As part of human exploration of the Moon, numerous space missions have been undertaken to study Earth's natural satellite. Of the Moon landings, Luna 2 of the Soviet Union was the first spacecraft to reach its surface successfully,^[1] intentionally impacting the Moon on 14 September 1959. In 1966, Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to achieve a controlled soft landing,^[2] while Luna 10 became the first mission to enter orbit, and in 1968 Zond 5 became the first mission to carry lifeforms (tortoises) to close proximity of the Moon.

Between 1968 and 1972, crewed missions to the Moon were conducted by the United States as part of the Apollo program. Apollo 8 was the first crewed mission to enter orbit in December 1968, and it was followed by Apollo 10 in May 1969. Six missions landed humans on the Moon, beginning with Apollo 11 in July 1969, during which Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon. Apollo 13 was intended to land; however, it was restricted to a flyby due to a malfunction aboard the spacecraft. All ten crewed missions returned safely to the Earth.

While the United States focused on the crewed Apollo program, the Soviet Union conducted uncrewed missions that deployed rovers and returned samples to the Earth. Three rover missions were launched, of which two were successful, and eleven sample return flights were attempted with three successes.

Although the far side of the Moon, which is always facing away from Earth due to tidal locking, was imaged by Soviet's Luna 3 in 1959 and later photographed by NASA astronauts during the Apollo program (1968-1982), it was not explored until 2018 when China sent its Chang'e 4 spacecraft which soft landed in South Pole–Aitken basin on 3 January 2019 and deployed the Yutu rover. Five years later, China followed with Chang'e 6 sample return mission to the far side whose lander successfully landed in Apollo crater on 1 June 2024 and collected lunar samples.

Missions to the Moon have been conducted by the following nations and organisations (in chronological order): the Soviet Union, the United States, Japan, the European Space Agency, China, India, Luxembourg, Israel, Italy, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Mexico, and Pakistan. The Moon has also been visited by five spacecraft not dedicated to studying it; four spacecraft have flown past it to gain gravity assistance, and a radio telescope, Explorer 49, was placed into selenocentric orbit in order to use the Moon to block interference from terrestrial radio sources.

