It was flown as part of the Luna program as a robotic competitor to the six successful Apollo lunar sample return missions.

This was the eighth Soviet spacecraft launched with the intent of returning lunar soil to Earth.

Three days later, at 19:13 UT, the spacecraft fired its main engine for 267 seconds to begin descent to the lunar surface.

After collecting a small sample of lunar soil, the spacecraft's ascent stage lifted off at 22:58 UT on 22 February and quickly accelerated to 2.7 kilometers per second velocity—sufficient to return to Earth.

The small spherical capsule eventually parachuted down safely on an island in the Karkingir River, 40 kilometers north of the town of Jezkazgan in Kazakhstan, at 19:19 UT on 25 February 1972.