Benefits of space exploration earth and space have increased. The list of missions to the moon begin as early as 1958 and continued into the current age. A few successful lunar missions, by the USSR, include missions such as, the Luna 1 space craft that completed the first flyby of the moon in 1959, the Luna 3 lunar probe that took the first pictures of the far side of the moon in 1959, the Luna 10 orbiter that was the first orbiter of the moon in 1966, and the Lunokhod 1 lunar rover in 1970, which was the first rover that explored the surface
USSR-1 At about 06:00 Moscow time the envelope was filled with 3 thousand cubic meters of hydrogen, or 1/8 of the balloon's geometric capacity. At stratospheric altitudes this amount would have expanded to fill the whole envelope. Prokofiev reported status to Air Forces chief Jēkabs Alksnis around 8:00. "USSR-1" with Prokofiev, Godunov and radio operator Ernst Birnbaum on board lifted off at 8:40 Moscow Time and established radio contact with ground five minutes later. According to Prokofiev's flight log, at 9:17 am "USSR-1" passed 16,800 meter mark, beating Piccard's record; between 9:19 and 9:26 the aircraft, fully expanded, levelled in a