Soviet Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the Moon's vicinity

On January 2, 1959, the Soviet Union launched the spacecraft later named Luna 1, a 796-pound sphere packed with instruments to measure radiation, magnetic fields, and micrometeorites. It became the first craft to break free of Earth’s gravity and travel into deep space.

The plan was to hit the Moon. A timing error in the rocket’s burn spoiled that ambition: about 34 hours after launch, Luna 1 swept past the Moon at a distance of roughly 6,000 kilometers rather than crashing into it. Controllers lost contact some 62 hours in, when the probe was around 370,000 miles from home.

The near-miss turned into a series of firsts. Luna 1 sailed on to become the first human-made object to orbit the Sun, and its data confirmed something startling: a steady stream of charged particles, the solar wind, blowing constantly through interplanetary space. A failed bullseye, it opened the way to the planets.