13 September 1959
Waxing Gibbous, 89% lit
The first thing we ever touched
Luna 2 hit the Moon at 7,500 miles an hour, the first human object ever to reach another world.
It scattered metal pennants stamped with the Soviet coat of arms, designed to survive the impact. Khrushchev handed a duplicate to Eisenhower as a gift two days later.
- Date
- 13 September 1959
- Moon computed for
- 22:00 local time, UTC
- Phase
- Waxing Gibbous
- Illuminated
- 89%
Source: NASA NSSDC (opens in a new tab)