what countries have landed on the moon

1 year ago 49
Nature

As of August 2023, the following countries have successfully landed on the moon:

  • Soviet Union (Russia): The first country to successfully land on the moon with the Luna 2 mission in 1959. They also achieved the first soft landing with Luna 9 in 1966 and successfully retrieved samples from the moon on an unmanned mission in 1970.

  • United States: The first country to conduct crewed missions to the moon, with the Apollo 11 mission landing on the moons surface on July 20, 1969. The United States had a total of six crewed moon landings between 1969 and 1972, as well as numerous uncrewed landings.

  • China: On January 3, 2019, the Chinese Chang'e 4 spacecraft made the first landing on the far side of the moon, marking a significant achievement in lunar exploration. China has also successfully conducted uncrewed moon landings.

  • India: On September 6, 2019, India's Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully landed a spacecraft near the moon's south pole, making India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon.

In addition to these countries, other nations and organizations have conducted missions to the moon, but they have not achieved successful landings. These include Japan, the European Space Agency, Luxembourg, Israel, Italy, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.