1969

November: Apollo 12 made the first precision landing on the Moon. The lunar module Intrepid landed near the robotic probe Surveyor 3, which had landed two years earlier.

The crew of the Apollo 12 lunar landing mission: (left to right) Charles (“Pete”) Conrad, Jr.; Richard F. Gordon, Jr.; and Alan L. Bean.
Credit: NASA Great Images in NASA Collection

1970

An oxygen tank explosion on Apollo 13 endangered the lives of three astronauts. The explosion forced the astronauts to use their lunar module as a lifeboat to survive.

Astronaut John L. Swigert Jr., is lifted aboard a helicopter from the Apollo 13 command module after it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970. Astronaut James A. Lovell, Jr., awaits his turn. (Fred W. Haise, Jr., was already lifted to the helicopter.)
Credit: JSC/NASA

1971

February: Apollo 14 marked the first lunar mission since the Apollo 13 explosion. Alan Shepard became the only person to hit a golf ball on the Moon.

Apollo 14 astronauts Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Stuart A. Roosa, and Edgar D. Mitchell lifted off at 4:03 p.m. EST January 31, 1971, from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A.
Credit: Johnson Space Center/NASA

1971

July–August: Apollo 15 was the first mission to use the Lunar Roving Vehicle. Astronauts David Scott and Jim Irwin used it to drive nearly 28 km (17 miles).

James Irwin in a lunar rover
Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin standing in back of the Lunar Roving Vehicle; the Lunar Module (LM) is at left with the modular equipment storage assembly (MESA) in front of it. Apollo 15 was launched July 26, 1971.
Credit: NASA

1972

April: Apollo 16 landed in the Descartes highlands of the Moon. Astronauts John Young and Charles Duke spent nearly 3 days on the lunar surface.

Charles M. Duke, Jr., lunar module pilot of the Apollo 16 mission, collecting lunar samples at the rim of Plum crater, April 21, 1972.
Credit: NASA

1972

Apollo 17 made the last crewed landing of the Apollo program. Astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt became the last humans to set foot on the Moon.

apollo 17
Apollo 17 astronaut.
Credit: NASA/ Project Apollo Archive

1976

August: Luna 24 returned the last sample from the Moon (to date).

The Soviet probe returned with lunar soil samples taken from a depth of seven feet (about two metres) below the surface.

luna 24
The ampule containing lunar soil and rock delivered by the re-entry module of the Soviet lunar lander Luna 24. It has been opened at the receiving laboratory of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, 1976.
Credit: Sovfoto/Universal Images Group/Shutterstock

1994

NASA’s Clementine mission conducted multispectral mapping of the Moon.

Clementine was a robotic U.S. spacecraft that orbited and observed all regions of the Moon over a two-month period in 1994 for purposes of scientific research and in-space testing of equipment developed primarily for national defense. 

Global distribution of iron on the Moon's surface
Global distribution of iron on the Moon’s surface, based on multispectral data collected in 1994 by the U.S. Clementine spacecraft from lunar orbit. Iron content of the soil is color-coded according to the key at the left. The maps reveal the striking difference in surface composition between near-side and far-side hemispheres.
Credit: NASA/Lunar Planetary Institute

1998

NASA’s Lunar Prospector mission launched.

Lunar Prospector studied the chemistry of the Moon’s surface.

Lunar Prospector spacecraft
Computer artwork of the Lunar Prospector spacecraft near the Moon.
Credit: NASA/JPL

1998

Japanese Selene (Kaguya) spacecraft launched.

Kaguya returned stunning images of the Moon taken with its high-definition camera.

Selene spacecraft in orbit around the Moon.
Artist’s conception of the Kaguya mission’s Selene spacecraft in orbit around the Moon. Credit: JAXA

2007

Chinese Chang’e 1 lunar orbiter launched.

Chang’e 1 was the first in a series of lunar probes launched by the China National Space Administration. The satellites were named for a goddess who, according to Chinese legend, flew from Earth to the Moon.

Chang'e 1
Artist’s rendering of the Chang’e 1 spacecraft.
Credit: National Space Science Data Center/NASA

2008

Indian Chandrayaan-1 Moon orbiter launched.

Chandrayaan-1 found small amounts of water on the Moon and was the first Indian spacecraft to travel beyond Earth orbit.

Chandrayaan-1
Artist’s conception of the Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe.
Credit: Doug Ellison

2009

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter launched

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) began mapping the surface of the Moon. The same rocket that carried LRO carried the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) experiment that was crashed into the Moon to find subsurface water.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter,
Artist’s rendering of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Credit: NASA

2011

Launch of the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) probes.

The GRAIL mission consisted of two spacecraft, Ebb and Flow, that mapped the Moon’s gravitational field. The probes discovered that the Moon had expanded slightly early in its history.

The GRAIL mission utilized the technique of twin spacecraft flying in formation with a known altitude above the lunar surface and known separation distance to investigate the gravity field of the Moon.
Credit: NASA/JPL

2018

Chang’e 4 became the first probe to land on the farside of the Moon.

Chang’e 4 carried a small rover, Yutu-2, which explored the surface in Von Karman crater.

Credit: NASA

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