Scroll down to view all space missions that took place between 1965 and 1969 or select another time period from the table below.
| 1955 - 1959 | 1960 - 1964 | 1965 - 1969 | 1970 - 1974 | 1975 - 1979 | 1980 - 1984 |
| 1985 - 1989 | 1990 - 1994 | 1995 - 1999 | 2000 - 2004 | 2005 - PRESENT | FUTURE |
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As the end of the 1960s approached, America was getting ever closer to its aim to land a man on the Moon. The Soviet Union was still a threat, but in July 1969 the USA achieved its target and Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the surface of the Moon. Both countries also continued to send unmanned spacecraft to Earth's neighbouring planets, Venus and Mars. |
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| LAUNCH DATE | NAME | DESTINATION | COUNTRY | MISSION DETAILS | MAIN ACHIEVEMENT | CURRENT STATUS | |
| 17th February 1965 | Ranger 8 | Moon (lander) | USA |
Like its predecessors, Ranger 6 and 7, Ranger 8 was equipped with 6 television cameras to send back images of the Moon before crashing into its surface. For 23 minutes before hitting the Moon, Ranger 8 sent back 7,137 images of the surface of the Moon. It impacted the Moon on 20th February 1965. | . | Ranger 8 now lies inactive on the Moon in Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquillity) at 2.67° N, 24.65° E. | |
| 18th March 1965 | Voskhod 2 | Earth (manned orbiter) | USSR |
Two Soviet cosmonauts (Pavel I. Belyayeu and Alexei A. Leonov) were taken into Earth orbit. While in orbit, Leonov left the space craft (maybe Belyayeu wasn't very good company) and made the first space walk. He remained attached to the spacecraft so that he wouldn't float away. This first space walk lasted 12 minutes. | First space walk | Voskhod 2 returned to Earth after 1 day, 2 hours and 2 minutes. | |
| 21st March 1965 | Ranger 9 | Moon (lander) | USA |
Like Ranger 6, 7 and 8, Ranger 9 was sent to the Moon to send back images of its surface using 6 television cameras before impacting it. For 19 minutes before impact, Ranger 9 sent back 5,814 images. | Live television images of Ranger 9's descent and impact were shown across America. | Ranger 9 now lies inactive on the Moon in the crater Alphonsus at coordinates 12.83° S, 357.63° E. | |
| 9th May 1965 | Luna 5 (Lunik 5) | Moon (lander) | USSR |
Thought to be an attempt at a soft landing on the Moon to enable tests to be carried out from the lunar surface. The spacecraft went out of control on it way to the Moon and crashed into the Moon on 12th May 1965. | Second soviet craft to land on the Moon. | Luna 5 now lies inactive at coordinates 31° south, 8° west. | |
| 8th June 1965 | Luna 6 (Lunik 6) | Moon (lander) | USSR |
Another Soviet attempt at a soft landing on the surface of the Moon, this space craft missed its target completely! The space craft was sent on the wrong trajectory, the closest it got to the Moon as it flew past it was 159,612 km. | . | Although the craft failed to land on the Moon, all instruments on Luna 6 performed well. Communication with Earth was maintained up to a distance of 600,000 km from the planet. Luna 6 is now inactive in orbit around the Sun. | |
| 18th July 1965 | Zond 3 | Moon (flyby) | USSR |
Thought to be a twin mission with Zond 2 to go to Mars, the launch window to send Zond 3 to the red planet was missed, so it was sent to the Moon instead. It was a flyby mission and sent back high quality images of the Moon. Its closest approach to the Moon was 9,200 km. Communications with the craft were still possible at 31,500,000 km from Earth, the same distance as Mars is from Earth, proving the craft's capability for long-distance communication. | First successful Zond mission. | Zond 3 is now inactive in orbit around the Sun. | |
| 4th October 1965 | Luna 7 (Lunik 7) | Moon (lander) | USSR |
Soviet attempt at a soft landing on the Moon. On its approach to the Moon, control over the spacecraft's descent was lost and the craft ending up crashing into the surface (although not far from where it was actually meant to land). | . | Luna 7 lies inactive at 9° north, 49° west, west of the Kepler crater. | |
| 12th November 1965 | Venera 2 (Venus 2) | Venus (flyby) | USSR |
Soviet flyby attempt of Venus. Onboard systems failed so no communication to Earth was possible. Venera 2 came within 24,000 km of Venus. | . | Now in orbit around the Sun. | |
| 16th November 1965 | Venera 3 (Venus 3) | Venus (lander) | USSR |
