document_title: Moon landing

question_text: when was the last time astronauts landed on the moon

question_tokens: when was the last time astronauts landed on the moon

root

text: Moon landing

text: Unmanned landings

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.

tag: p

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

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

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

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tag: table

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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)

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)

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

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

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)

text: The Luna 9 spacecraft, launched by the Soviet Union, performed the first successful soft Moon landing on 3 February, 1966. 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)

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

text: US strategy

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

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: A program of automated return vehicles was begun, in the hope of being the first to return lunar rocks.  This had several failures.  It eventually succeeded with Luna 16.[23]  But this had little impact, because the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 lunar landings and rock returns had already taken place by then.

text: Apollo missions

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.[24]

text: Manned Moon landings

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

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.[25]

text: In 1951, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke forecast that man would reach the Moon by 1978.[26]

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.[27]

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.[28] Using LROC images, five of the six American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11.[29] Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported that the flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during liftoff of Apollo 11.[29]

text: Late 20th century–Early 21st century unmanned crash landings

text: Hiten (Japan)

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).[30]

text: Lunar Prospector (USA)

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.[31]

text: SMART-1 (ESA)

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.[32]

text: SELENE (Japan)

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.[33]

text: Chang'e 1 (China)

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.[34]

text: Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2 (India)

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.[35] Chandrayaan-2 is scheduled for launch in 2019.

text: LCROSS (USA)

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).[36] Six minutes later at 11:37 UTC, the LCROSS shepherding spacecraft also impacted the surface.[37]

text: GRAIL (USA)

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.[38][39] The first probe entered orbit on 31 December 2011 and the second followed on 1 January 2012.[40] The two spacecraft impacted the Lunar surface on 17 December 2012.[41]

text: LADEE (USA)

text: LADEE was launched on 7 September 2013.[42] The mission ended on 18 April 2014, when the spacecraft's controllers intentionally crashed LADEE into the far side of the Moon,[43][44] which, later, was determined to be near the eastern rim of Sundman V crater.[45][46]

text: 21st century unmanned soft landings

text: Chang'e 3 (China)

text: On 14 December 2013 at 13:12 UTC[47] Chang'e 3 soft-landed a rover on the Moon. This was the first lunar soft landing since Luna 24 on 22 August 1976.[48]

text: Landings on moons of other Solar System bodies

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

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.[49]

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.[50][51] 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.[52] 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.[53] 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.[54]

text: The Lunar Precursor Robotic Program (LPRP) is a program of robotic spacecraft missions which NASA will use to prepare for future Moon landings.[55] 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.[56] Of the several competing teams, Puli Space Technologies at one time (2012) planned to launch in 2014[57][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.[58][59]

text: In 2019, a consortium of Vodafone, Audi and PT Scientists are planning a moon landing. The mission is to launch a lander and two small rovers to the moon from Cape Canaveral, Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during the 50th-anniversary year of NASA's Apollo 11 moon landing.[60] Nokia will assist to setup a LTE network in moon to manage lunar terrestrial communication system of the mission.[61]

text: Historical empirical evidence

text: Many conspiracy theorists hold that the Apollo Moon landings were a hoax;[62] 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,[63] 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.[64]


document_title: Rice production in India

question_text: largest production of rice in india which state

text: Rice production in India

text: This article needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2014)

text: Rice production in India is an important part of the national economy[1]

text: India is one of the world's largest producers of  rice and  brown rice, accounting for 20% of all world rice production. Rice is India's pre-eminent crop, and is the staple food of the people of the eastern and southern parts of the country.[1]  Production increased from 53.6 million tons in  FY 1980 to 74.6 million tons in year 1990, a 39 percent increase over the decade. By year 1992, rice production had reached 181.9 kg, second in the world only to China with its 182 kg.[1]  Since 1950 the increase has been more than 350 percent. Most of this increase was the result of an increase in yields; the number of hectares increased only 0 percent during this period. Yields increased from 1,336 kilograms per hectare in FY 1980 to 1,751 kilograms per hectare in FY 1990. The per-hectare yield increased more than 262 percent between 1950 and 1992.[1]

text: The country's rice production had declined to 89.14 million tonnes in 2009-10 crop year (July–June) from record 99.18 million tonnes in the previous year due to severe drought that affected almost half of the country. India could achieve a record rice production of 100 million tonnes in 2010-11 crop year on the back of better monsoon this year. The India's rice production reached to a record high of 104.32 million tonnes in 2011-2012 crop year (July–June).

