This is a list of robotic space probes that have flown by, struck, orbited, landed on, or failed to reach the Moon for lunar exploration.
The crewed Apollo missions are listed at List of missions to the Moon.
Major programs encompassing several probes include: Luna program — USSR Lunar exploration (1959–1976) Ranger program — US Lunar hard-landing probes (1961–1965) Zond program — USSR Lunar exploration (1964–1970) Surveyor program — US Lunar soft-landing probe (1966–1968) Lunar Orbiter program — US Lunar orbital (1966–1967) Lunokhod program — USSR Lunar Rover probes (1970–1973) Chang'e program - China Lunar orbiters, landers, rovers and sample return spacecraft (2004–present) Chandrayaan programme - Indian Lunar Exploration Programme incorporates lunar orbiters, impactors, soft landers and rover spacecraft (2008–present)
Key Colour key:
| – Mission or flyby fully or partially completed
| – Failed or cancelled mission |- | – Mission en route or in progress (including mission extensions) | | – Planned mission
† means "tentatively identified", as classified by NASA . These are Cold War-era Soviet missions, mostly failures, about which few or no details have been officially released. The information given may be speculative. Date is the date of: closest encounter (flybys) impact (impactors) orbital insertion to end of mission, whether planned or premature (orbiters) landing to end of mission, whether planned or premature (landers) launch (missions that never got underway due to failure at or soon after launch) In cases which do not fit any of the above, the event to which the date refers is stated. Note that as a result of this scheme missions are not always listed in order of launch. In the case of flybys (such as gravity assists) that are incidental to the main mission, "success" indicates the completion of the flyby, not necessarily that of the main mission.
Lunar probes by date
1958–1960
Spacecraft Organization Date Type Status Notes Image Ref Pioneer 0 DoD 17 August 1958 orbiter failure first attempted launch beyond Earth orbit; launch vehicle failure; maximum altitude 16 km Luna E-1 No.1 USSR 23 September 1958 impactor failure launch vehicle failure Pioneer 1 NASA/ DoD 11 October 1958 orbiter failure second stage premature shutdown; maximum altitude 113,800 km; some data returned Luna E-1 No.2 USSR 12 October 1958 impactor failure launch vehicle failure Pioneer 2 NASA/ STL 8 November 1958 orbiter failure third stage failure; maximum altitude 1,550 km; some data returned Luna E-1 No.3 USSR 4 December 1958 impactor failure launch vehicle failure Pioneer 3 NASA/ DoD 6 December 1958 flyby failure fuel depletion; maximum altitude 102,360 km; some data returned Luna 1 USSR 4 January 1959 flyby partial success first spacecraft in the vicinity of the Moon (flew within 5,995 km, but probably an intended impactor) Pioneer 4 NASA/ DoD 4 March 1959 flyby partial success achieved distant flyby; first US probe to enter solar orbit Luna E-1A No.1 USSR 18 June 1959 impactor failure failed to reach Earth orbit Luna 2 USSR 14 September 1959 impactor success first impact on Moon Pioneer P-1 NASA 24 September 1959? orbiter? failure designation sometimes given to a failed launch or launchpad explosion during testing; conflicting information between sources Luna 3 USSR 6 October 1959 flyby success first images from the lunar farside Pioneer P-3 NASA 26 November 1959 orbiter failure disintegrated shortly after launch Luna 1960A† USSR 15 April 1960 flyby failure failed to attain correct trajectory Luna 1960B† USSR 16 April 1960 flyby failure launch vehicle failure Pioneer P-30 NASA 25 September 1960 orbiter failure second stage failure; failed to reach Earth orbit Pioneer P-31 NASA 15 December 1960 orbiter failure first stage failure
1962–1965
Spacecraft Organization Date Type Status Notes Image Ref Ranger 3 NASA 28 January 1962 impactor failure missed target Ranger 4 NASA 26 April 1962 impactor failure hit the lunar farside; no data returned Ranger 5 NASA 21 October 1962 impactor failure power failure, missed target Sputnik 25 USSR 5 January 1963 lander failure failed to escape Earth orbit Luna E-6 No.3† USSR 2 February 1963 lander? failure failed to reach Earth orbit Luna 4 USSR 5 April 1963 lander? failure missed target, became Earth satellite Ranger 6 NASA 2 February 1964 impactor partial success impacted, but no pictures returned due to power failure Luna 1964A† USSR 21 March 1964 lander failure failed to reach Earth orbit Ranger 7 NASA 31 July 1964 impactor success returned pictures until impact Ranger 8 NASA 20 February 1965 impactor success returned pictures until impact Cosmos 60 USSR 12 March 1965 lander failure failed to leave Earth orbit Ranger 9 NASA 24 March 1965 impactor success TV broadcast of live pictures until impact Luna 1965A† USSR 10 April 1965 lander failure failed to reach Earth orbit? Luna 5 USSR 12 May 1965 lander failure crashed into Moon Luna 6 USSR 8 June 1965 lander failure missed Moon Zond 3 USSR 20 July 1965 flyby success possibly originally intended as a Mars probe, but target changed after launch window missed Luna 7 USSR 7 October 1965 lander failure crashed into Moon Luna 8 USSR 6 December 1965 lander failure crashed into Moon
1966–1967
