document_title: Moon landing

question_text: when was the last time we traveled to the moon

question_tokens: when was the last time we traveled to the moon

text: Moon landing

text: Unmanned landings[edit]

text: After the unsuccessful attempt by the Luna 1 to land on the moon in 1959, the Soviet Union performed the first hard (unpowered) moon landing later that same year with the Luna 2 spacecraft, a feat the U.S. duplicated in 1962 with Ranger 4. Since then, twelve Soviet and U.S. spacecraft have used braking rockets to make soft landings and perform scientific operations on the lunar surface, between 1966 and 1976. In 1966 the USSR accomplished the first soft landings and took the first pictures from the lunar surface during the Luna 9 and Luna 13 missions. The U.S. followed with five unmanned Surveyor soft landings.

text: The Soviet Union achieved the first unmanned lunar soil sample return with the Luna 16 probe on 24 September 1970. This was followed by Luna 20 and Luna 24 in 1972 and 1976, respectively. Following the failure at launch in 1969 of the first Lunokhod, Luna E-8 No.201, the Luna 17 and Luna 21 were successful unmanned lunar rover missions in 1970 and 1973.

text: Many missions were failures at launch. In addition, several unmanned landing missions achieved the Lunar surface but were unsuccessful, including: Luna 15, Luna 18, and Luna 23 all crashed on landing; and the U.S. Surveyor 4 lost all radio contact only moments before its landing.

text: More recently, other nations have crashed spacecraft on the surface of the Moon at speeds of around 8,000 kilometres per hour (5,000 mph), often at precise, planned locations. These have generally been end-of-life lunar orbiters that, because of system degradations, could no longer overcome perturbations from lunar mass concentrations ("masscons") to maintain their orbit. Japan's lunar orbiter Hiten impacted the Moon's surface on 10 April 1993. The European Space Agency performed a controlled crash impact with their orbiter SMART-1 on 3 September 2006.

text: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) performed a controlled crash impact with its Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on 14 November 2008. The MIP was an ejected probe from the Indian Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter and performed remote sensing experiments during its descent to the lunar surface.

text: The Chinese lunar orbiter Chang'e 1 executed a controlled crash onto the surface of the Moon on 1 March 2009. The rover mission Chang'e 3 was launched on 1 December 2013 and soft-landed on 14 December.

text: Manned landings[edit]

text: A total of twelve men have landed on the Moon. This was accomplished with two US pilot-astronauts flying a Lunar Module on each of six NASA missions across a 41-month period starting on 20 July 1969 UTC, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11, and ending on 14 December 1972 UTC with Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt on Apollo 17. Cernan was the last to step off the lunar surface.

text: All Apollo lunar missions had a third crew member who remained on board the Command Module. The last three missions had a rover for increased mobility.

text: Scientific background[edit]

text: In order to go to the Moon, a spacecraft must first leave the gravity well of the Earth. The only practical way of accomplishing this currently is with a rocket. Unlike other airborne vehicles such as balloons or jets, a rocket is the only known form of propulsion which can continue to increase its speed at high altitudes in the vacuum outside the Earth's atmosphere.

text: Upon approach of the target moon, a spacecraft will be drawn ever closer to its surface at increasing speeds due to gravity. In order to land intact it must decelerate to less than about 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph) and be ruggedized to withstand a "hard landing" impact, or it must decelerate to negligible speed at contact for a "soft landing" (which is the only viable option with human occupants). The first three attempts by the U.S. to perform a successful hard moon landing with a ruggedized seismometer package in 1962 all failed.[5] The Soviets first achieved the milestone of a hard lunar landing with a ruggedized camera in 1966, followed only months later by the first unmanned soft lunar landing by the U.S.

text: The speed of a crash landing on its surface is typically between 70 and 100% of the escape velocity of the target moon, and thus this is the total velocity which must be shed from the target moon's gravitational attraction for a soft landing to occur. For Earth's Moon, the escape velocity is 2.38 kilometres per second (1.48 mi/s).[6] The change in velocity (referred to as a delta-v) is usually provided by a landing rocket, which must be carried into space by the original launch vehicle as part of the overall spacecraft. An exception is the soft moon landing on Titan carried out by the Huygens probe in 2005. As the moon with the thickest atmosphere, landings on Titan may be accomplished by using atmospheric entry techniques that are generally lighter in weight than a rocket with equivalent capability.

text: The Soviets succeeded in making the first crash landing on the Moon in 1959.[7] Crash landings[8] may occur because of malfunctions in a spacecraft, or they can be deliberately arranged for vehicles which do not have an onboard landing rocket. There have been many such moon crashes, often with their flight path controlled to impact at precise locations on the lunar surface. For example, during the Apollo program the S-IVB third stage of the Saturn V moon rocket as well as the spent ascent stage of the lunar module were deliberately crashed on the Moon several times to provide impacts registering as a moonquake on seismometers that had been left on the lunar surface. Such crashes were instrumental in mapping the internal structure of the Moon.

text: To return to Earth, the escape velocity of the Moon must be overcome for the spacecraft to escape the gravity well of the Moon. Rockets must be used to leave the Moon and return to space. Upon reaching Earth, atmospheric entry techniques are used to absorb the kinetic energy of a returning spacecraft and reduce its speed for safe landing.[citation needed] These functions greatly complicate a moon landing mission and lead to many additional operational considerations. Any moon departure rocket must first be carried to the Moon's surface by a moon landing rocket, increasing the latter's required size. The Moon departure rocket, larger moon landing rocket and any Earth atmosphere entry equipment such as heat shields and parachutes must in turn be lifted by the original launch vehicle, greatly increasing its size by a significant and almost prohibitive degree.

text: Political background[edit]

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text: The intense efforts devoted in the 1960s to achieving first an unmanned and then ultimately a manned moon landing become easier to understand in the political context of its historical era. World War II had introduced many new and deadly innovations including blitzkrieg-style surprise attacks used in the invasion of Poland and in the attack on Pearl Harbor; the V-2 rocket, a ballistic missile which killed thousands in attacks on London and Antwerp; and the atom bomb, which killed hundreds of thousands in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the 1950s, tensions mounted between the two ideologically opposed superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union that had emerged as victors in the conflict, particularly after the development by both countries of the hydrogen bomb.

text: Willy Ley wrote in 1957 that a rocket to the Moon "could be built later this year if somebody can be found to sign some papers".[9] On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 as the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth and so initiated the Space Race. This unexpected event was a source of pride to the Soviets and shock to the U.S., who could now potentially be surprise attacked by nuclear-tipped Soviet rockets in under 30 minutes.[citation needed] Also, the steady beeping of the radio beacon aboard Sputnik 1 as it passed overhead every 96 minutes was widely viewed on both sides[citation needed] as effective propaganda to Third World countries demonstrating the technological superiority of the Soviet political system compared to that of the U.S. This perception was reinforced by a string of subsequent rapid-fire Soviet space achievements. In 1959, the R-7 rocket was used to launch the first escape from Earth's gravity into a solar orbit, the first crash impact onto the surface of the Moon and the first photography of the never-before-seen far side of the Moon. These were the Luna 1, Luna 2 and Luna 3 spacecraft.

text: The U.S. response to these Soviet achievements was to greatly accelerate previously existing military space and missile projects and to create a civilian space agency, NASA. Military efforts were initiated to develop and produce mass quantities of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that would bridge the so-called missile gap and enable a policy of deterrence to nuclear war with the Soviets known as mutual assured destruction or MAD. These newly developed missiles were made available to civilians of NASA for various projects (which would have the added benefit of demonstrating the payload, guidance accuracy and reliabilities of U.S. ICBMs to the Soviets).

text: While NASA stressed peaceful and scientific uses for these rockets, their use in various lunar exploration efforts also had secondary goal of realistic, goal-oriented testing of the missiles themselves and development of associated infrastructure,[citation needed] just as the Soviets were doing with their R-7.

text: Early Soviet unmanned lunar missions (1958–1965)[edit]

text: After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, historical records were released to allow the true accounting of Soviet lunar efforts. Unlike the U.S. tradition of assigning a particular mission name in advance of a launch, the Soviets assigned a public "Luna" mission number only if a launch resulted in a spacecraft going beyond Earth orbit. The policy had the effect of hiding Soviet Moon mission failures from public view. If the attempt failed in Earth orbit before departing for the Moon, it was frequently (but not always) given a "Sputnik" or "Cosmos" Earth-orbit mission number to hide its purpose. Launch explosions were not acknowledged at all.

text:
Mission
Mass (kg)
Launch vehicle
Launch date
Goal
Result

Semyorka – 8K72
23 September 1958
Impact
Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 93 s

Semyorka – 8K72
12 October 1958
Impact
Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 104 s

Semyorka – 8K72
4 December 1958
Impact
Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 254 s

Luna-1
361
Semyorka – 8K72
2 January 1959
Impact
Partial success – first spacecraft to reach escape velocity, lunar flyby, solar orbit; missed the Moon

Semyorka – 8K72
18 June 1959
Impact
Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 153 s

Luna-2
390
Semyorka – 8K72
12 September 1959
Impact
Success – first lunar impact

Luna-3
270
Semyorka – 8K72
4 October 1959
Flyby
Success – first photos of lunar far side

Semyorka – 8K72
15 April 1960
Flyby
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit

Semyorka – 8K72
16 April 1960
Flyby
Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 1 s

Sputnik-25

Semyorka – 8K78
4 January 1963
Landing
Failure – stranded in low Earth orbit

Semyorka – 8K78
3 February 1963
Landing
Failure – booster malfunction at T+ 105 s

