Lunar Spaceflight Index

Soviet Missions

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (CCCP) was the first nation to establish a spaceflight program. The Soviet space program was never centralized under a state agency, but rather was spearheaded by the competing efforts of several opytno konstruktorskoye byuros ("experimental design bureaus"): relatively small state-run institutions which specialized in research and development. The major OKBs involved in Soviet spaceflight were OKB-1 Korolev, OKB-23 Myasishchev, OKB-52 Chelomey, and OKB-456 Glushko.

Luna Program

Ye-1

  • Luna 1958A: Unsuccessful lunar impactor. Exploded on launch.
  • Luna 1958B: Unsuccessful lunar impactor. Exploded on launch.
  • Luna 1958C: Unsuccessful lunar impactor. Exploded on launch.
  • Luna 1 (1959): Semi-successful lunar impactor; guidance burn miscalculation resulted in fly-by rather than impact.

Ye-1a

  • Luna E-1A No.1 ⁄ "Luna 1959A": Unsuccessful lunar impactor. Launch was terminated due to first stage guidance failure.
  • Luna 2 (1959): Successful lunar impactor. First manmade object to reach the Moon.

Ye-2

  • Automatic Interplanetary Station ⁄ E-2A No.1 (1959): Successful lunar flyby, returned first ever photographs of far side of the Moon. Retroactively designated Luna 3.

Ye-3

  • Luna E-3 No.1 ⁄ "Luna 1960A": Unsuccessful lunar flyby. Failed to reach orbit due to improper fueling of upper stage.
  • Luna E-3 No.2 ⁄ "Luna 1960B": Unsuccessful lunar flyby. Failed to reach orbit due to strap-on boosters breaking off of first stage in flight.

Ye-6

  • Ye-6 No. 2 ⁄ "Sputnik 25": Unsuccessful lunar lander. Stranded in low Earth orbit due to upper stage ullage motor failure.
  • Ye-6 No. 3. ⁄ "Luna 1963B": Unsuccessful lunar lander. Did not reach orbit due to upper stage guidance failure.
  • Luna 4 (Ye-6 No.4): Unsuccessful lunar lander. Missed the Moon due to failed course correction maneuver.
  • Ye-6 No. 6: ⁄ "Luna 1963A": Unsuccessful lunar lander. Did not reach orbit due to stuck fuel valve in upper stage.
  • Ye-6 No. 5 ⁄ "Luna 1963B": Unsuccessful lunar lander. Did not reach orbit due to premature cutoff of upper stage.
  • Kosmos 60 (Ye-6 No. 9): Unsuccessful lunar lander. Stranded in low Earth orbit due to upper stage failing to ignite for translunar injection.
  • Ye-6 No.8 ⁄ "Luna 1965A": Unsuccessful lunar lander. Did not reach orbit due to loss of pressurization in upper stage.
  • Luna 5 (Ye-6 No. 10): Unsuccessful lunar lander. Hard impacted the Moon due to failed course correction maneuver.
  • Luna 6 (Ye-6 No. 7): Unsuccessful lunar lander. Missed the Moon due to failed course correction maneuver.
  • Luna 7 (Ye-6 No. 11): Unsuccessful lunar lander. Hard impacted the Moon due to loss of control during lunar approach.
  • Luna 8 (Ye-6 No. 12): Unsuccessful lunar lander. Hard impacted the Moon due to landing retro-rocket failure.
  • Luna 9 (Ye-6 No. 13): Successful lunar lander.

Ye-6S

  • Kosmos 111 (Ye-6S No. 1): Unsuccessful lunar orbiter. Stranded in Earth orbit due to upper stage failing to ignite for translunar injection
  • Luna 10 (Ye-6S No. 2): Successful lunar orbiter. First man-made satellite of the Moon.

Ye-6LF

  • Luna 11 (Ye-6LF No. 101): Semi-successful lunar orbiter. Reached lunar orbit, but failed to gather data due to a jammed attitude-control thruster.
  • Luna 12 (Ye-6LF No. 102): Successful lunar orbiter.

Ye-6M

  • Luna 13 (Ye-6M No. 101): Succsssful lunar lander.

Ye-6LS

  • Kosmos 159 (Ye-6LS No. 111): Successful Earth orbit test.
  • Ye-6LS No. 112: Unsuccessful lunar orbiter. Failed to reach orbit due to third stage gas generator failure.
  • Luna 14 (Ye-6LS No. 113): Successful lunar orbiter. Tested tracking and communications for Soviet manned lunar missions.

