Mission Summary
The triumphant second entry of the modified Soviet E-1A series, this spacecraft lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 12, 1959. Officially designated Luna E-1A No. 2, the mission was strategically timed to secure a massive cold war propaganda victory just days before Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's historic state visit to the United States.
Engineers built the 860-pound (390.2 kg) spherical probe with a highly focused operational blueprint: fly a precise, direct-intercept trajectory and collide head-on with the Moon. It carried a sophisticated payload of fluxgate magnetometers, geiger counters, and micrometeoroid detectors. Crucially, the sphere was packed with dozens of pentagonal metal shield segments engraved with the Soviet coat of arms and the inscription "USSR September 1959," designed to explosively scatter across the surface upon impact to mark the territorial milestone.
The flight executed its path with flawless precision. During transit on September 13, the upper stage successfully released its signature bright orange sodium gas cloud, allowing observatories worldwide to visually confirm its deep-space position. Precisely 33.5 hours after launch, Luna 2 slammed directly into the lunar surface on September 14, 1959, hitting the Palus Putredinis region at a terminal velocity of 2.05 miles per second (3.3 km/s). It completely vaporized upon impact, securing an immortal spot in spaceflight history as humanity's very first contact with the Moon.
Sources and notes can be found on the Sources page.
