Only the seven nations have been to or orbited the moon so far as part of the successful or semi-successful mission.
Since a moon is our closest celestial neighbour, it has naturally been to the main target for many space missions completed by a few countries from around the world. The Moon exploration has to come a long way since Russia’s first lunar probe reached the Moon, or to since the first American astronaut set foot on its the surface. We are now approaching the beginning of the new era where mankind could start building a colony on the moon within a next decade.
| Country | Missions |
| USA | 32 |
| Soviet Union | 23 |
| China | 7 |
| Japan | 2 |
| Luxembourg | 1 |
| European Union | 1 |
| India | 1 |
The USA – 32 completed missions
In the United States are won the space race till now. NASA made history during the Apollo 11 mission when the first-ever man are walked on the moon in the year of 1969. The United States has only made a major contribution to human exploration of the Moon through the Apollo programme. Between the year of 1964 (Ranger 7) and 2018 (TESS flyby), 32 missions were carried out by the US nations. These of missions, 6 were the manned missions: Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 for a total of 12 astronauts who are walked on the Moon.
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The Soviet Union – 23 completed missions
In the Soviet Space Program was a first organization to have reached the moon with the Luna 2 spacecraft in the year of 1959. It was the 6th attempt by the Soviets to be impact the moon, which demonstrates to the motivation they had to achieve this a feat at the time.
in the Soviet space program are indeed a pioneer in the space exploration and many of their cosmonauts became to famous, such as Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova. In total, the USSR are carried out 23 missions to the Moon, it has to be never landed a cosmonaut on the Moon’s surface.
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China – 7 completed missions
The most tech filled Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) began in the year of 2007 with to the launch of the Chang’e 1 lunar probe. The main objective of this mission was to be create a super-accurate 3D map of the full moon. In the December 2019, China to became the third country to make a craft to the soft landing on the moon, thanks to the “Yutu” rover. In the total, China has been completed 7 lunar missions and plans to send the humans to the moon around the year of 2030. The most notable mission of the china is Chang’e 4: the rover/lander that made a historic landing on the far side of the Moon in the January 2019.
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Japan – 2 completed missions
In 1990 – Japan’s was first lunar probe was called HITEN (translate to Celestial Maiden) and was sent in the January 1990! Its mission are to deliver a little satellite called Hagoromo near the moon as well as testing different technologies designed for the lunar and a planetary exploration.
2007 – A second mission of the Japan is to the moon was completed by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in the year of 2007. A three-part the spacecraft named as SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) orbited the moon for the little more than a year of and the half while studying its origin, its surface, its geology, more and its\’ gravity.
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Luxembourg – 1 completed mission
In 2014 – The “4M mission” (Manfred Memorial Moon Mission) was the mandated by the private company LuxSpace and its primary objective was to simply perform the flyby of the moon. The spacecraft was launched in October 2014 and it was easily Done its mission\’s in about 4 days, before it sending its last transmission of the month later.
European Union – 1 completed mission
In 2003 – SMART-1 was the small probe designed and it built by the Swedish Space Corporation on behalf of the European Space Agency. The mission’s was the objective was to test a new technologies such as the solar-electric propulsion and communication techniques. After the orbiting the moon for the 3 years, the spacecraft are then crashed into the moon surface, and it ending its 3 years mission.
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India – 1 completed mission
In 2008 – Chandrayaan-1 was the very first lunar probe sent by the India back in the year of 2008. Its main goals to be were the gather more information about the moon’s geology and it\’s topography. The mission are lasted for the 10 months and it played an instrumental role in the discovery of the water molecules on the moon surface.