It would seem that there is no connection between the Moon and champaign.
But this is not so, said Professor Yuri Demyanko of the Space Research
Center named after the outstanding scientist Academician Mstislav
Keldysh in an interview with a Voice of Russia correspondent:
In 1959-1960 a system of orienting spacecraft was worked out
under the leadership of Academician Boris Raushenbakh. This
made it possible to build the spacecraft Luna-3, which made pictures of
the other side of the Earth's satellite for the first time ever. The Moon
panoramas relayed to the Flight Control Center near Moscow caused a world-wide
sensation. That was an epochal event indeed. Earlier, after
the space flight accomplished by the world's first satellite launched by
the Soviet Union, a French wine-maker made a bet: "Yes, satellites will
fly, and maybe man will soar into space some day," he said. "But no one
will ever be able to see the other side of the Moon. I am willing to give
a thousand bottles of champaign to those who do it." That is how a parcel
with a thousand bottles of fine champaign arrived at Russia's Academy of
Sciences. Its contents were distributed among participants in the
works connected with building the Luna-3 spacecraft. One such bottle
is still kept in my house, said Professor Demyanko.
In the past centuries people have learned a lot about the nearest neighbour
of our planet: the trajectory, speed and time of its circulation
around the globe. It has been established that this period coincides
with the time of the Moon's rotation around its own axis, because of which
the other side of the Moon cannot be seen from the Earth. Mankind has learned
how long is the distance between the Earth and the Moon, the size of the
Moon and the character of the influence it exerts on our  planet.
It has learned that a lunar day lasts for more than two terrestrial weeks,
and that during that time the lunar surface gets heated by the Sun to 130
degrees Centigrade, and gets cooled during the night to 150 degrees Centigrade
below zero.
Later radars came to the aid of optical instruments. They made it possible
to determine the Moon's orbit, size, mass, density and the distance to
it more exactly – to a few hundred meters. Nonetheless the Moon remained
a purely astronomical object of research. Scientists had to confront
the Moon face to face, so to say, yet. And that time came.
In the 1960's an unprecedented rivalry developed over who would be the
first to reach the Moon's surface. Both Russian and American scientists
and specialists did all they could to enable their own countryman to be
the first to step on the surface of Selena. The USA won the race.
The Americans were the first to walk across the Moon. Russia curtailed
its program for manned lunar missions. Nonetheless the exploration of the
Earth's natural satellite went on with the help of unmanned spacecraft.
In November of 1970 the "Luna-17" station reached the Moon in the
area of Mare Humorum. A few days later its landing platform released
a lunar research module, which began its travel across the Moon. Its progress
was monitored by a crew on the globe. Its first track stretched from
the landing stage to the black abyss of the lunar horizon. This is
how the lunar research Odyssey began. 20 meters were covered on the
first day. The vehicle photographed its first panoramas, surveyed the physical
and mechanical properties of the lunar soil and its chemical composition.
The vehicle worked for five terrestrial days till its first lunar day ended,
and covered 197 meters. Then 14 days of lunar frost began during which
the vehicle remained in a stationary position.
But then the Sun shed light on Mare Humorum again. The vehicle revived
and began its next day of work. Its solar batteries turned to the hot rays
of the Sun to recharge its accumulators. A check-up of its
systems and research instruments showed that the vehicle had passed the
test of the lunar night frost.
The module worked for 11 lunar days and nights, for 322 terrestrial days.
It covered 10,540 meters. It surveyed 80,000 square meters of the surface
of the Moon. It relayed 200 panoramas and took 20,000 pictures which reflected
about half a million square meters of lunar surface. Invaluable scientific
material was obtained.
Another Soviet unmanned interplanetary station,
"Luna-21", landed at Mare Serenitatis on January 16,1973. It delivered
another self-propelled module. The second module proved to be more
adroit than its predecessor. The distance it covered across the Moon
was twice as large. Besides, the module worked on uneven surface.
It surveyed soil in lunar craters, at the foot of hills and at surface
breaks. The unique devices installed on its board relayed a substantial
volume of unique information to the Earth.
On the whole the Soviet Union sent 24 unmanned spacecraft to the Moon.
Three of them had been built to enable them to return with samples of lunar
soil. It's not hard to imagine what precious material got into the
hands of researchers. Incidentally, that soil was used to make experiments
with growing plants in terrestrial conditions. Maybe this will
help clarify the possibility of finding life on other planets.
Here's what Professor Yuri Demyanko said in his interview
with the Voice of Russia:
"We engaged in studying lunar soil. We built a special stand to explore
the chemical composition and other specificities of lunar soil. We
studied its structure and understood its composition. In it we discovered
helium-3, which can be found in terrestrial conditions extremely rarely.
This is helium isotope, which would make it possible, if it could be discovered
on the globe, to ensure controlled thermonuclear reaction. It was
so important that under consideration was the
possibility of transporting helium-three
from the Moon to the Earth, or building on the Moon stations, which could
use it as fuel. Besides, lunar soil revealed oxygen which would make
it possible to organize the production of oxygen there in order not to
bring it from the Earth. In the future it will be possible to start
production on the Moon, to build an electric power station using either
solar energy or nuclear energy. But all this requires a lot of time, many
specialists and joint efforts, since individual
countries, no matter how industrialized they are, will find
it impossible to cope with this task."
Both American and Russian scientists suspended their lunar research in
the 1970s. After that their interests turned to other areas.
They intensively worked on long-term manned missions aboard
orbital stations. Their unmanned spacecraft explored
various objects in the Solar System - from Venus to Halley's
comet to far-away planets - giants and their satellites.
But today the Moon is again considered as the target of
new research expeditions. Russian specialists
are ready to resume their study of the Moon. They
have all the technical means at their disposal,
and their concept of returning to the "lunar
project" will require relatively small expenditure. This country
has also developed reliable research modules ready to
be launched toward Mars. It is possible to work on the
Moon too with their aid. There are also booster rockets for
flights to the Moon. So there is every reason to believe
that we shall witness new lunar explorations in the foreseeable
future.
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