Only a single nation has successfully executed a crewed lunar landing. This monumental achievement represented the zenith of 20th-century technological competition. The historical significance of this event continues to resonate as nations now set their sights on returning to the lunar surface.
The Only Nation to Achieve a Crewed Lunar Landing
The sole nation to land humans on the Moon is the United States. This feat was accomplished through the Apollo program, which launched its first crewed landing mission, Apollo 11, in July 1969. The program utilized the Saturn V rocket, which remains one of the most powerful launch vehicles ever successfully flown.
Following the initial success of Apollo 11, the United States conducted five more crewed missions that successfully touched down on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972. These missions—Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17—delivered 12 astronauts who walked and worked on the Moon. The final mission, Apollo 17, concluded the program in December 1972, leaving the record for human lunar presence unbroken for over five decades. This exploration yielded nearly 400 kilograms of lunar rock and soil samples, which scientists continue to analyze today.
The Space Race Rivalry and Near Misses
The successful American landings occurred during the Cold War Space Race, which drove the Soviet Union to pursue its own program to land cosmonauts on the Moon. The Soviet effort centered on the massive N1 rocket, designed to be the counterpart to the American Saturn V. This program suffered from technical hurdles, political conflicts, and underfunding, which prevented it from achieving a crewed lunar mission.
The N1 rocket’s design relied on a cluster of 30 smaller NK-15 engines, a complex configuration that proved difficult to manage and test. Because the Soviets lacked the facilities to ground-test the entire stage, the N1 was never fully validated before its flight attempts. Between February 1969 and November 1972, all four uncrewed test launches of the N1 failed catastrophically before the first stage could complete its burn. The Soviet crewed lunar program was officially canceled in 1974, ensuring the United States would remain the only nation to achieve a human landing.
Current Global Efforts to Return Humans to the Moon
The historical achievement is now being challenged by a new era of international lunar exploration focused on establishing a sustained human presence on the Moon. The United States is leading the Artemis Program, a multinational effort to return Americans to the lunar surface. The Artemis III mission, targeted for no earlier than 2027, is intended to be the first crewed landing of the new program, utilizing the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and a commercially developed Human Landing System (HLS).
China has also made its own crewed landing a high national priority. The Chinese space agency intends to land taikonauts on the Moon by 2030. Their plan involves developing a new super-heavy lift rocket, the Long March 10, and a dedicated crewed lunar lander named Lanyue. This renewed competition signals a global shift toward long-term lunar habitation and resource utilization.