Luna-4
1422
Semyorka – 8K78
2 April 1963
Landing
Failure – lunar flyby at 8,000 kilometres (5,000 mi)

Semyorka – 8K78
21 March 1964
Landing
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit

Semyorka – 8K78
20 April 1964
Landing
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit

Cosmos-60

Semyorka – 8K78
12 March 1965
Landing
Failure – stranded in low Earth orbit

Semyorka – 8K78
10 April 1965
Landing
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit

Luna-5
1475
Semyorka – 8K78
9 May 1965
Landing
Failure – lunar impact

Luna-6
1440
Semyorka – 8K78
8 June 1965
Landing
Failure – lunar flyby at 160,000 kilometres (99,000 mi)

Luna-7
1504
Semyorka – 8K78
4 October 1965
Landing
Failure – lunar impact

Luna-8
1550
Semyorka – 8K78
3 December 1965
Landing
Failure – lunar impact during landing attempt

text: Early U.S. unmanned lunar missions (1958–1965)[edit]

text: In contrast to Soviet lunar exploration triumphs in 1959, success eluded initial U.S. efforts to reach the Moon with the Pioneer and Ranger programs. Fifteen consecutive U.S. unmanned lunar missions over a six-year period from 1958 to 1964 all failed their primary photographic missions;[10][11] however, Rangers 4 and 6 successfully repeated the Soviet lunar impacts as part of their secondary missions.[12][13]

text: Failures included three U.S. attempts[5][12][14] in 1962 to hard land small seismometer packages released by the main Ranger spacecraft. These surface packages were to use retrorockets to survive landing, unlike the parent vehicle, which was designed to deliberately crash onto the surface. The final three Ranger probes performed successful high altitude lunar reconnaissance photography missions during intentional crash impacts between 2.62 and 2.68 kilometres per second (9,400 and 9,600 km/h).[15][16][17]

text:
Mission
Mass (kg)
Launch vehicle
Launch date
Goal
Result

Pioneer 0
38
Thor-Able
17 August 1958
Lunar orbit
Failure – first stage explosion; destroyed

Pioneer 1
34
Thor-Able
11 October 1958
Lunar orbit
Failure – software error; reentry

Pioneer 2
39
Thor-Able
8 November 1958
Lunar orbit
Failure – third stage misfire; reentry

Pioneer 3
6
Juno
6 December 1958
Flyby
Failure – first stage misfire, reentry

Pioneer 4
6
Juno
3 March 1959
Flyby
Partial success – first US craft to reach escape velocity, lunar flyby too far to shoot photos due to targeting error; solar orbit

Pioneer P-1
168
Atlas-Able
24 September 1959
Lunar orbit
Failure – pad explosion; destroyed

Pioneer P-3
168
Atlas-Able
29 November 1959
Lunar orbit
Failure – payload shroud; destroyed

Pioneer P-30
175
Atlas-Able
25 September 1960
Lunar orbit
Failure – second stage anomaly; reentry

Pioneer P-31
175
Atlas-Able
15 December 1960
Lunar orbit
Failure – first stage explosion; destroyed

Ranger 1
306
Atlas – Agena
23 August 1961
Prototype test
Failure – upper stage anomaly; reentry

Ranger 2
304
Atlas – Agena
18 November 1961
Prototype test
Failure – upper stage anomaly; reentry

Ranger 3
330
Atlas – Agena
26 January 1962
Landing
Failure – booster guidance; solar orbit

Ranger 4
331
Atlas – Agena
23 April 1962
Landing
Partial success – first U.S. spacecraft to reach another celestial body; crash impact – no photos returned

Ranger 5
342
Atlas – Agena
18 October 1962
Landing
Failure – spacecraft power; solar orbit

Ranger 6
367
Atlas – Agena
30 January 1964
Impact
Failure – spacecraft camera; crash impact

Ranger 7
367
Atlas – Agena
28 July 1964
Impact
Success – returned 4308 photos, crash impact

Ranger 8
367
Atlas – Agena
17 February 1965
Impact
Success – returned 7137 photos, crash impact

Ranger 9
367
Atlas – Agena
21 March 1965
Impact
Success – returned 5814 photos, crash impact

text: Pioneer missions[edit]

text: Three different designs of Pioneer lunar probes were flown on three different modified ICBMs. Those flown on the Thor booster modified with an Able upper stage carried an infrared image scanning television system with a resolution of 1 milliradian to study the Moon's surface, an ionization chamber to measure radiation in space, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect micrometeorites, a magnetometer, and temperature-variable resistors to monitor spacecraft internal thermal conditions. The first, a mission managed by the United States Air Force, exploded during launch; all subsequent Pioneer lunar flights had NASA as the lead management organization. The next two returned to Earth and burned up upon reentry into the atmosphere after achieved maximum altitudes of around 110,000 kilometres (68,000 mi) and 1,450 kilometres (900 mi), far short of the roughly 400,000 kilometres (250,000 mi) required to reach the vicinity of the Moon.

text: NASA then collaborated with the United States Army's Ballistic Missile Agency to fly two extremely small cone-shaped probes on the Juno ICBM, carrying only photocells which would be triggered by the light of the Moon and a lunar radiation environment experiment using a Geiger-Müller tube detector. The first of these reached an altitude of only around 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi), serendipitously gathering data that established the presence of the Van Allen radiation belts before reentering Earth's atmosphere. The second passed by the Moon at a distance of more than 60,000 kilometres (37,000 mi), twice as far as planned and too far away to trigger either of the on-board scientific instruments, yet still becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to reach a solar orbit.

text: The final Pioneer lunar probe design consisted of four "paddlewheel" solar panels extending from a one-meter diameter spherical spin-stabilized spacecraft body that was equipped to take images of the lunar surface with a television-like system, estimate the Moon's mass and topography of the poles, record the distribution and velocity of micrometeorites, study radiation, measure magnetic fields, detect low frequency electromagnetic waves in space and use a sophisticated integrated propulsion system for maneuvering and orbit insertion as well. None of the four spacecraft built in this series of probes survived launch on its Atlas ICBM outfitted with an Able upper stage.

text: Following the unsuccessful Atlas-Able Pioneer probes, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory embarked upon an unmanned spacecraft development program whose modular design could be used to support both lunar and interplanetary exploration missions. The interplanetary versions were known as Mariners; lunar versions were Rangers. JPL envisioned three versions of the Ranger lunar probes: Block I prototypes, which would carry various radiation detectors in test flights to a very high Earth orbit that came nowhere near the Moon; Block II, which would try to accomplish the first Moon landing by hard landing a seismometer package; and Block III, which would crash onto the lunar surface without any braking rockets while taking very high resolution wide-area photographs of the Moon during their descent.

text: Ranger missions[edit]

text: The Ranger 1 and 2 Block I missions were virtually identical.[18][19] Spacecraft experiments included a Lyman-alpha telescope, a rubidium-vapor magnetometer, electrostatic analyzers, medium-energy-range particle detectors, two triple coincidence telescopes, a cosmic-ray integrating ionization chamber, cosmic dust detectors, and scintillation counters. The goal was to place these Block I spacecraft in a very high Earth orbit with an apogee of 110,000 kilometres (68,000 mi) and a perigee of 60,000 kilometres (37,000 mi).[18]

text: From that vantage point, scientists could make direct measurements of the magnetosphere over a period of many months while engineers perfected new methods to routinely track and communicate with spacecraft over such large distances. Such practice was deemed vital to be assured of capturing high-bandwidth television transmissions from the Moon during a one-shot fifteen-minute time window in subsequent Block II and Block III lunar descents. Both Block I missions suffered failures of the new Agena upper stage and never left low Earth parking orbit after launch; both burned up upon reentry after only a few days.

text: The first attempts to perform a Moon landing took place in 1962 during the Rangers 3, 4 and 5 missions flown by the United States.[5][12][14] All three Block II missions basic vehicles were 3.1 m high and consisted of a lunar capsule covered with a balsa wood impact-limiter, 650 mm in diameter, a mono-propellant mid-course motor, a retrorocket with a thrust of 5,050 pounds-force (22.5 kN),[12] and a gold- and chrome-plated hexagonal base 1.5 m in diameter. This lander (code-named Tonto) was designed to provide impact cushioning using an exterior blanket of crushable balsa wood and an interior filled with incompressible liquid freon. A 42 kg (56 pounds) 30-centimetre-diameter (0.98 ft) metal payload sphere floated and was free to rotate in a liquid freon reservoir contained in the landing sphere[citation needed].

text: This payload sphere contained six silver-cadmium batteries to power a fifty-milliwatt radio transmitter, a temperature sensitive voltage controlled oscillator to measure lunar surface temperatures, and a seismometer that was designed with sensitivity high enough to detect the impact of a 5 lb (2.3 kg) meteorite on the opposite side of the Moon. Weight was distributed in the payload sphere so it would rotate in its liquid blanket to place the seismometer into an upright and operational position no matter what the final resting orientation of the external landing sphere. After landing, plugs were to be opened allowing the freon to evaporate and the payload sphere to settle into upright contact with the landing sphere. The batteries were sized to allow up to three months of operation for the payload sphere. Various mission constraints limited the landing site to Oceanus Procellarum on the lunar equator, which the lander ideally would reach 66 hours after launch.

