Editing Luna 2 (section)

== Legacy ==
''Luna 2'' was a success for the Soviets, and was the first in a series of missions (lunar impactors) that were intentionally crashed on the Moon. The later U.S.-made [[Ranger program|Ranger]] missions ended in similar impacts. Such controlled crashes have remained useful even after the technique of [[Soft landing (aeronautics)|soft landing]] was mastered.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/28jul_crashlanding/|title=Crash Landing on the Moon|last1=Phillips|first1=Tony|date=28 July 2006|publisher=Science@NASA|access-date=20 April 2016|archive-date=16 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100416120608/https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/28jul_crashlanding/|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[NASA]] used hard spacecraft impacts to test whether shadowed Moon craters contain ice by analyzing the debris that was created on impact.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2010/10-89AR.html |last1=Hoover|first1=Rachel|last2=Jones|first2=Nancy Neal|last3=Braukus|first3=Michael|title=NASA Missions Uncover the Moon's Buried Treasures|date=21 October 2010|publisher=NASA}}</ref>

The pennant presented to Eisenhower is kept at the [[Eisenhower Presidential Center|Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum]] in [[Abilene, Kansas]], U.S.<ref name="rbth">{{cite news |url=https://www.rbth.com/science-and-tech/326131-soviet-space-luna|title=58 years ago: the Soviet space probe, Luna 2, was launched|last1=Ivanov|first1=Stepan|newspaper=Russia Beyond|date=12 September 2017 |access-date=18 March 2019}}</ref> A copy of the spherical pennant is located at the [[Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center|Kansas Cosmosphere]] in [[Hutchinson, Kansas]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.universetoday.com/109026/a-history-of-curious-artifacts-sent-into-space/|title=A History of Curious Artifacts Sent Into Space|last1=Dickinson|first1=David|work=Universe Today|date=6 February 2014|access-date=16 March 2019}}</ref>

On 1 November 1959, the Soviet Union released two stamps commemorating the spacecraft. They depict the trajectory of the mission.{{sfn|Cavallaro|2018|p=49}}