How many countries have landed on the Moon?

Facts as of July 19, 2026, from the sources listed below.

Five countries have successfully soft-landed spacecraft on the Moon, in order of first success: the Soviet Union (Luna 9, February 3, 1966), the United States (Surveyor 1, June 2, 1966), China (Chang'e 3, December 14, 2013), India (Chandrayaan-3, August 23, 2023), and Japan (SLIM, January 20, 2024 JST, which was January 19 in UTC). The often-repeated answer "four countries" went stale when Japan's SLIM landed in January 2024. As of July 19, 2026, American companies have also landed: Intuitive Machines (IM-1 in 2024 and IM-2 in 2025, both ended up on their side) and Firefly Aerospace (2025, fully successful).

5

Countries have soft-landed

1

Has landed humans

12

People have walked on the Moon

0

Crewed landings since 1972

01The soft-landing ledger

CountryFirst successMission
Soviet UnionFebruary 3, 1966Luna 9
United StatesJune 2, 1966Surveyor 1
ChinaDecember 14, 2013Chang'e 3 and Yutu
IndiaAugust 23, 2023Chandrayaan-3
JapanJanuary 20, 2024 (JST)SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon)

Order of first successful soft landing; dates are the operators' official dates (SLIM's is JST). Commercial soft landings so far, all by American companies: Intuitive Machines IM-1, February 22, 2024, tipped over but returned data; Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1, March 2, 2025, the first fully successful commercial landing; Intuitive Machines IM-2, March 6, 2025, landed on its side on Mons Mouton, the southernmost lunar landing to date.

Luna 9’s view of Oceanus Procellarum, February 1966: the first photograph from the surface of another world. Credit: Luna 9 automatic camera (USSR), via NASA NSSDC; public domain.
Surveyor 1’s photo of its own footpad resting on the regolith, June 1966: proof a lander would not sink into the lunar dust. Credit: NASA.
Chang’e 3 lander (large arrow) and the Yutu rover (small arrow) seen from lunar orbit by LRO, December 2013. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.
Vikram on the surface near the lunar south pole, photographed by the Pragyan rover it carried, August 30, 2023. Credit: ISRO (GODL-India).
SLIM resting nose-down after its 55 m precision landing, photographed by the palm-sized LEV-2 (SORA-Q) rover it deployed, January 2024. Credit: JAXA/Takara Tomy/Sony Group Corporation/Doshisha University.

Tap a photo to enlarge.

02Humans on the Moon

Only one: the United States. Six Apollo missions landed crews between July 1969 and December 1972 (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17), and twelve astronauts walked on the Moon. No human from any nation has been on the Moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The next crewed landing attempt is NASA's Artemis IV, targeted early 2028 (as of July 17, 2026); China targets its first crewed landing before 2030 (as of July 19, 2026).

Twenty-four people have flown to the Moon in total; twelve walked on it, and three (Jim Lovell, John Young, and Eugene Cernan) made the trip twice. Every moonwalker flew on Apollo.

Buzz Aldrin at Tranquility Base, July 20, 1969, photographed by Neil Armstrong (reflected in the visor): the first crewed landing. Credit: NASA.
Harrison Schmitt with the flag and Earth overhead at Taurus-Littrow, December 1972, during Apollo 17: the last crewed landing to date. Credit: NASA.

Tap a photo to enlarge.

03What about Russia?

The Soviet Union soft-landed first (Luna 9, 1966) and ran a highly successful robotic program through 1976, but modern Russia has not repeated the feat: its first post-Soviet attempt, Luna 25, crashed into the Moon in August 2023. The Soviet-era record is what puts the Soviet Union on the list.

04Sources

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