science

List of missions to the Moon

List of missions to the Moon is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of missions to the Moon rather than just read about it. In short: Missions to the Moon have been numerous and represent some of the earliest endeavours in space missions, with continuous exploration of the Moon beginning in 1959. The first partially successful lunar mission was Luna 1 in January 1959, which became the first probe to escape Earth's gravity and perform a flyby of another astronomical body, passing near the Moon.

Key takeaways

List of missions to the Moon belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Connect List of missions to the Moon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of missions to the Moon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Missions to the Moon have been numerous and represent some of the earliest endeavours in space missions, with continuous exploration of the Moon beginning in 1959. The first partially successful lunar mission was Luna 1 in January 1959, which became the first probe to escape Earth's gravity and perform a flyby of another astronomical body, passing near the Moon. Soon after, the first Moon landing—and the first landing on any extraterrestrial body—was carried out by Luna 2, which intentionally impacted the Moon on 14 September 1959. The far side of the Moon, permanently hidden from Earth due to tidal locking, was imaged for the first time by Luna 3 on 7 October 1959, revealing terrain never before seen. Significant advances continued throughout the 1960s. In 1966, Luna 9 achieved the first controlled soft landing on the lunar surface, followed later that year by Luna 10, the first spacecraft to enter orbit around the Moon. In 1968, the Zond 5 mission became the first to carry terrestrial lifeforms—specifically tortoises—on a circumlunar approach that brought them close to the Moon and returned them safely to Earth, demonstrating biological viability in deep space. The first crewed missions to the Moon were undertaken by the United States, forming the pinnacle of the Space Race. While the Soviet programme pivoted toward robotic sample return missions, the American Apollo program advanced through a sequence of increasingly complex missions. In December 1968, Apollo 8 became the first crewed spacecraft to orbit the Moon. On 20 July 1969, Apollo 11 accomplished the first crewed landing on the lunar surface, during which Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the Moon. Concurrently, the Soviet Luna 15 robotic mission was also orbiting the Moon, marking the first known instance of simultaneous extraterrestrial operations by different nations. Between 1969 and 1972, the United States carried out six successful Apollo landings, while the Soviet Union continued deploying uncrewed probes, including the Lunokhod programme—the first extraterrestrial rovers—and sample return missions through 1976. Following this period, there was a gap in dedicated lunar missions lasting until 1990. Since then, renewed interest in lunar exploration has seen additional missions conducted by a broader range of spacefaring entities. In roughly chronological order following the Soviet Union and the United States, the Moon has also been visited by the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), China National Space Administration (CNSA), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Italian Space Agency (ASI), Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), the United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA), and Pakistan's Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO). In 2018, the far side of the Moon was targeted for the first time by a landing mission. On 3 January 2019, China's Chang'e 4 mission successfully landed in the Aitken basin, deploying the Yutu-2 rover, which commenced scientific operations on the unexplored lunar hemisphere. Five years later, China launched the Chang'e 6 sample return mission to the far side. Its lander touched down in Apollo crater on 1 June 2024 and collected the first lunar samples retrieved from the Moon's far hemisphere. The first commercial mission to the Moon was the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (4M), developed by LuxSpace, a subsidiary of the German aerospace company OHB AG, Launched on 23 October 2014 with the mission flying as a secondary payload aboard CNSA's Chang'e 5-T1 spacecraft. The Moon has also been visited by a small number of spacecraft not dedicated to lunar study. Of these, four executed flybys using the Moon for gravity assist manoeuvres to alter their interplanetary trajectories. In addition, Explorer 49, a radio astronomy satellite launched by the United States in 1973, was placed into selenocentric orbit where the Moon itself served as a shield from terrestrial radio interference, enabling observations of deep-space radio signals.

20th century

Legend ⚀ Cubesat or similar

21st century

Legend ⚀ Cubesat or similar

Statistics

Launches by decade

This is a list of 145 missions (including failed ones) to the Moon. It includes Flybys, Impact probes, orbiters, landers, rovers and crewed missions.

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

Legend Attempted Milestone achieved Attempted Milestone not achieved † First to achieve * Done in collaboration with another country

Missions by organization/company

Landing sites

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

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

Funded and are under development

Robotic

Crewed

Proposed but full funding still unclear

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

Lunar rovers

Unrealized concepts

1960s Soviet crewed lunar programs – The Soviet Union had been pursuing a crewed lunar flyby mission using Soyuz 7K-L1 launched aboard Proton-K and a crewed landing mission using Soyuz 7K-LOK and LK Lander launched aboard N1 rocket. After a series of N1 failures, both of these programs were cancelled in 1970 and 1976 respectively.

1970s Canceled Apollo missions – The Apollo program had three more missions lined up until Apollo 20, but the missions beyond Apollo 17, the sixth and final landing mission, were cancelled due to budget constraints, change in technical direction and hardware delays. The ambitions shifted towards developing next generation rockets like Space Shuttle, the space station Skylab and in exploration programs such as Grand Tour program.

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of missions to the Moon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of missions to the Moon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of missions to the Moon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of missions to the Moon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of missions to the Moon

In research: List of missions to the Moon appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of missions to the Moon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of missions to the Moon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lists of space missions, Missions to the Moon, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of missions to the Moon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of missions to the Moon in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is List of missions to the Moon in simple terms?

Why does List of missions to the Moon matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of missions to the Moon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of missions to the Moon.