Lunar Missions Timeline by Aagya G.

Luna 1 (Flyby)

Jan 2, 1959

First spacecraft to reach the Moon, and the first of a series of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations successfully launched in the direction of the Moon. Contained radio equipment, a tracking transmitter, and telemetering system, five different sets of scientific devices for studying interplanetary space, including a magnetometer, geiger counter, scintillation counter, and micrometeorite detector, and other equipment. It was sphere shaped.

Pioneer 4 ( flyby)

Mar 3, 1959

The first US probe to escape from the Earth's gravity.

Luna 2 ( Impact)

Sep 2, 1959

Second of a series of spacecraft launched in the direction of the Moon. A spherical spacecraft with protruding antennae and instrument parts. Spacecraft also carried Soviet pennants.

Luna 3 ( probe)

Oct 4, 1959

Automatic interplanetary station, was the 3rd spacecraft successfully launched to the Moon. The first spacecraft to return pictures of the Lunar's far side. Was cylindrically shaped.

Ranger 1 ( Attempted Test Flight )

Aug 23, 1961

Goal was to test the performance of those functions and parts necessary for carrying out subsequent lunar and planetary missions using essentially the same spacecraft design. The second goal was to study the nature of particles and fields in interplanetary space.

Ranger 2 ( Attempted Test Flight )

Nov 18, 1961

Was a flight test of the Ranger spacecraft system designed for future lunar and interplanetary missions. Was designed to conduct scientific observations of cosmic rays, magnetic fields, radiation, dust particles, and a possible hydrogen gas "tail" trailing the Earth.

Ranger 3 ( Attempted Impact )

Jan 26, 1962

Transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon. Was the first of the so-called Block II Ranger designs

Ranger 4 ( Impact )

Apr 23, 1962

Transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon. Ranger 4 was a Block II Ranger spacecraft virtually identical to Ranger 3.

Ranger 5 (Attempted Impact)

Oct 18, 1962

transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon. Due to an unknown malfunction, the spacecraft ran out of power and ceased operation. It passed within 725 km of the Moon. Ranger 5 was a Block II Ranger spacecraft similar to Rangers 3 and 4.

Luna 4 ( Flyby )

Apr 2, 1963

Luna 4 was the USSR's first successful spacecraft of their "second generation" lunar program. The spacecraft, also referred to as an automatic interplanetary station.The intended mission of the probe was never revealed, it was announced it would travel to "the vicinity of the Moon".

Ranger 6 (Impact)

Jan 30, 1964

Designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. The spacecraft carried six television vidicon cameras, 2 full-scan cameras and 4 partial scan cameras to accomplish these objectives. Rangers 6, 7, 8, and 9 were the so-called Block 3 versions of the Ranger spacecraft.

Ranger 7 (Impact)

Jul 28, 1964

Designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. The spacecraft carried six television vidicon cameras, 2 full-scan cameras and 4 partial scan cameras to accomplish these objectives. Rangers 6, 7, 8, and 9 were the so-called Block 3 versions of the Ranger spacecraft

Ranger 8 (Impact)

Feb 17, 1965

Ranger 8 was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. Rangers 6, 7, 8, and 9 were the so-called Block 3 versions of the Ranger spacecraft.

Ranger 9 (Impact)

Mar 21, 1965

Designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. Rangers 6, 7, 8, and 9 were the so-called Block 3 versions of the Ranger spacecraft.

Luna 5 (Impact)

May 9, 1965

Automatic interplanetary station was designed to continue investigations of a lunar soft landing. The spacecraft carried an imaging system and a radiation detector. Unfortunately a problem developed in a flotation gyroscope (it did not have enough time to warm up properly) in the I-100 guidance control unit and control was lost so the spacecraft began spinning around its main axis.

