Mission Archive

JAXA · 2023

Moon

Japan's first Moon lander, which demonstrated a pinpoint landing within about 55 metres of its target near Shioli crater. It touched down tilted onto its nose but survived three lunar nights.

ISRO · 2023

Moon

An ISRO mission that made India the fourth country to soft-land on the Moon and the first to land near its south pole. The lander and rover operated for one lunar day.

CNSA · 2020

Moon

A CNSA mission that returned 1,731 grams of lunar samples from Oceanus Procellarum in December 2020, the first brought back since 1976.

SpaceIL · 2019

Moon

The first privately funded mission to attempt a Moon landing, built by the Israeli non-profit SpaceIL with Israel Aerospace Industries. A main-engine failure during descent caused it to crash.

CNSA · 2018

Moon

A CNSA mission that made the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, in Von Kármán crater, relaying its data through the Queqiao satellite.

CNSA · 2013

Moon

A CNSA mission that made the first soft landing on the Moon since 1976, setting down in Mare Imbrium with the Yutu rover.

NASA · 2009

Moon

A NASA orbiter that has mapped the Moon in detail since 2009, imaging the Apollo landing sites and measuring temperatures in permanently shadowed craters.

ISRO · 2008

Moon

India's first mission to the Moon. Its instruments, including NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, found water molecules across the lunar surface.

JAXA · 2007

Moon

A JAXA lunar orbiter that mapped the Moon's surface, gravity and magnetic field in detail, working with two small sub-satellites.

ESA · 2003

Moon

ESA's first mission to the Moon, built to test solar-electric propulsion. It spiralled out from Earth orbit over 13 months and then mapped the lunar surface.

USSR · 1970

Moon

A Soviet mission that landed Lunokhod 1, the first remote-controlled rover on another world, in Mare Imbrium.

USSR · 1970

Moon

The first robotic mission to bring samples back from another world, returning 101 grams of lunar soil from Mare Fecunditatis.

NASA · 1966

Moon

The first American spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon, returning more than 11,000 images from Oceanus Procellarum.

USSR · 1966

Moon

The first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon and the first to send back pictures from its surface.

USSR · 1959

Moon

The first spacecraft to photograph the far side of the Moon, returning images that covered about 70% of it.

USSR · 1959

Moon

The first spacecraft to reach the surface of another world, striking the Moon after a flight of about a day and a half.