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| Luna 1 special Moscow K-9 postmarks in black and red ink. |
The first successful lunar spacecraft was the Soviet Union Luna 1 (or Mechta), placed on a fly-by trajectory in January 1959. Launched on 2 January 1959, Luna 1 missed the moon and went into a solar orbit. However, the spacecraft did provide some scientific data when it released a sodium vapor cloud 70,000 miles from earth that allowed scientists to study interplanetary gases.
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| Photo: Luna 1 orbit. |
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| Luna 1 special Moscow K-9 postmark on cover signed by Voskhod 2 cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. |
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Luna 1 special Moscow postmark
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| Luna 1 stamps on first day cover. |
(Reference from
Luna 1)
