Landings on other planets
Encyclopedia
This is a list of all spacecraft landings on other planets and bodies in the solar system, including soft landings
and both intended and unintended hard impacts
. The list includes orbiters that were intentionally crashed, but not orbiters which later crashed in an unplanned manner due to orbit decay.
For a list of all planetary missions, including orbiters and flybys, see List of Solar System probes.
Moon
Venus
Mars
Note: Phobos
landing was unsuccessfully attempted by Phobos 2 in 1989.
Soft landing (rocketry)
A soft landing is any type of aircraft or rocket landing that does not result in the destruction of the vehicle or anything onboard. Unlike a hard landing, soft landings are very smooth and steady. They are often called 'good landings' because of the smooth way the aircraft lands....
and both intended and unintended hard impacts
Hard landing
In aviation a hard landing is an especially rapid or steep descent.Landing is the final phase in flight where the vehicle returns to the ground. A hard landing occurs when the vehicle impacts the ground with a greater vertical speed and force than in a normal landing. The average vertical speed in...
. The list includes orbiters that were intentionally crashed, but not orbiters which later crashed in an unplanned manner due to orbit decay.
For a list of all planetary missions, including orbiters and flybys, see List of Solar System probes.
MoonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
(not a planet)
Mission | Country/Agency | Date of landing/impact | Coordinates | Notes |
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Luna 2 Luna 2 Luna 2 was the second of the Soviet Union's Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon. It was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon... |
USSR | 13 September 1959 | |
First lunar impact. |
Ranger 4 Ranger 4 Ranger 4 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to crashing upon the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight, to study radar... |
USA | 26 April 1962 | Intentional hard impact; hit lunar far side due to failure of navigation system. | |
Ranger 6 Ranger 6 Ranger 6 was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. The spacecraft carried six television vidicon cameras, 2 wide angle and 4 narrow angle to accomplish these objectives... |
USA | 2 February 1964 | Intentional hard impact. | |
Ranger 7 Ranger 7 Ranger 7 was the first US space probe to successfully transmit close images of the lunar surface back to Earth. It was also the first completely successful flight of the Ranger program. Launched on 28 July 1964, Ranger 7 was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit... |
USA | 31 July 1964 | Intentional hard impact. | |
Ranger 8 Ranger 8 Ranger 8 was a spacecraft designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. The spacecraft carried six television vidicon cameras, two wide angle and four narrow angle to accomplish these... |
USA | 20 February 1965 | Intentional hard impact. | |
Ranger 9 Ranger 9 Ranger 9 was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. The spacecraft carried six television vidicon cameras, 2 wide angle and 4 narrow angle to accomplish these objectives... |
USA | 24 March 1965 | Intentional hard impact. | |
Luna 5 Luna 5 Luna 5 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 5. It was designed to continue investigations of a lunar soft landing. The retrorocket system failed, and the spacecraft impacted the lunar surface at the Sea of Clouds.... |
USSR | 12 May 1965 | Unsuccessful attempt at soft landing; crashed into Moon. | |
Luna 7 Luna 7 Luna 7 was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Luna program, also called Lunik 7. The Luna 7 spacecraft was intended to achieve a soft landing on the Moon... |
USSR | 7 October 1965 | Unsuccessful attempt at soft landing; crashed into Moon. | |
Luna 8 Luna 8 Luna 8 , also known as Lunik 8, was a lunar space probe of the Luna program. It was launched with the objective of achieving a soft landing on the Moon. However, its retrorocket firing occurred too late, and suffered a hard impact on the lunar surface on the Oceanus Procellarum... |
USSR | 6 December 1965 | Unsuccessful attempt at soft landing; crashed into Moon. | |
