Firefly Aerospace and ISpace launch moon landers 2025

Aerosopace companies Firefly and ISpace (Japan) launched their lunar probes on a SpaceX rocket, January 15, 2025.  

Firefly's Blue Ghost landed on the moon in the Mare Crisium basin, March 2, 2025. Its mission will study the moon in preparation for human exploration in the future.

Japanese country ISpace's Hakuto-R Mission 2 (Resilience) crashed onto the lunar surface on June 5, 2025.

Chang'e 3, Chinese spacecraft, lands on the moon 2013

Chang'e 3, the Chinese lunar explorer, landed on the moon, December 14, 2013. The lander is equipped with a radioisotope heater unit, a telescope to observe galaxies and other celestial bodies, an extreme ultraviolet camera, and soil probe.

Unfortunately, the rover Yutu experienced a "mechanical control abnormality" before it could leave the lander.  Although it could transmit data, it ceased to transmit in March 2015.

FireFly Aerospace's Blue Ghost has landed on the moon!

Blue Ghost Mission 1, launched January 15, 2025, landed on the moon this morning.  The robotic mission is the first commercial company, FireFly Aerospace, to successfully land on the moon.

The spacecraft landed at Mare Crisium and will study the moon's regolith, the loose, fragmented rock, and soil.  The Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) will determine how lunar regolith sticks to a range of materials exposed to the moon's environment during landing and lander operations.

The Next Generation Lunar Retroflectors (NGLR) will measure the distance between Earth and the moon precisely, using reflectors on Earth.

The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) will take images of the interaction of Earth's magnetosphere with the flow of charged particles from the sun.

The Reconfigurable, Radiation Tolerant Computer System (RadPC) will demonstrate a radiation-tolerant computing technology. 

These are among the instrumentation Blue Ghost will employ while it studies the lunar surface. 

Luna 19 launched 1971

Luna 19, launched September 28, 1971 by the Soviet Union, was sent to the moon to carry out studies of gravitational fields, the radiation environment, and solar wind. Luna 19 entered a parking orbit around Earth and headed toward the moon October 2. 

Luna 19 studied the moon until contact was lost November 1, 1972.

Luna 16, first lunar sample return mission, lands 1970

Luna 16, the first successful lunar sample return mission, landed on Earth September 24, 1970. The main spacecraft was launched September 12 and landed on the dark side of the moon. Within an hour of landing, Luna 16 deployed an automatic drill.  It reached a depth of 35 cm and withdrew about 101 grams sample of lunar soil. The upper stage lifted off from the moon on September 21 and parachuted down, successfully landing in Kazakhstan September 24, 1970.

Chandrayaan-2 launched 2019

Chandrayaan-2, launched July 22, 2019, is the second mission to the moon, developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The spacecraft launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre and reached lunar orbit on August 20, 2019.  

The Vikram lunar lander with the Pragyan rover attempted to land on the lunar surface September 6, but the lander crashed due to a software error.  The lunar orbiter continues to operate from orbit around the moon.

Chandrayaan-3 was launched in 2023 and successfully made a lunar landing.

Luna 6 launched 1965

Luna 6, launched June 8, 1965, was a Soviet spacecraft, intended to land on the moon.  The next day, Luna 6's main engine ignited for a planned mid-course correction.  However, it failed to cut off and continued to fire, until its fuel had been depleted.  Luna 6 passed by the moon on June 11 at a distance of almost 100K miles.

Luna 22 launched 1974

 

Luna 22, launched May 29, 1974, was a lunar orbiter from the Soviet Space program.  It was the second of the "advanced" lunar orbiters, the first being Luna 19.  Luna 22 entered lunar orbit on June 2 and performed without any problems.  It returned photos for fifteen months, well past its intended mission conclusion, April 1975.  

Luna 22 depleted its maneuvering propellant on September 2, and the mission formally ended in November 1975. 

I could not find any videos of Luna 22.

Luna 4 launched 1963

Luna 4, launched April 2, 1963, was the Soviet Union's first attempt at a soft landing on the moon.  Due to a malfunctioning navigation system, the spacecraft failed to perform a midcourse correction, which would have sent it toward the moon.  As a result, it missed the moon by over 5000 miles and is now in a heliocentric orbit between Earth and Mars. 

Odysseus spacecraft returns to the moon, first US lunar landing in over 50 years

Intuitive Machine's uncrewed spacecraft Odysseus landed successfully on the moon yesterday, February 22, 2024.  It is the first time a spacecraft from the US has landed on the moon since 1972, the last Apollo mission.  NASA payed Intuitive Machines, a private company,  $118M to deliver 6 instruments to the moon.  

Odysseus landed near the moon's south pole, where ice and water are present.

Elara, moon of Jupiter, discovered 1905

Elara, the 8th largest moon of Jupiter, was discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine January 5, 1905.  He made his discovery at the Lick Observatory at the University of California on Mount Hamilton, east of San Jose.