text: Rice is one of the chief grains of India. Moreover, this country has the largest area under rice cultivation, as it is one of the principal food crops. It is in fact the dominant crop of the country. India is one of the leading producers of this crop. Rice is the basic food crop and being a tropical plant, it flourishes comfortably in hot and humid climate. Rice is mainly grown in rain fed areas that receive heavy annual rainfall. That is why it is fundamentally a kharif crop in India. It demands temperature of around 25 degree Celsius and above and rainfall of more than 100 cm. Rice is also grown through irrigation in those areas that receives comparatively less rainfall. Rice is the staple food of eastern and southern parts of India. In 2009-10, total rice production in India amounted to 89.13 million tonnes, which was much less than production of previous year, 99.18 million tonnes.

text: Rice can be cultivated by different methods based on the type of region. But in India, the traditional methods are still in use for harvesting rice. The fields are initially ploughed and then fertiliser is applied which typically consists of cow dung and then the field is smoothed. The seeds are transplanted by hand and then through proper irrigation, the seeds are cultivated. Rice grows on a variety of soils like silts, loams and gravels. It can also tolerate alkaline as well as acid soils. However, clayey loam is well suited to the raising of this crop. Actually the clayey soil can be easily converted into mud in which rice seedlings can be transplanted easily. Proper care has to be taken as this crop thrives if the soil remains wet and is under water during its growing years. Rice fields should be level and should have low mud walls for retaining water. In the plain areas, excess rainwater is allowed to inundate the rice fields and flow slowly. Rice raised in the well watered lowland areas is known as lowland or wet rice. In the hilly areas, slopes are cut into terraces for the cultivation of rice. Thus, the rice grown in the hilly areas is known as dry or upland rice. The yield of upland rice per hectare is comparatively less than that of the wet rice.

text: The regions cultivating this crop in India is distinguished as the western coastal strip, the eastern coastal strip, covering all the primary deltas, Assam plains and surrounding low hills, foothills and Terai region- along the Himalayas and states like West Bengal, Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, eastern Madhya Pradesh, northern Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. India, being a land of eternal growing season, and the deltas of Kaveri River, Krishna River, Godavari River, Indravati River and Mahanadi River with a thick set-up of canal irrigation like Hirakud Dam and Indravati Dam, permits farmers to raise two, and in some pockets, even three crops a year. Irrigation has made even three crops a year possible. Irrigation has made it feasible even for Punjab and Haryana, known for their baked climate, to grow rice. They even export their excess to other states. Punjab and Haryana grow prized rice for export purposes. The hilly terraced fields from Kashmir to Assam are idyllically suited for rice farming, with age-old hill irrigational conveniences. High yielding kinds, enhanced planting methods, promised irrigation water supply and mounting use of fertilizers have together led to beneficial and quick results. It is the rain fed area that cuts down average yields per hectare.

text: In some of the states like West Bengal, Assam and Orissa two crops of rice are raised in a year. Winter season in the north western India are extremely cold for rice. Rice is considered as the master crop of coastal India and in some regions of the eastern India where during the summer monsoon rainy season both high temperature and heavy rainfall provide ideal conditions for the cultivation of rice. Almost all parts of India are suitable for raising rice during the summer season provided that the water is available. Thus, rice is also raised even in those parts of western Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana where low level areas are waterlogged during the summer monsoon rainy season.

text:
Winter rice crop is a long duration crop and summer rice crop is a short duration crop. At some places in the eastern and southern parts of India, rice crop of short duration is followed by the rice crop of long duration. Winter rice crop is raised preferably in low-lying areas that remain flooded mainly during the rainy season. Autumn rice is raised in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Summer, autumn and winter rice crops are raised in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Orissa. Summer rice crop is raised on a small scale and on a small area. However, winter rice crop is actually the leading rice crop accounting for a major portion of the total Hectare under rice in all seasons in the country. Moreover, in the last few years, several steps in order to augment yield per hectare were taken up very seriously at all levels. India ranks fourth in the production of wheat & second in production of rice 3 in the world. Favorable Geographical Condition for Wheat Cultivation: In India, wheat is a winter crop. Wheat requires a moderate cool climate with moderate rain. In India, it is grown in winter. It needs temperature 10 degree C to 15 degree C for its cultivation. It thrives well in an average temperature of 16-degree C. Warm and sunny weather is essential at the time of ripening. Wheat requires a rainfall of 50 cm to 100 cm during the growing season. Too much rain is injurious to the plant. On irrigated lands, a rainfall of 40 cm to 50 cm is sufficient.
Light rainfall and cloudiness before the grain ripens increase the productivity. Alluvial level plains are ideal for wheat cultivation. Slightly rolling plains are also suitable. Plains should be well drained so that water cannot stand there. Wheat requires fertile alluvial soil. Clay loamy soils or even black cotton soils are suitable. Soil should retain moisture. A certain amount of lime in the soil is beneficial. Labor factors are not as important in the wheat cultivation as in the case of rice. However, labor is essential for the cultivation. The other requirements of wheat cultivation include (i) irrigation, (ii) high yielding varieties of seeds and (iii) the same way.

