Exploration of the Moon
The oldest cave paintings from up to 40,000 years before present depict bulls and geometric shapes that may have tracked the Moon's phases. Tally sticks dating back 20 to 30 thousand years were used by early humans to observe these lunar cycles. Prehistoric cultures aggregated aspects of the Moon into deities like Nanna or Sin during the third millennium BCE. One of the earliest known possible depictions is a rock carving at Knowth in Ireland dated to 3,000 BCE. Enheduanna, an Akkadian high priestess and princess, tracked the Moon within her chambers around the fourth millennium BCE. The Nebra sky disc found near Germany depicts features like the Pleiades next to the Moon as strips of gold on its side. Ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras reasoned that the Sun and Moon were both giant spherical rocks. Plutarch suggested the Moon had deep recesses where sunlight did not reach. Aristarchus attempted to compute the Moon's size but estimated the distance as only one-third of the actual average. Chinese philosophers of the Han dynasty believed the Moon was energy equated to qi yet recognized it reflected sunlight. Shen Kuo of the Song dynasty created an allegory comparing the waxing and waning Moon to a round ball of reflective silver.
Luna 2 became the first artificial object to impact the surface of the Moon on the 14th of September 1959 at 21:02:24 UTC. Soviet probe Luna 1 flew by the Moon on the 4th of January 1959 before achieving heliocentric orbit. Luna 3 photographed the far side of the Moon for the first time on the 7th of October 1959. U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed the Moon landing goal in a Special Message to Congress shortly after Ranger 1 launched in August 1961. Three more years passed with six failed Ranger missions until Ranger 7 returned close-up photos in July 1964. The Soviet Union accomplished the first soft landings during the Luna 9 and Luna 13 missions in 1966. Apollo 8 crew members Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders entered lunar orbit on the 24th of December 1968. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface on the 20th of July 1969 as part of mission Apollo 11. Eugene Cernan was the last human to stand on the Moon when he walked there in December 1972 during Apollo 17. Luna 24 in 1976 marked the final Lunar mission by either the Soviet Union or the United States until Clementine in 1994.
NASA's Apollo program successfully landed humans on the Moon six times on the near side during the late 20th century. Apollo 11 astronauts left scientific instruments upon completion and returned lunar samples to Earth. Three Luna missions including Luna 16, 20, and 24 brought moon rock samples back to Earth alongside Apollo missions 11 through 17. Apollo 13 aborted its planned lunar landing while all other missions succeeded. The Surveyor program sent seven robotic spacecraft to the surface with five soft-landing successfully. These probes investigated whether regolith dust was shallow enough for astronauts to stand on the Moon. The first robot lunar rover to land on the Moon was the Soviet vessel Lunokhod 1 on the 17th of November 1970. Focus shifted to probes to other planets, space stations, and the Shuttle program after these early successes. Before the Moon race the U.S. had preliminary projects like the Lunex Project and Project Horizon for scientific and military bases. Abandoned Soviet crewed lunar programs included building a multipurpose Moon base called Zvezda with mockups of expedition vehicles.
Japan began its lunar exploration efforts in 1990 with the launch of Hiten spacecraft by JAXA becoming the third country to orbit the Moon. SELENE or Kaguya launched in September 2007 aimed to collect data on the Moon's origin and geological evolution. SLIM landed on the 19th of January 2024 making Japan the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. China deployed Chang'e 3 lander and Yutu rover on the 14th of December 2013 as the third nation to achieve a lunar soft landing. Chang'e 4 launched on the 7th of December 2018 and landed on the 3rd of January 2019 targeting the far side of the Moon. The Yutu-2 rover set a distance record for lunar surface travel with findings including dust layers up to 12 meters deep. India launched Chandrayaan-1 orbiter on the 22nd of October 2008 detecting widespread water molecules in lunar regolith. Chandrayaan-3 achieved a soft landing near the lunar south pole on the 23rd of August 2023 making India the fourth country to do so. Russia launched Luna 25 mission on the 10th of August 2023 but crashed into the Moon after a guidance error on August 20. South Korea launched Danuri orbiter on the 4th of August 2022 arriving at the Moon on the 16th of December 2022.
The Google Lunar X Prize launched in 2007 offered $20 million to the first private venture reaching the Moon by March 2018. As of August 2016 sixteen teams participated in the competition before the foundation announced it would go unclaimed in January 2018. US government granted permission to Moon Express in August 2016 marking the first time a private enterprise received rights to land on the Moon. NASA announced nine commercial companies competing for contracts to send small payloads to the Moon under Commercial Lunar Payload Services on the 29th of November 2018. Manfred Memorial Moon Mission led by LuxSpace launched on the 23rd of October 2014 with Chang'e 5-T1 test spacecraft. Beresheet lander operated by Israel Aerospace Industries impacted the Moon on the 11th of April 2019 after a failed landing attempt. Blue Ghost Mission 1 conducted by Firefly Aerospace landed on the 2nd of March 2025 at 08:34 UTC following its launch on the 15th of January 2025. These developments helped define regulatory standards for deep-space commercial activity previously restricted to operating around Earth.
NASA formulated the Artemis program in 2017 to return humans to the Moon with commercial and international partners. The agency plans to start with robotic missions on the lunar surface plus crewed Lunar Gateway space station operations. NASA picked a landing site near crater Shackleton on the 3rd of November 2021 including Polar Resources Ice-Mining Experiment-1. ESA's Moonlight Initiative aims to create communication satellites orbiting the Moon supporting Artemis landings. Planners proposed creating Coordinated Lunar Time standard in 2024 requiring precision timekeeping due to lower gravity effects. India is planning potential collaboration with Japan to launch Lunar Polar Exploration Mission between 2026 and 2028. Russia announced plans to place an astronaut on the Moon by 2030 leaving Mars to NASA while working jointly with US agencies. All nations intend to continue exploration of the Moon with more uncrewed spacecraft as part of overall agency campaigns. The Artemis program involves several flights of Orion spacecraft and lunar landings from 2022 to 2028.
Common questions
When did the first artificial object impact the Moon?
Luna 2 became the first artificial object to impact the surface of the Moon on the 14th of September 1959 at 21:02:24 UTC. This event marked a significant milestone in early space exploration history.
Who was the last human to walk on the Moon?
Eugene Cernan was the last human to stand on the Moon when he walked there in December 1972 during Apollo 17. No other person has set foot on the lunar surface since that mission concluded.
Which country achieved the fifth soft landing on the Moon in January 2024?
Japan made SLIM land on the 19th of January 2024 making Japan the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. This achievement followed earlier successful missions by Russia, the United States, China, and India.
What was the purpose of the Google Lunar X Prize launched in 2007?
The Google Lunar X Prize launched in 2007 offered $20 million to the first private venture reaching the Moon by March 2018. The competition aimed to encourage commercial innovation but went unclaimed as announced in January 2018.
When did NASA formulate the Artemis program to return humans to the Moon?
NASA formulated the Artemis program in 2017 to return humans to the Moon with commercial and international partners. The agency plans to start with robotic missions on the lunar surface plus crewed Lunar Gateway space station operations.