Luna 1 was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Earth's Moon. Intended to be an impactor it was launched as part of the Soviet Luna programme. Due to an incorrectly timed upper stage burn during launch it missed the Moon. January 2, 1959 at 16:41 UTC · Launch Successful Vostok-L 8K72 — Soviet Space Program, to Lunar Impactor 1/5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan The world's 32nd orbital launch attempt, and 1st of 1959. Program: Luna Data: Launch Library 2, The Space Devs. Image by Roscosmos (Roscosmos Image Use Policy) via The Space Devs.