Moon Missions

Moon missions by nasa, russians, chinese, indian and other countries is covered in this section. Read about luna spacecraft by clicking on the links to moon pictures and more. As you can see there were many Luna Missions.

1959

Luna 1 - Jan 2, 1959 - Flyby -  The first spacecraft to reach the Moon

The first successful space probe was the Soviet Luna 1 flyby of the Moon in 1959. Luna 1 reached the escape velocity of the Earth, and passed within 5,995 km (3,725 mi) of the Moon's surface after 34 hours of flight. It then went into orbit around the Sun, between the orbits of Earth and Mars.

Pioneer 4 - Mar 3, 1959 - Flyby

Luna 2 - Sep 12, 1959 - Impact

Luna 3 - Oct 4, 1959 - Probe 1960

1961

Ranger 1 - Aug 23, 1961 - Attempted Test Flight

Ranger 2 - Nov 18, 1961 - Attempted Test Flight 1962

Ranger 3 - Jan 26, 1962 - Attempted Impact

Ranger 4 - Apr 23, 1962 - Impact

Ranger 5 - Oct 18, 1962 - Attempted Impact

1963

Luna 4 - Apr 2, 1963 - Flyby

1964

Ranger 6 - Jan 30, 1964 - Impact

Ranger 7 - Jul 28, 1964 - Impact

1965

Ranger 8 - Feb 17, 1965 - Impact

Ranger 9 - Mar 21, 1965 - Impact

Luna 5 - May 9, 1965 - Impact

Luna 6 - Jun 8, 1965 - Attempted Lander

Zond 3 - Jul 18, 1965 - Flyby

Luna 7 - Oct 4, 1965 - Impact

Luna 8 - Dec 3, 1965 - Impact

1966

Luna 9 - Jan 31, 1966 - Lander

Luna 10 - Mar 31, 1966 - Orbiter - the first artificial satellite of the Moon.

Surveyor 1 - May 30, 1966 - Lander

Lunar Orbiter 1 - Aug 10, 1966 - Orbiter

Luna 11 - Aug 24, 1966 - Orbiter

Luna 12 - Oct 22, 1966 - Orbiter

Lunar Orbiter 2 - Nov 6, 1966 - Orbiter

Luna 13 - Dec 21, 1966 - Lander

1967

Lunar Orbiter 3 - Feb 4, 1967 - Orbiter

Surveyor 3 - Apr 17, 1967 - Lander

Lunar Orbiter 4 - May 8, 1967 - Orbiter

Lunar Orbiter 5 - Aug 1, 1967 - Orbiter

Surveyor 5 - Sep 8, 1967 - Lander

Surveyor 6 - Nov 7, 1967 - Lander

1968

Surveyor 7 - Jan 7, 1968 - Lander

Luna 14 - Apr 7, 1968 - Orbiter

Zond 5 - Sep 15, 1968 - Return Probe

Zond 6 - Nov 10, 1968 - Return Probe

Apollo 8 - Dec 21, 1968 - Manned Orbiter

1969

Apollo 10 - May 18, 1969 - Orbiter

Luna 15 - Jul 13, 1969 - Orbiter

Apollo 11 - Jul 16, 1969 - Manned Landing - First Man on the Moon Landing

Zond 7 - Aug 7, 1969 - Return Probe

Apollo 12 - Nov 14, 1969 - Manned Landing

1970

Apollo 13 - Apr 11, 1970 - Manned Landing (aborted)

Luna 16 - Sep 12, 1970 - Sample Return

Zond 8 - Oct 20, 1970 - Return Probe

Luna 17 - Nov 10, 1970 - First Soviet Moon Rover

1971

Apollo 14 - Jan 31, 1971 - Manned Landing

Apollo 15 - Jul 26, 1971 - Manned Landing

Luna 18 - Sep 2, 1971 - Impact

Luna 19 - Sep 28, 1971 - Orbiter

1972

Luna 20 - Feb 14, 1972 - Sample Return

Apollo 16 - Apr 16, 1972 - Manned Landing

Apollo 17 - Dec 7, 1972 - Last Moon Manned Landing

1973

Luna 21 - Jan 8, 1973 - Soviet Moon Rover

1974

Luna 22 - Jun 2, 1974 - Orbiter

Luna 23 - Oct 28, 1974 - Lander

1975

1976

Luna 24 - Aug 14, 1976 - Sample Return

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

Hiten - 24 Jan 1990 - Flyby and Orbiter

1991

1992

1993

1994

Clementine - 25 Jan 1994 - Orbiter

1995

1996

1997

Lunar Prospector - 23 Nov 1997 - Orbiter

AsiaSat 3/HGS-1 - 24 Dec 1997 - Lunar Flyby

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

SMART 1 (Europe) - Late 2002 - Lunar Orbiter

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Chandrayaan-1 (India) - First Indian Moon Orbiter

Chang'e 1 (China) - Launch: September 2007

Lunar-A - 2007 - Orbiter and Penetrators

Selene - 2007 - Lunar Orbiter and Lander

2008

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - proposed NASA mission

2012

Luna-Glob - an unmanned lander and orbiter

LEO (Lunar Exploration Orbiter) - proposed German mission to the Moon, announced by the German Aerospace Center Director Walter Doellinger on March 2, 2007.  It would be the first German mission to the Moon and the first European mission to the Moon since SMART-1.