Object E

The first Soviet Luna probes were known to their builders as "Object E" (pronounced 'ye') for they were the sixth payload for the R-7 family of ICBM and launchers (E is the sixth letter of the Russian alphabet).
Object A, B, V, G were different re-entry vehicles for a nuclear warhead, Object D was an heavy scientific satellite, launched as Sputnik-3.
Traditionally, all Luna probes were then called Object-E, including the heavy probes launched by the 8K82K Proton.
The following is a listing of all Object E versions, including many unflown probes. As far as I know, this listing is complete, with the possible exception of the E-8 family.
Click on thumbnails for a larger version of the images. Some link may be to the outside. Copyright information is at the bottom of the page.
 
 

Name	Image	Characteristics	Launcher	Flown as
E-1	N/A	Lunar impactor, 170 kg mass	8K72	Luna-1 + 3 failures
E-1A	Copyright #2	Lunar impactor, slightly modified E-1	8K72	Luna-2 + 1 failure
E-2	N/A	Photography of the far side. Yenissey-1 camera	8K73	Canceled August 1958
E-2A		Photography of the far side. Yenissey-2 camera	8K72	Luna-3
E-2F	N/A	Photography of the far side	8K73?	Canceled
E-3	N/A	1. Photography of the far side 2. Improved E-2A	1. 8K73 2. 8K72	1. Canceled 2. 2 failures
E-4		Lunar impacting nuclear bomb	8K73	Canceled
E-5	N/A	Lunar satellite using E-1A technology. Developed in competition with NASA Atlas Able probes	8K72	Canceled end 1959
E-6	Copyright #2	Lunar soft landing. Cruise stage (at right) + 100 kg minilander	8K78 8K78M	11 failures including Luna-4 to Luna-8
E-6A	N/A	E-6 with 150 kg minilander	8K78	Canceled
E-6LF	Copyright #1	Lunar satellite for imaging manned lunar landing sites	8K78M	Luna-11 Luna-12
E-6LS	N/A	E-6LF modified for manned lunar landing support	8K78M	Kosmos-159 Luna-14
E-6M		Slightly modified E-6 with 100 kg lander  (Luna-13 with instrument booms at right)	8K78M	Luna-9 Luna-13
E-6S	Copyright #3	Simple lunar satellite. Modified E-6M cruise stage + Kosmos satellite	8K78M	Luna-10 + 1 failure
E-7	N/A	Lunar satellite	8K78M	Canceled or Renamed E-6LF
E-8	Copyright #2	Lunar lander (top) + lunar rover "Lunokhod" (bottom)	8K82K	Luna-17 Luna-21 + 1 failure
E-8LS		Heavy lunar orbiter	8K82K	Luna-19 Luna-22
E-8-5		Lunar sample retriever	8K82K	Luna-16 Luna-20 + 6 failures including Luna-15 and -18
E-8-5M		Modified E-8-5 with rail mounted drill instead of a robot arm mounted one	8K82K	Luna-24 + 2 failures including Luna-23
E-8/M-69	Copyright #1	Modified E-8 for Mars exploration	8K82K	Not flown
E-8/Zvezda	N/A	A derivative of the E-8-5 able to drill up to a depth of 10 m. To be used in support of the Zvezda manned lunar base	8K82K?	Not flown
E-8 Beacon	Copyright #4	An E-8 designed to act as a beacon for manned lunar landings  To be used in support of the Zvezda manned lunar base	8K82K?	Not flown

1 NASA image
2 (C) Wolfgang Hausmann. From Euroavia Picturebank Site
3 (C) P. Brugier. From Musee de l'air et de l'espace Site
4 (C) Mark Wade. From Encyclopedia Astronautica Site

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