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Pioneer 4
Pioneer 4 was the 1st spacecraft to exit Earth's atmosphere, where it came 60,000 km away from the surface of the moon. The craft was in orbit for 10 more years -
Ranger 4
Ranger 4 hit the moon and was incapable to take pictures and recieve data, like it was supposed to. -
Surveyor 1
This probe was the 1st that successfully landed on the surface of the moon. The surveryor send pictures of the moon's surface. -
Lunar orbiter 1
This craft was specifically created to view the moon's surface. in total, lunar orbiter 1 gathered 99% of the pictures of the moon at the time. -
Apollo 8
Apolla 8 was the 1st ship to hold people, Frank Borman, James A Lovell Jr. and William A. Anders. These men testred the flight modules and the feeling of a gravity difference. -
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 is the most known apollo mission, being that it brought the 1st men to set foot on the moon, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. This was a significant time in history because it was a huge advantage in the 'Space race.' -
Apollo 12
Apollo 12, or the Yankee Clipper took off less than a yr after apollo 11. On board was The crew of Charles Conrad Jr, Richard F Gordan, and Alan L. Bean. -
Apollo 13
Only 56 hrs into the flight, an oxygen tank exploded and cause the members of the flight to emergency evacuate, which only had room for 2 men for 2 days. -
Apollo 14
Apollo 14 was a very crutial mission, considering the previous mission was a catastrophe. But abord the craft, Alan Shepard Jr., Stuart A. Roosa, and Edgar D. Mitchell, came back from the moon with useful information. -
Explorer 49
This satellite, launched in 1973, was the second to be able to calculate the size, diamater, etc, of the moon. -
Clementine
After 20 years of not launching anything into space, the US released the Clementine orbiter. This satellite stayed in orbit until May 3rd, and was pretty successful in taking images. -
HGS-1
This craft's main purpose was for communication with Hong Kong and help with TV distribution. It eventually failed, and was only in orbit for a short time after its launch. -
Shepherding spacecraft
The LCROSS mission was designed to search for water on the moon by sending a rocket crashing into the moon, causing a big impact, and creating a crater throwing tons of debris and potentially water ice and vapor above the lunar surface. This impact released materials from the lunar surface that were analyzed for the presence of hydrated minerals to tell researchers if water is there or not. -
Gravity Recovery and Interior Labratory Orbiter
This is the most recent launch to improve knowledge of the moon, it is designed to discover the contents of the interior of the moon.