Visualizing All Attempted & Successful Moon Landings

Visualizing All Attempted & Successful Moon Landings Since before Ancient Greece and the first Chinese Dynasties, people have sought to understand and learn more about the moon. Curiosity and centuries of study culminated in the first moon landing in the 1960s. But there have been many other attempted moon landings, both before and after. This chart by Visual Capitalists’ Preyash Shah illustrates all the moon landings using NASA data since 1966 when Soviet lander Luna 9 touched down. Race to the Moon The 1960s and 1970s marked an era of intense competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union as they raced to conquer the moon. During the Cold War, space became a priority as each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology, its military firepower, and its political-economic system. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy set a national goal to have a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth. After several failed attempts from both sides, on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission was successful and astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon. Mission Launch Date Operator Country Mission Type Outcome Ranger 3 26-Jan-62 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander Spacecraft failure Ranger 4 23-Apr-62 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander Spacecraft failure Ranger 5 18-Oct-62 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander Spacecraft failure Luna E-6 No.2 4-Jan-63 OKB-1 ☭ USSR Lander Launch failure Luna E-6 No.3 3-Feb-63 OKB-1 ☭ USSR Lander Launch failure Luna 4 2-Apr-63 OKB-1 ☭ USSR Lander Spacecraft failure Luna E-6 No.6 21-Mar-64 OKB-1 ☭ USSR Lander Launch failure Luna E-6 No.5 20-Apr-64 OKB-1 ☭ USSR Lander Launch failure Kosmos 60 12-Mar-65 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Launch failure Luna E-6 No.8 10-Apr-65 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Spacecraft failure Luna 5 9-May-65 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Spacecraft failure Luna 6 8-Jun-65 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Spacecraft failure Luna 7 4-Oct-65 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Spacecraft failure Luna 8 3-Dec-65 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Spacecraft failure Luna 9 31-Jan-66 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Successful Surveyor 1 30-May-66 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander Successful Surveyor 2 20-Sep-66 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander Spacecraft failure Luna 13 21-Dec-66 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Successful Surveyor 3 17-Apr-67 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander Successful Surveyor 4 14-Jul-67 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander Spacecraft failure Surveyor 5 8-Sep-67 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander Successful Surveyor 6 7-Nov-67 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander Successful Surveyor 7 7-Jan-68 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander Successful Luna E-8 No.201 19-Feb-69 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Launch failure Luna E-8-5 No.402 14-Jun-69 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Launch failure Luna 15 13-Jul-69 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Spacecraft failure Apollo 11 16-Jul-69 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander/ Launch Vehicle Successful Kosmos 300 23-Sep-69 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Launch failure Kosmos 305 22-Oct-69 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Launch failure Apollo 12 14-Nov-69 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander/ Launch Vehicle Successful Luna E-8-5 No.405 6-Feb-70 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Launch failure Apollo 13 11-Apr-70 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander/ Launch Vehicle Partial failure Luna 16 12-Sep-70 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Successful Luna 17 10-Nov-70 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Successful Apollo 14 31-Jan-71 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander/ Launch Vehicle Successful Apollo 15 26-Jul-71 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander/ Launch Vehicle Successful Luna 18 2-Sep-71 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Spacecraft failure Luna 20 14-Feb-72 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Successful Apollo 16 16-Apr-72 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander/ Launch Vehicle Successful Apollo 17 7-Dec-72 NASA 🇺🇸 U.S. Lander/ Launch Vehicle Successful Luna 21 8-Jan-73 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Successful Luna 23 16-Oct-75 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Partial failure Luna E-8-5M No.412 16-Oct-75 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Launch failure Luna 24 9-Aug-76 Lavochkin ☭ USSR Lander Successful Chang’e 3 1-Dec-13 CNSA 🇨🇳 China Lander Operational Chang’e 4 7-Dec-18 CNSA 🇨🇳 China Lander Operational Beresheet 22-Feb-19 SpaceIL 🇮🇱 Israel Lander Spacecraft failure Chandrayaan-2 22-Jul-19 ISRO 🇮🇳 India Lander Spacecraft Failure Chang’e 5 23-Nov-20 CNSA 🇨🇳 China Lander Successful Hakuto-R Mission 1 11-Dec-22 ispace 🇯🇵 Japan Lander Spacecraft failure Chandrayaan-3 14-Jul-23 ISRO 🇮🇳 India Lander Successful Luna 25 10-Aug-23 Roscosmos 🇷🇺 Russia Lander Spacecraft failure After the Apollo missions, the fervor of lunar exploration waned. From 1976 to 2013, no moon landing attempts occurred due to budget constraints, shifting priorities, and advances in robotic missions. However, a new chapter in space exploration has unfolded in recent years, with emerging players entering the cosmic arena. With its Chang’e missions, China has made significant strides, landing rovers on the moon and exploring the far side of the moon. India, too, has asserted its presence with the Chandrayaan missions. In 2023, the country became the 4th nation to reach the moon as an unmanned spacecraft landed near the lunar south pole, advancing the country’s space ambitions to learn more about the lunar ice, potentially one of the moon’s most valuable resources. Exploring Lunar Water Since the 1960s, even before the historic Apollo landing, scientists had theorized the potential existence of water on the moon. In 2008, Brown University researchers employed advanced technology to reexamine lunar samples, discovering hydrogen within beads of volcanic glass. And in 2009, a NASA instrument aboard the India’s Chandrayaan-1 probe confirmed the presence of water on the moon’s surface. Water is deemed crucial for future space exploration. Beyond serving as a potential source of drinking water for future moon explorations, ice deposits could play a pivotal role in cooling equipment. Lunar ice could also be broken down to produce hydrogen for fuel and oxygen for breathing, essential for supporting extended space missions. With a reinvigorated interest in exploring the moon, manned moon landings are on the horizon once again. In April 2023, NASA conducted tests for the launch of Artemis I, the first American spacecraft to aim for the moon since 1972. The agency aims to send astronauts to the moon around 2025 and build a base camp on the lunar surface. Tyler Durden Sat, 10/14/2023 – 22:45