1959 Luna Lunik 2 Russia Historic Moon Mission Lunar Space Rocket Pin Badge
1959 Luna Lunik 2 Russia Historic Moon Mission Lunar Space Rocket Pin Badge
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A silver coloured metal badge with a 3.1cm high badge face and has a safety clasp style fastener to the rear.
This is a Luna 2 pin badge celebrating the successful launch of the probe and featuring the rocket blasting towards the surface of the Moon and the date of the mission 12-14 September 1959.
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Lunik 2 was the second of the Soviet Union's Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon. It was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon, and the first man-made object to land on another celestial body. On September 14, 1959, it successfully impacted east of Mare Imbrium near the craters Aristides, Archimedes, and Autolycus.
The spacecraft also carried Soviet pennants. Two of them, located in the spacecraft, were sphere-shaped, with the surface covered by identical pentagonal elements. In the center was an explosive charge designed to shatter the sphere, sending the pentagonal shields in all directions.