Luna 6 (Attempted Lander)

Jun 8, 1965

Was an attempted lunar soft landing mission. It was similar to the Luna 5 design, also carrying an imaging system and a radiation detector.During the mid-course correction on 9 June the main retro-rocket failed to cut off as scheduled and fired until all of its propellant was exhausted, due to an erroneous ground command sent to the timer. This put the spacecraft on a trajectory to miss the Moon.

Zond 3 (Flyby)

Jul 18, 1965

Zond 3 was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (65-056B) earth orbiting platform towards the moon and interplanetary space. It is believed that Zond 3 was initially designed as a companion spacecraft to Zond 2 to be launched to Mars during the 1964 launch window.

Luna 7 (Impact)

Oct 4, 1965

The Luna 7 spacecraft was intended to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. However, due to loss of attitude control during the final approach to the lunar surface, the retrorockets were prevented from firing to slow the spacecraft and it impacted the lunar surface

Luna 8 (Impact)

Dec 3, 1965

Luna 8 was launched with the intended mission of achieving a soft landing on the Moon. However, a puncture to a cushioning airbag caused the spacecraft to spin, losing attitude control and preventing full firing of the retrorockets. The mission did complete the experimental development of the star-orientation system and ground control of radio equipment, flight trajectory, and other instrumentation.

Luna 9 (Lander)

Jan 31, 1966

the first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data from the Moon's surface to Earth, preceding the U.S. Surveyor 1 soft lander by about 4 months. The probe also proved that the lunar surface could support the weight of a lander and that an object would not sink into a loose layer of dust as some models predicted.On 6 February at 22:55 UT the batteries ran out of power and the mission ended.

Luna 10 (Orbiter)

Mar 31, 1966

Luna 10 was the first spacecraft to go into orbit around the Moon, and the first human-made object to orbit any body beyond the Earth. The primary objectives were to achieve the first lunar orbit, gain experience in orbital operations, presumably as a precursor to astronaut orbital missions, and study the lunar environment.The data returned showed a weak to non-existent magnetic field.

Surveyor 1(Lander)

May 30, 1966

Surveyor 1 was the first spacecraft launched in the Surveyor program and the first soft landing on the Moon by the United States. The mission was considered a complete success and demonstrated the technology necessary to achieve landing and operations on the lunar surface.

Lunar Orbiter 1 (Orbiter)

Aug 10, 1966

Designed primarily to photograph smooth areas of the lunar surface for selection and verification of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions. It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data.The Lunar Orbiter program consisted of 5 Lunar Orbiters which returned photography of 99% of the surface of the Moon (near and far side) with resolution down to 1 meter.Lunar Orbiter 1 was injected into an elliptical near-equatorial lunar orbit.

Luna 11 (Orbiter)

Aug 24, 1966

Luna 11 was launched towards the Moon from an earth-orbiting platform and entered lunar orbit on August 28, 1966. The objectives of the mission included the study of: (1) lunar gamma- and X-ray emissions in order to determine the Moon's chemical composition; (2) lunar gravitational anomalies; (3) the concentration of meteorite streams near the Moon; and, (4) the intensity of hard corpuscular radiation near the Moon.

Surveyor 2 (Attempted Lander)

Sep 20, 1966

the second of a series designed to achieve a soft landing on the moon and to return lunar surface photography for determining characteristics of the lunar terrain for Apollo lunar landing missions. It was also equipped to return data on radar reflectivity of the lunar surface, bearing strength of the lunar surface, and spacecraft temperatures for use in the analysis of lunar surface temperatures. The target area proposed was within Sinus Medii.

Luna 12 (Orbiter)

Oct 22, 1966

Launched towards the Moon from an earth-orbiting platform and achieved lunar orbit on October 25, 1966. The spacecraft was equipped with a television system that obtained and transmitted photographs of the lunar surface.Radio transmissions from Luna 12 ceased on January 19, 1967, after 602 lunar orbits and 302 radio transmissions.

