Unmanned Spacecraft

The first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the moon, Luna 9, transmitted back photographic data to Earth. Sent into Earths orbit by an A-2-E vehicle and boosted toward the moon with a fourth stage rocket, on January 31, 1966, this unmanned spacecraft, Luna 9 made history.

       Since Luna 9's flight the ideas and concepts of space travel have skyrocketed! Neil Armstrong became the first human to leave footprints in the lunar dust on July 16, 1969. It has lead to the building of the MIR space station and thousands of other theories of Interstellar Travel.

Since the first unmanned flight to the moon in 1966 now in 2000 there are unmanned planes traveling up to Mach 15. RPV's, Remotely Piloted Vehicles are capable of traveling Mach 15! The X-33 "Venture Star" claims to be capable of traveling around the world in less then thirty minutes! For more information on other hypersonic planes check out the Hypersonic Travel page.