List of missions to the Moon facts for kids

The Luna programme was the first successful lunar program. Its Luna 1 (1959) was the first mission to fly past the Moon.

Luna 3 (1959) sent back the first pictures of the far side of the Moon.

Space missions to the Moon have happened many times. They were some of the first big steps in space missions. People started exploring the Moon continuously in 1959.

The first mission that partly worked was Luna 1 in January 1959. It was the first probe to leave Earth's gravity and fly close to another space object, the Moon. Soon after, Luna 2 made the first Moon landing on any object beyond Earth. It crashed into the Moon on September 14, 1959. The far side of the Moon is always hidden from Earth. Luna 3 took the first pictures of it on October 7, 1959. This showed us parts of the Moon we had never seen before.

Space exploration kept growing in the 1960s. In 1966, Luna 9 was the first spacecraft to land softly on the Moon. This means it landed gently without crashing. Later that year, Luna 10 became the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon. In 1968, the Zond 5 mission carried living things from Earth, like tortoises, around the Moon. They returned safely, showing that life could survive in deep space.

The first missions with people going to the Moon were by the Soviet Union and the United States. These were the most important parts of the Space Race. The Soviet Union focused on sending robots to bring back Moon samples. The American Apollo program had more and more difficult missions. In December 1968, Apollo 8 was the first spacecraft with people to orbit the Moon. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 made the first landing with people on the Moon. Neil Armstrong was the first human to step on the Moon. At the same time, the Soviet robot mission Luna 15 was also orbiting the Moon. This was the first time different countries had missions working near the Moon at the same time.

Between 1969 and 1972, the United States had six successful Apollo landings. The Soviet Union kept sending uncrewed probes. These included the Lunokhod programme, which were the first robots to drive on another world. They also sent missions to bring back samples until 1976. After this, there was a break in Moon missions until 1990. Since then, many more countries and groups have sent missions to the Moon. After the Soviet Union and the United States, countries like Japan, the European Space Agency, China, India, Luxembourg, Israel, Italy, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Pakistan have visited the Moon.

In 2018, a landing mission aimed for the far side of the Moon for the first time. On January 3, 2019, China’s Chang'e 4 mission landed successfully in the South Pole–Aitken basin. It sent out the Yutu-2 rover, which started exploring this unknown part of the Moon. Five years later, China launched the Chang'e 6 mission to bring back samples from the far side. Its lander touched down in Apollo crater on June 1, 2024. It collected the first Moon samples ever from the far side.

The first commercial mission to the Moon was the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (4M). It was made by LuxSpace, a company from Germany. It launched on October 23, 2014, as an extra payload on China’s Chang'e 5-T1 spacecraft.

A few other spacecraft have also visited the Moon, but their main goal was not to study it. Four of these used the Moon's gravity to help them travel to other planets. Also, Explorer 49, a radio astronomy satellite from the United States, orbited the Moon in 1973. The Moon blocked radio signals from Earth, helping it listen to signals from deep space.

Quick facts for kids Clickable map of the locations of all successful soft landings on the near side of the Moon to date (top)       Luna program (USSR)       Surveyor program (USA)       Apollo program (USA)       Chang'e program (China)       Chandrayaan program (India)       SLIM (Japan)       Commercial Lunar Payload Services (USA) Dates are landing dates in Coordinated Universal Time. Except for the Apollo program, all soft landings were uncrewed. Asterisk indicates a partial success.

Moon Missions by Country

This section shows the first time each country or agency achieved important goals in Moon missions.