text: Rice Production by Year[edit]

text: Source: http://drdpat.bih.nic.in/HS-B-Table-01.htm.

text:
SL
Year
Area (Million Hectares)
Production (Million Tonnes)
Yield (Kg/Hectare)

1.
1950-51
30.81
20.58
668

2.
1951-52
29.83
21.30
714

3.
1952-53
29.97
22.90
764

4.
1953-54
31.29
28.21
902

5.
1954-55
30.77
25.22
820

6.
1955-56
31.52
27.56
874

7.
1956-57
32.28
29.04
900

8.
1957-58
32.30
25.53
790

9.
1958-59
33.17
30.85
930

10.
1959-60
33.82
31.68
937

11.
1960-61
34.13
34.58
1,013

12.
1961-62
34.69
35.66
1,028

13.
1962-63
35.69
33.21
931

14.
1963-64
35.81
37.00
1,033

15.
1964-65
36.46
39.31
1,078

16.
1965-66
35.47
30.59
862

17.
1966-67
35.25
30.44
863

18.
1967-68
36.44
37.61
1,032

19.
1968-69
36.97
39.76
1,076

20.
1969-70
37.68
40.43
1,073

21.
1970-71
37.59
42.22
1,123

22.
1971-72
37.76
43.07
1,141

23.
1972-73
36.69
39.24
1,070

24.
1973-74
38.29
44.05
1,151

25.
1974-75
37.89
39.58
1,045

26.
1975-76
39.48
48.74
1,235

27.
1976-77
38.51
41.92
1,088

28.
1977-78
40.28
52.67
1,308

29.
1978-79
40.48
53.77
1,328

30.
1979-80
39.42
42.33
1,074

31.
1980-81
40.15
53.63
1,336

32.
1981-82
40.71
53.25
1,308

33.
1982-83
38.26
47.12
1,231

34.
1983-84
41.24
60.10
1,457

35.
1984-85
41.16
58.34
1,417

36.
1985-86
41.14
63.83
1,552

37.
1986-87
41.17
60.56
1,471

38.
1987-88
38.81
56.86
1,465

39.
1988-89
41.73
70.49
1,689

40.
1989-90
42.17
73.57
1,745

41.
1990-91
42.69
74.29
1,740

42.
1991-92
42.65
74.68
1,751

43.
1992-93
41.78
72.86
1,744

44.
1993-94
42.54
80.30
1,888

45.
1994-95
42.81
81.81
1,911

46.
1995-96
42.84
76.98
1,797

47.
1996-97
43.43
81.74
1,882

48.
1997-98
43.45
82.53
1,900

49.
1998-99
44.80
86.03
1,920

50.
1999-00
44.97
89.48
1,990

text: Rice Production by State[edit]

text:
Rice Production by States (Million Tonnes)[2]

States
Rank(2014-15)
Actual Production(2014-15)
% of Country Total(2014-15)
Cumulative % of Country Total(2014-15)
Average Production(2010-11 to 2014-15)
Estimate (2015-16)

India
-
103.73
100.0%
100%
105.48
103.61

West Bengal
1
14.68
13.9%
14%
14.54
16.10

Uttar Pradesh
2
12.17
11.5%
25%
13.45
12.51

Punjab
3
11.11
10.5%
36%
11.03
11.64

Odisha
4
8.30
7.9%
44%
7.17
5.80

Andhra Pradesh
5
7.23
6.9%
51%
7.34
6.94

Bihar
6
6.36
6.0%
57%
5.93
6.11

Chhattisgarh
7
6.32
6.0%
63%
6.37
6.29

Tamil Nadu
8
5.73
5.4%
68%
5.68
5.72

Assam
9
5.22
4.9%
73%
4.91
5.12

Telangana
10
4.44
4.2%
77%
5.31
4.19

Haryana
11
4.01
3.8%
81%
3.84
4.18

Madhya Pradesh
12
3.63
3.4%
85%
2.65
3.49

Maharashtra
15
2.95
2.8%
94%
2.93
2.61

Gujarat
16
1.83
1.7%
96%
1.66
1.56

Uttarakhand
17
0.60
0.6%
96%
0.58
0.63

Kerala
18
0.56
0.5%
97%
0.53
0.70

Jammu & Kashmir
19
0.52
0.5%
97%
0.60
0.42

Rajasthan
20
0.37
0.4%
98%
0.28
0.35

Himachal Pradesh
21
0.13
0.1%
98%
0.13
0.10

Others
-
2.44
2.3%
100%
2.37
2.31


document_title: List of Wimbledon gentlemen's singles champions

question_text: who won last year's men's wimbledon final

question_tokens: who won last year 's men 's wimbledon final

text: History[edit]

