All 19tracked lunar landing vehicles — grouped by current status. Each entry sources NASA, JAXA, ISRO, CNSA, ESA, or the operator's primary publication.
Ghost Riders in the Sky
Site: Mare Crisium near Mons Latreille (lunar near side)
Contract: $101.5M · 2025-03-02
First fully successful commercial soft landing on the Moon (upright, full mission). Operated 346 hours (~14.4 lunar days of daylight + post-sunset science) before battery depletion. Awarded the 2025 Collier Trophy.
Site: Apollo crater, South Pole-Aitken Basin (lunar far side)
First-ever sample return from the lunar far side and the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Used the Queqiao-2 relay satellite for far-side comms. Samples revealed unexpectedly cohesive grain behavior and excavated material from the Moon's mantle.
Odysseus
Site: Malapert A crater, ~300 km from lunar south pole
Contract: $118M · 2024-02-15
First US Moon landing since Apollo 17 and first commercial soft landing in history. Lander tipped to ~30° on touchdown after landing-leg failure but transmitted data for ~7 days before sunset.
Athena
Site: Mons Mouton plateau, lunar south pole (~400 m off target)
Contract: $62.5M · 2025-02-27
Soft-landed but tipped onto its side after altimeter failure caused the lander to strike a plateau and skid into a crater rim. Power depleted within ~24 hours; ~250 MB of data transmitted including TRIDENT drill range-of-motion demonstration.
Smart Lander for Investigating Moon ('Moon Sniper')
Site: Near Shioli crater, Mare Nectaris (~10 m precision vs 100 m target)
First Japanese soft landing; made Japan the 5th nation to soft-land on the Moon. One of two main engines failed at ~50 m altitude; lander touched down on its side but still met 100-m precision goal. Survived four lunar-night cycles despite not being designed for it; declared concluded 2024-08-23.
Chandrayaan-3
Site: Statio Shiv Shakti, 69.37°S — first soft landing near lunar south pole
Contract: ₹6.15B (~$75M USD) · 2023-07-14
First soft landing near the lunar south pole and first lunar landing by ISRO. Pragyan rover traversed ~100 m over 10 lunar days, confirmed sulfur, aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon, oxygen at the landing site. Lander 'hopped' to a secondary location demonstrating reusable propulsion.
ispace Mission 3 (Team Draper)
Site: Schrödinger Basin, lunar far side near south pole
Contract: $73M · 2022-07-21
Pivoted from Series-2 to APEX 1.0 architecture for higher payload capacity and far-side comms via two relay satellites. Far-side polar landing supports NASA's Endurance-A sample-return precursor science.
Site: Lunar south pole region (specific site TBD)
Contract: €862M · 2025-01-30
Europe's first dedicated lunar lander program. Designed to deliver cargo, infrastructure, and surface assets supporting Artemis-era operations. Argonaut Mission 1 demonstration NET 2030; first operational mission ArgoNET in 2031.
Site: Lunar far side (specific site TBD; supports LuSEE-Night)
First commercial far-side landing attempt. Elytra deploys ESA's Lunar Pathfinder relay before Blue Ghost descends, providing dual-S/X-band relay for surface and orbital users. JPL's User Terminal Payload delivered for integration April 2026.
Pathfinder Mission 1
Site: Lunar south pole region
First flight test of Blue Moon Mark 1. Carries NASA CLPS Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies + Laser Retroreflective Array. Targets 100 m landing precision. Lander completed full-scale thermal-vacuum testing at NASA Plum Brook (Armstrong Test Facility) May 2026.
Blue Moon MK1 / VIPER Delivery
Site: Lunar south pole (VIPER traverse site)
Contract: $190M · 2025-09-19
NASA's CLPS task order awarded 2025-09-19 after pulling VIPER from Griffin. Re-uses second MK1 lander production unit; mission cadence depends on Pathfinder Mission 1 outcome.
Site: Near Mons Mouton, lunar south pole
India's first lunar sample-return mission. Five modules launched on two LVM3 vehicles; requires both Earth-orbit and lunar-orbit docking — first-time capabilities for ISRO. Architecture sanctioned by Government of India September 2024.
Site: Shackleton crater illuminated rim, lunar south pole
China's first dedicated lunar south-pole prospecting mission. Mini-flying probe hops into permanently shadowed regions to sample for water-ice volatiles. Italian laser retroreflector aboard the lander.
Griffin Mission 1
Site: Lunar south pole region
Contract: $199.5M · 2020-06-11
NASA cancelled VIPER July 2024 citing cost overruns; saved ~$84M vs ~$104M completion cost. Astrobotic retained the lander demonstration task. Mission slipped from late 2025 to NET July 2026. FLIP rover (Venturi Astrolab) selected as replacement manifest.
Lunar Polar Exploration Mission
Site: Lunar south pole (permanently shadowed crater margin)
Joint ISRO-JAXA water-ice prospecting mission, designated Chandrayaan-5 by India. India's cabinet approved Phase A on 2025-03-10. Launches on JAXA's H3. Carries American and European instruments alongside Indian and Japanese ones.
Site: Reiner Gamma lunar swirl, Oceanus Procellarum
Targeted to be the first surface mission to land inside a lunar magnetic anomaly (swirl). Manifest includes three NASA-CADRE shoebox rovers, an ESA actuated laser retroreflector, and the Australian ALEPH-1 plant-growth payload.
HAKUTO-R Mission 1
Site: Atlas crater, Mare Frigoris (planned; impacted at altitude ~5 km)
Travelled ~1.4M km — at the time, furthest a privately funded spacecraft had flown. Software flagged the radar altimeter as faulty after the lander crossed a crater rim cliff and ignored its readings. Lander ran out of fuel hovering ~5 km above surface and free-fell.
Resilience (SMBC × HAKUTO-R Venture Moon)
Site: Mare Frigoris (center; hard landing)
Laser Range Finder anomaly during descent caused hard landing; data lost ~90 seconds before scheduled touchdown at 19:17 UTC. NASA's LRO imaged impact dark-smudge on 2025-06-11. ispace's 2025-06-24 technical analysis ruled out propulsion/power; isolated cause to LRF.
Peregrine Mission One
Site: Sinus Viscositatis (planned; never reached)
Contract: $108M · 2024-01-08
Maiden flight of ULA's Vulcan Centaur. Helium pressurant valve failed to reseal post-actuation, over-pressurizing the oxidizer tank and rupturing it. Lander commanded into controlled re-entry; burned up over South Pacific 2024-01-18.