Luna E-1 #1

Launch data: Designation F00039 / 58F15 Launch date 23 Sep 1958 - 07:03:23 UT Launch site Baikonur, LC1 Launch vehicle Vostok-L (8K72L - n° B1-3) Satellite type Ye-1 #1 Mission Lunar impactor Operator   Decay 23 Sep 1958

Specifications:

Description:

• 1) three-component magnetometer
• 2) two gas discharge counters
• 3) piezoelectric detector
• 4) scintillation counter
• 5) ion traps

Mission details:

• 28 Jan 1958: Sergei Korolyov proposes a programme of lunar exploration missions including impact on the Moon and photographing its surface.
• Engineers conceived of four initial probes, the Ye-1 (for lunar impact), Ye-2 (to photograph the far side of the Moon), Ye-3 (to photograph the far side of the Moon), and Ye-4 (for lunar impact with a nuclear explosion). The Ye-1 was a simple probe, a pressurized spherical object made from aluminum-magnesium alloy, approximately the size of the first Sputnik, that carried five scientific instruments. The goals of the mission were to study the gas component of interplanetary matter (using the proton traps), meteoric particles and photons in cosmic radiation (using the piezoelectric detectors), the magnetic fields of the Moon and Earth (using the magnetometer), variations in cosmic ray intensity, and heavy nuclei in primary cosmic radiation. The probe (on its upper stage) also carried one kilogram of natrium to create an artificial comet on the outbound trajectory that could be photographed from Earth.
• First launch with the new Vostok-L rocket, carried a probe to impact on the Moon.
• Soviet scientists mounted a type E third stage on top of their 280t R7 rocket in an attempt to reach escape velocity and impact a pakage of instruments on the Moon. The mission was also to include the release of a small cloud of sodium and create a "sodium comet" which could be seen from Earth.
• 23 Sep 1958: Ye-1-1 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Vostok rocket on a mission to hit the Moon by way of direct ascent trajectory.
• The additional weight (of the upper stage) caused resonant frequencies in the strap-on boosters which began shaking the rocket apart. Between 87 and 92,5 seconds into the flight the rocket broke up. Boosters and stages exploded as they impacted down range.