Exploration of the Moon and indeed of human history in general. The first man-made object to reach the Moon was the unmanned Soviet probe Luna 2, which made a hard landing on September 14, 1959, at 21:02:24 Z. The far side of the Moon was first photographed on October 7, 1959, by the Soviet probe Luna 3. Though vague by today's standards, the photos showed that the far side of the Moon almost completely lacked maria. In an effort to compete with these Soviet successes, U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed the national goal of landing a human on the Moon. Speaking to a
Luna 2 how the sodium gas would act in a vacuum and zero gravity. The last stage of the rocket that carried "Luna 2" did not carry any type of tracking device so there was uncertainty as to where it landed, but it did hit the Moon surface about 30 minutes after "Luna 2" hit. For a time, Americans were starting to believe that they were making progress in the space race and that although the Soviets might have had larger rockets, the United States had better guidance systems. This myth was busted after the Soviets were able to crash "Luna 2"