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			{{Short description|Arrival of a spacecraft on the Moon's surface}}
	{{Nofootnotes|article|date=February 2008}}
			{{About|lunar landings in general|the Cold War "Race to the Moon"|Space Race|the first crewed Moon landing|Apollo 11|other uses}}
	] ]. An estimated 500 million people worldwide watched this event live, the largest television audience for a live broadcast at that time.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Manned Space Chronology: Apollo_11|url=http://www.spaceline.org/flightchron/apollo11.html|publisher=spaceline.org|accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref><ref>{{citeweb|title= Apollo Anniversary: Moon Landing "Inspired World"|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0714_040714_moonlanding.html|publisher=nationalgeographic.com|accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref>]]
			{{pp-semi-indef}}
			{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
			{{Use American English|date=April 2019}}
			<!-- infobox w/ lead-images -->
			{{infobox
			| image = <imagemap>
			File:Moon Soft Landings.svg|frameless|370px|alt=Map of landing sites on the Moon|
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			desc bottom-left
	A '''moon landing''' is the arrival of an intact manned or unmanned ] on the surface of a ]'s ]. The concept has been a goal of humankind since it was first appreciated that the ] is ]'s closest large celestial body. One of the clearest early examples of the concept in fiction was ]'s novel '']'', written in 1865. Since the ] first succeeded in implementing the concept in 1966, this term referred to eighteen spacecraft landings on the Moon through 1976. Nine of these missions returned to Earth bearing samples of ].
			</imagemap>
			| captionstyle = text-align:left;
			| caption = <nowiki/>
			Clickable map of the locations of all successful ] on the ] to date (top)
			{{plainlist}}
			{{columns-list|
			*{{legend2|#FF0000|border=1px solid #000000|] (USSR)}}
			*{{legend2|#00FFFF|border=1px solid #000000|] (USA)}}
			*{{legend2|#FF00FF|border=1px solid #000000|] (USA)}}
			*{{legend2|#FFFF00|border=1px solid #000000|] (China)}}
			*{{legend2|#3A3AFF|border=1px solid #000000|] (India)}}
			*{{legend2|#D45500|border=1px solid #000000|] (Japan)}}
			*{{legend2|#00FF00|border=1px solid #000000|] (USA)}}
			}}
			{{endplainlist}}
			Dates are landing dates in ]. Except for the Apollo program, all soft landings were uncrewed.
			}}
			] became the first human to step onto the surface of the Moon, at 02:56 UTC on 21 July 1969. An estimated 500&nbsp;million people worldwide watched this event, the ] for a live broadcast at that time.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Manned Space Chronology: Apollo_11|url=http://www.spaceline.org/flightchron/apollo11.html| publisher=spaceline.org|access-date=6 February 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title= Apollo Anniversary: Moon Landing "Inspired World"|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0714_040714_moonlanding.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040721032703/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0714_040714_moonlanding.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 July 2004| work=National Geographic|access-date=6 February 2008}}</ref>]]
			A '''Moon landing''' or '''lunar landing''' is the arrival of a ] on the surface of the ], including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was ] in 1959.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1959-014A | title = Luna 2 | publisher = NASA–NSSDC}}</ref>
			In 1969 ] was the first crewed mission to land on the Moon.<ref>.</ref> There were ] between 1969 and 1972, and numerous uncrewed landings. All crewed missions to the Moon were conducted by the ], with the last departing the lunar surface in December 1972. After ] in 1976 there were no ] on the Moon until ] in 2013. All soft landings took place on the ] until January 2019, when ] made the first landing on the ].<ref name ="far side of the moon">{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/c4dc6858a32b4b61bdbc6aebf5459a91|title=Chinese spacecraft makes first landing on moon's far side|date=3 January 2019|website=AP NEWS|access-date=3 January 2019}}</ref>
	The ] achieved the first manned landing on Earth's Moon as part of the ] mission commanded by ]. On ], ], Armstrong, accompanied by ], landed the ] ''Eagle'' on the surface of the Moon. Armstrong and Aldrin spent a day on the surface of the Moon before returning to Earth. A total of six such manned moon landings were carried out between 1969 and 1972.
			==Uncrewed landings==
	The Soviet Union later achieved ] via the unmanned '']'', '']'' and '']'' moon landings. Since this was during the time of the ], the contest to be the first on the Moon was one of the most visible facets of the ].
			===Government landings===
			], next to the first view of the lunar surface photographed by the probe]]
			Six government space agencies, ], ], ], ], ] and ], have reached the Moon with uncrewed missions. Three private/commercial missions, ] (hard landing), ] (hard landing), and ] (soft landing) have also reached the lunar surface (see ]). The Soviet Union (Interkosmos), the United States (NASA), China (CNSA), India (ISRO),<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Kumar |first1=Hari |last2=Travelli |first2=Alex |last3=Mashal |first3=Mujib |last4=Chang |first4=Kenneth |date=23 August 2023 |title=India Moon Landing: In Latest Moon Race, India Lands First in Southern Polar Region |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/23/science/india-moon-landing-chandrayaan-3 |access-date=25 August 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and Japan (JAXA)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sheetz |first=Michael |date=19 January 2024 |title=Japan announces successful SLIM lunar landing, fifth country to reach moon's surface|language=en-US |work=CNBC |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/19/japan-slim-lunar-lander-touches-down-on-moon.html |access-date=19 January 2024}}</ref> are the only five nations to have successfully achieved soft landings.
	Progress in ] has since broadened the phrase to include other moons in the ] as well. The ] of the ] mission to ] performed a successful unmanned moon landing on ] in 2005. Similarly, the Soviet probe ] came within {{convert|120|mi|km}} of performing an unmanned moon landing on ]' moon ] in 1989 before ] contact with that lander was suddenly lost. There is widespread interest in performing a future moon landing on ]'s moon ] to drill down and explore the possible liquid water ocean beneath its icy surface.
			The Soviet Union performed the first hard Moon landing – "hard" meaning the spacecraft intentionally crashes into the Moon at high speeds – with the ] spacecraft in 1959, a feat the U.S. duplicated in 1962 with ].
	== Scientific background ==
	The primary concern of any moon landing is the high velocity involved that arises from the effects of ]. In order to go to any moon, a spacecraft must first leave the ] of the Earth. The only practical way of accomplishing this feat is currently with a ]. Unlike other airborne vehicles such as ] or ], only a rocket can continue to increase its ] at high ] in the ] outside the Earth's ].
			Following their initial hard landings on the Moon, sixteen Soviet, U.S., Chinese and Indian spacecraft have used braking rockets (]s) to make ] and perform scientific operations on the lunar surface. In 1966 the Soviet Union accomplished the first soft landings and took the first pictures from the lunar surface during the ] and ] missions. The U.S. followed with five ] soft landings. China's ongoing ] has landed 4 times since 2013, achieving robotic soil sample return and the first landing on the far side of the Moon.
	Upon approach of the target moon, the spacecraft must decelerate enough to land safely. The velocity to be shed from the target moon's gravitational attraction is roughly equal to the ] of the target moon. For Earth's Moon, this figure is 2.4 kilometers per second or around 5,000 miles per hour. This change in velocity (referred to as the ]) is usually provided by a landing rocket, which must be carried into space by the original ] as part of the overall spacecraft. An exception is a moon landing on Titan such as that carried out by the Huygens probe. As the only moon with an atmosphere, landings on Titan may be accomplished by using ] techniques that are generally lighter in weight than a rocket with equivalent capability.
			On 23 August 2023, ISRO successfully landed its ] module in the ] region, making India the fourth nation to successfully complete a soft landing on the Moon.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dhillon |first=Amrit |date=23 August 2023 |title=India lands spacecraft near south pole of moon in world first |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/aug/23/india-chandrayaan-3-moon-landing-mission |access-date=23 August 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Chandrayaan-3 saw a successful soft landing of its ] and ] at 6.04&nbsp;pm IST (1234 GMT), marking the first uncrewed soft landing in the little-explored region.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 August 2023 |title=Chandrayaan 3 Landing Live: ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander makes successful soft-landing on Moon |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/chandrayaan-3-news-live-updates-mooon-landing-time-isro-lunar-mission-live-telecast-today-vikram-lander-pragyan-rover-photos/liveblog/102961641.cms |access-date=23 August 2023 |website=The Times of India |language=en}}</ref>
	Whatever method is used to slow a spacecraft as it nears a moon, the key ] for a moon landing is to be traveling at a ] speed upon reaching the moon's surface. Such landings may be characterized as "soft" if a human could survive them, and "hard" if only a ruggedized machine would do so. Above such speeds, the ] ends not in a landing but a crash. Such crashes can occur because of malfunctions in a spacecraft, or they can be deliberately arranged for vehicles that do not have an onboard landing rocket. There have been ]. For example, during the Apollo program the ] third stage of the ] moon rocket as well as the spent ascent stage of the ] were deliberately crashed on the moon several times to provide impacts registering as a ] on ] that had been left on the lunar surface. Such crashes were instrumental in mapping the ].
			On 19 January 2024, JAXA successfully landed its ], making Japan the fifth nation to successfully complete a soft landing.<ref name="guardian_20240119_slim-landing">{{cite news | first = Ian | last = Sample | url = https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/19/japan-slim-spacecraft-lands-on-moon-but-struggles-to-generate-power | title = Japan's Slim spacecraft lands on moon but struggles to generate power | date = 19 January 2024 | access-date = 19 January 2024 | work = ] | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240119193545/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/19/japan-slim-spacecraft-lands-on-moon-but-struggles-to-generate-power | archive-date = 19 January 2024 | url-status = live }}</ref>
	If a return to Earth is desired after a moon landing is accomplished, the escape velocities of the moon and Earth must again be overcome for the spacecraft to come to rest on the surface of the Earth. Rockets must be used to leave the moon and return to space. Upon reaching Earth, atmospheric entry techniques are used to absorb the ] of a returning spacecraft and reduce its speed for safe landing. These functions greatly complicate a moon landing mission and lead to many additional operational considerations. Any moon departure rocket must first be carried to the moon's surface by a moon landing rocket, increasing the latter's required size. The moon departure rocket, larger moon landing rocket and any Earth atmosphere entry equipment such as heat shields and ]s must in turn be lifted by the original launch vehicle, greatly increasing its size by a significant and almost prohibitive degree. This necessitates optimizing the sizing of ] in the launch vehicle as well as consideration of using ] between multiple spacecraft and reaching intermediate orbits prior to landing; in particular, ]. Thus ] and logistics become major factors in the design of any moon landing mission.
			===Commercial landings===
	== Political background ==
			Two organizations have attempted but failed to achieve soft landings: Israeli private space agency ] with their ] spacecraft (2019), and Japanese company ]'s ] (2023).
	The intense and expensive effort devoted in the 1960s to achieving first an unmanned and then ultimately a manned moon landing can only be understood in the political context of its historical era. ] with its 60 million dead, half Soviet, was fresh in the memory of all adults. In the 1940s, the war had introduced many new and deadly innovations including ]-style surprise attacks used in the ] and in the ]; the ], a ] which killed thousands in attacks on ]; and the ], which killed tens of thousands in the ]. In the 1950s, tensions mounted between the two ] opposed ] of the ] and the ] that had emerged as victors in the conflict, particularly after the development by both countries of the ].
			On 22 February 2024, Intuitive Machine's ] successfully landed on the Moon after taking off on a SpaceX ] liftoff on 15 February 2024 in a mission between ], ], and ], marking the United States' first soft unmanned Moon landing in over 50 years. This event marked the first successful landing of a ] on the Moon.<ref name="space.com"> Space.com. By Mike Wall. 31 January 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=David |first1=Emillia |title=Odysseus achieves the first US Moon landing since 1972 |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/22/24080498/odysseus-lunar-lander-nasa-moon-intuitive-machines |website=The Verge |date=22 February 2024 |access-date=23 February 2024}}</ref>
			==Crewed landings==
	On ], ], the Soviet Union ] '']'' as the first ] to orbit the Earth and so initiated the ]. This unexpected event was a source of pride to the Soviets and ] to the Americans. This dramatic and successful demonstration of the new ] rocket on only its third test flight meant that the Soviets could use ballistic missiles carrying hydrogen bombs in a surprise attack against any target on Earth, a frightening new capability the Americans did not have. Further, the steady beeping of the ] aboard ''Sputnik 1'' as it passed overhead every 96 minutes was widely viewed on both sides as effective ] to ] countries demonstrating the technological superiority of the Soviet ] compared to the American one. This perception was reinforced by a string of subsequent rapid-fire Soviet space achievements. In 1959, the R-7 rocket was used to launch the first escape from Earth's gravity into a ], the first crash impact onto the surface of the Moon and the first ] of the never-before-seen ]. These were the ], ] and ] spacecraft, respectively.
			{{Further|Apollo program}}
			{{see also|List of people who have walked on the Moon}}
			] ''Orion'' shortly after ]'s landing]]
			A total of twelve ]s have landed on the Moon. This was accomplished with two pilot-astronauts flying a ] on each of six ] missions. The missions spanned a 41-month period starting 20 July 1969, beginning with ] and ] on ], and ending on 14 December 1972 with ] and ] on ]. Cernan was the last man to step off the lunar surface.
			All Apollo lunar missions had a third crew member who remained on board the ].
	The American response to these Soviet achievements was to greatly accelerate previously languishing space and missile projects. Military efforts were initiated to develop and produce mass quantities of intercontinental ballistic missiles (]) that would bridge the so-called ] and enable a policy of ] to ] with the Soviets known as ] or MAD. These newly-developed ]s were made available to civilians of the newly formed ] space agency for various projects which would demonstrate the payload, guidance accuracy and reliabilities of American ICBMs to the Soviets. While NASA stressed peaceful and scientific uses for these rockets, their use in various lunar exploration efforts also had secondary goal of realistic, goal-oriented testing of the missiles themselves and development of associated infrastructure just as the Soviets were doing with their R-7. The tight schedules and lofty goals selected by NASA for lunar exploration also had an undeniable element of generating counter-propaganda to show to other countries that American technological prowess was the equal and even superior to that of the Soviets.
			==Scientific background==
	== U.S. unmanned hard landings (1958-1965) ==
			To get to the Moon, a spacecraft must first leave Earth's ]; currently, the only practical means is a ]. Unlike airborne vehicles such as ] and ], a rocket can continue ] in the ] outside the ].
	In contrast to Soviet lunar exploration triumphs in 1959, success eluded initial American efforts to reach the Moon with the ] and ] programs. Fifteen consecutive U.S. unmanned lunar missions over a six year period from 1958 to 1964 all failed their primary photographic missions; however Rangers 4 and 6 successfully repeated the Soviet lunar impacts as part of their secondary missions. Failures included three American attempts in 1962 to hard land small seismometer packages released by the main Ranger spacecraft. These surface packages were to use retrorockets to survive landing, unlike the parent vehicle, which was designed to deliberately crash onto the surface. The final three Ranger probes performed successful high altitude lunar ] photography missions during intentional crash impacts at around 6,000 miles per hour as planned.
			Upon approach of the target moon, a spacecraft will be drawn ever closer to its surface at increasing speeds due to gravity. In order to land intact it must decelerate to less than about {{convert|160|km/h|-1}} and be ruggedized to withstand a "hard landing" impact, or it must decelerate to negligible speed at contact for a "soft landing" (the only option for humans). The first three attempts by the U.S. to perform a successful hard Moon landing with a ruggedized ] package in 1962 all failed.<ref name="nasa-ranger3">{{cite web| url= https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1962-012A|title=NASA – NSSDC – Spacecraft – Ranger 3 Details| access-date=17 February 2011}}</ref> The Soviets first achieved the milestone of a hard lunar landing with a ruggedized camera in 1966, followed only months later by the first uncrewed soft lunar landing by the U.S.
	]
			The speed of a crash landing on its surface is typically between 70 and 100% of the ] of the target moon, and thus this is the total velocity which must be shed from the target moon's gravitational attraction for a soft landing to occur. For Earth's Moon, the escape velocity is {{convert|2.38|km/s}}.<ref name="GgLunarXPrize-MoonInfo">{{cite web|url=http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/education/learning-guides/escape-from-the-moon|title=Escape from the Moon!|access-date=17 February 2011|archive-date=26 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726123411/http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/education/learning-guides/escape-from-the-moon|url-status=dead}}</ref> The change in velocity (referred to as a ]) is usually provided by a landing rocket, which must be carried into space by the original ] as part of the overall spacecraft. An exception is the soft moon landing on ] carried out by the ] in 2005. As the moon with the thickest atmosphere, landings on Titan may be accomplished by using ] techniques that are generally lighter in weight than a rocket with equivalent capability.
	{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
	|-
			The Soviets succeeded in making the first crash landing on the Moon in 1959.<ref name="nasa-luna2">{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1959-014A|title=NASA – NSSDC – Spacecraft – Lun 2 Details|access-date=17 February 2011}}</ref> Crash landings<ref name="hard-landing">{{cite web| url= http://www.aai.ee/~vladislav/program_yft0060.html| title= Homepage of V.V Pustynski for students of YFT0060| publisher= ]| location= Estonia| access-date= 17 February 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url= https://archive.today/20121218012317/http://www.aai.ee/~vladislav/program_yft0060.html| archive-date= 18 December 2012| df= dmy-all}}</ref> may occur because of malfunctions in a spacecraft, or they can be deliberately arranged for vehicles which do not have an onboard landing rocket. There have been ], often with their flight path controlled to impact at precise locations on the lunar surface. For example, during the Apollo program the ] third stage of the ] rocket as well as the spent ascent stage of the ] were deliberately crashed on the Moon several times to provide impacts registering as a ] on ]s that had been left on the lunar surface. Such crashes were instrumental in mapping the ].
	! align=left | U.S. Mission
			To return to Earth, the escape velocity of the Moon must be overcome for the spacecraft to escape the ] of the Moon. Rockets must be used to leave the Moon and return to space. Upon reaching Earth, atmospheric entry techniques are used to absorb the ] of a returning spacecraft and reduce its speed for safe landing. These functions greatly complicate a moon landing mission and lead to many additional operational considerations. Any moon departure rocket must first be carried to the Moon's surface by a moon landing rocket, increasing the latter's required size. The Moon departure rocket, larger moon landing rocket and any Earth atmosphere entry equipment such as heat shields and ]s must in turn be lifted by the original launch vehicle, greatly increasing its size by a significant and almost prohibitive degree.
			==Political background==
			{{Main|Space Race}}
			The political context of the 1960s helps to parse both the United States and Soviet Union's efforts to land spacecraft, and eventually humans, on the Moon. ] had introduced many new and deadly innovations including ]-style surprise attacks used in the ] and ], as well as in the ]; the ], a ] which killed thousands in attacks on London and ]; and the ], which killed hundreds of thousands in the ]. In the 1950s, tensions mounted between the two ideologically opposed superpowers of the United States and the ] that had emerged as victors in the conflict, particularly after the development by both countries of the ].
			]
			On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union ] '']'' as the first ] to orbit the Earth and so initiated the ]. This unexpected event was a source of pride to the Soviets and shock to the U.S., who could now potentially be surprise attacked by nuclear-tipped Soviet rockets in under 30 minutes.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=The start of the Space Race (article) |url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/postwarera/1950s-america/a/the-start-of-the-space-race |access-date=27 November 2023 |website=Khan Academy |language=en}}</ref> The craft was also barely visible to the naked eye as the steady beeping of the ] aboard ''Sputnik 1'' as it passed overhead every 96 minutes, which was widely viewed on both sides<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hurley |first=Steve |date=19 September 2022 |title=4 October 1957 – Sputnik 1 |url=https://explainingscience.org/2022/09/19/4-october-1957-sputnik-1/ |access-date=27 November 2023 |website=Explaining Science |language=en}}</ref> as effective propaganda to ] countries demonstrating the technological superiority of the Soviet ] compared to that of the U.S. This perception was reinforced by a string of subsequent rapid-fire Soviet space achievements. In 1959, the R-7 rocket was used to launch the first escape from Earth's gravity into a ], the first crash impact onto the surface of the Moon, and the first photography of the never-before-seen ]. These were the ], ], and ] spacecraft.
			]]]
			The U.S. response to these Soviet achievements was to greatly accelerate previously existing military space and missile projects and to create a civilian space agency, ]. Military efforts were initiated to develop and produce mass quantities of intercontinental ballistic missiles (]) that would bridge the so-called ] and enable a policy of ] to ] with the Soviets known as ] or MAD. These newly developed ]s were made available to civilians of NASA for various projects (which would have the added benefit of demonstrating the payload, guidance accuracy and reliabilities of U.S. ICBMs to the Soviets).
			==Early Soviet uncrewed lunar missions (1958–1965)==
			After the ] in 1991, historical records were released to allow the true accounting of Soviet lunar efforts. Unlike the U.S. tradition of assigning a particular mission name in advance of a launch, the Soviets assigned a public "]" mission number only if a launch resulted in a spacecraft going beyond Earth orbit. The policy had the effect of hiding Soviet Moon mission failures from public view. If the attempt failed in Earth orbit before departing for the Moon, it was frequently (but not always) given a "]" or "]" Earth-orbit mission number to hide its purpose. Launch explosions were not acknowledged at all.
			{| class="wikitable" style="background: #f9f9f9; border-collapse: collapse;"
			|-
			! align=left | Mission
	! align=center | Mass (kg)		! align=center | Mass (kg)
	! align=center | Launch Vehicle		! align=center | Launch vehicle
	! align=center | Launched		! align=center | Launch date
	! align=center | Mission Goal		! align=center | Goal
	! align=center | Mission Result		! align=center | Result
	|-		|-
			|
	| ]
			|
			| ] – 8K72
			| align="right" | 23 September 1958
			| Impact
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction at T+ 93 s
			|-
			|
			|
			| Semyorka – 8K72
			| align="right" | 12 October 1958
			| Impact
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction at T+ 104 s
			|-
			|
			|
			| Semyorka – 8K72
			| align="right" | 4 December 1958
			| Impact
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction at T+ 254 s
			|-
			| ]
			| 361
			| Semyorka – 8K72
			| align="right" | 2 January 1959
			| Impact
			| <span style="color:orange;">Partial success</span> – first spacecraft to reach escape velocity, lunar flyby, solar orbit; missed the Moon
			|-
			|
			|
			| Semyorka – 8K72
			| align="right" | 18 June 1959
			| Impact
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction at T+ 153 s
			|-
			| ]
			| 390
			| Semyorka – 8K72
			| align="right" | 12 September 1959
			| Impact
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – first lunar impact
			|-
			| ]
			| 270
			| Semyorka – 8K72
			| align="right" | 4 October 1959
			| Flyby
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – first photos of lunar far side
			|-
			|
			|
			| Semyorka – 8K72
			| align="right" | 15 April 1960
			| Flyby
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
			|-
			|
			|
			| Semyorka – 8K72
			| align="right" | 16 April 1960
			| Flyby
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction at T+ 1 s
			|-
			| ]
			|
			| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 4 January 1963
			| Landing
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – stranded in low Earth orbit
			|-
			|
			|
			| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 3 February 1963
			| Landing
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction at T+ 105 s
			|-
			| ]
			| 1422
			| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 2 April 1963
			| Landing
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – lunar flyby at {{convert|8000|km|mi}}
			|-
			|
			|
			| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 21 March 1964
			| Landing
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
			|-
			|
			|
			| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 20 April 1964
			| Landing
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
			|-
			| ]-60
			|
			| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 12 March 1965
			| Landing
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – stranded in low Earth orbit
			|-
			|
			|
			| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 10 April 1965
			| Landing
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
			|-
			| ]
			| 1475
			| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 9 May 1965
			| Landing
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – lunar impact
			|-
			| ]
			| 1440
			| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 8 June 1965
			| Landing
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – lunar flyby at {{convert|160000|km|mi}}
			|-
			| ]
			| 1504
			| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 4 October 1965
			| Landing
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – lunar impact
			|-
			| ]
			| 1550
			| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 3 December 1965
			| Landing
			| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – lunar impact during landing attempt
			|-
			|}
			==Early U.S. uncrewed lunar missions (1958–1965)==
			]
			]
			The U.S. was not able to reach the Moon with the ] and ]s, with fifteen consecutive U.S. uncrewed lunar missions from 1958 to 1964 failing their primary photographic missions.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090928103019/http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/Programs/pioneer.html |date=28 September 2009 }}.</ref><ref>Lunar Impact{{Cite web|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19780007206_1978007206.pdf| title=Lunar Missions 1958 through 1965| access-date=9 September 2009| publisher=Nasa History Series}}</ref> However, Rangers 4 and 6 successfully repeated the Soviet lunar impacts as part of their secondary missions.<ref name="nasa-ranger4">{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1962-012A| title= NASA – NSSDC – Spacecraft – Ranger 4 Details|access-date=17 February 2011}}</ref><ref name="nasa-ranger6">{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-007A|title=NASA – NSSDC – Spacecraft – Ranger 6 Details|access-date=17 February 2011}}</ref>
			Three U.S. missions<ref name="nasa-ranger3"/><ref name="nasa-ranger4"/><ref name="nasa-ranger5">{{cite web| url= https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1962-055A|title=NASA – NSSDC – Spacecraft – Ranger 5 Details|access-date=17 February 2011}}</ref> in 1962 attempted to hard land small seismometer packages released by the main Ranger spacecraft. These surface packages were to use ]s to survive landing, unlike the parent vehicle, which was designed to deliberately crash onto the surface. The final three Ranger probes performed successful high altitude lunar ] photography missions during intentional crash impacts between {{convert|2.62|and|2.68|km/s|km/h}}.<ref name="nasa-ranger7">{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-041A|title=NASA – NSSDC – Spacecraft – Ranger 7 Details}}</ref><ref name="nasa-ranger8">{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1965-010A| title=NASA – NSSDC – Spacecraft – Ranger 8 Details}}</ref><ref name="nasa-ranger9">{{cite web| url= https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1965-023A| title=NASA – NSSDC – Spacecraft – Ranger 9 Details}}</ref>
			{| class="wikitable" style="background: #f9f9f9; border-collapse: collapse;"
			|-
			! align=left | Mission
			! align=center | Mass (kg)
			! align=center | Launch vehicle
			! align=center | Launch date
			! align=center | Goal
			! align=center | Result
			|-
			| ]
	| 38		| 38
	| ]		| ]
	| 17 Aug 1958		| align="right" | 17 August 1958
	| Lunar orbit		| Lunar orbit
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - first stage explosion; destroyed		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – first stage explosion; destroyed
	|-		|-
	|]		|]
	| 34		| 34
	| Thor-Able		| Thor-Able
	| 11 Oct 1958		| align="right" | 11 October 1958
	| Lunar orbit		| Lunar orbit
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - software error; reentry		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – software error; reentry
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 39		| 39
	| Thor-Able		| Thor-Able
	| 08 Nov 1958		| align="right" | 8 November 1958
	| Lunar orbit		| Lunar orbit
