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It's crazy to think only three space programs have soft landed on the moon. And since the first in 1966, there have only been about 2 dozen soft landings on the moon.

We tend to forget it's really hard to do.




I think the full list is

Luna 9, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 24 (1966-1976)

Surveyor 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 (1966-68)

Apollo 11,12,14,15,16,17 (1969-72)

Chang'e 3 and 4 (2013 + 2019)


The gaps in numbers are telling.

And even Apollo which was by far and away the most successful had three astronauts killed on the launchpad and Apollo 13's lunar landing scrubbed.


The later Apollo missions weren't very popular with the public and were a potential political disaster for the president. Many people felt they were an enormous waste of money.

James Burke made a really great documentary mini-series in ~1980 where he interviewed a lot of the people involved in the Apollo missions. You can still find them on YouTube.




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