Luna 9 Luna 9 Luna 9 was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna program. On February 3, 1966 the Luna 9 spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on any planetary body other than Earth and to transmit photographic data to Earth.The automatic lunar station that achieved the... |
USSR | 3 February 1966 | First successful soft landing; first pictures from the surface. | |
Surveyor 1 Surveyor 1 Surveyor 1 was the first lunar soft-lander in the unmanned Surveyor program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration . This lunar soft-lander gathered data about the lunar surface that would be needed for the manned Apollo Moon landings that began in 1969... |
USA | 2 June 1966 | Soft landing. | |
Surveyor 2 Surveyor 2 Surveyor 2 was to be the second lunar lander in the unmanned American Surveyor program to explore the Moon.It was launched September 20, 1966 from Cape Kennedy, Florida aboard an Atlas-Centaur rocket.... |
USA | 23 September 1966 | Unsuccessful attempt at soft landing; crashed into Moon. | |
Lunar Orbiter 1 Lunar Orbiter 1 The Lunar Orbiter 1 robotic spacecraft, part of the Lunar Orbiter Program, was designed primarily to photograph smooth areas of the lunar surface for selection and verification of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions... |
USA | 29 October 1966 | Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission. | |
Luna 13 Luna 13 -External links:* *... |
USSR | 24 December 1966 | Soft landing. | |
Surveyor 3 Surveyor 3 Surveyor 3 was the third lander of the American unmanned Surveyor program sent to explore the surface of the Moon. Launched on April 17, 1967, Surveyor 3 landed on April 20, 1967 at the Mare Cognitum portion of the Oceanus Procellarum... |
USA | 20 April 1967 | Soft landing. First lander visited by a later manned mission (Apollo 12 Apollo 12 Apollo 12 was the sixth manned flight in the American Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon . It was launched on November 14, 1969 from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, four months after Apollo 11. Mission commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L... ). |
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Surveyor 4 Surveyor 4 Surveyor 4 was the fourth lunar lander in the American unmanned Surveyor program sent to explore the surface of the Moon.*Launched July 14, 1967; landed July 17, 1967*Weight on landing: 625 lb... |
USA | 17 July 1967 | Contact lost on descent. | |
Surveyor 5 Surveyor 5 Surveyor 5 was the fifth lunar lander of the American unmanned Surveyor program sent to explore the surface of the Moon.*Launched September 8, 1967; landed September 11, 1967*Weight on landing: 303 kg... |
USA | 11 September 1967 | Soft landing. | |
Surveyor 6 Surveyor 6 Surveyor 6 was the sixth lunar lander of the American unmanned Surveyor program that reached the surface of the Moon.*Launched November 7, 1967; landed November 10, 1967*Mass on landing: 299.6 kg Surveyor 6 landed on the Sinus Medii... |
USA | 10 November 1967 | Soft landing. | |
Surveyor 7 Surveyor 7 Surveyor 7 was the seventh and last lunar lander of the American unmanned Surveyor program sent to explore the surface of the Moon.*Launched January 7, 1968; landed January 10, 1968*Weight on landing: 305.7 kg... |
USA | 10 January 1968 | Soft landing. | |
Apollo 11 Apollo 11 In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was... |
USA | 20 July 1969 | 0°40′26.69"N 23°28′22.69"E | First manned landing. |
Luna 15 Luna 15 -External links:*... |
USSR | 21 July 1969 | Possible attempted sample return; crashed into Moon. | |
Apollo 12 Apollo 12 Apollo 12 was the sixth manned flight in the American Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon . It was launched on November 14, 1969 from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, four months after Apollo 11. Mission commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L... |
USA | 18 November 1969 | Manned mission. | |
Apollo 13 Apollo 13 Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command... |
USA | 14 April 1970 | S-IVB S-IVB The S-IVB was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company and served as the third stage on the Saturn V and second stage on the Saturn IB. It had one J-2 engine... stage crashed for seismic research (rocket stages from a number of other Apollo missions that successfully landed were also crashed in this manner) |
