a few days before we arrived there. They had hoped to get a sample from the surface before we put men there. It made 52 orbits around the moon and eventually began it's descent on July 21st shortly after Armstrong and Aldrin did a moonwalk and hours before they were to depart. It crashed into the moon while our men were still there.

The Soviets had this probe in moon orbit when we achieved our mission. They were monitoring the entire thing right there with us.