Country/ Agency	Flyby	Orbit	Impact	Soft landing	Rover	Sample return	Crewed orbiting	Crewed landing
United States	Pioneer 4, 1959	Lunar Orbiter 1, 1966	Ranger 4, 1962	Surveyor 1, 1966	LRV (Apollo 15), 1971	Apollo 11, 1969 †	Apollo 8, 1968 †	Apollo 11, 1969 †
Soviet Union	Luna 1, 1959 †	Luna 10, 1966 †	Luna 2, 1959 †	Luna 9, 1966 †	Lunokhod 1, 1970 †	Luna 16, 1970	—	—
China	Chang'e 5-T1, 2014	Chang'e 1, 2007	Chang'e 1, 2009	Chang'e 3, 2013	Yutu, 2013	Chang'e 5, 2020	—	—
India	Chandrayaan 3, 2023	Chandrayaan 1, 2008	MIP, 2008	Chandrayaan 3, 2023	Pragyan, 2023	—	—	—
Japan	Hiten, 1990	Hiten, 1993	Hiten, 1993	SLIM, 2024	LEV-1, 2024	—	—	—
Israel	—	Beresheet, 2019	Beresheet, 2019	Beresheet, 2019	—	—	—	—
Russia	—	Luna 25, 2023	Luna 25, 2023	Luna 25, 2023	—	—	—	—
ESA	—	SMART-1, 2003	SMART-1, 2006	—	—	—	—	—
Luxembourg	4M, 2014	—	4M, 2022	—	—	—	—	—
South Korea	—	Danuri, 2022	—	—	—	—	—	—
Italy	ArgoMoon, 2022	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
UAE	—	—	Rashid, 2023	—	Rashid, 2023	—	—	—
Pakistan	—	ICUBE-Q, 2024	—	—	—	—	—	—
Mexico	—	—	—	—	Colmena, 2024	—	—	—

Future Moon Missions

Many countries and groups are planning or thinking about future missions to the Moon.

