List of extraterrestrial orbiters

This list of extraterrestrial orbiters is a listing of spacecraft that achieved an extraterrestrial orbit.

Legend Color legend for orbital status Inactive Unclear En-Route Operational

Sun

The first artificial object to orbit the sun is the Luna 1. The spacecraft was originally designed to intentionally crash into the moon, and, after missing its target in 1959, inadvertently became the first human-made object to ever leave Earth's orbit and circle around the Sun, where it remained to this day.

Moon

MissionCountry/agencyOrbital insertionCurrent statusNotesLuna 10NSSDC - Luna 10 USSR 3 April 1966 Contact lost 30 May 1966, probably decayed the same year First extraterrestrial and Moon orbiter Lunar Orbiter 1 USA 14 August 1966 Impacted lunar surface 29 October 1966 First U.S. extraterrestrial orbiter Luna 11NSSDC - Luna 11 USSR 27 August 1966 Contact lost 1 October 1966, probably decayed the same or following year Luna 12 USSR 25 October 1966 Contact lost 19 January 1967, probably decayed the same year Lunar Orbiter 2 USA Launched 6 November 1966 Impacted lunar surface 11 October 1967 Lunar Orbiter 3 USA 8 February 1967 Impacted lunar surface 9 October 1967 Lunar Orbiter 4 USA Launched 4 May 1967 Contact lost 17 July 1967, impacted lunar surface 6 October 1967 Explorer 35 USA Launched 19 July 1967 Deactivated 24 June 1973; impacted lunar surface in the middle to late 1970s Lunar Orbiter 5 USA 5 August 1967 Deorbited; impacted lunar surface 31 January 1968 Luna 14 USSR 10 April 1968 Mission terminated 24 June 1968, its orbit probably decayed Luna 19 USSR 2 October 1971 Mission terminated 20 October 1972 and contact lost on 1 November 1972, probably decayed the following year Explorer 49 USA Launched 10 June 1973 Contact lost August 1977, its orbit probably decayed Luna 22 USSR 2 June 1974 Mission terminated November 1975, its orbit probably decayed in 1976 Apollo 8 USA Launched 21 December 1968; entered orbit after 69 hrs Left orbit after 10 orbits; splashdown on Earth First crewed lunar orbit Apollo 10 USA Launched 18 May 1969 Left orbit 26 May 1969 Apollo 11 USA July 19, 1969 July 21, 1969; Lunar module ascent stage abandoned in orbit, impact site unknown First human Moon landing Apollo 12 USA November 18, 1969 November 21, 1969 Human Moon landing Apollo 14 USA February 4, 1971 February 7, 1971 Human Moon landing Apollo 15 USA July 29, 1971 August 4, 1971 Human Moon landing Apollo 15 subsatellite (PFS-1) USA August 4, 1971 January 1973 Apollo 16 USA April 19, 1972 April 25, 1972; Lunar module ascent stage abandoned in orbit, impact site unknown Human Moon landing Apollo 16 subsatellite (PFS-2) USA April 24, 1972 May 29, 1972 Apollo 17 USA December 11, 1972 December 14, 1972 Human Moon landing Hiten and Hagoromo Japan Hiten: 15 February 1993 Hiten was deliberately deorbited and impacted the lunar surface 10 April 1993 First Japanese lunar orbiter Clementine USA Launched 25 January 1994 Left lunar orbit and entered heliocentric orbit; contact lost June 1994 Lunar Prospector USA Launched 7 January 1998 Deliberately deorbited; impacted lunar surface 31 July 1999 SMART-1 ESA 11 November 2004Deliberately deorbited; impacted lunar surface 3 September 2006 SELENE (Kaguya, Okina and Ouna) Japan 3 October 2007 Deliberately deorbited; impacted lunar surface 10 June 2009 Chang'e 1 China 5 November 2007 Deliberately deorbited 1 March 2009; impacted the Moon's surface. First Chinese lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 India 8 November 2008 Deliberately crashed into lunar surface. Impact probe remained operational for a few days. Contact lost 29 August 2009. First Indian lunar orbiter Lunar Reconnaissance OrbiterWhere is LRO? USA 23 June 2009 Active Chang'e 2 China 6 October 2010 Left lunar orbit 8 June 2011; currently in deep-space orbit ARTEMIS P1 USA 2 July 2011 Active ARTEMIS P2 USA 17 July 2011 Active Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) USA 31 December 2011 / 1 January 2012 Both spacecraft were deliberately deorbited and impacted on the lunar surface 17 December 2012 LADEE USA 6 October 2013 Deliberately deorbited 18 April 2014 Chang'e 3 China 6 