RIAN archive 510848 Interplanetary station Luna 1 - blacked

Missions to the Moon have been numerous and include some of the earliest space missions, conducting

exploration of the Moon The physical exploration of the Moon began when ''Luna 2'', a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made a deliberate impact on the surface of the Moon on 14 September, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of lunar exploration had ...

since 1959. The first partially successful lunar mission was

Luna 1 ''Luna 1'', also known as ''Mechta'' ( , ''Literal translation, lit.'': ''Dream''), ''E-1 No.4'' and ''First Lunar Rover'', was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of Earth's Moon, the first spacecraft to leave Earth's orbit, and the fi ...

(January 1959), the first probe to leave Earth and fly past another astronomical body. Soon after that the first

Moon landing A Moon landing or lunar landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959. In 1969 Apollo 11 was the first cr ...

and the first landing on any extraterrestrial body was performed by

Luna 2 ''Luna 2'' (), originally named the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket and nicknamed Lunik 2 in contemporaneous media, was the sixth of the Soviet Union's Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon, E-1 No.7. It was the first spacecraft Moon landi ...

, which intentionally impacted the Moon on 14 September 1959. The

far side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing away from Earth, the opposite hemisphere is the near side. It always has the same surface oriented away from Earth because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's orbit. C ...

, which is always facing away from Earth due to

tidal locking Tidal locking between a pair of co-orbiting astronomical body, astronomical bodies occurs when one of the objects reaches a state where there is no longer any net change in its rotation rate over the course of a complete orbit. In the case where ...

, was seen for the first time by

Luna 3 Luna 3, or E-2A No.1 (), was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1959 as part of the Luna programme. It was the first mission to photograph the far side of the Moon and the third Soviet space probe to be sent to the neighborhood of the Moon. The hi ...

in (7 October 1959). In 1966,

Luna 9 Luna 9 (Луна-9), internal designation Ye-6 No.13, was an uncrewed space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. On 3 February 1966, the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon and return ima ...

became the first spacecraft to achieve a controlled soft landing, while Luna 10 became the first mission to enter orbit, and in 1968 Zond 5 became the first mission to carry terrestrial lifeforms (tortoises) to close proximity of the Moon through a circumlunar approach. The first crewed missions to the Moon were pursued by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, becoming the climax of the

Space Race The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...

. While the Soviet Union shifted to robotic sample return missions, the American

Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

proceeded successfully, with

Apollo 8 Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave Sphere of influence (astrodynamics), Earth's gravitational sphere of influence, and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times ...

becoming the first crewed mission to enter lunar orbit in December 1968. On 20 July 1969

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

landed on the Moon, and

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the Apollo 11#Lunar surface operations, first person to walk on the Moon. He was al ...

became the first person to walk on the Moon. At the same time another mission, the robotic sample return mission

Luna 15 Luna 15 was a robotic space mission of the Soviet Luna programme, that was in lunar orbit together with the Apollo 11 Command module ''Columbia''. On 21 July 1969, while Apollo 11 astronauts finished the first human moonwalk, Luna 15, a robotic ...

by the Soviet Union, was in orbit around the Moon, becoming together with Apollo 11 the first ever case of two extraterrestrial missions being conducted at the same time. Until 1972 crewed Apollo missions and until 1976 Soviet uncrewed sample return missions, with the first successful extraterrestrial rovers ( Lunokhod programme), continued. After that no dedicated lunar missions were conducted until 1990. Since then the following nations and organisations (in chronological order) have visited the Moon, after the

and the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

In 2018 the far side of the Moon was for the first time landed on by the

Chang'e 4 Chang'e 4 (; ) is a robotic spacecraft mission in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program of the CNSA. It made a soft landing on the far side of the Moon, the first spacecraft to do so, on 3 January 2019. A communication relay satellite, , w ...

mission at the Aitken basin on 3 January 2019 and deployed the ''

Yutu-2 ''Yutu-2'' () is the robotic lunar rover component of China National Space Administration, CNSA's Chang'e 4 mission to the Moon, launched on 7 December 2018 18:23 UTC, it entered lunar orbit on 12 December 2018 before making the first soft land ...

'' rover. Five years later,

followed with

Chang'e 6 Chang'e 6 () was the sixth robotic lunar exploration mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the second CNSA lunar sample-return mission. Like its predecessors in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, the spacecraft is ...

sample return mission to the far side whose lander successfully landed in Apollo crater on 1 June 2024 and collected lunar samples. On August 23, 2023 12:34 UTC,

Chandrayaan-3 Chandrayaan-3 ( ) is the third mission in the Chandrayaan programme, a series of Exploration of the Moon, lunar-exploration missions developed by the ISRO, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The mission consists of a Chandrayaan-2#Vikra ...

became the first lunar mission to achieve a soft landing near the

lunar south pole The lunar south pole is the southernmost point on the Moon. It is of interest to scientists because of the lunar water, occurrence of water ice in Crater of eternal darkness, permanently shadowed areas around it. The lunar south pole region fea ...

. The mission consisted of a lander and a rover for carrying out scientific experiments. The Moon has also been visited by five spacecraft not dedicated to studying it; four of these spacecraft have flown past for the purpose of

gravity assist A gravity assist, gravity assist maneuver, swing-by, or generally a gravitational slingshot in orbital mechanics, is a type of spaceflight flyby (spaceflight), flyby which makes use of the relative movement (e.g. orbit around the Sun) and gra ...

ance, and a radio telescope, Explorer 49, was placed into selenocentric orbit in order to use the Moon to block interference from terrestrial radio sources.

