Editing Moon (section)

==History of exploration and human presence==
{{anchor |Exploration}}

{{Main|Exploration of the Moon|List of spacecraft that orbited the Moon|List of missions to the Moon|List of lunar probes}}

===Pre-telescopic observation (before 1609)===
It is believed by some that the oldest [[cave painting]]s from up to 40,000 [[Before present|BP]] of bulls and geometric shapes,<ref name="e093">{{cite web |last=Boyle |first=Rebecca |title=Ancient humans used the moon as a calendar in the sky |website=Science News |date=July 9, 2019 |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moon-time-calendar-ancient-human-art |access-date=May 26, 2024 |archive-date=November 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104145754/https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moon-time-calendar-ancient-human-art |url-status=live}}</ref> or 20–30,000 year old [[tally stick]]s were used to observe the phases of the Moon, keeping time using the waxing and waning of [[Lunar phases|the Moon's phases]].<ref name=Burton2011/>
Aspects of the Moon were identified and aggregated in [[lunar deities]] from [[prehistoric times]] and were eventually documented and put into symbols from the very first instances of [[writing]] in the [[4th millennium BC]]. One of the earliest-discovered possible depictions of the Moon is a 3,000 BCE rock carving ''Orthostat 47'' at [[Knowth]], Ireland.<ref name="Knowth">{{cite web |url=https://www.knowth.com/lunar-maps.htm |title=Lunar maps |access-date=September 18, 2019 |archive-date=June 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601184833/https://www.knowth.com/lunar-maps.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="spacetoday">{{cite web |url=http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Earth/OldStarCharts.html |title=Carved and Drawn Prehistoric Maps of the Cosmos |publisher=Space Today |date=2006 |access-date=April 12, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305162253/http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Earth/OldStarCharts.html |archive-date=March 5, 2012}}</ref> The [[#Crescent|crescent]] depicting the Moon as with the lunar deity [[Sin (mythology)|Nanna/Sin]] have been found from the 3rd millennium BCE.<ref name=BlackGreen1992/>

The oldest named astronomer and poet [[Enheduanna]], [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] high priestess to the lunar deity Nanna/Sin and pricess, daughter of [[Sargon the Great]] ({{circa|2334}} &ndash; {{circa|2279}} BCE), had the Moon tracked in her chambers.<ref name="c099">{{cite magazine | last=Winkler | first=Elizabeth | title=The Struggle to Unearth the World's First Author | magazine=The New Yorker | date=2022-11-19 | url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-struggle-to-unearth-the-worlds-first-author | access-date=2025-02-10}}</ref> The oldest found and identified depiction of the Moon in an astronomical relation to other astronomical features is the [[Nebra sky disc]] from {{circa|1800–1600 BCE}}, depicting features like the [[Pleiades]] next to the Moon.<ref name="g361">{{cite web |title=Nebra Sky Disc |website=State Museum of Prehistory |url=https://www.landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de/en/nebra-sky-disc |access-date=27 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="k874">{{cite web |last=Simonova |first=Michaela |title=Under the Moonlight: Depictions of the Moon in Art |website=TheCollector |date=January 2, 2022 |url=https://www.thecollector.com/depictions-of-the-moon-in-art/ |access-date=May 26, 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Nebra solstice 2.jpg|thumb|The [[Nebra sky disc]] ({{circa|1800–1600 BCE}}), found near a possibly [[astronomical complex]], most likely depicting the Sun or full Moon, the Moon as a crescent, the [[Pleiades]] and the summer and winter solstices as strips of gold on the side of the disc,<ref name="Meller 2021">{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/80363367 |title=Time is power. Who makes time?: 13th Archaeological Conference of Central Germany |chapter=The Nebra Sky Disc – astronomy and time determination as a source of power |last=Meller |first=Harald |date=2021 |publisher=Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale). |isbn=978-3-948618-22-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dlijsmVJ9c&t=760s |title=Concepts of cosmos in the world of Stonehenge |website=British Museum |date=2022}}</ref> with the top representing the [[horizon]]<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last1=Bohan |first1=Elise |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/940282526 |title=Big History |last2=Dinwiddie |first2=Robert |last3=Challoner |first3=Jack |last4=Stuart |first4=Colin |last5=Harvey |first5=Derek |last6=Wragg-Sykes |first6=Rebecca |last7=Chrisp |first7=Peter |last8=Hubbard |first8=Ben |last9=Parker |first9=Phillip |collaboration=Writers |date=February 2016 |publisher=[[DK (publisher)|DK]] |others=Foreword by [[David Christian (historian)|David Christian]] |isbn=978-1-4654-5443-0 |edition=1st American |location=[[New York City|New York]] |page=20 |oclc=940282526}}</ref> and [[north]].]]

