Impactor Missions
The hard way to hit the Moon. Every attempt at the lunar surface, including all successes and failures, on three independent scales.
Every mission that aimed for the lunar surface, including the ones that never made it. The pioneering years were brutal: rockets failed at launch, probes missed the Moon entirely, and two early Rangers struck the surface but returned no data. The eras span very different time scales, from days to years, so each group of attempts gets its own chart and axis.
In transit to the Moon
In lunar orbit
Reached surface · returned data
Struck, but went silent
Missed the Moon
Lost at launch
First Attempts
1958–1965: The trial and error period.
Mission
0 days
1
2
3
4
5
Modern Direct Strikes
2008–2009 · precise impacts aimed at polar water ice
Mission
0 months
1
2
3
4
Mission First, Then Impact
1993–2014 · orbiters retired by a controlled crash
Mission
0 years
1
2
3
Launch → lunar-orbit insertion ▎→ impact ✷ · figures from the flight record
22 attempts · 9 failed or missed · independent linear scales · atlasluna.com