This was the last flight observed by Sergei Korolev before his unexpected death during surgery in January 1966. Korolev is still revered in Russia. One senior lunar scientist was proud to be able to say 'I was hired right out of university by Sergei Pavlovich', a mark of honour. Next - a landing finally works! #moon #Luna8

We move on to Luna 8, which got close to landing safely. In my old Moon book and new things I am working on now I wrote "The NSSDCA position is 9.6 N, 62.0 W in western Oceanus Procellarum but Johnson (1979) gives 9.13 N, 63.30 W " (edited a bit) - but now I see that NSSDCA has dropped its position and adopted the one from Johnson. Now I have to go back and make changes in various things I have been putting together... Anyway, these maps sum it up. #maps #moon #Luna8