text: No cameras were carried by the Ranger landers, and no pictures were to be captured from the lunar surface during the mission. Instead, the 3.1 metres (10 ft) Ranger Block II mother ship carried a 200-scan-line television camera which was to capture images during the free-fall descent to the lunar surface. The camera was designed to transmit a picture every 10 seconds.[12] Seconds before impact, at 5 and 0.6 kilometres (3.11 and 0.37 mi) above the lunar surface, the Ranger mother ships took picture (which may be viewed here).

text: Other instruments gathering data before the mother ship crashed onto the Moon were a gamma ray spectrometer to measure overall lunar chemical composition and a radar altimeter. The radar altimeter was to give a signal ejecting the landing capsule and its solid-fueled braking rocket overboard from the Block II mother ship. The braking rocket was to slow and the landing sphere to a dead stop at 330 metres (1,080 ft) above the surface and separate, allowing the landing sphere to free fall once more and hit the surface[citation needed].

text: On Ranger 3, failure of the Atlas guidance system and a software error aboard the Agena upper stage combined to put the spacecraft on a course that would miss the Moon. Attempts to salvage lunar photography during a flyby of the Moon were thwarted by in-flight failure of the onboard flight computer. This was probably because of prior heat sterilization of the spacecraft by keeping it above the boiling point of water for 24 hours on the ground, to protect the Moon from being contaminated by Earth organisms. Heat sterilization was also blamed for subsequent in-flight failures of the spacecraft computer on Ranger 4 and the power subsystem on Ranger 5. Only Ranger 4 reached the Moon in an uncontrolled crash impact on the far side of the Moon.[citation needed]

text: Heat sterilization was discontinued for the final four Block III Ranger probes.[citation needed] These replaced the Block II landing capsule and its retrorocket with a heavier, more capable television system to support landing site selection for upcoming Apollo manned Moon landing missions. Six cameras were designed to take thousands of high-altitude photographs in the final twenty-minute period before crashing on the lunar surface. Camera resolution was 1,132 scan lines, far higher than the 525 lines found in a typical U.S. 1964 home television. While Ranger 6 suffered a failure of this camera system and returned no photographs despite an otherwise successful flight, the subsequent Ranger 7 mission to Mare Cognitum was a complete success.

text: Breaking the six-year string of failures in U.S. attempts to photograph the Moon at close range, the Ranger 7 mission was viewed as a national turning point and instrumental in allowing the key 1965 NASA budget appropriation to pass through the United States Congress intact without a reduction in funds for the Apollo manned Moon landing program. Subsequent successes with Ranger 8 and Ranger 9 further buoyed U.S. hopes.

text: Soviet unmanned soft landings (1966–1976)[edit]

text: The Luna 9 spacecraft, launched by the Soviet Union, performed the first successful soft Moon landing on 3 February. Airbags protected its 99 kilograms (218 lb) ejectable capsule which survived an impact speed of over 15 metres per second (54 km/h).[20] Luna 13 duplicated this feat with a similar Moon landing on 24 December 1966. Both returned panoramic photographs that were the first views from the lunar surface.[21]

text: Luna 16 was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and safely return a sample of lunar soil back to Earth.[22] It represented the first lunar sample return mission by the Soviet Union, and was the third lunar sample return mission overall, following the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions. This mission was later successfully repeated by Luna 20 (1972) and Luna 24 (1976).

text: In 1970 and 1973 two Lunokhod ("Moonwalker") robotic lunar rovers were delivered to the Moon, where they successfully operated for 10 and 4 months respectively, covering 10.5 km (Lunokhod 1) and 37 km (Lunokhod 2). These rover missions were in operation concurrently with the Zond and Luna series of Moon flyby, orbiter and landing missions.

text:
Mission
Mass (kg)
Booster
Launch date
Goal
Result
Landing zone
Lat/Lon

Luna-9
1580
Semyorka – 8K78
31 January 1966
Landing
Success – first lunar soft landing, numerous photos
Oceanus Procellarum
7.13°N 64.37°W

Luna-13
1580
Semyorka – 8K78
21 December 1966
Landing
Success – second lunar soft landing, numerous photos
Oceanus Procellarum
18°52'N 62°3'W

Proton
19 February 1969
Lunar rover
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit

Proton
14 June 1969
Sample return
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit

Luna-15
5,700
Proton
13 July 1969
Sample return
Failure – lunar crash impact
Mare Crisium
unknown

Cosmos-300

Proton
23 September 1969
Sample return
Failure – stranded in low Earth orbit

Cosmos-305

Proton
22 October 1969
Sample return
Failure – stranded in low Earth orbit

Proton
6 February 1970
Sample return
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit

Luna-16
5,600
Proton
12 September 1970
Sample return
Success – returned 0.10 kg of Moon soil back to Earth
Mare Fecunditatis
000.68S 056.30E

Luna-17
5,700
Proton
10 November 1970
Lunar rover
Success – Lunokhod-1 rover traveled 10.5 km across lunar surface
Mare Imbrium
038.28N 325.00E

Luna-18
5,750
Proton
2 September 1971
Sample return
Failure – lunar crash impact
Mare Fecunditatis
003.57N 056.50E

Luna-20
5,727
Proton
14 February 1972
Sample return
Success – returned 0.05 kg of Moon soil back to Earth
Mare Fecunditatis
003.57N 056.50E

Luna-21
5,950
Proton
8 January 1973
Lunar rover
Success – Lunokhod-2 rover traveled 37.0 km across lunar surface
LeMonnier Crater
025.85N 030.45E

Luna-23
5,800
Proton
28 October 1974
Sample return
Failure – Moon landing achieved, but malfunction prevented sample return
Mare Crisium
012.00N 062.00E

Proton
16 October 1975
Sample return
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit

Luna-24
5,800
Proton
9 August 1976
Sample return
Success – returned 0.17 kg of Moon soil back to Earth
Mare Crisium
012.25N 062.20E

text: U.S. unmanned soft landings (1966–1968)[edit]

text: The U.S. robotic Surveyor program was part of an effort to locate a safe site on the Moon for a human landing and test under lunar conditions the radar and landing systems required to make a true controlled touchdown. Five of Surveyor's seven missions made successful unmanned Moon landings. Surveyor 3 was visited two years after its Moon landing by the crew of Apollo 12. They removed parts of it for examination back on Earth to determine the effects of long-term exposure to the lunar environment.

text:
Mission
Mass (kg)
Booster
Launch date
Goal
Result
Landing zone
Lat/Lon

Surveyor 1
292
Atlas – Centaur
30 May 1966
Landing
Success – 11,000 pictures returned, first U.S. Moon landing
Oceanus Procellarum
002.45S 043.22W

Surveyor 2
292
Atlas – Centaur
20 September 1966
Landing
Failure – midcourse engine malfunction, placing vehicle in unrecoverable tumble; crashed southeast of Copernicus Crater
Sinus Medii
004.00S 011.00W

Surveyor 3
302
Atlas – Centaur
20 April 1967
Landing
Success – 6,000 pictures returned; trench dug to 17.5 cm depth after 18 hr of robot arm use
Oceanus Procellarum
002.94S 336.66E

Surveyor 4
282
Atlas – Centaur
14 July 1967
Landing
Failure – radio contact lost 2.5 minutes before touchdown; perfect automated Moon landing possible but outcome unknown
Sinus Medii
unknown

Surveyor 5
303
Atlas – Centaur
8 September 1967
Landing
Success – 19,000 photos returned, first use of alpha scatter soil composition monitor
Mare Tranquillitatis
001.41N 023.18E

Surveyor 6
300
Atlas – Centaur
7 November 1967
Landing
Success – 30,000 photos returned, robot arm & alpha scatter science, engine restart, second landing 2.5 m away from first
Sinus Medii
000.46N 358.63E

Surveyor 7
306
Atlas – Centaur
7 January 1968
Landing
Success – 21,000 photos returned; robot arm & alpha scatter science; laser beams from Earth detected
Tycho Crater
041.01S 348.59E

text: Transition from direct ascent landings to lunar orbit operations[edit]

text: Within four months of each other in early 1966 the Soviet Union and the United States had accomplished successful Moon landings with unmanned spacecraft. To the general public both countries had demonstrated roughly equal technical capabilities by returning photographic images from the surface of the Moon. These pictures provided a key affirmative answer to the crucial question of whether or not lunar soil would support upcoming manned landers with their much greater weight.

text: However, the Luna 9 hard landing of a ruggedized sphere using airbags at a 50 kilometres (31 mi)-per-hour ballistic impact speed had much more in common with the failed 1962 Ranger landing attempts and their planned 160 kilometres (99 mi)-per-hour impacts than with the Surveyor 1 soft landing on three footpads using its radar-controlled, adjustable-thrust retrorocket. While Luna 9 and Surveyor 1 were both major national accomplishments, only Surveyor 1 had reached its landing site employing key technologies that would be needed for a manned flight. Thus as of mid-1966, the United States had begun to pull ahead of the Soviet Union in the so-called Space Race to land a man on the Moon.

text: Advances in other areas were necessary before manned spacecraft could follow unmanned ones to the surface of the Moon. Of particular importance was developing the expertise to perform flight operations in lunar orbit. Ranger, Surveyor and initial Luna Moon landing attempts all utilized flight paths from Earth that traveled directly to the lunar surface without first placing the spacecraft in a lunar orbit. Such direct ascents use a minimum amount of fuel for unmanned spacecraft on a one-way trip.

text: In contrast, manned vehicles need additional fuel after a lunar landing to enable a return trip back to Earth for the crew. Leaving this massive amount of required Earth-return fuel in lunar orbit until it is used later in the mission is far more efficient than taking such fuel down to the lunar surface in a Moon landing and then hauling it all back into space yet again, working against lunar gravity both ways. Such considerations lead logically to a lunar orbit rendezvous mission profile for a manned Moon landing.

