The first of the Luna missions
The Hindu
Launched on January 2, 1959, Luna 1 was the first human-made object to escape the grip of the Earth’s gravity. Even though it didn’t meet its primary objective of impact with the moon’s surface, it achieved a lunar flyby before going on to become an artificial planet around the sun. A.S.Ganesh takes a look at the Luna 1 mission, the first of a highly successful space programme…
The Luna programme is one of the most successful programmes in space exploration. It included a series of robotic spacecraft missions that were aimed at the moon by the Soviet Union in the period between 1959 and 1976.
Designed as orbiters or landers, 15 missions were successful in this programme, accomplishing a series of firsts in our foray towards the moon. It all started with Luna 1, which became the first human-made object to reach escape velocity – the speed and direction required to travel beyond the Earth’s gravity.