Soviet Probe Reaches Moon: Space Race Intensifies
Luna 1 missed the Moon by 3,725 miles. That was the plan — sort of. The Soviets had aimed for an impact, but a timing error during the upper-stage burn sent the probe sailing past. Didn't matter. On January 2, 1959, it became the first human-made object to escape Earth's gravity and reach the vicinity of another world. The spacecraft carried no cameras. It did carry instruments that discovered the solar wind — a stream of charged particles flowing from the Sun that nobody had directly measured before. Luna 1 also confirmed the Moon had no magnetic field worth mentioning. After passing the Moon, the probe kept going. It settled into orbit around the Sun, somewhere between Earth and Mars. It's still out there. The Soviets called it Mechta — "Dream." The Americans, watching from behind, called it a wake-up call.
January 2, 1959
67 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Luna 1
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spacecraft
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U.S.S.R.
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Soviet Union
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Luna 1
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Moon
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Sun
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Soviet Union
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Crimea
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Poland
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Józef Piłsudski
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International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
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Louis Daguerre
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Sonda espacial
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