Soviet Crash Landed on Moon Shortly After Americans Landed

The Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States was a heated competition in the 1960s. As the U.S. prepared to send the first man to the moon, the Soviets attempted to steal the publicity away from them. The Soviets planned Luna 15, an unmanned spacecraft that was supposed to take pictures of the moon, collect lunar soil samples, and return to Earth. Luna 15 took off three days before Apollo 11, but it crash-landed on the moon's surface at 3:50 p.m. on July 21, 1969, while the Apollo 11 astronauts were still on the lunar surface.

Just in time for the 40th anniversary of Luna 15's crash, audio tapes of the event have been found. The tapes reveal British astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell narrating events as he observed them with his radio telescope.