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Luna 1 was the first spacecraft to reach the MoonFor other moons in the solar system see natural satellite. For other uses see Moon (disambiguation). The Moon is the only natural satellite of Earth. It has no formal name other than "The Moon" although it is occasionally called Luna ( Latin for moon to d and the first of the Luna program of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations successfully launched in the direction of the Moon. While passing through the outer Van Allen radiation beltThe Van Allen radiation belt is a torus of energetic charged particles around Earth, trapped by Earth's magnetic field. When the belts "overload", particles strike the upper atmosphere and fluoresce, causing the polar aurora. The presence of a radiation b, the spacecraft's scintillatorA scintillator is a device or substance that absorbs high energy (ionizing) electromagnetic or charged particle radiation then, in response, fluoresces photons at a characteristic Stokes-shifted (longer) wavelength, releasing the previously absorbed energ made measurements indicating that there are very few high energyThis article is about the scientific concept. Energy use by humans is discussed in other articles''. Energy generally and qualitatively speaking, is the property (or the quantity of the property) of doing things or supplying power. The expressions energy particleA particle is # In particle physics, a basic unit of matter or energy. In ecology, a small object of nonbiological kind. In linguistics, a grammatical particle. In computer graphics, an element of a particle system (simulation). In common use: a very smals in the outer belt.

The spacecraft was spherical. Five antennae extended from one hemisphere. Instrument ports also protruded from the surface of the sphere. There were no propulsion systems on the Luna 1 spacecraft itself. Because of its high velocity and its announced package of various metallic emblems with the Soviet coat of arms, it was concluded that Luna 1 was intended to impact the Moon.

On January 2 1959, after reaching escape velocity, Luna 1 separated from its 1472 kg third stage. The third stage, 5.2 m long and 2.4 m in diameter, travelled along with Luna 1. On 3 January, at a distance of 113,000 km from Earth, a large (1 kg) cloud of sodium gas was released by the spacecraft. This glowing orange trail of gas, visible over the Indian Ocean with the brightness of a sixth-magnitude star, allowed astronomers to track the spacecraft. It also served as an experiment on the behavior of gas in outer space. Luna 1 passed within 5995 km of the Moon's surface on 4 January after 34 hours of flight. It went into orbit around the Sun, between the orbits of Earth and Mars.

The spacecraft contained radio equipment, a tracking transmitter, and telemetry system, five different sets of scientific devices for studying interplanetary space, including a magnetometer, geiger counter, scintillation counter, and micrometeorite detector , and other equipment. The measurements obtained during this mission provided new data on the Earth's radiation belt and outer space, including the discovery that the Moon had no magnetic field and that a solar wind, a strong flow of ionized plasma emanating from the Sun to stream through interplanetary space.