Luna 1

Specifications: Prime contractor  OKB-1 Mass at launch 361,3 kg Dry Mass   kg Dimension 0,9 dia Basic shape sphere Description: The spacecraft was sphere-shaped. Five antennae extended from one hemisphere. Instrument ports also protruded from the surface of the sphere. There were no propulsion systems on the spacecraft itself. The spacecraft also included various metallic emblems with the Soviet coat of arms. The spacecraft contained radio equipment, a tracking transmitter, and telemetering system, five different sets of scientific devices for studying interplanetary space, including a magnetometer, geiger counter, scintillation counter, and micrometeorite detector, and other equipment. Scientific Instruments: three-component magnetometer two gas-discharge counters piezoelectric detector scintillation counter ion traps

Mission details:

• 02Jan 1959: Luna 1 (E-1-4) spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Vostok rocket on a mission to hit the Moon by way of a direct ascent trajectory, with the 1469 kg top stage and the 361,3 kg payload sphere of 1,2 m diameter, also called "Mechta" for "Dream".
• The final stage burned too long and gave the probe too much velocity.
  

  Sodium cloud

  03 Jan 1959 (00:56): At a distance of 112700 kilometres from Earth, the upper stage of Luna 1 launching rocket releases a cloud of Sodium vapour, the glow from which is used to aid visual measurement of the trajectory - it is photographed from an observatory near Alma-Ata. The cloud was 100 km long, and confirmed the velocity at 40330 kph. This glowing orange trail of gas, visible over the Indian Ocean with the brightness of a sixth-magnitude star, allowed astronomers to track the spacecraft. It also served as an experiment on the behavior of gas in outer space.

  
  
• 04 Jan 1959 (02:59): Luna 1 passes 5,995 km from the Moon (after 34 hours of flight) at a speed near 8,900 kilometres per hour and enters heliocentric orbit, thereby becoming the first artificial planet of the Sun.
  The measurements obtained during this mission provided new data on the Earth's radiation belt and outer space, including the discovery that the Moon had no magnetic field and that a solar wind, a strong flow of ionized plasma emmanating from the Sun, streamed through interplanetary space.
• 04 Jan 1959 (06:00): Luna 1 is 426,700 kilometres from Earth and 60,400 kilometres beyond the Moon.
• 04 Jan 1959 (19:00): Luna 1 is 513,285 kilometres from Earth.
• 05 Jan 1959 (~07:00): Transmissions continued until 62 hours, when the batteries run out of power, at a distance of 597000 km. The on-board instruments detected no lunar magnetic field.
• First lunar flyby and become the first man-made object to enter solar orbit with parameters of 193 200 000 by 146 670 000 km and period of 446 earth-days.
• Lunar probe; passed within 5.995 km of moon but did not hit it as planned due to a failure of the launch vehicle control system. Went into solar orbit. First manmade object to attain of escape velocity. Because of its high velocity and its announced package of various metallic emblems with the Soviet coat of arms, it was concluded that Luna 1 was intended to impact the Moon. After reaching escape velocity, Luna 1 separated from its 1472 kg third stage. The third stage, 5.2 m long and 2.4 m in diameter, travelled along with Luna 1.