Apollo Successful; first humans to land on the Moon. Zond 7. Successful; rendezvous with Surveyor 3 on the surface of the moon. Zond 8. Lunokhod 1. Successful; first robotic rover to explore the surface of a world beyond Earth. Lunokhod 2. Mariner Lunar Prospector. Chang'e 1. Chang'e 2. Active Mission Successful; twin spacecraft on an extended lunar mission after successful Earth observartions. Chang'e 3. Though they had aspirations to do so, the Soviets never put humans on the moon.
Instead, they concentrated on robotic missions, such as Luna 17 in November which delivered the first remote-control rover, Lunokhod 1 , to the moon's surface. The rover explored its surroundings for 10 months — a mission duration that would have been impossible for human astronauts in the s. In addition to doing important lunar science, Lunokhod 1 also paved the way for today's Mars rovers.
When China embarked on its lunar exploration program, it was playing a rapid game of catch-up with what had gone before. The country's first orbiter, first lander and first rover all came within a few years of each other. Then on Jan. That's the side we never see — or from a spacecraft's perspective, the side that has no line-of-sight communication with Earth. To solve that problem, China had to place a relay satellite, Queqiao , at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point , which has a clear view of both.
Related: China on the moon! A history of Chinese lunar missions in picture. The missions described so far were all designed, operated and paid for by government-owned agencies. The first attempt to put a privately developed spacecraft on the moon wasn't until April , when a small lander called Beresheet almost pulled it off.
The lander made it to the lunar surface, but having lost control on the way down it was a crash , not the intended soft landing. The brainchild of an Israeli nonprofit organization called SpaceIL, Beresheet's operators are hoping that its successor will have better luck. Orbiters and flyby missions may not arouse quite the same excitement as a landing, but from space tortoises to finding ice on the moon, they've been just as important to the advancement of science.
Before a spacecraft can get to the moon or anywhere else beyond Earth orbit, it has to achieve an " escape velocity " of 25, mph After several false starts , the first U. The lightweight unit folded up under the lunar landing module, ran on electric power and boasted its own onboard navigation system that communicated directly with mission control on Earth. Apollo 15 astronauts drove 17 miles across the lunar surface collecting rocks from different geological formations.
One of the Apollo 15 astronauts brought home an ancient hunk of anorthosite that was later determined to be 4. Apollo 15 signaled the beginning of longer and more extensive scientific inquiry on the moon during Apollo 16 and The Apollo 15 astronauts worked for a total of 18 hours and 37 minutes on the surface compared to just over two hours logged by the crew of Apollo By Apollo 17, the biggest news was the inclusion of the first bona fide scientist in space.
The spacecraft was deliberately sent crashing into the lunar surface on October 11, , bringing to an end the successful mission. The primary mission of the spacecraft was to photograph the lunar surface and it did, taking 1, pictures including images of the Sea of Rains and the area surrounding the crater Aristarchus. The mission was terminated on January 19, after orbits.
Launched: September 20, Lunar impact: September 22, Just before touchdown, one of the thrusters on the spacecraft malfunctioned during a mid course correction and Surveyor 2 tumbled out of control. It crashed into the moon, southeast of the crater Copernicus.
The spacecraft, designed to test new technology, completed orbits before its mission was terminated on October 1, The spacecraft sent back high-quality images by television of over two million square miles of lunar surface, including the first detailed images of potential Apollo landing sites.
After circling the Moon times in 77 days, engineers on Earth deliberately crashed the spacecraft onto the Moon's surface, so that it wouldn't interfere with the upcoming crewed missions. Surveyor 1 was the first spacecraft from the United States to perform a controlled landing on the surface of the Moon. Once on the surface, Surveyor 1 took over 11, images of the lunar landscape during its six-week mission.
Luna 10 arrived at the Moon becoming the first spacecraft to successfully go into orbit around another celestial body. While in orbit, Luna 10 studied radiation levels, cosmic ray intensities, and took readings of the Moon's weak magnetic field. The spacecraft successfully transmitted data for two months, circling the Moon times before its mission came to an end on May 30, The spacecraft was unable to achieve a lunar trajectory.
It re-entered Earth's atmosphere on March 3, Launched: January 31, Lunar landing: February 3, Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to make a controlled landing onto the surface of another celestial body. Scientists believe Luna 9 landed on the sloping floor of a shallow crater. Over the next two days, the spacecraft sent back three panoramas of the lunar landscape.
During the second and third transmission, the spacecraft evidently shifted or settled a few centimeters, because the third batch of images were taken from a slightly different angle. The different angle allowed scientists to construct a stereoscopic view of the landing site and determine the distances to various rocks and depressions. The last communication with the spacecraft was on Feb. Luna 8 made it to the Moon, but its retro rockets fired too late and the spacecraft crash-landed in the Ocean of Storms, east of the crater Galilei.
Luna 7 made it to the Moon, but its retro rockets switched on too soon. The spacecraft crash-landed in the Ocean of Storms, west of the crater Kepler.
Zond 3 took 25 images as it flew by the far side of the Moon, then transmitted the images back to Earth nine days later. After passing the Moon, the spacecraft went into a solar orbit. On its way to the Moon, a rocket failed to turn off after a trajectory correction maneuver. As a result, Luna 8 missed the Moon and went into a solar orbit. This mission was the first-ever attempt to soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. Luna 5's retro-rockets failed to fire and the spacecraft crash-landed near the Sea of Clouds.
Ranger 9 took over 5, images of the lunar surface before it crash-landed in the crater Alphonsus. Network television broadcasted images from the spacecraft as they were received - live from the Moon! Launched: February 17, Lunar impact: February 20, Ranger 8 took over 7, high quality images of the lunar surface before it crash-landed in the Sea of Tranquility. Ranger 7 sent back the first high-quality images of the lunar surface before it crash-landed in the Sea of Clouds.
Over 4, images were sent back. Launched: January 30, Lunar impact: February 2, Ranger 6 was designed to take a series of images as it approached the Moon, right up to the point where it crashed into its surface. Unfortunately, the spacecraft's cameras failed and no pictures were returned. Ranger 6 crash-landed in the Sea of Tranquility.
After a successful launch, the spacecraft failed to transfer to a lunar trajectory and burnt up as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere. A solar cell onboard Ranger 5 failed shortly after launch. Without power, engineers on the ground were unable to control the spacecraft and Ranger 5 missed the Moon by kilometers miles. After a successful launch, a failure of some sort onboard Ranger 4 made communication with the spacecraft impossible.
Engineers were able to track the spacecraft until it crashed on the far side of the Moon, but were unable to collect any data. Designed to take close-up images of the Moon before impacting with its surface, Ranger 3 missed the Moon and ended up in a solar orbit.
Ranger 2, like Ranger 1, was designed as a test vehicle. The spacecraft's engines failed to re-ignite after the spacecraft entered a low Earth orbit.
The spacecraft burned up in Earth's atmosphere just two days after launch. Ranger 1 was the first US spacecraft designed to test the feasibility of going into a parking orbit around Earth before heading out to the Moon.
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