Luna 1, also known as Mechta ( , lit.: Dream), E-1 No.4 and First Lunar Rover, was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of Earth's Moon, the first spacecraft to leave Earth's orbit, and the first to be placed in heliocentric orbit. Luna 1 was launched as part of the Soviet Luna programme in 1959.

Initially intended as a Moon impactor, a malfunction in the ground-based control system caused an error in the upper stage rocket's burn time, and the spacecraft missed the Moon by 5,900 km (more than three times the Moon's radius). Nevertheless, Luna 1 became the first human-made object to reach heliocentric orbit and was dubbed "Artificial Planet 1" and renamed Mechta (Dream). Luna 1 was also referred to as the "First Cosmic Ship", Citizens of Moscow unofficially deemed it Lunik, a combination of Luna (Moon) and Sputnik. Two micrometeorite detectors, developed by Tatiana Nazarova of the Vernadsky Institute, were installed on the spacecraft. They each consisted of a metal plate with springs and could detect small impacts. Four ion traps, used to measure solar wind and plasma, were included. They were developed by Konstantin Gringauz. The scientific payload also included two gas-discharge Geiger counters, a sodium-iodide scintillation counter, and a Cherenkov detector. The upper stage of the rocket contained a scintillation counter and of sodium for a gas-dispersion experiment.

Launch

Luna 1 was launched at 16:41 GMT (22:41 local time) on 2 January 1959 from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome by a Luna 8K72 rocket. The first three stages operated nominally. The Soviet engineers did not trust automated systems for controlling the engine burns, so they communicated to the rocket via radio. The signal to stop firing the engine Block E stage was delayed, and the prolonged burn imparted an extra 175 m/s to Luna 1.

Consequently Luna 1 missed its target by . The spacecraft passed within of the Moon's surface on 4 January after 34 hours of flight, and then became the first human made object to leave Earth's orbit on January 6, 1959.

Experiment results

thumb|left|175px|Luna 1 [[Blok E (R-7)|Blok E upper stage and payload configuration.]]

At 00:57 GMT on 3 January 1959, at a distance of from Earth, of sodium gas was released by the spacecraft, forming a cloud behind it to serve as an artificial comet. The cloud was released for two purposes: to allow visual tracking of the spacecraft's trajectory and to observe the behavior of gas in space.

While traveling through the outer Van Allen radiation belt, the spacecraft's scintillator made observations indicating that a small number of high-energy particles exist in the outer belt. The measurements obtained during this mission provided new data on the Earth's radiation belt and outer space. The craft was unable to detect a lunar magnetic field which placed an upper limit on its strength of 1/10,000th of Earth's. The first-ever direct observations and measurements of solar wind, The spacecraft also marked the first instance of radio communication at the half-million-kilometer distance.

Reaction

thumb|Route of Luna 1 on a Soviet stamp.

Some doubted the veracity of the Soviets' claim of mission success. Lloyd Mallan wrote about it in a book called The Big Red Lie. Many in the West did not receive transmissions from the spacecraft even though the Soviets publicized them before the flight. By the time the Earth rotated so that scientists in the United States could pick up signals from the spacecraft, it was already away. In May 1959 several hearings Soviet Space Technology before the Committee on Science and Astronautics and Special Subcommittee on Lunik Probe of the United States House of Representatives attested the achievements of the Soviet mission and its sophisticated guidance technology.

The Soviet Union issued stamps to commemorate their success.

Subsequent missions

Luna 2, the second spacecraft of the Ye-1A series, successfully completed the mission on 13 September 1959.

See also

  • Pioneer 4 – a similar NASA mission launched 3 March 1959, two months after Luna 1.
  • List of missions to the Moon

References

Further reading

  • Boris Chertok, "Rakety i liudi: goriachie dni, kholodnoy voyny", Moscow, "Mashinostroenie", 2nd edition (1999). Sect. 2–7.
  • Zarya – Luna 1 chronology