Ye-8-5

  • Ye-8-5 No. 402: Unsuccessful lunar sample return. Failed to reach orbit.
  • Luna 15 (Ye-8-5 No. 405): Unsuccessful lunar sample return. Crash landed on Moon.
  • Kosmos 300 (Ye-8-5 No. 403): Unsuccessful lunar sample return. Stranded in orbit due to upper stage oxidizer leak.
  • Kosmos 305 (Ye-8-5 No. 404): Unsuccessful lunar sample return. Stranded in orbit due to upper stage failure.
  • Luna Ye-8-5 No. 405: Unsuccessful lunar sample return. Did not reach orbit due to premature shutdown of first stage.
  • Luna 16 (Ye-8-5 No. 406): Successful lunar sample return.
  • Luna 18 (Ye-8-5 No. 407): Successful lunar sample return.
  • Luna 20 (Ye-8-5 No. 408): Successful lunar sample return.

Ye-8

  • Luna 15a + Lunokhod 1a (Ye-8 No. 201): Unsuccessful lunar rover. Exploded on launch..
  • Luna 17 (Ye-8 No. 203): Successful lunar rover (Lunokhod 1)
  • Luna 21 (Ye-8 No. 204): Successful lunar rover (Lunokhod 2).
  • Lunokhod 3 (Ye-8 No. 205): Not launched due to lack of available booster.

Ye-8LS

  • Luna 19 (Ye-8LS No. 202)
  • Luna 22 (Ye-8LS No. 206)

Ye-8-5M

  • Luna 23 (Ye-8-5M No. 410): Unsuccessful lunar sample return. Landed on Moon, but failed to gather sample.
  • Ye-8-5M No. 412: Unsuccessful lunar sample return.
  • Luna 24 (Ye-8-5M No. 413): Successful lunar sample return. 2-metre deep drill sample of lunar soil returned to Earth.

Soyuz 7K-L1 "Zond" Program

  • Cosmos 146.
  • Cosmos 154.
  • Zond 1967A, booster failure.
  • Zond 1967B, booster failure.
  • Zond 4.
  • Zond 1968A, destroyed.
  • Zond 5.
  • Zond 6
  • Zond 7
  • Zond 1969A
  • Zond 8
  • Zond 9: Cancelled.
  • Zond 10: Cancelled.

N1⁄L3 Program

  • Zond L1S-1: Unsuccessful unmanned test launch. First stage exploded.
  • Zond L1S-2: Unsuccessful unmanned test launch. First stage exploded, causing catastrophic damage to entire Site 110 East pad complex.
  • Soyuz 7K-L1E No.1: Unsuccessful unmanned test launch. First stage exploded.
  • Soyuz 7K-LOK No.1: Unsuccessful unmanned test launch. First stage exploded.

Roscosmos Missions

The State Corporation for Space Activities "Roscosmos" is the space agency of the Russian Federation. Unlike its Soviet predecessor, Roscosmos has focused almost exclusively on "profitable" manned spaceflight efforts with little to no resources allocated to lunar and interplanetary missions.

Luna-Glob Program

  • Luna 25: Unsuccessful unmanned lunar lander. Crashed on Moon due to landing system failure.
  • Luna 26: Pending lunar orbiter, scheduled for 2027
  • Luna 27 (Luna-Resurs 1): Pending lunar lander, scheduled for 2028.

NASA Missions

The United States of America was the second nation to establish a spaceflight program. The USA's space program is operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, an independent federal agency established in 1958 to emphasize the civilian nature of space exploration. However, unmanned space probes are entirely delegated to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a research and development center which was founded in 1936 by the California Institute of Technology in partnership with the U.S. Army. NASA assumed official ownership of JPL as part of its government mandate, but the laboratory is still de facto independently operated by the university.

Pioneer Program

Project Able

  • Pioneer 0 ⁄ Thor-Able 1: Unsuccessful lunar orbiter mission. Exploded on launch.
  • Pioneer 1 ⁄ Thor-Able 2: Semi-successful lunar orbiter mission. Failed to achieve escape velocity due to guidance failure, retasked as Earth orbit and returned limited data.
  • Pioneer 2 ⁄ Thor-Able 3: Unsuccessful lunar orbiter mission. Failed to achieve escape velocity due to upper stage failure.
  • Pioneer 5 ⁄ Thor-Able 4
  • Pioneer P-1 ⁄ Atlas-Able 4A,
  • Pioneer P-3 ⁄ Atlas-Able 4B,
  • Pioneer P-30 ⁄ Atlas-Able 5A
  • Pioneer P-31 ⁄ Atlas-Able 5B

Juno II

  • Pioneer 3: Unsuccessful lunar flyby mission. Missed the Moon due to guidance failure.
  • Pioneer 4: Successful lunar flyby mission.

Ranger Program

Ranger Block 1

  • Ranger 1
  • Ranger 2

Ranger Block 2

  • Ranger 3
  • Ranger 4
  • Ranger 5

Ranger Block 3

  • Ranger 6
  • Ranger 7: Successful lunar impactor mission.
  • Ranger 8: Successful lunar impactor mission.
  • Ranger 9: Successful lunar impactor mission.

