Luna 1960B was the third Soviet attempt to photograph the far side of the Moon, the first being the highly successful Luna 3 mission and the second being the unsuccessful Luna 1960A. Luna 1960B was launched on April 16, 1960. It was designed to replicate the Luna 3 mission, but with higher resolution cameras and a closer approach to the Moon. April 16, 1960 at 16:07 UTC · Launch Failure Vostok-L 8K72 — Soviet Space Program, to Lunar flyby 1/5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan The world's 64th orbital launch attempt, and 10th of 1960. Program: Luna Data: Launch Library 2, The Space Devs. Image by Roscosmos (Roscosmos Image Use Policy) via The Space Devs.