Launched on January
2nd, 1959, the Soviet probe Luna 1 was the first to
arrive at the vicinity of the Earth’s Moon. Luna 1 passed within 5995 km of the
Moon's surface on 4 January after 34 hours of flight. Luna 1 provided new data
on the Earth's radiation belt and outer space, including the discovery that the
Moon had no magnetic field and that a solar wind, a strong flow of ionized
plasma emanating from the Sun, streamed through interplanetary space.
Luna 2
Luna 2 was launched on September 9th, 1959. It impacted on the lunar
surface east of Mare Serenitatis (Sea
of Serenity) near the Aristides,
Archimedes, and Autolycus craters on September 14th. Lunar 2
confirmed that the Moon had no magnetic field and no radiation belt.
Luna 3
Luna 3 was launch on October
4th, 1959. The spacecraft passed within 6,200 km of the Moon near
the south pole at its closest approach on October 6th 1959 and continued on to the far
side. It was the first to return images of the lunar far side, hitherto hidden
from human eyes. The images showed mountainous terrain, very different from the
near side, and only two dark regions which were named Mare Moscovrae (Sea
of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea
of Dreams).
President Kennedy and the Race to the Moon
When John F. Kennedy assumed the Presidency in 1961 he very
shortly experience a series of embarrassing reversals. On April 12, 1961, the Soviets scored another space
first when they orbited Yuri Gargarin. Though Alan Shephard would make a brief,
suborbital flight on May 5th, America
would not send an astronaut into orbit until February, 1962. The failure of the
Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba
added to Kennedy’s consternation.
Kennedy hit upon an inspiring goal that would rally the
country and focus the energies of the nascent US
space program. So, on May 25th, Kennedy addressed a join session of
Congress. “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal,
before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him
safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more
impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of
space, and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”