Luna 1 but it was a second or two before we realised what we had". The picture shows the lights of Edinburgh in the foreground. The rocket is seen as an illuminated cloud top centre." "Luna 1" was meant to crash on the Moon; however, due to a malfunction of the ground control system, the probe missed its target by 5,995 kilometers. Despite this, "Luna 1" still managed to collect vital information to assist in the understanding of the universe. Its goal to crash on the Moon was subsequently achieved by Luna 2 on September 13, 1959. Luna 1 Luna 1, also
Deliberate crash landings on extraterrestrial bodies purposes of this article. The crash landing sites themselves are of interest to space archeology. Luna 1, not itself a lunar orbiter, was the first spacecraft designed as an impactor. It failed to hit the Moon in 1959, however, thus inadvertently becoming the first man-made object to leave geocentric orbit and enter a heliocentric orbit, where it remains to this day. ! style="text-align:left" width=" |Mission ! style="text-align:left" width=" |Country/ Agency ! style="text-align:left" width=" |Date of landing/impact ! style="text-align:left" width=" |Notes Deliberate crash landings on extraterrestrial bodies These are tables of space probes (typically orbiters or components thereof) which have been