The first space probe to complete its mission was Luna 2. It was launched by the USSR in 1959 and successfully landed on its destination — the Moon. Its predecessor, Luna 1, was launched towards the same target several months earlier but missed by 6000km (3730 miles).
Luna 1 (launched Jan. 2, 1959) was the first spacecraft to escape Earth’s gravity. It failed to impact the Moon as planned and became the first man-made object to go into orbit around the Sun. Luna 2 (launched Sept. 12, 1959) was the first spacecraft to strike the Moon, and Luna 3 (Oct. 4, 1959) made the first circumnavigation of the Moon and returned the first photographs of its far side. Luna 9 (Jan. 31, 1966) made the first successful lunar soft landing. Luna 16 (Sept. 12, 1970) was the first unmanned spacecraft to carry lunar soil samples back to Earth. Luna 17 (Nov. 10, 1970) soft-landed a robot vehicle, Lunokhod 1, for exploration. It also contained television equipment, by means of which it transmitted live pictures of several kilometres of the Moon’s surface. Luna 22 (May 29, 1974) orbited the Moon 2,842 times while conducting space research in its vicinity. Luna 24 (Aug. 9, 1976) returned with lunar soil samples taken from a depth of seven feet (about two metres) below the surface.
Luna 2 was the first object of human origin to make contact with another celestial body. The spacecraft scattered spherical emblems of the Soviet Union on the lunar surface. The spacecraft’s sensors found no evidence of a lunar magnetic field or radiation belt.
After an aborted launch on Sept. 9, the Ye-1A probe, also known at the time as the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket, successfully lifted off on Sept. 12 (Sept. 13 Moscow time). When the spacecraft reached about 97,000 miles (about 156,000 kilometers) from Earth, it released one kilogram of sodium gas on Sept. 12 in a cloud that expanded to about 400 miles (650 kilometers) in diameter and was clearly visible from the ground.
Three days later, Luna 2 achieved escape velocity (the speed and direction required to travel beyond Earth’s gravity). This sixth Soviet attempt at lunar impact was much more accurate than its predecessors, and the spacecraft reached the surface of the Moon at 23:02:23 UT on Sept. 14, 1959, becoming the first object of human origin to make contact with another celestial body.
The probe collided with the moon at approximately 30 degrees north latitude and 0 degrees longitude on the slope of the Autolycus crater, east of Mare Serenitatis.
Luna 2 (as it was renamed in 1963) deposited Soviet emblems on the lunar surface carried in 9 x 15-centimeter metallic spheres. The spacecraft’s magnetometer measured no significant lunar magnetic field as close as 55 kilometers to the lunar surface. The radiation detectors also found no hint of a radiation belt.