Soviet attempt to land a spacecraft on Venus. On board systems failed before the space craft reached its destination so no communication with Earth could be made, although Venera 3 did successfully crash land on Venus on 1st March 1966. | First manmade object to land on another planet's surface. | The inactive Venera 3 now rests on the surface of Venus, possibly around coordinates -20º to 20º N, 60º to 80º E | |
| 3rd December 1965 | Luna 8 (Lunik 8) | Moon (lander) | USSR |
Another Soviet attempt to land softly on the Moon. Luna 8 very nearly made it but when trying to inflate the airbags to cushion the landing, it became clear that something had pierced one of the two airbags. This caused the craft to spin and to crash on the Moon's surface on 6th December. | . | Luna 8 lies inactive at 9.8° N, 63.18° W, west of the Kepler crater. | |
| 31st January 1966 | Luna 9 (Lunik 9) | Moon (lander) | USSR |
After many attempts, Luna 9 became the first craft to complete a soft landing on the surface of the Moon. Luna 9 landed on 3rd February 1966 and transmitted radio and visual signals back to Earth. The first images from the surface of the Moon were received by Jodrell Bank Observatory in the United Kingdom and published internationally. The landing was also significant in that it proved that an object landing on the Moon wouldn't sink into the lunar dust. | First soft landing on the Moon. A major space first for the Soviet Union in the Space Race with the United States. | Last communication from Luna 9 was on 6th February 1966. The craft now lies inactive at 7.13° N, 64.37° W in the Ocean of Storms. | |
| 31st March 1966 | Luna 10 (Lunik 10) | Moon (orbiter) | USSR |
Luna 10 became the first artificial satellite of the Moon (or any other celestial body). It entered lunar orbit on 3rd April 1966 and 3 hours later completed its first orbit. Luna 10 conducted many experiments while in orbit and was also able to play music! It played a song called the Internationale to a meeting of the Communist Party on 4th April. The version that people at the meeting heard was actually a recording of a rehearsal from the previous day since the craft was unable to play one of the notes for what should have been the live performance! They were still led to believe it was a live performance from space! | First artificial satellite of the Moon. | After completing 460 orbits, communications ended on 30th May 1966. It is likely that Luna 10 has dropped out of orbit at some point although nobody is sure of when and where on the Moon it would have landed. | |
| 30th April 1966 | Surveyor 1 | Moon (lander) | USA |
First American attempt to complete a soft landing on the surface of the Moon in preparation for later manned landings on the Moon. Surveyor 1 successfully landed on the Moon on 2nd June 1966 and sent back images of the landscape back to Earth. | First American soft landing on the Moon. Unlike the Soviets, the Americans succeeded on their first attempt. | The final images from Surveyor 1 were sent back to Earth on 14th July 1966. The craft now lies inactive at 2.45 S, 43.22 W | |
| 10th August 1966 | Lunar Orbiter 1 | Moon (orbiter) | USA |
Before sending a man to the Moon, NASA had to decide where to land him. Lunar Orbiter 1 was the first of a series of missions to map the surface of the Moon and find ideal landing sites. It would also obtain information about other hazards like radiation and impacts from small meteorites. Lunar Orbiter 1 entered orbit around the Moon on 14th August 1966 and sent 229 images of the Moon back to Earth from 18th August to 29th August. It also observed that the Moon was slightly pear-shaped and sent back the first images of Earth from the distance of the Moon. No micrometeorites were detected to have hit the space craft. | Sent back the first images of Earth from the distance of the Moon. | Communications with Lunar Orbiter 1 continued up to 20th October 1966 when it was dropped out of orbit and impacted the Moon. In now lies inactive at 7º N, 161º E. | |
| 24th August 1966 | Luna 11 (Lunik 11) | Moon (orbiter) | USSR |
Orbiter sent to the Moon to take images of the surface of the Moon, fuelling rumours that the Soviet Union, like the USA, were looking for landing sites for a manned lunar mission (Luna 11 launched only two weeks after America's Lunar Orbiter 1). The craft entered orbit around the Moon, but its TV camera failed to send back any useful images as it was pointed the wrong way! It did provide scientific data and information about whether there were small meteorites in the vicinity of the Moon which could cause a risk to any manned mission to the Moon. | . | Communications with Luna 11 ended on 1st October 1966. By that time the craft had completed 277 orbits of the Moon. | |
