanation: This vintage 60-kopek stamp celebrates a dramatic achievement. On the 7th of October, 1959<http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunartimeline.html> (7/X/1959), the Soviet interplanetary station which has come to be called "Luna 3"<http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1959-008A> successfully photographed the far side<http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981008.html> of the moon giving denizens of planet Earth their first ever view<http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950914.html> of this hidden<http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/dark_side.html> hemisphere<http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/moon_spin.html>. Lacking the digital image technology<http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040313.html> familiar now, Luna 3 took the pictures on 35mm film which was automatically developed on board. The pictures were then scanned and the signal transmitted<http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind/jodrell/jodrole1.htm#luna3fars> to Earth days later in what was perhaps also the first interplanetary fax. In all, seventeen pictures<http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/mission_page/EM_Luna_3_page1.html> were received providing enough coverage and resolution to construct a far side map and identify a few major features. Depicted on<http://vesuvius.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/stamps.html> the stamp are regions dubbed the Sea of Moscow, the Soviet Mountains, the Bay of Astronauts, and the Sea of Dreams.
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