The first successful lunar attempt by the Soviets was Luna 1 which made a lunar flyby in 1959, followed by Luna 2 and 3; Luna 4 in 1962 failed and in 1965, the Soviets created the Zond program with Zond 3 reaching the dark side of the moon for the first time. This was followed by Luna 9 which soft-landed on the moon and then Luna 10 which orbited the moon numerous times. Zond 6 then followed with Luna 15 crashing on the moon. In 1970, Luna 16 landed and recovered soil samples, while Luna 17 landed and deployed Lunokhod 1, the first-ever lunar rover. In 1973, Luna 21 was deployed, then Luna 24 which returned soil samples back to Earth. The most successful was Luna 24 in 1976 which landed in the Sea of Crisis (Mare Crisium) and drilled into the lunar surface, recovering samples which were then sent back to Earth (Stroud, 188-204).
Compared to the lunar explorations by the Soviet Union, those of the United States were far more successful in many ways, especially relate to the Apollo program of the 1960's and the first manned landing on the moon in 1969. Overall, the U.S. moon program came about in five specific stages with each stage attempting to build upon the achievements of the last. These stages included the Pioneer program, designed to achieve lunar orbit or a fly-by; however, these missions failed miserably. Then there was the Ranger program, a series of nine probes with the goal being to achieve lunar impact; however, this program experienced many failures but it did lead to the beginnings of great success for the U.S. moon exploration programs that followed. The next program was called the Surveyor, made up of nine important missions with the aim being to photograph the lunar surface and return geological data and information back to Earth. Of...
unmanned programs, Surveyor was by far the most successful and fruitful. Then came the Lunar Orbiter program, composed of five probes "sent to make extensive photographic coverage of the lunar surface." This program made it possible for the next one, being the Apollo program, which successfully place the first human being on the surface of the moon.
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 with Neil Armstrong as mission commander, Michael Collins as the Command Module Pilot and Buzz Aldrin as the Lunar Module Pilot, successfully landed the Lunar Module Eagle on the moon in the Sea of Tranquillity. It was at this point that Neil Armstrong declared, once setting foot on the moon, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" (Stroud, 234). This mission was undoubtedly the greatest achievement of any space program and because of its outstanding success, it was followed by Apollo 12 in November of 1969, Apollo 13 in April of 1970, Apollo 14 in February of 1971, Apollo 15 in August of 1971, Apollo 16 in April of 1972, and lastly, Apollo 17 in December of 1972. Since the end of the Apollo program, little has been accomplished related to exploring the moon except for a few probes on photographic missions. However, the future appears to hold the possibility of man returning to the moon in order to establish a colony which might serve as a stepping stone to exploring the inner planets of our Solar System, especially Mars.
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