Luna E-6 No.2 Luna E-6 No.2 Luna E-6 No.2, also identified as No.1, and sometimes known in the West as Sputnik 25, was a Soviet spacecraft which launched in 1963, but was placed into a useless orbit due to a problem with the upper stage of the rocket that launched it. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the first of twelve to be launched, It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final E-6 spacecraft, Luna 9. Luna E-6 No.2 was launched at 08:49 UTC on
Luna 2 time of impact, and the transmission and trajectory details. Even though Soviet scientists gave all this information, the Americans were still skeptical until Bernard Lovell was able to prove that the radio signal was coming from "Luna 2" by showing the Doppler shift from its transmissions. After this no one seemed to question the veracity of the Soviets. "Luna 2" showed time variations in the electron flux and energy spectrum in the Van Allen radiation belt. The spacecraft also carried Soviet pennants. Two of them, located in the spacecraft, were sphere-shaped, with the surface covered by identical pentagonal elements. In