The Moon mission catalog
76 landmark missions from the first attempts in 1958 to Artemis and the landers, programs, and stations flying or in development today. The successes and the failures both, from Apollo to the secret Soviet crewed program that lost the race. Every entry has its own page with verified, sourced facts, a timeline, photos, and, where something reached the surface, the landing coordinates.
Statuses as of July 20, 2026. Filter by type, country, or outcome, or switch to the timeline view.
76 of 76 missions
The space race1958 to 1976
Pioneer Lunar Program (1958-1959) · 1958
USA (ARPA/USAF, NASA, Army-JPL) · ProgramPartial
A completed, mostly failed campaign, Aug 1958 to Mar 1959: five lunar probes, four failures and one partial success. None reached the Moon; only Pioneer 4 escaped Earth's gravity, and it still circles the Sun today.
Luna 1 · 1959
USSR (OKB-1) · FlybyPartial
Missed its intended impact and flew past the Moon at 5,995 km on 4 Jan 1959, becoming the first spacecraft to escape Earth's gravity and orbit the Sun.
Luna 2 · 1959
USSR (OKB-1) · ImpactorSuccess
Impacted the Moon in Palus Putredinis on 13 Sep 1959 at 21:02:23 UT (00:02 on 14 Sep Moscow time): the first human-made object to reach another world.
Luna 3 · 1959
USSR (OKB-1) · FlybySuccess
Looped behind the Moon and photographed the far side on 7 Oct 1959; 17 of 29 film frames were received by 18 Oct, and contact was lost 22 Oct 1959.
Ranger Program · 1961
NASA / JPL (US) · ProgramSuccess
Nine spacecraft, 1961 to 1965: six straight failures, then Rangers 7, 8 and 9 returned the first US close-up images of the Moon before crashing into it. Program complete; last impact 24 Mar 1965 in Alphonsus crater.
Soviet Crewed Lunar Program · 1964
USSR · ProgramCancelled
Cancelled May 1974 and kept secret until the late 1980s: the USSR's two-track effort to beat Apollo. Cosmonaut-class Zond hardware looped the Moon uncrewed, but all four launches of the N1 Moon rocket failed and no Soviet ever left Earth orbit.
Luna soft-landing failures (E-6, 1963 to 1965) · 1965
USSR · LanderFailure
Failure, over and over: between January 1963 and December 1965 the Soviet E-6 program ran up eleven straight soft-landing failures, three of them crashing on the Moon (Luna 5, Luna 7, Luna 8), before Luna 9 finally landed on the twelfth attempt in February 1966.
Luna 10 · 1966
USSR · OrbiterSuccess
Entered lunar orbit 3 Apr 1966, the first artificial satellite of another world; 460 orbits and 219 radio sessions before batteries died 30 May 1966; later crashed at an unknown date and place.
Luna 9 · 1966
USSR · LanderSuccess
Landed in Oceanus Procellarum 3 Feb 1966, transmitted until 6 Feb 1966; exact resting place still unconfirmed as of July 2026, with two rival candidate sites identified in early 2026.
Lunar Orbiter Program · 1966
NASA (US) · OrbiterSuccess
Five orbiters flown 1966 to 1967, all five successful; each was deliberately crashed into the Moon at the end of its mission, the last on January 31, 1968.
Surveyor 1 · 1966
NASA (US) · LanderSuccess
First US soft lunar landing, June 2, 1966, Oceanus Procellarum; operated until final contact on January 7, 1967.
Surveyor 2 to 7 · 1966
NASA / JPL (US) · LanderPartial
Six-mission conclusion of the US Surveyor program, Sep 1966 to Feb 1968: four soft-landed (Surveyors 3, 5, 6, 7), two failed (2 crashed, 4 vanished). Apollo 12 later visited Surveyor 3, the only robotic craft humans have ever returned to.
Apollo 8 · 1968
NASA (US) · Crewed orbiterSuccess
Completed Dec 27, 1968: first crewed flight to leave Earth orbit, 10 lunar orbits on Christmas Eve, recovered by USS Yorktown in the Pacific.
Zond 5 · 1968
USSR · FlybySuccess
Uncrewed circumlunar flight, Sep 14-21, 1968: first spacecraft (and first Earth life, two steppe tortoises) to loop around the Moon and return safely to Earth.
Apollo 10 · 1969
NASA (US) · Crewed orbiterSuccess
Completed May 26, 1969: full dress rehearsal for the Moon landing; LM Snoopy flew to roughly 47,400 ft above the surface, clearing the way for Apollo 11.
Apollo 11 · 1969
NASA (US) · Crewed landingSuccess
Success: first crewed lunar landing, July 20, 1969, 20:17:40 UTC at Tranquility Base; crew returned to Earth July 24, 1969.
Apollo 12 · 1969
NASA (US) · Crewed landingSuccess
Second crewed Moon landing. Intrepid touched down 19 Nov 1969 in Oceanus Procellarum, about 160 m (535 ft) from the Surveyor 3 probe. Crew returned 24 Nov 1969. Success.
Luna 15 · 1969
USSR · Sample returnFailure
Failure: crashed in Mare Crisium on 21 July 1969 at about 15:50 UT, roughly two hours before Apollo 11 lifted off from the Moon, ending the Soviet attempt to return lunar soil before the Americans got home.
Apollo 13 · 1970
NASA (US) · Crewed flybyPartial
Aborted Moon landing, April 11-17, 1970: oxygen tank rupture about 200,000 miles out; all three crew returned safely. NASA's "successful failure".
Luna 16 · 1970
USSR · Sample returnSuccess
Success: returned 101 g of Mare Fecunditatis soil, 12 to 24 September 1970, the first robotic sample return from another world.
Luna 17 / Lunokhod 1 · 1970
USSR · RoverSuccess
Success: landed 17 November 1970; Lunokhod 1 became the first rover on another world, drove ~10 km over 11 lunar days, and its laser reflector has been answering Earth again since 2010.
Apollo 14 · 1971
NASA (US) · Crewed landingSuccess
Third crewed Moon landing. Antares set down 5 Feb 1971 at Fra Mauro (Apollo 13's lost target). Shepard and Mitchell logged 9h23m of EVA; returned 9 Feb 1971. Success.
Apollo 15 · 1971
NASA (US) · Crewed landingSuccess
Landed at Hadley-Apennine July 30, 1971; splashed down Aug 7, 1971; its laser retroreflector is still Earth's primary lunar ranging target (as of 2026).
Luna 18 and Luna 23 · 1971
USSR · Sample returnFailure
Failure: two Soviet sample-return attempts that brought back nothing. Luna 18 crashed near Mare Fecunditatis on 11 Sep 1971; Luna 23 tipped onto its side landing in Mare Crisium on 6 Nov 1974 and wrecked its brand-new deep drill, though it kept transmitting for 3 days.
Apollo 16 · 1972
NASA (US) · Crewed landingSuccess
Landed in the Descartes Highlands April 20, 1972; splashed down April 27, 1972 after a mission cut one day short.
Apollo 17 · 1972
NASA (US) · Crewed landingSuccess
Landed at Taurus-Littrow December 11, 1972; last crewed Moon landing, splashed down December 19, 1972.
Luna 20 · 1972
USSR · Sample returnSuccess
Success: returned about 55 g from the Apollonius highlands, 14 to 25 February 1972, the first sample of lunar highland soil brought back by a robot.
Luna 21 / Lunokhod 2 · 1973
USSR · RoverSuccess
Success: landed in Le Monnier crater on 15 January 1973; Lunokhod 2 drove about 39 km over four lunar days, an off-world distance record that stood until 2014, and its French-built reflector is still ranged from Earth.
Luna 24 · 1976
USSR · Sample returnSuccess
Success: returned 170.1 g from Mare Crisium, 9 to 22 August 1976; the last Soviet lunar mission, and the last lunar samples anyone returned for 44 years.
The quiet decades1990 to 2008
Nothing at all flew to the Moon from 1977 to 1989, and no spacecraft soft-landed between Luna 24 (1976) and Chang’e 3 (2013). These orbiters kept lunar exploration alive in between.
Hiten (MUSES-A) · 1990
ISAS (Japan) · OrbiterSuccess
Deliberately impacted the Moon between Stevinus and Furnerius Apr 10, 1993 (Apr 11 JST); Uesugi 1996 records two impact solutions, 18:03:25.7 UT at 34.0 S, 55.3 E and 18:08:45 UT at 34.3 S, 55.6 E. Hagoromo's lunar orbit was never confirmed.
Clementine · 1994
BMDO/NASA (US) · OrbiterPartial
Mapped the whole Moon Feb 26 to Apr 22, 1994 (297 orbits, about 1.6 million images); left lunar orbit May 3, 1994; a thruster fault on May 7 ended the Geographos flyby plan; mission terminated Aug 8, 1994.
Lunar Prospector · 1998
NASA (US) · OrbiterSuccess
Impacted Shoemaker crater near the lunar south pole July 31, 1999, ending 18 months of mapping; the hoped-for water plume never appeared, and the crater now bears the name of the man whose ashes it holds.
SMART-1 · 2003
ESA (Europe) · OrbiterSuccess
Impacted the Moon Sep 3, 2006: last signal 05:42:22 UT from Lacus Excellentiae; the infrared flash was recorded from Hawaii, and LRO images located the 4 by 20 m impact gouge in 2017.
Chang'e 1 · 2007
CNSA (China) · OrbiterSuccess
Controlled impact in Mare Fecunditatis Mar 1, 2009, 08:13 UTC, after 16 months in orbit; the impact scar was later identified in LROC images at 1.66 S, 52.27 E (Icarus, 2019).
Kaguya (SELENE) · 2007
JAXA (Japan) · OrbiterSuccess
Controlled impact near Gill crater Jun 10, 2009, 18:25 UT, after about 20 months at the Moon; subsatellite Okina impacted the far side Feb 12, 2009; Ouna was left in lunar orbit at the end of its mission.
Chandrayaan-1 · 2008
ISRO (India) · OrbiterSuccess
Mission ended Aug 29, 2009 (IST) when contact was lost 312 days in, with about 95% of objectives met; JPL ground radar located the derelict orbiter still circling at about 200 km in 2016-17.
The robotic return2009 to 2023
LCROSS · 2009
NASA (US) · ImpactorSuccess
Impacted Cabeus crater Oct 9, 2009; water ice confirmed Nov 13, 2009, quantified at 155 kg in the plume (Science, Oct 2010).
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) · 2009
NASA (US) · OrbiterOperating
Operating: 17 years in lunar orbit as of June 18, 2026, now in its sixth extended science mission (October 2025 through September 2028).
Chang'e 2 · 2010
CNSA (China) · OrbiterSuccess
Mapped the Moon at 7 m through 2011, reached Sun-Earth L2, flew by asteroid Toutatis Dec 13, 2012; contact faded after 2014, now a silent derelict in solar orbit.
ARTEMIS P1 and P2 · 2011
NASA (US) · OrbiterOperating
Operating: 15 years in lunar orbit as of July 2026, with fresh magnetometer files on Berkeley's public data server through July 20, 2026.
GRAIL (Ebb and Flow) · 2011
NASA (US) · OrbiterSuccess
Complete: twin orbiters mapped the Moon's gravity through 2012, then struck a far-northern mountain on Dec 17, 2012; NASA named the site for Sally Ride.
Chang'e 3 and Yutu · 2013
CNSA (China) · RoverSuccess
Landed Dec 14, 2013 in Mare Imbrium; Yutu operated 972 days to Jul 31, 2016; lander signals still confirmed Dec 31, 2025
LADEE · 2013
NASA (US) · OrbiterSuccess
Impacted the lunar far side near Sundman V crater April 18, 2014 (04:30-05:22 UTC window); LROC located the sub-3 m crater in October 2014.
Chang'e 5-T1 (Xiaofei) · 2014
CNSA (China) · FlybySuccess
Circumlunar free-return flight test, 23 to 31 October 2014: the Xiaofei capsule proved the high-speed skip reentry for Chang'e 5 and landed in Inner Mongolia; the service module flew on to Earth-Moon L2 and then into lunar orbit.
Queqiao-1 and the Longjiang microsatellites · 2018
CNSA / Harbin Institute of Technology (China) · RelayPartial
Launched 20 May 2018 as three spacecraft: Queqiao-1 reached the Earth-Moon L2 halo orbit and relayed Chang'e 4 for over five years (relay duty handed to Queqiao-2 in 2024); Longjiang-2 succeeded and was deliberately impacted 31 Jul 2019; Longjiang-1 failed to reach lunar orbit.
Chandrayaan-2 · 2019
ISRO (India) · OrbiterPartial
Partial: the Vikram lander crashed during descent on Sep 6, 2019 (UTC); the orbiter is still operating in its ~100 km polar orbit as of July 2026, in its seventh year on a one-year design life.
Chang'e 4 (Yutu-2 rover and Queqiao-1 relay) · 2019
CNSA (China) · RoverOperating
Landed Jan 3, 2019 in Von Kármán crater, first-ever far-side landing; lander still working, Yutu-2 largely stationary since Mar 2024 with last official odometer 1,613 m (as of Jul 18, 2026)
Chang'e 5 · 2020
CNSA (China) · Sample returnSuccess
Returned 1,731 g from Oceanus Procellarum on Dec 16, 2020; orbiter flew on and was still operating in lunar distant retrograde orbit per April 2025 reporting.
Chandrayaan-3 · 2023
ISRO (India) · RoverSuccess
Landed 23 Aug 2023 at 69.37 S (Statio Shiv Shakti); Vikram and Pragyan completed one lunar day plus a hop bonus, the propulsion module returned to Earth orbit; full success.
Commercial and multipolar2017 to today
Lunar Gateway · 2017
NASA-led with ESA, JAXA, CSA, MBRSC (UAE) · ProgramIn development
Paused in its current form since Mar 24, 2026; HALO under stop-work, PPE repurposed for the SR-1 Freedom Mars mission, partners re-planning (as of Jul 18, 2026)
Beresheet · 2019
SpaceIL / Israel Aerospace Industries (Israel, nonprofit-commercial) · LanderFailure
Crashed on Mare Serenitatis during landing on 11 Apr 2019; reached lunar orbit but a reset command to a failed IMU cut the main engine. First privately funded lunar landing attempt.
Beresheet 2 · 2020
SpaceIL / Israel Aerospace Industries (Israel, nonprofit-commercial) · LanderIn development
Engineering frozen since April 2025 for lack of funding, and described by SpaceIL as a freeze rather than a cancellation. The follow-up to the crashed Beresheet was designed as one orbiter and two small landers on a single launch, but has no active schedule as of July 2026.
International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) · 2021
CNSA (China) + Roscosmos (Russia), with ILRSCO partners · ProgramIn development
In development: 13 national members as of July 2026; Chang'e-7 precursor targeted for launch in H2 2026; basic station targeted 2035 at the lunar south pole.
Artemis I · 2022
NASA (US) · Uncrewed test flightSuccess
Flown: uncrewed lunar test flight, November to December 2022
Artemis I CubeSats · 2022
Ten secondary payloads (NASA, JAXA, ASI/Argotec, universities and companies) · FlybyPartial
Partial. Ten shoebox-sized CubeSats rode Artemis I into deep space on 16 November 2022; three worked as intended (ArgoMoon, BioSentinel, EQUULEUS), LunIR half-worked as a technology demo, and the other six were lost or crippled, several by batteries that drained flat during 13 months of launch delays.
CAPSTONE · 2022
Advanced Space for NASA (US, commercial) · OrbiterSuccess
All primary and extended mission objectives achieved; NASA activities concluded June 2026 after nearly four years; Advanced Space continues flying it as a commercial testbed in the NRHO (as of July 2026).
Danuri (Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter) · 2022
KARI (South Korea) · OrbiterOperating
Operating: in a 60 x 200 km frozen orbit since September 24, 2025, twice extended through December 2027 as of July 2026; a controlled lunar impact is planned for March 2028.
China's Crewed Lunar Program · 2023
CMSA (China) · ProgramIn development
In development: first crewed landing targeted before 2030 (as of Feb 2026); CZ-10A/Mengzhou-1 orbital debut targeted late 2026; CZ-10B variant flew and was recovered Jul 10, 2026.
ispace Hakuto-R Missions 1 and 2 · 2023
ispace (Japan, commercial) · LanderFailure
Two landing attempts, Apr 25, 2023 (Atlas crater) and Jun 5, 2025 UTC (Mare Frigoris), both crashed; next ispace landing targeted 2028 on the new ULTRA lander (as of Jul 2026).
Luna 25 · 2023
Roscosmos (Russia) · LanderFailure
Crashed into the Moon 19 Aug 2023 after an orbit-lowering burn ran 43 seconds long; NASA's LRO photographed the ~10 m crater on 24 Aug 2023.
