The collective conscious of human beings will forever remember July 20, 1969. For it was on that day that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left footprints of humanity on the surface of the moon. But not many of you might have heard about what had happened a decade before that incident, on September 14, 1959. You will, by the time you are through with this one…
The space race between the Soviets and the Americans was at its peak in the second half of the 20th century. Chief among both sides’ objectives was getting their own people on the surface of our satellite, the moon. Both parties pushed each other in this effort, eventually culminating in Apollo 11’s mission that managed the feat in 1969.
Develop expertise
It didn’t just happen though, as prior to sending human beings on such a voyage, sufficient expertise had to be developed. And for that to happen, they needed to be sure beyond any doubt that they could first reach such a target.
Following the success of the Sputnik spacecrafts, the Soviets planned a series of spacecrafts to be launched towards the moon. The Luna programme was planned to collect more information about the lunar environment, thus aiding in their efforts to eventually land human beings on the moon.
Luna 1 fails
Luna 1 was a spherical spacecraft with protruding antennae and instrument parts that set off for the moon in January 1959. A programming error, however, meant that it missed its target by almost 6,000 km, but it did become the first spacecraft to leave Earth’s gravity and enter an orbit around the sun.
On September 12 the same year, Luna 2, which was similar in design to Luna 1, was launched with the same objective – striking the moon. With similar instrumentation as its predecessor – including scintillation and geiger counters, a magnetometer, and micrometeorite detectors – and also carrying Soviet pennants, Luna 2 began its 33.5-hour journey.
First moon landing
Without a propulsion system of its own, Luna 2 was guided by the third stage of the SS-6 booster rocket until separation shortly before impact. Minutes into September 14, 1959, Luna 2 became the first object touched by humanity to hit the surface of the moon. Half an hour later, the booster’s third stage also struck the moon.
Apart from becoming the first man-made structure to reach the moon, the Luna 2 also has a number of other achievements to its credit. The instruments on board faithfully relayed back data before the crash, which were able to confirm that the moon neither possessed any appreciable magnetic field nor had any evidence of radiation belts. Hours before the impact, Luna 2 was able to release sodium gas that was bright orange in colour that not only aided tracking but also served as an experiment to test the behaviour of gas in space.
Even though the Luna programme didn’t reach its ultimate objective and was pipped to the finish by the Apollo missions, it was a success, by and large. Apart from Luna 1’s lunar flyby and Luna 2’s landing, Luna 3 was able to provide first photographs from the dark side of the moon, Luna 13 made the first successful soft landing on the moon’s surface, and Luna 17 was able to deploy the first lunar rover and perform the first lunar soil analysis.
Oh, and the pennants – engraved with the Soviet Coat of Arms, “USSR” in Cyrillic letters and the year “1959” – that Luna 2 carried and ejected onto the moon before the crash is probably still disintegrating on the lunar surface.
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Moscow makes it known
The Soviet government was quick to celebrate its victory on September 14, making it known to the people of what it had achieved. The state-controlled radio station’s normal programme of classical music was interrupted with the following announcement:
"Attention, Moscow speaking," the announcer said. "Today, the 14th of September, at 00:02:24, Moscow time, the second Soviet cosmic rocket reached the surface of the moon. It is the first time in history that a cosmic flight has been made from the Earth to another celestial body."
Published - September 09, 2018 01:15 am IST
