Luna 2 Strikes the Moon

Date: September 13, 1959 • Location: Moscow, Russia

The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 (model pictured) struck the Moon, the first spacecraft to reach another celestial body.

Luna 2, originally named the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket and nicknamed Lunik 2 in contemporaneous media, was the sixth of the Soviet Union's Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon, E-1 No.7. It was the first spacecraft to touch the surface of the Moon, and the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body.