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - third stage misfire; reentry		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – third stage misfire; reentry
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 6		| 6
	| Juno		| Juno
			| align="right" | 6 December 1958
	| 06 Dec 1958
			| Flyby
	| Lunar flyby
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - first stage misfire, reentry		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – first stage misfire, reentry
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 6		| 6
	| Juno		| Juno
	| 03 Mar 1959		| align="right" | 3 March 1959
			| Flyby
	| Lunar flyby
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - targeting error; solar orbit		| <span style="color:orange;">Partial success</span> – first US craft to reach escape velocity, lunar flyby too far to shoot photos due to targeting error; solar orbit
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 168		| 168
	| Atlas-Able		| Atlas-Able
	| 24 Sep 1959		| align="right" | 24 September 1959
	| Lunar orbit		| Lunar orbit
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - pad explosion; destroyed		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – pad explosion; destroyed
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 168		| 168
	| Atlas-Able		| Atlas-Able
	| 29 Nov 1959		| align="right" | 29 November 1959
	| Lunar orbit		| Lunar orbit
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - payload shroud; destroyed		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – payload shroud; destroyed
	|-		|-
	|]		|]
	| 175		| 175
	| Atlas-Able		| Atlas-Able
	| 25 Sep 1960		| align="right" | 25 September 1960
	| Lunar orbit		| Lunar orbit
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - second stage anomaly; reentry		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – second stage anomaly; reentry
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 175		| 175
	| Atlas-Able		| Atlas-Able
	| 15 Dec 1960		| align="right" | 15 December 1960
	| Lunar orbit		| Lunar orbit
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - first stage explosion; destroyed		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – first stage explosion; destroyed
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 306		| 306
	| Atlas - Agena		| Atlas – Agena
	| 23 Aug 1961		| align="right" | 23 August 1961
	| Prototype test		| Prototype test
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - upper stage anomaly; reentry		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – upper stage anomaly; reentry
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 304		| 304
	| Atlas - Agena		| Atlas – Agena
	| 18 Nov 1961		| align="right" | 18 November 1961
	| Prototype test		| Prototype test
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - upper stage anomaly; reentry		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – upper stage anomaly; reentry
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 330		| 330
	| Atlas - Agena		| Atlas – Agena
	| 26 Jan 1962		| align="right" | 26 January 1962
			| Landing
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster guidance; solar orbit		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster guidance; solar orbit
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 331		| 331
	| Atlas - Agena		| Atlas – Agena
	| 23 Apr 1962		| align="right" | 23 April 1962
			| Landing
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - spacecraft computer; crash impact		| <span style="color:orange;">Partial success</span> – first U.S. spacecraft to reach another celestial body; crash impact – no photos returned
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 342		| 342
	| Atlas - Agena		| Atlas – Agena
	| 18 Oct 1962		| align="right" | 18 October 1962
			| Landing
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - spacecraft power; solar orbit		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – spacecraft power; solar orbit
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 367		| 367
	| Atlas - Agena		| Atlas – Agena
	| 30 Jan 1964		| align="right" | 30 January 1964
			| Impact
	| Lunar impact
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - spacecraft camera; crash impact		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – spacecraft camera; crash impact
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 367		| 367
	| Atlas - Agena		| Atlas – Agena
	| 28 Jul 1964		| align="right" | 28 July 1964
			| Impact
	| Lunar impact
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - returned 4308 photos, crash impact		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – returned 4308 photos, crash impact
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 367		| 367
	| Atlas - Agena		| Atlas – Agena
	| 17 Feb 1965		| align="right" | 17 February 1965
			| Impact
	| Lunar impact
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - returned 7137 photos, crash impact		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – returned 7137 photos, crash impact
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 367		| 367
	| Atlas - Agena		| Atlas – Agena
	| 21 Mar 1965		| align="right" | 21 March 1965
			| Impact
	| Lunar impact
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - returned 5814 photos, crash impact		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – returned 5814 photos, crash impact
	|}		|}
			===Pioneer missions===
	Three different designs of Pioneer lunar probes were flown on three different modified ICBMs. Those flown on the ] booster modified with an Able upper stage carried an ] image scanning ] system with a ] of 1 ] to study the Moon's surface, an ] to measure ] in space, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect ], a ], and temperature-variable resistors to monitor spacecraft internal thermal conditions. The first, a mission managed by the ], exploded during launch; all subsequent Pioneer lunar flights had NASA as the lead management organization. The next two returned to Earth and burned up upon reentry into the atmosphere after achieved maximum altitudes of around 70,000 and {{convert|900|mi|km}}, far short of the roughly {{convert|250000|mi|km}} required to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
			Three different designs of Pioneer lunar probes were flown on three different modified ICBMs. Those flown on the ] booster modified with an Able upper stage carried an ] image scanning television system with a ] of 1 ] to study the Moon's surface, an ] to measure ] in space, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect ], a ], and temperature-variable resistors to monitor spacecraft internal thermal conditions.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Able 1 (Pioneer 0) - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pioneer-0-able1/ |access-date=27 November 2023 |website=science.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Able 2 (Pioneer 1) - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pioneer-1-able-2/ |access-date=27 November 2023 |website=science.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Pioneer 2 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pioneer-2/ |access-date=27 November 2023 |website=science.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref> The first, a mission managed by the ], exploded during launch;<ref name=":2" /> all subsequent Pioneer lunar flights had NASA as the lead management organization. The next two returned to Earth and burned up upon reentry into the atmosphere after achieved maximum altitudes of around {{convert|114,000|km|mi}}<ref name=":3" /> and {{convert|1530|km|mi|}}<ref name=":4" /> respectively, far short of the roughly {{convert|400000|km|mi}} required to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
	NASA then collaborated with the ]'s ] to fly two extremely small cone-shaped probes on the ] ICBM, carrying only ] which would be triggered by the light of the Moon and a lunar radiation environment experiment using a ] detector. The first of these reached an altitude of only around {{convert|64000|mi|km}}, serendipitously gathering data that established the presence of the ] before reentering Earth's atmosphere. The second passed by the moon at a distance of over {{convert|37000|mi|km}}, twice as far away as planned and too far away to trigger either of the onboard scientific instruments, yet still becoming the first American spacecraft to reach a ].		NASA then collaborated with the ]'s ] to fly two extremely small cone-shaped probes on the ] ICBM, carrying only ] which would be triggered by the light of the Moon and a lunar radiation environment experiment using a ] detector.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Pioneer 3 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pioneer-3/ |access-date=27 November 2023 |website=science.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Pioneer 4 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pioneer-4/ |access-date=27 November 2023 |website=science.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref> The first of these reached an altitude of only around {{convert| 100000|km|mi}}, gathering data that established the presence of the ] before reentering Earth's atmosphere.<ref name=":5" /> The second passed by the Moon at a distance of more than {{convert|60000|km|mi}}, twice as far as planned and too far away to trigger either of the on-board scientific instruments, yet still becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to reach a ].<ref name=":6" />
			The final Pioneer lunar probe design consisted of four "]" ] extending from a one-meter diameter spherical ] spacecraft body equipped to take images of the lunar surface with a television-like system, estimate the Moon's mass and topography of the ], record the distribution and velocity of micrometeorites, study radiation, measure ], detect ] in space and use a sophisticated integrated ] system for maneuvering and orbit insertion as well.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pioneer P-1, P-3, P-30, P-31 |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/pioneer_p1.htm |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref> None of the four spacecraft built in this series of probes survived launch on its ] ICBM outfitted with an Able upper stage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=PIONX |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=PIONY |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=PIONZ |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>
	<!-- Unsourced image removed: ] spacecraft. Seen here are the spherical black-and-white lander, its orange braking retrorocket, and the Block II mother ship which was to crash on the moon at 6,500 miles per hour. Extending outward to the upper left is a boom-mounted gamma ray spectrometer; to the lower left, one of two solar cell panels; to the lower right, a circular antenna for communications with Earth. The hard landing portion of the missions failed, as did similar attempts with ] and ], although the Ranger 4 mothership impacted the moon as planned and became the first American craft to do so.]] -->
			Following the unsuccessful Atlas-Able Pioneer probes, NASA's ] embarked upon an uncrewed spacecraft development program whose modular design could be used to support both lunar and interplanetary exploration missions. The interplanetary versions were known as ];<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mariner Spacecraft |url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/mariner-spacecraft |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) |language=en-US}}</ref> lunar versions were ]. JPL envisioned three versions of the Ranger lunar probes: Block I prototypes, which would carry various radiation detectors in test flights to a very high Earth orbit that came nowhere near the Moon;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ranger Block I Design (Rangers 1 and 2) - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/resource/ranger-block-i-design-rangers-1-and-2/ |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=science.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref> Block II, which would try to accomplish the first Moon landing by hard landing a seismometer package;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ranger Block II Design (Rangers 3, 4 and 5) - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/resource/ranger-block-ii-design-rangers-3-4-and-5/ |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=science.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref> and Block III, which would crash onto the lunar surface without any braking rockets while taking very high resolution wide-area photographs of the Moon during their descent.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ranger 6, 7, 8, 9 (Block 3) |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ranger_bl3.htm |access-date=29 November 2023 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref>
	The final Pioneer lunar probe design consisted of four "]" ] extending from a one-meter diameter spherical ] spacecraft body that was equipped to take images of the lunar surface with a television-like system, estimate the Moon's mass and topography of the ], record the distribution and velocity of micrometeorites, study radiation, measure ], detect ] in space and use a sophisticated integrated ] system for maneuvering and orbit insertion as well. None of the four spacecraft built in this series of probes survived launch on its ] ICBM outfitted with an Able upper stage.
			===Ranger missions===
	Following the unsuccessful Atlas-Able Pioneer probes, NASA's ] embarked upon an unmanned spacecraft development program whose modular design could be used to support both lunar and interplanetary exploration missions. The interplanetary versions were known as ]; lunar versions were ]. JPL envisioned three versions of the Ranger lunar probes: Block I prototypes, which would carry various radiation detectors in test flights to a very high Earth orbit that came nowhere near the Moon; Block II, which would try to accomplish the first Moon landing by hard landing a seismometer package; and Block III, which would crash onto the lunar surface without any braking rockets while taking very high resolution wide-area photographs of the Moon during their descent.
			{{See also|Ranger program}}
			The Ranger 1 and 2 Block I missions were virtually identical.<ref name="nasa-ranger1">{{cite web| url= https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1961-021A|title=NASA – NSSDC – Spacecraft – Ranger 1 Details|access-date=17 February 2011}}</ref><ref name="nasa-ranger2">{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1961-032A|title=NASA – NSSDC – Spacecraft – Ranger 2 Details|access-date=17 February 2011}}</ref> Spacecraft experiments included a ] telescope, a ] ], electrostatic analyzers, medium-energy-range ]s, two triple coincidence telescopes, a cosmic-ray integrating ], ] detectors, and ]s. The goal was to place these Block I spacecraft in a very high Earth orbit with an apogee of {{convert|110000|km|mi}} and a ] of {{convert|60000|km|mi}}.<ref name="nasa-ranger1"/>
	The Ranger 1 and 2 Block I missions were virtually identical. Spacecraft experiments included a ], a ] ], electrostatic analyzers, medium-energy-range ]s, two ]s, a cosmic-ray integrating ], ] detectors, and ]s. The goal was to place these Block I spacecraft in a very high Earth orbit with an apogee of {{convert|670000|mi|km}}. From that vantage point, scientists could make direct measurements of the ] over a period of many months while engineers perfected new methods to routinely track and communicate with spacecraft over such large distances. Such practice was deemed vital to be assured of capturing high-bandwidth television transmissions from the Moon during a one-shot fifteen minute time window in subsequent Block II and Block III lunar descents. Both Block I missions suffered failures of the new Agena upper stage and never left low earth ] after launch; both burned up upon reentry after only a few days.		From that vantage point, scientists could make direct measurements of the ] over a period of many months while engineers perfected new methods to routinely track and communicate with spacecraft over such large distances. Such practice was deemed vital to be assured of capturing high-bandwidth television transmissions from the Moon during a one-shot fifteen-minute time window in subsequent Block II and Block III lunar descents. Both Block I missions suffered failures of the new Agena upper stage and never left low Earth ] after launch; both burned up upon reentry after only a few days.
			The first attempts to perform a Moon landing took place in 1962 during the Rangers 3, 4 and 5 missions flown by the United States.<ref name="nasa-ranger3"/><ref name="nasa-ranger4"/><ref name="nasa-ranger5"/> All three Block II missions basic vehicles were 3.1&nbsp;m high and consisted of a lunar capsule covered with a balsa wood impact-limiter, 650&nbsp;mm in diameter, a mono-propellant mid-course motor, a retrorocket with a thrust of {{convert|5050|lbf|kN}},<ref name="nasa-ranger4"/> and a gold- and chrome-plated hexagonal base 1.5&nbsp;m in diameter. This lander (code-named ''Tonto'') was designed to provide impact cushioning using an exterior blanket of crushable balsa wood and an interior filled with incompressible liquid ]. A {{convert|42|kg|lb|adj=on}} {{convert|30|cm|ft|adj=mid|-diameter}} metal payload sphere floated and was free to rotate in a liquid freon reservoir contained in the landing sphere.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ranger 3-4-5 |url=http://www.astronautix.com/r/ranger3-4-5.html |access-date=30 November 2023 |website=www.astronautix.com}}</ref>
	] became the first American spacecraft to crash on the Moon and so equaled what the Soviets had accomplished with ] three years before.]]
			{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|bgcolor=#ACE1AF|quote="Everything that we do ought to really be tied-in to getting onto the Moon ahead of the Russians. ...We're ready to spend reasonable amounts of money, but we're talking about fantastic expenditures which wreck our budget and all these other domestic programs, and the only justification for it, in my opinion, to do it is because we hope to beat them and demonstrate that starting behind, as we did by a couple of years, by God, we passed them."|source=— ] on the planned Moon landing, 21 November 1962<ref>], {{YouTube|xZFnTBSRKcg|Listening In: JFK on Getting to the Moon}}, meeting with ] Administrator ], NASA Deputy Administrator ], and Special Assistant to the President ] / Nov 1962, minutes 2:58–ff.</ref>}}
	The first attempts to perform a Moon landing took place in 1962 during the Rangers 3, 4 and 5 missions flown by the United States. All three Block II missions carried a 94 pound, two-foot diameter landing sphere (made of ] wood) designed to withstand a 150 mile per hour impact. This lander (code-named ''Tonto'') was designed to provide impact cushioning using an exterior blanket of crushable balsa wood and an interior filled with incompressible liquid ]. A 56 pound, one-foot diameter metal payload sphere floated and was free to rotate in a liquid freon reservoir contained in the landing sphere. This payload sphere contained six silver-] batteries to power a fifty milliwatt radio transmitter, a temperature sensitive voltage controlled oscillator to measure lunar surface temperatures, and a seismometer that was designed with sensitivity high enough to detect the impact of a five pound meteorite on the opposite side of the Moon. Weight was distributed in the payload sphere so it would rotate in its liquid blanket to place the seismometer into an upright and operational position no matter what the final resting orientation of the external landing sphere. After landing plugs were to be opened allowing the freon to evaporate and the payload sphere to settle into upright contact with the landing sphere. Four pounds of water were also included to provide thermal control for the lander, absorbing heat and boiling off as low-pressure steam during the hot lunar daytime and retaining sufficient heat to allow the lander electronics to avoid freezing temperatures during the cold lunar nighttime. The batteries and water supply were sized to allow up to three months of operation for the payload sphere. Various mission constraints limited the landing site to Oceanus Procellarum on the lunar equator, which the lander ideally would reach 66 hours after launch.
			This payload sphere contained six silver-] batteries to power a fifty-milliwatt radio transmitter, a temperature sensitive voltage controlled oscillator to measure lunar surface temperatures, and a seismometer designed with sensitivity high enough to detect the impact of a {{convert|5|lb|kg|abbr=on|order=flip}} meteorite on the opposite side of the Moon. Weight was distributed in the payload sphere so it would rotate in its liquid blanket to place the seismometer into an upright and operational position no matter what the final resting orientation of the external landing sphere. After landing, plugs were to be opened allowing the freon to evaporate and the payload sphere to settle into upright contact with the landing sphere. The batteries were sized to allow up to three months of operation for the payload sphere. Various mission constraints limited the landing site to Oceanus Procellarum on the lunar equator, which the lander ideally would reach 66 hours after launch.
	No cameras were carried by the Ranger landers, and no pictures were to be captured from the lunar surface during the mission. Instead, the ten-foot-high, 730 pound Ranger Block II mother ship carried a 200 scan line television camera which was to capture images from {{convert|2400|mi|km}} down to {{convert|37|mi|km}} during the free-fall descent to the lunar surface. The 13 pound camera was designed to transmit a picture every 10 seconds. Other instruments gathering data before the mother ship crashed onto the Moon at 6,500 miles per hour were a gamma ray spectrometer to measure overall lunar chemical composition and a radar altimeter. At eight seconds before impact and {{convert|13|mi|km}} above the lunar surface, the radar altimeter was to give a signal ejecting the landing capsule and its 236 pound solid-fueled braking rocket overboard from the Block II mother ship. The braking rocket was to slow the landing sphere to a dead stop at {{convert|1100|ft|m}} above the surface and separate, allowing the landing sphere to free fall once more and hit the surface at a survivable speed of 100 miles per hour.
			No cameras were carried by the Ranger landers, and no pictures were to be captured from the lunar surface during the mission. Instead, the {{convert|3.1|m|ft}} Ranger Block II mother ship carried a 200-scan-line television camera to capture images during the free-fall descent to the lunar surface. The camera was designed to transmit a picture every 10 seconds.<ref name="nasa-ranger4"/> Seconds before impact, at {{convert|5|and|0.6|km|mi}} above the lunar surface, the Ranger mother ships took pictures (which may be viewed ).
	On Ranger 3, failure of the Atlas guidance system and a software error aboard the Agena upper stage combined to put the spacecraft on a course that would miss the Moon. Attempts to salvage lunar photography during a flyby of the Moon were thwarted by in-flight failure of the onboard flight computer. This was probably because of prior ] of the spacecraft by keeping it above the ] point of water for 24 hours on the ground, to protect the Moon from being contaminated by Earth organisms. Heat sterilization was also blamed for subsequent in-flight failures of the spacecraft computer on Ranger 4 and the power subsystem on Ranger 5. Only Ranger 4 reached the Moon in an uncontrolled crash impact on the far side of the Moon.
			Other instruments gathering data before the mother ship crashed onto the Moon were a gamma ray spectrometer to measure overall lunar chemical composition and a radar altimeter. The radar altimeter was to give a signal ejecting the landing capsule and its solid-fueled braking rocket overboard from the Block II mother ship. The braking rocket was to slow and the landing sphere to a dead stop at {{convert|330|m|ft}} above the surface and separate, allowing the landing sphere to free fall once more and hit the surface.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ch8 |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-480/ch8.htm |access-date=30 November 2023 |website=history.nasa.gov|date=June 1985 |last1=Nicks |first1=O. W. }}</ref>
	] taken by a US spacecraft, Ranger 7. The large crater at center right is ]]]
			On Ranger 3, failure of the Atlas guidance system and a software error aboard the Agena upper stage combined to put the spacecraft on a course that would miss the Moon. Attempts to salvage lunar photography during a flyby of the Moon were thwarted by in-flight failure of the onboard flight computer. This was probably because of prior ] of the spacecraft by keeping it above the ] point of water for 24 hours on the ground, to protect the Moon from being contaminated by Earth organisms. Ranger 3 later began orbiting the Sun, called heliocentric orbit.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ranger 3 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/ranger-3/ |access-date=30 November 2023 |website=science.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref> Heat sterilization was also blamed for subsequent in-flight failures of the spacecraft computer on Ranger 4 and the power subsystem on Ranger 5. Only Ranger 4 reached the Moon in an uncontrolled crash impact on the far side of the Moon.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ranger 4 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/ranger-4/ |access-date=30 November 2023 |website=science.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref>
	Heat sterilization was discontinued for the final four Block III Ranger probes. These replaced the Block II landing capsule and its retrorocket with a heavier, more capable television system to support landing site selection for upcoming Apollo manned moon landing missions. Six cameras weighing a total of 350 pounds were designed to take thousands of high-altitude photographs in the final twenty minute period before crashing on the lunar surface. Camera resolution was 1,132 scan lines, far higher than the 525 lines found in a typical American 1964 home television. The final pictures taken were expected to have a resolution of around two feet. While Ranger 6 suffered a failure of this camera system and returned no photographs despite an otherwise successful flight, the subsequent Ranger 7 mission to Mare Cognitum was a complete success. Breaking the six year string of failure in American attempts to photograph the moon at close range, the Ranger 7 mission was viewed as a national turning point and instrumental in allowing the key 1965 NASA budget appropriation to pass through the ] intact without a reduction in funds for the Apollo manned moon landing program. Subsequent successes with Ranger 8 and Ranger 9 further buoyed American hopes.
			Block III probes replaced the Block II landing capsule and its retrorocket with a heavier, more capable television system to support landing site selection for upcoming Apollo crewed Moon landing missions. Six cameras were designed to take thousands of high-altitude photographs in the final twenty-minute period before crashing on the lunar surface. Camera resolution was 1,132 scan lines, far higher than the 525 lines found in a typical U.S. 1964 home television. While ] suffered a failure of this camera system and returned no photographs despite an otherwise successful flight, the subsequent ] mission to Mare Cognitum was a complete success.
	== U.S.S.R. unmanned hard landings (1958-1966) ==
	While American lunar exploration missions were undertaken in full view of public scrutiny, Soviet moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s were conducted under a policy of extreme governmental secrecy. Only with the coming of ] in the late 1980s and the ] in 1991 did historical records come to light allowing a true accounting of Soviet lunar efforts. Unlike the American tradition of assigning a particular mission name in advance of launch, the Soviets assigned a public "]" mission number only if a launch resulted in a spacecraft going beyond Earth orbit. If the attempt failed in Earth orbit before departing for the Moon, it was frequently (but not always) given a "]" or "]" earth-orbit mission number to hide its failure in reaching the Moon. Launch explosions were not acknowledged at all. This policy had the effect of hiding Soviet moonshot failures from public view, making their successes seem even more impressive.
			Breaking the six-year string of failures in U.S. attempts to photograph the Moon at close range, the ] mission was viewed as a national turning point and instrumental in allowing the key 1965 NASA budget appropriation to pass through the ] intact without a reduction in funds for the Apollo crewed Moon landing program. Subsequent successes with ] and ] further buoyed U.S. hopes.
	] and Andrei Sokolov, depicts a future traveler examining the Luna 9 braking rocket and landing capsule which had performed the first unmanned moon landing in 1966. Leonov, who had previously made the first ], was at this time generally viewed as the Soviet cosmonaut most likely to become the first human on the Moon.]]
			==Soviet uncrewed soft landings (1966–1976)==
	{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
			]
	|-
			]
	! align=left | U.S.S.R. Mission
			The ] spacecraft, launched by the ], performed the first successful soft Moon landing on 3 February 1966. ] protected its {{convert|99|kg|lb|adj=on}} ejectable capsule which survived an impact speed of over {{convert|15|m/s|km/h mph}}.<ref name="astronautix-luna9">{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/lunae6.htm|title=Astronautix Luna E-6|access-date=11 April 2022|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315130827/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/lunae6.htm|archive-date=15 March 2016}}</ref> ] duplicated this feat with a similar Moon landing on 24 December 1966. Both returned panoramic photographs that were the first views from the lunar surface.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Moon Exploration|url=http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/space-exploration/moon-exploration-article.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215064020/http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/space-exploration/moon-exploration-article.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 December 2007|work=National Geographic |access-date=17 September 2009}}</ref>
			] was the first ] to land on the ] and safely return a sample of lunar soil back to Earth.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burrows |first=William E. |title=This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age |year=1999 |publisher=Modern Library | page=432 |isbn=0-375-75485-7}}</ref> It represented the first ] return mission by the ], and was the third lunar ] overall, following the ] and ] missions. This mission was later successfully repeated by ] (1972) and ] (1976).
			In 1970 and 1973 two ] ("Moonwalker") robotic lunar rovers were delivered to the Moon, where they successfully operated for 10 and 4 months respectively, covering {{cvt|10.5|km}} (]) and {{cvt|37|km}} (]). These rover missions were in operation concurrently with the Zond and Luna series of Moon flyby, orbiter and landing missions.
			{| class="wikitable" style=" background: #f9f9f9; border-collapse: collapse;"
			|-
			! align=left | Mission
	! align=center | Mass (kg)		! align=center | Mass (kg)
	! align=center | Launch Vehicle		! align=center | Booster
	! align=center | Launched		! align=center | Launch date
	! align=center | Mission Goal		! align=center | Goal
	! align=center | Mission Result		! align=center | Result
			! align=center | Landing zone
	|-
			! align=center | ]/]
	|
	|
	| ] - 8K72
	| 23 Sep 1958
	| Lunar Impact
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction at T+ 93 sec
	|-		|-
			| ]
	|
	|		| 1,580
	| ] - 8K72		| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 31 January 1966
	| 12 Oct 1958
			| Landing
	| Lunar Impact
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – first lunar soft landing, numerous photos
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction at T+ 104 sec
