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 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