January 2, 1959 –
The Soviet Union launched the satellite Luna 1 on this date, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon. The plan for Luna 1, (containing two metallic pennants with the Soviet coat of arms to mark its presence there,) had been to conduct in-flight scientific measurements then crash into the moon.
A malfunction in the ground-based control system caused an error in the rocket’s burn time and the spacecraft missed the target and flew by the Moon. It was the first man-made object to reach the escape velocity of the Earth.
And so it goes
The Haus of Dcaligari 