Luna 2 Crashes into the Moon: First Object to Reach Another World
Soviet engineers smashed Luna 2 into the lunar surface east of Mare Imbrium, becoming the first human-made object to touch another world. This direct impact proved that a spacecraft could survive the journey and deliver instruments to a celestial body, instantly shifting space exploration from theoretical orbital flybys to physical contact.
September 14, 1959
67 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on September 14
Domitian seized the Roman throne immediately following his brother Titus’s sudden death from fever. His ascension ended the brief Flavian succession of natural …
Helena was 77 years old and traveling through Palestine when she reportedly found what she believed to be the True Cross — buried under a pagan temple on Golgot…
entrée de Bélisaire dans Carthage.
Emperor Heraclius paraded through the Golden Gate of Constantinople, carrying the True Cross he had reclaimed from the Sassanid Persians. This victory ended a g…
Three caliphs ruled the Islamic world in a single night. Al-Hadi died — some say poisoned on his mother's orders — and his brother Harun al-Rashid inherited an …
Niall Glúndub — 'Niall of the Black Knee' — was the most powerful king in Ireland, and he rode out to fight the Dublin Vikings with a coalition behind him. The …
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