Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on the 4th of October 1957. This event demonstrated that nuclear-tipped Soviet rockets could potentially strike American cities in under 30 minutes.
Luna 2 performed the first hard Moon landing for the Soviet Union in 1959. It was the first human-made object to touch the lunar surface.
A total of twelve astronauts have landed on the Moon using six NASA missions spanning a 41-month period starting the 20th of July 1969. The final mission ended on the 14th of December 1972 with Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on Apollo 17.
Chang'e 4 became the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the Moon on the 3rd of January 2019 at 2:26 UTC. A relay satellite named Queqiao enabled communications because the Moon blocks signals from that region.
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost made the first fully successful commercial Moon landing on the 2nd of March 2025. It operated for 14 days including 5 hours into the lunar night near Mons Latreille in Mare Crisium.