			| ]
			| 7.13°N 64.37°W
	|-		|-
			| ]
	|
	|		| 1,580
	| ] - 8K72		| Semyorka – 8K78
			| align="right" | 21 December 1966
	| 04 Dec 1958
			| Landing
	| Lunar Impact
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – second lunar soft landing, numerous photos
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction at T+ 254 sec
			| ]
			| 18°52'N 62°3'W
	|-		|-
			|
	| ]
			|
	| 361
			| ]
	| ] - 8K72
			| align="right" | 19 February 1969
	| 02 Jan 1959
	| Lunar Impact		| Lunar rover
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - missed moon, but first spacecraft to solar orbit		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
			|
			|
	|-		|-
	|		|
	|		|
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K72
			| align="right" | 14 June 1969
	| 18 Jun 1959
			| Sample return
	| Lunar Impact
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction at T+ 153 sec		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
			|
			|
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 390		| 5,700
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K72
			| align="right" | 13 July 1969
	| 12 Sep 1959
			| Sample return
	| Lunar Impact
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - first lunar impact		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – lunar crash impact
			| ]
			| unknown
	|-		|-
			| Cosmos-300
	| ]
			|
	| 270
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K72
			| align="right" | 23 September 1969
	| 04 Oct 1959
			| Sample return
	| Lunar Flyby
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - first photos of lunar far side		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – stranded in low Earth orbit
			|
			|
	|-		|-
			| Cosmos-305
	|
	|		|
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K72
			| align="right" | 22 October 1969
	| 15 Apr 1960
			| Sample return
	| Lunar Flyby
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – stranded in low Earth orbit
			|
			|
	|-		|-
	|		|
	|		|
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K72
			| align="right" | 6 February 1970
	| 16 Apr 1960
			| Sample return
	| Lunar Flyby
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction at T+ 1 sec		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
			|
			|
	|-		|-
	| ]-25		| ]
	|		| 5,600
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K78
			| align="right" | 12 September 1970
	| 04 Jan 1963
			| Sample return
	| Moon landing
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – returned {{cvt|0.10|kg}} of Moon soil back to Earth
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - stranded in low Earth orbit
			| ]
			| 000.68S 056.30E
	|-		|-
			| ]
	|
	|		| 5,700
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K78
			| align="right" | 10 November 1970
	| 03 Feb 1963
			| Lunar rover
	| Moon landing
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – ] rover traveled {{cvt|10.5|km}} across lunar surface
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction at T+ 105 sec
			| ]
			| 038.28N 325.00E
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 1422		| 5,750
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K78
			| align="right" | 2 September 1971
	| 02 Apr 1963
			| Sample return
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - lunar flyby at {{convert|5000|mi|km}}		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – lunar crash impact
			| Mare Fecunditatis
			| 003.57N 056.50E
	|-		|-
			| ]
	|
	|		| 5,727
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K78
			| align="right" | 14 February 1972
	| 21 Mar 1964
			| Sample return
	| Moon landing
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – returned {{cvt|0.05|kg}} of Moon soil back to Earth
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
			| Mare Fecunditatis
			| 003.57N 056.50E
	|-		|-
			| ]
	|
	|		| 5,950
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K78
			| align="right" | 8 January 1973
	| 20 Apr 1964
			| Lunar rover
	| Moon landing
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – ] rover traveled {{cvt|37.0|km}} across lunar surface
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
			| ]
			| 025.85N 030.45E
	|-		|-
	| ]-60		| ]
	|		| 5,800
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K78
			| align="right" | 28 October 1974
	| 12 Mar 1965
			| Sample return
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - stranded in low Earth orbit		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – Moon landing achieved, but malfunction prevented sample return
			| Mare Crisium
			| 012.00N 062.00E
	|-		|-
	|		|
	|		|
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K78
			| align="right" | 16 October 1975
	| 10 Apr 1965
			| Sample return
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
			|
			|
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 1475		| 5,800
			| Proton
	| ] - 8K78
			| align="right" | 9 August 1976
	| 09 May 1965
			| Sample return
	| Moon landing
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – returned {{cvt|0.17|kg}} of Moon soil back to Earth
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - lunar impact
			| Mare Crisium
	|-
			| 012.25N 062.20E
	| ]
	| 1440
	| ] - 8K78
	| 08 Jun 1965
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - lunar flyby at {{convert|100000|mi|km}}
	|-		|-
	| ]
	| 1504
	| ] - 8K78
	| 04 Oct 1965
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - lunar impact
	|-
	| ]
	| 1550
	| ] - 8K78
	| 03 Dec 1965
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - lunar impact during landing attempt
	|-
	| ]
	| 1580
	| ] - 8K78
	| 31 Jan 1966
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - first lunar hard landing, numerous photos
	|-
	| ]
	| 1580
	| ] - 8K78
	| 21 Dec 1966
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - second lunar hard landing, numerous photos
	|}		|}
			==U.S. uncrewed soft landings (1966–1968)==
	The ] spacecraft, launched by the ], performed the first successful Moon landing on ] ] using the "hard landing" technique. ] protected its 200 pound ejectable capsule which survived an impact speed of over 30 miles per hour&mdash;the speed of many ] causing fatalities on Earth. ] duplicated this feat with a similar moon landing on ], ]. Both returned panoramic photographs that were the first views from the lunar surface.
			]]]
			], commander of ], stands next to the ] lander. In the background is the Apollo 12 lander, ].]]
			The U.S. ]ic ] was part of an effort to locate a safe site on the Moon for a human landing and test under lunar conditions the ] and landing systems required to make a true controlled touchdown. Five of Surveyor's seven missions made successful uncrewed Moon landings. Surveyor 3 was visited two years after its Moon landing by the crew of Apollo 12. They removed parts of it for examination back on Earth to determine the effects of long-term exposure to the lunar environment.
			{| class="wikitable" style=" background: #f9f9f9; border-collapse: collapse; "
	== American unmanned soft landings (1966-1968) ==
			|-
	The American ]ic ] was part of an effort to locate a safe site on the Moon for a human landing and test under actual lunar conditions the ] and landing systems required to make a true controlled touchdown. Five of Surveyor's seven missions made successful unmanned moon landings.
			! align=left | Mission
	{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
	|-
	! align=left | U.S. Mission
	! align=center | Mass (kg)		! align=center | Mass (kg)
	! align=center | Booster		! align=center | Booster
	! align=center | Launched		! align=center | Launch date
	! align=center | Mission Goal		! align=center | Goal
	! align=center | Mission Result		! align=center | Result
	! align=center | Landing Zone		! align=center | Landing zone
	! align=center | ]/]		! align=center | ]/]
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 292		| 292
	| ] - ]		| ] – ]
	| 30 May 1966		| 30 May 1966
			| Landing
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 11,000 pictures returned, first American Moon landing		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – 11,000 pictures returned, first U.S. Moon landing
	| ]		| ]
	| 002.45S 043.22W		| 002.45S 043.22W
Line 389:		Line 627:
	| ]		| ]
	| 292		| 292
	| ] - ]		| Atlas – Centaur
	| 20 Sep 1966		| 20 September 1966
			| Landing
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - midcourse engine malfunction, placing vehicle in unrecoverable tumble; crashed southeast of Copernicus Crater		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – midcourse engine malfunction, placing vehicle in unrecoverable tumble; crashed southeast of Copernicus Crater
	| ]		| ]
	| 004.00S 011.00W		| 004.00S 011.00W
Line 398:		Line 636:
	| ]		| ]
	| 302		| 302
	| ] - ]		| Atlas – Centaur
	| 20 Apr 1967		| 20 April 1967
			| Landing
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 6,000 pictures returned; trench dug to 17.5 cm depth after 18 hr of robot arm use		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – 6,000 pictures returned; trench dug to 17.5&nbsp;cm depth after 18&nbsp;hr of robot arm use
	| ]		| Oceanus Procellarum
	| 002.94S 336.66E		| 002.94S 336.66E
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 282		| 282
	| ] - ]		| Atlas – Centaur
	| 14 Jul 1967		| 14 July 1967
			| Landing
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - radio contact lost 2.5 minutes before touchdown; perfect automated Moon landing possible but actual outcome unknown		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – radio contact lost 2.5 minutes before touchdown; perfect automated Moon landing possible but outcome unknown
	| ]		| Sinus Medii
	| unknown		| unknown
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 303		| 303
	| ] - ]		| Atlas – Centaur
	| 08 Sep 1967		| 8 September 1967
			| Landing
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 19,000 photos returned, first use of alpha scatter soil composition monitor		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – 19,000 photos returned, first use of alpha scatter soil composition monitor
	| ]		| ]
	| 001.41N 023.18E		| 001.41N 023.18E
Line 425:		Line 663:
	| ]		| ]
	| 300		| 300
	| ] - ]		| Atlas – Centaur
	| 07 Nov 1967		| 7 November 1967
			| Landing
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 30,000 photos returned, robot arm & alpha scatter science, engine restart, second landing 2.5 m away from first		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – 30,000 photos returned, robot arm and alpha scatter science, engine restart, second landing 2.5&nbsp;m away from first
	| ]		| Sinus Medii
	| 000.46N 358.63E		| 000.46N 358.63E
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 306		| 306
	| ] - ]		| Atlas – Centaur
	| 07 Jan 1968		| 7 January 1968
			| Landing
	| Moon landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 21,000 photos returned; robot arm & alpha scatter science; laser beams from Earth detected		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – 21,000 photos returned; robot arm and alpha scatter science; laser beams from Earth detected
	| ]		| ]
	| 041.01S 348.59E		| 041.01S 348.59E
Line 443:		Line 681:
	|}		|}
	== Transition From Direct Ascent Landings To Lunar Orbit Operations (1966) ==		==Transition from direct ascent landings to lunar orbit operations==
			] ].]]
			Within four months of each other in early 1966 the Soviet Union and the United States had accomplished successful Moon landings with uncrewed spacecraft. To the general public both countries had demonstrated roughly equal technical capabilities by returning photographic images from the surface of the Moon. These pictures provided a key affirmative answer to the crucial question of whether or not lunar soil would support upcoming crewed landers with their much greater weight.
			However, the Luna 9 hard landing of a ruggedized sphere using airbags at a {{convert|50|kph|adj=on}} ballistic impact speed had much more in common with the failed 1962 Ranger landing attempts and their planned {{convert|160|kph|adj=on}} impacts than with the Surveyor 1 soft landing on three footpads using its radar-controlled, adjustable-thrust retrorocket. While Luna 9 and Surveyor 1 were both major national accomplishments, only Surveyor 1 had reached its landing site employing key technologies that would be needed for a crewed flight. Thus as of mid-1966, the United States had begun to pull ahead of the Soviet Union in the so-called Space Race to land a man on the Moon.
	Within four months of each other in early 1966 the Soviet Union and the United States had accomplished successful moon landings with unmanned spacecraft. To the general public both countries had demonstrated roughly equal technical capabilities by returning photographic images from the surface of the Moon. These pictures provided a key affirmative answer to the crucial question of whether or not lunar soil would support upcoming manned landers with their much greater weight.
			]
	However, the Luna 9 hard landing of a ruggedized sphere using airbags at a {{convert|30|mi|km|sing=on}}-per-hour ballistic impact speed had much more in common with the failed 1962 Ranger landing attempts and their planned {{convert|100|mi|km|sing=on}}-per-hour impacts than with the Surveyor 1 soft landing on three footpads using its radar-controlled, adjustable-thrust retrorocket. While Luna 9 and Surveyor 1 were both major national accomplishments, only Surveyor 1 had reached its landing site employing key technologies that would be needed for a crewed flight. Thus as of mid-1966, the United States had begun to pull ahead of the Soviet Union in the so-called Space Race to land a man on the Moon.
			Advances in other areas were necessary before crewed spacecraft could follow uncrewed ones to the surface of the Moon. Of particular importance was developing the expertise to perform flight operations in lunar orbit. Ranger, Surveyor and initial Luna Moon landing attempts all flew directly to the surface without a lunar orbit. Such ]s use a minimum amount of fuel for uncrewed spacecraft on a one-way trip.
			In contrast, crewed vehicles need additional fuel after a lunar landing to enable a return trip back to Earth for the crew. Leaving this massive amount of required Earth-return fuel in lunar orbit until it is used later in the mission is far more efficient than taking such fuel down to the lunar surface in a Moon landing and then hauling it all back into space yet again, working against lunar gravity both ways. Such considerations lead logically to a ] mission profile for a crewed Moon landing.
	Advances in other areas were necessary before manned spacecraft could follow unmanned ones to the surface of the Moon. Of particular importance was developing the expertise to perform flight operations in lunar orbit. Ranger, Surveyor and initial Luna moon landing attempts all utilized flight paths from Earth that traveled directly to the lunar surface without first placing the spacecraft in a lunar orbit. Such ]s use a minimum amount of fuel for unmanned spacecraft on a one-way trip.
			Accordingly, beginning in mid-1966 both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. naturally progressed into missions featuring lunar orbit as a prerequisite to a crewed Moon landing. The primary goals of these initial uncrewed orbiters were extensive photographic mapping of the entire lunar surface for the selection of crewed landing sites and, for the Soviets, the checkout of radio communications gear that would be used in future soft landings.
	In contrast, manned vehicles need additional fuel after a lunar landing to enable a return trip back to Earth for the crew. Leaving this massive amount of required Earth-return fuel in lunar orbit until it is actually used later in the mission is far more efficient than taking such fuel down to the lunar surface in a Moon landing and then hauling it all back into space yet again, working against lunar gravity both ways. Such considerations lead logically to a ] mission profile for a manned Moon landing. Accordingly, beginning in mid-1966 both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. naturally progressed into missions which featured lunar orbit operations as a necessary prerequisite to a manned Moon landing.
			An unexpected major discovery from initial lunar orbiters were vast volumes of dense materials beneath the surface of the Moon's ]. Such mass concentrations ("]") can send a crewed mission dangerously off course in the final minutes of a Moon landing when aiming for a relatively small landing zone that is smooth and safe. Mascons were also found over a longer period of time to greatly disturb the orbits of low-altitude satellites around the Moon, making their orbits unstable and forcing an inevitable crash on the lunar surface in the relatively short period of months to a few years.
	== Soviet lunar orbit satellites (1966-1974) ==
	{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
			Controlling the location of impact for spent lunar orbiters can have scientific value. For example, in 1999 the NASA ] orbiter was deliberately targeted to impact a permanently shadowed area of Shoemaker Crater near the lunar south pole. It was hoped that energy from the impact would vaporize suspected shadowed ice deposits in the crater and liberate a water vapor plume detectable from Earth. No such plume was observed. However, a small vial of ashes from the body of pioneer lunar scientist ] was delivered by the Lunar Prospector to the crater named in his honor – the only human remains on the Moon.
	|-
	! align=left | U.S.S.R Mission
			==Soviet lunar orbit satellites (1966–1974)==
			{| class="wikitable" style=" background: #f9f9f9; border-collapse: collapse;"
			|-
			! align=center | U.S.S.R. mission
	! align=center | Mass (kg)		! align=center | Mass (kg)
	! align=center | Booster		! align=center | Booster
	! align=center | Launched		! align=center | Launched
	! align=center | Mission Goal		! align=center | Mission goal
	! align=center | Mission Result		! align=center | Mission result
	|-		|-
	| Cosmos - 111		| Cosmos – 111
	|		|
	| ]		| ]
	| 01 Mar 1966		| align="right" | 1 March 1966
	| Lunar orbiter		| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - stranded in low Earth orbit		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – stranded in low Earth orbit
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 1582		| 1,582
	| ]		| Molniya-M
	| 31 Mar 1966		| align="right" | 31 March 1966
	| Lunar orbiter		| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 2738 km x 2088 km x 72 deg orbit, 178 m period, 60 day science mission		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – {{convert|2738|x|2088|km|adj=on}} × 72 deg orbit, 178 minute period, 60-day science mission
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 1640		| 1,640
	| ]		| Molniya-M
	| 24 Aug 1966		| align="right" | 24 August 1966
	| Lunar orbiter		| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 2931 km x 1898 km x 27 deg orbit, 178 m period, 38 day science mission		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – {{convert|2931|x|1898|km|adj=on}} × 27 deg orbit, 178 minute period, 38-day science mission
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 1620		| 1,620
	| ]		| Molniya-M
	| 22 Oct 1966		| align="right" | 22 October 1966
	| Lunar orbiter		| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 2938 km x 1871 km x 10 deg orbit, 205 m period, 89 day science mission		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – {{convert|2938|x|1871|km|adj=on}} × 10 deg orbit, 205 minute period, 89-day science mission
	|-		|-
	| Cosmos-159		| Cosmos-159
	| 1700		| 1,700
	| ]		| Molniya-M
	| 17 May 1967		| align="right" | 17 May 1967
	| Prototype test		| Prototype test
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - high Earth orbit manned landing communications gear radio calibration test		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – high Earth orbit crewed landing communications gear radio calibration test
	|-		|-
	|		|
	|		|
	| ]		| Molniya-M
	| 07 Feb 1968		| align="right" | 7 February 1968
	| Lunar orbiter		| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit - attempted radio calibration test?		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit – attempted radio calibration test?
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 1700		| 1,700
	| ]		| Molniya-M
	| 07 Apr 1968		| align="right" | 7 April 1968
	| Lunar orbiter		| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 870 km x 160 km x 42 deg orbit, 160 m period, unstable orbit, radio calibration test?		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – {{convert|870|x|160|km|adj=on}} × 42 deg orbit, 160 minute period, unstable orbit, radio calibration test?
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 5700		| 5,700
	| ]		| ]
	| 28 Sep 1971		| align="right" | 28 September 1971
	| Lunar orbiter		| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 140 km x 140 km x 41 deg orbit, 121 m period, 388 day science mission		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – {{convert|140|x|140|km|adj=on}} × 41 deg orbit, 121 minute period, 388-day science mission
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 5700		| 5,700
	| ]		| Proton
	| 29 May 1974		| align="right" | 29 May 1974
	| Lunar orbiter		| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 222 km x 219 km x 19 deg orbit, 130 m period, 521 day science mission		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – {{convert|222|x|219|km|adj=on}} × 19 deg orbit, 130 minute period, 521-day science mission
	|-		|-
	|}		|}
	] became the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon on ] ].		] became the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon on 3 April 1966.
			==U.S. lunar orbit satellites (1966–1967)==
	== Soviet Circumlunar Loop Flights (1967-1970) ==
	{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"		{| class="wikitable" style=" background: #f9f9f9; border-collapse: collapse;"
	|-		|-
	! align=left | U.S.S.R Mission		! align=left | U.S. mission
			! align=center | Mass (kg)
			! align=center | Booster
			! align=center | Launched
			! align=center | Mission goal
			! align=center | Mission result
			|-
			| ]
			| 386
			| ] – ]
			| align="right" | 10 August 1966
			| Lunar orbiter
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – {{convert|1160|x|189|km|adj=on|sp=us}} × 12 deg orbit, 208 minute period, 80-day photography mission
			|-
			| ]
			| 386
			| Atlas – Agena
			| align="right" | 6 November 1966
			| Lunar orbiter
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – {{convert|1860|x|52|km|adj=on|sp=us}} × 12 deg orbit, 208 minute period, 339-day photography mission
			|-
			| ]
			| 386
			| Atlas – Agena
			| align="right" | 5 February 1967
			| Lunar orbiter
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – {{convert|1860|x|52|km|adj=on|sp=us}} × 21 deg orbit, 208 minute period, 246-day photography mission
			|-
			| ]
			| 386
			| Atlas – Agena
			| align="right" | 4 May 1967
			| Lunar orbiter
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – {{convert|6111|x|2706|km|adj=on|sp=us}} × 86 deg orbit, 172 minute period, 180-day photography mission
			|-
			| ]
			| 386
			| Atlas – Agena
			| align="right" | 1 August 1967
			| Lunar orbiter
			| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – {{convert|6023|x|195|km|adj=on|sp=us}} × 85 deg orbit, 510 minute period, 183-day photography mission
			|-
			|}
			==Soviet circumlunar loop flights (1967–1970)==
			{{Main|Soviet crewed lunar programs}}
			It is possible to aim a spacecraft from Earth so it will loop around the Moon and return to Earth without entering lunar orbit, following the so-called ]. Such circumlunar loop missions are simpler than lunar orbit missions because rockets for lunar orbit braking and Earth return are not required. However, a crewed circumlunar loop trip poses significant challenges beyond those found in a crewed low-Earth-orbit mission, offering valuable lessons in preparation for a crewed Moon landing. Foremost among these are mastering the demands of re-entering the Earth's atmosphere upon returning from the Moon.
			Inhabited Earth-orbiting vehicles such as the Space Shuttle return to Earth from speeds of around {{convert|27000|km/h|m/s|abbr=on|order=flip}}. Due to the effects of gravity, a vehicle returning from the Moon hits Earth's atmosphere at a much higher speed of around {{convert|40000|km/h|m/s|abbr=on|order=flip}}. The ] on astronauts during the resulting ] can be at the limits of human endurance even during a nominal reentry. Slight variations in the vehicle flight path and reentry angle during a return from the Moon can easily result in fatal levels of deceleration force.
			Achieving a crewed circumlunar loop flight prior to a crewed lunar landing became a primary goal of the Soviets with their ] spacecraft program. The first three Zonds were robotic planetary probes; after that, the Zond name was transferred to a completely separate human spaceflight program. The initial focus of these later Zonds was extensive testing of required high-speed reentry techniques. This focus was not shared by the U.S., who chose instead to bypass the stepping stone of a crewed circumlunar loop mission and never developed a separate spacecraft for this purpose.
			Initial crewed spaceflights in the early 1960s placed a single person in low Earth orbit during the Soviet ] and U.S. ] programs. A two-flight extension of the Vostok program known as ] effectively used Vostok capsules with their ejection seats removed to achieve Soviet space firsts of multiple person crews in 1964 and spacewalks in early 1965. These capabilities were later demonstrated by the U.S. in ten ] low Earth orbit missions throughout 1965 and 1966, using a totally new second-generation spacecraft design that had little in common with the earlier Mercury. These Gemini missions went on to prove techniques for orbital ] crucial to a crewed lunar landing mission profile.
			After the end of the Gemini program, the Soviet Union began flying their second-generation Zond crewed spacecraft in 1967 with the ultimate goal of looping a cosmonaut around the Moon and returning him or her immediately to Earth. The ] spacecraft was launched with the simpler and already operational ] launch rocket, unlike the parallel Soviet human Moon landing effort also underway at the time based on third-generation ] requiring development of the advanced ] booster. The Soviets thus believed they could achieve a crewed Zond circumlunar flight years before a U.S. human lunar landing and so score a propaganda victory. However, significant development problems delayed the Zond program and the success of the U.S. Apollo lunar landing program led to the eventual termination of the Zond effort.
			Like Zond, Apollo flights were generally launched on a free return trajectory that would return them to Earth via a circumlunar loop if a ] malfunction failed to place them in lunar orbit. This option was implemented after an explosion aboard the ] mission in 1970, which is the only crewed circumlunar loop mission flown to date.{{when|date=September 2019}}
			{| class="wikitable" style=" background: #f9f9f9; border-collapse: collapse; "
			|-
			! align=left | U.S.S.R mission
	! align=center | Mass (kg)		! align=center | Mass (kg)
	! align=center | Booster		! align=center | Booster
	! align=center | Launched		! align=center | Launched
	! align=center | Mission Goal		! align=center | Mission goal
	! align=center | Payload		! align=center | Payload
	! align=center | Mission Result		! align=center | Mission result
	|-		|-
	| Cosmos-146		| ]
	| 5400		| 5,400
	| ]		| ]
	| 10 Mar 1967		| align="right" | 10 March 1967
	| High Earth Orbit		| High Earth Orbit
			| uncrewed
	| unmanned
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - stranded in elliptical high Earth orbit, unable to initiate controlled high speed atmospheric reentry test		| <span style="color:orange;">Partial success</span> – Successfully reached high Earth orbit, but became stranded and was unable to initiate controlled high speed atmospheric reentry test
	|-		|-
	| Cosmos-154		| ]
	| 5400		| 5,400
	| ]		| Proton
	| 08 Apr 1967		| align="right" | 8 April 1967
	| High Earth Orbit		| High Earth Orbit
			| uncrewed
	| unmanned
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - stranded in elliptical high Earth orbit, unable to initiate controlled high speed atmospheric reentry test		| <span style="color:orange;">Partial success</span> – Successfully reached high Earth orbit, but became stranded and was unable to initiate controlled high speed atmospheric reentry test
	|-		|-
	|		|
	|		|
	| ]		| Proton
	| 28 Sep 1967		| align="right" | 28 September 1967
	| High Earth Orbit		| High Earth Orbit
			| uncrewed
	| unmanned
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
	|-		|-
	|		|
	|		|
	| ]		| Proton
	| 22 Nov 1967		| align="right" | 22 November 1967
	| High Earth Orbit		| High Earth Orbit
			| uncrewed
	| unmanned
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 5140		| 5,140
	| ]		| Proton
	| 02 Mar 1968		| align="right" | 2 March 1968
	| High Earth Orbit		| High Earth Orbit
			| uncrewed
	| unmanned
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - launched successfully to 300,000 km high Earth orbit, high speed reentry test guidance malfunction, intentional self-destruct to prevent landfall outside Soviet Union		| <span style="color:orange;">Partial success</span> – launched successfully to {{cvt|300000|km}} high Earth orbit, high speed reentry test guidance malfunction, intentional self-destruct to prevent landfall outside Soviet Union
	|-		|-
	|		|
	|		|
	| ]		| Proton
	| 23 Apr 1968		| align="right" | 23 April 1968
	| Circumlunar Loop		| Circumlunar Loop
	| non-human biological payload		| non-human biological payload
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit; launch preparation tank explosion kills three in pad crew		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit; launch preparation tank explosion kills three in pad crew
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 5375		| 5,375
	| ]		| Proton
	| 15 Sep 1968		| align="right" | 15 September 1968
	| Circumlunar Loop		| Circumlunar Loop
	| non-human biological payload		| non-human biological payload
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - looped around Moon, returned live biological payload safely to Earth despite landing off-target outside the Soviet Union in the Indian Ocean		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – looped around Moon with Earth's first near-lunar life forms, two tortoises and other live biological specimens, and the capsule and payload safely to Earth despite landing off-target outside the Soviet Union in the Indian Ocean
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 5375		| 5,375
	| ]		| Proton
	| 10 Nov 1968		| align="right" | 10 November 1968
	| Circumlunar Loop		| Circumlunar Loop
	| non-human biological payload		| non-human biological payload
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - looped around Moon, successful reentry, but loss of cabin air pressure caused biological payload death, parachute system malfunction and severe vehicle damage upon landing		| <span style="color:orange;">Partial success</span> – looped around Moon, successful reentry, but loss of cabin air pressure caused biological payload death, parachute system malfunction and severe vehicle damage upon landing
	|-		|-
	|		|
	|		|
	| ]		| Proton
	| 20 Jan 1969		| align="right" | 20 January 1969
	| Circumlunar Loop		| Circumlunar Loop
	| non-human biological payload		| non-human biological payload
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit		| <span style="color:red;">Failure</span> – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	| 5979		| 5,979
	| ]		| Proton
	| 08 Aug 1969		| align="right" | 8 August 1969
	| Circumlunar Loop		| Circumlunar Loop
	| non-human biological payload		| non-human biological payload
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - looped around Moon, returned biological payload safely to Earth and landed on-target inside Soviet Union		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – looped around Moon, returned biological payload safely to Earth and landed on-target inside Soviet Union. Only Zond mission whose reentry G-forces would have been survivable by human crew had they been aboard.
	|-		|-
	| ]		| ]
	|		| 5,375
	| ]		| Proton
	| 20 Oct 1970		| align="right" | 20 October 1970
	| Circumlunar Loop		| Circumlunar Loop
