Important Space Missions

 Sputnik-1 - USSR - (1957) First artificial satellite.
 Explorer III - USA - (1958) Discovered Earth's radiation belt.
 Luna 1 - USSR Lunar Flyby - 361 kg - (January 2, 1959) Luna 1 was the first lunar flyby. It discovered the solar wind and is now in a solar orbit.
 Pioneer 4 - USA Distant Lunar Flyby - 5.9 kg - (March 3, 1959)
 Space probe is now in a solar orbit.
 Luna 2 - USSR Lunar Hard Lander - 387 kg - (September 12, 1959) Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to impact the surface of the moon on September 14, 1959.
 Ranger 4 - USA Lunar Hard Lander - 328 kg - (April 23, 1962) First US lunar impact of the Moon.
 Luna 9 - USSR Lunar Soft Lander - 1,580 kg - (January 31, 1966)Luna 9 landed on the lunar surface and retuned the first photographs from the moon.
 Surveyor 1 - USA Lunar Soft Lander - 269 kg - (April 30, 1966 to 1967) Surveyor 1 was the first American soft landing on the lunar surface.
 Apollo 11 - USA Lunar Manned Lander - 43,811 kg - (July 16-24, 1969)Crew: Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., Michael Collins.
Apollo 11 was the first manned lunar landing, which took place on July 20, 1969. The landing site was Mare Tranquillitatisat latitude 0°67' N and longitude 23°49' E. Armstrong and Aldrin collected 21.7 kilograms of soil and rock samples and deployed experiments.
 Muses-A - JAPAN Lunar Orbiters - (January 24, 1990) This consisted of two small orbiters but failed to send back data from their orbit around the Moon. This was the first non USA or USSR probe to reach Moon.
 Kaguya Probe –(13 Sep 2007) JAPAN Launches Kaguya Probe on Moon Mission
 Chinese Moon Mission Chang'e-1 - (October 24th, 2007) CHINA Launches, Chang'e-1 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre,
 Chandrayan-1- (October 22, 2008) India Launches Chandrayan-1 Moon Mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.