On January 2, 1959, 66 years ago, the Luna 1 probe was the first to reach the Earth escape velocity. The Soviet probe separated from the third stage of the rocket and headed for the Moon.
On January 3, at a distance of 113,000 kilometers from Earth, the probe (1,472 kilos in weight, 5.2 meters in length and 2.4 in diameter) released a cloud of sodium gas with a total weight of 1 kilo.
The ship left behind an orange trail that was visible from the Indian Ocean with the brightness of a sixth magnitude star (almost invisible to the naked eye). In this way, the technicians were able to continue for a time the trail of the ship and observe the behavior of a gas in a vacuum.
The probe – a sphere 80 centimeters in diameter, built of magnesium and aluminum and weighing 361 kilos – passed 5,995 kilometers from the surface of the Moon on January 4, after 34 hours of flight, becoming the first artificial satellite which currently rotates between the orbits of Earth and Mars. It did not impact the Moon, contrary to what was planned, due to a failure in the control system of the rocket that launched it, Wikipedia reports.
The original name of the ship was Mechta (which in Russian means dream) and was the first of a long and successful Soviet series (Moon Program) of interplanetary probes heading to our satellite. In 1963 the probe was renamed Luna 1, although in the West it had become popular under the name Lunik 1.
#years #passed #Luna #space #probe #escape #Earth #reach #vicinity #Moon
