Luna 1

First spacecraft to escape Earth orbit. Intended to impact the Moon, passed it instead.

Trajectory

First spacecraft to reach Earth-escape velocity. A timing error in the third-stage shutdown caused Luna 1 to miss its lunar target by 5965 km, instead becoming the first human-made object in heliocentric orbit (later named 'Mechta', or Dream). On 3 January 1959 it released a 1 kg sodium gas cloud at 113,000 km altitude to make its trajectory optically visible from Earth.