List of lunar probes

This is a list of robotic space probes that have flown by, impacted, orbited or landed on the Moon for the purpose of lunar exploration, as well as probes launched toward the Moon that failed to reach their target.

The crewed Apollo missions are listed at List of missions to the Moon.

Major programs encompassing several probes include:

Luna program — USSR Lunar exploration (1959–1976)
Ranger program — US Lunar hard-landing probes (1961–1965)
Zond program — USSR Lunar exploration (1964–1970)
Surveyor program — US Lunar soft-landing probe (1966–1968)
Lunar Orbiter program — US Lunar orbital (1966–1967)
Lunokhod program — USSR Lunar Rover probes (1970–1973)
Chang'e program - China Lunar orbiters, landers, rovers and sample return spacecrafts (2004-present)

Key

Colour key:

^† means "tentatively identified", as classified by NASA [1]. These are Cold War-era Soviet missions, mostly failures, about which few or no details have been officially released. The information given may be speculative.^{[needs update]}
Date is the date of:

closest encounter (flybys)
impact (impactors)
orbital insertion to end of mission, whether planned or premature (orbiters)
landing to end of mission, whether planned or premature (landers)
launch (missions that never got underway due to failure at or soon after launch)

In cases which do not fit any of the above, the event to which the date refers is stated. Note that as a result of this scheme missions are not always listed in order of launch.

In the case of flybys (such as gravity assists) that are incidental to the main mission, "success" indicates the successful completion of the flyby, not necessarily that of the main mission.

Lunar probes by date

1958–1960

1962–1965

1966–1967

1968–1970

1971–1976

1983–1998

2001–2009

2010–2019

2020–present

Future

Notes

^ "Chandrayaan-1 - ISRO". www.isro.gov.in. Archived from the original on 2019-07-08. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
^ How did Chandrayaan 2 fail? ISRO finally has the answer. Mahesh Guptan, The Week. 16 November 2019.
^ "A Chinese spacecraft is testing out a new orbit around the moon". SpaceNews. 2022-02-15. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
^ "Chang'e-5 orbiter embarks on extended mission to Sun-Earth Lagrange point". SpaceNews. 2020-12-21. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
^ "China's Chang'e-5 orbiter is heading back to the moon". SpaceNews. 2021-09-06. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
^ Figliozzi, Gianine (8 June 2022). "CAPSTONE Mission Launch No Longer Targeting June 13". NASA. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
^ "NASA Funds CubeSat Pathfinder Mission to Unique Lunar Orbit". NASA (Press release). 13 September 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
^ "Rocket Lab to Launch NASA Funded Commercial Moon Mission from New Zealand". Rocket Lab. 9 August 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
^ Wall, Mike (November 21, 2022). "NASA's Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft aces close moon flyby in crucial engine burn". Space.com. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
^ Wall, Mike (November 23, 2022). "Artemis 1 cubesat fails to fire engine as planned during moon flyby". Space.com. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
^ "LunaH-Map Mission". 3 August 2023.
^ Lockheed Martin Space [@LMSpace] (9 December 2022). "As a @LockheedMartin funded tech demo mission, LunIR's primary goal was to gain knowledge to support future exploration. While we ran into an unexpected issue with our radio signal and couldn't snap any pics of the Moon, we DID try something new, and here's what we learned" (Tweet). Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via Twitter.
^ S.Korean Spaceflight [@KOR_Spaceflight] (28 July 2022). "Danuri(KPLO) launch now scheduled for August 5th 08:08 KST, according to MSIT/KARI" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ Komiya, Kantaro; Roulette, Joey (25 April 2023). "Japan's ispace assumes failure in bid to make first commercial moon landing". Reuters – via www.reuters.com.
^ "NASA ends Lunar Flashlight mission because of thruster problems". 15 May 2023.
^ Howell, Elizabeth (February 9, 2023). "Tiny NASA moon probe can't reach lunar orbit as planned". Space.com. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
^ "JUICE – JUpiter ICy moons Explorer". European Space Agency. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
^ Zak, Anatoly (19 August 2023). "Luna-Glob mission lifts off". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
^ Jones, Andrew (19 January 2024). "Japan makes history with tense, successful moon landing". SpaceNews. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
^ Jones, Andrew (2024-01-22). "Japan's moon lander forced to power down but may yet be revived". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
^ "SLIM Project Press Kit" (PDF). JAXA.
^ 小型月着陸実証機（SLIM）および小型プローブ（LEV）の月面着陸の結果・成果等の記者会見, retrieved 2024-01-25
^ Jones, Andrew (29 January 2024). "SLIM moon lander revived after solar power setback". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
^ 小型月着陸実証機（SLIM）および小型プローブ（LEV）の月面着陸の結果・成果等の記者会見, retrieved 2024-01-25
^ 小型月着陸実証機（SLIM）および小型プローブ（LEV）の月面着陸の結果・成果等の記者会見, retrieved 2024-01-25
^ Fisher, Jackie Wattles, Kristin (2024-01-08). "Peregrine mission abandons Moon landing attempt after suffering 'critical' fuel loss". CNN. Retrieved 2024-01-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Fisher, Jackie Wattles, Kristin (2024-01-08). "Peregrine mission abandons Moon landing attempt after suffering 'critical' fuel loss". CNN. Retrieved 2024-01-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Fisher, Jackie Wattles, Kristin (2024-01-08). "Peregrine mission abandons Moon landing attempt after suffering 'critical' fuel loss". CNN. Retrieved 2024-01-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "2/3 mission plans and procedures in order to deploy its CubeSat camera system. Despite the team's strong effort, the technical complications ultimately resulted in an inability to capture images of the Odysseus lander".
^ Jones, Andrew (2024-03-14). "Surprise Chinese lunar mission hit by launch anomaly". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
^ a b "嫦娥六号探测器成功实施近月制动顺利进入环月轨道飞行" (in Simplified Chinese). 中国新闻网. 2024-05-08. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
^ "China's Moon Missions Shadow NASA Artemis's Pace - IEEE Spectrum". spectrum.ieee.org.
^ Jones, Andrew (10 January 2024). "China's Chang'e-6 probe arrives at spaceport for first-ever lunar far side sample mission". SpaceNews. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
^ a b Jones, Andrew (6 June 2024). "Chang'e-6 spacecraft dock in lunar orbit ahead of journey back to Earth". SpaceNews. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
^ Jones, Andrew (6 May 2024). "China's Chang'e-6 is carrying a surprise rover to the moon". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 8 May 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2024.