Lunar Orbiter 2 (Orbiter)

Nov 6, 1966

Designed primarily to photograph smooth areas of the lunar surface for selection and verification of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions. It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data. The spacecraft was placed in a cislunar trajectory and injected into an elliptical near-equatorial lunar orbit for data acquisition after 92.5 hours flight time.A failure of the amplifier on the final day of readout, Dec.7th

Luna 13 (Lander)

Dec 21, 1966

Launched toward the Moon from an earth-orbiting platform & accomplished a soft landing on December 24 in the region of Oceanus Procellarum.The petal encasement of the spacecraft was opened, antennas were erected, & radio transmissions to Earth began four minutes after the landing. The spacecraft was equipped with mechanical soil-measuring penetrometer,dynamograph, & radiation densitometer for obtaining data on the mechanical &physical properties & cosmic-ray reflectivity of the lunar surface.

Lunar Orbiter 3 (Orbiter)

Feb 4, 1967

Designed primarily to photograph areas of the lunar surface for confirmation of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions. It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data. The spacecraft was placed in a cislunar trajectory and injected into an elliptical near-equatorial lunar orbit on 8 February at 21:54 UT.The main bus of the Lunar Orbiter had the general shape of a truncated cone.

Surveyor 3 (Lander)

Apr 17, 1967

2nd spacecraft of the Surveyor series to achieve a lunar soft landing. The specific objectives for this mission were to: (1) perform a soft landing on the Moon within the Apollo zone & east of the Surveyor 1 landing site; (2) obtain postlanding television pictures of the lunar surface; (3) obtain information on lunar-surface bearing strength, radar reflectivity, & thermal properties;& (4) use the surface sampler to manipulate the lunar surface and observe the effects with the television camera.

Lunar Orbiter 4 (Orbiter)

May 8, 1967

Designed to take advantage of the fact that the three previous Lunar Orbiters had completed the required needs for Apollo mapping and site selection. It was given a more general objective, to "perform a broad systematic photographic survey of lunar surface features in order to increase the scientific knowledge of their nature, origin, & processes,& to serve as a basis for selecting sites for more detailed scientific study by subsequent orbital and landing missions.

Surveyor 4 (Attempted Lander)

Jul 14, 1967

Fourth in a series designed to achieve a soft landing on the moon and to return photography of the lunar surface for determining characteristics of the lunar terrain for Apollo lunar landing missions. Equipment on board included a television camera and auxiliary mirrors, a soil mechanics surface sampler, strain gauges on the spacecraft landing legs, and numerous engineering sensors.

Explorer 35 (IMP-E) (Orbiter)

Jul 19, 1967

Explorer 35 was a spin-stabilized spacecraft instrumented for interplanetary studies, at lunar distances, of the interplanetary plasma, magnetic field, energetic particles, and solar X rays. It was launched into an elliptical lunar orbit. The spin axis direction was nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. Mission objectives were achieved. After successful operation for 6 years, the spacecraft was turned off on June 24, 1973.

Lunar Orbiter 5 (Orbiter)

Aug 1, 1967

Last of the Lunar Orbiter series,was designed to take additional Apollo & Surveyor landing site photography & take broad survey images of unphotographed parts of the Moon's far side. It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, & micrometeoroid impact data & was used to evaluate the Manned Space Flight Network tracking stations & Apollo Orbit Determination Program. The Lunar Orbiter program consisted of 5 Lunar Orbiters which returned photography of 99% of the Lunar Surface.

Surveyor 5 (Lander)

Sep 8, 1967

3rd spacecraft in the Surveyor series to achieve a successful lunar soft landing & the first mission to obtain in-situ compositional data on the Moon.The specific objectives for this mission were to perform a soft landing on the Moon in Mare Tranquillitatis and obtain postlanding television pictures of the lunar surface.

