page_title: Luna 2
section_title: Payload
hierarchical_section_title: Luna 2 / Payload
caption_attribution_description: English: Block-E rocket stage as used in the Luna rocket.
context_page_description: 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.
  The spacecraft was launched on 12 September 1959 by the Luna 8K72 s/n I1-7B rocket. It followed a direct path to the Moon. In addition to the radio transmitters sending telemetry information back to Earth, the spacecraft released a sodium gas cloud so the spacecraft's movement could be visually observed. On 13 September 1959, it impacted the Moon's surface east of Mare Imbrium near the craters Aristides, Archimedes, and Autolycus. It was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon, and the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body.
  Prior to impact, two sphere-shaped pennants with USSR and the launch date engraved in Cyrillic were detonated, sending pentagonal shields in all directions. Luna 2 did not detect radiation or magnetic belts around the Moon.
context_section_description: Luna 2 carried five different types of instruments to conduct various tests while it was on its way to the Moon. The scintillation counters were used to measure any ionizing radiation and the Cherenkov radiation detectors to measure electromagnetic radiation caused by charged particles. The primary scientific purpose of the Geiger Counter carried on Luna 2 was to determine the electron spectrum of the Van Allen radiation belt. It consisted of three STS-5 gas-discharge counters mounted on the outside of an airtight container. The last instrument on Luna 2 was a three component fluxgate magnetometer. It was similar to that used on Luna 1 but its dynamic range was reduced by a factor of 4 to ±750 gammas so that the quantisation uncertainty was ±12 gammas. The probe's instrumentation was powered by silver-zinc and mercury-oxide batteries.
  The spacecraft also carried Soviet pennants which were located on the probe and on the Luna 2 rocket. The two sphere-shaped pennants in the probe had surfaces covered by 72 pentagonal elements in pattern similar to an association football. In the centre was an explosive charge designed to shatter the sphere, sending the pentagonal shields in all directions. Each pentagonal element was made of titanium alloy; the centre regular pentagon had the State Emblem of the Soviet Union with the Cyrillic letters СССР ("USSR") engraved below and was surrounded by five non-regular pentagons which were each engraved with СССР СЕНТЯБРЬ 1959 ("USSR SEPTEMBER 1959"). The third pennant was similar engravings on aluminium strips which were embossed on the last stage of the Luna 2 rocket.
  The scientists took extra, unspecified precautions in preventing biological contamination of the Moon.
caption: Upper stage of Luna rocket
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