Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958-2000, NASA, 2002. National Space Science Data Center Master Catalog: Luna 2 Selected References Spacecraft Mass: 860 pounds (390.2 kilograms) with upper stage The pictures from China's National Space Administration show the five-starred Red. The radiation detectors also found no hint of a radiation belt Spacecraft China has planted its flag on the Moon, more than 50 years after the US first planted the Stars and Stripes there. The spacecraft’s magnetometer measured no significant lunar magnetic field as close as 55 kilometers to the lunar surface. Luna 2 (as it was renamed in 1963) deposited Soviet emblems on the lunar surface carried in 9 x 15-centimeter metallic spheres. The probe collided with the moon at approximately 30 degrees north latitude and 0 degrees longitude on the slope of the Autolycus crater, east of Mare Serenitatis. 14, 1959, becoming the first object of human origin to make contact with another celestial body. This sixth Soviet attempt at lunar impact was much more accurate than its predecessors, and the spacecraft reached the surface of the Moon at 23:02:23 UT on Sept. Three days later, Luna 2 achieved escape velocity (the speed and direction required to travel beyond Earth’s gravity). 12 in a cloud that expanded to about 400 miles (650 kilometers) in diameter and was clearly visible from the ground. When the spacecraft reached about 97,000 miles (about 156,000 kilometers) from Earth, it released one kilogram of sodium gas on Sept. 9, 1959, the Ye-1A probe, also known at the time as the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket, successfully lifted off on Sept. 14, 1959: Lunar Impact | 23:02:23 UT In DepthĪfter an aborted launch on Sept. The spacecraft's sensors found no evidence of a lunar magnetic field or radiation belt. The spacecraft scattered spherical emblems of the Soviet Union on the lunar surface. Luna 2 was the first object of human origin to make contact with another celestial body.

The spacecraft carried sensors to study interplanetary space and sodium gas to enable Earthbound observers to follow its progress. But it was the first successful attempt for any nation, making the Luna 2 probe the first human-made object to reach the surface of another celestial body. Luna 2, originally named the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket, was the sixth Soviet attempt to send a probe crashing into the Moon.

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Russia | Launch Site 1

2nd man on the moon pictures