Up until 1975, Elara was known as Jupiter VII when it was given the name Elara.  In Greek mythology, Elara is a lover of Zeus (Jupiter in Roman mythology).  Zeus hid her from his jealous wife Hera by putting her deep into the Earth, where she gave birth to the giant Tityos.

NASA lists Elara on their website as having a diameter of 43 km, but a 2015 article in the Astrophysical Journal lists its diameter as around 80 km.  Don't know when that will be resolved.  Elara orbits Jupiter every 258 days.

The New Horizons spacecraft captured several images of Elara as it passed on its way to Pluto. 

Luna 16 launched 1970

Luna 16, launched by the Soviet Union September 12, 1970, was the first probe to land on the moon and then return a sample of the lunar soil to Earth.  It landed in the Sea of Fertility (Mare Fecunditatis) at night September 20, becoming the first night landing.  A drill pierced the lunar surface and obtained a sample of about 101 g.  On September 21, the upper stage blasted off from the moon and returned to Earth three days later. 

Chandrayaan-2 crashes on the moon 2019

Chandrayaan-2, Indian Space Research Oganisation (ISRO)'s second lunar mission, crashed onto the surface of the moon September 6, 2019.  It doesn't seem that the exact cause of the crash has been determined but ISRO has reported it was a software glitch.  

The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover were lost in the crash.  The orbiter continues to operate and is expected to complete its seven-year mission.

Fortunately for the ISRO, their third lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the moon August 23, 2023.

India's Chandrayaan-3 lands on the moon!

Just a few hours ago, India's Chandrayaan-3 landed on the moon near the south pole. It is the third lunar exploration untaken by the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) Chandrayaan program.  India is the first nation to successfully land a spacecraft near the south pole.

It contains a rover which will explore the lunar surface. 

Zond 4 launched 1968

Zond 4, an unmanned Soviet spacecraft, was launched March 2, 1968. It was part of the program to carry cosmonauts to the moon.  The launch was successful, but problems occurred upon re-entry when the guidance systems failed.  

The Soviets decided to initiate the self-destruct at 10-15 km altitude, to avoid the probe falling into foreign hands.

Luna 13 launched 1966

Luna 13, a Soviet spacecraft, was launched to the moon December 21, 1966.  It became the third spacecraft to successfully land on the moon.  The first was Luna 9 in February 1966. The second was NASA's Surveyor 1 in May 1966.

It landed on December 24 in the Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum) between the Krafft and Seleucus craters.  Luna 13 took 5 panorama pictures, each taking 100 minutes to transmit.  

Contact was lost December 28 when the batteries were depleted.

Luna 8 launched 1965

 

Luna 8, launched December 3, 1965, was the Soviet Union's eleventh attempt to achieve a soft landing on the moon.  For three days, Luna 8 performed satisfactorily and seemed that it would succeed.  Prior to landing, a command ordered the cushioning air bags around the landing probe to inflate.  A plastic mounting bracket apparently pierced one of the two air bags, causing the spacecraft to spin.  A retrorocket firing nine seconds long, managed to help stabilize Luna 8 but it did not have enough retrorocket burn to reduce its velocity.

Luna 8 crashed onto the moon's surface December 6 on the west side of Oceanus Procellarum.  

China launches Chang'e 5 to the moon 2020

After three years of delays from the original launch schedule, China successfully launched Chang'e 5 November 23, 2020 (UTC).  On November 28, it arrived at the moon and the Lander/Ascender separated from the Orbiter/Returner, landing December 1, near the volcanic complex Mons Rumker in the Northern Oceanus Procellarum..  It took samples of the lunar soil

The Ascender lifted from the lunar surface December 3 and docked with the Orbiter/Returner on December 5, transferring the samples to the return capsule.  The Ascender crashed back onto the moon, and the Orbiter/Returner returned to Earth December 16.

China is the third country to send a spacecraft to the moon and return with samples.

Luna 17 launched 1970

Luna 17, launched November 10, 1970, delivered Lunokhod 1, the first robotic rover to the moon.  The spacecraft reached the moon November 15 and landed on Nov 17.  Lunokhod 1 had eight wheels that could be controlled independently and could travel up to 100 m/hr or about 0.062 mph.  

During its mission, it traveled 10.5 km, returned over 20,000 images, and performed 25 soil samples.  The last communication with Lunokhod 1 occurred on September 14, 1971.  On October 4, attempts to reestablish contact ceased.

Lunar Orbiter 1 crashes onto the moon 1966

Lunar Orbiter 1, launched in August 1966, impacted the moon after a successful mission, on October 29, 1966.  It reached lunar orbit on August 14 and took pictures of the surface to look for safe landing sites for future moon missions.  It photographed over 5 million square kilometers, through September 14. 

It finally impacted the lunar surface October 29.