Chang'e 6 and Queqiao-2 · 2024
CNSA (China) · Sample returnSuccess
Success: first-ever far-side sample return. 1,935.3 g landed in Inner Mongolia on Jun 25, 2024; Queqiao-2 relay still operating, sample science running hot through 2026.
IM-1 Odysseus · 2024
Intuitive Machines (US, commercial, flying NASA CLPS payloads) · LanderPartial
Landed at 80.13°S near Malapert A on Feb 22, 2024; tipped ~30°, transmitted until Feb 29, 2024; did not survive lunar night (confirmed Mar 23, 2024).
Peregrine Mission One · 2024
Astrobotic (US, commercial, flying NASA CLPS payloads) · LanderFailure
Launched Jan 8, 2024 on Vulcan's first flight; a helium-valve failure hours later ruled out landing; controlled South Pacific reentry Jan 18, 2024.
SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) · 2024
JAXA (Japan) · LanderSuccess
Landed Jan 20, 2024 (JST): world's first pinpoint lunar landing (~10 m vs 100 m goal); survived three lunar nights; operations ended Aug 23, 2024.
Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 · 2025
Firefly Aerospace (US, commercial) · LanderSuccess
Success: landed upright in Mare Crisium Mar 2, 2025; 14 days of surface ops with 10 NASA payloads; mission concluded Mar 16, 2025.
Intuitive Machines IM-2 (Athena) · 2025
Intuitive Machines (US, commercial) · LanderPartial
Partial: landed on its side in a crater on Mons Mouton Mar 6, 2025 (southernmost lunar landing); mission ended Mar 7, 2025 after about 13 hours.
Artemis II · 2026
NASA (US) · Crewed flybySuccess
Flown: crewed lunar flyby, April 1 to 10, 2026
Chang'e 7 · 2026
CNSA (China) · LanderIn development
Spacecraft and Long March 5 both at Wenchang; launch targeted late August 2026, south-pole landing attempt late 2026 (as of Jul 18, 2026)
Griffin Mission One · 2026
Astrobotic (US, commercial; renamed Voyager Lunar Systems after Voyager Technologies' acquisition closed Jul 13, 2026) · LanderIn development
Flight lander built, unveiled Jun 15, 2026, and shipped to JPL for environmental testing; Falcon Heavy launch targeted Q4 2026, NET November (as of Jul 20, 2026).
Artemis III · 2027
NASA (US) · Crewed LEO demoIn development
Announced: crewed low Earth orbit demonstration, targeted mid-2027 (as of July 17, 2026)
Blue Moon Mark 1 · 2027
Blue Origin (US, commercial) · ProgramIn development
In development, waiting on its rocket: pathfinder Endurance is built and thermal-vacuum tested, but the May 28, 2026 New Glenn pad explosion pushed its debut to NET Q1 2027; VIPER rides a second MK1, targeted late 2027 (as of Jul 2026).
Artemis IV · 2028
NASA (US) · Crewed landingIn development
Announced: first crewed lunar landing, targeted early 2028 (as of July 17, 2026)
Artemis V · 2028
NASA (US) · Surface missionIn development
Announced: lunar surface mission, anticipated by late 2028 (as of July 17, 2026); no crew or lander assigned
Chandrayaan-4 · 2028
ISRO (India) · Sample returnIn development
In development, not launched: Cabinet-approved Sep 18, 2024 (Rs 2,104.06 crore); launch targeted by 2028 (as of July 2026), with an April 2026 parliamentary review flagging launch-vehicle readiness as the pacing risk.
LUPEX (Lunar Polar Exploration) · 2028
JAXA (Japan) and ISRO (India) · RoverIn development
In development, not launched: India's government cleared its share on March 10, 2025 and the two agencies signed the implementing arrangement on August 29, 2025; joint design work is underway (fifth technical interface meeting, December 2025) with launch targeted no earlier than 2028, most-cited 2028-2029 (as of Jul 2026). No landing site fixed yet.
Chang'e 8 · 2029
CNSA (China) · LanderPlanned
In development; launch targeted around 2029 to the Leibnitz-Beta Plateau (Mons Mouton) with an ISRU lunar-brick 3D-printing demo (as of Jul 2026)
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