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Luna
Luna programme

The Luna programme , occasionally called Lunik or Lunnik, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976....
 1 (E-1 series), also known as Mechta (lit.
Literal translation

Literal translation, also known as direct translation, is the rendering of text from one language to another "word-for-word" rather than conveying the Word sense of the original....
: Dream) was the first spacecraft
Spacecraft

A spacecraft is a Craft or machine designed for spaceflight. On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters outer space then returns to the Earth....
 to reach the vicinity of the Moon
Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the List of natural satellites by diameter satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth....
 and the first of the Luna programme
Luna programme

The Luna programme , occasionally called Lunik or Lunnik, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976....
 of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations successfully launched in the direction of the Moon.

While traveling through the outer Van Allen radiation belt
Van Allen radiation belt

The Van Allen radiation belt is a torus of energy charged particles around Earth, held in place by Earth's magnetic field. Earth's geomagnetic field is not uniformly distributed around its surface....
, the spacecraft's scintillator
Scintillator

A scintillator is a material which exhibits the property of luminescence when excited by ionizing radiation. Luminescent materials, when struck by an incoming particle, absorb its energy and scintillate, i.e....
 made observations indicating that there exist a small number of high energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
 particle
Subatomic particle

A subatomic particle is an elementary particle or composite particle particle smaller than an atom. Particle physics and nuclear physics are concerned with the study of these particles, their interactions, and non-atomic QCD matter....
s in the outer belt.






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Luna
Luna programme

The Luna programme , occasionally called Lunik or Lunnik, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976....
 1 (E-1 series), also known as Mechta (lit.
Literal translation

Literal translation, also known as direct translation, is the rendering of text from one language to another "word-for-word" rather than conveying the Word sense of the original....
: Dream) was the first spacecraft
Spacecraft

A spacecraft is a Craft or machine designed for spaceflight. On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters outer space then returns to the Earth....
 to reach the vicinity of the Moon
Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the List of natural satellites by diameter satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth....
 and the first of the Luna programme
Luna programme

The Luna programme , occasionally called Lunik or Lunnik, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976....
 of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations successfully launched in the direction of the Moon.

While traveling through the outer Van Allen radiation belt
Van Allen radiation belt

The Van Allen radiation belt is a torus of energy charged particles around Earth, held in place by Earth's magnetic field. Earth's geomagnetic field is not uniformly distributed around its surface....
, the spacecraft's scintillator
Scintillator

A scintillator is a material which exhibits the property of luminescence when excited by ionizing radiation. Luminescent materials, when struck by an incoming particle, absorb its energy and scintillate, i.e....
 made observations indicating that there exist a small number of high energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
 particle
Subatomic particle

A subatomic particle is an elementary particle or composite particle particle smaller than an atom. Particle physics and nuclear physics are concerned with the study of these particles, their interactions, and non-atomic QCD matter....
s in the outer belt. The measurements obtained during this mission provided new data on the Earth's radiation belt and outer space
Outer space

Outer space comprises the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace and terrestrial locations....
. It was discovered that the Moon had no detectable magnetic field
Magnetic field

A magnetism field is a vector field which can exert a magnetic force on moving electric charges and on magnetic dipoles . When placed in a magnetic field, magnetic dipoles tend to align their axes parallel to the magnetic field....
. The first ever direct observations and measurements of the solar wind
Solar wind

The solar wind is a Electric current—a Plasma —ejected from the stellar atmosphere of the sun. It consists mostly of electrons and protons with energies of about 1 electron volt....
, a strong flow of ionized plasma
Plasma (physics)

In physics and chemistry, plasma is a partially ionized gas, in which a certain proportion of electrons are free rather than being bound to an atom or molecule....
 emanating from the Sun and streaming through interplanetary space, were performed. That ionized plasma concentration was measured to be some 700 particles per cm3 at altitudes 20-25 thousand km and 300 to 400 particles per cm3 at altitudes 100-150 thousand km. The spacecraft also marked the first instance of radio communication at the half million kilometres distance.

A malfunction in the ground-based control system caused an error in the rocket's burntime, and the spacecraft missed the target and flew by the Moon
Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the List of natural satellites by diameter satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth....
 at a distance of 5,900 km at the closest point. Luna 1 then became the first man-made object to reach heliocentric orbit
Heliocentric orbit

A heliocentric orbit is an orbit around the Sun. In our Solar System, all planets, comets, and asteroids are in such orbits, as are many artificial Space probe and pieces of Space debris....
 and was then dubbed a "new planet" and renamed Mechta. Its orbit lies between those of Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
 and Mars. The name "Luna-1" was applied retroactively years later. Luna-1 was originally referred to as the "First Cosmic Rocket", in reference to its achievement of escape velocity.

