The LUNA series of Russian spacecraft were a series of robotic spacecrafts launched by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. The first spacecraft, LUNA 1, was the first man-made object to reach the vicinity of the Moon. The LUNA 2 and 3 missions were the first to impact the lunar surface, while the LUNA 9 mission was the first to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. The LUNA 10 mission was the first artificial satellite of the Moon. The LUNA 16, 20, and 24 missions returned samples of lunar soil to Earth.