December 2013 Landed on lunar surface 14 December 2013 First Chinese lunar landing Chang'e 5-T1 China 13 January 2015 Returned to Earth on 31 October 2014 Chang'e 4 China 12 December 2018 Landed on lunar surface 3 January 2019. The Queqiao relay satellite was placed in an Earth-Moon L2 halo orbit. First lunar far-side landing Longjiang-2 microsatellite China 25 May 2018 Deorbited 2019 Beresheet Israel 4 April 2019 Crashed onto lunar surface 11 April 2019 First private lunar lander. Successfully orbited for 7 days. Soft landing failed. Chandrayaan-2 India 20 August 2019 Orbiter is active. The Vikram lander lost contact at 2.1 km from the lunar surface, and was subsequently destroyed.It was originally thought that Vikram had survived the impact, and ISRO continued trying to contact the lander until the lunar night. Chang'e 5 China 1 December 2020 Orbiter is in lunar DRO orbit. First lunar sample return mission by China. Ascent stage deorbited on 7 December 2020. Capsule successfully returned sample via service module on 16 December 2020. The orbiter will make lunar flyby in extended mission on 9 September 2021 in Distant retrograde orbit. CAPSTONE USA 14 November 2022 Active and on a Near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO)Lunar orbiting CubeSat that will test and verify the calculated orbital stability planned for the Gateway space station. Artemis 1 USA 25 November 2022 Remained on a Selenocentric orbit (DRO) until 5 December 2022, then returned to Earth First mission of the Artemis program. LunaH-Map USA 25 November 2022 Decayed 20 February 2023 Lunar IceCube USA 25 November 2022 On a Selenocentric orbit Contact lost shortly after the launch. Conducted lunar flyby on 21 November 2022, likely in a heliocentric orbit. Danuri KPLO USA / South Korea 16 December 2022 On a Selenocentric orbitLunar Orbiter by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) of South Korea. The orbiter, its science payload and ground control infrastructure are technology demonstrators. The orbiter will also be tasked with surveying lunar resources such as water ice, uranium, helium-3, silicon, and aluminium, and produce a topographic map to help select future lunar landing sites. Japan 21 March 2023 Crashed onto lunar surface on 25 April 2023 Carried the emirati Rashid and the Japanese SORA-Q lunar rovers. Contact lost during landing attempt. Chandrayaan-3 India 5 August 2023 Success (returned to Earth Orbit) Propulsion module, also functioning as a Chandrayaan-3 relay satellite. Conducted 4 flybys enroute return to Earth's orbit. Luna 25 Russia 16 August 2023 Crashed onto lunar surface on 19 August 2023 Lunar south pole lander, landing scheduled for 21 August 2023. Contact lost after orbit lowering maneuver. Japan 25 December 2023 Landed on Lunar surface on 19 January 2024 Carried the Japanese LEV-1 and LEV-2 lunar rovers. First Japanese soft landing. USA 21 February 2024 Landed on lunar surface on 22 February 2024 Carried the American EagleCam cubesat. Queqiao-2 China 24 March 2024 On a Selenocentric orbit Tiandu-1 China 24 March 2024 On a Selenocentric orbit Tiandu-2 China 24 March 2024 On a Selenocentric orbit DRO A/B China ~20 August 2024 On a Selenocentric orbit Yuanzheng 1S upper stage failed to deliver spacecraft into correct orbit. The satellites were intended to test Distant retrograde orbit. Tracking data appears to show China is attempting to salvage spacecraft and they appear to have succeeded in reaching their desired orbit. Chang'e 6 China 8 May 2024 Left lunar orbit 21 June 2024; currently at Sun Earth L2 First lunar sample return mission from far side and south pole of Moon by China. Ascent stage was deorbited on 6 June 2024. The capsule returned the sample via service module on 25 June 2024. ICUBE-Q Pakistan 8 May 2024 On a Selenocentric orbit First Pakistani lunar mission, piggybacking with Chang'e 6. USA 13 February 2025 Landed on lunar surface on 2 March 2025 Japan 5 June 2025 Crash landed. Carried the Tenacious rover made by Luxembourg. USA 3 March 2025 Landed on lunar surface on 6 March 2025 Carried MAPP LV1, Micro-Nova, AstroAnt and Yaoki rover, each built by different organisations.