The spacecraft

The scientific equipment and the satellite's power center was located in the spherical container, combining for a mass of 361.3 kg. Five antennas extended from one hemisphere. Instrument ports also protruded from the surface of the sphere. The spacecraft contained radio equipment
Radio equipment

Radio equipment, as defined in Federal Information Management Regulations, is any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used to communicate over a distance by modulation and radiating electromagnetic waves in space without artificial guide....
, a tracking transmitter
Tracking transmitter

A Tracking transmitter broadcasts a radio signal which can be detected by a directional antenna By rotating the antenna one can determine the direction the signal lies in and of course whatever it may be attached to....
, a telemetry
Telemetry

Telemetry is a technology that allows the remote measurement and reporting of information of interest to the system designer or operator. The word is derived from Greek language roots tele = remote, and metron = measure....
 system, five different sets of scientific devices for studying interplanetary space (including a magnetometer
Magnetometer

A magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the strength and/or direction of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the instrument....
, Geiger counter
Geiger counter

A Geiger counter, also called a Geiger-M?ller counter, is a type of particle detector that measures ionizing radiation....
, scintillation counter
Scintillation counter

A scintillation counter measures ionizing radiation. The sensor, called a scintillator, consists of a transparent crystal, usually phosphor, plastic , or organic liquid that fluoresces when struck by ionizing radiation....
, and micrometeorite detector), and other equipment. The total final (with fuel spent) mass of the third (upper) stage rocket with the spacecraft was 1472 kg.

It was intended that after a completion of its scientific mission of in-flight measurements, Luna-1 would crash into the Moon delivering two metallic pennants with the Soviet coat of arms that were included into its package.

The flight

Luna 1 was launched 2 January 1959 at 16:41 GMT (19:41 Moscow Time
Moscow Time

Moscow Time is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second westernmost of the 11 Time in Russia....
) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
Baikonur Cosmodrome

The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tjuratam, is the world's first and largest operational Spaceport. It is located in the desert steppes of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station....
 by a Luna 8K72 rocket.

Luna 1 became the first ever man-made object to reach the escape velocity
Escape velocity

In physics, escape velocity is the speed where the kinetic energy of an object is equal to the magnitude of its gravitational potential energy, as calculated by the equation,...
 of the Earth (what is also known as the second cosmic velocity
Escape velocity

In physics, escape velocity is the speed where the kinetic energy of an object is equal to the magnitude of its gravitational potential energy, as calculated by the equation,...
), when it separated from its 1472 kg third stage. The third stage, 5.2 m long and 2.4 m in diameter, traveled along with Luna 1. On 3 January, 3:56:20 Moscow Time
Moscow Time

Moscow Time is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second westernmost of the 11 Time in Russia....
, at a distance of 119,500 km from Earth, a large (1 kg) cloud of sodium
Sodium

Sodium is an element which has the symbol Na , atomic number 11, atomic mass 23 amu , and a common oxidation number +1. Sodium is a soft, silvery white, highly reactive element and is a member of the alkali metals within "group 1" ....
 gas was released by the spacecraft, thus making this probe also the first artificial comet
Comet

A comet is a Small Solar System body that orbits the Sun and, when close enough to the Sun, exhibits a visible coma or a tail?both primarily from the effects of solar radiation upon the Comet nucleus....
. This glowing orange trail of gas, visible over the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
 with the brightness of a sixth-magnitude star for a few minutes, was photographed by Mstislav Gnevyshev at the Mountain Station of the Main Astronomical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR near Kislovodsk
Kislovodsk

Kislovodsk is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in Stavropol Krai, Russia. It lies in the North Caucasian region of Russia, between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea seas....
. It served as an experiment on the behavior of gas in outer space. Luna 1 passed within 5995 km of the Moon's surface on 4 January after 34 hours of flight. It went into orbit around the Sun, between the orbits of Earth and Mars.

See also

  • Pioneer 4
    Pioneer 4

    Pioneer 4 was a spin-stabilisation spacecraft launched as part of the Pioneer program on a lunar flyby trajectory and into a heliocentric orbit making it the first U.S....
     - a similar NASA
    NASA

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
     mission launched 1959-03-03, several weeks after Luna 1.