While the Americans were working to send humans to the surface of the Moon, the USSR sent a series of robotic missions to the lunar surface. The last successful series was the Lunokhod. These remote-controlled robots for explored the lunar surface and returned pictures during and after the successful Apollo manned lunar landings and cancellation of Soviet manned moon program in 1969 and 1973.
The Lunokhods were transported to the lunar surface by Luna spacecraft, which were launched by Proton-K rockets.
Lunokhod 1 was a lunar vehicle formed of a tub-like compartment with a large convex lid on eight independently powered wheels. Its length was 2.3 metres. Lunokhod 1 was equipped with a cone-shaped antenna, a highly directional helical antenna, four television cameras, and special extendable devices to impact the lunar soil for density measurements and mechanical property tests.
This is an exmple of a child's remote-controlled toy that popularized the success of the Soviet robtoic missions.
