Plans are afoot for permanent residence on the moon to set the stage for the Mars mission

We all know that the first time humans landed on the moon was in 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped off the Apollo 11 lunar lander. However, there were several other spacecraft that landed on the moon before Apollo 11. The first was the Soviet Union’s Luna 2, which crashed into the moon in 1959. The first successful soft landing on the moon was made by Luna 9 in 1966.

Is Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing on the moon not the first?

Not really. There were several other spacecraft that landed on the moon before Apollo 11, but they were all unmanned. The first spacecraft to land on the moon was the Soviet Union’s Luna 2, which crashed into the moon in 1959. The first successful soft landing on the moon was made by Luna 9 in 1966. However, neither of these spacecraft carried any humans.

Moon landings

As of today, there have been a total of 62 moon landings, both manned and unmanned. The 12 manned moon landings are:

United States: 12

·         Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon.

·         Apollo 12: Pete Conrad and Alan Bean became the second and third humans to walk on the moon.

·         Apollo 14: Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell became the fourth and fifth humans to walk on the moon.

·         Apollo 15: David Scott and James Irwin became the sixth and seventh humans to walk on the moon.

·         Apollo 16: John Young and Charles Duke became the eighth and ninth humans to walk on the moon.

·         Apollo 17: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt became the tenth and eleventh humans to walk on the moon.

There have also been 49 unmanned moon landings: Soviet Union: 24; the United States: 22; the Luna Program: 15; Surveyor Program: 7, Apollo Program: 5; China: 3; Japan: 2; Europe: 1 (SMART-1), and India: 1 (Chandrayaan 3)

India’s Chandrayaan 3 mission successfully soft-landed on the moon’s South Pole on August 23, 2023, making India the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon. But the first country to land on the south side.

Interesting!

The Sea of Tranquillity: It is a large, dark area on the moon’s near side. It is a vast lava plain that was formed billions of years ago. The Apollo 11 mission landed in the Sea of Tranquillity, and it is where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon.

Water on the moon: Scientists have found evidence that there is water ice on the moon. The water ice could be a valuable resource for future moon missions, as it could be used to provide drinking water, grow food, and produce fuel.

Humans back to the moon: The US, China, and Russia are all planning to send humans back to the moon in the coming years. The Artemis program is the US government’s plan to return humans to the moon by 2024. The Chinese government is also planning to send humans to the moon by 2030, and Russia is planning to send humans to the moon by 2035.

Permanent base on the moon: A permanent base on the moon would allow scientists to conduct long-term research on the moon and would also be a staging ground for future missions to Mars.