Message of Congratulations Following the Landing on the Moon of the U.S.S.R.'s Luna 9.
Dear Mr. Chairman:
You and the people of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are to be congratulated for the great success of Luna 9. Your accomplishment is one that can benefit all mankind. And all mankind applauds it. Your scientists have made a major contribution to man's knowledge of the moon and of space.
Sincerely,
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
[His Excellency Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny, Chairman, Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, U.S.S.R.]
Note: The text of the telegram was read by Bill D. Moyers, Special Assistant to the President, at his news conference at 4:40 p.m. on Thursday, February 3, 1966, in his office at the White House. It was not made public in the form of a White House press release.
The unmanned Soviet spaceship had made a successful soft landing on the moon, the first of its kind. Following the landing telemetric signals were transmitted back to earth.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Message of Congratulations Following the Landing on the Moon of the U.S.S.R.'s Luna 9. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238350