| Date |
Time (UTC) |
Event |
| 1959 Jan 2 |
16:41 |
Luna 1 (E-1-4) spacecraft, also known as 'Mechta' (Dream) launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Vostok rocket on a mission to hit the Moon by way of a direct ascent trajectory |
| 1959 Jan 3 |
00:56 |
At a distance of 113,000 kilometres from Earth, the upper stage of Luna 1 launching rocket releases a cloud of sodium vapour, the glow from which is used to aid visual measurement of the trajectory - it is photographed from an observatory near Alma-Ata |
| 1959 Jan 4 |
02:59 |
Luna 1 passes 5,995 km from the Moon at a speed near 8,900 kilometres per hour and enters heliocentric orbit, thereby becoming the first artificial planet of the Sun |
| 1959 Jan 4 |
06:00 |
Luna 1 is 426,700 kilometres from Earth and 60,400 kilometres beyond the Moon |
| 1959 Jan 4 |
19:00 |
Luna 1 is 513,285 kilometres from Earth |
| 1959 Jan 5 |
07:00 |
Approx time - Luna 1 radio transmitter ceases to operate when the batteries run out of power at a distance of 600,000 kilometres from the Earth |
| 1959 May 1 |
|
Sputnik 3 ceases to return useful information although its radio transmitter continues to function - powered by solar cells |
| 1959 Jun 18 |
08:08 |
E-1-5 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Vostok rocket on a mission to hit the Moon by way of a direct ascent trajectory - a failure of the inertial guidance system 153 seconds after lift-off leads to the rocket being deliberately destroyed |
| 1959 Sep 6 |
00:49 |
Scheduled launch attempt for Luna 2 (E-1-6) - the launch is aborted |
| 1959 Sep 8 |
02:40 |
Scheduled launch attempt for Luna 2 (E-1-6) - the launch is aborted |
| 1959 Sep 9 |
03:40 |
Scheduled launch attempt for Luna 2 (E-1-6) - the launch is aborted |
| 1959 Sep 12 |
06:39 |
Luna 2 (E-1-6) spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Vostok rocket on a mission to hit the Moon by way of a direct ascent trajectory |
| 1959 Sep 12 |
12:00 |
Luna 2 is 126,400 kilometres from Earth above a point to the north of New Guinea |
| 1959 Sep 12 |
18:39 |
En-route to the Moon, the upper stage of Luna 2 launching rocket releases a cloud of sodium vapour, the glow from which is used to aid visual measurement of the trajectory - it is observed in the constellation Aquarius at a stellar magnitude between 4 and 5 |
| 1959 Sep 13 |
21:02 |
Luna 2 impacts on the Moon at a speed of three kilometres per second near 30 degrees north, 1 degree west, in the Palus Putredinis |
| 1959 Sep 13 |
21:32 |
Approximate time - Luna 2 final rocket stage impacts on the Moon |
| 1959 Oct 4 |
00:43 |
Luna 3 (E-2A-1) spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Vostok rocket on a mission to fly past and photograph the Moon by way of direct ascent trajectory. |
| 1959 Oct 6 |
14:16 |
Luna 3 passes 6,200 km from the Moon |
| 1959 Oct 7 |
03:30 |
Luna 3 photographs the hidden side of the Moon from an altitude of 65,200 km altitude - its camera system takes a series of 29 photographs over a period 40 minutes, covering 70% of the surface - film is developed automatically aboard the spacecraft and is then scanned to allow radio transmission of the images |
| 1959 Oct 10 |
|
Luna 3 reaches a distance of 480,000 kilometres from the Earth |
| 1959 Oct 18 |
|
Luna 3 is back in the vicinity of Earth and transmits 17 of its photographs in facsimile format - a later attempt at re-transmission fails when signals are not received |
| 1959 Oct 18 |
15:50 |
Luna 3 completes its first orbit of the Earth-Moon system |
