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Exploration

From Luna 2 to Artemis: how we reached the Moon

Sixty-plus years of lunar exploration in one timeline: the first crash, the first soft landing, the Apollo footprints, the far side, the south pole and the private landers. Tap a mission to fly to its site on the globe.

The side of the Orion spacecraft with a solar array, and the small grey Moon in the black distance

NASA, Artemis I (art001e002187), 7 Dec 2022. Public domain.

Timeline and landing sites

  • 1959
    Luna 2impactUSSR · First human-made object to reach the Moon, crashing near the Archimedes crater on 13 September 1959. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1959
    Luna 3flybyUSSR · First photos of the far side (October 1959).
  • 1964
    Ranger 7impactUSA · First close-up photos, sent back in the final minutes before impact. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1966
    Luna 9landingUSSR · First soft landing and first photos from the surface (3 February 1966), proving the ground could hold a spacecraft. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1966
    Surveyor 1landingUSA · First US soft landing. Seven Surveyors scouted the ground for Apollo. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1966
    Luna 10 & Lunar OrbitersorbiterUSSR / USA · First spacecraft to orbit the Moon; five US Lunar Orbiters then mapped 99% of it to choose Apollo sites.
  • 1968
    Apollo 8crewedUSA · First people to leave Earth orbit and circle the Moon, at Christmas 1968, and the Earthrise photo.
  • 1969
    Apollo 11crewedUSA · Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin land in the Sea of Tranquillity on 20 July 1969. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1969
    Apollo 12crewedUSA · Pinpoint landing within walking distance of Surveyor 3, which the crew visited. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1970
    Luna 16sample returnUSSR · First robotic sample return: 101 g of soil from the Sea of Fertility. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1970
    Luna 17 / Lunokhod 1landingUSSR · First remote-controlled rover on another world, driven about 10 km from Earth. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1971
    Apollo 15crewedUSA · First Lunar Roving Vehicle; the crew explored Hadley Rille and found the Genesis Rock. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1972
    Apollo 17crewedUSA · Last crewed landing so far, in the Taurus-Littrow valley (December 1972). Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1973
    Lunokhod 2landingUSSR · Drove about 40 km, a record for driving on another world that stood until 2014. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1976
    Luna 24sample returnUSSR · Last Soviet mission, bringing home a 2-metre core of soil. Then 37 years with no soft landings. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 1990s
    Hiten, Clementine, Lunar ProspectororbiterJapan / USA · Japan reaches the Moon; US orbiters map minerals and find hydrogen at the poles.
  • 2003–08
    SMART-1, Kaguya, Chang’e 1, Chandrayaan-1orbiterEurope / Japan / China / India · A new wave of orbiters; Chandrayaan-1 helps find water.
  • 2009
    LRO & LCROSSorbiterUSA · The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is still mapping the Moon; LCROSS hit Cabeus crater to find ice. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 2013
    Chang’e 3 + YutulandingChina · First soft landing since 1976, with the Yutu rover. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 2019
    Chang’e 4landingChina · First landing on the far side, in Von Kármán crater, using a relay satellite to talk to Earth. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 2019
    Beresheet and VikramcrashedIsrael / India · Two landers crash: Israel’s privately built Beresheet in April, India’s Chandrayaan-2 Vikram in September.
  • 2020
    Chang’e 5sample returnChina · First samples returned since 1976: 1,731 g from young lava plains. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 2022
    Artemis IorbiterUSA · Uncrewed Orion flies around the Moon and back (November to December 2022).
  • 2023
    Hakuto-R and Luna 25crashedJapan / Russia · ispace’s private lander crashes in April; Russia’s first Moon mission in 47 years crashes in August.
  • 2023
    Chandrayaan-3landingIndia · India becomes the fourth nation to soft-land, and the first near the south pole (23 August 2023). Tap to show on the globe.
  • 2024
    SLIMlandingJapan · Japan becomes the fifth nation to land, within about 100 m of its target, though it tipped onto its nose. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 2024
    IM-1 OdysseuslandingUSA (private) · First commercial landing and first US landing since 1972, near the south pole; it tipped over. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 2024
    Chang’e 6sample returnChina · First samples from the far side: 1,935 g from the South Pole–Aitken basin. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 2025
    Blue Ghost 1landingUSA (private) · Firefly’s lander touches down upright in Mare Crisium and works for a full lunar day. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 2025
    IM-2 AthenalandingUSA (private) · Lands closest yet to the south pole, but on its side, cutting its ice-drilling mission short. Tap to show on the globe.
  • 2026
    Artemis IIcrewedUSA / Canada · Four astronauts fly around the Moon (1 to 10 April 2026), the first crew since 1972, and travel farther from Earth than any humans before.

