50 years ago: Luna 1 escapes Earth's gravity

William Atkins
Friday, 02 January 2009 22:05

Science - Space

Fifty years ago, on January 2, 1959, Luna 1 started its mission to become the first ever human-made object to exceed the escape velocity of the Earth. The pioneering flight helped to secure further Russian history, with its historic 1961 space flight of Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space.


The 361.0-kilogram (796-pound) Luna 1 —also known as Lunik (Luna) and Mechta (Dream) in Russian and designated as 00112—was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.

Because it was the first spacecraft to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth, the Soviet Union called it the “First Cosmit Rocket.”

The Soviet spacecraft began its mission on January 2, 1959, at 16:41:21 Universal Time Corrected (UTC), or 19:41 Moscow Time.

A Luna 8K72 rocket lifted the Luna 1 off the ground from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is located in the desert steppes of the country of Kazakhstan (about 125 miles, 200 kilometers, east of the Aral Sea).

At that time, the launch facility was a part of the U.S.S.R. but today it is contained within the independent country of Kazakhstan

The robotic spacecraft helped scientists on Earth to measure the high-energy particles within the Van Allen radiation belt, which orbit the Earth.

Luna 1 also provided scientists with data on the Moon. Specifically, the probe discovered that the Moon does not have a detectable magnetic field.

Page two continues the story of Luna 1.