The [[ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] philosopher [[Anaxagoras]] ({{died-in|428 BC}}) reasoned that the Sun and Moon were both giant spherical rocks, and that the latter reflected the light of the former.<ref>{{cite web |last=O'Connor |first=J.J. |author2=Robertson, E.F. |date=February 1999 |url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Anaxagoras.html |title=Anaxagoras of Clazomenae |publisher=[[University of St Andrews]] |access-date=April 12, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112072236/http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Anaxagoras.html |archive-date=January 12, 2012}}</ref><ref name=Needham1986/>{{rp|page=227}} Elsewhere in the {{nowrap|5th century BC}} to {{nowrap|4th century BC}}, [[Babylonian astronomers]] had recorded the 18-year [[Saros cycle]] of [[lunar eclipse]]s,<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/1006543 |title=Saros Cycle Dates and Related Babylonian Astronomical Texts |first1=A. |last1=Aaboe |first2=J.P. |last2=Britton |first3=J.A. |last3=Henderson |first4=Otto |last4=Neugebauer |author-link4=Otto Neugebauer |first5=A.J. |last5=Sachs |journal=[[Transactions of the American Philosophical Society]] |volume=81 |issue=6 |pages=1–75 |date=1991 |quote=One comprises what we have called "Saros Cycle Texts", which give the months of eclipse possibilities arranged in consistent cycles of 223&nbsp;months (or 18&nbsp;years). |jstor=1006543}}</ref> <!--The texts discussed in that article are more recent than 490 BC and, as mentioned in the paper, the observations can have occurred no earlier than that. The earliest reference for the Metonic cycle in Neugubauer's (1957) ''The Exact Sciences in Antiquity'' is 380 BC (p. 140).--> and [[Indian astronomy|Indian astronomers]] had described the Moon's monthly elongation.<ref name="Sarma-Ast-Ind" /> The [[Chinese astronomer]] [[Shi Shen]] {{nowrap|([[fl.]] 4th century BC)}} gave instructions for predicting solar and lunar eclipses.<ref name=Needham1986/>{{rp|page=411}}

In [[Aristotle]]'s (384–322&nbsp;BC) [[On the Heavens|description of the universe]], the Moon marked the boundary between the spheres of the mutable elements (earth, water, air and fire), and the imperishable stars of [[aether (classical element)|aether]], an [[Aristotelian physics|influential philosophy]] that would dominate for centuries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=C.S. |author-link=C. S. Lewis |title=The Discarded Image |url=https://archive.org/details/discardedimagein0000lewi |url-access=registration |date=1964 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-47735-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/discardedimagein0000lewi/page/108 108] |access-date=November 11, 2019 |archive-date=June 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617181455/https://archive.org/details/discardedimagein0000lewi |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Archimedes]] (287–212 BC) designed a planetarium that could calculate the motions of the Moon and other objects in the Solar System.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/science/31computer.html?hp |work=The New York Times |title=Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C. |date=July 31, 2008 |access-date=March 9, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204053238/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/science/31computer.html?hp |archive-date=December 4, 2013}}</ref> In the {{nowrap |2nd century BC}}, [[Seleucus of Seleucia]] correctly thought that [[tide]]s were due to the attraction of the Moon, and that their height depends on the Moon's position relative to the [[Sun]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Bartel Leendert |last=van der Waerden |author-link=Bartel Leendert van der Waerden |date=1987 |title=The Heliocentric System in Greek, Persian and Hindu Astronomy |journal=[[Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences]] |volume=500 |issue=1 |pages=1–569 |pmid=3296915 |bibcode=1987NYASA.500....1A |doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.1987.tb37193.x |s2cid=84491987}}</ref> In the same century, [[On the Sizes and Distances (Aristarchus)|Aristarchus]] computed the size and distance of the Moon from Earth, obtaining a value of about twenty times the [[radius of Earth]] for the distance.

