Moon Missions

Various lunar expeditions down the years.

September 1959: First successful hard landing on the Moon by Luna 2 of the USSR.

December 1968: Apollo 8 me the US becomes the first spacecraft carrying humans to orbit the Moon.

July 20 1969: Neil Armstrong, commander of the US mission Apollo 11, becomes the first man to walk on Moon.

November 1970: The first robotic rover Lunokhod 1 part of the Luna 17 mission of the USSR makes a successful Moon landing.

August 1976: Luna 24 of the USSR returns to Earth, making it the last major lunar mission till 1990

January 1990: Japan's Hiten orbits the Moon, making it the third country after USSR and the US to do so.

September 2003: European Space Agency launches a small, low cost lunar orbiter SMART-1.

2007: Japan launches its lunar orbiter, Selene, for mapping of lunar topography and to study the geological evolution of the Moon.

2007: The first phase of China's Lunar Exploration Programme initiated with the launch of its unmanned lunar mission, Chang'e 1.

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