Luna 9, internal designation Ye-6 No.13, was an uncrewed space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. On 3 February 1966 the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a survivable landing on the celestial body; the lander had a mass of 99 kilograms. It used a landing bag to survive the impact speed of 22 kilometres per hour, it was a hermetically sealed container with radio equipment, a program timing device, heat control systems, scientific apparatus, power sources, a television system. Luna 9 was launched by a Molniya-M rocket, serial number 103-32, flying from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. Liftoff took place at 11:41:37 UTC on 31 January 1966; the first three stages of the four-stage carrier rocket injected the payload and fourth stage into low Earth orbit, at an altitude of 168 by 219 kilometres and 51.8 degrees inclination. The fourth stage, a Blok-L fired to raise the orbit's perigee to a new apogee 500,000 kilometres, before deploying Luna 9 into a elliptical geocentric orbit.

For thermal control the spacecraft spun itself up to 0.67 rpm using nitrogen jets. On 1 February at 19:29 UT, a mid-course correction took place involving a 48-second burn and resulting in a delta-V of 71.2 metres per second. At an altitude of 8,300 kilometres from the Moon, the spacecraft was oriented for the firing of its retrorockets and its spin was stopped in preparation for landing. From this moment the orientation of the spacecraft was supported by measurements of directions to the Sun and the Earth using an opto-mechanical system. At 74.885 kilometres above the lunar surface, the radar altimeter triggered the jettison of the side modules, the inflation of the air bags and the firing of the retro rockets. At 250 metres from the surface, the main retrorocket was turned off by the integrator of an acceleration having reached the planned velocity of the braking manoeuver; the four outrigger engines were used to slow the craft. 5 metres above the lunar surface, a contact sensor touched the ground triggering the engines to be shut down and the landing capsule to be ejected.

The craft landed at 22 kilometres per hour The spacecraft bounced several times before coming to rest in Oceanus Procellarum west of Reiner and Marius craters at 7.08 N, 64.37 W on 3 February 1966 at 18:45:30 UT. The spacecraft was developed in the design bureau known as OKB-1, under Chief Designer Sergei Korolev; the first 11 Luna missions were unsuccessful for a variety of reasons. At that time the project was transferred to Lavochkin design bureau since OKB-1 was busy with a manned expedition to the Moon. Luna 9 was the twelfth attempt at a soft-landing by the Soviet Union. All operations prior to landing occurred without fault, the 58-centimetre spheroid ALS capsule landed on the Moon at 18:45:30 UT on 3 February 1966 west of the craters Reiner and Marius in the Ocean of Storms. Five minutes after touchdown, Luna 9 began transmitting data to Earth, but it was seven hours before the probe began sending the first of nine images of the surface of the Moon. 250 seconds after landing in the Oceanus Procellarum, four petals which covered the top half of the spacecraft opened outward for increased stability.

The television camera system began a photographic survey of the lunar environment. Seven radio sessions with a total of 8 hours and 5 minutes were transmitted, as well as three series of TV pictures. After assembly the photographs gave a panoramic view of the immediate lunar surface, comprising views of nearby rocks and of the horizon, 1.4 kilometres away. The pictures from Luna 9 were not released by the Soviet authorities, but scientists at Jodrell Bank Observatory in England, monitoring the craft, noticed that the signal format used was identical to the internationally agreed Radiofax system used by newspapers for transmitting pictures; the Daily Express rushed a suitable receiver to the Observatory and the pictures from Luna 9 were decoded and published worldwide. The BBC speculated that the spacecraft's designers deliberately fitted the probe with equipment conforming to the standard, to enable reception of the pictures by Jodrell Bank; the radiation detector, the only scientific instrument on board, measured a dosage of 30 millirads per day.

The mission determined that a spacecraft would not sink into the lunar dust. Last contact with the spacecraft was at 22:55 UTC on 6 February 1966. List of artificial objects on the Moon Zarya - Luna 9 chronology Animation of mission Luna 9 panoramas

WMCN is a radio station broadcasting a variety format. Licensed to St. Paul, United States, the station serves the greater St. Paul area; the station is owned by Macalester College and run by students. The station has held the WMCN call sign since July 30, 1979; this station was granted a final extension to its original construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission on June 20, 1979. The new station was assigned the call sign "KJAB" by the FCC but this was changed to the current WMCN on July 30, 1979; the station received its broadcast license from the FCC on April 1, 1980. Located in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood between the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, WMCN is a low power station and has a broadcast radius of 2.5 to 3 miles. The freeform programming is hosted by student disc jockeys and the station only operates during the school's terms. Students are required to complete training sessions to familiarize themselves with the station's music library and broadcast equipment before they are permitted on the air.

WMCN provides Macalester and its surrounding community with music from various genres including rock, world, hip-hop and classical as well as talk radio programming. Community activist Dan Richmond described WMCN as "one of the first places to look for new music and ideas"; the station began an overhaul of its facilities in 2006, adding enhanced webcast capabilities and working towards the complete digitization of its music library. The digitization of nearly 20,000 songs was, after some complications, completed in late 2007 with the station announcing plans to sell off its vast CD library when the project was complete. While most student presenters at college radio stations do not pursue careers in broadcasting, some use the experience as a springboard to larger venues. Gregory Keltgen, now better known as "DJ Abilities", got his start as a hip hop DJ providing scratches as part of his older brother Derek's show on WMCN. Brian Bull an award-winning business and economics reporter for WCPN 90.3 ideastream and contributing reporter for National Public Radio, got his first job in radio hosting a weekly classical music program on WMCN during his freshman year.

Joanna Stein, a 2006 Macalester graduate and WMCN veteran, joined the staff of National Public Radio's Morning Edition program. Minneapolis/St. Paul community radio station KFAI announcer Jennifer Downham, host of Groove Garden since 1994, says she did not "pursue her musical interests until she became a radio DJ" on WMCN. Described as "the Queen Mother of the Twin Cities hip-shagging, funked-up improv music scene", the WMCN show she hosted was her first job as an announcer. WMCN news blog Query the FCC's FM station database for WMCN Radio-Locator information on WMCN Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WMCN

Chris O'Connor is a vocalist and bassist. His first band, The I-Rails, was formed with high school buddy, guitarist/songwriter Jeff Sparks in 1986. Together with drummer Tim Lauterio, The I-Rails made four albums in the course of a few years from the late 1980s up to 1991, none of which received much attention; the band broke up in 1991. Using material he and Sparks wrote for a planned fifth I-Rails album, O'Connor made the Rocket album on his own on a broken-down 1969 Ampex 16-track tape deck and a budget of $1,000 and called himself Primitive Radio Gods, what would have been the band's last album title; the album wouldn't be released for four years however when it was picked up by Columbia Records, Germany. It was soon released with only minimal remixing and the single, "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" shot up the charts and was featured in Jim Carrey's movie The Cable Guy. O'Connor reunited with The I-Rails under the new name; the band released a second album, White Hot Peach in late 2000 under a small independent label What Are Records?, a third album, minus Sparks, called Still Electric in 2003.

Primitive Radio Gods released their fourth full-length album, Sweet Venus, on May 4, 2006. The album is only available as a download on their website. Whether or not a physical copy of the album will be produced or distributed remains to be seen; some biographical information can be found on this page of Primitive Radio Gods' official site