20th century

Legend

⚀ Cubesat or similar

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Mission		Spacecraft	Launch date	Carrier rocket	Operator	Mission type	Outcome
1	Pioneer 0 (Able I)[3]	Pioneer 0	17 August 1958	Thor DM-18 Able I[3]	USAF	Orbiter	Launch failure
		First attempted launch beyond Earth orbit; failed to orbit due to turbopump gearbox malfunction resulting in first-stage explosion.[3] Reached apogee of 16 kilometres (10 mi).[4]
2	Luna E-1 No.1	Luna E-1 No.1	23 September 1958	Luna	OKB-1	Impactor	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit; rocket disintegrated due to excessive vibration.[3][5]
3	Pioneer 1 (Able II)[3]	Pioneer 1	11 October 1958	Thor DM-18 Able I[3]	NASA	Orbiter	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit; premature second-stage cutoff due to accelerometer failure. Later known as Pioneer 1.[3] Reached apogee of 113,800 kilometres (70,700 mi).[6]
4	Luna E-1 No.2	Luna E-1 No.2	11 October 1958	Luna	OKB-1	Impactor	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit; carrier rocket exploded due to excessive vibration.[3][5]
5	Pioneer 2 (Able III)	Pioneer 2	8 November 1958	Thor DM-18 Able I	NASA	Orbiter	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit; premature second-stage cutoff due to erroneous command by ground controllers; third stage failed to ignite due to broken electrical connection.[3] Reached apogee of 1,550 kilometres (960 mi).[7]
6	Luna E-1 No.3	Luna E-1 No.3	4 December 1958	Luna	OKB-1	Impactor	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit; seal failure in hydrogen peroxide pump cooling system resulted in core-stage underperformance.[3][5]
7	Pioneer 3	Pioneer 3	6 December 1958	Juno II	NASA	Flyby	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit; premature first-stage cutoff.[3] Reached apogee of 102,360 kilometres (63,600 mi).[8]
8	Luna 1 (E-1 No.4)	Luna 1	2 January 1959	Luna	OKB-1	Impactor	Partial failure
		Carrier rocket guidance problem resulted in failure to impact Moon, flew past in a heliocentric orbit.[9] Closest approach 5,995 kilometres (3,725 mi) on 4 January.[10] First spacecraft to fly by the Moon.
9	Pioneer 4	Pioneer 4	3 March 1959	Juno II	NASA	Flyby	Partial failure
		Second-stage overperformance resulted in flyby at greater altitude than expected, out of instrument range, with 58,983 kilometres (36,650 mi) of distance.[9] Closest approach at 22:25 UTC on 4 March. First U.S. spacecraft to leave Earth orbit.[11]
10	E-1A No.1	E-1A No.1	18 June 1959	Luna	OKB-1	Impactor	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit; guidance system malfunction.[9]
11	Luna 2 (E-1A No.2)	Luna 2	12 September 1959	Luna	OKB-1	Impactor	Success
		Successful impact at 21:02 on 14 September 1959. First spacecraft to reach lunar surface.[12] The impact made the Soviet Union the 1st country to reach the surface of the Moon.
12	Luna 3 (E-2A No.1)	Luna 3	4 October 1959	Luna	OKB-1	Flyby	Success
		Returned first images of the far side of the Moon.[13]
13	Pioneer P-3 Able IVB	Pioneer P-3	26 November 1959	Atlas-D Able	NASA	Orbiter	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit;[14] payload fairing disintegrated due to design fault.[9]
14	Luna E-3 No.1	Luna E-3 No.1	15 April 1960	Luna	OKB-1	Flyby	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit; premature third-stage cutoff.[15]
15	Luna E-3 No.2	Luna E-3 No.2	16 April 1960	Luna	OKB-1	Flyby	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit; rocket disintegrated ten seconds after launch.[15]
16	Pioneer P-30 (Able VA)	Pioneer P-30	25 September 1960	Atlas-D Able	NASA	Orbiter	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit; second-stage oxidizer system malfunction resulting in premature cutoff.[16][15]
17	Pioneer P-31 (Able VB)	Pioneer P-31	15 December 1960	Atlas-D Able	NASA	Orbiter	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit, exploded 68 seconds after launch, at an altitude of 12.2 kilometres (7.6 mi). Second stage ignited while first stage was still attached and burning.[17][15]
18	Ranger 3 (P-34)	Ranger 3	26 January 1962	Atlas LV-3 Agena-B	NASA	Impactor	Spacecraft failure
		Ranger 3 lander				Lander	Spacecraft failure
		Partial launch failure due to guidance problem; attempt to correct using spacecraft's engine resulted in it missing the Moon by 36,793 kilometres (22,862 mi).[18][19]
19	Ranger 4 (P-35)	Ranger 4	23 April 1962	Atlas LV-3 Agena-B	NASA	Impactor	Spacecraft failure
		Ranger 4 lander				Lander	Spacecraft failure
		Failed to deploy solar panels, ran out of power ten hours after launch; incidental impact on the far side of the Moon on 26 April. First spacecraft to impact the far side of the Moon.[18][20] The impact made the United States the 2nd country to reach the surface of the Moon.
20	Ranger 5 (P-36)	Ranger 5	18 October 1962	Atlas LV-3 Agena-B	NASA	Impactor	Spacecraft failure
		Ranger 5 lander				Lander	Spacecraft failure
		Solar panels erroneously disengaged from power system, failed 8+3⁄4 hours after launch when batteries were depleted.[18] Missed the Moon as course correction was not completed.[21]
21	Luna E-6 No.2	Luna E-6 No.2	4 January 1963	Molniya-L	OKB-1	Lander	Launch failure
		Failed to depart Low Earth orbit;[22] guidance system power failure prevented upper-stage ignition.[23]
22	Luna E-6 No.3	Luna E-6 No.3	3 February 1963	Molniya-L	OKB-1	Lander	Launch failure
		Failed to orbit; guidance failure.[23]
23	Luna 4 (E-6 No.4)	Luna 4	2 April 1963	Molniya-L	OKB-1	Lander	Spacecraft failure
		Failed to perform mid-course correction,[23] remained in high Earth orbit until given escape velocity by orbital perturbation.[24]
24	Ranger 6 (P-54)	Ranger 6	30 January 1964	Atlas LV-3 Agena-B	NASA	Impactor	Spacecraft failure
		Impacted on 2 February 1964, failed to return images due to power system failure.[25][26]
25