Luna 2 Smashes Moon: First Man-Made Object Arrives
Soviet engineers smashed Luna 2 into the lunar surface east of Mare Imbrium, becoming the first human-made object to touch another world. This direct impact proved that a spacecraft could survive the journey and deliver instruments to a celestial body, instantly shifting space exploration from theoretical orbital flybys to physical contact.
September 14, 1959
67 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on September 14
Domitian seized the Roman throne immediately following his brother Titus’s sudden death from fever. His ascension ended the brief Flavian succession of natural …
Helena was 77 years old and traveling through Palestine when she reportedly found what she believed to be the True Cross — buried under a pagan temple on Golgot…
Emperor Heraclius paraded through the Golden Gate of Constantinople, carrying the True Cross he had reclaimed from the Sassanid Persians. This victory ended a g…
Three caliphs ruled the Islamic world in a single night. Al-Hadi died — some say poisoned on his mother's orders — and his brother Harun al-Rashid inherited an …
Harun al-Rashid ascended to the Abbasid throne following his brother’s sudden death, ushering in the Islamic Golden Age. Under his rule, Baghdad transformed int…
Niall Glúndub — 'Niall of the Black Knee' — was the most powerful king in Ireland, and he rode out to fight the Dublin Vikings with a coalition behind him. The …
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