at the same time as the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, the Soviets launched a hastily developed lunar sample return mission. This Luna 15 mission was intended to return a few hundred grams of lunar soil just before NASA's astronauts returned to Earth in an effort to upstage NASA.
The Luna 15 spacecraft was in orbit around the Moon at the time Apollo 11 arrived there and when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went down to the surface. There were even some backchannel discussions between NASA and the Soviet space program to ensure that the two spacecraft did not interfere with communications between the Moon and Earth. In short, the Soviets were watching the American Moon landing closely and knew fully well what NASA had accomplished.
As for Luna 15, it crashed into the Moon a few hours before Armstrong and Aldrin took off from the Moon to return to Earth. The space race was over.
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The Luna 15 spacecraft was in orbit around the Moon at the time Apollo 11 arrived there and when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went down to the surface. There were even some backchannel discussions between NASA and the Soviet space program to ensure that the two spacecraft did not interfere with communications between the Moon and Earth. In short, the Soviets were watching the American Moon landing closely and knew fully well what NASA had accomplished.
As for Luna 15, it crashed into the Moon a few hours before Armstrong and Aldrin took off from the Moon to return to Earth. The space race was over.
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