The Chinese of the [[Han dynasty]] believed the Moon to be energy equated to ''[[qi]]'' and their 'radiating influence' theory recognized that the light of the Moon was merely a reflection of the Sun; [[Jing Fang]] (78–37&nbsp;BC) noted the sphericity of the Moon.<ref name=Needham1986/>{{rp|pages=413–414}} [[Ptolemy]] (90–168&nbsp;AD) greatly improved on the numbers of Aristarchus, calculating a mean distance of 59&nbsp;times Earth's radius and a diameter of 0.292&nbsp;Earth diameters, close to the correct values of about 60 and 0.273 respectively.<ref>{{cite book |last=Evans |first=James |title=The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy |date=1998 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford & New York |isbn=978-0-19-509539-5 |pages=71, 386}}</ref> In the 2nd century AD, [[Lucian]] wrote the novel ''[[A True Story]]'', in which the heroes travel to the Moon and meet its inhabitants. In 510&nbsp;AD, the Indian astronomer [[Aryabhata]] mentioned in his ''[[Aryabhatiya]]'' that reflected sunlight is the cause of the shining of the Moon.<ref name=Hayashi08Aryabhata>Hayashi (2008), "Aryabhata I", ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref><ref>''Gola'', 5; p. 64 in [https://archive.org/stream/The_Aryabhatiya_of_Aryabhata_Clark_1930#page/n93/mode/2up ''The Aryabhatiya of Aryabhata: An Ancient Indian Work on Mathematics and Astronomy''], translated by [[Walter Eugene Clark]] (University of Chicago Press, 1930; reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, 2006). "Half of the spheres of the Earth, the planets, and the asterisms is darkened by their shadows, and half, being turned toward the Sun, is light (being small or large) according to their size."</ref> The astronomer and physicist [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (965–1039) found that [[sunlight]] was not reflected from the Moon like a mirror, but that light was emitted from every part of the Moon's sunlit surface in all directions.<ref>{{cite book |location=Detroit |date=2008 |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |title=Dictionary of Scientific Biography |chapter=Ibn Al-Haytham, Abū ʿAlī Al-Ḥasan Ibn Al-Ḥasan |author=A.I. Sabra |pages=189–210, at 195}}</ref> [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095) of the [[Song dynasty]] created an allegory equating the waxing and waning of the Moon to a round ball of reflective silver that, when doused with white powder and viewed from the side, would appear to be a crescent.<ref name=Needham1986/>{{rp|pages=415–416}} During the [[Middle Ages]], before the invention of the telescope, the Moon was increasingly recognized as a sphere, though many believed that it was "perfectly smooth".<ref>{{cite web |last=Van Helden |first=A. |date=1995 |url=http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/observations/moon.html |title=The Moon |publisher=Galileo Project |access-date=April 12, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040623085326/http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/observations/Moon.html |archive-date=June 23, 2004}}</ref>

=== Telescopic exploration (1609–1959) ===
[[File:Galileo's sketches of the moon.png|thumb |upright |[[Galileo]]'s sketches of the Moon from the ground-breaking ''[[Sidereus Nuncius]]'' (1610), publishing among other findings the first descriptions of the Moon's topography]]

The [[telescope]] was developed and reported on in 1608. The first record of telescopic astronomy and rough mapping of the Moon's features is from early summer 1609 by [[Thomas Harriot]], but which he did not publish. At the same time [[Galileo Galilei]] too started to use telescopes to observe the sky and the Moon, recording later that year more detailed observations and crucial conclusions, such as that the Moon was not smooth, featuring mountains and craters, which he published in 1610 in his ground-breaking and soon widely discussed book {{lang|la |[[Sidereus Nuncius]]}}.

Later in the 17th century, the efforts of [[Giovanni Battista Riccioli]] and [[Francesco Maria Grimaldi]] led to the system of naming of lunar features in use today. The more exact 1834–1836 {{lang|la |Mappa Selenographica}} of [[Wilhelm Beer]] and [[Johann Heinrich von Mädler]], and their associated 1837 book {{lang|de |Der Mond}}, the first [[trigonometry|trigonometrically]] accurate study of lunar features, included the heights of more than a thousand mountains, and introduced the study of the Moon at accuracies possible in earthly geography.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Consolmagno |first=Guy J. |date=1996 |title=Astronomy, Science Fiction and Popular Culture: 1277 to 2001 (And beyond) |journal=[[Leonardo (journal)|Leonardo]] |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=127–132 |jstor=1576348 |doi=10.2307/1576348 |s2cid=41861791}}</ref> Lunar craters, first noted by Galileo, were thought to be [[volcanic]] until the 1870s proposal of [[Richard Proctor]] that they were formed by collisions.<ref name="worldbook" /> This view gained support in 1892 from the experimentation of geologist [[Grove Karl Gilbert]], and from comparative studies from 1920 to the 1940s,<ref name="Hall1977" /> leading to the development of [[lunar geologic timescale|lunar stratigraphy]], which by the 1950s was becoming a new and growing branch of [[astrogeology]].<ref name="worldbook" />

===First missions to the Moon (1959–1976)===
{{See also|Space Race|Moon landing}}

After [[World War II]] the first [[launch system]]s were developed and by the end of the 1950s they reached capabilities that allowed the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[United States]] to launch [[spacecraft]] into space. The [[Cold War]] fueled a closely followed development of launch systems by the two states, resulting in the so-called [[Space Race]] and its later phase the Moon Race, accelerating efforts and interest in [[exploration of the Moon]].

[[File:Luna 3 moon.jpg|thumb|First view of the [[far side of the Moon]], taken by [[Luna 3]], October 7, 1959. Clearly visible is [[Mare Moscoviense]] (top right) and a mare triplet of [[Mare Crisium]], [[Mare Marginis]] and [[Mare Smythii]] (left center).]]

After the first spaceflight of [[Sputnik 1]] in 1957 during [[International Geophysical Year]] the spacecraft of the Soviet Union's [[Luna programme|''Luna'' program]] were the first to accomplish a number of goals. Following three unnamed failed missions in 1958,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_planetary_lunar.html |first=Anatoly |last=Zak |date=2009 |title=Russia's unmanned missions toward the Moon |access-date=April 20, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414115710/http://www.russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_planetary_lunar.html |archive-date=April 14, 2010}}</ref> the first human-made object ''[[Luna 1]]'' escaped Earth's gravity and passed near the Moon in 1959. Later that year the first human-made object ''[[Luna 2]]'' reached the Moon's surface by [[Lander (spacecraft)#Impactors|intentionally impacting]]. By the end of the year ''[[Luna 3]]'' reached as the first human-made object the normally occluded [[far side of the Moon]], taking the first photographs of it.
The first spacecraft to perform a successful lunar [[lander (spacecraft)|soft landing]] was ''[[Luna 9]]'' and the first vehicle to orbit the Moon was ''[[Luna 10]]'', both in 1966.<ref name="worldbook" />

[[File:NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg|thumb|''[[Earthrise]]'', the first color [[Timeline of first images of Earth from space|image of Earth]] taken by a human from the Moon, during [[Apollo 8]] (1968), the first time a crewed spacecraft left Earth orbit and reached another [[astronomical body]]|alt=The small blue-white semicircle of Earth, almost glowing with color in the blackness of space, rising over the limb of the desolate, cratered surface of the Moon.]]

Following President [[John F. Kennedy]]'s 1961 commitment to a crewed Moon landing before the end of the decade, the United States, under NASA leadership, launched a series of uncrewed probes to develop an understanding of the lunar surface in preparation for human missions: the [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]'s [[Ranger program]], the [[Lunar Orbiter program]] and the [[Surveyor program]]. The crewed [[Apollo program]] was developed in parallel; after a series of uncrewed and crewed tests of the Apollo spacecraft in Earth orbit, and spurred on by a potential [[Soviet human lunar programs|Soviet lunar human landing]], in 1968 [[Apollo 8]] made the first human mission to lunar orbit (the first Earthlings, two tortoises, had circled the Moon three months earlier on the Soviet Union's [[Zond 5]], followed by turtles on [[Zond 6]]).

The first time a person landed on the Moon and any extraterrestrial body was when [[Neil Armstrong]], the commander of the American mission [[Apollo 11]], set foot on the Moon at 02:56&nbsp;UTC on July 21, 1969.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/ap11events.html |title=Record of Lunar Events, 24 July 1969 |work=Apollo 11 30th anniversary |publisher=NASA |access-date=April 13, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408213454/http://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/ap11events.html |archive-date=April 8, 2010}}</ref> Considered the culmination of the [[Space Race]],<ref name="CNN" /> an estimated 500&nbsp;million people worldwide watched the transmission by the [[Apollo TV camera]], the largest television audience for a live broadcast at that time.<ref>{{cite web |title=Manned Space Chronology: Apollo_11 |url=http://www.spaceline.org/flightchron/apollo11.html |publisher=Spaceline.org |access-date=February 6, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214213826/http://www.spaceline.org/flightchron/apollo11.html |archive-date=February 14, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Apollo Anniversary: Moon Landing "Inspired World" |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0714_040714_moonlanding.html |work=National Geographic |access-date=February 6, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080209140059/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0714_040714_moonlanding.html |archive-date=February 9, 2008}}</ref> While at the same time another mission, the robotic sample return mission [[Luna 15]] by the Soviet Union had been in orbit around the Moon, becoming together with Apollo 11 the first ever case of two extraterrestrial missions being conducted at the same time.

The Apollo missions 11 to 17 (except [[Apollo 13]], which aborted its planned lunar landing) removed {{convert|837.87 |lb |kg |order=flip}} of lunar rock and soil in 2,196 [[moon rock|separate samples]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Orloff |first=Richard W. |title=NASA History Division, Office of Policy and Plans – Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/SP-4029.htm |chapter=Extravehicular Activity |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_18-30_Extravehicular_Activity.htm |access-date=August 1, 2013 |series=The NASA History Series |orig-year=First published 2000 |date=September 2004 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-0-16-050631-4 |lccn=00061677 |id=NASA SP-2000-4029 |ref=Orloff |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606114042/http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/SP-4029.htm |archive-date=June 6, 2013}}</ref>
Scientific instrument packages were installed on the lunar surface during all the Apollo landings. Long-lived [[Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package|instrument stations]], including heat flow probes, [[seismometer]]s, and [[magnetometer]]s, were installed at the [[Apollo 12]], [[Apollo 14|14]], [[Apollo 15|15]], [[Apollo 16|16]], and [[Apollo 17|17]] landing sites. Direct transmission of data to Earth concluded in late 1977 because of budgetary considerations,<ref>{{cite press release |title=NASA news release 77-47 page 242 |date=September 1, 1977 |url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/83129main_1977.pdf |access-date=March 16, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604114817/http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/83129main_1977.pdf |archive-date=June 4, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~ipswich/Miscellaneous/Archived_spaceflight_news.htm |access-date=August 29, 2007 |title=NASA Turns A Deaf Ear To The Moon |date=1977 |publisher=OASI Newsletters Archive |last=Appleton |first=James |author2=Radley, Charles |author3=Deans, John |author4=Harvey, Simon |author5=Burt, Paul |author6=Haxell, Michael |author7=Adams, Roy |author8=Spooner N. |author9=Brieske, Wayne |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210143103/http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~ipswich/Miscellaneous/Archived_spaceflight_news.htm |archive-date=December 10, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> but as the stations' [[lunar laser ranging]] corner-cube retroreflector arrays are passive instruments, they are still being used.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dickey |first1=J. |date=1994 |title=Lunar laser ranging: a continuing legacy of the Apollo program |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=265 |pages=482–490 |doi=10.1126/science.265.5171.482 |pmid=17781305 |issue=5171 |bibcode=1994Sci...265..482D |last2=Bender |first2=P. L. |last3=Faller |first3=J. E. |last4=Newhall |first4=X. X. |last5=Ricklefs |first5=R. L. |last6=Ries |first6=J. G. |last7=Shelus |first7=P. J. |last8=Veillet |first8=C. |last9=Whipple |first9=A. L. |s2cid=10157934}}</ref>
[[Apollo 17]] in 1972 remains the last crewed mission to the Moon. [[Explorer 49]] in 1973 was the last dedicated U.S. probe to the Moon until the 1990s.

The Soviet Union continued sending robotic missions to the Moon until 1976, deploying in 1970 with [[Luna 17]] the first remote controlled [[Rover (space exploration)|rover]] [[Lunokhod 1]] on an extraterrestrial surface, and collecting and returning 0.3&nbsp;kg of rock and soil samples with three ''Luna'' [[sample return mission]]s (''[[Luna 16]]'' in 1970, ''[[Luna 20]]'' in 1972, and ''[[Luna 24]]'' in 1976).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/index.cfm |title=Rocks and Soils from the Moon |publisher=NASA |access-date=April 6, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527085532/http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/index.cfm |archive-date=May 27, 2010}}</ref>

=== Moon Treaty and explorational absence (1976–1990) ===
{{Main|Moon Treaty}}
Following the [[Luna 24|last Soviet mission to the Moon]] of 1976, there was little further lunar exploration for fourteen years. Astronautics had shifted its focus towards the exploration of the [[inner Solar System|inner]] (e.g. [[Venera program]]) and [[outer Solar System|outer]] (e.g. [[Pioneer 10]], 1972) [[Solar System]] [[planet]]s, but also towards [[Geocentric orbit|Earth orbit]], developing and continuously operating, beside [[communication satellite]]s, [[Earth observation satellite]]s (e.g. [[Landsat program]], 1972), [[space telescope]]s and particularly [[space station]]s (e.g. [[Salyut program]], 1971).

Negotiation in 1979 of [[Moon treaty]], and its subsequent ratification in 1984 was the only major activity regarding the Moon until 1990.

===Renewed exploration (1990–present)===
In 1990 ''[[Hiten (spacecraft)|Hiten]]'' – ''Hagoromo'',<ref>{{cite web |title=Hiten-Hagomoro |publisher=NASA |url=http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Hiten&Display=ReadMore |access-date=March 29, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614115823/http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Hiten&Display=ReadMore |archive-date=June 14, 2011}}</ref> the first dedicated lunar mission since 1976, reached the Moon. Sent by [[Japan]], it became the first mission that was not a Soviet Union or U.S. mission to the Moon.

In 1994, the U.S. dedicated a mission to fly a spacecraft (''[[Clementine (spacecraft)|Clementine]]'') to the Moon again for the first time since 1973. This mission obtained the first near-global topographic map of the Moon, and the first global [[multispectral]] images of the lunar surface.<ref>{{cite web |title=Clementine information |publisher=NASA |date=1994 |url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/cleminfo.html |access-date=March 29, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100925095846/http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/cleminfo.html |archive-date=September 25, 2010}}</ref> In 1998, this was followed by the ''[[Lunar Prospector]]'' mission, whose instruments indicated the presence of excess hydrogen at the lunar poles, which is likely to have been caused by the presence of water ice in the upper few meters of the regolith within permanently shadowed craters.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lunar Prospector: Neutron Spectrometer |publisher=NASA |url=http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/results/neutron.htm |date=2001 |access-date=March 29, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527105801/http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/results/neutron.htm |archive-date=May 27, 2010}}</ref>

The next years saw a row of first missions to the Moon by a new group of states actively exploring the Moon.
Between 2004 and 2006 the first spacecraft by the [[European Space Agency]] (ESA) (''[[SMART-1]]'') reached the Moon, recording the first detailed survey of chemical elements on the lunar surface.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/SMART-1/SEMSDE1A6BD_0.html |title=SMART-1 factsheet |date=February 26, 2007 |publisher=[[European Space Agency]] |access-date=March 29, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323044139/http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/SMART-1/SEMSDE1A6BD_0.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref>
The [[Chinese Lunar Exploration Program]] reached the Moon for the first time with the orbiter ''[[Chang'e 1]]'' (2007–2009),<ref>{{cite web |title=Chang'e 1 |publisher=NASA |date=2019 |url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/change-1/in-depth/ |access-date=October 3, 2021 |archive-date=November 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122070043/https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/change-1/in-depth/ |url-status=live}}</ref> obtaining a full image map of the Moon.
[[Indian Space Research Organisation|India]] reached, orbited and impacted the Moon in 2008 for the first time with its ''[[Chandrayaan-1]]'' and [[Moon Impact Probe]], becoming the fifth and sixth state to do so, creating a high-resolution chemical, mineralogical and photo-geological map of the lunar surface, and confirming the presence of [[Lunar water|water molecules in lunar soil]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/mission_sequence.htm |title=Mission Sequence |date=November 17, 2008 |publisher=[[Indian Space Research Organisation]] |access-date=April 13, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706225136/http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/mission_sequence.htm |archive-date=July 6, 2010}}</ref>

The U.S. launched the [[Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter|''Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter'' (LRO)]] and the ''[[LCROSS]]'' impactor on June 18, 2009. ''LCROSS'' completed its mission by making a planned and widely observed impact in the crater [[Cabeus]] on October 9, 2009,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/observation.htm |title=Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS): Strategy & Astronomer Observation Campaign |date=October 2009 |publisher=NASA |access-date=April 13, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120101191735/http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/observation.htm |archive-date=January 1, 2012}}</ref> whereas ''LRO'' is currently in operation, obtaining precise lunar [[altimetry]] and high-resolution imagery.

China continued its lunar program in 2010 with ''[[Chang'e 2]]'', mapping the surface at a higher resolution over an eight-month period, and in 2013 with ''[[Chang'e 3]]'', a lunar [[lander (spacecraft)|lander]] along with a [[lunar rover]] named ''[[Yutu (rover)|Yutu]]'' ({{Lang-zh|c=玉兔|l=Jade Rabbit}}). This was the first lunar rover mission since ''[[Lunokhod 2]]'' in 1973 and the first lunar [[soft landing]] since ''[[Luna 24]]'' in 1976, making China the third country to achieve this.

In 2014 the first privately funded probe, the [[Manfred Memorial Moon Mission]], reached the Moon.

Another Chinese rover mission, ''[[Chang'e 4]]'', achieved the first landing on [[Far side of the Moon|the Moon's far side]] in early 2019.<ref>{{cite web |title=China Outlines New Rockets, Space Station and Moon Plans |url=http://www.space.com/28809-china-rocket-family-moon-plans.html |date=March 17, 2015 |first=Leonard |last=David |publisher=[[Space.com]] |access-date=June 29, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701055507/http://www.space.com/28809-china-rocket-family-moon-plans.html |archive-date=July 1, 2016}}</ref>

Also in 2019, India successfully sent its second probe, ''[[Chandrayaan-2]]'' to the Moon.

In 2020, China carried out its first robotic [[sample return mission]] (''[[Chang'e 5]]''), bringing back 1,731 grams of lunar material to Earth.<ref>{{cite news |title=China's Chang'e-5 brought 1,731 grams of samples from the moon |url=https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/chinas-change-5-brought-1731-grams-of-samples-from-the-moon/article33377559.ece |date=December 20, 2020 |work=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=October 15, 2021 |archive-date=October 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029180538/https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/chinas-change-5-brought-1731-grams-of-samples-from-the-moon/article33377559.ece |url-status=live}}</ref>

The U.S. [[Vision for Space Exploration|developed plans]] for returning to the Moon beginning in 2004,<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/bush_vision.html |title=President Bush Offers New Vision For NASA |date=December 14, 2004 |publisher=NASA |access-date=April 12, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510062228/http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/bush_vision.html |archive-date=May 10, 2007}}</ref> and with the signing of the U.S.-led [[Artemis Accords]] in 2020, the [[Artemis program]] aims to return the astronauts to the Moon in the 2020s.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 2019 |first=Adam |last=Mann |title=NASA's Artemis Program |url=https://www.space.com/artemis-program.html |access-date=April 19, 2021 |website=Space.com |language=en |archive-date=April 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417175557/https://www.space.com/artemis-program.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The Accords have been joined by a growing number of countries. The introduction of the Artemis Accords has fueled a renewed discussion about the international framework and cooperation of lunar activity, building on the [[Moon Treaty]] and the ESA-led [[Moon Village]] concept.<ref name="The Space Review 2020"/><ref name="Australian Institute of International Affairs 2021"/><ref name="The Space Treaty Institute – Dedicated to Peace and Sustainability in Outer Space. Our Mission"/>

2022 [[South Korea]] launched [[Danuri]] successfully, its first mission to the Moon, launched from the US.
2023 and 2024 [[India]] and Japan became the fourth and fifth country to [[Soft landing|soft land]] a spacecraft on the Moon, following the [[Soviet Union]] and [[United States]] in the 1960s, and [[China]] in the 2010s.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Japan makes contact with 'Moon Sniper' on lunar surface |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-68019846 |date=January 19, 2024 |access-date=January 19, 2024 |work=BBC News |language=en-gb |archive-date=January 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119143351/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-68019846 |url-status=live}}</ref> Notably, Japan's spacecraft, the [[Smart Lander for Investigating Moon]], survived 3 lunar nights.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Robert Lea |date=April 24, 2024 |title=Japan's SLIM moon lander defies death to survive 3rd frigid lunar night (image) |url=https://www.space.com/japan-slim-moon-lander-survives-3rd-lunar-night |access-date=May 1, 2024 |website=Space.com |language=en |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430163510/https://www.space.com/japan-slim-moon-lander-survives-3rd-lunar-night |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[IM-1]] lander became the first commercially built lander to land on the Moon in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Intuitive Machines' 'Odysseus' becomes first commercial lander to reach the Moon – Spaceflight Now |url=https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/02/22/live-coverage-intuitive-machines-aims-to-become-first-commercial-lander-to-safely-reach-the-moon/ |access-date=April 15, 2024 |language=en-US |archive-date=June 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615055824/https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/02/22/live-coverage-intuitive-machines-aims-to-become-first-commercial-lander-to-safely-reach-the-moon/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

China launched the [[Chang'e 6]] on May 3, 2024, which conducted another lunar sample return from the [[far side of the Moon]].<ref name="AJ_FI-20230425">{{cite tweet |author=Andrew Jones |user=AJ_FI |number=1650832520978526208 |title=China's Chang'e-6 sample return mission (a first ever lunar far side sample-return) is scheduled to launch in May 2024, and expected to take 53 days from launch to return module touchdown. Targeting southern area of Apollo basin (~43º S, 154º W) |date=April 25, 2023}}</ref> It also carried a Chinese rover to conduct [[Absorption spectroscopy|infrared spectroscopy]] of lunar surface.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Andrew |title=China's Chang'e-6 is carrying a surprise rover to the moon |url=https://spacenews.com/chinas-change-6-is-carrying-a-surprise-rover-to-the-moon/ |website=SpaceNews |access-date=May 8, 2024 |date=May 6, 2024 |archive-date=May 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240508193233/https://spacenews.com/chinas-change-6-is-carrying-a-surprise-rover-to-the-moon/ |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Pakistan]] sent a lunar orbiter called [[ICUBE-Q]] along with Chang'e 6.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Andrew |url=https://spacenews.com/chinas-change-6-probe-arrives-at-spaceport-for-first-ever-lunar-far-side-sample-mission/ |title=China's Chang'e-6 probe arrives at spaceport for first-ever lunar far side sample mission |work=[[SpaceNews]] |date=January 10, 2024 |access-date=January 10, 2024 |archive-date=May 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503100724/https://spacenews.com/chinas-change-6-probe-arrives-at-spaceport-for-first-ever-lunar-far-side-sample-mission/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[IM-2|Nova-C 2]], [[Ispace (Japanese company)#Hakuto-R program|iSpace Lander]] and [[Blue Ghost]] were all launched to the Moon in 2024.

[[File:Artemis 2 Crew Portrait.jpg|thumb|[[Artemis II]] crew, with the [[Women in space|first woman]], person of color and non–US-citizen astronaut planned to go to the Moon, scheduled for 2026, returning humans to the Moon for the first time since [[Apollo 17]] in 1972. [[Clockwise]] from left: [[Christina Koch|Koch]], [[Victor J. Glover|Glover]], [[Jeremy Hansen|Hansen]] and [[Reid Wiseman|Wiseman]].]]

===Future===
{{See also|List of proposed missions to the Moon}}
Beside the progressing [[Artemis program]] and supporting [[Commercial Lunar Payload Services]], leading an international and commercial crewed opening up of the Moon and sending the [[Women in space|first woman]], person of color and non-US citizen to the Moon in the 2020s,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.asianage.com/science/150519/nasa-plans-to-send-first-woman-on-moon-by-2024.html |title=NASA plans to send first woman on Moon by 2024 |date=May 15, 2019 |website=The Asian Age |access-date=May 15, 2019 |archive-date=April 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414162829/https://www.asianage.com/science/150519/nasa-plans-to-send-first-woman-on-moon-by-2024.html |url-status=live}}</ref> China is continuing its ambitious [[Chang'e program]], having announced with Russia's struggling ''[[Luna-Glob]]'' program joint missions.<ref name="TASS 2019 x202">{{cite web |title=Russia, China agree on joint Moon exploration |website=TASS |date=September 17, 2019 |url=https://tass.com/science/1078599 |access-date=April 16, 2024 |archive-date=July 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722101456/https://tass.com/science/1078599 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_awst_story.jsp?id=news/aw060506p2.xml |title=Russia Plans Ambitious Robotic Lunar Mission |last=Covault |first=C. |magazine=[[Aviation Week]] |date=June 4, 2006 |access-date=April 12, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060612215659/http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_awst_story.jsp?id=news%2Faw060506p2.xml |archive-date=June 12, 2006}}</ref> Both the Chinese and US lunar programs have the goal to establish in the 2030s a [[lunar base]] with their international partners, though the US and its partners will first establish an orbital [[Lunar Gateway]] station in the 2020s, from which Artemis missions will land the [[Human Landing System]] to set up temporary surface camps.

While the Apollo missions were explorational in nature, the Artemis program plans to establish a more permanent presence. To this end, NASA is partnering with industry leaders to establish key elements such as modern communication infrastructure. A [[4G]] connectivity demonstration is to be launched aboard an [[Intuitive Machines Nova-C]] lander in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bantock |first=Jack |date=April 24, 2024 |title=Streaming and texting on the Moon: Nokia and NASA are taking 4G into space {{!}} CNN Business |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/24/tech/nokia-moon-4g-network-nasa-spc/index.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=CNN |language=en |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427205419/https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/24/tech/nokia-moon-4g-network-nasa-spc/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Another focus is on [[in situ resource utilization]], which is a key part of the [[DARPA lunar programs]]. [[DARPA]] has requested that industry partners develop a 10–year lunar architecture plan to enable the beginning of a lunar economy.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Meredith Garofalo |date=December 8, 2023 |title=DARPA moon tech study selects 14 companies to develop a lunar economy |url=https://www.space.com/darpa-moon-tech-study-future-lunar-economy |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=Space.com |language=en |archive-date=June 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615055827/https://www.space.com/darpa-moon-tech-study-future-lunar-economy |url-status=live}}</ref>