Only three countries' space agencies have successfully soft landed spacecraft on the surface of the moon: NASA in the United States, the Soviet space agency in the former Soviet Union, and the China National Space Administration in China. Here are some of the main equipment or mission designations used by these space agencies:
1. NASA, USA:
- Apollo Program: NASA's Apollo program is by far the most famous manned lunar landing program. Among them, the Apollo 11 mission successfully achieved the first soft landing on the moon in human history in 1969, and the lunar walk was carried out by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The main landing module used by the Apollo program was the Apollo lunar module.
Surveyor Program: Prior to the Apollo program, the United States implemented the Surveyor Program, which used unmanned probes to conduct soft landings and survey the lunar surface.
2. USSR/Russian Space Agency:
Luna Programme: The Soviet Union's Lunar Program was a series of unmanned lunar missions covering multiple missions from 1959 to 1976. Among them, Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the moon in 1966. Luna 17 carried the lunar rover, Lunokhod 1, the first remote-controlled robot to operate on the lunar surface.
3. China National Space Administration:
Chang'e Program: The Chang'e Program is China's lunar exploration program, which is divided into several phases: orbital flight, landing exploration, and sample return. Among them, Chang'e-3 achieved China's first soft landing on the moon in 2013. Subsequently, Chang'e-4 became the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the moon in 2019. Chang'e-5 successfully completed the collection and return of lunar samples to Earth in 2020.
In addition to the above-mentioned countries, other countries and private companies are also planning their own lunar exploration missions, including the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-2 mission, which lost contact with its lander during the 2019 landing despite the successful orbiter into lunar orbit.
It is important to note that as technology advances and new missions are planned, the equipment and plans involved in landing on the moon may change. The above information is as of the date of the last update of my knowledge base, and there may be new developments in the future.