The Soviets launched Luna 1 yesterday and it flew past the Moon — missing by about 3,700 miles — and then kept going, escaping Earth’s gravitational field entirely.

Luna 1 is now in solar orbit. A human-made object, traveling around the Sun.

Escape velocity from Earth is about 25,000 miles per hour. Luna 1 achieved it. The rocket — a modified R-7 ICBM with an upper stage — burned long enough to push the spacecraft past the point where Earth’s gravity would pull it back. Now it orbits the Sun, somewhere between Earth and Mars, permanently.

I am keeping a running score. The Soviets have: first satellite, first living creature in orbit, first spacecraft in solar orbit. We have: Explorer 1, the Van Allen belt, and a great deal of catching up still to do.

But we are catching up. NASA opens this year. Project Mercury is being organized. The score will change.

I believe the score will change.