text: Accordingly, beginning in mid-1966 both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. naturally progressed into missions which featured lunar orbit operations as a necessary prerequisite to a manned Moon landing. The primary goals of these initial unmanned orbiters were extensive photographic mapping of the entire lunar surface for the selection of manned landing sites and, for the Soviets, the checkout of radio communications gear that would be used in future soft landings.

text: An unexpected major discovery from initial lunar orbiters were vast volumes of dense materials beneath the surface of the Moon's maria. Such mass concentrations ("mascons") can send a manned mission dangerously off course in the final minutes of a Moon landing when aiming for a relatively small landing zone that is smooth and safe. Mascons were also found over a longer period of time to greatly disturb the orbits of low-altitude satellites around the Moon, making their orbits unstable and forcing an inevitable crash on the lunar surface in the relatively short period of months to a few years.

text: Controlling the location of impact for spent lunar orbiters can have scientific value. For example, in 1999 the NASA Lunar Prospector orbiter was deliberately targeted to impact a permanently shadowed area of Shoemaker Crater near the lunar south pole. It was hoped that energy from the impact would vaporize suspected shadowed ice deposits in the crater and liberate a water vapor plume that would be detectable from Earth. No such plume was observed. However, a small vial of ashes from the body of pioneer lunar scientist Eugene Shoemaker was delivered by the Lunar Prospector to the crater named in his honor – currently the only human remains on the Moon.

text: Soviet lunar orbit satellites (1966–1974)[edit]

text:
U.S.S.R. mission
Mass (kg)
Booster
Launched
Mission goal
Mission result

Cosmos – 111

Molniya-M
1 March 1966
Lunar orbiter
Failure – stranded in low Earth orbit

Luna-10
1,582
Molniya-M
31 March 1966
Lunar orbiter
Success – 2,738 km x 2,088 km x 72 deg orbit, 178 m period, 60-day science mission

Luna-11
1,640
Molniya-M
24 August 1966
Lunar orbiter
Success – 2,931 km x 1,898 km x 27 deg orbit, 178 m period, 38-day science mission

Luna-12
1,620
Molniya-M
22 October 1966
Lunar orbiter
Success – 2,938 km x 1,871 km x 10 deg orbit, 205 m period, 89-day science mission

Cosmos-159
1,700
Molniya-M
17 May 1967
Prototype test
Success – high Earth orbit manned landing communications gear radio calibration test

Molniya-M
7 February 1968
Lunar orbiter
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit – attempted radio calibration test?

Luna-14
1,700
Molniya-M
7 April 1968
Lunar orbiter
Success – 870 km x 160 km x 42 deg orbit, 160 m period, unstable orbit, radio calibration test?

Luna-19
5,700
Proton
28 September 1971
Lunar orbiter
Success – 140 km x 140 km x 41 deg orbit, 121 m period, 388-day science mission

Luna-22
5,700
Proton
29 May 1974
Lunar orbiter
Success – 222 km x 219 km x 19 deg orbit, 130 m period, 521-day science mission

text: Luna 10 became the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon on 3 April 1966.

text: U.S. lunar orbit satellites (1966–1967)[edit]

text:
U.S. mission
Mass (kg)
Booster
Launched
Mission goal
Mission result

Lunar Orbiter 1
386
Atlas – Agena
10 August 1966
Lunar orbiter
Success – 1,160 km X 189 km x 12 deg orbit, 208 m period, 80-day photography mission

Lunar Orbiter 2
386
Atlas – Agena
6 November 1966
Lunar orbiter
Success – 1,860 km X 52 km x 12 deg orbit, 208 m period, 339-day photography mission

Lunar Orbiter 3
386
Atlas – Agena
5 February 1967
Lunar orbiter
Success – 1,860 km X 52 km x 21 deg orbit, 208 m period, 246-day photography mission

Lunar Orbiter 4
386
Atlas – Agena
4 May 1967
Lunar orbiter
Success – 6,111 km X 2,706 km x 86 deg orbit, 721 m period, 180-day photography mission

Lunar Orbiter 5
386
Atlas – Agena
1 August 1967
Lunar orbiter
Success – 6,023 km X 195 km x 85 deg orbit, 510 m period, 183-day photography mission

text: Soviet circumlunar loop flights (1967–1970)[edit]

text: It is possible to aim a spacecraft from Earth so that it will loop around the Moon and return to Earth without entering lunar orbit, following the so-called free return trajectory. Such circumlunar loop missions are simpler than lunar orbit missions because rockets for lunar orbit braking and Earth return are not required. However, a manned circumlunar loop trip poses significant challenges above and beyond those found in a manned low-Earth-orbit mission, offering valuable lessons in preparation for a manned Moon landing. Foremost among these are mastering the demands of re-entering the Earth's atmosphere upon returning from the Moon.

text: Manned Earth-orbiting vehicles such as the Space Shuttle return to Earth from speeds of around 17,000 miles per hour (27,000 km/h; 7,600 m/s). Due to the effects of gravity, a vehicle returning from the Moon hits Earth's atmosphere at a much higher speed of around 25,000 miles per hour (40,000 km/h; 11,000 m/s). The g-loading on astronauts during the resulting deceleration can be at the limits of human endurance even during a nominal reentry. Slight variations in the vehicle flight path and reentry angle during a return from the Moon can easily result in fatal levels of deceleration force.

text: Achieving a manned circumlunar loop flight prior to a manned lunar landing became a primary goal of the Soviets with their Zond spacecraft program. The first three Zonds were unmanned planetary probes; after that, the Zond name was transferred to a completely separate manned program. The initial focus of these later Zonds was extensive testing of required high-speed reentry techniques. This focus was not shared by the U.S., who chose instead to bypass the stepping stone of a manned circumlunar loop mission and never developed a separate spacecraft for this purpose.

text: Initial manned spaceflights in the early 1960s placed a single person in low Earth orbit during the Soviet Vostok and U.S. Mercury programs. A two-flight extension of the Vostok program known as Voskhod effectively used Vostok capsules with their ejection seats removed to achieve Soviet space firsts of multiple person crews in 1964 and spacewalks in early 1965. These capabilities were later demonstrated by the U.S. in ten Gemini low Earth orbit missions throughout 1965 and 1966, using a totally new second-generation spacecraft design that had little in common with the earlier Mercury. These Gemini missions went on to prove critical techniques for orbital rendezvous and docking that were crucial to a manned lunar landing mission profile.

text: After the end of the Gemini program, the Soviets Union began flying their second-generation Zond manned spacecraft in 1967 with the ultimate goal of looping a cosmonaut around the Moon and returning him immediately to Earth. The Zond spacecraft was launched with the simpler and already operational Proton launch rocket, unlike the parallel Soviet manned Moon landing effort also underway at the time based on third-generation Soyuz spacecraft requiring development of the advanced N-1 booster. The Soviets thus believed they could achieve a manned Zond circumlunar flight years before a U.S. manned lunar landing and so score a propaganda victory. However, significant development problems delayed the Zond program and the success of the U.S. Apollo lunar landing program led to the eventual termination of the Zond effort.

text: Like Zond, Apollo Moon flights were generally launched on a free return trajectory that would return them to Earth via a circumlunar loop in the event that a Service Module malfunction failed to place them in lunar orbit as planned. This option was implemented after an explosion aboard the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, which is the only manned circumlunar loop mission flown to date.

text:
U.S.S.R mission
Mass (kg)
Booster
Launched
Mission goal
Payload
Mission result

Cosmos-146
5,400
Proton
10 March 1967
High Earth Orbit
unmanned
Partial success – Successfully reached high Earth orbit, but became stranded and was unable to initiate controlled high speed atmospheric reentry test

Cosmos-154
5,400
Proton
8 April 1967
High Earth Orbit
unmanned
Partial success – Successfully reached high Earth orbit, but became stranded and was unable to initiate controlled high speed atmospheric reentry test

Proton
28 September 1967
High Earth Orbit
unmanned
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit

Proton
22 November 1967
High Earth Orbit
unmanned
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit

Zond-4
5,140
Proton
2 March 1968
High Earth Orbit
unmanned
Partial success – launched successfully to 300,000 km high Earth orbit, high speed reentry test guidance malfunction, intentional self-destruct to prevent landfall outside Soviet Union

Proton
23 April 1968
Circumlunar Loop
non-human biological payload
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit; launch preparation tank explosion kills three in pad crew

Zond-5
5,375
Proton
15 September 1968
Circumlunar Loop
non-human biological payload
Success – looped around Moon, returned live biological payload safely to Earth despite landing off-target outside the Soviet Union in the Indian Ocean

Zond-6
5,375
Proton
10 November 1968
Circumlunar Loop
non-human biological payload
Partial success – looped around Moon, successful reentry, but loss of cabin air pressure caused biological payload death, parachute system malfunction and severe vehicle damage upon landing

Proton
20 January 1969
Circumlunar Loop
non-human biological payload
Failure – booster malfunction, failed to reach Earth orbit

Zond-7
5,979
Proton
8 August 1969
Circumlunar Loop
non-human biological payload
Success – looped around Moon, returned biological payload safely to Earth and landed on-target inside Soviet Union. Only Zond mission whose reentry G-forces would have been survivable by human crew had they been aboard.