Apollo 8 (Crewed Orbiter)

Dec 21, 1968

Launched: 21 December 1968 UT 12:51:00 (7:51:00 AM EST)
Lunar Orbit: 24 December 1968
Returned to Earth: 27 December 1968 UT 15:51:42 (10:51:42 AM EST)
Frank Borman, commander
James A. Lovell, command module pilot
William A. Anders, lunar module pilot

Apollo 11 (Crewed Landing)

Jul 16, 1969

Launched: 16 July 1969 UT 13:32:00 (09:32:00 a.m. EDT)
Landed on Moon: 20 July 1969 UT 20:17:40 (04:17:40 p.m. EDT)
Landing Site: Mare Tranquillitatis - Sea of Tranquility (0.67 N, 23.47 E)
Returned to Earth: 24 July 1969 UT 16:50:35 (12:50:35 p.m. EDT)
Neil A. Armstrong, commander
Michael Collins, command module pilot
Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., lunar module pilot

Apollo 12 (Crewed Landing)

Nov 14, 1969

Launched: 14 November 1969 UT 16:22:00 (11:22:00 a.m. EST)
Landed on Moon: 19 November 1969 UT 06:54:35 (01:54:35 a.m. EST)
Landing Site: Oceanus Procellarum - Ocean of Storms (3.01 S, 23.42 W)
Returned to Earth: 24 November 1969 UT 20:58:24 (03:58:24 p.m. EST)
Charles Conrad, Jr., commander
Richard F. Gordon, command module pilot
Alan L. Bean, lunar module pilot

Apollo 13 Crewed Landing (aborted)

Apr 11, 1970

Launched: 11 April 1970 UT 19:13:00 (02:13:00 p.m. EST)
Malfunction forced cancellation of lunar landing
Returned to Earth: 17 April 1970 UT 18:07:41 (01:07:41 p.m. EST)
James A. Lovell, commander
John L. Swigert, Jr., command module pilot
Fred W. Haise, Jr., lunar module pilot

Apollo 14 (Crewed Landing)

Jan 31, 1971

Launched: 31 January 1971 UT 21:03:02 (4:03:02 p.m. EST)
Landed on Moon: 5 February 1971 UT 09:18:11 (04:18:11 a.m. EST)
Landing Site: Fra Mauro (3.65 S, 17.47 W)
Returned to Earth: 9 February 1971 UT 21:05:00 (04:05:00 p.m. EST)
Alan B. Shepard, Jr., commander
Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot
Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot

Apollo 15 (Crewed Landing)

Jul 26, 1971

Launched: 26 July 1971 UT 13:34:00 (09:34:00 a.m. EDT)
Landed on Moon: 30 July 1971 UT 22:16:29 (06:16:29 p.m. EDT)
Landing Site: Hadley Rille/Apennines (26.13 N, 3.63 E)
Returned to Earth: 7 August 1971 UT 20:45:53 (04:45:53 p.m. EDT)
David R. Scott, commander
Alfred M. Worden, command module pilot
James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot

Apollo 16 (Crewed Landing)

Apr 16, 1972

Launched: 16 April 1972 UT 17:54:00 (12:54:00 p.m. EST)
Landed on Moon: 21 April 1972 UT 02:23:35 (20 April 09:23:35 p.m. EST)
Landing Site: Descartes (8.97 S, 15.50 E)
Returned to Earth: 27 April 1972 UT 19:45:05 (02:45:05 p.m. EST)
John W. Young, commander
Thomas K. Mattingly II, command module pilot
Charles M. Duke, Jr., lunar module pilot

Apollo 17 (Crewed Landing)

Dec 7, 1972

Launched: 7 December 1972 UT 05:33:00 (12:33:00 a.m. EST)
Landed on Moon: 11 December 1972 UT 19:54:57 (02:54:57 p.m. EST)
Landing Site: Taurus-Littrow (20.19 N, 30.77 E)
Returned to Earth: 19 December 1972 UT 19:24:59 (02:24:59 p.m. EST)
Eugene A. Cernan, commander
Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot
Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot

Luna 21 (Rover)

Jan 8, 1973

The Luna 21 spacecraft arrived on the Moon and deployed the 2nd Soviet lunar rover (Lunokhod 2). Primary goals of the mission were to collect images of the lunar surface, examine light levels to determine the astronomical observations from the Moon, perform laser ranging experiments from Earth, observe solar X-rays, measure local magnetic fields, & study mechanical properties of the lunar surface material.