Spacecraft Organization Date Type Status Notes Image Ref Luna 9 USSR 3 February 1966 –6 February 1966 lander success first soft landing; first images from the surface Cosmos 111 USSR 1 March 1966 orbiter failure failed to escape Earth orbit Luna 10 USSR 3 April 1966 –30 May 1966 orbiter success first artificial satellite of the Moon Luna 1966A† USSR 30 April 1966 orbiter failure failed to reach Earth orbit Surveyor 1 NASA 2 June 1966 lander success first US soft landing; Surveyor program performed various tests in support of forthcoming human landings Explorer 33 NASA 1 July 1966 –15 September 1971 orbiter partial success studied interplanetary plasma, cosmic rays, magnetic fields and solar X rays; failed to attain lunar orbit as intended, but achieved mission objectives from Earth orbit Lunar Orbiter 1 NASA 14 August 1966 –29 October 1966 orbiter success photographic mapping of lunar surface; intentionally impacted after completion of mission Luna 11 USSR 28 August 1966 –1 October 1966 orbiter success gamma-ray and X-ray-based observations of Moon's composition; gravity, radiation and meteorite studies Surveyor 2 NASA 23 September 1966 lander failure crashed into Moon Luna 12 USSR 25 October 1966 –19 January 1967 orbiter success lunar surface photography Lunar Orbiter 2 NASA 11 October 1967 orbiter success photographic mapping of lunar surface; intentionally impacted after completion of mission Luna 13 USSR 24 December 1966 lander success TV pictures of lunar landscape; soil measurements Lunar Orbiter 3 NASA 8 February 1967 –9 October 1967 orbiter success photographic mapping of lunar surface; intentionally impacted after completion of mission Surveyor 3 NASA 20 April 1967 –4 May 1967 lander success various studies, primarily in support of forthcoming human landings. First lander visited by a later crewed mission (Apollo 12) that even brought its components back to Earth. Lunar Orbiter 4 NASA May–October 1967 orbiter success lunar photographic survey Explorer 35 NASA July 1967 –24 June 1973 orbiter success studies of interplanetary plasma, magnetic fields, energetic particles and solar X rays Surveyor 4 NASA 17 July 1967 lander failure crashed into Moon Lunar Orbiter 5 NASA 5 August 1967 –31 January 1968 orbiter success lunar photographic survey; intentionally impacted after completion of mission Surveyor 5 NASA 17 December 1967 lander success various studies, primarily in support of forthcoming human landings Zond 1967A† USSR 28 September 1967 failure lunar capsule test flight; launch failure Surveyor 6 NASA 10 November 1967 –14 December 1967 lander success various studies, primarily in support of forthcoming human landings Zond 1967B† USSR 22 November 1967 failure lunar capsule test flight; launch failure
1968–1970
Spacecraft Organization Date Type Status Notes Image Ref Surveyor 7 NASA 10 January 1968 –21 February 1968 lander success various studies, primarily in support of forthcoming human landings; fifth and final Surveyor mission to achieve soft landing Luna 1968A† USSR 7 February 1968 orbiter? failure failed to reach Earth orbit Zond 4 USSR 2 March 1968 (launch) lunar programme flight test, directed away from Moon, either intentionally or unintentionally Luna 14 USSR 10 April 1968 – ? orbiter success tests of radio communications technologies; lunar mascon studies Zond 1968A† USSR 23 April 1968 flyby? failure launch failure Zond 5 USSR 18 September 1968 flyby success bioscience experiments; returned to soft landing on Earth Zond 6 USSR 14 November 1968 flyby success cosmic-ray, micrometeoroid and bioscience studies; returned to soft landing on Earth Zond 1969A† USSR 20 January 1969 flyby failure launch aborted Luna 1969A† USSR 19 February 1969 lander failure launch vehicle failure Lunokhod 201† rover failure Zond L1S-1† USSR 21 February 1969 orbiter failure launch vehicle failure Luna 1969B† USSR 15 April 1969 sample return? failure launch failure Luna 1969C† USSR 14 June 1969 sample return failure launch failure Zond L1S-2† USSR 3 July 1969 orbiter failure launch failure Luna 15 USSR 21 July 1969 failure? completed 52 lunar orbits then crash-landed Zond 7 USSR 11 August 1969 flyby success returned to soft landing on Earth Cosmos 300 USSR 23 September 1969 sample return failure failed to escape Earth orbit Cosmos 305 USSR 22 October 1969 sample return failure failed to escape Earth orbit Luna 1970A† USSR 6 February 1970 sample return? failure launch vehicle failure Luna 1970B† USSR 19 February 1970 orbiter? failure launch vehicle failure Luna 16 USSR 20 September 1970 sample return success first robotic sample return Zond 8 USSR 24 October 1970 flyby success returned to soft landing on Earth Luna 17 USSR 17 November 1970 –4 October 1971 lander success deployed rover Lunokhod 1 rover success first robotic rover; travelled over 10 km
1971–1976 Spacecraft Organization Date Type Status Notes Image Ref Luna 18 USSR 11 September 1971 lander/sample return? failure crashed into Moon Luna 19 USSR 3 October 1971 –October 1972 orbiter success Luna 20 USSR 21 February 1972 sample return success second successful robotic sample return Soyuz L3† USSR 23 November 1972 orbiter failure launch failure Luna 21 USSR 15 January 1973 –May 1973? lander success deployed rover Lunokhod 2 rover success second robotic rover; travelled 37 km Explorer 49 NASA 15 June 1973 –June 1975 orbiter success radio astronomy observations; last US lunar mission until 1994 Mariner 10 NASA November 1973 flyby success en route to Venus and Mercury Luna 22 USSR 2 June 1974 –November 1974 orbiter success Luna 23 USSR 6 November 1974 sample return failure damaged on landing, sample return failed Luna 1975A† USSR 16 October 1975 sample return failure failed to reach Earth orbit Luna 24 USSR 18 August 1976 sample return success third and final successful sample return in Luna programme
1983–1998