Zond-8
5,375
Proton
20 October 1970
Circumlunar Loop
non-human biological payload
Success – looped around Moon, returned biological payload safely to Earth despite landing off-target outside Soviet Union in the Indian Ocean

text: Zond 5 was the first spacecraft to carry life from Earth to the vicinity of the Moon and return, initiating the final lap of the Space Race with its payload of turtles, insects, plants and bacteria. Despite the failure suffered in its final moments, the Zond 6 mission was reported by Soviet media as being a success as well. Although hailed worldwide as remarkable achievements, both of these Zond missions flew off-nominal reentry trajectories resulting in deceleration forces that would have been fatal to human crewmembers had they been aboard.

text: As a result, the Soviets secretly planned to continue unmanned Zond tests until their reliability to support manned flight had been demonstrated. However, due to NASA's continuing problems with the lunar module, and because of CIA reports of a potential Soviet manned circumlunar flight in late 1968, NASA fatefully changed the flight plan of Apollo 8 from an Earth-orbit lunar module test to a lunar orbit mission scheduled for late December 1968.

text: In early December 1968 the launch window to the Moon opened for the Soviet launch site in Baikonur, giving the USSR their final chance to beat the US to the Moon. Cosmonauts went on alert and asked to fly the Zond spacecraft then in final countdown at Baikonur on the first manned trip to the Moon. Ultimately, however, the Soviet Politburo decided the risk of crew death was unacceptable given the combined poor performance to that point of Zond/Proton and so scrubbed the launch of a manned Soviet lunar mission. Their decision proved to be a wise one, since this unnumbered Zond mission was destroyed in another unmanned test when it was finally launched several weeks later.

text: By this time flights of the third generation U.S. Apollo spacecraft had begun. Far more capable than the Zond, the Apollo spacecraft had the necessary rocket power to slip into and out of lunar orbit and to make course adjustments required for a safe reentry during the return to Earth. The Apollo 8 mission carried out the first manned trip to the Moon on 24 December 1968, certifying the Saturn V booster for manned use and flying not a circumlunar loop but instead a full ten orbits around the Moon before returning safely to Earth. Apollo 10 then performed a full dress rehearsal of a manned Moon landing in May 1969. This mission orbited within 47,400 feet (14.4 km) altitude above the lunar surface, performing necessary low-altitude mapping of trajectory-altering mascons using a factory prototype lunar module that was too overweight to allow a successful landing. With the failure of the unmanned Soviet sample return Moon landing attempt Luna 15 in July 1969, the stage was set for Apollo 11.

text: Manned Moon landings (1969–1972)[edit]

text: US strategy[edit]

text: Plans for manned Moon exploration originated during the Eisenhower administration. In a series of mid-1950s articles in Collier's magazine, Wernher von Braun had popularized the idea of a manned expedition to the Moon to establish a lunar base. A manned Moon landing posed several daunting technical challenges to the US and USSR. Besides guidance and weight management, atmospheric re-entry without ablative overheating was a major hurdle. After the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik, von Braun promoted a plan for the United States Army to establish a military lunar outpost by 1965.

text: After the early Soviet successes, especially Yuri Gagarin's flight, US President John F. Kennedy looked for a US project that would capture the public imagination. He asked Vice President Lyndon Johnson to make recommendations on a scientific endeavor that would prove US world leadership. The proposals included non-space options such as massive irrigation projects to benefit the Third World. The Soviets, at the time, had more powerful rockets than the United States, which gave them an advantage in some kinds of space mission.

text: Advances in US nuclear weapon technology had led to smaller, lighter warheads, and consequently, rockets with smaller payload capacities. By comparison, Soviet nuclear weapons were much heavier, and the powerful R-7 rocket was developed to carry them. More modest potential missions such as flying around the Moon without landing or establishing a space lab in orbit (both were proposed by Kennedy to von Braun) were determined to offer too much advantage to the Soviets, since the US would have to develop a heavy rocket to match the Soviets. A Moon landing, however, would capture world imagination while functioning as propaganda.

text: Johnson had championed the US manned space program ever since the Sputnik scare, sponsoring the legislation which created NASA when he was in the Senate in 1958. When Kennedy asked him in 1961 to research the best manned space achievement to counter the Soviets' lead, Johnson responded that the US had an even chance of beating the USSR to a manned lunar landing, but not for anything less. Kennedy seized on Apollo as the ideal focus for efforts in space. He ensured continuing funding, shielding space spending from the 1963 tax cut, but diverting money from other NASA scientific projects. This last dismayed NASA's leader, James E. Webb, who perceived the need for NASA's support from the scientific community.

text: The Moon landing required development of the large Saturn V launch vehicle, which achieved a perfect record of zero catastrophic failures or launch vehicle-caused mission failures, in thirteen launches.

text: For the program to succeed, its proponents would have to defeat criticism from politicians on the left, who wanted more money spent on social programs, and on those on the right, who favored a more military project. By emphasizing the scientific payoff and playing on fears of Soviet space dominance, Kennedy and Johnson managed to swing public opinion: by 1965, 58 percent of Americans favored Apollo, up from 33 percent two years earlier. After Johnson became President in 1963, his continuing defense of the program allowed it to succeed in 1969, as Kennedy planned.

text: Soviet strategy[edit]

text: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said in October 1963 that the USSR was "not at present planning flight by cosmonauts to the Moon," while insisting that the Soviets had not dropped out of the race. Only after another year would the USSR fully commit itself to a Moon-landing attempt, which ultimately failed.

text: At the same time, Kennedy had suggested various joint programs, including a possible Moon landing by Soviet and U.S. astronauts and the development of better weather-monitoring satellites. Khrushchev, sensing an attempt by Kennedy to steal Russian space technology, rejected the idea: if the USSR went to the Moon, it would go alone. Sergey Korolev, the Soviet space program's chief designer, had started promoting his Soyuz craft and the N1 launcher rocket that would have the capability of carrying out a manned Moon landing.

text: Khrushchev directed Korolev's design bureau to arrange further space firsts by modifying the existing Vostok technology, while a second team started building a completely new launcher and craft, the Proton booster and the Zond, for a manned cislunar flight in 1966. In 1964 the new Soviet leadership gave Korolev the backing for a Moon landing effort and brought all manned projects under his direction.

text: With Korolev's death and the failure of the first Soyuz flight in 1967, the co-ordination of the Soviet Moon landing program quickly unraveled. The Soviets built a landing craft and selected cosmonauts for the mission that would have placed Aleksei Leonov on the Moon's surface, but with the successive launch failures of the N1 booster in 1969, plans for a manned landing suffered first delay and then cancellation.

text: Apollo missions[edit]

text: In total, twenty-four U.S. astronauts have traveled to the Moon. Three have made the trip twice, and twelve have walked on its surface. Apollo 8 was a lunar-orbit-only mission, Apollo 10 included undocking and Descent Orbit Insertion (DOI), followed by LM staging to CSM redocking, while Apollo 13, originally scheduled as a landing, ended up as a lunar fly-by, by means of free return trajectory; thus, none of these missions made landings. Apollo 7 and Apollo 9 were Earth-orbit-only missions. Apart from the inherent dangers of manned Moon expeditions as seen with Apollo 13, one reason for their cessation according to astronaut Alan Bean is the cost it imposes in government subsidies.[23]

text: Manned Moon landings[edit]

text:
Mission name
Lunar lander
Lunar landing date
Lunar liftoff date
Lunar landing site
Duration on lunar surface
Crew
Number of EVAs
Total EVA Time (HH:MM)

Apollo 11
Eagle
20 July 1969
21 July 1969
Sea of Tranquility
21:31
Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin
1
2:31

Apollo 12
Intrepid
19 November 1969
21 November 1969
Ocean of Storms
1-day, 7:31
Charles "Pete" Conrad, Alan Bean
2
7:45

Apollo 14
Antares
5 February 1971
6 February 1971
Fra Mauro
1-day, 9:30
Alan B. Shepard, Edgar Mitchell
2
9:21

Apollo 15
Falcon
30 July 1971
2 August 1971
Hadley Rille
2 days, 18:55
David Scott, James Irwin
3
18:33

Apollo 16
Orion
21 April 1972
24 April 1972
Descartes Highlands
2 days, 23:02
John Young, Charles Duke
3
20:14

Apollo 17
Challenger
11 December 1972
14 December 1972
Taurus–Littrow
3 days, 2:59
Eugene Cernan, Harrison "Jack" Schmitt
3
22:04

text: Other aspects of the Apollo Moon successful landings[edit]

text: Unlike other international rivalries, the Space Race has remained unaffected in a direct way regarding the desire for territorial expansion. After the successful landings on the Moon, the U.S. explicitly disclaimed the right to ownership of any part of the Moon.

text: President Richard Nixon had speechwriter William Safire prepare a condolence speech for delivery in the event that Armstrong and Aldrin became marooned on the Moon's surface and could not be rescued.[24]

text: In 1951, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke forecast that man would reach the Moon by 1978.[25]

text: On 16 August 2006, the Associated Press reported that NASA is missing the original Slow-scan television tapes (which were made before the scan conversion for conventional TV) of the Apollo 11 Moon walk. Some news outlets have mistakenly reported that the SSTV tapes were found in Western Australia, but those tapes were only recordings of data from the Apollo 11 Early Apollo Surface Experiments Package.[26]

text: Scientists believe the six American flags planted by astronauts have been bleached white because of more than 40 years of exposure to solar radiation.[27] Using LROC images, five of the six American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11.[28] Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported that the flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during liftoff of Apollo 11.[28]

text: Late 20th–21st century unmanned crash landings[edit]

text: Hiten (Japan)[edit]

text: Launched on 24 January 1990, 11:46 UTC. At the end of its mission, the Japanese lunar orbiter Hiten was commanded to crash into the lunar surface and did so on 10 April 1993 at 18:03:25.7 UT (11 April 03:03:25.7 JST).[29]

text: Lunar Prospector (USA)[edit]

text: Lunar Prospector was launched on 7 January 1998. The mission ended on 31 July 1999, when the orbiter was deliberately crashed into a crater near the lunar south pole after the presence of water ice was successfully detected.[30]

text: SMART-1 (ESA)[edit]

text: Launched 27 September 2003, 23:14 UTC from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. At the end of its mission, the ESA lunar orbiter SMART-1 performed a controlled crash into the Moon, at about 2 km/s. The time of the crash was 3 September 2006, at 5:42 UTC.[31]

text: SELENE (Japan)[edit]

text: SELENE or Kaguya was launched on 14 September 2007. After successfully orbiting the Moon for a year and eight months, the main orbiter was instructed to impact on the lunar surface near the crater Gill at 18:25 UTC on 10 June 2009.[32]

text: Chang'e 1 (China)[edit]

text: The Chinese lunar orbiter Chang'e 1, launched 24 October 2007, 10:05 UTC, executed a controlled crash onto the surface of the Moon on 1 March 2009, 20:44 GMT, after a 16-month mission.[33]

text: Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2 (India)[edit]

text: Chandrayaan-1 was launched on 22 October 2008, 00:52 UTC. The impactor, the Moon Impact Probe, impacted near Shackleton Crater at the south pole of the lunar surface at 14 November 2008, 20:31 IST.[34] Chandrayaan-2 is scheduled for launch in 2018.

text: LCROSS (USA)[edit]

text: The LCROSS data collecting shepherding spacecraft was launched together with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on 18 June 2009 on board an Atlas V rocket with a Centaur upper stage. On 9 October 2009, at 11:31 UTC, the Centaur upper stage impacted the lunar surface, releasing the kinetic energy equivalent of detonating approximately 2 tons of TNT (8.86 GJ).[35] Six minutes later at 11:37 UTC, the LCROSS shepherding spacecraft also impacted the surface.[36]

text: GRAIL (USA)[edit]

text: The GRAIL mission consisted of two small spacecraft: GRAIL A (Ebb), and GRAIL B (Flow). They were launched on 10 September 2011 on board a Delta II rocket. GRAIL A separated from the rocket about nine minutes after launch, and GRAIL B followed about eight minutes later.[37][38] The first probe entered orbit on 31 December 2011 and the second followed on 1 January 2012.[39] The two spacecraft impacted the Lunar surface on 17 December 2012.[40]

text: LADEE (USA)[edit]

text: LADEE was launched on 7 September 2013.[41] The mission ended on 18 April 2014, when the spacecraft's controllers intentionally crashed LADEE into the far side of the Moon,[42][43] which, later, was determined to be near the eastern rim of Sundman V crater.[44][45]

text: 21st century unmanned soft landings[edit]

text: Chang'e 3 (China)[edit]

text: On 14 December 2013 at 13:12 UTC[46] Chang'e 3 soft-landed a rover on the Moon. This was the first lunar soft landing since Luna 24 on 22 August 1976.[47]

text: Landings on moons of other Solar System bodies[edit]

text: Progress in space exploration has recently broadened the phrase moon landing to include other moons in the Solar System as well. The Huygens probe of the Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn performed a successful unmanned moon landing on Titan in 2005. Similarly, the Soviet probe Phobos 2 came within 120 mi (190 km) of performing an unmanned moon landing on Mars' moon Phobos in 1989 before radio contact with that lander was suddenly lost. A similar Russian sample return mission called Fobos-Grunt ("grunt" means "soil" in Russian) launched in November 2011, but stalled in low Earth orbit. There is widespread interest in performing a future moon landing on Jupiter's Europa moon to drill down and explore the possible liquid water ocean beneath its icy surface.

text: Proposed future missions[edit]

text: China is planning to land another rover and collect samples in the Chang'e 4 mission and return lunar soil samples by 2018 in the Chang'e 5 mission.[48]

text: ISRO, the Indian National Space agency, is planning a second version of Chandrayaan named Chandrayaan 2. According to former ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair, "The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) hopes to land two rovers – one Indian and another Russian – on the Moon in 2018, as a part of its second Chandrayaan mission. The rover will be designed to move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, do on-site chemical analysis and send the data to the mother-spacecraft Chandrayaan II, which will be orbiting above. Chandrayaan II will transmit the data to Earth." The payloads have already been finalized.[49][50] ISRO has mentioned that due to weight restrictions it will not be carrying any overseas payloads on this mission. The lander weight is projected to be 1,250 kg, and the spacecraft will be launched by the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.

text: Russia's Luna-Glob 1 is expected to be launched in 2018.[51] In 2007 the head of the Russian Space Agency announced plans to send cosmonauts to the Moon by 2025 and establish a permanent robotically operated base there in 2027–2032.[52] In 2015, Roscosmos stated that Russia plans to place a cosmonaut on the Moon by 2030, leaving Mars to NASA. The purpose is to work jointly with NASA and avoid another Space Race.[53]

text: The Lunar Precursor Robotic Program (LPRP) is a program of robotic spacecraft missions which NASA will use to prepare for future Moon landings.[54] Three orbiters have been launched in the program, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), and the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), launched in 2013, but no Moon landings are scheduled yet.

text: The Google Lunar X Prize competition offers a $20 million award for the first privately funded team to land a robotic probe on the Moon. Like the Ansari X Prize before it, the competition aims to advance the state of the art in private space exploration.[55] Of the several competing teams, Puli Space Technologies at one time (2012) planned to launch in 2014[56][needs update] and Astrobotic Technology plans to launch in the second half of 2016 with their own rover plus another team's lunar rovers from Hakuto.[57][58]

text: Historical empirical evidence[edit]

text: Many conspiracy theorists hold that the Apollo Moon landings were a hoax;[59] however, empirical evidence is readily available to show that manned moon landings did indeed occur. Anyone on Earth with an appropriate laser and telescope system can bounce laser beams off three retroreflector arrays left on the Moon by Apollo 11,[60] 14 and 15, verifying deployment of the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment at historically documented Apollo Moon landing sites and so proving equipment constructed on Earth was successfully transported to the surface of the Moon. In addition, in August 2009 NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter began to send back high resolution photos of the Apollo landing sites. These photos show not only the large Descent Stages of the lunar landers left behind but also tracks of the astronauts' walking paths in the lunar dust.[61]


document_title: Love Actually

question_text: who plays colin's friend in love actually

question_tokens: who plays colin 's friend in love actually

root

text: Love Actually

text: Plot[edit]

text: The film begins with a voiceover from David (Hugh Grant) commenting that whenever he gets gloomy about the state of the world he thinks about the arrivals terminal at Heathrow Airport, and the pure uncomplicated love felt as friends and families welcome their arriving loved ones. David's voiceover also relates that all the messages left by the people who died on the 9/11 planes were messages of love and not hate. The film then tells the 'love stories' of many people:

tag: p

text: Billy Mack and Joe[edit]

text: With the help of his longtime manager Joe (Gregor Fisher), rock and roll legend Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) records a Christmas variation of The Troggs' classic hit "Love Is All Around". Although he thinks the record is terrible, Mack promotes the release in the hope it will become the Christmas number one single. The song does reach number one; after briefly celebrating his victory at a party hosted by Sir Elton John, Billy discerns that Joe is in need of affection and suggests that he and Joe celebrate Christmas by getting drunk and watching porn.

text: Juliet, Peter, and Mark[edit]

text: Juliet (Keira Knightley) and Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) get married in a ceremony orchestrated and videotaped by Mark (Andrew Lincoln), the best man. Both Juliet and Peter believe that Mark dislikes her; he is in fact in love with her, and behaves coldly to her to avoid revealing how he really feels. One day, Juliet comes to see Mark and says she wants them to be friends. He then shows her the wedding video, which is full of adoring closeups of her. After an uncomfortable silence, Mark blurts out that he snubs her out of "self-preservation". On Christmas Eve, the doorbell rings at Juliet and Peter's house. She runs down and opens the door, only to find Mark, carrying a boombox playing Christmas songs and large cue cards on which he has written, without any expectation of reciprocation, that he loves her. As he walks away, Juliet runs after him to give him a quick, innocent kiss and runs back inside.

text: Jamie and Aurélia[edit]

text: Writer Jamie (Colin Firth) is pushed to Juliet and Peter's wedding by his girlfriend (Sienna Guillory) as she feigns illness. He returns between the ceremony and the reception to check on her, and discovers that she is having an affair with his brother. Crushed, Jamie withdraws to his French cottage where he meets Portuguese housekeeper Aurélia (Lúcia Moniz), who does not speak English. Despite their inability to communicate, they become attracted to each other. When Jamie returns to England, he realises he is in love with Aurélia and begins learning Portuguese. He returns to France to find her and ends up walking through town, gathering people as they walk to her job at a restaurant. In his broken Portuguese he declares his love for her and proposes. She says yes in broken English as the crowd erupts in applause.