Luna 22 (Orbiter)

Jun 2, 1974

Was a lunar orbiter mission. The spacecraft carried imaging cameras & also had the objectives of studying the Moon's magnetic field,composition of lunar surface rocks & surface gamma ray emissions & gravitational field, as well as micrometeorites & cosmic rays. Luna 22 was launched into Earth parking orbit & then to the moon.

Luna 24 (Sample Return)

Aug 14, 1976

The last of the Luna series of spacecraft, the mission of the Luna 24 probe was the 3rd Soviet mission to retrieve lunar ground samples.

Hiten (Flyby & Orbiter)

Jan 24, 1990

Earth orbiting satellite designed primarily to test & verify technologies for future planetary & lunar missions. Hiten itself was put into a highly elliptical Earth orbit which passed by the Moon ten times during the mission, which ended when Hiten crashed into the Moon on 10 April 1993.

Clementine (Orbiter)

Jan 25, 1994

Clementine mapped most of the Moon's/ Lunar surface at a number of resolutions and wavelengths from UV to IR.

AsiaSat 3/HGS (Lunar Flyby)

Dec 24, 1997

Was a communications satellite launched by Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.It was used for mainly television distribution & telecommunications services throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Australasia.

Lunar Prospector (Orbiter)

Jan 7, 1998

Launch Date: 7 January 1998 UT 02:28:44 (6 January 9:28:44 p.m. EST)
Launch Vehicle: Athena II
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center
Launch Mass 296 kg (fully fueled), 158 kg (dry)
Power System: Body Mounted 202 W Solar Cells and 4.8 amp-hr NiCd Battery
Made for a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon, including mapping of surface composition and possible polar ice deposits, study of lunar outgassing events, and measurements of magnetic & gravity fields

SMART 1 (Lunar Orbiter)

Sep 27, 2003

(Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology 1) is a lunar orbiter designed to test spacecraft technologies for future missions. SMART-1 is a box-shaped spacecraft roughly a meter on a side with two large solar panel wings spanning 14 meters extending from opposite sides.

Kaguya (SELENE) Lunar Orbiter

Sep 14, 2007

Kaguya ended its mission as planned, impacting the Moon on 10 June 2009 at 18:25 UT.The orbiter main bus is box-shaped.

Chandrayaan-1 (Lunar Orbiter)

Oct 22, 2008

Designed to orbit the Moon over a two year period for the objectives of upgrading & testing India's technological capabilities in space & returning scientific information on the lunar surface.

LCROSS (Lunar Orbiter and Impactor)

Jun 17, 2009

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) is designed to search for water ice on the lunar surface by putting a 2000 kg Centaur upper stage into an impact with the Moon while observing the collision from behind.

Chang'e 2 (Lunar Orbiter)

Oct 1, 2010

Chang'e 2 spacecraft is China's 2nd lunar mission. Expanding on the goals of the Chang'e 1 mission, its will act as a technical test satellite for future Chinese Moon missions. Its main goals are to return high resolution images of the Moon's surface to aid in selection of a future landing site for the Chang'e 3 lander & rover mission

Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) (Lunar Orbiter)

Sep 10, 2011

(GRAIL) mission is a dual spacecraft effort designed to determine the structure of the lunar interior & advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the Moon. NASA discovery channel picked the Grail's mission.

Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) (Lunar Orbiter)

Mar 1, 2013

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is right now under study for launch in 2012 on a Minotaur-V. LADEE is designed to characterize the tenuous Moon atmosphere & dust environment from orbit. It will happen in march in 2013.
(Don't know the exact date.)