Luna 5 was launched by a Molniya-M carrier rocket, flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Following the mid-course correction on 10 May, the spacecraft began spinning around its main axis due to a problem in a flotation gyroscope in the I-100 guidance system unit.

As a result of these failures, the soft landing attempt failed, and Luna 5 impacted the Moon.

[2] The place of impact was first announced as 31°S 8°W / 31°S 8°W / -31; -8 (coast of Mare Nubium), but later it was estimated as 8°N 23°W / 8°N 23°W / 8; -23 (near crater Copernicus).

The Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory registered television images of the failed landing noted that shown it produced a 220-by-80-kilometre (137 by 50 mi) plume which was visible for ten minutes.