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Published on: E

October 4, 1959

The Soviets launch the Lunik 3 probe toward the far side of the Moon. It will transmit the first, very grainy, images of the Moon’s far side. Twenty-nine photos are taken, 17 were successfully transmitted to Earth, and six were published by the Soviets. The camera was developed by Krasnogorsk for the secret Zenit spy satellites, and later adopted by Lunik.