Much before Man landed on the Moon, spacecraft were sent into space. The space race officially began in the 1950s when the former Soviet Union and America began sending a bunch of rockets into space.
There was a neck-to-neck competition between the two countries. But, the Soviet Union stood one step ahead in the competition with the successful launch of Sputnik I. Their superiority in journeys to the Moon began with the launch of Luna 1.
Luna 1 created history in 1959; it was the first vehicle to fly near the Moon. It was launched as a part of the Soviet Luna Programme. It became famous as the first spacecraft to leave the geocentric orbit. It could not detect any magnetic field on the Moon as well.
However, a malfunction in the ground-based control system caused an error in the burn time of the rocket and as a result it could not land on the Moon. Luna 1 was followed by several missions some of which were major flops.
Picture Credit : Google