	| non-human biological payload		| non-human biological payload
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - looped around Moon, returned biological payload safely to Earth despite landing off-target outside Soviet Union in the Indian Ocean		| <span style="color:green;">Success</span> – looped around Moon, returned biological payload safely to Earth despite landing off-target outside Soviet Union in the Indian Ocean
	|-		|-
	|}		|}
	Zond 5 was the first spacecraft to carry life from Earth to the vicinity of the Moon. Believing a Soviet manned lunar flight was imminent in late 1968, NASA changed the flight plan of Apollo 8 from an Earth-orbit mission to a risky lunar orbit mission.		] was the first spacecraft to carry life from Earth to the vicinity of the Moon and return, initiating the final lap of the ] with its payload of tortoises, insects, plants, and bacteria. Despite the failure suffered in its final moments, the Zond 6 mission was reported by Soviet media as being a success as well. Although hailed worldwide as remarkable achievements, both these Zond missions flew off-nominal reentry trajectories resulting in deceleration forces that would have been fatal to humans.
			As a result, the Soviets secretly planned to continue uncrewed Zond tests until their reliability to support human flight had been demonstrated. However, due to NASA's continuing problems with the ], and because of ] reports of a potential Soviet crewed circumlunar flight in late 1968, NASA fatefully changed the flight plan of ] from an Earth-orbit lunar module test to a lunar orbit mission scheduled for late December 1968.
	== U.S. lunar orbit satellites (1966-1967) ==
			In early December 1968 the launch window to the Moon opened for the Soviet launch site in ], giving the USSR their final chance to beat the US to the Moon. ] went on alert and asked to fly the Zond spacecraft then in final countdown at Baikonur on the first human trip to the Moon. Ultimately, however, the Soviet ] decided the risk of crew death was unacceptable given the combined poor performance to that point of Zond/Proton and so scrubbed the launch of a crewed Soviet lunar mission. Their decision proved to be a wise one, since this unnumbered Zond mission was destroyed in another uncrewed test when it was finally launched several weeks later.
	] ] (NASA)]]
			By this time flights of the third generation U.S. ] had begun. Far more capable than the Zond, the Apollo spacecraft had the necessary rocket power to slip into and out of lunar orbit and to make course adjustments required for a safe reentry during the return to Earth. The ] mission carried out the first human trip to the Moon on 24 December 1968, certifying the ] booster for crewed use and flying not a circumlunar loop but instead a full ten orbits around the Moon before returning safely to Earth. ] then performed a full dress rehearsal of a crewed Moon landing in May 1969. This mission orbited within {{convert|47400|ft|km|order=flip}} of the lunar surface, performing necessary low-altitude mapping of trajectory-altering mascons using a factory prototype lunar module too heavy to land. With the failure of the robotic Soviet sample return Moon landing attempt ] in July 1969, the stage was set for ].
	{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
	|-
	! align=left | U.S. Mission
	! align=center | Mass (kg)
	! align=center | Booster
	! align=center | Launched
	! align=center | Mission Goal
	! align=center | Mission Result
	|-
	| ]
	| 386
	| ] - ]
	| 10 Aug 1966
	| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 1160 km X 189 km x 12 deg orbit, 208 m period, 80 day photography mission
	|-
	| ]
	| 386
	| ] - ]
	| 06 Nov 1966
	| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 1860 km X 52 km x 12 deg orbit, 208 m period, 339 day photography mission
	|-
	| ]
	| 386
	| ] - ]
	| 05 Feb 1967
	| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 1860 km X 52 km x 21 deg orbit, 208 m period, 246 day photography mission
	|-
	| ]
	| 386
	| ] - ]
	| 04 May 1967
	| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 6111 km X 2706 km x 86 deg orbit, 721 m period, 180 day photography mission
	|-
	| ]
	| 386
	| ] - ]
	| 01 Aug 1967
	| Lunar orbiter
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - 6023 km X 195 km x 85 deg orbit, 510 m period, 183 day photography mission
	|-
	|}
	] carried out the first manned orbit of the Moon on ] ], certifying the ] booster for manned use. ] then performed a full dress rehearsal of a manned moon landing in May 1969. This mission stopped short at ten miles (16 km) altitude above the lunar surface, performing necessary low-altitude mapping of trajectory-altering ] using a factory prototype lunar module that was too overweight to allow a successful landing. With the failure of the unmanned Soviet sample return moon landing attempt ] in July 1969, the stage was set for ].
	== American manned Moon landings (1969-1972) ==		==Human Moon landings (1969–1972)==
			===US strategy===
	] versus the Soviet ]'''.]]
			{{Main|Apollo program#Political pressure builds}}
	=== American strategy ===
			] and the Soviet ]]]
			Plans for human Moon exploration began during the ] administration. In a series of mid-1950s articles in '']'' magazine, ] had popularized the idea of a crewed expedition to establish a lunar base. A human Moon landing posed several daunting technical challenges to the US and USSR. Besides guidance and weight management, ] without ] overheating was a major hurdle. After the Soviets launched ], von Braun promoted a plan for the US Army to establish a military lunar outpost by 1965.
			After the ], especially ]'s flight, US President ] looked for a project that would capture the public imagination. He asked Vice President ] to make recommendations on a scientific endeavor that would prove US world leadership. The proposals included non-space options such as massive irrigation projects to benefit the ]. The Soviets, at the time, had more powerful rockets than the US, which gave them an advantage in some kinds of space mission.
	The U.S. Moon exploration program originated during the ] administration. In a series of mid-1950s articles in '']'' magazine, ] had popularized the idea of a manned expedition to the Moon to establish a lunar base. A manned Moon landing posed several daunting technical challenges to the U.S. and USSR. Besides guidance and weight management, ] without ] overheating was a major hurdle. After the Soviet Union's launch of ], von Braun promoted a plan for the United States Army to establish a military lunar outpost by 1965.
	After the ], especially ]'s flight, U.S. President ] looked for an American project that would capture the public imagination. He asked Vice President ] to make recommendations on a scientific endeavor that would prove U.S. world leadership. The proposals included non-space options such as massive irrigation projects to benefit the ]. The Soviets, at the time, had more powerful rockets than the United States, which gave them an advantage in some kinds of space missions. Advances in U.S. nuclear weapons technology had led to smaller, lighter warheads, and consequently, rockets with smaller payload capacities. By comparison, Soviet nuclear weapons were much heavier, and the powerful ] rocket was developed to carry them. More modest potential missions such as flying around the Moon without landing or establishing a space lab in orbit (both were proposed by Kennedy to von Braun) were determined to offer too much advantage to the Soviets, since the U.S. would have to develop a heavy rocket to match the Soviets. A Moon landing, however, would capture world imagination while functioning as ].		Advances in US nuclear weapon technology had led to smaller, lighter warheads; the Soviets' were much heavier, and the powerful ] rocket was developed to carry them. More modest missions such as flying around the Moon, or a space lab in lunar orbit (both were proposed by Kennedy to von Braun), offered too much advantage to the Soviets; ''landing'', however, would capture the world's imagination.
			]
	Mindful that the ] would economically benefit most of the key states in the next election&mdash;particularly his home state of ] because ]'s base was in ]&mdash;Johnson championed the Apollo program. This superficially indicated action to alleviate the fictional "]" between the U.S. and USSR, a campaign promise of Kennedy's in the 1960 election. The Apollo project allowed continued development of dual-use technology. Johnson also advised that for anything less than a lunar landing the USSR had a good chance of beating the U.S. For these reasons, Kennedy seized on Apollo as the ideal focus for American efforts in space. He ensured continuing funding, shielding space spending from the 1963 tax cut and diverting money from other NASA projects. This dismayed NASA's leader, ], who urged support for other scientific work.
			Johnson had championed the US human spaceflight program ever since Sputnik, sponsoring legislation to create NASA while he was still a senator. When Kennedy asked him in 1961 to research the best achievement to counter the Soviets' lead, Johnson responded that the US had an even chance of beating them to a crewed lunar landing, but not for anything less. Kennedy seized on Apollo as the ideal focus for efforts in space. He ensured continuing funding, shielding space spending from the 1963 tax cut, but diverting money from other NASA scientific projects. These diversions dismayed NASA's leader, ], who perceived the need for NASA's support from the scientific community.
			The Moon landing required development of the large Saturn V ], which achieved a perfect record: zero catastrophic failures or launch vehicle-caused mission failures in thirteen launches.
	In conversation with Webb, Kennedy said:
			For the program to succeed, its proponents would have to defeat criticism from politicians both on the left (more money for social programs) and on the right (more money for the military). By emphasizing the scientific payoff and playing on fears of Soviet space dominance, Kennedy and Johnson managed to swing public opinion: by 1965, 58 percent of Americans favored Apollo, up from 33 percent two years earlier. After Johnson ], his continuing defense of the program allowed it to succeed in 1969, as Kennedy had planned.
	:Everything we do ought to really be tied in to getting on to the moon ahead of the Russians otherwise we shouldn't be spending that kind of money, because I'm not interested in space The only justification for is because we hope to beat to demonstrate that instead of being behind by a couple of years, by God, we passed them.{{Fact|date=August 2008}}
			===Soviet strategy===
	The Saturn V booster was the key to U.S. moon landings. It used more efficient liquid hydrogen fuel instead of kerosene in its upper stages in order to lift heavier payloads beyond Earth orbit. The Saturn had a perfect record of zero failures in thirteen launches. By contrast, the Soviet N-1 exploded in flight during four secret test launches and never achieved operational status.
			{{Main|Soviet crewed lunar programs{{!}}Soviet Moonshot}}
			Soviet leader ] said in October 1963 the USSR was "not at present planning flight by cosmonauts to the Moon," while insisting that the Soviets had not dropped out of the race. Only after another year did the USSR fully commit itself to a Moon-landing attempt, which ultimately failed.
			At the same time, Kennedy had suggested various joint programs, including a possible Moon landing by Soviet and U.S. astronauts and the development of better weather-monitoring satellites, eventually resulting in the ]. Khrushchev, sensing an attempt by Kennedy to steal Russian space technology, rejected the idea at first: if the USSR went to the Moon, it would go alone. Though Khrushchev was eventually warming up to the idea, the realization of a joint Moon landing was choked by Kennedy's assassination.<ref name="Launius 2019 pp. 167–168">{{cite journal | last=Launius | first=Roger D. | title=First Moon landing was nearly a US–Soviet mission | journal=Nature | volume=571 | issue=7764 | date=10 July 2019 | doi=10.1038/d41586-019-02088-4 | pages=167–168 | pmid=31292553 | bibcode=2019Natur.571..167L | s2cid=195873630 | doi-access=free | issn = 0028-0836}}</ref>
	Whatever he said in private, Kennedy needed a different message to gain public support to uphold what he was saying and his views. Later in 1963, Kennedy asked Vice President Johnson to investigate the possible technological and scientific benefits of a Moon mission. Johnson concluded that the benefits were limited, but, with the help of scientists at NASA, he put together a powerful case, citing possible medical breakthroughs and interesting pictures of Earth from space. For the program to succeed, its proponents would have to defeat criticism from politicians on the left, who wanted more money spent on social programs, and on those on the right, who favored a more military project. By emphasizing the scientific payoff and playing on fears of Soviet space dominance, Kennedy and Johnson managed to swing public opinion: by 1965, 58 percent of Americans favored Apollo, up from 33 percent two years earlier. After Johnson became President in 1963, his continuing defense of the program allowed it to succeed in 1969, as Kennedy had originally hoped.
			], the ]'s chief designer, had started promoting his ] craft and the ] launcher rocket that would have the capability of carrying out a human Moon landing. Khrushchev directed Korolev's design bureau to arrange further space firsts by modifying the existing Vostok technology, while a second team started building a completely new launcher and craft, the Proton booster and the Zond, for a human cislunar flight in 1966. In 1964 the new Soviet leadership gave Korolev the backing for a Moon landing effort and brought all crewed projects under his direction.
	=== Soviet strategy ===
	Soviet leader ] did not relish "defeat" by any other power, but equally did not relish funding such an expensive project. In October 1963 he said that the USSR was "not at present planning flight by cosmonauts to the Moon", while insisting that the Soviets had not dropped out of the race. Only after another year would the USSR fully commit itself to a Moon-landing attempt, which ultimately failed.
	At the same time, Kennedy had suggested various joint programs, including a possible Moon landing by Soviet and American astronauts and the development of better weather-monitoring satellites. Khrushchev, sensing an attempt by Kennedy to steal Russian space technology, rejected the idea: if the USSR went to the Moon, it would go alone. ], the ]'s chief designer, had started promoting his ] craft and the ] launcher rocket that would have the capability of carrying out a manned Moon landing. Khrushchev directed Korolyov's design bureau to arrange further space firsts by modifying the existing Vostok technology, while a second team started building a completely new launcher and craft, the Proton booster and the Zond, for a manned cislunar flight in 1966. In 1964 the new Soviet leadership gave Korolyov the backing for a Moon landing effort and brought all manned projects under his direction. With Korolyov's death and the failure of the first Soyuz flight in 1967, the co-ordination of the Soviet moon landing program quickly unraveled. The Soviets built a landing craft and selected cosmonauts for the mission that would have placed ] on the Moon's surface, but with the successive launch failures of the N1 booster in 1969, plans for a manned landing suffered first delay and then cancellation.		With Korolev's death and the failure of the first Soyuz flight in 1967, coordination of the Soviet Moon landing program quickly unraveled. The Soviets built a landing craft and selected cosmonauts for a mission that would have placed ] on the Moon's surface, but with the successive launch failures of the N1 booster in 1969, plans for a crewed landing suffered first delay and then cancellation.
			A program of automated return vehicles was begun, in the hope of being the first to return lunar rocks. This had several failures. It eventually succeeded with ] in 1970.<ref></ref> But this had little impact, because the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 lunar landings and rock returns had already taken place by then.
	=== Apollo Moon landings ===
	{{Main|Apollo program}}
	{{see|List of Apollo astronauts}}
			===Apollo missions===
	{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
			], Lunar Module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, poses for a photograph beside the deployed ] during an Apollo 11 Extravehicular Activity (EVA) on the lunar surface.]]
	|-
			In total, twenty-four U.S. astronauts have traveled to the Moon. Three have made the trip twice, and twelve have walked on its surface. Apollo 8 was a lunar-orbit-only mission, Apollo 10 included undocking and Descent Orbit Insertion (DOI), followed by LM staging to CSM redocking, while Apollo 13, originally scheduled as a landing, ended up as a lunar fly-by, by means of ]; thus, none of these missions made landings. Apollo 7 and Apollo 9 were Earth-orbit-only missions. Apart from the inherent dangers of crewed Moon expeditions as seen with Apollo 13, one reason for their cessation according to astronaut ] is the cost it imposes in government subsidies.<ref>{{Cite web|title=In the Shadow of the Moon|date = 8 September 2007|url=https://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=37065|publisher=comingsoon.net|access-date=7 February 2008}}</ref>
	! align=left | U.S. Mission
	! align=center | Booster
			===Human Moon landings===
	! align=center | Launched
			{| class="wikitable" style=" background: #f9f9f9; border-collapse: collapse;"
	! align=center | Mission Goal
			|- bgcolor="#efefef"
	! align=center | Mission Result
			!Mission name
			!Lunar lander
			! width="11%" |Lunar landing date
			! width="11%" |Lunar liftoff date
			! width="12%" |Lunar landing site
			!Duration on lunar surface (DD:HH:MM)
			! width="25%" |Crew
			!Number of ]
			!Total EVA Time (HH:MM)
	|-		|-
	| ] ('''AS-204''')		||]
			||]
	| ]
			| align="right" |20 July 1969
	| (21 February 1967)
			| align="right" |21 July 1969
	| Manned Earth orbit
			||]
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - never launched: command module destroyed and three astronauts killed on 27 January 1967 by fire in the module during a test exercise - retroactively called Apollo 1
			||0:21:31
			||], ]
			||1
			||2:31
	|-		|-
	| ] ('''AS-203''')		||]
			||''Intrepid''
	| ]
			| align="right" |19 November 1969
	| 5 July 1966
			| align="right" |21 November 1969
	| Unmanned Earth orbit
			||]
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - fuel tank behaviour test and booster certification - informally known as Apollo 2
			||1:07:31
			||], ]
			||2
			||7:45
	|-		|-
	| ] ('''AS-202''')		||]
			||''Antares''
	| ]
			| align="right" |5 February 1971
	| 25 August 1966
			| align="right" |6 February 1971
	| Unmanned suborbital
			||]
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - command module reentry test successful, even though reentry was very uncontrolled - informally known as Apollo 3
			||1:09:30
			||], ]
			||2
			||9:21
	|-		|-
	| ]		||]
			||''Falcon''
	| ]
			| align="right" |30 July 1971
	| 9 November 1967
			| align="right" |2 August 1971
	| Unmanned Earth orbit
			||]
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - first test of new booster and all elements together (except lunar module), successful reentry of command module
			||2:18:55
			||], ]
			||3
			||18:33
	|-		|-
	| ]		||]
			||''Orion''
	| ]
			| align="right" |21 April 1972
	| 22 January 1968
			| align="right" |24 April 1972
	| Unmanned Earth orbit
			||]
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - first flight of lunar module, multiple space tests of lunar module, no controlled reentry
			||2:23:02
			||], ]
			||3
			||20:14
	|-		|-
	| ]		||]
			||''Challenger''
	| ]
			| align="right" |11 December 1972
	| 4 April 1968
			| align="right" |14 December 1972
	| Unmanned Earth orbit
			||]
	| <font color="Green">Partial success</font> - severe oscillations during orbital insertion, several engines failing during flight, successful reentry of command module (though mission parameters for a 'worst case' reentry scenario could not be achieved)
			||3:02:59
	|-
			||], ]
	| ]
			||3
	| ]
			||22:04
	| 11 October 1968
	| Manned Earth orbit
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - eleven-day manned Earth orbit, command module testing (no lunar module), some minor crew issues
	|-
	| ]
	| ]
	| 21 December 1968
	| Manned lunar orbit
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - ambitious mission profile (changed relatively shortly before launch), first human lunar orbit (no lunar module), first earthrise seen by men and major publicity success, some minor sleeping and illness issues
	|-
	| ]
	| ]
	| 3 March 1969
	| Manned Earth orbit
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - ten-day manned Earth orbit, with EVA and successful manned flight / docking of lunar module
	|-
	| ]
	| ]
	| 18 May 1969
	| Manned lunar orbit
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - second manned lunar orbit, test of lunar module in lunar orbit, coming as close as 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) to the Moon's surface
	|-
	| ]
	| ]
	| 16 July 1969
	| Manned lunar landing
	| <font color="Green">'''Success'''</font> - first manned landing on the Moon (manual landing required), exploration on foot in direct vicinity of landing site
	|-
	| ]
	| ]
	| 14 November 1969
	| Manned lunar landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - mission almost aborted in-flight after lightning strike on takeoff caused telemetry loss, successful landing within walking distance (less than 200 meters) of the ] probe
	|-
	| ]
	| ]
	| 11 April 1970
	| Manned lunar landing
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font><ref></ref> - problematic oscillations on start, unrelated explosion in service module during Earth-Moon transition caused mission to be aborted - crew took temporary refuge in lunar module and eventually returned to Earth with command module after single pass around Moon
	|-
	| ]
	| ]
	| 31 January 1971
	| Manned lunar landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - software and hardware problems with lunar module almost caused landing abort during lunar orbit, first color video images from the Moon, first materials science experiments in space
	|-
	| ]
	| ]
	| 26 July 1971
	| Manned lunar landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - first longer (3 days) stay on Moon, first use of lunar rover to travel (total of {{convert|17.25|mi|km}}, more extensive geology investigations
	|-
	| ]
	| ]
	| 16 April 1972
	| Manned lunar landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - malfunction in a backup yaw gimbal servo loop almost aborted landing (and reduced stay duration on Moon by one day to three for safety reasons), only mission to target lunar highlands
	|-
	| ]
	| ]
	| 7 December 1972
	| Manned lunar landing
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - last (and still most recent) manned landing on the Moon, only mission with geologist
	|-
	| ]
	| ]
	| -
	| Manned lunar landings
	| <font color="Grey">Cancelled</font> - Several more missions (with detailed planning for up to Apollo 20) were cancelled
	|-		|-
	|}		|}
			===Other aspects of the successful Apollo landings===
	In total twenty-four American astronauts have traveled to the Moon, with twelve walking on its surface and three making the trip twice. ] was a lunar-orbit-only mission, ] included powered descent and then an abort-mode ascent of the LM, while ], originally scheduled as a landing, ended up as a lunar fly-by, by means of ]; thus, none of these missions made landings. ] and ] never left Earth orbit. Apart from the inherent dangers of manned moon expeditions as seen with ], one reason for their cessation according to astronaut ] is the cost it imposes in government subsidies."<ref>{{citeweb|title=In the Shadow of the Moon|url=http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=37065|publisher=comingsoon.net|accessdate=2008-02-07}}</ref>
			] and ] land the first ] on the Moon, 20 July 1969, creating ]. ] was the first of six ] lunar landings.]]
			President Richard Nixon had speechwriter ] prepare a condolence speech for delivery in case Armstrong and Aldrin became marooned on the Moon's surface and could not be rescued.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://en.wikisource.org/In_Event_of_Moon_Disaster|title = In Event of Moon Disaster}}</ref>
			In 1951, science fiction writer ] forecast that a man would reach the Moon by 1978.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arthurcclarke.net/?scifi=3|title=Sir Arthur C. Clarke}}</ref>
	=== Other aspects of the Apollo Moon landings ===
	Unlike other international rivalries, the Space Race has remained unaffected in a direct way regarding the desire for territorial expansion. After the successful landings on the Moon, the U.S. explicitly disclaimed the right to ownership of any part of the Moon.
			On 16 August 2006, the ] reported that NASA is ] ] tapes (which were made before the scan conversion for conventional TV) of the Apollo 11 Moon walk. Some news outlets have mistakenly reported the SSTV tapes found in Western Australia, but those tapes were only recordings of data from the Apollo 11 ].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollo TV Tapes: The Search Continues|date=3 November 2006|url=http://www.space.com/news/061103_apollo_tapes.html|publisher=space.com|access-date=8 February 2008}}</ref> The tapes were found in 2008 and sold at auction in 2019 for the 50th anniversary of the landing.<ref>{{Cite web|title=3 original NASA moon landing videos sell for $1.82 million at auction|url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/moon-walk-video-auction-sothebys-style/index.html|work=CNN|date=22 July 2019 |access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref>
	President Richard Nixon had speechwriter ] prepare a condolence speech for delivery in the event that Armstrong and Aldrin became marooned on the Moon's surface and could not be rescued.<ref>{{citeweb|title=White House "Lost In Space" Scenarios|url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0808051apollo1.html|publisher=thesmokinggun.com|accessdate=2008-02-07}}</ref>
			Scientists believe the six American flags planted by astronauts have been bleached white because of more than 40 years of exposure to solar radiation.<ref name="businessinsider">{{cite web|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/those-american-flags-we-left-on-the-moon-they-are-faded-to-white-by-now-2012-7|title=The American Flags On The Moon Have All Turned White|work=Business Insider|access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref> Using ] images, it has been determined that five of the six American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11.<ref name="LROC"/> Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported that the flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during liftoff of Apollo 11.<ref name="LROC">. Space.com. Retrieved 10 October 2014</ref>
	In the 1940s writer ] forecast that man would reach the Moon by 2000.
			==Late 20th century–21st century uncrewed crash landings==
	On ], ], the ] reported that NASA is ] ] tapes (which were made before the scan conversion for conventional TV) of the Apollo 11 Moon walk. Some news outlets have mistakenly reported that the SSTV tapes were found in Western Australia, but those tapes were only recordings of data from the Apollo 11 ].<ref>{{citeweb|title=Apollo TV Tapes: The Search Continues|url=http://www.space.com/news/061103_apollo_tapes.html|publisher=space.com|accessdate=2008-02-08}}</ref>
			===Hiten (Japan)===
			Launched on 24 January 1990, 11:46 UTC. At the end of its mission, the Japanese lunar orbiter ] was commanded to crash into the lunar surface and did so on 10 April 1993 at 18:03:25.7 UT (11 April 03:03:25.7 JST).<ref>, NSSDC, NASA. Accessed on line 18 October 2010.</ref>
			===Lunar Prospector (U.S.)===
	== Soviet unmanned soft landings (1969-1976) ==
			] was launched on 7 January 1998. The mission ended on 31 July 1999, when the orbiter was deliberately crashed into a crater near the lunar south pole after the presence of water ice was successfully detected.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/results/ice/eureka.htm |title=Eureka! Ice Found At Lunar Poles |publisher=NASA |year=2012 |access-date=29 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061209110937/http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/results/ice/eureka.htm |archive-date=9 December 2006 }}</ref>
	{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
	|-
			===SMART-1 (ESA)===
	! align=left | U.S.S.R. Mission
			Launched 27 September 2003, 23:14 UTC from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. At the end of its mission, the ] lunar orbiter ] performed a controlled crash into the Moon, at about {{cvt|2|km/s|km/h mph}}. The time of the crash was 3 September 2006, at 5:42 UTC.<ref>, NSSDC, NASA. Accessed on line 18 October 2010.</ref>
	! align=center | Mass (kg)
	! align=center | Booster
			===Chandrayaan-1 (India)===
	! align=center | Launched
			The ] (ISRO) performed a controlled hard landing with its ] (MIP). The MIP was ejected from the ] lunar orbiter and performed remote sensing experiments during its descent to the lunar surface. It impacted near ] crater at the south pole of the lunar surface at 14 November 2008, 20:31 IST.
	! align=center | Mission Goal
	! align=center | Mission Result
			] was launched on 22 October 2008, 00:52 UTC.<ref name="Times Of India">{{cite news
	! align=center | Landing Zone
			|url =https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mission-Accomplished-India-fifth-in-world-to-reach-moon/articleshow/3714245.cms
	! align=center | ]/]
			|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20121022074629/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-11-15/india/27904216_1_lunar-surface-moon-impact-probe-chandrayaan
	|-
			|url-status =live
	|
			|archive-date =22 October 2012
	|
			|title =Chandrayaan-I Impact Probe lands on the Moon
	| ]
			|access-date =14 November 2008
	| 19 Feb 1969
			|work =]
	| Lunar rover
			|date=15 November 2008}}</ref>
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
	|
			===Chang'e 1 (China)===
	|
			The Chinese lunar orbiter ], executed a controlled crash onto the surface of the Moon on 1 March 2009, 20:44 GMT, after a 16-month mission. ] was launched on 24 October 2007, 10:05 UTC.<ref>, BBC News, 1 March 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2010.</ref>
	|-
	|
			===SELENE (Japan)===
	|
			] or ''Kaguya'' after successfully orbiting the Moon for a year and eight months, the main orbiter was instructed to impact on the lunar surface near the crater ] at 18:25 UTC on 10 June 2009.<ref name="lunarimpact">{{cite web|url=http://www.kaguya.jaxa.jp/en/communication/KAGUYA_Lunar_Impact_e.htm|title=KAGUYA Lunar Impact|publisher=JAXA|access-date=24 June 2009}}</ref> ] or ''Kaguya'' was launched on 14 September 2007.
	| ]
	| 14 Jun 1969
			===LCROSS (U.S.)===
	| Sample return
			The ] data collecting shepherding spacecraft was launched together with the ] (LRO) on 18 June 2009 on board an ] rocket with a ] upper stage. On 9 October 2009, at 11:31 UTC, the Centaur upper stage impacted the lunar surface, releasing the kinetic ] of detonating approximately 2 tons of ] (8.86 ]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/features/2009/LCROSS_new_crater.html|title=NASA's LCROSS Mission Changes Impact Crater|publisher=NASA|date=29 September 2009|access-date=21 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028005912/http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/features/2009/LCROSS_new_crater.html|archive-date=28 October 2009}}</ref> Six minutes later at 11:37 UTC, the LCROSS shepherding spacecraft also impacted the surface.<ref>, "NASA crashes rocket into moon".</ref>
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
	|
			===GRAIL (U.S.)===
	|
