dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (09/19/84)
The first craft from Earth ever to reach the moon was launched on this date in 1959. More on the Soviet craft Luna 2 -- in a minute. September 12: The First Lunar Visitor On today's date in 1959, a spacecraft was launched from the Soviet Union. Bearing scientific instruments -- and hammer-and-sickle emblems -- this craft became the first from Earth ever to reach another celestial body. Its name was Luna 2 -- and it crash-landed on the moon -- in the broad dark area that we call the Sea of Serenity. Luna 1 was supposed to be the first lunar visitor. It was launched nine months earlier, also from the Soviet Union. But, instead of crash-landing, Luna 1 missed the moon by nearly four thousand miles. It went into orbit around the sun, and so became the first artificial planetoid in the solar system. Although it didn't accomplish its mission, it did return valuable data on the solar wind. The Soviets continued the Luna program for nearly 20 years. During that time, Luna spacecraft accomplished some impressive feats -- like Luna 3, which took the first pictures of the moon's farside. Lunas 16 and 20 brought lunar soil samples back to Earth. And Lunas 17 and 21 landed robot vehicles on the moon, which explored nearly 30 miles of its surface. The Soviet man-in-space program hasn't been concentrated on the moon -- but instead on Earth-orbiting space stations where by now they've accumulated many years of experience in orbit. And rumor has it that the Russians soon will concentrate on an entirely different world -- with a possible manned mission to Mars sometime in the next decade. Script by Deborah Byrd. Richard S. Lewis, From Vinland to Mars, p. 142. Reginald Turnill, Spaceflight Directory 1, pp. 263-264. (c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin