This is a partial list of artificial materials left on the Moon, many during the missions of the Apollo program. The table below does not include lesser Apollo mission artificial objects, such as a hammer and other tools, retroreflectors, Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Packages, or the commemorative, artistic, and personal objects left by the twelve Apollo astronauts, such as the United States flags, the commemorative plaques attached to the ladders of the six Apollo Lunar Modules, the silver astronaut pin left by Alan Bean in honor of Clifton C. Williams whom he replaced, the Bible left by David Scott, the Fallen Astronaut statuette and memorial plaque placed by the crew of Apollo 15, the Apollo 11 goodwill messages disc, or the golf balls Alan Shepard hit during an Apollo 14 moonwalk.
Five S-IVB third stages of Saturn V rockets from the Apollo program crashed into the Moon, and are the heaviest human-made objects on the lunar surface. Humans have left over of material on the Moon. Besides the 2019 Chang'e 4 and SLIM missions, the only artificial objects on the Moon that are still in use are the retroreflectors for the Lunar Laser Ranging experiments left there by the Apollo 11, 14, and 15 astronauts, Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander, and by the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2 missions.Slava G. Turyshev – From Quantum to Cosmos: Fundamental Physics Research in Space (2009) – Page 300
Objects at greater than 90 degrees east or west are on the far side of the Moon, including Ranger 4, Lunar Orbiter 1, Lunar Orbiter 2, Lunar Orbiter 3, Chang'e 4 lander and Yutu-2 rover.
Because of increasing numbers of missions to and objects at the Moon, a global registry of lunar activities has been proposed in 2023 by the Open Lunar Foundation.
List Legend Colors Crashed (unintentionally) Impactor or post-mission crashed Landed Operational
Table of objects
Artificial object Image Country Year Mass (lb) Mass (kg) Status Location Notes Luna 2 1959 390 Impactor Luna 2Third stage of Vostok rocket 1959 9,100 Crashed (post-mission) Ranger 4 1962 331 Crashed (controlled impact failed) Ranger 6 1964 381 Impactor Ranger 7 1964 365 Impactor Luna 5 1965 1,474 Crashed Luna 7 1965 1,504 Crashed Luna 8 1965 (launch mass) 1552 (launch mass) Crashed Ranger 8 1965 367 Impactor Ranger 9 1965 367 Impactor Luna 9 spacecraft/descent stage 1966 (before lander capsule ejection) 1538 (before lander capsule ejection) Crashed (post-mission) Luna 9 Automated Lunar Station (ALS) airbag and lander capsule 1966 99 Landed Luna 10 1966 1,600 Crashed(post-mission) Unknown Luna 11 1966 1,640 Crashed (post-mission) Unknown Luna 12 1966 1,670 Crashed (post-mission) Unknown Surveyor 1 (separate from descent stage) 1966 270 Landed Luna 13 (separate from descent stage) 1966 113 Landed Lunar Orbiter 1 1966 386 Crashed(post-mission) Surveyor 2 1966 292 Crashed Lunar Orbiter 2 1966 385 Crashed(post-mission) Lunar Orbiter 3 1966 386 Crashed(post-mission) Surveyor 3 (separate from descent stage) 1967 281 Landed Lunar Orbiter 4 1967 386 Crashed(post-mission) Unknown Surveyor 4 1967 283 Crashed Explorer 35 1967 104 Crashed (post mission) Unknown Lunar Orbiter 5 1967 386 Crashed(post-mission) Surveyor 5 (separate from descent stage) 1967 281 Landed Surveyor 6 (separate from descent stage) 1967 282 Landed Surveyor 7 (separate from descent stage) 1968 290 Landed Luna 14 1968 1,670 Crashed (post-mission) Unknown Apollo 10LM-4 Snoopy descent stage 1969 2,211 Likely crashed(post-mission) Unknown Apollo 11LM-5 Eagle descent stage 1969 2,034 Landed Luna 15 1969 2,718 Crashed Unknown Apollo 11LM-5 Eagle ascent stage 1969 2,184 Crashed (post-mission) or in orbit Unknown Apollo 12LM-6 Intrepid descent stage 1969 2,211 Landed Apollo 12LM-6 Intrepid ascent stage 1969 2,164 Crashed(post-mission) Luna 16 descent stage 1970 1,380 Landed Luna 17 and Lunokhod 1 1970 5,600 Landed Apollo 13S-IVB (S-IVB-508)Astronautix.com, Apollo 13 : The S-IVB/IU impacted the lunar surface at 8:10 p.m. EST on April 14 at a speed of 259 meters per second (incorrect, should probably be 2590 meters/sec), […] 137.1 kilometers from the Apollo 12 seismometer. 