Drag to turn the globe. Pink dots are landing and impact sites.

The first space race

The Soviet Union scored almost every early first: the first probe to hit the Moon, the first picture of the far side, the first soft landing, the first orbiter. The United States answered with the Ranger, Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter robots, then with Apollo.

Between July 1969 and December 1972, twelve astronauts walked on the Moon in six Apollo landings and brought home 382 kg of rock and soil. The Soviet robots returned about 300 g more with three sample-return missions and ran two rovers.

Then the Moon went quiet. After Luna 24 in 1976, nothing soft-landed on the Moon for 37 years.

The robotic Surveyor 3 lander sitting in a shallow crater, photographed by an Apollo 12 astronaut who walked over to it
Apollo 12 astronauts walked to the robotic Surveyor 3, which had landed two and a half years earlier, and brought parts of it home.NASA, Apollo 12 (AS12-48-7121), 20 Nov 1969. Public domain.

The return to the Moon

Orbital view of the Luna 17 lander on Mare Imbrium, marked by an arrow, with the faint tracks of the Lunokhod 1 rover nearby
The Luna 17 lander, still on Mare Imbrium, photographed by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The arrow marks the lander.NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University, LRO (PIA12967), 2010. Public domain.

Orbiters from Japan, Europe, China, India and the US remapped the Moon from the 1990s onwards and found water ice at the poles. China then made the first soft landing in decades with Chang'e 3 (2013), the first far-side landing with Chang'e 4 (2019), and brought back new samples with Chang'e 5 (2020) and the first far-side samples with Chang'e 6 (2024).

Landing is still hard. Since 2019, landers from Israel, India, Japan, Russia and the US have crashed or tipped over. India's Chandrayaan-3 made a clean landing near the south pole in 2023, Japan's SLIM landed with pinpoint accuracy in 2024, and in 2025 Firefly's Blue Ghost became the first fully successful private lander.

Artemis: people go back

NASA's Artemis program uses the giant SLS rocket and the Orion capsule. Artemis I flew an uncrewed Orion around the Moon in late 2022.

Artemis II launched on 1 April 2026 with NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen. On 6 April they swept around the far side, saw parts of it no human eye had seen, watched a solar eclipse from behind the Moon, and reached about 406,770 km from Earth, breaking Apollo 13's 1970 distance record. They splashed down in the Pacific on 10 April.

What comes next is on the Future on the Moon page.

A thin blue Earth setting behind the curved, cratered edge of the Moon, photographed from the Orion spacecraft
Earth setting behind the Moon, photographed by the Artemis II crew on 6 April 2026.NASA, Artemis II crew (art002e021278), 6 Apr 2026. Public domain.

Quick answers

Which countries have landed on the Moon?

Five countries have made controlled soft landings: the Soviet Union (1966), the United States (1966), China (2013), India (2023) and Japan (2024). Private US companies have also landed since 2024.

What was the first spacecraft to reach the Moon?

The Soviet Luna 2, which crashed into the Moon on 13 September 1959. Luna 9 made the first soft landing in February 1966.

How many people have walked on the Moon?

Twelve, all American, during six Apollo landings between 1969 and 1972.

Has anyone landed on the far side of the Moon?

No person has. China's robotic Chang'e 4 made the first far-side landing in January 2019, and Chang'e 6 brought back far-side samples in 2024.

When did Artemis II fly?

Artemis II launched on 1 April 2026, flew around the Moon on 6 April and splashed down on 10 April 2026, with four astronauts on board.

Sources and credits

  1. NASA NSSDCA, Chronology of lunar and planetary exploration.
  2. NASA Science, Moon missions.
  3. NASA, Artemis II return (April 2026) and Canadian Space Agency, Artemis II distance record.
  4. LROC (Arizona State University), landing site images and coordinates, including IM-2 Athena.
  5. Globe texture: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio, CGI Moon Kit.

Photos credited to NASA, NOAA and other public-domain sources are used with thanks; BotBuhdy adds a small botbuhdy.com mark. Pictures labelled AI-generated illustration are artist-style illustrations made for this page, not photographs.