What space probe was the first to orbit the moon?

Kimse

If I'm not mistaken it was "Luna 3" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_3 Dec 22 11, 12:29 PM

coachpauly

The Soviet Union sent the first spacecraft to the vicinity of the Moon, the unmanned vehicle Luna 1, on January 4, 1959. It passed within 6,000 kilometres (3,200 nmi; 3,700 mi) of the Moon's surface, but did not achieve lunar orbit. Luna 3, launched on October 4, 1959, was the first unmanned spacecraft to complete a cislunar flight, still not a lunar orbit, but a figure-8 free return trajectory which swung around the far side of the Moon and returned to the Earth. This craft provided the first pictures of the far side of the Lunar surface. The Soviet Luna 10 became the first spacecraft to actually orbit the Moon in April 1966. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_orbit Dec 22 11, 10:51 PM