Pioneers and Vikings’: Although the United States had taken great steps with its space program during the late 1960’s, the Soviet Union was not idle during this time, either. Having lost the race to put the first human on the moon, they could now move at their own independent pace with their efforts at space exploration. On September 12th, 1970, the Soviets launched a proton rocket toward the moon with a probe on board, called Lunar 16. Eight days later it landed on the moon and began to take photos, soil and core samples to give the Russians an idea of the moon’s …