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Luna 1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (408 words) |
 | Luna 1 was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and the first of the Luna programme of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations successfully launched in the direction of the Moon. |
 | On January 2, 1959 Luna 1 became the first ever man-made object to reach the escape velocity of the Earth, when it separated from its 1472 kg third stage. |
 | Luna 1 passed within 5995 km of the Moon's surface on 4 January after 34 hours of flight. |
| Luna programme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (648 words) |
 | The Luna programme (occasionally called Lunik) was a series of unmanned space missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. |
 | Luna 1 missed its intended impact with the Moon and became the first spacecraft to fall into orbit around the Sun. |
 | Luna 3 rounded the Moon later that year, and returned the first photographs of its far side, which can never be seen from Earth. |