20th century

;Legend ⚀

Cubesat A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

or similar

21st century

;Legend ⚀ Cubesat or similar

Statistics

Launches by decade

This is a list of 144 missions (including failed ones) to the Moon. It includes Flybys, Impact probes, orbiters, landers, rovers and crewed missions.

Mission milestones by country

This is a list of major milestones achieved by country. Recorded is the first spacecraft from each respective country to accomplish each milestone, regardless of mission type or intended outcome. For example, Beresheet was not intended to be an impactor, but achieved that milestone incidentally. ;Legend

† First to achieve

Missions by organization/company

Landing sites

As of March 2025, there have been a total twenty eight successful soft landings on the Moon carried out by five countries that include China, India, Japan, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Among these, a total of six soft landings were crewed (Apollo) conducted by United States. All two soft landings on the far side of the Moon were carried out by China, while soft landing near the lunar south pole was carried out by India's Chandrayaan-3 and Intuitive Machines' IM-1 Nova-C Odysseus and IM-2 Nova-C Athena lander.

Future missions

There are several future lunar missions planned or proposed by various nations and organizations.

Funded and are under development

Robotic

Crewed

Proposed but full funding still unclear

Robotic and crewed

The following missions have been proposed but their full funding is unclear:

Lunar Rovers

Unrealized concepts

1960s

Soviet crewed lunar programs The Soviet crewed lunar programs were a series of programs pursued by the Soviet Union to Moon landing, land humans on the Moon, Space Race, in competition with the United States Apollo program. The Soviet government publicly denied participat ...

– The Soviet Union had been pursuing a crewed lunar flyby mission using

Soyuz 7K-L1 Soyuz 7K-L1 "Zond" spacecraft was designed to launch cosmonaut, cosmonauts from the Earth to circle the Moon without going into lunar orbit in the context of the Soviet crewed lunar programs, Soviet crewed Moon-flyby program in the Moon race. ...

launched aboard Proton-K and a crewed landing mission using Soyuz 7K-LOK and LK Lander launched aboard N1 rocket. After a series of N1 failures, both of these programs were cancelled in 1970 and 1976 respectively.

1970s

Canceled Apollo missions Several planned missions of the Apollo crewed Moon landing program of the 1960s and 1970s were canceled, for reasons which included changes in technical direction, the Apollo 1 fire, the Apollo 13 incident, hardware delays, and budget limitatio ...

– The Apollo program had three more missions lined up until Apollo 20, but the missions beyond Apollo 17, the sixth and final landing mission, were canceled due to budget constraints, change in technical direction and hardware delays. The ambitions shifted towards developing next generation rockets like

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

, the space station

Skylab Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Skylab was constructe ...

and in exploration programs such as

Grand Tour program The Grand Tour is a NASA program that would have sent two groups of robotic probes to all the planets of the outer Solar System. It called for four spacecraft, two of which would visit Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto, while the other two would visit ...

2000s

Constellation Program The Constellation program (abbreviated CxP) was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA, the space agency of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" and a " ...

– The Constellation program ran from 2004–2010 and would have utilised the

Ares I Ares I was the crew launch vehicle that was being developed by NASA as part of the Constellation program. The name "Ares" refers to the Greek deity Ares, who is interpretatio graeca, identified with the Roman god Mars (mythology), Mars. Ares I w ...

and Ares V rockets alongside the Orion spacecraft and Altair lunar lander to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020 in preparation for crewed missions to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. It was cancelled in October 2010 by the Augustine Committee. However, the Orion was spared and finally launched in November 2022 with Constellation and its rockets revised as the

Artemis Program The Artemis program is a Exploration of the Moon, Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. The program's stated long-ter ...

and

Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American Super heavy-lift launch vehicle, super heavy-lift Expendable launch system, expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. As the primary launch vehicle of the Artemis program, Artemis Moon landing progra ...

2010s

* Resource Prospector – Concept by NASA of a rover that would have performed a survey expedition on a polar region of the Moon. It was canceled in April 2018.NASA scraps a lunar surface mission — just as it's supposed to focus on a Moon return
Loren Grush, ''The Verge'' April 27, 2018 * Indo-Russian joint mission – A joint mission between India and Russia for a robotic lander and rover was under development since 2007. Russia was supposed to develop the lander while India would develop an orbiter, a rover and launch the composite. However, with failure of

Fobos-Grunt Fobos-Grunt or Phobos-Grunt () was an attempted Russian sample return mission to Phobos (moon), Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. Fobos-Grunt also carried the Chinese Mars orbiter Yinghuo-1 and the tiny Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment f ...

mission, Russia was unable to provide the lander in time and requested India to accept the delay and risk. The collaboration ended with India repurposing its orbiter towards Mars with its Mars Orbiter Mission in 2013. India would later go on to develop and launch its Chandrayaan-2 and

mission, using an indigenously developed lander.

2020s

* DearMoon was an unrealized tourist mission financed by Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa. Maezawa and six to eight other civilians would have performed a lunar flyby in a

SpaceX Starship Starship is a two-stage fully reusable launch vehicle, reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle under development by American aerospace company SpaceX. On 20 April 2023, with the Starship flight test 1, first Integrated Flight Test, Starship b ...

. It was cancelled on June 1, 2024 *

VIPER Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, New Zealand, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipe ...

– NASA rover that would have performed a survey expedition on a polar region of the Moon. It was canceled in July 2024.

Notes

References

External links

Interactive map of many of the successful Moon landings to date
{{Future spaceflights * *

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...