1970 13,454 Crashed (post-mission) Luna 18 1971 1,880 Crashed Luna 19 1971 1,880 Crashed (post-mission) Unknown Apollo 14S-IVB (S-IVB-509) 1971 14,016 Crashed (post-mission) Apollo 14LM-8 Antares descent stage 1971 2,144 Landed Apollo 14LM-8 Antares ascent stage 1971 2,132 Crashed(post-mission) Apollo 15S-IVB (S-IVB-510) 1971 14,036 Crashed (post-mission) Apollo 15LM-10 Falcon descent stage 1971 2,809 Landed Apollo 15Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV-1) 1971 210 Landed Apollo 15LM-10 Falcon ascent stage 1971 2,132 Crashed(post-mission) Apollo 15 subsatellite 1971 36 Crashed(post-mission) Unknown Luna 20 descent stage 1972 Landed Apollo 16S-IVB (S-IVB-511) 1972 14,002 Crashed (post-mission) Apollo 16LM-11 Orion descent stage 1972 2,765 Landed Apollo 16Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV-2) 1972 210 Landed Apollo 16LM-11 Orion ascent stage 1972 2,138 Crashed(post-mission) Unknown Apollo 16 subsatellite 1972 36 Crashed(post-mission) Unknown Apollo 17S-IVB (S-IVB-512) 1972 13,960 Crashed (post-mission) Apollo 17LM-12 Challenger descent stage 1972 2,798 Landed Apollo 17Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV-3) 1972 210 Landed Apollo 17LM-12 Challenger ascent stage 1972 2,150 Crashed(post-mission) 96 bags of human waste (urine, feces, vomit) 1969–1972 Discarded on surface by astronauts Near to all Apollo landing sites --> Luna 21 and Lunokhod 2 1973 4,850 Landed Explorer 49 (RAE-B) 1973 328 Crashed (post-mission) Unknown Luna 22 1974 4,000 Crashed (post-mission) Unknown Luna 23 1974 5,600 Landed Luna 24 descent stage 1976 Landed HagoromoHiten 1990 12 Crashed(not confirmed/post-mission) Unknown Hiten 1993 143 Crashed (post-mission)/Impactor Lunar Prospector 1998 126 Crashed (post-mission) SMART-1 European Space Agency 2006 307 Crashed (post-mission) Moon Impact Probe (MIP)Chandrayaan-1 2008 35 Impactor SELENE Rstar (Okina) 2009 53 Crashed (post-mission) SELENE Vstar (Ouna) Unknown 53 Crashed (post-mission) Unknown Chang'e 1 2009 2,000 Crashed (post-mission) / cf. 2.3t with fuel () SELENE (Kaguya) main orbiter 2009 1,984 Crashed (post-mission) LCROSS Shepherding Spacecraft 2009 700 Crashed (post-mission) LCROSS Centaur 2009 2,270 Impactor GRAIL 2012 133 Crashed(post-mission) Chang'e 3 lander 2013 1,200 Landed/operational Chang'e 3Yutu rover 2013 1,200 Landed LADEE 2014 248 Crashed (post-mission) Chang'e 4 lander 2019 1,200 Landed/operational Chang'e 4Yutu-2 rover 2019 1,200 Landed/operational Beresheet 2019 150 Crashed Longjiang-2 2019 47 Crashed (post-mission) Chandrayaan-2Vikram landerPragyan rover 2019 1,471 Crashed Chang'e 5 descent stage 20207,0553,200Landed Chang'e 5 ascent stage 2020>1543>700 Crashed (post-mission) Chang'e 5-T1 third stage rocket 202261002,800Crashed (post-mission) Manfred Memorial Moon Mission 20223114Crashed (post-mission together with Chang'e 5-T1 third stage rocket)Hakuto-R Mission 1 2023750340Crashed Emirates Lunar Mission Luna 25 2023 3,860 1,750 Crashed Chandrayaan-3Vikram landerPragyan rover 2023 3,863 1,752 Landed SLIM 2024 259.4 118.7 LandedLEV-1 2024 4.6 2.1 Landed LEV-2 2024 0.55 0.25 Landed IM-1 OdysseusEagleCam 2024 4,206 1,903 Landed Chang'e 6 descent stage 20247,0553,200Landed Jinchan rover 2024115Chang'e 6 ascent stage 2024>1543>700Crashed (post-mission) Blue Ghost M1 2025 1034 469 Landed Hakuto-R Mission 2 Resilience 2025750340CrashedTenacious rover 115IM-2 AthenaMAPP LV1Micro-NovaAstroAntYaoki 2025 4,231 1,919 Landed Falcon 9-425 upper stage (2025-010D) 20268,6003,900Crashed (post-mission) Total estimated dry mass 491,035 222,729 40 major objects landed softly
Image gallery
See also
Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package Deliberate crash landings on extraterrestrial bodies Human presence in space List of artificial objects on extraterrestrial surfaces List of landings on extraterrestrial bodies List of missions to the Moon List of retroreflectors on the Moon Lunar plaques Moon landing Timeline of Solar System exploration Tourism on the Moon
Notes Footnotes
References
External links NASA catalogue of manmade material on the Moon List of Apollo 11 artifacts on the Moon Lunar Litter: A short film about debris left behind on crewed Moon missions