Landing on the moon occurs when a spacecraft touches down or enters orbit around its surface, such as Luna 2 did in 1966.
Armstrong and Aldrin used Eagle to deploy instruments that collected rock and soil samples, took pictures and verified their equipment was working as intended. The astronauts also conducted engine tests for Eagle, which created a small dust cloud but did not cause a crater formation.
Surveyor 6
On November 7, Surveyor 6 successfully landed on a flat, heavily cratered mare area near the base of a low mare wrinkle ridge and utilized its alpha-particle backscattering instrument to collect data on surface composition and radar reflectivity.
It conducted an experiment aimed at measuring engine erosion before entering hibernation for two lunar nights – returning a total of 30,396 television images during that time.
Surveyor 7
NASA completed their Surveyor spacecraft missions with this final flight carrying both the Soil Mechanics Surface Sampler and Alpha Scattering experiment.
Successfully landing on the rim of Tycho crater, after local sunset it completed post-sunset operations and hibernation for lunar night before returning communications on February 12 1968 to gather additional data during its second lunar day.
Luna 2
Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to impact the moon and was equipped with two spheres covered with Soviet pennants designed to burst upon impact.
Odysseus had to overcome numerous technical hurdles just hours before touchdown, yet NASA was still able to confirm Odysseus was upright and sending data – an event which ultimately lead to Apollo missions and was an integral component in shaping the Space Race.
Luna 3
At last, a private spacecraft developed and funded by Intuitive Machines successfully made its maiden landing on the moon! After an exciting descent, this craft made an unfailing touchdown near one of the Sea of Tranquility craters near Tranquility Bay in the Sea of Tranquility region.
Armstrong and Aldrin emerged from the Eagle and gazed out over the lifeless lunar landscape, planting their United States flag in a crater named for where they had made landfall.
Luna 4
This Soviet probe made history when it successfully conducted a hard moon landing. Attached to Luna 16’s lander that Armstrong and Aldrin used to step onto the Moon in 1969 proclaiming, ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind!
Odysseus from Intuitive Machines successfully completed its descent after postponing it by one orbit to integrate its new navigation sensor, landing near Malapert A crater with video from its EagleCam being transmitted in real-time to Earth.
Luna 5
Eagle was the first spacecraft to successfully land on the Moon, where Armstrong and Aldrin performed their famous Moonwalk.
While the lunar race of the 1960s captured global imagination, private space companies such as SpaceIL have since been competing to get their own spacecraft into lunar orbit – Odysseus being their latest effort and currently orbiting.
Luna 6
Korolev’s unmanned lunar soft lander E-6 probe made history when it made a successful lunar impact near Marius and Reiner craters of Oceanus Procellarum in Oceanus Procellarum.
Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander survived a perilous descent after suffering navigation sensor malfunction, making its historic landing the first in 50 years by any private company and marking its arrival on the moon’s far side for the first time ever.
Luna 7
Early 1960s saw successful robotic landings of uncrewed probes from both Soviet and United States spacecraft on the Moon, opening up opportunities for crewed missions in later decades.
Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended through an interconnecting tunnel from Columbia into Eagle. After landing, they planted the US flag before heading back up.
Luna 8
Soviet spacecraft were only granted public mission numbers once they left Earth orbit for the Moon; launches that failed were given an earth-orbit number such as Sputnik or Cosmos to cover up their failure.
Odysseus was equipped with cameras designed by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, as well as sensors such as seismometer and an instrument designed to measure radio signals coming from the Moon’s far side.
Luna 9
This spacecraft landed in Oceanus Procellarum and deployed a seismometer with high sensitivity designed to detect even the subtlest seismic events on the moon. Additionally, a television system provided live feed of pictures taken by its landing site.
Luna 9 can be difficult to spot in LRO images due to its small size; Plescia suggests hunters look for shadows the lander may cast during dawn and dusk images.