1959 Soviet unmanned space mission to impact the surface of the Moon
Luna 2
Model of Luna 2
Names
Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket Lunik 2
Mission type
Lunar impactor
Operator
Soviet space program
Harvard designation
1959 ξ 1[1]
COSPAR ID
1959-014A[2]
SATCAT no.
00114[3]
Mission duration
2 days, 14 hours, 22 minutes, 41 seconds[4][a]
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer
OKB-1[1]
Launch mass
390.2 kg[5]
Start of mission
Launch date
12 September 1959 06:39:42 GMT[4][a]
Rocket
Luna 8K72 s/n I1-7B[6]
Launch site
Baikonur, Site 1/5[7]
Contractor
OKB-1
Orbital parameters
Epoch
12 September 1959
Lunar impactor
Impact date
13 September 1959 21:02:24 GMT[4][a]
Impact site
29°06′N0°00′E / 29.1°N -0°E / 29.1; -0
Luna programme
← Luna 1959A
Luna 3 →
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 vapour 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.
^ abKrebs, Gunter. "Luna Ye-1A". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
^"Luna 2 Launch and Trajectory Information". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
^"Luna 2". N2YO.com. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
^ abcSiddiqi, Asif A. (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016(PDF). NASA.
^"Luna 2". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
^Lardier & Barensky 2013, p. 406.
^"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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