Seventeen of Luna 3's 29 images were usable.
Luna 3's images covered 70 percent of surface of the lunar far side. They were used to create the first rudimentary atlas.
The images prompted scientists to revise their theories of lunar evolution.
Seventeen of Luna 3's 29 photos of the far side of the moon (right) were usable.
The photos were developed, fixed and dried on the spacecraft and beamed back to Earth.
The moon takes about 29 days to orbit the Earth, roughly the same amount of time to make one rotation on its axis. That is why we always see the same side of the moon from Earth.