text: Harry, Karen, and Mia[edit]

text: Harry (Alan Rickman) is the managing director of a design agency; Mia (Heike Makatsch) is his new secretary. Harry is comfortably married to his wife, Karen (Emma Thompson), who stays home to raise their children. Harry becomes increasingly aroused by Mia's overtly sexual behavior at the office and does nothing to dissuade her. At the company Christmas party held at Mark's gallery, he not only inquires if Mark is her boyfriend, but dances closely with her. While at the shops, he calls Mia to find out what she wants for Christmas and ends up almost caught by his wife purchasing an expensive necklace from the jewellery department thanks to the salesman Rufus (Rowan Atkinson). Later on, Karen discovers the necklace in Harry's coat pocket and happily assumes it is a gift for her. When he hands her a similarly shaped box to open on Christmas Eve, she is heartbroken to find it is a Joni Mitchell CD, meaning that the necklace was for someone else. She confronts Harry and asks him what he would do if he was her. Harry begs her forgiveness. She responds that he has made a mockery of their marriage and of her.

text: David and Natalie[edit]

text: Karen's brother, David (Hugh Grant), is the recently elected Prime Minister. Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) is a new junior member of the household staff at 10 Downing Street. During a meeting with the U.S. President (Billy Bob Thornton), they run into Natalie and the president makes some inappropriate comments to David about Natalie's body. Later, David walks in on Natalie serving tea and biscuits to the president, and it appears that something untoward is happening. Natalie seems ashamed, but the President has a sly grin on his face. At the following joint press conference, David is uncharacteristically assertive while taking a stand against the President's intimidating policies. Finding that his relationship with Natalie has become strained and a distraction, David has her moved to another job. However, he is spurred to action on Christmas Eve when he finds a Christmas card from Natalie declaring that she is his and no one else's. After a door to door search of her street, he comes across Mia, who informs him that Natalie lives next door. The entire family is on their way out the door to a multi-school Christmas play and he offers to drive them so he can talk to her. After Natalie sneaks him in to the school, he runs into his heartbroken sister who believes he is there for his niece and nephew. As the two try to keep from being seen and watch the show from backstage, they finally kiss. All their hiding was for nothing because as the curtain rises, they are seen kissing by everyone.

text: Daniel, Sam, Joanna, and Carol[edit]

text: Daniel (Liam Neeson), Karen's friend, mourns the recent death of his wife Joanna, as he tries to raise his stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster) alone. Sam has fallen for an American classmate, also named Joanna (Olivia Olson), and, after discussion with his stepfather, decides to learn the drums so that he can accompany her in the big finale for their school's Christmas pageant (the same one that David's nephew and Karen and Harry's children are in). After Sam feels that he missed his chance to make an impression on her, Daniel convinces Sam that he must go catch Joanna, who is returning to the US, at the airport that night and show her how he feels, lest he regret it. Sam runs away from the airport security and says hi to Joanna, who then kisses him on the cheek. Meanwhile, Daniel meets Carol (Claudia Schiffer), the mother of one of Sam's schoolmates.

text: Sarah, Karl, and Michael[edit]

text: Sarah (Laura Linney) first appears at Juliet and Peter's wedding, sitting next to her friend Jamie. She is an American who works at Harry's graphic design company and has been in love for years with the company's creative director, Karl (Rodrigo Santoro). They finally connect at the Christmas party and he drives her home. They kiss, but before more can occur, they are interrupted by her mentally ill brother, Michael, phoning from a mental care facility. Sarah and Karl's evening tryst is aborted and Karl leaves. On Christmas Eve both are working late and, when Karl leaves, he only wishes her a merry Christmas. Michael phones Sarah and she goes to stay with him, sharing her Christmas scarf.

text: Colin, Tony, and the American girls[edit]

text: After unsuccessfully attempting to woo various English women, including Mia and Nancy (Julia Davis), the caterer at Juliet and Peter's wedding, Colin Frissell (Kris Marshall) informs his friend Tony (Abdul Salis) he plans to go to America, where he is convinced that his Britishness will be an asset. Landing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Colin meets Stacey (Ivana Miličević), Jeannie (January Jones), and Carol-Anne (Elisha Cuthbert), three stunningly attractive women who fall for his Basildon accent and invite him to stay at their home, where they are joined by roommate Harriet (Shannon Elizabeth).

text: John and Judy[edit]

text: John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) are professional body doubles for films. They meet for the sex scenes in a film for which Tony is a production assistant. John tells Judy that "It is nice to have someone [he] can just chat to." While the two are perfectly comfortable being naked and simulating sex on-set, they are shy and tentative off-set. Carefully pursuing a relationship, they attend the Christmas pageant (involving David and Natalie, Harry and Karen's children, Daniel and Sam, et al.) at the local school with John's brother.

text: Rufus[edit]

text: Rufus, played by Rowan Atkinson, is the jewellery salesman, whose obsessive attention to gift-wrapping nearly results in Harry being caught buying a necklace for Mia by Karen. Also, it is his distraction of staff at the airport which allows Sam to sneak through to see Joanna. In the director and cast commentary, it is revealed that Rufus was originally supposed to be a Christmas angel; however, this was dropped from the final script.

text: Epilogue[edit]

text: One month later, all of the characters are seen in Heathrow airport. Billy tells Joe that his Christmas single has spurred a comeback. Juliet, Peter, and Mark meet Jamie and his bride, Aurélia. Karen and the kids greet Harry, but Karen's reaction suggests that they are struggling to move past his indiscretion. Sam greets Joanna, who has returned with her mother from America, and Daniel is joined by his new girlfriend Carol and her son. Newlyweds John and Judy, heading off to their honeymoon, run into Tony who is awaiting Colin as he returns from America. Colin returns with Harriet and her sister Carla (Denise Richards) who greets Tony with a hug and a kiss. Natalie welcomes David back from his flight in view of the press, indicating that their relationship is now public. These scenes dissolve into footage of actual arrivals at Heathrow, as the screen is divided into an increasing number of smaller segments which form the shape of a heart.

text: Connections between stories[edit]

text: All the stories are linked in some way, with the exception of Billy Mack and his manager, who are not acquainted with any of the other characters, but Billy appears frequently on characters' radios and TVs, his music video twice providing an important plot device for Sam's pursuit of Joanna; the pair also cross paths with the other characters in the closing Heathrow scene. John and Judy work with Tony who is best friends with Colin who works for a catering company that services the office where Sarah, Karl, Mia, and Harry work. Mia is friends with Mark who runs the art gallery where the Christmas office party takes place. Mia also lives next door to Natalie. Mark is in love with Juliet and friends with Peter. The couple are friends with Jamie and Sarah. Harry is married to Karen who is friends with Daniel, and Karen's brother is David who works with Natalie. Harry and Karen's children (and thus David's niece and nephew), Natalie's siblings (and thus Mia's neighbours), and Carol's son are all schoolmates of Sam and Joanna. An additional plot that was dropped in editing concerned the children's headmistress (Anne Reid) and her dying lesbian partner (Frances de la Tour).

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Alan Rickman as Harry
Emma Thompson as Karen
Hugh Grant as David
Keira Knightley as Juliet
Colin Firth as Jamie
Sienna Guillory as Jamie's Girlfriend
Lúcia Moniz as Aurélia
Liam Neeson as Daniel
Thomas Sangster as Sam
Bill Nighy as Billy Mack
Gregor Fisher as Joe
Martine McCutcheon as Natalie
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Peter
Andrew Lincoln as Mark
Laura Linney as Sarah
Rodrigo Santoro as Karl
Michael Fitzgerald as Michael
Kris Marshall as Colin
Abdul Salis as Tony
Heike Makatsch as Mia
Martin Freeman as John
Joanna Page as Judy
Olivia Olson as Joanna
Billy Bob Thornton as the President of the United States
Rowan Atkinson as Rufus
Claudia Schiffer as Carol
Nina Sosanya as Annie
Ivana Miličević as Stacey
January Jones as Jeannie
Elisha Cuthbert as Carol-Anne
Shannon Elizabeth as Harriet
Denise Richards as Carla
Lulu Popplewell as Daisy
Marcus Brigstocke as Mikey
Julia Davis as Nancy the Caterer
Ruby Turner as Jean
Adam Godley as Mr. Trench
Élisabeth Margoni as Eleonore
Meg Wynn Owen as Mary

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: Initially, Curtis started writing the film as two distinct movies with expanded versions of what would be two of the characters' storylines in the finished film but he grew frustrated with the process.[4] Partly inspired by the films of Robert Altman as well as films such as Pulp Fiction, and partly inspired by the fact that Curtis became "more interested in writing a film about love and what love sort of means" he had the idea of creating an ensemble film.[4] The film initially did not have any sort of Christmas theme, although Curtis's penchant for such movies eventually caused him to write it as one.[5]

text: Most of the film was made on location in London, at sites including Trafalgar Square, the central court of Somerset House in the Strand, Grosvenor Chapel on South Audley Street near Hyde Park, St. Paul's Clapham on Rectory Grove, Clapham in the London Borough of Lambeth, the Millennium Bridge, Selfridges department store on Oxford Street, Lambeth Bridge, the Tate Modern in the former Bankside Power Station, Canary Wharf, Marble Arch, the St. Lukes Mews off All Saint's Road in Notting Hill, Chelsea Bridge, the OXO Tower, London City Hall, Poplar Road in Herne Hill in the London Borough of Lambeth, Elliott School in Pullman Gardens, Putney in the London Borough of Wandsworth, and London Heathrow Airport. Additional scenes were filmed at the Marseille Airport and Le Bar de la Marine. Scenes set in 10 Downing Street were filmed at the Shepperton Studios.[6]

text: Ant and Dec played themselves in the film with Bill Nighy's character referring to Dec as "Ant or Dec". This refers to the common mistaking of one for the other, owing to their constant joint professional presence as a comedy and presenting duo. The veteran actress Jeanne Moreau is seen briefly, entering a taxi at the Marseille Airport. The soul singer Ruby Turner appears as Joanna Anderson's mother, one of the backing singers at the school Christmas pageant.