Mars

MissionCountry/agencyOrbital insertionCurrent statusNotesMariner 9 USA14 November 1971Deactivated 27 October 1972. In derelict orbit around Mars, expected to decay no sooner than 2022NASA - This Month in NASA History: Mariner 9 , November 29, 2011 — Vol. 4, Issue 9First spacecraft to orbit another planet First Mars orbiterMars 2 orbiter USSR27 November 1971 Mission terminated 22 August 1972; spacecraft in derelict orbitFirst Soviet spacecraft to orbit MarsMars 3 orbiter USSR 2 December 1971 Mission terminated on August 22, 1972Mars 5 orbiterHistoric Spacecraft - Mars Probes USSR 12 February 1974 Contact lost on 28 February 1974 due to a loss of pressurization in the transmitter Viking 1 orbiter USA19 June 1976Mission terminated 17 August 1980, spacecraft in derelict high altitude orbit.Viking 2 orbiter USA7 August 1976Mission terminated 25 July 1978, spacecraft in derelict high altitude orbit.Phobos 2Encyclopedia Astronautica Fobos 1F USSR29 January 1989Contact lost 27 March 1989Mars Global Surveyor USA11 September 1997Contact lost 2 November 2006; In derelict orbit around Mars, expected to decay no sooner than 20472001 Mars Odyssey USA24 October 2001ActiveLongest-surviving, continuously active spacecraft in orbit around another planetMars Express ESA20 December 2003ActiveMars Reconnaissance Orbiter USA10 March 2006ActiveMAVEN USA22 September 2014ActiveMars Orbiter Mission India24 September 2014Contact lost April 2022India's first interplanetary missionExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter ESA19 October 2016ActiveCarried Schiaparelli EDM lander Emirates Mars Mission (Hope) UAE 9 February 2021ActiveUnited Arab Emirates's first interplanetary mission Tianwen 1 China 10 February 2021 ActiveTianwen-1 is China's first interplanetary mission, which consists of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover named Zhurong.

Venus MissionCountry/agencyOrbital insertionCurrent statusNotesVenera 9 USSR 22 October 1975 Mission terminated on March 22, 1976First Venus orbiterVenera 10 USSR 23 October 1975 Contact lost sometime in June 1976Pioneer Venus Orbiter USA4 December 1978Contact lost 8 October 1992; Atmospheric entry disintegration on 22 October 1992.Venera 15 USSR10 October 1983Contact lost January 5, 1985Venera 16 USSR11 October 1983Contact lost June 13, 1984Magellan USA 7 August 1990 Contact lost 13 October 1994. Deliberately deorbited into Venus' atmosphere.Venus Express ESA 11 April 2006 Contact lost 16 December 2014: Atmospheric entry disintegration in January 2015Akatsuki Japan7 December 2015Contact lost April 2024

Jupiter MissionCountry/agencyOrbital insertionCurrent statusNotesGalileo USA8 December 1995Intentionally deorbited and incinerated in Jupiter's atmosphere 21 September 2003First Jupiter orbiterJuno USA4 July 2016ActiveJUICE ESAJuly 2031 (planned)en route mission to study Jupiter's three icy moons Callisto, Europa and Ganymede, eventually orbiting Ganymede as the first spacecraft to orbit a satellite of another planet.Europa Clipper USA11 April 2030 (planned)en route planned to orbit Jupiter and fly by Europa multiple times.

Saturn MissionCountry/agencyOrbital insertionCurrent statusNotesCassini-Huygens USA ESA ASI1 July 2004Intentionally deorbited and incinerated in Saturn's atmosphere 15 September 2017First Saturn orbiter

Mercury MissionCountry/agencyOrbital insertionCurrent statusNotesMESSENGER USA18 March 2011Deliberately crashed into surface 30 April 2015. Impact probably around 54.4° N, 149.9° W, near the crater Janáček.First Mercury orbiterBepiColombo ESA JapanNovember 2026 (planned)en routeConsists of two satellites, the ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Japan's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO).

Minor planets and comets