Luna 2- The First Lunar Probe

Date: September 14, 1959

Luna 2 was the second spacecraft launched towards the Moon by the USSR. It was part of a series of spacecraft under the name of “Luna” which was named because of the objective of reaching the Moon. The significance of this spacecraft was that it was the first to impact the Moon’s surface. It impacted the lunar surface east of Mare Serenitatis (NASA.gov), one of the large basaltic plains that rest on the moon’s surface.

Luna 2 was of similar design to Luna 1. It was small and spherical, and it had a lot of antennas protruding out of its body. “The instrumentation was also similar, including scintillation- and geiger- counters, a magnetometer, and micrometeorite detectors” (NASA.gov). Luna 2 also carried Soviet pennants like its predecessor. It also did not have any propulsion system on it, as it was just meant to crash into the moon.

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/thumbnail/luna_2.gif

“After launch and attainment of escape velocity on 12 September 1959, Luna 2 separated from its third stage, which travelled along with it towards the Moon” (NASA.gov). A day after, the spacecraft released a trail of orange gas, which, as with Luna 1, was used to calculate its path and to test how gas was affected in space. On September 14, communication with the spacecraft stopped, meaning that it had hit the moon. Some 30 minutes after Luna 2 came in contact with the Moon’s surface, the third stage of its rocket also impacted the Moon at an unidentified location. The mission confirmed that the Moon had no considerable magnetic field, and found no evidence of radiation belts around the Moon (NASA.gov).