Luna 2

Luna 2
Model of Luna 2
NamesSecond Soviet Cosmic Rocket
Lunik 2
Mission typeLunar impactor
OperatorOKB-1
Harvard designation1959 ξ 1[1]
COSPAR ID1959-014A[2]
SATCAT no.00114[3]
Mission duration2 days, 14 hours, 22 minutes, 41 seconds[4][a]
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerOKB-1[1]
Launch mass390.2 kg[5]
Start of mission
Launch date12 September 1959
06:39:42 GMT[4][a]
RocketLuna 8K72 s/n I1-7B[6]
Launch siteBaikonur, Site 1/5[7]
ContractorOKB-1
Orbital parameters
Epoch12 September 1959
Lunar impactor
Impact date13 September 1959
21:02:24 GMT[4][a]
Impact site29°06′N 0°00′E / 29.1°N -0°E / 29.1; -0
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Luna 2 (Russian: Луна 2), originally named the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket and nicknamed Lunik 2 in contemporaneous media, was the sixth of the Soviet Union's Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon, E-1 No.7. It was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon, and the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body.

The spacecraft was launched on 12 September 1959 by the Luna 8K72 s/n I1-7B rocket. It followed a direct path to the Moon. In addition to the radio transmitters sending telemetry information back to Earth, the spacecraft released a sodium gas cloud so the spacecraft's movement could be visually observed. On 13 September 1959, it impacted the Moon's surface east of Mare Imbrium near the craters Aristides, Archimedes, and Autolycus.

Prior to impact, two sphere-shaped pennants with USSR and the launch date engraved in Cyrillic were detonated, sending pentagonal shields in all directions. Luna 2 did not detect radiation or magnetic belts around the Moon.

  1. ^ a b Krebs, Gunter. "Luna Ye-1A". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  2. ^ "Luna 2 Launch and Trajectory Information". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  3. ^ "Luna 2". N2YO.com. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Siddiqi, Asif A. (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (PDF). NASA.
  5. ^ "Luna 2". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  6. ^ Lardier & Barensky 2013, p. 406.
  7. ^ "Luna 02". NASA Science Solar System Exploration. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2019. Luna 2 (as it was renamed in 1963)...


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