Mission record
Luna 2
Also known as Lunik 2, Second Cosmic Rocket, Ye-1 No. 7
U.S.S.R · Launched
Explore trajectoryCompleted · Success
The first spacecraft to reach the surface of another world, impacting the Moon east of Mare Serenitatis.
- Destinations
- Launch vehicle
- Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation (Longer) Upper Stage
- Launch site
- Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.R
- Countries
- Soviet Union
- Mission types
- Impactor
Chronology
Mission timeline
Deployment
Luna 2 probe separated from Blok-E
The upper stage continued independently after releasing the probe. This event does not assign it the probe trajectory.
EarthImpact
Luna 2 Blok-E impacted the Moon
The source places the upper-stage impact roughly 30 minutes after the probe, at an unknown site.
MoonLoss of contact
Jodrell Bank lost Luna 2’s radio signal
The reported signal-loss epoch is a radio observation, not a separately measured lunar impact time; it was interpreted as consistent with impact.
Mission architecture
Vehicles
Trajectory record
Trajectory dataset not yet available
Known dates and encounters do not uniquely determine a flight path. This mission’s sourced timeline is available above; no verified trajectory is currently published here.
What is needed to reconstruct this path?
- A frame-qualified position and vector velocity at an epoch, or equivalent complete orbital elements.
- Independent descent/return states and a source-defined body-fixed landing location; a landing date alone does not define either.
- Separate state histories and release epochs for the listed vehicles; a parent mission trajectory cannot be assigned to every component.
- Finer event-time constraints where required by an orbital reconstruction; the stored day/month/year precision is retained.
Provenance
Sources
Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.
Data verified through October 12, 2026
- Luna 2 - NASA NSSDCA Spacecraft Details — NSSDCAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Space Flight Handbooks, Volume2: Lunar Flight Handbook, Part1—Background Material, NASA SP-34 (1963) — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Luna2 Spacecraft and Subsystems, current NSSDCA record — NSSDCATechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Jodrell Bank’s role in early space tracking activities, Part1 — Sven Grahn archival history — OTHERTechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016: Ye-1 and Ye-1A instrument and power inventories — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 — Luna 2 launch record — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- DE421 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFTechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- DE440 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- IAU rotational elements and body radii (PCK 00011) — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA global lunar height maps, LDEM_4 V3 original PDS source label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA 2023 south-polar elevation, uncertainty and effective-resolution maps — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Seen From Above: LROC site and terrain context — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Moon Facts — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context
- SLDEM2015 Blue Ghost region: original PDS elevation-grid label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- JPL Solar System Dynamics Astrodynamic Parameters — JPLOther · Supports: destination/body context
- Planet Sizes and Locations in Our Solar System — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context