| 20th September 1966 | Surveyor 2 | Moon (lander) | USA |
Surveyor 2 was sent to the Moon to complete a soft landing on the surface in preparation for later manned lunar landings. A thruster failed to ignite for a mid-course correction on its way to the Moon, causing the craft to start spinning. Scientists were unable to restart the engine to stabilise the craft and it eventually crashed into the Moon. | . | Surveyor 2 crashed into the Moon on 23rd September 1966. It now lies inactive at 5º30' N 12º W. | |
| 22nd October 1966 | Luna 12 (Lunik 12) | Moon (orbiter) | USSR |
Orbiter sent to the Moon to take photographs of its surface. It entered lunar orbit on 25th October 1966 and started sending back images from 27th October 1966. These first images were released to Soviet newspapers on 29th October and made available to the public. For some reason, no further images were published. | . | Contact with Luna 12 ended on 19th January 1967. The craft's current location is unknown. | |
| 6th November 1966 | Lunar Orbiter 2 | Moon (orbiter) | USA |
Orbiter sent to the Moon to image the surface for potential landing sites and record data about radiation and micrometeorite impacts. It successfully sent back 817 photographs of the Moon and recorded three micrometeorite impacts. | . | Communications continued until the craft impacted the Moon as scheduled on 11th October 1967. It now lies inactive at 3.0º N, 119.1º E. | |
| 21st December 1966 | Luna 13 (Lunik 13) | Moon (lander) | USSR |
Luna 13 was sent to the Moon to complete a soft landing on its surface. It landed on 24th December 1966 and sent back 5 panoramic views of the lunar landscape. The craft also carried equipment to measure the strength of the surface of the Moon to find out how easy it would be to penetrate the surface. It also measured the temperature and radiation levels at the Moon's surface to establish whether they would be hazardous to humans. | . | Communications ended on 28th December 1966 when the batteries ran out. Luna 13 is now inactive at 18º52' N, 62º3' W in the Ocean of Storms. | |
| 5th February 1967 | Lunar Orbiter 3 | Moon (orbiter) | USA |
Orbiter sent to analyse data for future manned missions to the Moon. It took pictures of the Moon's surface to locate potential landing sites, measured radiation levels, the presence of micrometeorites around the Moon and other information about the Moon. It sent back 626 images of the Moon including images of Surveyor 1's landing site. | Obtained the first image of a previously-launched spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. | Communications continued with Lunar Orbiter 3 until 9th October when it was commanded to impact the Moon. It now lies inactive at 14.3º N, 97.7º W. | |
| 17th April 1967 | Surveyor 3 | Moon (lander) | USA |
Surveyor 3 completed a soft landing on the surface of the Moon on 20th April 1967. As well as sending back over 6,000 images, it was also equipped with instruments to dig small trenches and collect soil samples. The lander was switched off when night fell at Surveyor's location on the Moon on 3rd May 1967. A lunar night lasts 14 days, and the craft was due to be switched back on when it started receiving sunlight again but it could not be reactivated. Surveyor 3's landing site was chosen for the Apollo 12 mission. Apollo 12 astronauts landed close enough to be able to walk to Surveyor 3 and took parts of the craft with them to return them to Earth to observe the effects of long term exposure of manmade objects on the surface of the Moon. | Bacteria unintentially taken onboard Surveyor 3 survived for two and a half years on the craft's camera before being returned to Earth by Apollo 12 astronauts. Surveyor 3 became the first spacecraft to be visited by humans at its landing site. | Communications with Surveyor 3 ended when the craft was switched off on 3rd May 1967 and could not be reactivated 14 days later. It now lies inactive at 2.94º S, 336.66º E. 10kg of parts from the craft were brought back to Earth by Apollo 12 astronauts, including the camera which is now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. | |
| 4th May 1967 | Lunar Orbiter 4 | Moon (orbiter) | USA |
Orbiter sent to take photographs of and obtain data about the Moon while in lunar orbit in preparation for later manned missions. It sent back 546 images of the Moon from 11th May to 26th May. | . | Communications ended when Lunar Orbiter 4 dropped out its orbit to impact the Moon on 31st October 1967. | |
| 12th June 1967 | Venera 4 (Venus 4) | Venus (lander) | USSR |