			The ] mission consisted of two small spacecraft: GRAIL A (''Ebb''), and GRAIL B (''Flow''). They were launched on 10 September 2011 on board a ] rocket. GRAIL A separated from the rocket about nine minutes after launch, and GRAIL B followed about eight minutes later.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://earthsky.org/space/moon-bound-twin-grail-spacecraft-launch-success|title=Moon-bound twin GRAIL spacecraft launch success |date=10 September 2011 |publisher=EarthSky.org}}</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211061336/http://www.spaceflight101.com/grail-mission-updates.html |date=11 February 2015 }}</ref> The first probe entered orbit on 31 December 2011 and the second followed on 1 January 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/grail/news/grail20111231.html|title=First of NASA's GRAIL Spacecraft Enters Moon Orbit|publisher=]|access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref> The two spacecraft impacted the Lunar surface on 17 December 2012.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211061336/http://www.spaceflight101.com/grail-mission-updates.html |date=11 February 2015 }}</ref>
	|-
	| ]
			===LADEE (U.S.)===
	| 5700
			] was launched on 7 September 2013.<ref name="gsfc-ladee">{{cite web|url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=LADEE|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813104358/http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=LADEE|archive-date=13 August 2008|title=Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE)|publisher=NASA|work=] Master Catalog}}</ref> The mission ended on 18 April 2014, when the spacecraft's controllers intentionally crashed LADEE into the ],<ref name="nyt20140418">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/19/science/space/nasa-lunar-explorer.html|title=With Planned Crash, NASA Lunar Mission Comes to End|work=]|first=Kenneth|last=Chang|date=18 April 2014|access-date=18 April 2014}}</ref><ref name="abc20140418">{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/nasas-moon-orbiting-robot-crashes-23375574|title=NASA's Moon-Orbiting Robot Crashes Down as Planned|work=ABC News|first=Marcia|last=Dunn|date=18 April 2014|access-date=18 April 2014}}</ref> which, later, was determined to be near the eastern rim of ].<ref name="NASA-20141028-NNJ">{{cite web |last=Neal-Jones |first=Nancy |title=NASA's LRO Spacecraft Captures Images of LADEE's Impact Crater |url=http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-s-lro-spacecraft-captures-images-of-ladee-s-impact-crater |date=28 October 2014 |work=] |access-date=28 October 2014 }}</ref><ref name="nasa20140418">{{cite news|url=http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/april/nasa-completes-ladee-mission-with-planned-impact-on-moons-surface/|title=NASA Completes LADEE Mission with Planned Impact on Moon's Surface|work=NASA.gov|first1=Dwayne|last1=Brown|first2=Rachel|last2=Hoover|first3=Dewayne|last3=Washington|date=18 April 2014|id=Release 14–113|access-date=18 April 2014}}</ref>
	| ]
	| 13 Jul 1969
			===Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (Luxembourg)===
	| Sample return
			The ] was launched on 23 October 2014. It conducted a lunar flyby and operated for 19 days which was four times longer than expected. The Manfred Memorial Moon Mission remained attached to the upper stage of its launch vehicle (CZ-3C/E). The spacecraft along with its upper stage impacted the Moon on 4 March 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foust |first=Jeff |date=13 February 2022 |title=Chinese rocket, not Falcon 9, linked to upper stage on lunar impact trajectory |url=https://spacenews.com/chinese-rocket-not-falcon-9-linked-to-upper-stage-on-lunar-impact-trajectory/ |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Howell |first=Elizabeth |date=3 March 2022 |title=A rogue 3-ton piece rocket debris just collided with the moon |website=] |url=https://www.space.com/rogue-rocket-stage-hit-moon-today |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=4 March 2022 |title=Abandoned rocket 'hits the Moon' - scientists |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60596449 |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref>
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - lunar crash impact
	| ]
			==21st century uncrewed soft landings and attempts==
	| unknown
			===Chang'e 3 (China)===
	|-
			] on lunar surface]]
	| Cosmos-300
			On 14 December 2013 at 13:12 UTC,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25356603 |title=China lands Jade Rabbit robot rover on Moon |date=14 December 2013 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> ] ] a ] on the Moon. This was China's first soft landing on another celestial body and world's first lunar soft landing since ] on 22 August 1976.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/china-successfully-completes-first-soft-landing-on-moon-in-37-years/2013/12/14/fad6ffb4-64c6-11e3-af0d-4bb80d704888_story.html| first=Simon |last=Denyer| title=China carries out first soft landing on moon in 37 years| newspaper=The Washington Post| date=14 December 2013}}</ref> The mission was launched on 1 December 2013. After successful landing, the lander release the ], which moved 114 meters before being immobilized due to system malfunction. But the rover was still operational until July 2016.<ref name="sfn-20160804">{{cite news |url=http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/08/04/chinas-yutu-rover-dies-on-the-moon/ |title=China's Yutu rover dies on the moon |author=Stephen Clark |publisher=Spaceflight Now |date=4 August 2016 |access-date=5 August 2016}}</ref>
	|
	| ]
			===Chang'e 4 (China)===
	| 23 Sep 1969
			] lander on the surface of far side of the Moon]]
	| Sample return
			]'' rover deployed by Chang'e 4 lander]]
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - stranded in low Earth orbit
			On 3 January 2019 at 2:26 UTC, ] became the first spacecraft to land on the ].<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |date=3 January 2019 |title=Chang'e 4: China probe lands on far side of the moon |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/03/china-probe-change-4-land-far-side-moon-basin-crater |work=] |access-date=3 January 2019}}</ref> Chang'e 4 was originally designed as the backup of Chang'e 3. It was later adjusted as a mission to the far side of the Moon after the success of Chang'e 3.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Andrew |title=China launches Chang'e-4 spacecraft for pioneering lunar far side landing mission |url=https://spacenews.com/china-launches-change-4-spacecraft-for-pioneering-lunar-far-side-landing-mission/ |website=SpaceNews |access-date=25 August 2022 |date=7 December 2018}}</ref> After making a successful landing within ], the Chang'e 4 lander deployed the {{convert|140|kg|adj=on}} ] and began human's first close exploration of the far side of the Moon. Because the Moon blocks the communications between far side and Earth, a relay satellite, ], was launched to the Earth–Moon L2 ] a few months prior to the landing to enable communications.
	|
	|
			'']'', the second lunar rover from China, was equipped with panoramic camera, ], visible and near-infrared Imaging spectrometer and advanced small analyzer for neutrals. As of July 2022, it has survived more than 1000 days on the lunar surface and is still driving with cumulative travel distance of over 1200 meters.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Andrew |title=1,000 days on the moon! China's Chang'e 4 lunar far side mission hits big milestone |url=https://www.space.com/china-chang-e-4-moon-far-side-1000-days |website=Space.com |access-date=25 August 2022 |date=5 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=嫦娥四号完成第44月昼工作 进入第44月夜休眠 |url=http://finance.people.com.cn/n1/2022/0707/c1004-32468472.html |website=人民网 |access-date=25 August 2022 |language=zh |date=7 July 2022}}</ref>
	|-
	| Cosmos-305
			===''Beresheet'' (Israel/SpaceIL)===
	|
			On 22 February 2019, Israeli private space agency ] launched their spacecraft '']'' on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, Florida with the intention of achieving a soft landing. SpaceIL lost contact with the spacecraft during final descent on 11 April 2019, and it crashed as a result of a main engine failure.
	| ]
	| 22 Oct 1969
			The mission was the first Israeli, and the first privately funded, lunar landing attempt.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/israeli-start-aims-put-first-private-space-probe-moon-ncna971556 |title=First privately funded lunar landing |date=14 February 2019 |publisher=]}}</ref> Despite the failure, the mission represented the closest a private entity had come to a soft lunar landing at the time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/04/spaceil-beresheet-first-privately-funded-israeli-spacecraft-crash-lands-on-moon/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411202228/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/04/spaceil-beresheet-first-privately-funded-israeli-spacecraft-crash-lands-on-moon/|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 April 2019|title=First privately funded moon lander crash-lands|date=11 April 2019|website=Science & Innovation|access-date=11 April 2019}}</ref>
	| Sample return
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - stranded in low Earth orbit
			SpaceIL was originally conceived in 2011 as a venture to pursue the ]. The ''Beresheet'' lunar lander's target landing destination was within Mare Serenitatis, a vast volcanic basin on the Moon's northern near side.
	|
	|
			===Chandrayaan-2 (India)===
	|-
			], the Indian National Space agency, launched ] on 22 July 2019.<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 July 2019 |title=India announces new date for space launch |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48919572 |access-date=21 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=22 July 2019 |title=India moon mission set to launch a week after it was aborted |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-moon-mission-set-to-launch-a-week-after-it-was-aborted/2019/07/22/d599087e-ac45-11e9-9411-a608f9d0c2d3_story.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722073652/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-moon-mission-set-to-launch-a-week-after-it-was-aborted/2019/07/22/d599087e-ac45-11e9-9411-a608f9d0c2d3_story.html |archive-date=22 July 2019}}</ref> It had three major modules: orbiter, lander and rover. Each of these modules had scientific instruments from scientific research institutes in India and the US.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 March 2019 |title='Chandrayaan 2 will carry NASA's laser instruments to Moon' |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |agency=PTI |url=https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/chandrayaan-2-will-carry-nasas-laser-instruments-to-moon/article26640826.ece |access-date=14 April 2019 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> On 7 September 2019 contact was lost with the ''Vikram'' lander at an altitude of {{cvt|2.1|km}} after a rough braking phase.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gray |first1=Tyler |date=6 September 2019 |title=ISRO lose contact with Chandrayaan-2 lander during final descent |publisher=NASA Spaceflight.com |url=https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2019/09/isro-first-lunar-landing-chandrayaan-2/ |access-date=10 September 2019}}</ref> ''Vikram'' was later confirmed to have crashed and been destroyed.
	|
	|
			===Chang'e 5 (China)===
	| ]
			] returner carrying lunar sample was transported back to ].]]
	| 06 Feb 1970
			On 6 December 2020 at 21:42 UTC, ] landed and collected the first lunar soil samples in over 40 years, and then ] to Earth. The 8.2t stack consisting of lander, ascender, orbiter and returner was launched to lunar orbit by a ] rocket on 24 November. The lander-ascender combination was separated with the orbiter and returner before landing near ] in ]. The ascender was later launched back to lunar orbit, carrying samples collected by the lander, and completed the first-ever robotic rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit.<ref name=china>{{cite web |title=Chinese spacecraft sets off on Moon sample quest|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55049547|work=BBC News|date=23 November 2020 |access-date=28 November 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Jones|first=Andrew|title=China's Chang'e 5 aces lunar orbit docking needed to bring moon samples home|url=https://www.space.com/china-chang-e-5-moon-orbit-docking-success|access-date=7 December 2020|website=Space.com|date=6 December 2020|language=en}}</ref> The sample container was then transferred to the returner, which successfully landed on ] on 16 December 2020, completing China's first extraterrestrial sample return mission.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Andrew |title=China recovers Chang'e-5 moon samples after complex 23-day mission |url=https://spacenews.com/china-recovers-change-5-moon-samples-after-complex-23-day-mission/ |website=SpaceNews |access-date=25 August 2022 |date=16 December 2020}}</ref>
	| Sample return
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
			=== Luna 25 (Russia) ===
	|
			In Russia's first attempt to reach the Moon since 1976, and since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the ] spacecraft failed during "pre-landing" maneuvers, and crashed into the lunar surface on 19 August 2023.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Berger |first1=Eric |title=Russia's Luna 25 spacecraft has crashed into the Moon |url=https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/08/russia-seems-to-have-lost-contact-with-its-first-lunar-probe-in-half-a-century/ |access-date=20 August 2023 |date=19 August 2023}}</ref>
	|
	|-
			=== Chandrayaan-3 (India) ===
	| ]
			]
	| 5600
			India's national space agency ] launched ] on 14 July 2023. Chandrayaan-3 consists of an Indigenous Lander Module (LM), Propulsion module (PM) and the ] rover. The lander with the rover successfully landed near the lunar south pole at 18:04 IST on 23 August 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chandrayaan-3 Details |url=https://www.isro.gov.in/Chandrayaan3_Details.html |access-date=23 August 2023 |website=www.isro.gov.in}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Chandrayaan-3 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-asia-india-66576580 |access-date=23 August 2023 |website=www.bbc.com|date=23 August 2023 }}</ref>
	| ]
	| 12 Sep 1970
	| Sample return
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - returned 0.10 kg of moon dust back to Earth
	| ]
	| 000.68S 056.30E
	|-
	| ]
	| 5700
	| ]
	| 10 Nov 1970
	| Lunar rover
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - ] rover traveled 10.5 km across lunar surface
	| ]
	| 038.28N 325.00E
	|-
	| ]
	| 5750
	| ]
	| 02 Sep 1971
	| Sample return
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - lunar crash impact
	| ]
	| 003.57N 056.50E
	|-
	| ]
	| 5727
	| ]
	| 14 Feb 1972
	| Sample return
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - returned 0.05 kg of moon dust back to Earth
	| ]
	| 003.57N 056.50E
	|-
	| ]
	| 5950
	| ]
	| 08 Jan 1973
	| Lunar rover
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - ] rover traveled 37.0 km across lunar surface
	| ]
	| 025.85N 030.45E
	|-
	| ]
	| 5800
	| ]
	| 28 Oct 1974
	| Sample return
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - Moon landing achieved, but malfunction prevented sample return
	| ]
	| 012.00N 062.00E
	|-
	|
	|
	| ]
	| 16 Oct 1975
	| Sample return
	| <font color="Red">Failure</font> - booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
	|
	|
	|-
	| ]
	| 5800
	| ]
	| 09 Aug 1976
	| Sample return
	| <font color="Green">Success</font> - returned 0.17 kg of moon dust back to Earth
	| ]
	| 012.25N 062.20E
	|-
	|}
			=== Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Japan) ===
	==In Popular Culture==
			] launched the ] (SLIM) mission on 6 September 2023 at 23:42 UTC (7 September 08:42 Japan Standard Time). It landed on 19 January 2024 at 15:20 UTC, making Japan the fifth country to soft-land on the Moon.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chang |first=Kenneth |date=19 January 2024 |title=Japan Becomes Fifth Country to Land on the Moon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/01/12/science/japan-moon-landing-slim |work=]}}</ref> Solar panel orientation issues and possible landing damage complicated the spacecraft's operation.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Chang |first1=Kenneth |last2=Ueno |first2=Hisako |date=25 January 2024 |title=Japan Explains How It Made an Upside-Down Moon Landing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/science/japan-moon-lander-slim.html |access-date=21 February 2024 |work=]}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite news |last1=Sample |first1=Ian |date=19 January 2024 |title=Japan's Slim spacecraft lands on moon but struggles to generate power |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/19/japan-slim-spacecraft-lands-on-moon-but-struggles-to-generate-power |access-date=20 January 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=29 January 2024 |title=Japan: Moon lander Slim comes back to life and resumes mission |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68125589 |access-date=23 February 2024 |language=en-GB}}</ref> The mission also deployed two rovers which operated successfully and independently communicated with Earth.<ref name=":8" />
			===Intuitive Machines-1 ''Odysseus'' lander (U.S.)===
	The moon landings are often referenced by people to criticize the failure of a government project or service. A typical example being "we can land man on the moon and bring him back safely, but we can't stop a bit of floodwater."
			On 22 February 2024, Intuitive Machine's ] successfully landed on the Moon after taking off on a SpaceX ] liftoff on 15 February 2024 in a mission between ], ], and ], marking the United States' first soft unmanned Moon landing in over 50 years. This mission also marks the first ] to land on the Moon and the first landing with ] ]s.<ref name="space.com"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=David |first1=Emillia |title=Odysseus achieves the first US Moon landing since 1972 |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/22/24080498/odysseus-lunar-lander-nasa-moon-intuitive-machines |website=The Verge |date=22 February 2024 |access-date=23 February 2024}}</ref> Though it landed successfully, one of the lander's legs broke upon landing and it tilted up on the other side, 18°, due to landing on a slope, but the lander survived and payloads are functioning as expected.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 February 2024 |title=NASA, Intuitive Machines Share Images from the Moon, Provide Science Updates – Artemis |url=https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/2024/02/28/nasa-intuitive-machines-share-images-from-the-moon-provide-science-updates/ |access-date=29 February 2024 |website=blogs.nasa.gov |language=en-US}}</ref> EagleCam was not ejected prior to landing. It was later ejected on 28 February but was partially a failure as it returned all types of data except post-IM-1 landing images that were the main aim of its mission.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2/3 mission plans and procedures in order to deploy its CubeSat camera system. Despite the team's strong effort, the technical complications ultimately resulted in an inability to capture images of the Odysseus lander. |url=https://x.com/SpaceTechLab/status/1762979276360479156?s=20}}</ref>
	==Future plans==		===Chang'e 6 (China)===
			China sent ] on 3 May 2024, which conducted the first lunar sample return from ] on the ].<ref name="AJ_FI-20230425">{{cite tweet |author=Andrew Jones |user= AJ_FI |number=1650832520978526208 |title=China's Chang'e-6 sample return mission (a first ever lunar far side sample-return) is scheduled to launch in May 2024, and expected to take 53 days from launch to return module touchdown. Targeting southern area of Apollo basin (~43º S, 154º W) |date=25 April 2023}}</ref> This is China's second lunar sample return mission, the first was achieved by ] from the lunar near side four years earlier.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Andrew |url=https://spacenews.com/chinas-change-6-probe-arrives-at-spaceport-for-first-ever-lunar-far-side-sample-mission/ |title=China's Chang'e-6 probe arrives at spaceport for first-ever lunar far side sample mission |work=] |date=10 January 2024 |access-date=10 January 2024}}</ref> It also carried a Chinese rover called ''Jinchan'' to conduct ] of lunar surface and imaged Chang'e 6 lander on lunar surface.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Andrew |title=China's Chang'e-6 is carrying a surprise rover to the moon |url=https://spacenews.com/chinas-change-6-is-carrying-a-surprise-rover-to-the-moon/ |website=SpaceNews |access-date=8 May 2024 |date=6 May 2024 |archive-date=8 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240508193233/https://spacenews.com/chinas-change-6-is-carrying-a-surprise-rover-to-the-moon/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The lander-ascender-rover combination was separated with the orbiter and returner before landing on 1 June 2024 at 22:23 UTC. It landed on the Moon's surface on 1 June 2024.<ref name="AJ_FI-20240601">{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Andrew |url=https://spacenews.com/change-6-lands-on-far-side-of-the-moon-to-collect-unique-lunar-samples/ |title=Chang'e-6 lands on far side of the moon to collect unique lunar samples |work=] |date=1 June 2024 |access-date=1 June 2024}}</ref><ref name="segeryu240602">{{cite tweet | author= Seger Yu | user= SegerYu | number= 1797042217804337307 | title= 落月时刻 2024-06-02 06:23:15.861 | language= zh }}</ref> The ascender was launched back to lunar orbit on 3 June 2024 at 23:38 UTC, carrying samples collected by the lander, and later completed another robotic rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. The sample container was then transferred to the returner, which landed on ] on 25 June 2024, completing China's far side extraterrestrial sample return mission.
	The current U.S. ] calls for a ] mission called ] as part of ] that will include humans landing on the Moon in 2019.
			==Landings on moons of other Solar System bodies==
	Russia plans to send cosmonauts to the Moon by 2025 and establish a permanent manned base there in 2027-2032.<ref>{{citeweb|title=Russia to send manned mission to the Moon by 2025|url=http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070831/75959612.html|publisher=en.rian.ru|accessdate=2008-02-07}}</ref>
			21st century progress in ] has broadened the phrase ''moon landing'' to include other moons in the ]. The ] of the '']'' mission to ] performed a successful moon landing on ] in 2005. Similarly, the Soviet probe ] came within {{convert|120|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} of performing a landing on ]' moon ] in 1989 before radio contact with that lander was suddenly lost. A similar Russian sample return mission called ] ("grunt" means "soil" in Russian) launched in November 2011, but stalled in low Earth orbit. There is widespread interest in performing a future landing on ]'s moon ] to drill down and explore the possible liquid water ocean beneath its icy surface.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grush |first1=Loren |title=Future spacecraft landing on Jupiter's moon Europa may have to navigate jagged blades of ice |url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/8/17948510/jupiter-moon-europa-nasa-clipper-lander-penitentes |website=The Verge |date=8 October 2018}}</ref>
			==Proposed future missions==
	], the ]n National Space agency, has announced the ] program for Lunar exploration. The second mission Chandrayaan II plans to land a motorised rover by 2010/2011.
			{{Main|List of missions to the Moon#Future missions}}
			] (blue) and ] (red).]]
			The ] is a robotic space mission concept by ISRO and Japan's space agency ]<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/indias-next-moon-shot-will-be-bigger-in-pact-with-japan/articleshow/71030437.cms|title=India's next Moon shot will be bigger, in pact with Japan|date=7 July 2019|website=The Times of India|access-date=21 June 2019|quote=For our next mission – Chandrayaan-3 – which will be accomplished in collaboration with JAXA (Japanese Space Agency), we will invite other countries too to participate with their payloads.}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://astrotalkuk.org/episode-82-jaxa-and-international-collaboration-with-professor-fujimoto-masaki/|title=Episode 82: Jaxa and International Collaboration with Professor Fujimoto Masaki|date=4 January 2019|website=AstrotalkUK|language=en-GB|access-date=21 June 2019}}</ref> that would send a ] and ] to explore ] region of the ] in 2025.<ref name="I Times"> U. Tejonmayam, ''India Times''. 18 May 2019.</ref><ref name="JPN_20190730">{{Cite web|url=https://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0005907013|title=Japan, India to team up in race to discover water on moon|last=Shimbun|first=The Yomiuri|date=30 July 2019|website=The Japan News|language=en|access-date=30 July 2019}}</ref> JAXA is likely to provide launch service using the future ] rocket, along with responsibility for the rover. ISRO would be responsible for the lander. ISRO, following the success of ] also has plans to launch ], a ] ], which would possibly be the first to return soil from the ] ], in a landing close to ]. The mission is planned by late 2028. Both nations are also active participants in the ].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="JPGU2019">{{Cite web|url=https://confit.atlas.jp/guide/event-img/jpgu2019/PPS08-15/public/pdf|title=Current status of a Japanese lunar polar exploration mission|last1=Hoshino|first1=Takeshi|last2=Ohtake|first2=Makiko|date=May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725143619/https://confit.atlas.jp/guide/event-img/jpgu2019/PPS08-15/public/pdf?type=in&lang=ja|archive-date=25 July 2019|access-date=25 July 2019|last3=Karouji|first3=Yuzuru|last4=Shiraishi|first4=Hiroaki}}</ref>
	Other nations, including China, have expressed interest in pursuing human landings on the Moon, but none have currently announced formal plans.
			On 11 December 2017, US President ] signed Space Policy ], which directed NASA to return to the Moon with a crewed mission, for long-term exploration and use and missions to other planets.<ref name="spo20171217"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512043738/https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/text-of-remarks-at-signing-of-trump-space-policy-directive-1-and-list-of-attendees/|date=12 May 2018}}, Marcia Smith, ''Space Policy Online'', 11 December 2017, accessed 21 August 2018.</ref> On 26 March 2019, ] formally announced that the mission will include the first female lunar astronaut.<ref name=":Pence">{{cite web|last1=Smith-Schoenwalder|first1=Cecelia|date=26 March 2019|title=Pence Tells NASA to Put Americans on the Moon in 5 Years|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2019-03-26/pence-tells-nasa-to-put-americans-on-the-moon-in-5-years|access-date=20 February 2021|website=U.S. News & World Report}}</ref> The ] had intended to land a crewed mission on the Moon in 2024, and to begin sustained operations by 2028, supported by a planned ].<ref></ref> The NASA lunar landing mission has since been postponed to launch no earlier than September 2026.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://spacenews.com/nasa-delays-artemis-2-and-3-missions/ | title=NASA delays Artemis 2 and 3 missions | date=9 January 2024 }}</ref>
	The ] competition offers a $20 million award for the first privately-funded team to land a robotic probe on the Moon. Like the ] before it, the competition aims to advance the state of the art in private space exploration.
			The ] plans 3 additional Chang'e uncrewed missions between 2025 and 2028, in active preparation for the ] it plans to construct with Russia, Venezuela, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates in the 2030s. In addition, the ] intends to conduct crewed lunar landings by 2029 or 2030; in preparation for this effort, the various Chinese space agencies and contractors are currently developing a human-rated super-heavy launch vehicle (the ]), a new ], and a ].<ref name=AJ17072023>{{cite news | author=Andrew Jones | title=China sets out preliminary crewed lunar landing plan | url=https://spacenews.com/china-sets-out-preliminary-crewed-lunar-landing-plan/ | work=spacenews.com | date=17 July 2023 | access-date=24 July 2023}}</ref>
	== Hoax accusations ==
	{{main|Apollo Moon Landing hoax accusations}}
	] insist that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax. These accusations flourish in part because predictions by enthusiasts that Moon landings would become commonplace have not yet come to pass. Some claims can be ] discredited by three ] arrays left on the Moon by Apollo 11,<ref> 20 July, 2004.</ref> 14 and 15. Today, anyone on Earth with an appropriate ] and ] system may bounce laser beams off these devices, verifying deployment of the ] at historically documented Apollo moon landing sites.
			Russia's ] has announced plans to launch a lunar polar orbiter as ], in 2027.
	In addition, close scrutiny of film footage of the EVAs shows clearly something that could not be replicated in an Earth sound-stage. Lunar dust kicked up by the astronauts and the ]s shoots up quite high because of the low gravity, but settles just as rapidly as there is no air resistance{{Fact|date=May 2008}}. Also the television show "Mythbusters" on the Discovery channel recently conducted several experiments debunking claims of conspiracy theorists. Topics included: flag waving, footprints, and movement in low gravity, ending the episode by confirming that the laser reflectors are currently on the moon.
			==See also==
	Since the first hoax accusations were made—albeit by non-scientists pursuing the conspiracy accusations in part for monetary gain, and although they have been repeatedly debunked by many independent scientists—a small minority of the global population continues to believe the allegations, which has bothered ] and the ]. However, it has recently become apparent from the multiple scheduled or proposed governmental and private efforts to send landers or orbiters to the Moon that it is likely that independent proof will be returned, and thus conclude any conspiracy theories. The next lunar orbiter currently scheduled for launch is NASA's ] mission, due to launch in November 2008. It will have the ability to photograph the historic landing sites.
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
	== See also ==		==References==
			{{Reflist}}
	{{Portal | Spaceflight | RocketSunIcon.svg}}
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
			==Further reading==
	== References & notes ==
			* ], "Moon Fever" ], ''The Moon: A History of the Future''; ''Apollo's Muse: The Moon in the Age of Photography'', an exhibition at the ], ], 3 July – 22 September 2019; ], ''American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race; Brandon R. Brown, ''The Apollo Chronicles: Engineering America's First Moon Missions''; ], ''Reaching for the Moon: A Short History of the Space Race; ''Apollo 11'', a documentary film directed by ]; and ], ''Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys (50th Anniversary Edition)'']
	{{reflist}}
			* {{cite journal |last1=Mehta |first1=Jatan |title=How to test a Moon landing from Earth |journal=Nature |date=8 February 2024 |doi=10.1038/d41586-024-00352-w |pmid=38326425 |s2cid=267545517 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00352-w |access-date=18 February 2024 |language=en}}
	== External links ==		==External links==
	* on moon landings, missions, etc. (includes information on other space agencies' missions		* on Moon landings, missions, etc. (includes information on other space agencies' missions).
			* : an independently organized collection of high-res photos for the Moon Landing and the Apollo Missions.
	* {{dmoz|Society/History/By_Topic/Exploration/Space/United_States/Moon_Missions|Moon missions (United States)}}
			* : an independently organized collection of different Apollo missions media, creating a comprehensive and interactive documentation of Apollo missions.
			{{Lunar landers}}
	]
			{{Crewed lunar spacecraft}}
			{{People who have walked on the Moon}}
			{{The Moon}}
			{{Portal bar|Astronomy|Stars|Spaceflight|Outer space|Solar System}}
			{{Authority control}}
			{{DEFAULTSORT:Moon Landing}}
	]
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Latest revision as of 16:03, 24 October 2024

