Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon on Saturday, two days before a planned landing attempt.

It was the latest in a series of impacts, belly flops and hard landings — some intentional, others unplanned — since 1959, when the Soviet Union’s Luna-2 became the first probe to hit the moon.

India’s Soft Landing

India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission placed a lander and rover on the moon on Wednesday, four years after the Chandrayaan-2 lander crashed during descent.

An image taken on Sunday by the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft in lunar orbit. ISRO

India is the fourth country to make a soft landing on the moon, and the first to safely touch down in the moon’s southern polar region.

A composite of images taken by Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander during descent on Wednesday. The New York Times

64 Years of Moon Crashes

Seven space programs and one private company have made hard landings on the moon: the Soviet Union, United States, Japan, European Space Agency, India, China, Israel and Ispace. Crash locations are shown on the map below.

Moon imagery from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera via NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. Some types of crashes, including used rocket engines and empty Apollo lunar modules, are not shown. Some locations are approximate, and other crash locations have not been determined.

Some crashes were setbacks. Others were intentional, marking the end of a successful mission. Whatever the cause, space agencies have learned from each collision. Crashes can reveal design flaws or software glitches, and expose material under the lunar surface for future study.

India’s Last Attempt

On Sept. 7, 2019, India’s Chandrayaan-2 lander lost communications with Earth as it descended toward a planned landing site near the moon’s south pole.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter flew over the area ten days later but was unable to locate the lander, known as Vikram.

Curtius Manzinus Moretus Chandrayaan-2 crash site Chandrayaan-3 target landing site Boguslawsky South Pole Path of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on Sept. 17, 2019 Curtius Manzinus Moretus Chandrayaan-2 crash site Chandrayaan-2 target landing site Boguslawsky South Pole Path of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on Sept. 17, 2019 Curtius Manzinus Moretus Chandrayaan-2 crash site Chandrayaan-3 target landing site Boguslawsky South Pole Path of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on Sept. 17, 2019 Curtius Manzinus Chandrayaan-2 crash site Chandrayaan-3 target landing site Path of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on Sept. 17, 2019 South Pole A map of the moon’s south polar region, showing elevation in false color. The New York Times; Map data from NASA, the Goddard Space Flight Center and Arizona State Univ.

Months later, an Indian space enthusiast spotted a bright speck in a publicly available NASA image, which turned out to be spacecraft debris from Vikram’s impact.

Vikram’s impact site 100 METERS Vikram’s impact site 100 METERS Vikram’s impact site 100 METERS Vikram’s impact site 100 METERS A composite image highlighting recent changes on the lunar surface. NASA; Goddard Space Flight Center; Arizona State Univ.

Future Missions

Japan plans to launch the SLIM mission to the moon this week, on Aug. 26. The mission would orbit the moon and attempt a landing near Shioli Crater.

An illustration of Japan’s SLIM lander. JAXA

Several companies are also competing to achieve the first private lunar landing. Japan’s Ispace launched the Hakuto-R Mission 1 spacecraft in 2022, but it crashed while landing in April.

Hakuto-R’s impact site 50 METERS Hakuto-R’s impact site 50 METERS Hakuto-R’s impact site 50 METERS Hakuto-R’s impact site 50 METERS A composite image highlighting recent changes on the lunar surface. NASA; Goddard Space Flight Center; Arizona State Univ.

Houston’s Intuitive Machines and Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology may launch lunar missions by the end of the year.

Crewed Missions

NASA has named four astronauts for the Artemis II mission that could orbit the moon in late 2024. Both NASA and China hope to land astronauts by 2030, putting humans on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan on the lunar surface, Dec. 13, 1972. NASA