Surveyor Program

  • Surveyor 1
  • Surveyor 2
  • Surveyor 3
  • Surveyor 4
  • Surveyor 5
  • Surveyor 6
  • Surveyor 7

Lunar Orbiter Program

  • Lunar Orbiter 1: Successful lunar orbiter. Mapped lunar surface from low-inclination orbit to gather high resolution imaging for Apollo landing candidate sites.
  • Lunar Orbiter 2: Successful lunar orbiter. Mapped lunar surface from low-inclination orbit to gather high resolution imaging for Apollo landing candidate sites.
  • Lunar Orbiter 3: Successful lunar orbiter. Mapped lunar surface from low-inclination orbit to gather high resolution imaging for Apollo landing candidate sites.
  • Lunar Orbiter 4: Successful lunar orbiter. Mapped entire near side and 9% of far side of lunar surface from high polar orbit.
  • Lunar Orbiter 5: Successful lunar orbiter. Mapped remaining far side of lunar surface from high polar orbit.

Apollo Program

Unmanned Test Flights

  • Saturn-Apollo 1 ⁄ SA-1 Successful unmanned suborbital test of dummy upper stages on partially loaded first-stage Saturn I booster.
  • Saturn-Apollo 2 ⁄ SA-2 Successful unmanned suborbital test of dummy upper stages on fully loaded first-stage Saturn I booster.
  • Saturn-Apollo 3 ⁄ SA-3 Successful unmanned suborbital flight of dummy upper stages on first-stage Saturn I booster.
  • Saturn-Apollo 4 ⁄ SA-4 Successful unmanned suborbital flight of dummy S-IV second stage and unfueled S-V third stage on first-stage Saturn I booster.
  • Saturn-Apollo 5 ⁄ SA-5 Successful unmanned orbital flight of full Block II Saturn I booster.
  • AS-101 ⁄ SA-6: Successful unmanned orbital flight of Apollo mass simulator on Block II Saturn I booster.
  • AS-102 ⁄ SA-7: Successful unmanned orbital flight of Apollo mass simulator on Block II Saturn I booster.
  • AS-103 ⁄ SA-8: Successful unmanned orbital flight of Apollo mass simulator on Block II Saturn I booster.
  • AS-104 ⁄ SA-9: Successful unmanned orbital flight of Apollo mass simulator on Block II Saturn I booster.
  • AS-105 ⁄ SA-10: Successful unmanned orbital flight of Apollo mass simulator on Block II Saturn I booster.
  • AS-201 ⁄ SA-201: Successful unmanned suborbital flight of Apollo Command Service Module on Saturn IB booster. Retroactively designated "Apollo 1-A".
  • AS-203 ⁄ SA-203: Successful unmanned orbital flight of empty Saturn IB booster, validating on-orbit engine restart of the IV-B upper stage. Retroactively designated "Apollo 3".
  • AS-202 ⁄ SA-202: Successful unmanned sub orbital flight of Apollo CSM on Saturn IB booster. Launched "out of sequence" due to delays. Retroactively designated "Apollo 2".
  • Apollo 4 ⁄ SA-501: Successful unmanned Earth orbit flight of Apollo CSM on Saturn V booster.
  • Apollo 5 ⁄ AS-204: Successful unmanned Earth orbit flight of Apollo Lunar Excursion Module on Saturn IB booster.
  • Apollo 6 ⁄ AS-502: Semi-successful ummanned Earth orbit flight of Apollo CSM. Upper stage failed to ignite for translunar injection burn.

Manned Test Flights

  • Apollo 1 ⁄ AS-204: Intended manned Earth orbit test of Apollo CSM on Saturn IB booster. Cancelled due to fatal fire during manned launchpad test.
  • Apollo 7: Successful manned Earth orbit and return of Apollo CSM.
  • Apollo 8: Successful manned lunar orbit and return of Apollo CSM plus LEM mass simulator. First manned mission to depart Earth orbit.
  • Apollo 9: Successful manned Earth orbit and return of full Apollo spacecraft (CSM + LEM).
  • Apollo 10: Successful manned lunar approach and return of full Apollo spacecraft.

Manned Moon Landing Flights

  • Apollo 11: Successful manned lunar landing and return.
  • Apollo 12: Successful manned lunar landing and return.
  • Apollo 13: Unsuccessful manned lunar landing and return. After onboard explosion during outbound translunar flight, spacecraft successfully flew by Moon and returned to Earth.
  • Apollo 14: Successful manned lunar landing and return.
  • Apollo 15: Successful manned lunar landing and return. First mission with moon rover vehicle.
  • Apollo 16: Successful manned lunar landing and return.
  • Apollo 17: Successful manned lunar landing.
  • Apollo 18: Cancelled due to budget cuts.
  • Apollo 19: Cancelled due to budget cuts.
  • Apollo 20: Cancelled to reallocate Saturn V booster for Skylab.