Arrival of a spacecraft on the Moon's surface This article is about lunar landings in general. For the Cold War "Race to the Moon", see Space Race. For the first crewed Moon landing, see Apollo 11. For other uses, see Moon landing (disambiguation).

Clickable map of the locations of all successful soft landings on the Moon to date (top)   Luna program (USSR)   Surveyor program (USA)   Apollo program (USA)   Chang'e program (China)   Chandrayaan program (India)   SLIM (Japan)   Intuitive Machines (USA) Dates are landing dates in Coordinated Universal Time. Except for the Apollo program, all soft landings were uncrewed.

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 crewed mission to land on the Moon. There were six crewed landings between 1969 and 1972, and numerous uncrewed landings. All crewed missions to the Moon were conducted by the Apollo program, with the last departing the lunar surface in December 1972. After Luna 24 in 1976 there were no soft landings on the Moon until Chang'e 3 in 2013. All soft landings took place on the near side of the Moon until January 2019, when Chang'e 4 made the first landing on the far side of the Moon.

Uncrewed landings

Government landings

Six government space agencies, Interkosmos, NASA, CNSA, ISRO, JAXA and ESA, have reached the Moon with uncrewed missions. Three private/commercial missions, Beresheet (hard landing), Hakuto-R (hard landing), and Odysseus (soft landing) have also reached the lunar surface (see #Commercial landings). The Soviet Union (Interkosmos), the United States (NASA), China (CNSA), India (ISRO), and Japan (JAXA) are the only five nations to have successfully achieved soft landings.

The Soviet Union performed the first hard Moon landing – "hard" meaning the spacecraft intentionally crashes into the Moon at high speeds – with the Luna 2 spacecraft in 1959, a feat the U.S. duplicated in 1962 with Ranger 4.

Following their initial hard landings on the Moon, sixteen Soviet, U.S., Chinese and Indian spacecraft have used braking rockets (retrorockets) to make soft landings and perform scientific operations on the lunar surface. In 1966 the Soviet Union accomplished the first soft landings and took the first pictures from the lunar surface during the Luna 9 and Luna 13 missions. The U.S. followed with five Surveyor soft landings. China's ongoing "Chang'e" program has landed 4 times since 2013, achieving robotic soil sample return and the first landing on the far side of the Moon.

On 23 August 2023, ISRO successfully landed its Chandrayaan-3 module in the lunar south pole region, making India the fourth nation to successfully complete a soft landing on the Moon. Chandrayaan-3 saw a successful soft landing of its Vikram lander and Pragyan rover at 6.04 pm IST (1234 GMT), marking the first uncrewed soft landing in the little-explored region.

On 19 January 2024, JAXA successfully landed its SLIM lander, making Japan the fifth nation to successfully complete a soft landing.

Commercial landings

Two organizations have attempted but failed to achieve soft landings: Israeli private space agency SpaceIL with their Beresheet spacecraft (2019), and Japanese company ispace's Hakuto-R Mission 1 (2023).

On 22 February 2024, Intuitive Machine's Odysseus successfully landed on the Moon after taking off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 liftoff on 15 February 2024 in a mission between NASA, SpaceX, and Intuitive Machines, marking the United States' first soft unmanned Moon landing in over 50 years. This event marked the first successful landing of a privately owned spacecraft on the Moon.

Crewed landings

Further information: Apollo program See also: List of people who have walked on the Moon

A total of twelve astronauts have landed on the Moon. This was accomplished with two pilot-astronauts flying a Lunar Module on each of six NASA missions. The missions spanned a 41-month period starting 20 July 1969, beginning with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11, and ending on 14 December 1972 with Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on Apollo 17. Cernan was the last man to step off the lunar surface.

All Apollo lunar missions had a third crew member who remained on board the command module.

Scientific background

To get to the Moon, a spacecraft must first leave Earth's gravity well; currently, the only practical means is a rocket. Unlike airborne vehicles such as balloons and jets, a rocket can continue accelerating in the vacuum outside the atmosphere.

Upon approach of the target moon, a spacecraft will be drawn ever closer to its surface at increasing speeds due to gravity. In order to land intact it must decelerate to less than about 160 kilometres per hour (100 mph) and be ruggedized to withstand a "hard landing" impact, or it must decelerate to negligible speed at contact for a "soft landing" (the only option for humans). The first three attempts by the U.S. to perform a successful hard Moon landing with a ruggedized seismometer package in 1962 all failed. The Soviets first achieved the milestone of a hard lunar landing with a ruggedized camera in 1966, followed only months later by the first uncrewed soft lunar landing by the U.S.

The speed of a crash landing on its surface is typically between 70 and 100% of the escape velocity of the target moon, and thus this is the total velocity which must be shed from the target moon's gravitational attraction for a soft landing to occur. For Earth's Moon, the escape velocity is 2.38 kilometres per second (1.48 mi/s). The change in velocity (referred to as a delta-v) is usually provided by a landing rocket, which must be carried into space by the original launch vehicle as part of the overall spacecraft. An exception is the soft moon landing on Titan carried out by the Huygens probe in 2005. As the moon with the thickest atmosphere, landings on Titan may be accomplished by using atmospheric entry techniques that are generally lighter in weight than a rocket with equivalent capability.

The Soviets succeeded in making the first crash landing on the Moon in 1959. Crash landings may occur because of malfunctions in a spacecraft, or they can be deliberately arranged for vehicles which do not have an onboard landing rocket. There have been many such Moon crashes, often with their flight path controlled to impact at precise locations on the lunar surface. For example, during the Apollo program the S-IVB third stage of the Saturn V rocket as well as the spent ascent stage of the Lunar Module were deliberately crashed on the Moon several times to provide impacts registering as a moonquake on seismometers that had been left on the lunar surface. Such crashes were instrumental in mapping the internal structure of the Moon.

To return to Earth, the escape velocity of the Moon must be overcome for the spacecraft to escape the gravity well of the Moon. Rockets must be used to leave the Moon and return to space. Upon reaching Earth, atmospheric entry techniques are used to absorb the kinetic energy of a returning spacecraft and reduce its speed for safe landing. These functions greatly complicate a moon landing mission and lead to many additional operational considerations. Any moon departure rocket must first be carried to the Moon's surface by a moon landing rocket, increasing the latter's required size. The Moon departure rocket, larger moon landing rocket and any Earth atmosphere entry equipment such as heat shields and parachutes must in turn be lifted by the original launch vehicle, greatly increasing its size by a significant and almost prohibitive degree.

Political background

Main article: Space Race

The political context of the 1960s helps to parse both the United States and Soviet Union's efforts to land spacecraft, and eventually humans, on the Moon. World War II had introduced many new and deadly innovations including blitzkrieg-style surprise attacks used in the invasion of Poland and Finland, as well as in the attack on Pearl Harbor; the V-2 rocket, a ballistic missile which killed thousands in attacks on London and Antwerp; and the atom bomb, which killed hundreds of thousands in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the 1950s, tensions mounted between the two ideologically opposed superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union that had emerged as victors in the conflict, particularly after the development by both countries of the hydrogen bomb.

On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 as the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth and so initiated the Space Race. This unexpected event was a source of pride to the Soviets and shock to the U.S., who could now potentially be surprise attacked by nuclear-tipped Soviet rockets in under 30 minutes. The craft was also barely visible to the naked eye as the steady beeping of the radio beacon aboard Sputnik 1 as it passed overhead every 96 minutes, which was widely viewed on both sides as effective propaganda to Third World countries demonstrating the technological superiority of the Soviet political system compared to that of the U.S. This perception was reinforced by a string of subsequent rapid-fire Soviet space achievements. In 1959, the R-7 rocket was used to launch the first escape from Earth's gravity into a solar orbit, the first crash impact onto the surface of the Moon, and the first photography of the never-before-seen far side of the Moon. These were the Luna 1, Luna 2, and Luna 3 spacecraft.

The U.S. response to these Soviet achievements was to greatly accelerate previously existing military space and missile projects and to create a civilian space agency, NASA. Military efforts were initiated to develop and produce mass quantities of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that would bridge the so-called missile gap and enable a policy of deterrence to nuclear war with the Soviets known as mutual assured destruction or MAD. These newly developed missiles were made available to civilians of NASA for various projects (which would have the added benefit of demonstrating the payload, guidance accuracy and reliabilities of U.S. ICBMs to the Soviets).

Early Soviet uncrewed lunar missions (1958–1965)

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, historical records were released to allow the true accounting of Soviet lunar efforts. Unlike the U.S. tradition of assigning a particular mission name in advance of a launch, the Soviets assigned a public "Luna" mission number only if a launch resulted in a spacecraft going beyond Earth orbit. The policy had the effect of hiding Soviet Moon mission failures from public view. If the attempt failed in Earth orbit before departing for the Moon, it was frequently (but not always) given a "Sputnik" or "Cosmos" Earth-orbit mission number to hide its purpose. Launch explosions were not acknowledged at all.

Mission	Mass (kg)	Launch vehicle	Launch date	Goal	Result
		Semyorka – 8K72	23 September 1958	Impact	Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 93 s
		Semyorka – 8K72	12 October 1958	Impact	Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 104 s
		Semyorka – 8K72	4 December 1958	Impact	Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 254 s
Luna-1	361	Semyorka – 8K72	2 January 1959	Impact	Partial success – first spacecraft to reach escape velocity, lunar flyby, solar orbit; missed the Moon
		Semyorka – 8K72	18 June 1959	Impact	Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 153 s
Luna-2	390	Semyorka – 8K72	12 September 1959	Impact	Success – first lunar impact
Luna-3	270	Semyorka – 8K72	4 October 1959	Flyby	Success – first photos of lunar far side
		Semyorka – 8K72	15 April 1960	Flyby	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
		Semyorka – 8K72	16 April 1960	Flyby	Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 1 s
Sputnik-25		Semyorka – 8K78	4 January 1963	Landing	Failure – stranded in low Earth orbit
		Semyorka – 8K78	3 February 1963	Landing	Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 105 s
Luna-4	1422	Semyorka – 8K78	2 April 1963	Landing	Failure – lunar flyby at 8,000 kilometres (5,000 mi)
		Semyorka – 8K78	21 March 1964	Landing	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
		Semyorka – 8K78	20 April 1964	Landing	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
Cosmos-60		Semyorka – 8K78	12 March 1965	Landing	Failure – stranded in low Earth orbit
		Semyorka – 8K78	10 April 1965	Landing	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
Luna-5	1475	Semyorka – 8K78	9 May 1965	Landing	Failure – lunar impact
Luna-6	1440	Semyorka – 8K78	8 June 1965	Landing	Failure – lunar flyby at 160,000 kilometres (99,000 mi)
Luna-7	1504	Semyorka – 8K78	4 October 1965	Landing	Failure – lunar impact
Luna-8	1550	Semyorka – 8K78	3 December 1965	Landing	Failure – lunar impact during landing attempt

Early U.S. uncrewed lunar missions (1958–1965)

The U.S. was not able to reach the Moon with the Pioneer and Ranger programs, with fifteen consecutive U.S. uncrewed lunar missions from 1958 to 1964 failing their primary photographic missions. However, Rangers 4 and 6 successfully repeated the Soviet lunar impacts as part of their secondary missions.

Three U.S. missions in 1962 attempted to hard land small seismometer packages released by the main Ranger spacecraft. These surface packages were to use retrorockets to survive landing, unlike the parent vehicle, which was designed to deliberately crash onto the surface. The final three Ranger probes performed successful high altitude lunar reconnaissance photography missions during intentional crash impacts between 2.62 and 2.68 kilometres per second (9,400 and 9,600 km/h).

Mission	Mass (kg)	Launch vehicle	Launch date	Goal	Result
Pioneer 0	38	Thor-Able	17 August 1958	Lunar orbit	Failure – first stage explosion; destroyed
Pioneer 1	34	Thor-Able	11 October 1958	Lunar orbit	Failure – software error; reentry
Pioneer 2	39	Thor-Able	8 November 1958	Lunar orbit	Failure – third stage misfire; reentry
Pioneer 3	6	Juno	6 December 1958	Flyby	Failure – first stage misfire, reentry
Pioneer 4	6	Juno	3 March 1959	Flyby	Partial success – first US craft to reach escape velocity, lunar flyby too far to shoot photos due to targeting error; solar orbit
Pioneer P-1	168	Atlas-Able	24 September 1959	Lunar orbit	Failure – pad explosion; destroyed
Pioneer P-3	168	Atlas-Able	29 November 1959	Lunar orbit	Failure – payload shroud; destroyed
Pioneer P-30	175	Atlas-Able	25 September 1960	Lunar orbit	Failure – second stage anomaly; reentry
Pioneer P-31	175	Atlas-Able	15 December 1960	Lunar orbit	Failure – first stage explosion; destroyed
Ranger 1	306	Atlas – Agena	23 August 1961	Prototype test	Failure – upper stage anomaly; reentry
Ranger 2	304	Atlas – Agena	18 November 1961	Prototype test	Failure – upper stage anomaly; reentry
Ranger 3	330	Atlas – Agena	26 January 1962	Landing	Failure – booster guidance; solar orbit
Ranger 4	331	Atlas – Agena	23 April 1962	Landing	Partial success – first U.S. spacecraft to reach another celestial body; crash impact – no photos returned
Ranger 5	342	Atlas – Agena	18 October 1962	Landing	Failure – spacecraft power; solar orbit
Ranger 6	367	Atlas – Agena	30 January 1964	Impact	Failure – spacecraft camera; crash impact
Ranger 7	367	Atlas – Agena	28 July 1964	Impact	Success – returned 4308 photos, crash impact
Ranger 8	367	Atlas – Agena	17 February 1965	Impact	Success – returned 7137 photos, crash impact
Ranger 9	367	Atlas – Agena	21 March 1965	Impact	Success – returned 5814 photos, crash impact

Pioneer missions

Three different designs of Pioneer lunar probes were flown on three different modified ICBMs. Those flown on the Thor booster modified with an Able upper stage carried an infrared image scanning television system with a resolution of 1 milliradian to study the Moon's surface, an ionization chamber to measure radiation in space, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect micrometeorites, a magnetometer, and temperature-variable resistors to monitor spacecraft internal thermal conditions. The first, a mission managed by the United States Air Force, exploded during launch; all subsequent Pioneer lunar flights had NASA as the lead management organization. The next two returned to Earth and burned up upon reentry into the atmosphere after achieved maximum altitudes of around 114,000 kilometres (71,000 mi) and 1,530 kilometres (950 mi) respectively, far short of the roughly 400,000 kilometres (250,000 mi) required to reach the vicinity of the Moon.

