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 1 first instance of radio communication at the half-million-kilometer distance. A malfunction in the ground-based control system caused an error in the rocket's burntime, and the spacecraft missed the target and flew by the Moon at a distance of 5,900 km at the closest point. "Luna 1" then became the first man-made object to reach heliocentric orbit and was then dubbed a "new planet" and renamed "Mechta" ("Dream"). "Luna 1" was also referred to as the "First Cosmic Rocket", in reference to its achievement of escape velocity. "Luna 1" contained radio equipment including a tracking transmitter and telemetry system, and five