MOSCOW, July 22 (NYT) — The Soviet Union today virtually ignored Luna-15, its unmanned spacecraft that held the world in suspense for more than a week before apparently crashing on the moon’s surface yesterday.

Launched three days ahead of Apollo-11, Luna-15 was regarded by many observers as the Soviet unmanned rival to the three astronauts. Some believed Luna-15 would land on the moon, pick up some rock samples and “race” Apollo back to earth in an effort to upstage the American effort.

And when Luna-15 went into an orbit Sunday that brought it within ten miles of the lunar surface, many Westerners here wondered who would return to earth with moon rock first — Apollo-11 or Luna-15.

Work ‘Ended’

But early this morning, the official news agency Tass moved a short communiqué that said Luna-15 yesterday had “reached the moon’s surface” in the “pre-set areas” and at 6:51 p.m. its work “ended.”

The fact that Luna-15 went out of action as soon as it touched the lunar surface suggested that it was not a “soft” landing but merely a crash.

Observers also noted that Tass, which often carries rather flowery tributes to the “success” of Soviet space missions, conspicuously claimed nothing for Luna-15. It merely said that “on July 21, 1969, the program of research in the space near the moon and of checking the new systems of the automatic station Luna-15 was completed.”

When the spacecraft was launched July 18, its stated goals, according to Tass, were “to conduct further scientific exploration of the moon and the space near the moon.”

— The International Herald Tribune, July 23, 1969

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