section_path: Early Soviet uncrewed lunar missions (1958–1965)
section_name: Early Soviet uncrewed lunar missions (1958–1965)
paragraph_text: Early Soviet uncrewed lunar missions (1958–1965)
  
  After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, historical records were released to allow the true accounting of Soviet lunar efforts. Unlike the U.S. tradition of assigning a particular mission name in advance of a launch, the Soviets assigned a public " Luna " mission number only if a launch resulted in a spacecraft going beyond Earth orbit. The policy had the effect of hiding Soviet Moon mission failures from public view. If the attempt failed in Earth orbit before departing for the Moon, it was frequently (but not always) given a " Sputnik " or " Cosmos " Earth-orbit mission number to hide its purpose. Launch explosions were not acknowledged at all.