Soviet mission to land a space probe on Venus. The mission lasted longer than previous missions, sending back information while descending through the planet's clouds and atmosphere on 18th October 1967. However, it stopped communicating when it was about 24 kilometres from the surface, most likely due to the intense heat and pressure of Venus. | First mission to send back information about Venus from inside its atmosphere and clouds. | The inactive Venera 4 probe now rests on the surface of Venus at coordinates latitude 19° N, longitude 38° E. | |
| 14th June 1967 | Mariner 5 | Venus (flyby) | USA |
Completed a fly by of Venus on 19th October 1967, confirming presence of Carbon Dioxide in the planet's atmosphere. | . | Mariner 5 stopped operating in November 1967, is now in orbit around the Sun. | |
| 14th July 1967 | Surveyor 4 | Moon (lander) | USA |
Surveyor 4 was sent to the Moon to complete a soft landing on its surface. After a completely successful trip to the Moon, two and a half minutes before landing, communications were lost. The craft may have exploded at that point, with its remnants hitting the Moon on 17th July 1967. | . | Communication was lost, possibly due to an explosion, 2.5 minutes before landing. Surveyor 4 now lies inactive at 0.45º N, -1.39 W. | |
| 19th July 1967 | Explorer 35 | Moon (orbiter) | USA |
Explorer 35 was placed into an orbit of the Moon to conduct experiments of interplanetary space from the distance of the Moon. The craft's different instruments operated for varying lengths of time until the whole craft was switched off in 1973. | . | Communications ended when the craft was switched off on 24th June 1973 while still in lunar orbit. | |
| 1st August 1967 | Lunar Orbiter 5 | Moon (orbiter) | USA |
Lunar Orbiter 5 was sent to the Moon to send back images and data primarily in preparation for future manned missions to the Moon. As the final Lunar Orbiter mission, it sent back 844 images of the Moon. Over the five Lunar Orbiter missions, 99% of the Moon's surface was mapped. | . | Communications ended when the craft was commanded to impact the Moon on 31st January 1968 at 2.79º S, -83º W. | |
| 8th September 1967 | Surveyor 5 | Moon (lander) | USA |
Lander sent to the Moon to obtain images and conduct experiments at surface level. Over 19,000 images were sent back with experiments confirming lunar surface soil was made of basaltic rock. The craft was deactivated on three separate occasions when it entered darkness during lunar night (which lasts 14 days). It was reactivated successfully each time although image quality was poor after the first lunar night. | Apollo 11 astronauts landed in walking distance of Surveyor 5 but didn't visit the craft. | The final transmission with Surveyor 5 took place on 17th December 1967. Surveyor 5 now lies inactive at 1.41º N, 23.18º E. | |
| 7th November 1967 | Surveyor 6 | Moon (lander) | USA |
Almost identical to Surveyor 5 launched two months earlier, Surveyor 6 completed a soft landing on the Moon on 10th November, sent back images (over 30,000) and conducted experiments. Unlike Surveyor 5, it was also programmed to "hop". The thrust caused the craft to lift 4 metres off the surface of the Moon and travelled 2.5 metres. After landing, the craft still functioned. | First lift-off from the Moon. | Last contact with Surveyor 6 was on 14th December 1967. The craft now lies inactive at 0.49° N, 1.40° W in Sinus Medii. | |
| 7th January 1968 | Surveyor 7 | Moon (lander) | USA |
Final mission of the 7 Surveyor missions and the fifth to land successfully on the Moon. Surveyor landed near the crater Tycho on 10th January 1968 (Tycho is actually visible from Earth with the naked eye). The craft sent back 21,091 images and conducted several experiments on the Moon. The craft was switched off for 14 days from 26th January during a lunar night, and reactivated on 12th February. Contact ended on 20th February. | . | Contact with Surveyor 7 ended on 20th February 1968. The craft now lies inactive near the Tycho crater at 41.01° S, 348.59° E. | |
| 7th April 1968 | Luna 14 (Lunik 14) | Moon (orbiter) | USSR |
Entered orbit around the Moon and provided scientific information about the mass of the Moon (and how it interacts with Earth), the Moon's gravity, and how radio communications could be maintained if the craft was put into different positions. The craft also recorded information about cosmic rays and particles from the Sun. | Final flight of the second generation of the Luna series of craft. | No information is available about the end of the mission and Luna 14's current location. | |
