January 2: First Spacecraft to Reach Escape Velocity of Earth was Launched, 1959

On January 2, 1959 — 59 years ago today — the Soviet Union’s Luna 1 (a name applied retroactively years later) was launched and became the first spacecraft to reach escape speed of the Earth. The spacecraft was first known as “Mechta” (“Dream”) and its mission was to hit the Moon via a direct ascent trajectory. An incorrectly timed upper stage burn of the third stage rocket caused Luna 1 to miss the Moon by more than 3,600 miles (5,900 kilometers); but after missing the Moon, Luna 1 became the first spacecraft to reach solar orbit (its orbit lies between the planets of Earth and Mars). 
Luna 1 also marked the first time in history that radio communication took place at over 310,000 miles (500,000 kilometers). Luna 1 discovered that the Moon had no magnetic field; it also found the existence of a solar wind — a strong flow of ionized plasma originating from the Sun and streaming through interplanetary space.
YouTube video:
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=242XVAmccZ0 (old documentary made in the late 1980s and early 1990s).
Sources:
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_1
•http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1959-012A
•http://www.zarya.info/Diaries/Luna/Luna01.php
•http://www.mapsofworld.com/on-this-day/january-2-1959-the-soviet-union-launches-luna-1
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_wind•http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/SolarWind.shtml
•http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/sw.html
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artificial_objects_in_heliocentric_orbit
Image credits:
•Model of Luna 1: RIA Novosti archive, image #510848 / Alexander Mokletsov / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons