A Moon landing signifies the arrival of a spacecraft on the lunar surface, a journey that began in 1959 with the Soviet Union's Luna 2, the first human-made object to reach the Moon. A decade later, the United States achieved the monumental feat of the first crewed landing with Apollo 11 in 1969, bringing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the lunar surface as part of six human missions that concluded in December 1972.
After a significant hiatus, uncrewed soft landings reignited in 2013, witnessing pioneering achievements such as China's Chang'e 4 making the first far-side landing in 2019. The pace of exploration accelerated with India's Chandrayaan-3 successfully landing near the lunar south pole in August 2023, a historic first, soon followed by Japan's SLIM mission in January 2024, making them the fourth and fifth nations to achieve soft landings. This new era also includes private ventures, with Intuitive Machines' Odysseus becoming the first successful commercial lunar lander in February 2024, and Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost setting a new record for commercial operational duration in March 2025.