| 14th September 1968 | Zond 5 | Moon (flyby with return to Earth) | USSR |
Zond 5 completed a trip around the Moon and back to Earth. Taken onboard were living matter including turtles, wine flies, meal worms, plants, seeds and bacteria. The craft completed a flyby of the Moon and took some high quality images before returning to Earth. It splashed down on 21st September 1968. The turtles onboard were still alive. They had lost about 10% of their body weight but showed no loss of appetite. The success of this mission caused NASA to schedule Apollo 8 as a manned mission to orbit the Moon as they thought that's what the Soviet Union would do next (Apollo 8 was originally planned as an manned Earth-orbital mission). | First craft to fly to the Moon, around it and back to Earth. First living beings to be taken around the Moon. | Splashdown was at on 21st September 1968 in the Indian Ocean. | |
| 10th November 1968 | Zond 6 | Moon (flyby with return to Earth) | USSR |
The follow-up mission to Zond 5, Zond 6 was also sent to orbit the Moon and return to Earth. Like Zond 5, it also contained a biological payload. The craft successfully orbited the Moon on 14th November, but on its return to Earth, a fault cause the cabin to lose pressure, killing all living matter onboard. The parachutes were also deployed too early and the craft crashed in the Soviet Union. This failure (although the Soviet Union still claimed it to be a successful mission) meant that any manned Soviet flight would be delayed, giving the USA the chance to send men to the Moon first. | Had Zond 6 been successful, it is likely that a Soviet manned launch to orbit the Moon would have taken place before the end of the year. | Zond 6 crashed in the Soviet Union on 16th November 1968. | |
| 21st December 1968 | Apollo 8 | Moon (manned orbiter) | USA |
First manned mission to orbit the Moon and a major step in America's objective to land a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders were launched from Earth using a Saturn V rocket (the most powerful rocket in existence at the time) and entered orbit around the Moon on 24th December. As the craft went behind the Moon, communications were lost with Earth (as expected) but successfully regained when Earth came back into view. During their 20 hour orbit of the Moon, the astronauts read a passage from the Bible and wished the people of Earth a happy Christmas! Apollo 8 returned to Earth on 27th December. | Astronauts on board Apollo 8 became the first humans to orbit the Moon. | Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 27th December. The Apollo 8 command module, some personal items and Frank Borman's spacesuit are now on display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Jim Lovell's spacesuit is on display at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Jim Lovell later flew on Apollo 13. | |
| 5th January 1969 | Venera 5 (Venus 5) | Venus (lander) | USSR |
Venera 5 had a similar design to the earlier Venera 4. Like Venera 4, on 16th May 1969, it sent back information about Venus' atmosphere as the probe descended through the atmosphere, but stopped working before impacting the surface. | . | The inactive Venera 5 probe now rests on the surface of Venus at coordinates 3° S, 18° E. | |
| 10th January 1969 | Venera 6 (Venus 6) | Venus (lander) | USSR |
Almost identical to Venera 5, the probe descending through Venus' clouds and atmosphere on 17th May 1969 and sent back information. It stopped transmitting before reaching the planet's surface, most probably "crushed" by Venus' atmospheric pressure. | . | The inactive Venera 6 now rests on the surface of Venus. Coordinates of landing location is 5° S, 23° E. | |
| 24th February 1969 | Mariner 6 | Mars (flyby) | USA |
Twinned with Mariner 7, Mariner 6 was a flyby mission of Mars. It successfully reached the planet and with Mariner 7 mapped 20% of the planet's surface, although missed its famous volcanoes and canyon. It disappointingly revealed a cratered surface like the Moon's. | . | Now inactive in orbit around the Sun. | |
| 27th March 1969 | Mariner 7 | Mars (flyby) | USA |
Twinned with Mariner 6. Mariner 7 suffered an explosion during its mission but successfully sent back more information than Mariner 6. Mariner 6 and 7's closest approaches to Mars were on 5th August 1969 at a distance of 2130 miles. | . | Now inactive in orbit around the Sun. | |
| 27th March 1969 | Mars 1969A | Mars (flyby) | USSR |
Soviet orbiter intended to film the surface of Mars and send the encoded images back to Earth for television transmission. Exploded about seven minutes of launch. Soviets had to watch something else on TV instead! | This mission and Mars 1969B were never officially announced by the Soviet government. | Debris from the explosion was strewn over the Altai mountains | |
| 2nd April 1969 | Mars 1969B | Mars (flyby) | USSR |
Twin mission of Mars 1969A, failed to launch correctly (went sideways instead of up!) and crashed 3km away from take off after about 41 seconds. | . | Launch Failure | |
| 18th May 1969 | Apollo 10 | Moon (manned orbiter) | USA |
Second manned mission to orbit the Moon and a "dress rehearsal" for a real Moon landing. Astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan orbited the Moon on 22nd May. They returned to Earth on 26th May 1969. | The Lunar Module was detached from the Command Module during this mission, taking humans to the closest point to the Moon's surface to that date. | Apollo 10 splashed down on 26th May 1969. The Command Module is now on display in London's Science Museum. The Lunar Module remains in space. Only Eugene Cernan went back to the Moon on a later mission (Apollo 17), being the last person to this date to walk on the Moon's surface. | |
| 13th July 1969 | Luna 15 | Moon (lander, attempted sample return) | USSR |
Having given up with their aim of taking a man to the Moon, the Soviet Union sent the unmanned Luna 15 probe to the Moon. NASA's Apollo 11 was due to launch 3 days later. The Soviets wanted to steal some of Apollo 11's glory by sending Luna 15 to the Moon to collect a sample of rock and soil and return in to Earth before the American astronauts returned with samples that they had collected. On 21st July, after astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had taken their first steps on the Moon as part of their Apollo 11 mission, Luna 15 was about to land on the Moon. At about 3 kilometres above the surface of the Moon, transmissions stopped and Luna 15's mission ended. It is thought that the craft crashed into the side of a mountain. | First attempt to return soil from the Moon back to Earth. | Luna 15 crashed on 21st July 1969 in Mare Crisium (the "sea of crisis") at coordinates 17° N, 60° E. | |
| 16th July 1969 | Apollo 11 | Moon (manned orbiter and lander) | USA |
Perhaps the most famous mission in the history of space exploration, Apollo 11 sent the first humans to the surface of the Moon. Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins set off for the Moon on 16th July 1969. They entered orbit on 20th July and Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface in the Lunar Module, landing in the Sea of Tranquillity. Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the Moon, images of which were shown live around Earth. Buzz Aldrin followed shortly afterwards. After about two and a half hours walking on the Moon, and a rest of seven hours in the Lunar Module, Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the Command Module for the flight back to Earth. They splashed down on 24th July 1969. | First manned lunar landing. | Apollo 11 splashed down on 24th July 1969. The Command Module (Columbia) is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. The Lunar Module (Eagle) was jettisoned and is thought to have fell back to the surface of the Moon. 21.5 kg of samples of the Lunar soil were brought to Earth. | |
| 8th August 1969 | Zond 7 | Moon (flyby) | USSR |
Zond 7 was an unmanned flyby mission of the Moon. It was sent to take colour images of the Moon and Earth during its journey. It flew past the Moon on 11th August and returned to Earth, completing a soft landing on the surface, on 14th August 1969. | First craft to fly to the Moon, return to Earth and complete a soft-landing on Earth's surface (most other craft splashed down in the sea to be recovered). | Zond 7 returned to Earth on 14th August 1969, landing south of Kustania in Kazakhstan. | |
| 14th November 1969 | Apollo 12 | Moon (manned orbiter and lander) | USA |
Second manned lunar landing. Astronauts Pete Conrad, Alan Bean and Richard Gordon were sent to the Moon with Conrad and Bean being the astronauts lucky enough to walk on the Moon. They landed close enough to Surveyor 3, a space craft that had landed on the Moon over two years earlier, in the Ocean of Storms. | First mission to recover parts of a space craft from the Moon from an earlier mission. | Apollo 12 splashed down on 24th November 1969. Its Command Module (Yankee Clipper) is on display at Virginia Air and Space Center. | |
| 1955 - 1959 | 1960 - 1964 | 1965 - 1969 | 1970 - 1974 | 1975 - 1979 | 1980 - 1984 |
| 1985 - 1989 | 1990 - 1994 | 1995 - 1999 | 2000 - 2004 | 2005 - PRESENT | FUTURE |