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Luna 16 Luna 16 -External links:*... |
USSR | 20 September 1970 | First successful robotic sample return. | |
Luna 17 Luna 17 -External links:*... /Lunokhod 1 Lunokhod 1 Lunokhod 1 was the first of two unmanned lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of its Lunokhod program. The spacecraft which carried Lunokhod 1 was named Luna 17... |
USSR | 17 November 1970 | Robotic lunar rover Rover (space exploration) A rover is a space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface of a planet or other astronomical body. Some rovers have been designed to transport members of a human spaceflight crew; others have been partially or fully autonomous robots... . |
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Apollo 14 Apollo 14 Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the American Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. It was the last of the "H missions", targeted landings with two-day stays on the Moon with two lunar EVAs, or moonwalks.... |
USA | 5 February 1971 | 3°38′43.08"S 17°28′16.90"W | Manned mission. |
Apollo 15 Apollo 15 Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous... |
USA | 30 July 1971 | 26°7′55.99"N 3°38′1.90"E | Manned mission; lunar rover. |
Luna 18 Luna 18 Luna 18 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 18.Luna 18 was placed in an earth parking orbit after it was launched and was then sent towards the Moon. On September 7, 1971, it entered lunar orbit. The spacecraft completed 85 communications sessions and 54 lunar... |
USSR | 11 September 1971 | Failed attempt at sample return; probable crash-landing. | |
Luna 20 Luna 20 Luna 20 was the second of three successful Soviet lunar sample return missions. It was flown as part of the Luna program, also called Lunik 20, as a robotic competitor to the six successful Apollo lunar sample return missions.... |
USSR | 21 February 1972 | Robotic sample return. | |
Apollo 16 Apollo 16 Young and Duke served as the backup crew for Apollo 13; Mattingly was slated to be the Apollo 13 command module pilot until being pulled from the mission due to his exposure to rubella through Duke.-Backup crew:... |
USA | 21 April 1972 | 8°58′22.84"S 15°30′0.68"E | Manned mission; lunar rover. |
Apollo 17 Apollo 17 Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final manned mission in the American Apollo space program. Launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 remains the... |
USA | 7 December 1972 | 20°11′26.88"N 30°46′18.05"E | Manned mission; lunar rover. |
Luna 21 Luna 21 -External links:*... /Lunokhod 2 Lunokhod 2 Lunokhod 2 was the second of two unmanned lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of the Lunokhod program.... |
USSR | 8 January 1973 | Robotic lunar rover Rover (space exploration) A rover is a space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface of a planet or other astronomical body. Some rovers have been designed to transport members of a human spaceflight crew; others have been partially or fully autonomous robots... . |
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Luna 23 Luna 23 Luna 23 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 23.Luna 23 was a Moon lander mission which was intended to return a lunar sample to Earth. Launched to the Moon by a Proton SL-12/D-1-e booster, the spacecraft was damaged during landing in Mare Crisium... |
USSR | 6 November 1974 | Failed attempt at sample return; damaged on landing. | |
Luna 24 Luna 24 -External links:*... |
USSR | 18 August 1976 | Robotic sample return. | |
Hiten Hiten The Hiten Spacecraft , given the English name Celestial Maiden and known before launch as MUSES-A , part of the MUSES Program, was built by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of Japan and launched on January 24, 1990... |
Japan | 10 April 1993 | Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission. | |
Lunar Prospector Lunar Prospector The Lunar Prospector mission was the third selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. At a cost of $62.8 million, the 19-month mission was designed for a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon, including mapping of surface composition and possible... |
USA | 31 July 1999 | Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed into polar crater at end of mission to test for liberation of water vapour (not detected). | |
SMART-1 SMART-1 SMART-1 was a Swedish-designed European Space Agency satellite that orbited around the Moon. It was launched on September 27, 2003 at 23:14 UTC from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. "SMART" stands for Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology... |
ESA European Space Agency The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states... |
3 September 2006 | Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission. | |
Chandrayaan-1 Moon Impact Probe Moon Impact Probe The Moon Impact Probe developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation , India's national space agency, was a lunar probe that was released by ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 lunar remote sensing orbiter which in turn was launched, on 22 October 2008, aboard a modified version of ISRO's Polar Satellite... |
ISRO | 14 November 2008 | Impactor. | |
SELENE Rstar (Okina) | Japan | 12 February 2009 | Lunar orbiter, casually crashed at end of mission. | |
Chang'e 1 | Mainland China | 1 March 2009 | Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission. | |
Kaguya SELENE SELENE , better known in Japan by its nickname after the legendary Japanese moon princess, was the second Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft. Produced by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and the National Space Development Agency , both now part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration... |
Japan | 10 June 2009 | Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission. | |
LCROSS LCROSS The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite was a robotic spacecraft operated by NASA. The mission was conceived as a low-cost means of determining the nature of hydrogen detected at the polar regions of the moon. The main LCROSS mission objective was to explore the presence of water ice... (Centaur) |
United States | 9 October, 2009 | 84.675°S 311.275°E 84.729°S 310.64°E |
Impactors. Water found. |
LCROSS (Shepherding Spacecraft) |
VenusVenusVenus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
Mission | Country/Agency | Date of landing/impact | Coordinates | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Venera 3 Venera 3 Venera 3 was a Venera program space probe that was built and launched by the Soviet Union to explore the surface of Venus. It was launched on November 16, 1965 at 04:19 UTC from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.... |
USSR | 1 March 1966 | Probably around -20° to 20° N, 60° to 80° E | First impact on the surface of another planet. Contact lost before atmospheric entry. |
Venera 4 Venera 4 Venera 4 ) was a probe in the Soviet Venera program for the exploration of Venus. Venera-4 was the first successful probe to perform in-place analysis of the environment of another planet. It was also the first probe to land on another planet... |
USSR | 18 October 1967 | Estimated near . |
Crushed by atmospheric pressure before impact. |
Venera 5 Venera 5 Venera 5 was a probe in the Soviet space program Venera for the exploration of Venus.Venera 5 was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik towards Venus to obtain atmospheric data... |
USSR | 16 May 1969 | Atmospheric probe; crushed by atmospheric pressure before impact. | |
Venera 6 Venera 6 Venera 6 was a Soviet spacecraft, launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik on January 10, 1969 towards Venus to obtain atmospheric data. It had an on-orbit dry mass of 1130 kg.... |
USSR | 17 May 1969 | Atmospheric probe; crushed by atmospheric pressure before impact. | |
Venera 7 Venera 7 The Venera 7 was a Soviet spacecraft, part of the Venera series of probes to Venus. When it landed on the Venusian surface, it became the first man-made spacecraft to successfully land on another planet and to transmit data from there back to Earth.*Launch date/time: 1970 August 17 at 05:38... |
USSR | 15 December 1970 | First successful soft landing on another planet; transmitted from surface for 23 minutes. | |
Venera 8 Venera 8 Venera 8 was a probe in the Soviet Venera program for the exploration of Venus.Venera 8 was a Venus atmospheric probe and lander. Its instrumentation included temperature, pressure, and light sensors as well as an altimeter, gamma ray spectrometer, gas analyzer, and radio transmitters... |
USSR | 22 July 1972 | Within 150 km radius of | Soft landing; transmitted from surface for 50 minutes. |
Venera 9 lander Venera 9 Venera 9 was a USSR unmanned space mission to Venus. It consisted of an orbiter and a lander. It was launched on June 8, 1975 02:38:00 UTC and weighed 4,936 kg... |
USSR | 22 October 1975 | Within a 150 km radius of | Soft landing; transmitted from surface for 53 minutes. First pictures from surface. |
Venera 10 lander Venera 10 Venera 10 was a USSR unmanned space mission to Venus. It consisted of an orbiter and a lander. It launched on June 14, 1975 03:00:31 UTC.-Orbiter:The orbiter entered Venus orbit on October 23, 1975... |
USSR | 25 October 1975 | Within a 150 km radius of ) | Soft landing; transmitted from surface for 65 minutes. |
Pioneer Venus Multiprobe | USA | 9 December 1978 | Surviving "Day Probe" landed at |
One of four atmospheric probes survived impact and continued to transmit for 67 minutes. |
Venera 12 lander Venera 12 The Venera 12 was an USSR unmanned space mission to explore the planet Venus. Venera 12 was launched on 14 September 1978 at 02:25:13 UTC. Separating from its flight platform on December 19, 1978, the lander entered the Venus atmosphere two days later at 11.2 km/s. During the descent, it... |
USSR | 21 December 1978 | Soft landing; transmitted from surface for 110 minutes. | |
Venera 11 lander Venera 11 The Venera 11 was a USSR unmanned space mission part of the Venera program to explore the planet Venus. Venera 11 was launched on 9 September 1978 at 3:25:39 UTC.... |
USSR | 25 December 1978 | Soft landing; transmitted from surface for 95 minutes. | |
Venera 13 lander Venera 13 Venera 13 was a probe in the Soviet Venera program for the exploration of Venus.Venera 13 and 14 were identical spacecraft built to take advantage of the 1981 Venus launch opportunity and launched 5 days apart, Venera 13 on 1981-10-30 at 06:04:00 UTC and Venera 14 on 1981-11-04 at 05:31:00 UTC,... |
USSR | 1 March 1982 | Soft landing; transmitted from surface for 127 minutes. | |
Venera 14 lander Venera 14 Venera 14 was a probe in the Soviet Venera program for the exploration of Venus.Venera 14 was identical to the Venera 13 spacecraft and built to take advantage of the 1981 Venus launch opportunity and launched 5 days apart... |
USSR | 5 March 1982 | Soft landing; transmitted from surface for 57 minutes. | |
Vega 1 lander Vega 1 Vega 1 is a Soviet space probe part of the Vega program. The spacecraft was a development of the earlier Venera craft... |
USSR | 11 June 1985 | Soft landing; instruments failed to return data. | |
Vega 2 lander Vega 2 Vega 2 is a Soviet space probe part of the Vega program. The spacecraft was a development of the earlier Venera craft. They were designed by Babakin Space Center and constructed as 5VK by Lavochkin at Khimki... |
USSR | 15 June 1985 | Soft landing; transmitted from surface for 57 minutes. |
MarsMarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
Mission | Country/Agency | Date of landing/impact | Coordinates | Notes |
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Mars 2 lander Mars 2 The Mars program was a series of Mars unmanned landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s.The Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions consisted of identical spacecraft, each with an orbiter and an attached lander; they were the first human artifacts to impact the surface of Mars... |
USSR | 27 November 1971 | 45°S 30°W | First man-made object on Mars. No contact after crash landing. |
Mars 3 lander Mars 3 The Mars 3 was an unmanned space probe of the Mars program, a series of unmanned Mars landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s.... |
USSR | 2 December 1971 | 45°S 158°W | First soft landing on Mars. First images from surface.Sent signal for only 20 seconds after landing. |
Mars 6 lander | USSR | 12 March 1974 | 23.90°S 19.42°W | Contact lost at landing. |
Viking 1 lander Viking 1 Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. It was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission, and until May 19, 2010 held the record for the second longest Mars surface mission of 6 years and 116 days .- Mission :Following... |
USA | 20 July 1976 | 22.697°N 48.222°W | Successful soft landing. |
