History of spaceflight of studying the moon.The program ran from 1959 to 1976 and consisted of 15 successful missions, the program achieved many first achievements and collected data on the Moon's chemical composition, gravity, temperature, and radiation. Luna 2 became the first man made object to make contact with the moons surface in September 1959. Luna 3 returned the first photographs of the far side of the moon in October 1959. The Vostok Programme the first Soviet spaceflight project to put the Soviet citizens into low Earth orbit and return them safely. The programme carried out six manned spaceflights between 1961 and 1963.
Luna 1 Luna 1 Luna 1, also known as Mechta ( , "lit.": "Dream"), E-1 No.4 and "First Lunar Rover ", was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Earth's Moon, and the first spacecraft to be placed in heliocentric orbit. Intended as an impactor, "Luna 1" was launched as part of the Soviet Luna programme in 1959, however due to an incorrectly timed upper stage burn during its launch, it missed the Moon, in the process becoming the first spacecraft to leave geocentric orbit. While traveling through the outer Van Allen radiation belt, the spacecraft's scintillator made observations indicating