What countries have soft landed on the moon?

The Moon Club: Who’s Actually Landed There?

The Moon. It’s been hanging up there, a silent, silvery promise, for as long as we’ve looked up. And for just as long, humanity’s been dreaming of reaching it. Orbiting? Sure, plenty have managed that. Crashing into it? Well, that’s a bit less glamorous, but it’s been done too. But landing softly? That’s a whole different ballgame. It takes serious tech, pinpoint accuracy, and a healthy dose of sheer nerve. That’s why only a handful of countries have earned their place in this exclusive lunar club.

So, who are the card-carrying members as of July 2025? Let’s break it down:

• The OG: Soviet Union (USSR): These guys were the first to nail it. Back in February 1966, Luna 9 touched down, sending back the first-ever snapshots from the lunar surface. Talk about a mic drop moment! And they didn’t stop there. The Luna program kept on trucking, even deploying the first lunar rovers – Lunokhod 1 and 2 – in the early ’70s. Imagine driving a remote-controlled buggy across the Moon! They were pioneers, no doubt, even if their crewed missions never quite took off.

• Stars and Stripes on the Sea of Tranquility: United States of America (USA): Not long after the Soviets’ triumph, the US joined the party with Surveyor 1 in June ’66. But, of course, everyone remembers July 1969. Apollo 11. Armstrong and Aldrin. “One small step…” Need I say more? The US went on to pull off six crewed landings, bringing back a treasure trove of scientific data and moon rocks. To this day, they’re still the only ones who’ve actually walked on another world.

• China’s Lunar Leap (CNSA): Fast forward to 2013, and China made its mark with the Chang’e 3 mission. A soft landing and a rover, Yutu, trundling around? Impressive. But they weren’t content with just landing. In 2019, Chang’e 4 pulled off something truly special: the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon. Seriously, the far side! And then Chang’e 5 in 2020 brought lunar samples back to Earth, and Chang’e 6 in 2024 collected samples from the far side of the Moon. Talk about upping the ante.

• India’s South Pole Plunge (ISRO): India etched its name in lunar history on August 23, 2023, with Chandrayaan-3. They didn’t just land; they landed near the Moon’s south pole, becoming the first to reach that tricky region. The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover are now busy exploring, sending back data from a part of the Moon we’ve never really seen up close. A huge win for Indian science!

Beyond the Big Four

So, that’s the club. But plenty of others are knocking on the door. Japan’s SLIM mission managed a soft landing in 2024, although it had some power issues afterward. And let’s not forget all the missions that have deliberately crashed into the Moon – sometimes you just need to make a statement, I guess! India even did that with a “Moon Impact Probe” way back when.

The lunar race is far from over. As tech gets better and our ambitions grow, expect more countries to join the Moon Club. Who knows what we’ll discover next? It’s an exciting time to be looking up.