NASA then collaborated with the United States Army's Ballistic Missile Agency to fly two extremely small cone-shaped probes on the Juno ICBM, carrying only photocells which would be triggered by the light of the Moon and a lunar radiation environment experiment using a Geiger-Müller tube detector. The first of these reached an altitude of only around 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi), gathering data that established the presence of the Van Allen radiation belts before reentering Earth's atmosphere. The second passed by the Moon at a distance of more than 60,000 kilometres (37,000 mi), twice as far as planned and too far away to trigger either of the on-board scientific instruments, yet still becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to reach a solar orbit.

The final Pioneer lunar probe design consisted of four "paddlewheel" solar panels extending from a one-meter diameter spherical spin-stabilized spacecraft body equipped to take images of the lunar surface with a television-like system, estimate the Moon's mass and topography of the poles, record the distribution and velocity of micrometeorites, study radiation, measure magnetic fields, detect low frequency electromagnetic waves in space and use a sophisticated integrated propulsion system for maneuvering and orbit insertion as well. None of the four spacecraft built in this series of probes survived launch on its Atlas ICBM outfitted with an Able upper stage.

Following the unsuccessful Atlas-Able Pioneer probes, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory embarked upon an uncrewed spacecraft development program whose modular design could be used to support both lunar and interplanetary exploration missions. The interplanetary versions were known as Mariners; lunar versions were Rangers. JPL envisioned three versions of the Ranger lunar probes: Block I prototypes, which would carry various radiation detectors in test flights to a very high Earth orbit that came nowhere near the Moon; Block II, which would try to accomplish the first Moon landing by hard landing a seismometer package; and Block III, which would crash onto the lunar surface without any braking rockets while taking very high resolution wide-area photographs of the Moon during their descent.

Ranger missions

See also: Ranger program

The Ranger 1 and 2 Block I missions were virtually identical. Spacecraft experiments included a Lyman-alpha telescope, a rubidium-vapor magnetometer, electrostatic analyzers, medium-energy-range particle detectors, two triple coincidence telescopes, a cosmic-ray integrating ionization chamber, cosmic dust detectors, and scintillation counters. The goal was to place these Block I spacecraft in a very high Earth orbit with an apogee of 110,000 kilometres (68,000 mi) and a perigee of 60,000 kilometres (37,000 mi).

From that vantage point, scientists could make direct measurements of the magnetosphere over a period of many months while engineers perfected new methods to routinely track and communicate with spacecraft over such large distances. Such practice was deemed vital to be assured of capturing high-bandwidth television transmissions from the Moon during a one-shot fifteen-minute time window in subsequent Block II and Block III lunar descents. Both Block I missions suffered failures of the new Agena upper stage and never left low Earth parking orbit after launch; both burned up upon reentry after only a few days.

The first attempts to perform a Moon landing took place in 1962 during the Rangers 3, 4 and 5 missions flown by the United States. All three Block II missions basic vehicles were 3.1 m high and consisted of a lunar capsule covered with a balsa wood impact-limiter, 650 mm in diameter, a mono-propellant mid-course motor, a retrorocket with a thrust of 5,050 pounds-force (22.5 kN), and a gold- and chrome-plated hexagonal base 1.5 m in diameter. This lander (code-named Tonto) was designed to provide impact cushioning using an exterior blanket of crushable balsa wood and an interior filled with incompressible liquid freon. A 42-kilogram (93 lb) 30-centimetre-diameter (0.98 ft) metal payload sphere floated and was free to rotate in a liquid freon reservoir contained in the landing sphere.

"Everything that we do ought to really be tied-in to getting onto the Moon ahead of the Russians. ...We're ready to spend reasonable amounts of money, but we're talking about fantastic expenditures which wreck our budget and all these other domestic programs, and the only justification for it, in my opinion, to do it is because we hope to beat them and demonstrate that starting behind, as we did by a couple of years, by God, we passed them."

— John F. Kennedy on the planned Moon landing, 21 November 1962

This payload sphere contained six silver-cadmium batteries to power a fifty-milliwatt radio transmitter, a temperature sensitive voltage controlled oscillator to measure lunar surface temperatures, and a seismometer designed with sensitivity high enough to detect the impact of a 2.3 kg (5 lb) meteorite on the opposite side of the Moon. Weight was distributed in the payload sphere so it would rotate in its liquid blanket to place the seismometer into an upright and operational position no matter what the final resting orientation of the external landing sphere. After landing, plugs were to be opened allowing the freon to evaporate and the payload sphere to settle into upright contact with the landing sphere. The batteries were sized to allow up to three months of operation for the payload sphere. Various mission constraints limited the landing site to Oceanus Procellarum on the lunar equator, which the lander ideally would reach 66 hours after launch.

No cameras were carried by the Ranger landers, and no pictures were to be captured from the lunar surface during the mission. Instead, the 3.1 metres (10 ft) Ranger Block II mother ship carried a 200-scan-line television camera to capture images during the free-fall descent to the lunar surface. The camera was designed to transmit a picture every 10 seconds. Seconds before impact, at 5 and 0.6 kilometres (3.11 and 0.37 mi) above the lunar surface, the Ranger mother ships took pictures (which may be viewed here).

Other instruments gathering data before the mother ship crashed onto the Moon were a gamma ray spectrometer to measure overall lunar chemical composition and a radar altimeter. The radar altimeter was to give a signal ejecting the landing capsule and its solid-fueled braking rocket overboard from the Block II mother ship. The braking rocket was to slow and the landing sphere to a dead stop at 330 metres (1,080 ft) above the surface and separate, allowing the landing sphere to free fall once more and hit the surface.

On Ranger 3, failure of the Atlas guidance system and a software error aboard the Agena upper stage combined to put the spacecraft on a course that would miss the Moon. Attempts to salvage lunar photography during a flyby of the Moon were thwarted by in-flight failure of the onboard flight computer. This was probably because of prior heat sterilization of the spacecraft by keeping it above the boiling point of water for 24 hours on the ground, to protect the Moon from being contaminated by Earth organisms. Ranger 3 later began orbiting the Sun, called heliocentric orbit. Heat sterilization was also blamed for subsequent in-flight failures of the spacecraft computer on Ranger 4 and the power subsystem on Ranger 5. Only Ranger 4 reached the Moon in an uncontrolled crash impact on the far side of the Moon.

Block III probes replaced the Block II landing capsule and its retrorocket with a heavier, more capable television system to support landing site selection for upcoming Apollo crewed Moon landing missions. Six cameras were designed to take thousands of high-altitude photographs in the final twenty-minute period before crashing on the lunar surface. Camera resolution was 1,132 scan lines, far higher than the 525 lines found in a typical U.S. 1964 home television. While Ranger 6 suffered a failure of this camera system and returned no photographs despite an otherwise successful flight, the subsequent Ranger 7 mission to Mare Cognitum was a complete success.

Breaking the six-year string of failures in U.S. attempts to photograph the Moon at close range, the Ranger 7 mission was viewed as a national turning point and instrumental in allowing the key 1965 NASA budget appropriation to pass through the United States Congress intact without a reduction in funds for the Apollo crewed Moon landing program. Subsequent successes with Ranger 8 and Ranger 9 further buoyed U.S. hopes.

Soviet uncrewed soft landings (1966–1976)

The Luna 9 spacecraft, launched by the Soviet Union, performed the first successful soft Moon landing on 3 February 1966. Airbags protected its 99-kilogram (218 lb) ejectable capsule which survived an impact speed of over 15 metres per second (54 km/h; 34 mph). Luna 13 duplicated this feat with a similar Moon landing on 24 December 1966. Both returned panoramic photographs that were the first views from the lunar surface.

Luna 16 was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and safely return a sample of lunar soil back to Earth. It represented the first lunar sample return mission by the Soviet Union, and was the third lunar sample return mission overall, following the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions. This mission was later successfully repeated by Luna 20 (1972) and Luna 24 (1976).

In 1970 and 1973 two Lunokhod ("Moonwalker") robotic lunar rovers were delivered to the Moon, where they successfully operated for 10 and 4 months respectively, covering 10.5 km (6.5 mi) (Lunokhod 1) and 37 km (23 mi) (Lunokhod 2). These rover missions were in operation concurrently with the Zond and Luna series of Moon flyby, orbiter and landing missions.

Mission	Mass (kg)	Booster	Launch date	Goal	Result	Landing zone	Lat/Lon
Luna-9	1,580	Semyorka – 8K78	31 January 1966	Landing	Success – first lunar soft landing, numerous photos	Oceanus Procellarum	7.13°N 64.37°W
Luna-13	1,580	Semyorka – 8K78	21 December 1966	Landing	Success – second lunar soft landing, numerous photos	Oceanus Procellarum	18°52'N 62°3'W
		Proton	19 February 1969	Lunar rover	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
		Proton	14 June 1969	Sample return	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
Luna-15	5,700	Proton	13 July 1969	Sample return	Failure – lunar crash impact	Mare Crisium	unknown
Cosmos-300		Proton	23 September 1969	Sample return	Failure – stranded in low Earth orbit
Cosmos-305		Proton	22 October 1969	Sample return	Failure – stranded in low Earth orbit
		Proton	6 February 1970	Sample return	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
Luna-16	5,600	Proton	12 September 1970	Sample return	Success – returned 0.10 kg (0.22 lb) of Moon soil back to Earth	Mare Fecunditatis	000.68S 056.30E
Luna-17	5,700	Proton	10 November 1970	Lunar rover	Success – Lunokhod-1 rover traveled 10.5 km (6.5 mi) across lunar surface	Mare Imbrium	038.28N 325.00E
Luna-18	5,750	Proton	2 September 1971	Sample return	Failure – lunar crash impact	Mare Fecunditatis	003.57N 056.50E
Luna-20	5,727	Proton	14 February 1972	Sample return	Success – returned 0.05 kg (0.11 lb) of Moon soil back to Earth	Mare Fecunditatis	003.57N 056.50E
Luna-21	5,950	Proton	8 January 1973	Lunar rover	Success – Lunokhod-2 rover traveled 37.0 km (23.0 mi) across lunar surface	LeMonnier Crater	025.85N 030.45E
Luna-23	5,800	Proton	28 October 1974	Sample return	Failure – Moon landing achieved, but malfunction prevented sample return	Mare Crisium	012.00N 062.00E
		Proton	16 October 1975	Sample return	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
Luna-24	5,800	Proton	9 August 1976	Sample return	Success – returned 0.17 kg (0.37 lb) of Moon soil back to Earth	Mare Crisium	012.25N 062.20E

U.S. uncrewed soft landings (1966–1968)

The U.S. robotic Surveyor program was part of an effort to locate a safe site on the Moon for a human landing and test under lunar conditions the radar and landing systems required to make a true controlled touchdown. Five of Surveyor's seven missions made successful uncrewed Moon landings. Surveyor 3 was visited two years after its Moon landing by the crew of Apollo 12. They removed parts of it for examination back on Earth to determine the effects of long-term exposure to the lunar environment.

Mission	Mass (kg)	Booster	Launch date	Goal	Result	Landing zone	Lat/Lon
Surveyor 1	292	Atlas – Centaur	30 May 1966	Landing	Success – 11,000 pictures returned, first U.S. Moon landing	Oceanus Procellarum	002.45S 043.22W
Surveyor 2	292	Atlas – Centaur	20 September 1966	Landing	Failure – midcourse engine malfunction, placing vehicle in unrecoverable tumble; crashed southeast of Copernicus Crater	Sinus Medii	004.00S 011.00W
Surveyor 3	302	Atlas – Centaur	20 April 1967	Landing	Success – 6,000 pictures returned; trench dug to 17.5 cm depth after 18 hr of robot arm use	Oceanus Procellarum	002.94S 336.66E
Surveyor 4	282	Atlas – Centaur	14 July 1967	Landing	Failure – radio contact lost 2.5 minutes before touchdown; perfect automated Moon landing possible but outcome unknown	Sinus Medii	unknown
Surveyor 5	303	Atlas – Centaur	8 September 1967	Landing	Success – 19,000 photos returned, first use of alpha scatter soil composition monitor	Mare Tranquillitatis	001.41N 023.18E
Surveyor 6	300	Atlas – Centaur	7 November 1967	Landing	Success – 30,000 photos returned, robot arm and alpha scatter science, engine restart, second landing 2.5 m away from first	Sinus Medii	000.46N 358.63E
Surveyor 7	306	Atlas – Centaur	7 January 1968	Landing	Success – 21,000 photos returned; robot arm and alpha scatter science; laser beams from Earth detected	Tycho Crater	041.01S 348.59E

Transition from direct ascent landings to lunar orbit operations

Within four months of each other in early 1966 the Soviet Union and the United States had accomplished successful Moon landings with uncrewed spacecraft. To the general public both countries had demonstrated roughly equal technical capabilities by returning photographic images from the surface of the Moon. These pictures provided a key affirmative answer to the crucial question of whether or not lunar soil would support upcoming crewed landers with their much greater weight.

However, the Luna 9 hard landing of a ruggedized sphere using airbags at a 50-kilometre-per-hour (31 mph) ballistic impact speed had much more in common with the failed 1962 Ranger landing attempts and their planned 160-kilometre-per-hour (99 mph) impacts than with the Surveyor 1 soft landing on three footpads using its radar-controlled, adjustable-thrust retrorocket. While Luna 9 and Surveyor 1 were both major national accomplishments, only Surveyor 1 had reached its landing site employing key technologies that would be needed for a crewed flight. Thus as of mid-1966, the United States had begun to pull ahead of the Soviet Union in the so-called Space Race to land a man on the Moon.

Advances in other areas were necessary before crewed spacecraft could follow uncrewed ones to the surface of the Moon. Of particular importance was developing the expertise to perform flight operations in lunar orbit. Ranger, Surveyor and initial Luna Moon landing attempts all flew directly to the surface without a lunar orbit. Such direct ascents use a minimum amount of fuel for uncrewed spacecraft on a one-way trip.

In contrast, crewed vehicles need additional fuel after a lunar landing to enable a return trip back to Earth for the crew. Leaving this massive amount of required Earth-return fuel in lunar orbit until it is used later in the mission is far more efficient than taking such fuel down to the lunar surface in a Moon landing and then hauling it all back into space yet again, working against lunar gravity both ways. Such considerations lead logically to a lunar orbit rendezvous mission profile for a crewed Moon landing.

Accordingly, beginning in mid-1966 both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. naturally progressed into missions featuring lunar orbit as a prerequisite to a crewed Moon landing. The primary goals of these initial uncrewed orbiters were extensive photographic mapping of the entire lunar surface for the selection of crewed landing sites and, for the Soviets, the checkout of radio communications gear that would be used in future soft landings.

An unexpected major discovery from initial lunar orbiters were vast volumes of dense materials beneath the surface of the Moon's maria. Such mass concentrations ("mascons") can send a crewed mission dangerously off course in the final minutes of a Moon landing when aiming for a relatively small landing zone that is smooth and safe. Mascons were also found over a longer period of time to greatly disturb the orbits of low-altitude satellites around the Moon, making their orbits unstable and forcing an inevitable crash on the lunar surface in the relatively short period of months to a few years.

Controlling the location of impact for spent lunar orbiters can have scientific value. For example, in 1999 the NASA Lunar Prospector orbiter was deliberately targeted to impact a permanently shadowed area of Shoemaker Crater near the lunar south pole. It was hoped that energy from the impact would vaporize suspected shadowed ice deposits in the crater and liberate a water vapor plume detectable from Earth. No such plume was observed. However, a small vial of ashes from the body of pioneer lunar scientist Eugene Shoemaker was delivered by the Lunar Prospector to the crater named in his honor – the only human remains on the Moon.

Soviet lunar orbit satellites (1966–1974)

U.S.S.R. mission	Mass (kg)	Booster	Launched	Mission goal	Mission result
Cosmos – 111		Molniya-M	1 March 1966	Lunar orbiter	Failure – stranded in low Earth orbit
Luna-10	1,582	Molniya-M	31 March 1966	Lunar orbiter	Success – 2,738-by-2,088-kilometre (1,701 mi × 1,297 mi) × 72 deg orbit, 178 minute period, 60-day science mission
Luna-11	1,640	Molniya-M	24 August 1966	Lunar orbiter	Success – 2,931-by-1,898-kilometre (1,821 mi × 1,179 mi) × 27 deg orbit, 178 minute period, 38-day science mission
Luna-12	1,620	Molniya-M	22 October 1966	Lunar orbiter	Success – 2,938-by-1,871-kilometre (1,826 mi × 1,163 mi) × 10 deg orbit, 205 minute period, 89-day science mission
Cosmos-159	1,700	Molniya-M	17 May 1967	Prototype test	Success – high Earth orbit crewed landing communications gear radio calibration test
		Molniya-M	7 February 1968	Lunar orbiter	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit – attempted radio calibration test?
Luna-14	1,700	Molniya-M	7 April 1968	Lunar orbiter	Success – 870-by-160-kilometre (541 mi × 99 mi) × 42 deg orbit, 160 minute period, unstable orbit, radio calibration test?
Luna-19	5,700	Proton	28 September 1971	Lunar orbiter	Success – 140-by-140-kilometre (87 mi × 87 mi) × 41 deg orbit, 121 minute period, 388-day science mission
Luna-22	5,700	Proton	29 May 1974	Lunar orbiter	Success – 222-by-219-kilometre (138 mi × 136 mi) × 19 deg orbit, 130 minute period, 521-day science mission

Luna 10 became the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon on 3 April 1966.

U.S. lunar orbit satellites (1966–1967)

U.S. mission	Mass (kg)	Booster	Launched	Mission goal	Mission result
Lunar Orbiter 1	386	Atlas – Agena	10 August 1966	Lunar orbiter	Success – 1,160-by-189-kilometer (721 mi × 117 mi) × 12 deg orbit, 208 minute period, 80-day photography mission
Lunar Orbiter 2	386	Atlas – Agena	6 November 1966	Lunar orbiter	Success – 1,860-by-52-kilometer (1,156 mi × 32 mi) × 12 deg orbit, 208 minute period, 339-day photography mission
Lunar Orbiter 3	386	Atlas – Agena	5 February 1967	Lunar orbiter	Success – 1,860-by-52-kilometer (1,156 mi × 32 mi) × 21 deg orbit, 208 minute period, 246-day photography mission
Lunar Orbiter 4	386	Atlas – Agena	4 May 1967	Lunar orbiter	Success – 6,111-by-2,706-kilometer (3,797 mi × 1,681 mi) × 86 deg orbit, 172 minute period, 180-day photography mission
Lunar Orbiter 5	386	Atlas – Agena	1 August 1967	Lunar orbiter	Success – 6,023-by-195-kilometer (3,743 mi × 121 mi) × 85 deg orbit, 510 minute period, 183-day photography mission

Soviet circumlunar loop flights (1967–1970)

Main article: Soviet crewed lunar programs

It is possible to aim a spacecraft from Earth so it will loop around the Moon and return to Earth without entering lunar orbit, following the so-called free return trajectory. Such circumlunar loop missions are simpler than lunar orbit missions because rockets for lunar orbit braking and Earth return are not required. However, a crewed circumlunar loop trip poses significant challenges beyond those found in a crewed low-Earth-orbit mission, offering valuable lessons in preparation for a crewed Moon landing. Foremost among these are mastering the demands of re-entering the Earth's atmosphere upon returning from the Moon.

Inhabited Earth-orbiting vehicles such as the Space Shuttle return to Earth from speeds of around 7,500 m/s (27,000 km/h). Due to the effects of gravity, a vehicle returning from the Moon hits Earth's atmosphere at a much higher speed of around 11,000 m/s (40,000 km/h). The g-loading on astronauts during the resulting deceleration can be at the limits of human endurance even during a nominal reentry. Slight variations in the vehicle flight path and reentry angle during a return from the Moon can easily result in fatal levels of deceleration force.

Achieving a crewed circumlunar loop flight prior to a crewed lunar landing became a primary goal of the Soviets with their Zond spacecraft program. The first three Zonds were robotic planetary probes; after that, the Zond name was transferred to a completely separate human spaceflight program. The initial focus of these later Zonds was extensive testing of required high-speed reentry techniques. This focus was not shared by the U.S., who chose instead to bypass the stepping stone of a crewed circumlunar loop mission and never developed a separate spacecraft for this purpose.

Initial crewed spaceflights in the early 1960s placed a single person in low Earth orbit during the Soviet Vostok and U.S. Mercury programs. A two-flight extension of the Vostok program known as Voskhod effectively used Vostok capsules with their ejection seats removed to achieve Soviet space firsts of multiple person crews in 1964 and spacewalks in early 1965. These capabilities were later demonstrated by the U.S. in ten Gemini low Earth orbit missions throughout 1965 and 1966, using a totally new second-generation spacecraft design that had little in common with the earlier Mercury. These Gemini missions went on to prove techniques for orbital rendezvous and docking crucial to a crewed lunar landing mission profile.

After the end of the Gemini program, the Soviet Union began flying their second-generation Zond crewed spacecraft in 1967 with the ultimate goal of looping a cosmonaut around the Moon and returning him or her immediately to Earth. The Zond spacecraft was launched with the simpler and already operational Proton launch rocket, unlike the parallel Soviet human Moon landing effort also underway at the time based on third-generation Soyuz spacecraft requiring development of the advanced N-1 booster. The Soviets thus believed they could achieve a crewed Zond circumlunar flight years before a U.S. human lunar landing and so score a propaganda victory. However, significant development problems delayed the Zond program and the success of the U.S. Apollo lunar landing program led to the eventual termination of the Zond effort.

Like Zond, Apollo flights were generally launched on a free return trajectory that would return them to Earth via a circumlunar loop if a service module malfunction failed to place them in lunar orbit. This option was implemented after an explosion aboard the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, which is the only crewed circumlunar loop mission flown to date.

U.S.S.R mission	Mass (kg)	Booster	Launched	Mission goal	Payload	Mission result
Cosmos-146	5,400	Proton	10 March 1967	High Earth Orbit	uncrewed	Partial success – Successfully reached high Earth orbit, but became stranded and was unable to initiate controlled high speed atmospheric reentry test
Cosmos-154	5,400	Proton	8 April 1967	High Earth Orbit	uncrewed	Partial success – Successfully reached high Earth orbit, but became stranded and was unable to initiate controlled high speed atmospheric reentry test
		Proton	28 September 1967	High Earth Orbit	uncrewed	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
		Proton	22 November 1967	High Earth Orbit	uncrewed	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
Zond-4	5,140	Proton	2 March 1968	High Earth Orbit	uncrewed	Partial success – launched successfully to 300,000 km (190,000 mi) high Earth orbit, high speed reentry test guidance malfunction, intentional self-destruct to prevent landfall outside Soviet Union
		Proton	23 April 1968	Circumlunar Loop	non-human biological payload	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit; launch preparation tank explosion kills three in pad crew
Zond-5	5,375	Proton	15 September 1968	Circumlunar Loop	non-human biological payload	Success – looped around Moon with Earth's first near-lunar life forms, two tortoises and other live biological specimens, and the capsule and payload safely to Earth despite landing off-target outside the Soviet Union in the Indian Ocean
Zond-6	5,375	Proton	10 November 1968	Circumlunar Loop	non-human biological payload	Partial success – looped around Moon, successful reentry, but loss of cabin air pressure caused biological payload death, parachute system malfunction and severe vehicle damage upon landing
		Proton	20 January 1969	Circumlunar Loop	non-human biological payload	Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit
Zond-7	5,979	Proton	8 August 1969	Circumlunar Loop	non-human biological payload	Success – looped around Moon, returned biological payload safely to Earth and landed on-target inside Soviet Union. Only Zond mission whose reentry G-forces would have been survivable by human crew had they been aboard.
Zond-8	5,375	Proton	20 October 1970	Circumlunar Loop	non-human biological payload	Success – looped around Moon, returned biological payload safely to Earth despite landing off-target outside Soviet Union in the Indian Ocean

Zond 5 was the first spacecraft to carry life from Earth to the vicinity of the Moon and return, initiating the final lap of the Space Race with its payload of tortoises, insects, plants, and bacteria. Despite the failure suffered in its final moments, the Zond 6 mission was reported by Soviet media as being a success as well. Although hailed worldwide as remarkable achievements, both these Zond missions flew off-nominal reentry trajectories resulting in deceleration forces that would have been fatal to humans.

As a result, the Soviets secretly planned to continue uncrewed Zond tests until their reliability to support human flight had been demonstrated. However, due to NASA's continuing problems with the lunar module, and because of CIA reports of a potential Soviet crewed circumlunar flight in late 1968, NASA fatefully changed the flight plan of Apollo 8 from an Earth-orbit lunar module test to a lunar orbit mission scheduled for late December 1968.

In early December 1968 the launch window to the Moon opened for the Soviet launch site in Baikonur, giving the USSR their final chance to beat the US to the Moon. Cosmonauts went on alert and asked to fly the Zond spacecraft then in final countdown at Baikonur on the first human trip to the Moon. Ultimately, however, the Soviet Politburo decided the risk of crew death was unacceptable given the combined poor performance to that point of Zond/Proton and so scrubbed the launch of a crewed Soviet lunar mission. Their decision proved to be a wise one, since this unnumbered Zond mission was destroyed in another uncrewed test when it was finally launched several weeks later.

By this time flights of the third generation U.S. Apollo spacecraft had begun. Far more capable than the Zond, the Apollo spacecraft had the necessary rocket power to slip into and out of lunar orbit and to make course adjustments required for a safe reentry during the return to Earth. The Apollo 8 mission carried out the first human trip to the Moon on 24 December 1968, certifying the Saturn V booster for crewed use and flying not a circumlunar loop but instead a full ten orbits around the Moon before returning safely to Earth. Apollo 10 then performed a full dress rehearsal of a crewed Moon landing in May 1969. This mission orbited within 14.4 kilometres (47,400 ft) of the lunar surface, performing necessary low-altitude mapping of trajectory-altering mascons using a factory prototype lunar module too heavy to land. With the failure of the robotic Soviet sample return Moon landing attempt Luna 15 in July 1969, the stage was set for Apollo 11.

Human Moon landings (1969–1972)

US strategy

Main article: Apollo program § Political pressure builds

Plans for human Moon exploration began during the Eisenhower administration. In a series of mid-1950s articles in Collier's magazine, Wernher von Braun had popularized the idea of a crewed expedition to establish a lunar base. A human Moon landing posed several daunting technical challenges to the US and USSR. Besides guidance and weight management, atmospheric re-entry without ablative overheating was a major hurdle. After the Soviets launched Sputnik, von Braun promoted a plan for the US Army to establish a military lunar outpost by 1965.

After the early Soviet successes, especially Yuri Gagarin's flight, US President John F. Kennedy looked for a project that would capture the public imagination. He asked Vice President Lyndon Johnson to make recommendations on a scientific endeavor that would prove US world leadership. The proposals included non-space options such as massive irrigation projects to benefit the Third World. The Soviets, at the time, had more powerful rockets than the US, which gave them an advantage in some kinds of space mission.

Advances in US nuclear weapon technology had led to smaller, lighter warheads; the Soviets' were much heavier, and the powerful R-7 rocket was developed to carry them. More modest missions such as flying around the Moon, or a space lab in lunar orbit (both were proposed by Kennedy to von Braun), offered too much advantage to the Soviets; landing, however, would capture the world's imagination.

Johnson had championed the US human spaceflight program ever since Sputnik, sponsoring legislation to create NASA while he was still a senator. When Kennedy asked him in 1961 to research the best achievement to counter the Soviets' lead, Johnson responded that the US had an even chance of beating them to a crewed lunar landing, but not for anything less. Kennedy seized on Apollo as the ideal focus for efforts in space. He ensured continuing funding, shielding space spending from the 1963 tax cut, but diverting money from other NASA scientific projects. These diversions dismayed NASA's leader, James E. Webb, who perceived the need for NASA's support from the scientific community.

The Moon landing required development of the large Saturn V launch vehicle, which achieved a perfect record: zero catastrophic failures or launch vehicle-caused mission failures in thirteen launches.

For the program to succeed, its proponents would have to defeat criticism from politicians both on the left (more money for social programs) and on the right (more money for the military). By emphasizing the scientific payoff and playing on fears of Soviet space dominance, Kennedy and Johnson managed to swing public opinion: by 1965, 58 percent of Americans favored Apollo, up from 33 percent two years earlier. After Johnson became president in 1963, his continuing defense of the program allowed it to succeed in 1969, as Kennedy had planned.

Soviet strategy

Main article: Soviet Moonshot

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said in October 1963 the USSR was "not at present planning flight by cosmonauts to the Moon," while insisting that the Soviets had not dropped out of the race. Only after another year did the USSR fully commit itself to a Moon-landing attempt, which ultimately failed.

At the same time, Kennedy had suggested various joint programs, including a possible Moon landing by Soviet and U.S. astronauts and the development of better weather-monitoring satellites, eventually resulting in the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Khrushchev, sensing an attempt by Kennedy to steal Russian space technology, rejected the idea at first: if the USSR went to the Moon, it would go alone. Though Khrushchev was eventually warming up to the idea, the realization of a joint Moon landing was choked by Kennedy's assassination.

Sergey Korolev, the Soviet space program's chief designer, had started promoting his Soyuz craft and the N1 launcher rocket that would have the capability of carrying out a human Moon landing. Khrushchev directed Korolev's design bureau to arrange further space firsts by modifying the existing Vostok technology, while a second team started building a completely new launcher and craft, the Proton booster and the Zond, for a human cislunar flight in 1966. In 1964 the new Soviet leadership gave Korolev the backing for a Moon landing effort and brought all crewed projects under his direction.

With Korolev's death and the failure of the first Soyuz flight in 1967, coordination of the Soviet Moon landing program quickly unraveled. The Soviets built a landing craft and selected cosmonauts for a mission that would have placed Alexei Leonov on the Moon's surface, but with the successive launch failures of the N1 booster in 1969, plans for a crewed landing suffered first delay and then cancellation.

A program of automated return vehicles was begun, in the hope of being the first to return lunar rocks. This had several failures. It eventually succeeded with Luna 16 in 1970. But this had little impact, because the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 lunar landings and rock returns had already taken place by then.

Apollo missions

In total, twenty-four U.S. astronauts have traveled to the Moon. Three have made the trip twice, and twelve have walked on its surface. Apollo 8 was a lunar-orbit-only mission, Apollo 10 included undocking and Descent Orbit Insertion (DOI), followed by LM staging to CSM redocking, while Apollo 13, originally scheduled as a landing, ended up as a lunar fly-by, by means of free return trajectory; thus, none of these missions made landings. Apollo 7 and Apollo 9 were Earth-orbit-only missions. Apart from the inherent dangers of crewed Moon expeditions as seen with Apollo 13, one reason for their cessation according to astronaut Alan Bean is the cost it imposes in government subsidies.

Human Moon landings

Mission name	Lunar lander	Lunar landing date	Lunar liftoff date	Lunar landing site	Duration on lunar surface (DD:HH:MM)	Crew	Number of EVAs	Total EVA Time (HH:MM)
Apollo 11	Eagle	20 July 1969	21 July 1969	Sea of Tranquility	0:21:31	Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin	1	2:31
Apollo 12	Intrepid	19 November 1969	21 November 1969	Ocean of Storms	1:07:31	Charles "Pete" Conrad, Alan Bean	2	7:45
Apollo 14	Antares	5 February 1971	6 February 1971	Fra Mauro	1:09:30	Alan B. Shepard, Edgar Mitchell	2	9:21
Apollo 15	Falcon	30 July 1971	2 August 1971	Hadley Rille	2:18:55	David Scott, James Irwin	3	18:33
Apollo 16	Orion	21 April 1972	24 April 1972	Descartes Highlands	2:23:02	John Young, Charles Duke	3	20:14
Apollo 17	Challenger	11 December 1972	14 December 1972	Taurus–Littrow	3:02:59	Eugene Cernan, Harrison "Jack" Schmitt	3	22:04

Other aspects of the successful Apollo landings

President Richard Nixon had speechwriter William Safire prepare a condolence speech for delivery in case Armstrong and Aldrin became marooned on the Moon's surface and could not be rescued.

In 1951, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke forecast that a man would reach the Moon by 1978.

On 16 August 2006, the Associated Press reported that NASA is missing the original Slow-scan television tapes (which were made before the scan conversion for conventional TV) of the Apollo 11 Moon walk. Some news outlets have mistakenly reported the SSTV tapes found in Western Australia, but those tapes were only recordings of data from the Apollo 11 Early Apollo Surface Experiments Package. The tapes were found in 2008 and sold at auction in 2019 for the 50th anniversary of the landing.

Scientists believe the six American flags planted by astronauts have been bleached white because of more than 40 years of exposure to solar radiation. Using LROC images, it has been determined that five of the six American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported that the flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during liftoff of Apollo 11.

Late 20th century–21st century uncrewed crash landings

Hiten (Japan)

Launched on 24 January 1990, 11:46 UTC. At the end of its mission, the Japanese lunar orbiter Hiten was commanded to crash into the lunar surface and did so on 10 April 1993 at 18:03:25.7 UT (11 April 03:03:25.7 JST).

Lunar Prospector (U.S.)

Lunar Prospector was launched on 7 January 1998. The mission ended on 31 July 1999, when the orbiter was deliberately crashed into a crater near the lunar south pole after the presence of water ice was successfully detected.

SMART-1 (ESA)

Launched 27 September 2003, 23:14 UTC from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. At the end of its mission, the ESA lunar orbiter SMART-1 performed a controlled crash into the Moon, at about 2 km/s (7,200 km/h; 4,500 mph). The time of the crash was 3 September 2006, at 5:42 UTC.

Chandrayaan-1 (India)

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) performed a controlled hard landing with its Moon Impact Probe (MIP). The MIP was ejected from the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter and performed remote sensing experiments during its descent to the lunar surface. It impacted near Shackleton crater at the south pole of the lunar surface at 14 November 2008, 20:31 IST.

Chandrayaan-1 was launched on 22 October 2008, 00:52 UTC.

Chang'e 1 (China)

The Chinese lunar orbiter Chang'e 1, executed a controlled crash onto the surface of the Moon on 1 March 2009, 20:44 GMT, after a 16-month mission. Chang'e 1 was launched on 24 October 2007, 10:05 UTC.

SELENE (Japan)

SELENE or Kaguya after successfully orbiting the Moon for a year and eight months, the main orbiter was instructed to impact on the lunar surface near the crater Gill at 18:25 UTC on 10 June 2009. SELENE or Kaguya was launched on 14 September 2007.

LCROSS (U.S.)

The LCROSS data collecting shepherding spacecraft was launched together with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on 18 June 2009 on board an Atlas V rocket with a Centaur upper stage. On 9 October 2009, at 11:31 UTC, the Centaur upper stage impacted the lunar surface, releasing the kinetic energy equivalent of detonating approximately 2 tons of TNT (8.86 GJ). Six minutes later at 11:37 UTC, the LCROSS shepherding spacecraft also impacted the surface.

GRAIL (U.S.)

The GRAIL mission consisted of two small spacecraft: GRAIL A (Ebb), and GRAIL B (Flow). They were launched on 10 September 2011 on board a Delta II rocket. GRAIL A separated from the rocket about nine minutes after launch, and GRAIL B followed about eight minutes later. The first probe entered orbit on 31 December 2011 and the second followed on 1 January 2012. The two spacecraft impacted the Lunar surface on 17 December 2012.

LADEE (U.S.)

LADEE was launched on 7 September 2013. The mission ended on 18 April 2014, when the spacecraft's controllers intentionally crashed LADEE into the far side of the Moon, which, later, was determined to be near the eastern rim of Sundman V crater.

Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (Luxembourg)

The Manfred Memorial Moon Mission was launched on 23 October 2014. It conducted a lunar flyby and operated for 19 days which was four times longer than expected. The Manfred Memorial Moon Mission remained attached to the upper stage of its launch vehicle (CZ-3C/E). The spacecraft along with its upper stage impacted the Moon on 4 March 2022.

21st century uncrewed soft landings and attempts

Chang'e 3 (China)

On 14 December 2013 at 13:12 UTC, Chang'e 3 soft-landed a rover on the Moon. This was China's first soft landing on another celestial body and world's first lunar soft landing since Luna 24 on 22 August 1976. The mission was launched on 1 December 2013. After successful landing, the lander release the Yutu rover, which moved 114 meters before being immobilized due to system malfunction. But the rover was still operational until July 2016.

Chang'e 4 (China)

On 3 January 2019 at 2:26 UTC, Chang'e 4 became the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the Moon. Chang'e 4 was originally designed as the backup of Chang'e 3. It was later adjusted as a mission to the far side of the Moon after the success of Chang'e 3. After making a successful landing within Von Kármán crater, the Chang'e 4 lander deployed the 140-kilogram (310 lb) Yutu-2 rover and began human's first close exploration of the far side of the Moon. Because the Moon blocks the communications between far side and Earth, a relay satellite, Queqiao, was launched to the Earth–Moon L2 Lagrangian point a few months prior to the landing to enable communications.

Yutu-2, the second lunar rover from China, was equipped with panoramic camera, lunar penetrating radar, visible and near-infrared Imaging spectrometer and advanced small analyzer for neutrals. As of July 2022, it has survived more than 1000 days on the lunar surface and is still driving with cumulative travel distance of over 1200 meters.

Beresheet (Israel/SpaceIL)

On 22 February 2019, Israeli private space agency SpaceIL launched their spacecraft Beresheet on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, Florida with the intention of achieving a soft landing. SpaceIL lost contact with the spacecraft during final descent on 11 April 2019, and it crashed as a result of a main engine failure.

The mission was the first Israeli, and the first privately funded, lunar landing attempt. Despite the failure, the mission represented the closest a private entity had come to a soft lunar landing at the time.

SpaceIL was originally conceived in 2011 as a venture to pursue the Google Lunar X Prize. The Beresheet lunar lander's target landing destination was within Mare Serenitatis, a vast volcanic basin on the Moon's northern near side.

Chandrayaan-2 (India)

ISRO, the Indian National Space agency, launched Chandrayaan-2 on 22 July 2019. It had three major modules: orbiter, lander and rover. Each of these modules had scientific instruments from scientific research institutes in India and the US. On 7 September 2019 contact was lost with the Vikram lander at an altitude of 2.1 km (1.3 mi) after a rough braking phase. Vikram was later confirmed to have crashed and been destroyed.

Chang'e 5 (China)

On 6 December 2020 at 21:42 UTC, Chang'e 5 landed and collected the first lunar soil samples in over 40 years, and then returned the samples to Earth. The 8.2t stack consisting of lander, ascender, orbiter and returner was launched to lunar orbit by a Long March 5 rocket on 24 November. The lander-ascender combination was separated with the orbiter and returner before landing near Mons Rümker in Oceanus Procellarum. The ascender was later launched back to lunar orbit, carrying samples collected by the lander, and completed the first-ever robotic rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. The sample container was then transferred to the returner, which successfully landed on Inner Mongolia on 16 December 2020, completing China's first extraterrestrial sample return mission.

Luna 25 (Russia)

In Russia's first attempt to reach the Moon since 1976, and since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Luna 25 spacecraft failed during "pre-landing" maneuvers, and crashed into the lunar surface on 19 August 2023.

Chandrayaan-3 (India)

India's national space agency ISRO launched Chandrayaan-3 on 14 July 2023. Chandrayaan-3 consists of an Indigenous Lander Module (LM), Propulsion module (PM) and the Pragyan rover. The lander with the rover successfully landed near the lunar south pole at 18:04 IST on 23 August 2023.

Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Japan)

JAXA launched the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission on 6 September 2023 at 23:42 UTC (7 September 08:42 Japan Standard Time). It landed on 19 January 2024 at 15:20 UTC, making Japan the fifth country to soft-land on the Moon. Solar panel orientation issues and possible landing damage complicated the spacecraft's operation. The mission also deployed two rovers which operated successfully and independently communicated with Earth.

Intuitive Machines-1 Odysseus lander (U.S.)

On 22 February 2024, Intuitive Machine's Odysseus successfully landed on the Moon after taking off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 liftoff on 15 February 2024 in a mission between NASA, SpaceX, and Intuitive Machines, marking the United States' first soft unmanned Moon landing in over 50 years. This mission also marks the first privately owned spacecraft to land on the Moon and the first landing with cryogenic propellants. Though it landed successfully, one of the lander's legs broke upon landing and it tilted up on the other side, 18°, due to landing on a slope, but the lander survived and payloads are functioning as expected. EagleCam was not ejected prior to landing. It was later ejected on 28 February but was partially a failure as it returned all types of data except post-IM-1 landing images that were the main aim of its mission.

Chang'e 6 (China)

China sent Chang'e 6 on 3 May 2024, which conducted the first lunar sample return from Apollo Basin on the far side of the Moon. This is China's second lunar sample return mission, the first was achieved by Chang'e 5 from the lunar near side four years earlier. It also carried a Chinese rover called Jinchan to conduct infrared spectroscopy of lunar surface and imaged Chang'e 6 lander on lunar surface. The lander-ascender-rover combination was separated with the orbiter and returner before landing on 1 June 2024 at 22:23 UTC. It landed on the Moon's surface on 1 June 2024. The ascender was launched back to lunar orbit on 3 June 2024 at 23:38 UTC, carrying samples collected by the lander, and later completed another robotic rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. The sample container was then transferred to the returner, which landed on Inner Mongolia on 25 June 2024, completing China's far side extraterrestrial sample return mission.

Landings on moons of other Solar System bodies

21st century progress in space exploration has broadened the phrase moon landing to include other moons in the Solar System. The Huygens probe of the Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn performed a successful moon landing on Titan in 2005. Similarly, the Soviet probe Phobos 2 came within 190 km (120 mi) of performing a landing on Mars' moon Phobos in 1989 before radio contact with that lander was suddenly lost. A similar Russian sample return mission called Fobos-Grunt ("grunt" means "soil" in Russian) launched in November 2011, but stalled in low Earth orbit. There is widespread interest in performing a future landing on Jupiter's moon Europa to drill down and explore the possible liquid water ocean beneath its icy surface.

Proposed future missions

Main article: List of missions to the Moon § Future missions

The Lunar Polar Exploration Mission is a robotic space mission concept by ISRO and Japan's space agency JAXA that would send a lunar rover and lander to explore south pole region of the Moon in 2025. JAXA is likely to provide launch service using the future H3 rocket, along with responsibility for the rover. ISRO would be responsible for the lander. ISRO, following the success of Chandrayaan 3 also has plans to launch Chandrayaan 4, a lunar sample return mission, which would possibly be the first to return soil from the water rich south polar basin, in a landing close to Statio Shiv Shakti. The mission is planned by late 2028. Both nations are also active participants in the Artemis program.

On 11 December 2017, US President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive 1, which directed NASA to return to the Moon with a crewed mission, for long-term exploration and use and missions to other planets. On 26 March 2019, Vice President Mike Pence formally announced that the mission will include the first female lunar astronaut. The Artemis program had intended to land a crewed mission on the Moon in 2024, and to begin sustained operations by 2028, supported by a planned Lunar Gateway. The NASA lunar landing mission has since been postponed to launch no earlier than September 2026.

The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program plans 3 additional Chang'e uncrewed missions between 2025 and 2028, in active preparation for the International Lunar Research Station it plans to construct with Russia, Venezuela, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates in the 2030s. In addition, the China Manned Space Agency intends to conduct crewed lunar landings by 2029 or 2030; in preparation for this effort, the various Chinese space agencies and contractors are currently developing a human-rated super-heavy launch vehicle (the Long March 10), a new crewed lunar spacecraft, and a crewed lunar lander.

Russia's Roscosmos has announced plans to launch a lunar polar orbiter as Luna 26, in 2027.

See also

• List of Apollo astronauts
• Lunar Escape Systems
• Robert Goddard
• Soyuz 7K-L1
• First on the Moon (disambiguation)

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Further reading

• James Gleick, "Moon Fever"
• Mehta, Jatan (8 February 2024). "How to test a Moon landing from Earth". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-024-00352-w. PMID 38326425. S2CID 267545517. Retrieved 18 February 2024.

External links

• NASA's page on Moon landings, missions, etc. (includes information on other space agencies' missions).
• Project Apollo Archive Flickr Gallery: an independently organized collection of high-res photos for the Moon Landing and the Apollo Missions.
• Apollo in Real Time: an independently organized collection of different Apollo missions media, creating a comprehensive and interactive documentation of Apollo missions.

v t e Lunar landing missions
Active	Crewed none Robotic Chang'e 4 Chang'e 6
Past	Crewed Apollo 11 12 14 15 16 17 Robotic Chandrayaan-3 Chang'e 3 5 Luna 9 13 16 17 20 21 23 24 IM-1 EagleCam SLIM Surveyor 1 3 5 6 7
Failed	Apollo 13 Beresheet Chandrayaan-2 Hakuto-R M1 Luna 5 7 8 15 18 25 OMOTENASHI Peregrine Surveyor 2 4
Planned	Artemis Artemis III (2026) IV (2028) V (2030) VI (2031) VII (2032) CLEP 7 (2026) 8 (2028) CLPS Blue Ghost M1 (2025) M2 (2026) IM-2 (2025) IM-3 (2025) Luna-Glob Luna 27 (2028) 28 (2030) Others Beresheet 2 (SpaceIL, 2025) Hakuto-R M2 (ispace, 2025) M3 (2026)
Proposed	CLPS Redwire Draper Firefly Masten MoonEx OrbitBeyond McCandless

v t e Crewed lunar spacecraft
Orbiters	Apollo command and service module Cancelled LK-1 / LK-700 (VA) Zond (Soyuz 7K-L1) LOK (Soyuz 7K-L3) Future Lunar Gateway‎ Orion Orel Mengzhou
Landers	Apollo Lunar Module Canceled Lunniy Korabl Altair Future Blue Moon Lanyue Starship HLS
Proposed	Lunar Orbital Station Boeing Lunar Lander Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander
Related	Moon landing conspiracy theories List of lunar probes List of artificial objects on the Moon List of missions to the Moon

v t e People who have traveled to the Moon
Walked on the Moon	Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11) Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) Pete Conrad (Apollo 12) Alan Bean (Apollo 12) Alan Shepard (Apollo 14) Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14) David Scott (Apollo 15) James Irwin (Apollo 15) John Young (Apollo 16) Charles Duke (Apollo 16) Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17) Gene Cernan (Apollo 17)
Flew to the Moon without landing	William Anders (Apollo 8) Frank Borman (Apollo 8) Jim Lovell (Apollo 8, Apollo 13) Thomas Stafford (Apollo 10) Michael Collins (Apollo 11) Dick Gordon (Apollo 12) Fred Haise (Apollo 13) Jack Swigert (Apollo 13) Stuart Roosa (Apollo 14) Al Worden (Apollo 15) Ken Mattingly (Apollo 16) Ronald Evans (Apollo 17)
Apollo program Saturn V Command and Service Module Lunar Module Lunar Roving Vehicle Exploration of the Moon

v t e Moon
Outline
Physical properties	Internal structure Topography Atmosphere Gravity field Hill sphere Magnetic field Sodium tail Moonlight Earthshine
Orbit	Lunar distance Orbital elements Distance Perigee and apogee Libration Nodes Nodal period Precession Syzygy New moon Full moon Eclipses Lunar eclipse Total penumbral lunar eclipse Tetrad Solar eclipse Solar eclipses on the Moon Eclipse cycle Supermoon Tide Tidal force Tidal locking Tidal acceleration Tidal range Lunar station
Surface and features	Selenography Terminator Limb Hemispheres Near side Far side Poles North pole South pole Face Maria List Mountains Peak of eternal light Valleys Volcanic features Domes Calderas Lava tubes Craters List Ray systems Permanently shadowed craters South Pole–Aitken basin Soil swirls Rilles Wrinkle ridges Rocks Lunar basalt 70017 Changesite-(Y) Water Space weathering Micrometeorite Sputtering Quakes Transient lunar phenomenon Selenographic coordinate system
Science	Observation Libration Lunar theory Origin Giant-impact hypothesis Theia Lunar magma ocean Geology Timescale Late Heavy Bombardment Lunar meteorites KREEP Volcanism Experiments Lunar laser ranging ALSEP Lunar sample displays Apollo 11 Apollo 17 Lunar seismology
Exploration	Missions Apollo program Explorers Probes Landing Colonization Moonbase Tourism Lunar resources
Time-telling and navigation	Lunar calendar Lunisolar calendar Month Lunar month Nodal period Fortnight Sennight Lunar station Lunar distance
Phases and names	New Full Names Crescent Super and micro Blood Blue Black Dark Wet Tetrad
Daily phenomena	Moonrise Meridian passage Moonset
Related	Lunar deities Lunar effect Earth phase Moon illusion Pareidolia Man in the Moon Moon rabbit Craters named after people Artificial objects on the Moon Memorials on the Moon Moon in science fiction list Apollo era futuristic exploration Hollow Moon Moon landing conspiracy theories Moon Treaty "Moon is made of green cheese" Natural satellite Double planet Lilith (hypothetical second moon) Splitting of the Moon
Category

Portals:

• Astronomy
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• Spaceflight
• Outer space
• Solar System

Categories:

• Exploration of the Moon
• History of television
• Missions to the Moon
• 1959 introductions