page_title: Lunokhod programme
section_title: Lunokhod 3
hierarchical_section_title: Lunokhod programme / Lunokhod 3
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Луноход-3. Вид сбоку. Музей НПО имени Лавочкина. Город Химки, Московская область.
context_page_description: Lunokhod was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers designed to land on the Moon between 1969 and 1977. Lunokhod 1 was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on an extraterrestrial body.
  The 1969 Lunokhod 1A was destroyed during launch, the 1970 Lunokhod 1 and the 1973 Lunokhod 2 landed on the Moon, and Lunokhod 3 was never launched. The successful missions were in operation concurrently with the Zond and Luna series of Moon flyby, orbiter and landing missions.
  The Lunokhods were primarily designed to support the Soviet human Moon missions during the Moon race. Instead, they were used as remote-controlled robots for exploration of the lunar surface and return its pictures after the successful Apollo human lunar landings and cancellation of the Soviet human Moon programme.
  The Lunokhods were transported to the lunar surface by Luna spacecraft, which were launched by Proton-K rockets. The Moon lander part of the Luna spacecraft for Lunokhods was similar to the one for sample-return missions. The Lunokhods were designed by Alexander Kemurdzhian at Lavochkin.
  Not until the 1997 Mars Pathfinder was another remote-controlled vehicle put on an extraterrestrial body.
context_section_description: Lunokhod 3 (vehicle 8ЕЛ№205) was built for a Moon landing in 1977 as Luna 25, but never flew to the Moon due to lack of launchers and funding. It remains at the NPO Lavochkin museum.
caption: Lunokhod 3 (side view)
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