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March 18, 2019

#2125: Luna 2 explain

Luna 2

[Cueball is standing behind while Megan sits at a laptop.]

Megan: Huh. Luna 2, the first artificial object to touch another world, carried a sphere made of steel Soviet flag emblems.

[A patterned sphere is shown blowing up to pieces.]

It was designed to blow apart on impact, scattering tiny metal flags and ribbons across the surface of the moon.

[Close-up of Cueball and Megan’s faces.]

Cueball: So the first physical contact humans had with a heavenly body…

Megan: …was throwing a shrapnel grenade full of flags at it.

Cueball: Well, it’s on-brand for us, at least.