Viking 2 lander Viking 2 The Viking 2 mission was part of the American Viking program to Mars, and consisted of an orbiter and a lander essentially identical to that of the Viking 1 mission. The Viking 2 lander operated on the surface for 1,281 Mars days and was turned off on 11 April 1980 when its batteries failed... |
USA | 3 September 1976 | 48.269°N 225.990°W | Successful soft landing. |
Mars Pathfinder Mars Pathfinder Mars Pathfinder was an American spacecraft that landed a base station with roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a lightweight wheeled robotic rover named Sojourner.Launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II booster a... and Sojourner rover |
USA | 4 July 1997 | 19.13°N 33.22°W | First air bag landing on Mars and first Mars rover. |
Mars Polar Lander Mars Polar Lander The Mars Polar Lander, also referred to as the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander, was a 290-kilogram robotic spacecraft lander, launched by NASA on January 3, 1999, to study the soil and climate of Planum Australe, a region near the south pole on Mars, as part of the Mars Surveyor '98 mission... |
USA | 3 December 1999 | Contact lost prior to landing. | |
Beagle 2 Beagle 2 Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission. All contact with it was lost upon its separation from the Mars Express six days before its scheduled entry into the atmosphere... |
UK United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... / ESA European Space Agency The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states... |
25 December 2003 | No contact after landing attempt. It is not known for certain that the craft reached the Martian surface (either intact or at all). | |
MER-A 'Spirit' | USA | 3 January 2004 | 14.5718°S 175.4785°E | Mars rover. |
MER-B 'Opportunity' | USA | 25 January 2004 | 1.95°S 354.47°E | Mars rover. |
Phoenix Phoenix (spacecraft) Phoenix was a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission on Mars under the Mars Scout Program. The Phoenix lander descended on Mars on May 25, 2008... |
USA | 25 May 2008 | 68.218830°N 234.250778°E | Landed in the north polar region, and investigated whether conditions there are suitable for life to have evolved. |
Other bodies
Body | Mission | Country/Agency | Date of landing/impact | Coordinates | Notes |
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Eros 433 Eros 433 Eros is a near-Earth asteroid discovered in 1898, and the first asteroid to be orbited by a probe . It is an S-type asteroid approximately 34.4×11.2×11.2 km in size, the second-largest NEA after 1036 Ganymed, and belongs to the Amor group.Eros is a Mars-crosser asteroid, the first known... (asteroid) |
USA | 12 February 2001 | Designed as an orbiter, but an improvised landing was carried out on completion of the main mission. Transmission from the surface continued for about 16 days. | ||
Jupiter Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,... |
Galileo | (atmospheric probe) (main craft) |
Atmospheric probe, and, later, main craft were intentionally directed at Jupiter and disintegrated in Jovian atmosphere. [Not a "landing," but an intentional impact with a planetary body.] | ||
Huygens probe Huygens probe The Huygens probe was an atmospheric entry probe carried to Saturn's moon Titan as part of the Cassini–Huygens mission. The probe was supplied by the European Space Agency and named after the Dutch 17th century astronomer Christiaan Huygens.... |
ESA European Space Agency The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states... / USA/ Italy(ASI Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy... ) |
14 January 2005 | 10.2936°S 163.1775°E | Successful soft landing. | |
Comet 9P/Tempel 1 | Deep Impact | USA | 4 July 2005 | Impactor. | |
Itokawa 25143 Itokawa 25143 Itokawa is an Apollo and Mars-crosser asteroid. It was the first asteroid to be the target of a sample return mission, the Japanese space probe Hayabusa.-Discovery and naming:... (asteroid) |
Hayabusa Hayabusa was an unmanned spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis.... |
19 November 2005 | Accidentally stayed for 30 min. | ||
25 November 2005 | Stayed for 1 sec. Sample return (very small amount of dust successfully returned to Earth). |
Note: Phobos
Phobos (moon)
Phobos is the larger and closer of the two natural satellites of Mars. Both moons were discovered in 1877. With a mean radius of , Phobos is 7.24 times as massive as Deimos...
landing was unsuccessfully attempted by Phobos 2 in 1989.