Moon Landing: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, stands on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module, Eagle, during the Apollo 11 moonwalk. Astronaut Neil Armstrong, mission commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. While Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the lunar module to explore the Sea of Tranquility, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained in lunar orbit with the Command and Service Module, Columbia.
This is the actual photograph as exposed on the moon by Armstrong. He held the camera slightly rotated so that the camera frame did not include the top of Aldrin's portable life support system ("backpack").
A communications antenna mounted on top of the backpack is also cut off in this picture. When the image was released to the public, it was rotated clockwise to restore the astronaut to vertical for a more harmonious composition, and a black area was added above his head to recreate the missing black lunar "sky" (Related: Why there are no stars in space photos?). The edited version is the one most commonly reproduced and known to the public, but the original version, above, is the authentic exposure. This image was cataloged by NASA Headquarters of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: AS11-40-5903. Image: Wikipedia

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In the history of Space Exploration, numerous space missions have been undertaken to study the Moon, the Earth’s natural satellite. Here’s the list of successful moon landings (crewed and uncrewed) with dates and mission summaries.

As of March 2025, there were a total of 27 (6 crewed and 21 uncrewed) successful or partially successful moon landings. Only five countries achieved a soft lunar landing:

1. United States: 13 (6 crewed and 7 uncrewed) successful moon landings

2. Soviet Union: 8 successful uncrewed moon landings

3. China: 4 successful uncrewed moon landings

4. India: 1 uncrewed successful moon landing

5. Japan: 1 uncrewed partially successful moon landing

List of successful moon landings

Crash landings, impactors, and failed missions are not included.

1. Luna 9 [USSR, February 3, 1966, uncrewed]: The first successful moon landing

Before astronauts ever set foot on the Moon, the Soviets, and Americans both sent fleets of robotic spacecraft to scout and pave the way.

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Soviet Union’s Luna 9 was the first spacecraft to achieve a moon landing, and, in general, survivable landing on a celestial body. It was launched on January 31, 1966, successfully landed on the Moon on February 3, and remained operational for 3 days. On 6 February at 22:55 UT, the batteries ran out of power and the mission ended.

Taken by the Soviet Union’s Luna 9 spacecraft, this is the first photo ever taken from the surface of the Moon. Luna 9 was the first spacecraft to achieve a successful moon landing.

2. Surveyor 1 [NASA, June 2, 1966, uncrewed]

Surveyor 1 was the first American spacecraft to perform a successful moon landing. It was launched on May 30, 1966, and landed in Oceanus Procellarum (the largest “mare” or “sea” on the moon) on June 2.

Over a period of about 30 days, Surveyor 1 transmitted more than 11,000 photographs as well as data on the moon’s surface and temperature.

3. Luna 13 [USSR, December 24, 1966, uncrewed]

Luna 13 was launched on December 21, 1966, and performed a soft landing on the Moon in Oceanus Procellarum on December 24.

Luna 13 was almost identical to Luna 9, the spacecraft that first performed a successful moon landing, except for some structural changes made in response to the experience gained from the Luna 9 mission and the addition of some experiments.

Luna 13 not only returned 5 panoramic photos of the landscape at different sun angles but also measured the lunar soil’s physical and mechanical properties and its radiation characteristics.

One of the two cameras intended to create stereo images failed, though, but the pictures the working camera provided were good.

On December 31, a TASS (Russian News Agency) communique announced that Luna 13 had completed its mission.

4. Surveyor 3 [NASA, April 20, 1967, uncrewed]

Surveyor 3 was launched on April 17, 1967, and landed on April 20, 1967, at the Mare Cognitum portion of the Oceanus Procellarum.

The probe conducted experiments to see how the lunar surface would fare against the weight of an Apollo lunar module.

It transmitted 6,326 TV images to the Earth, including the first images to show what planet Earth looked like from the Moon’s surface.

Surveyor 3 returned the last data on May 4, 1967, at 00:04 UT. The moon probe failed to come back to life after the two-week lunar night.

On 19 November 1969, the Apollo 12 Lunar Module (LM) landed within about 180 meters (590 feet) of the Surveyor 3 spacecraft. Astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean visited the spacecraft on their second moonwalk on November 20, examining Surveyor 3 and its surroundings and taking photographs.

Astronaut Alan Bean inspects Surveyor 3: Apollo 12 astronauts examined the Surveyor 3 spacecraft which landed on the Moon on April 20, 1967, during their second extravehicular activity (EVA) on the Moon on November 20, 1969. Apollo 12 Lunar Module (LM) is in the background. Photo: NASA

The astronauts removed about 10 kg of parts from Surveyor 3, including the soil scoop and camera system, and brought them back to Earth. Scientists were then able to study the effects of years of exposure on the Moon’s surface.

The Surveyor 3 camera is now on display in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

5. Surveyor 5 [NASA, September 11, 1967, uncrewed]

Surveyor 5 was launched on September 8, 1967, and landed on the Moon on September 11, at the Mare Tranquillitatis.

It was the third spacecraft in the Surveyor series to achieve a successful moon landing.

Surveyor 5’s alpha-scattering instrument performed the first in-situ analysis of an extraterrestrial body and provided data on lunar soil composition.

Unlike Surveyor 3, Surveyor 5 survived three lunar nights: it was shut down from September 24 to October 15 over the first lunar night. On October 18, Surveyor 5 acquired thermal data during a total eclipse of the Sun. Transmissions for the second day were received until November 1, 1967, when the shutdown for the second lunar night occurred about 200 hours after sunset. Transmissions were resumed on the third and fourth lunar days, with the final transmission occurring on December 17, 1967.

Surveyor 5 transmitted a total of 19,118 photos to the Earth. Some of them were images of the spacecraft’s original landing footprint, which helped scientists determine the lunar soil’s mechanical properties.

6. Surveyor 6 [NASA, November 10, 1967, uncrewed]

Launched on November 7, 1967, NASA’s Surveyor 6 performed another successful moon landing on November 10, 1967.

It has a payload virtually identical to that of Surveyor 5. The main differences were that Surveyor 6 had polarizing filters on the TV camera, a different type of glare hood, and had 3 auxiliary mirrors instead of 2.

The spacecraft had a mass of 1006 kg (2217.85 lbs) at launch and 299.6 kg (660.5 lbs) on landing.

Surveyor 6 performed the first-ever powered takeoff from the lunar surface: on November 17, at 10:32 UT, the spacecraft fired its engines for 2.5 seconds, lifted off the lunar surface 3-4 meters (10-13 feet), and landed about 2.4 meters (8 feet) west of its original position.

This small lunar “hop” provided valuable information on the effects of firing rocket engines on the Moon to NASA scientists.

Surveyor 6 sent its last useful data to Earth on November 24. The last contact with the spacecraft was established on December 24.

Overall, Surveyor 6 transmitted 29,952 images to Earth.

7. Surveyor 7 [NASA, November 10, 1968, uncrewed]

The final Surveyor mission (the fifth to achieve a lunar soft landing), Surveyor 7 was launched on January 7, 1968, and performed a successful moon landing on January 10.

Mission objectives were:

1. Performing a lunar soft landing

2. Obtaining post-landing TV pictures

3. Determining the relative abundances of chemical elements;

4. Manipulating the lunar material

5. Obtaining touchdown dynamics data

6. Obtaining thermal and radar reflectivity data.

Surveyor 7 was the only Surveyor craft to land in the lunar highland region.

The lander operated until February 21, 1968, when the last contact occurred.

8. Apollo 11 [NASA, July 20, 1969, the first crewed landing on the Moon]

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin performed the first crewed moon landing. The third crewmember, Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit.