🔬 Luna 1 escapes Earth (1959)
Where: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
📅 On This Day: January 2
January 2, 1959: Luna 1 escapes Earth. On 2 January 1959, the Soviet probe Luna 1 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It missed the Moon and flew past it, but it became the first spacecraft to escape Earth's gravity. It is still circling the Sun today.
✨ More events on this day
- 1920 🎨 Isaac Asimov was born; he grew up to write hundreds of books, including famous science fiction stories about robots that follow helpful rules.
- 1921 🎨 Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. was first performed in Czechoslovakia, and it gave the world a brand-new word for machines that work like people: robot.
- 2004 🚀 NASA's Stardust spacecraft flew past Comet Wild 2 and caught tiny grains of comet dust, which it later carried safely back to Earth.
🧠 Question of the day
What is Luna 1 doing today?
- Circling the Sun
- Sitting in a museum
- Standing on the Moon
Show the answer
Answer: Circling the Sun
Questions
What happened on January 2?
January 2, 1959: Luna 1 escapes Earth. It happened in Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
In the game, the "Today on Earth" panel shows this story on its day, with a question to answer and a place to fly to.
More days in January
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_1