text: Curtis's original concept for the film included 14 different scenarios, but four of them were cut (two after having been filmed).[7] The scene in which Colin attempts to chat up the female caterer at the wedding appeared in drafts of the screenplay for Four Weddings and a Funeral, but was cut from the final version.[8] The music video for Billy Mack's song, "Love Is All Around", is a tribute to Robert Palmer's video, "Addicted To Love".[7]

text: Curtis has spoken negatively about the editing process for the film, which he labeled in 2014 as a "catastrophe" and "The only nightmare scenario that I’ve been caught in".[9] The film was rushed in order to be ready for the 2003 Christmas season which he likened to "three dimensional chess" [9]

text: After the resignation of the prime minister, Tony Blair, pundits and speculators referred to a potential anti-American shift in Gordon Brown's cabinet as a "Love Actually moment", referring to the scene in which Hugh Grant's character stands up to the American president.[10][11][12] In 2009, during President Barack Obama's first visit to the UK, Chris Matthews referred to the president in Love Actually as an example of George W. Bush and other former presidents' bullying of European allies. In commenting on Matthews' view, Mediaite's Jon Bershad described the U.S. president character as a "sleazy Bill Clinton/George W. Bush hybrid".[13] In the scene in question, the swaggering president bullies the prime minister and then sexually harasses a member of the his household staff. In September 2013, David Cameron made a speech in reply to Russia's comment that Britain was a small insignificant country which drew comparisons with Hugh Grant's speech during the film.[14]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
Love Actually

Soundtrack album by Various Artists

Released
17 November 2003

Genre
Film soundtrack

Label
Universal, Island

tag: table

text: The film's original score was composed, orchestrated and conducted by Craig Armstrong.

text: The soundtrack album reached the top 40 on the US Billboard 200 in 2004 and ranked second on the Top Soundtracks chart. It achieved gold record status in Australia and Mexico.

text:
"The Trouble with Love Is" by Kelly Clarkson
"Here with Me" by Dido
"Medley: Sweetest Goodbye/Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5
"Turn Me On" by Norah Jones
"Take Me As I Am" by Wyclef Jean and Sharissa
"Songbird" by Eva Cassidy
"Wherever You Will Go" by The Calling
"Jump (for My Love)" by The Pointer Sisters
"Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell
"All You Need Is Love" by Lynden David Hall
"God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys
"I'll See It Through" by Texas
"Too Lost in You" by Sugababes
"Glasgow Love Theme" by Craig Armstrong
"White Christmas" by Otis Redding
"Christmas Is All Around" by Billy Mack
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Olivia Olson

tag: ol

text:
"Jump (for My Love)" by Girls Aloud
"Too Lost in You" by Sugababes
"The Trouble with Love Is" by Kelly Clarkson
"Here with Me" by Dido
"Christmas Is All Around" by Billy Mack
"Turn Me On" by Norah Jones
"Songbird" by Eva Cassidy
"Sweetest Goodbye" by Maroon 5
"Wherever You Will Go" by The Calling
"I'll See It Through" by Texas
"Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell
"White Christmas" by Otis Redding
"Take Me As I Am" by Wyclef Jean and Sharissa
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Olivia Olson
"God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys
"All You Need Is Love" by Lynden David Hall
"Sometimes" by Gabrielle
"Glasgow Love Theme" by Craig Armstrong
"PM's Love Theme" by Craig Armstrong
"Portuguese Love Theme" by Craig Armstrong

text: The US disc replaces the Girls Aloud version of "Jump (for My Love)" with the Pointer Sisters' original recording. One of the film's deleted includes "Joanna" by Scott Walker. Additional songs heard in the film, though not included on either soundtrack album, include "All Alone on Christmas" by Darlene Love and "Smooth" by Santana, the Paul Anka song "Puppy Love" performed by S Club Juniors, and "Bye Bye Baby" by the Bay City Rollers.

text: The UK and US versions of the actual film contain two instances of alternative music. In the UK cut, the montage leading up to and continuing through the first part of the office party is set to the song "Too Lost in You", by the UK group Sugababes. In the US version of the film, this song is replaced with "The Trouble With Love Is", performed by the American singer Kelly Clarkson. In the UK version's end credit roll, the second song is a cover of "Jump (for My Love)", performed by Girls Aloud. In the US version, this song is replaced with "Too Lost in You", by Sugababes.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The Working Title Films production, budgeted at $45,000,000, was released by Universal Pictures. It grossed $62,671,632 in the United Kingdom, $13,956,093 in Australia[16] and $59,472,278 in the US and Canada. It took a worldwide total of $247,472,278.[17]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: While Love Actually received generally positive reviews in Britain, United States reviews were generally mixed. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 63% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 191 reviews, with an average score of 6.4/10. Its consensus states "'A sugary tale overstuffed with too many stories. Still, the cast charms."[18] On Metacritic, the film holds a 55/100 rating, based on 41 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[19]

text: Todd McCarthy of Variety called it "a roundly entertaining romantic comedy," a "doggedly cheery confection," and "a package that feels as luxuriously appointed and expertly tooled as a Rolls-Royce" and predicted "its cheeky wit, impossibly attractive cast, and sure-handed professionalism... along with its all-encompassing romanticism should make this a highly popular early holiday attraction for adults on both sides of the pond".[20] Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice called it "love British style, handicapped slightly by corny circumstance and populated by colourful neurotics".[21] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film  3 1⁄2 out of 4 stars, describing it as "a belly-flop into the sea of romantic comedy [...] The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs, until at times Curtis seems to be working from a checklist of obligatory movie love situations and doesn't want to leave anything out [...] It feels a little like a gourmet meal that turns into a hot-dog eating contest."[22] Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today wrote "Curtis' multi-tiered cake of comedy, slathered in eye-candy icing and set mostly in London at Christmas, serves sundry slices of love—sad, sweet and silly—in all of their messy, often surprising, glory."[23]

text: Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly rated it B and called it "a toasty, star-packed ensemble comedy... [That's] going to make a lot of holiday romantics feel very, very good; watching it; I felt cosy and charmed myself."[24] Nev Pierce of the BBC awarded it four of a possible five stars and called it a "vibrant romantic comedy... Warm, bittersweet and hilarious, this is lovely, actually. Prepare to be smitten."[25] Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle opined "[it] abandons any pretext of sophistication for gloppy sentimentality, sugary pop songs and bawdy humour – an approach that works about half the time [...] Most of the story lines maintain interest because of the fine cast and general goodwill of the picture."[26]

text: In his review in The New York Times, A.O. Scott called it "a romantic comedy swollen to the length of an Oscar-trawling epic – nearly two and a quarter hours of cheekiness, diffidence and high-tone smirking" and added, "it is more like a record label's greatest-hits compilation or a very special sitcom clip-reel show than an actual movie [...] The film's governing idea of love is both shallow and dishonest, and its sweet, chipper demeanour masks a sour cynicism about human emotions that is all the more sleazy for remaining unacknowledged. It has the calloused, leering soul of an early-60s rat-pack comedy, but without the suave, seductive bravado."[27] In Rolling Stone, Peter Travers rated it two stars out of a possible four, saying "there are laughs laced with feeling here, but the deft screenwriter Richard Curtis dilutes the impact by tossing in more and more stories. As a director... Curtis can't seem to rein in his writer... He ladles sugar over the eager-to-please Love Actually to make it go down easy, forgetting that sometimes it just makes you gag."[28]

text: Although critics' reviews for Love Actually were mixed, the film is more popular among audiences and has even been discussed in recent years as an arguable modern-day Christmas classic.[29][30] Christopher Orr of The Atlantic, on the other hand, remains negative toward the work and even described it as the least romantic movie of all time, considering its ultimate message to be, "It’s probably best if you give up on love altogether and get on with the rest of your life."[30][31]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text:
Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film (nominee)
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Bill Nighy, winner)
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Emma Thompson, nominee)
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (nominee)
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay (nominee)
Empire Award for Best British Film (winner)
Empire Award for Best British Actress (Emma Thompson, winner)
Empire Award for Best Newcomer (Martine McCutcheon, winner)
Empire Award for Best Newcomer (Andrew Lincoln, nominee)
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress (Emma Thompson, winner)
Evening Standard Peter Sellers Award for Comedy (Bill Nighy, winner)
European Film Award for Best Actor (Hugh Grant, nominee)
European Film Award for Best Director (Richard Curtis, nominee)
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Supporting Actor (Bill Nighy, winner)
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Supporting Actress (Emma Thompson, winner)
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor (Bill Nighy, winner)
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor, Musical or Comedy (Bill Nighy and Thomas Sangster, nominees)
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress, Musical or Comedy (Emma Thompson, nominee)

text: Other adaptations[edit]

text: The screenplay by Richard Curtis was published by Michael Joseph Ltd. in the UK and by St. Martin's Griffin in the US.[32]

text: Red Nose Day special[edit]

text: Shooting for a short-film special titled, Red Nose Day Actually began in February 2017.[33] The film was broadcast on BBC One as part of Red Nose Day on March 24, 2017. Among the returning cast are Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Andrew Lincoln, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Marcus Brigstocke and Rowan Atkinson. Additional scenes with Laura Linney and Patrick Dempsey were shot after the UK airing, for the US broadcast on May 25, 2017.[34] Actors who did not return included Emma Thompson, Martin Freeman, Joanna Page, Rodrigo Santoro and the late Alan Rickman.[35]