Missions Being Developed

Robotic Missions

Mission	Spacecraft	Launch date	Carrier rocket	Operator	Mission type
Mark 1 Pathfinder Mission	Blue Moon	2025	New Glenn	Blue Origin	Lander
	This is the first mission for the Blue Moon lander. It will show if the platform and its engine work well. It can carry up to 3,000 kg of cargo.
IM-3	Nova-C	2026	Falcon 9 B5	Intuitive Machines	Lander
	Khon2				Relay Satellite
	CADRE x3			NASA	Rovers
	Lunar Vertex			NASA Lunar Outpost	Rover
	This is the third Nova-C mission. It will deliver payloads for NASA and other private customers. It includes the Lunar Vertex mission.
Starship Demo mission	Starship HLS	TBD	Starship	SpaceX	Lander
	This is an uncrewed test mission for the Starship HLS lander.
DESTINY+	DESTINY+	2028	H3	JAXA	Flyby
	This mission will fly past the Moon on its way to an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon.
Griffin Mission 1	Griffin lander	2025	Falcon Heavy	Astrobotic Technology	Lander
Artemis III Starship HLS delivery	Starship HLS	TBD	Starship	SpaceX	Lander
	This mission will deliver the Starship HLS lander for the Artemis III mission.
TBD (CLPS Lander)	Moon to Mars Initiative: Trailblazer (Roo-ver)	2026	TBD	Australian Space Agency	Rover
APEX 1.0	APEX 1.0	2026	TBD	ispace U.S. Draper	Lander
	Lunar Relay Satellite 1			ispace U.S. Blue Canyon Technologies	Relay Satellite
	Lunar Relay Satellite 2				Relay Satellite
	This is a lunar lander mission. It is ispace Mission 3 and part of the CLPS program.
Blue Ghost M2	Blue Ghost lander	2026	TBD	Firefly Aerospace	Lander
	Elytra orbital vehicle				Orbiter
	This is the second mission by Firefly Aerospace. It is part of the CLPS program and includes a two-stage version of the Blue Ghost.
Lunar Pathfinder	Lunar Pathfinder	2026	TBD	ESA	Relay Satellite
	This satellite will help with communications for future Moon missions.
Chang'e 7	Chang'e 7 Orbiter	2026	Long March 5	CNSA	Orbiter
	Chang'e 7 Lander				Lander
	Chang'e 7 Rover				Rover
	Chang'e 7 Hopper				Hopper
	This mission will include an orbiter, a lander for the Moon's south pole, a rover, and a small flying probe to search for water ice.
Starship cargo mission	Starship HLS	TBD	Starship	SpaceX	Lander
	This is the first cargo mission to the Moon by SpaceX.
FLEX	FLEX	2026	Starship	Astrolab	Rover
	This is a large Moon rover that can carry cargo and two astronauts.
Astrobotic mission 3	TBA	2026	Falcon Heavy	Astrobotic	Lander
	⚀ LunaGrid-Lite CubeRover				Rover
	Lunaris Platform				Deployable platform
	This is Astrobotic's third Moon mission. It will land at the Moon's south pole and includes the LunaGrid-Lite mission.
Canadian lunar rover mission	Canadensys Lunar Rover	2026	TBD	Canadensys CSA	Rover
	This will be the first Canadian Moon rover. It will fly as part of NASA's CLPS program.
ZeusX	ZeusX service module	Q4 2027	TBD	Qosmosys	Orbiter
	ZeusX lunar lander				Lander
	LIBER				Rover
	This is Singapore's first attempt to land on the Moon. The lander can carry up to 800 kg to the Moon's surface.
Luna 26	Luna 26	2027	Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat	Roscosmos	Orbiter
	This orbiter is part of the Luna-Glob program. It will scout for a landing spot for Luna 27.
PPE and HALO	PPE	2027	Falcon Heavy	NASA Northrop Grumman	Space station assembly
	HALO
	These are the first two parts of the Lunar Gateway space station.
Chandrayaan-4	Chandrayaan-4	2027–2028	LVM3	ISRO	Lander
Luna 27	Luna 27	2028	Angara A5 / Fregat	Roscosmos	Lander
	This lander is part of the Luna-Glob program.
Chang'e 8	Chang'e 8 Orbiter	2028	Long March 5	CNSA	Orbiter
	Chang'e 8 Lander				Lander
	Chang'e 8 Rover				Rover
	Chang'e 8 Robot				Hopper
	This mission will land at the Moon's south pole. It will test new ways to use local resources and make things with 3D printing.
SpaceX GLS-1	Dragon XL	2028	Falcon Heavy	SpaceX	Resupply vehicle
	This is the first mission to resupply the Lunar Gateway space station.
Uncrewed Blue Moon Demo mission	Blue Moon HLS	2028	New Glenn	Blue Origin	Lander
	Cislunar Transporter	2028	New Glenn	Lockheed Martin	Transfer vehicle
	This is a test mission for the Blue Moon lander system. It is getting ready for a mission with people in 2029.
Artemis IV Starship HLS delivery	Starship HLS	2028	Starship	SpaceX	Lander
	This mission will deliver the Starship HLS lander for the Artemis IV mission.
Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX)	LUPEX lander	2028–2029	H3	ISRO	Lander
	LUPEX rover			JAXA	Rover
Artemis V Blue Moon HLS delivery	Blue Moon HLS	2029	New Glenn	Blue Origin	Lander
	Cislunar Transporter	2029	New Glenn	Lockheed Martin	Transfer vehicle
	This mission will deliver the Blue Moon HLS lander for the Artemis V mission.
Argonaut M1	Argonaut Lander	2031	Ariane 64	ESA	Lander
	This is a robotic lander system. It will bring supplies for a future Moon base.
KLEP	KLLR Lander	NET NET 2032	KSLV-III	KARI	Lander
	KLLR Rover				Rover
	This is the second mission of the Korean Lunar Exploration Program.
Lunar Voyage 3	Mapp	TBA	TBA	Lunar Outpost	Rover
	This is the first fully commercial mission of the Lunar Outpost MAPP program.

Crewed Missions

Agency or company	Name	Spacecraft	Launch date	Launch vehicle	Notes
NASA CSA	Artemis II	Orion	April 2026	SLS Block 1	This is a test flight with people on board. They will fly around the Moon.
NASA	Artemis III	Orion, Starship HLS	mid-2027	SLS Block 1	This mission will land the "first woman and next man" on the Moon.
NASA	Artemis IV	Orion, Starship HLS	September 2028	SLS Block 1B	This is the first flight of the Block 1B rocket. It will deliver a new part for the Gateway station and have the second Artemis Moon landing with people.
NASA	Artemis V	Orion, Blue Moon HLS	March 2030	SLS Block 1B	This mission will involve people visiting the Gateway station and exploring the Moon's surface. It will also deliver new equipment.
CNSA	Chinese crewed lunar mission	Mengzhou, Lanyue	~2030	Long March 10	Two rockets will launch to send two astronauts to the Moon for a 6-hour stay.
NASA	Artemis VI	Orion, TBD	March 2031	SLS Block 1B	This mission will land people on the Moon and deliver a new module for the Gateway station.

Lunar Rovers