Most of those landings occurred near the lunar equator, leaving the poles largely unexplored. Atlas, dressed like an ancient king, bears on his shoulders an armillary sphere. Then humanity took a 37-year break from landing on the moon before China achieved its first lunar touchdown in 2013. The armillary sphere shown indicates the motions of the sun and moon. and Russian landings-occurred between 19. Of the 21 lunar landings, 19-all of the U.S.
Some even hope to build a radio telescope there, shielded from the radio noise of Earth, to study the most ancient reaches of the universe. As more spacecraft reach the far side, planetary scientists able to closely study this alien realm, possibly revealing the history of the moon’s formation along with our own planet’s past. The far side is pocked by ancient craters, mountains and rugged terrain, largely devoid of the smooth maria (basaltic plains) we see on the near side. Earlier this year, the Chinese spacecraft Chang’e 4 successfully landed on the far side of the moon. and an A2 Moon map to help you identify notable features. Today, robotics has advanced to the point that landers and rovers operated from Earth provide a capable and cost-effective way to explore the moon.įrom research conducted by the Apollo missions, other successful moon landings, dozens of orbiters and powerful telescopes here at Earth, we know more about our one natural satellite than at any point in history. The first topographically accurate lunar globe, using NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter data. However, robotic exploration of the lunar surface in the latter half of the 1960s played a crucial role for those crewed landings and the boot prints that followed. The most renowned moon landings are undoubtedly the six Apollo lunar touchdowns, carrying humans to another world for the first time (and still, the only time).
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