Lunar missions

Between 1969 and 1972, the United States carried out six successful Apollo landings, while the Soviet Union continued deploying uncrewed probes, including the Lunokhod programme—the first extraterrestrial rovers—and sample return missions through 1976. Following this period, there was a gap in dedicated lunar missions lasting until 1990. Since then, renewed interest in lunar exploration has seen additional missions conducted by a broader range of spacefaring entities. In roughly chronological order following the Soviet Union and the United States, the Moon has also been visited by the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), China National Space Administration (CNSA), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Italian Space Agency (ASI), Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), the United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA), and Pakistan's Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO).