Lunar Landing Sites

First crewed lunar landing. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin spent 21 hours 36 minutes on the surface while Command Module Pilot Michael Collins orbited above. Single EVA of 2 hours 31 minutes. Deployed Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP). Returned 21.5 kg of lunar samples.

Precision landing 163 meters from the Surveyor 3 probe, demonstrating pinpoint landing capability. Retrieved the Surveyor camera for analysis of long-term space exposure effects. Deployed ALSEP science station. Two EVAs totaling 7 hours 45 minutes.

First J-class extended mission with the Lunar Roving Vehicle. Explored Hadley Rille — a sinuous rille 1.5 km wide — and the Apennine mountain front rising 4.5 km above the plain. Discovery of the "Genesis Rock" (anorthosite sample 15415), estimated at 4.1 billion years old. Three EVAs covering 27.9 km of rover traverse.

Final Apollo mission and last crewed lunar landing to date. Harrison Schmitt was the first and only professional geologist to walk on the Moon. Discovery of orange soil (volcanic glass beads) at Shorty Crater, indicating relatively recent volcanic activity. Longest surface stay, most samples, longest rover traverses of any Apollo mission.

First spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, and first to transmit photographic images from the lunar surface. Demonstrated that the surface could support a lander (contradicting concerns about deep dust). Operated for 3 days.

First robotic sample return mission. Drilled 35 cm into the lunar surface at Mare Fecunditatis and returned 101 grams of regolith to Earth via direct ascent trajectory. Demonstrated fully autonomous sample collection and return capability.

First-ever landing on the lunar far side. Located in Von Kármán crater within the South Pole–Aitken basin. Communication via the Queqiao relay satellite at Earth-Moon L2. Yutu-2 rover has traveled over 1.4 km and continues operating, making it the longest-functioning lunar rover.

First sample return mission since Luna 24 in 1976. Collected 1.73 kg from Mons Rümker region. Samples revealed the youngest basalts yet dated from the Moon (1.97 billion years old), significantly extending the known duration of lunar volcanism and rewriting models of the Moon's thermal evolution.

First-ever sample return from the lunar far side. Landing site in the Apollo basin within the South Pole–Aitken structure. Returned approximately 1.9 kg of material that may include deep crustal or upper mantle material excavated by the SPA impact — potentially the oldest samples ever collected from any planetary body.

India's first successful soft landing and the southernmost landing to date at 69.37°S. The Pragyan rover traversed approximately 100 meters, detecting sulfur in polar regolith for the first time using LIBS spectroscopy. Demonstrated that the south polar region is accessible to landing and surface operations.

JAXA's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon achieved precision landing within 55 meters of its target — an order of magnitude better than previous missions. Landed inverted but still operated. Deployed two mini-rovers: LEV-1 (hopping robot) and LEV-2 (Sora-Q, a transformable ball-shaped rover developed with a toy company).