Luna 16
E317879
Luna 16 was a Soviet robotic spacecraft that achieved the first successful uncrewed lunar sample return mission from the Moon to Earth in 1970.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Luna 16 canonical | 8 |
| Luna 16 first robotic lunar sample return by the USSR | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2780018 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Luna 16 Context triple: [Luna program launch vehicles, notableMission, Luna 16]
-
A.
Luna 11
Luna 11 was a Soviet unmanned spacecraft from the Luna program, launched in 1966 to study the Moon from lunar orbit.
-
B.
Luna 9
Luna 9 was a Soviet spacecraft that achieved the first successful soft landing on the Moon and transmitted the first close-up images of the lunar surface in 1966.
-
C.
Luna 2
Luna 2 was a Soviet space probe that became the first human-made object to reach the Moon, marking a major milestone in early space exploration.
-
D.
Luna spacecraft
The Luna spacecraft were a series of Soviet robotic probes launched between the late 1950s and 1970s that achieved many lunar exploration firsts, including the first human-made object to reach the Moon and the first soft landing on its surface.
-
E.
Luna 1
Luna 1 was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1959 that became the first human-made object to reach the vicinity of the Moon and enter a heliocentric orbit.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Luna 16 Target entity description: Luna 16 was a Soviet robotic spacecraft that achieved the first successful uncrewed lunar sample return mission from the Moon to Earth in 1970.
-
A.
Luna 11
Luna 11 was a Soviet unmanned spacecraft from the Luna program, launched in 1966 to study the Moon from lunar orbit.
-
B.
Luna 9
Luna 9 was a Soviet spacecraft that achieved the first successful soft landing on the Moon and transmitted the first close-up images of the lunar surface in 1966.
-
C.
Luna 2
Luna 2 was a Soviet space probe that became the first human-made object to reach the Moon, marking a major milestone in early space exploration.
-
D.
Luna spacecraft
The Luna spacecraft were a series of Soviet robotic probes launched between the late 1950s and 1970s that achieved many lunar exploration firsts, including the first human-made object to reach the Moon and the first soft landing on its surface.
-
E.
Luna 1
Luna 1 was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1959 that became the first human-made object to reach the vicinity of the Moon and enter a heliocentric orbit.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Luna programme probe
ⓘ
Soviet spacecraft ⓘ lunar sample return spacecraft ⓘ uncrewed spacecraft ⓘ |
| achievement |
first robotic spacecraft to return lunar samples to Earth
ⓘ
first successful uncrewed lunar sample return mission ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Soviet Union ⓘ |
| destination | Moon ⓘ |
| epoch | Space Race ⓘ |
| followedBy |
Luna 18
ⓘ
Luna 20 ⓘ |
| hasComponent |
ascent stage
ⓘ
descent stage ⓘ drilling apparatus ⓘ radio communication system ⓘ sample return capsule ⓘ solar panels ⓘ telemetry system ⓘ |
| landingBody | Moon ⓘ |
| landingDate | 1970-09-20 ⓘ |
| landingRegion | near the Sea of Fertility ⓘ |
| landingSite | Mare Fecunditatis ⓘ |
| landingSiteType | lunar mare ⓘ |
| launchCountry |
Kazakh SSR
ⓘ
Soviet Union ⓘ |
| launchDate | 1970-09-12 ⓘ |
| launchSite |
Baikonur Cosmodrome
ⓘ
Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 81 ⓘ
linked to:
Baikonur Cosmodrome
|
| launchVehicle |
Proton-K rocket
ⓘ
linked to:
Proton rocket
|
| missionDuration | approximately 12 days ⓘ |
| missionType |
lunar sample return
ⓘ
uncrewed lunar lander ⓘ |
| operator | Soviet space program ⓘ |
| precededBy | Luna 15 ⓘ |
| program | Luna programme ⓘ |
| propulsionType | chemical rocket engines ⓘ |
| returnCapsuleRecovery |
Kazakhstan
ⓘ
Soviet recovery forces ⓘ |
| returnedSampleMass |
0.101 kilograms
ⓘ
101 grams ⓘ |
| returnedSamples | lunar soil ⓘ |
| returnToEarthDate | 1970-09-24 ⓘ |
| returnType | sample return capsule ⓘ |
| scientificObjective |
collect and return lunar regolith samples
ⓘ
study composition of lunar soil ⓘ |
| spaceAgency | Soviet Academy of Sciences ⓘ |
| spacecraftStatus | mission completed ⓘ |
| spacecraftType |
Ye-8-5
ⓘ
linked to:
Luna Ye-8 series
|
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Luna 16 Description of subject: Luna 16 was a Soviet robotic spacecraft that achieved the first successful uncrewed lunar sample return mission from the Moon to Earth in 1970.
Referenced by (9)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Luna 16