Luna E-1 #2

Launch data: Designation F00043 / 58F17 Launch date 11 Oct 1958 - 21:41:58 UT Launch site B, LC1 Launch vehicle Vostok-L (8K72L - n°B1-4) Satellite type Ye-1 #2 Mission Lunar impact Decay  11 Oct 1958

Specifications:

Description:

• three-component magnetometer
• two gas-discharge counters
• piezoelectric detector
• scintillation counter
• ion traps

Mission details:

• The second attempt to impact the Moon failed when, again, the probe never left Earth’s atmosphere.
• 11 Oct 1958: E-1-2 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Vostok rocket on a mission to hit the Moon by way of direct ascent trajectory.
• The Soviets launched the Moon probe only hours after America's Pioneer-1 took off, hoping that their faster probe would be able to beat Pioneer-1 to the Moon.
• The problem with adding upper stages to the basic ICBM produced longitudinal vibrations in the strap-on boosters, so that between 100 and 104 seconds after lift-off, the rocket disintegrated, showering the launch area with debris and burning metal.