text: The Wimbledon Championships are played in the last week of June and the first week of July, and has been chronologically the third of the four Grand Slam tournaments of the tennis season since 1987.[2] The event was not held from 1915 to 1918 because of World War I and again from 1940 to 1945 because of World War II.[4]

text: The Gentlemen's Singles' rules have undergone several changes since the first edition. From 1878 until 1921, the event started with a knockout phase, the All Comers' Singles, whose winner then faced the defending champion in a challenge round. The All Comers' winner was automatically awarded the title six times (1879, 1887, 1891, 1895, 1907, 1908) in the absence of the previous year's champion. The challenge round system was abolished with the 1922 edition.[5] Since the first championships, all matches have been played at the best-of-five sets. Between 1877 and 1883, the winner of the next game at five games – all took the set in every match except the All Comers' final, and the challenge round, which were won with six games and a two games advantage. All sets were decided in this advantage format from 1884 to 1970.[5] The lingering death best of 12 points tie-break was introduced in 1971 for the first four sets, played at eight games all until 1978 and at six games all since 1979.[5][6][7]

text: Since 1949, the Gentlemen's Singles champion has received a miniature replica of the event's trophy, a silver-gilt cup created in 1887 with the engraved inscription: "The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Champion of the World".[8] New singles champions are traditionally elected honorary members of the AELTC by the club's committee.[c][9] In 2014, the Gentlemen's Singles winner received prize money of £1,760,000.[10]

text: In the Amateur Era, William Renshaw (1881–1886, 1889) holds the record for most titles in the Gentlemen's Singles, with seven victories. Renshaw's wins, however, came within the challenge round format, and he won the event only twice after going through a complete draw. Renshaw also holds the record for most consecutive titles with six from (1881 to 1886). The record for most consecutive and most wins post challenge round during the Amateur Era is Fred Perry (1934–1936).[4]

text: In the Open Era, since the inclusion of professional tennis players in 1968, Roger Federer (2003–2007, 2009, 2012, 2017) holds the record for most victories in the Gentlemen's Singles Final with eight. Björn Borg (1976–1980) and Roger Federer (2003–2007) co-hold the record for most consecutive victories with five.[4]

text: This event was won without losing a single set in the entire tournament during the Open Era twice, in 1976 by Björn Borg and in 2017 by Roger Federer.

text: Roger Federer is the only player in history, in both the Amateur and Open Era, to reach the Wimbledon Gentlemen's Singles Final eleven times. He has won on eight occasions and lost on three.

text: Champions[edit]

text:
Regular competition

All Comers' winner, Challenge round winner ‡

Defending champion, Challenge round winner †

All Comers' winner, no Challenge round ◊

text: Amateur era[edit]

text:
Year[d]
Country
Champion
Country
Runner-up
Score in the final[4]

1877
 BRI[e]
Gore, SpencerSpencer Gore
 BRI
Marshall, WilliamWilliam Marshall
6–1, 6–2, 6–4

1878
 BRI
Hadow, FrankFrank Hadow ‡
 BRI
Gore, SpencerSpencer Gore
7–5, 6–1, 9–7

1879
 BRI
Hartley, JohnJohn Hartley ◊
 BRI
St. Leger Goold, VereVere St. Leger Goold
6–2, 6–4, 6–2

1880
 BRI
Hartley, JohnJohn Hartley †
 BRI
Lawford, HerbertHerbert Lawford
6–3, 6–2, 2–6, 6–3

1881
 BRI
Renshaw, WilliamWilliam Renshaw ‡
 BRI
Hartley, JohnJohn Hartley
6–0, 6–1, 6–1

1882
 BRI
Renshaw, WilliamWilliam Renshaw †
 BRI
Renshaw, ErnestErnest Renshaw
6–1, 2–6, 4–6, 6–2, 6–2

1883
 BRI
Renshaw, WilliamWilliam Renshaw †
 BRI
Renshaw, ErnestErnest Renshaw
2–6, 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3

1884
 BRI
Renshaw, WilliamWilliam Renshaw †
 BRI
Lawford, HerbertHerbert Lawford
6–0, 6–4, 9–7

1885
 BRI
Renshaw, WilliamWilliam Renshaw †
 BRI
Lawford, HerbertHerbert Lawford
7–5, 6–2, 4–6, 7–5

1886
 BRI
Renshaw, WilliamWilliam Renshaw †
 BRI
Lawford, HerbertHerbert Lawford
6–0, 5–7, 6–3, 6–4

1887
 BRI
Lawford, HerbertHerbert Lawford ◊
 BRI
Renshaw, ErnestErnest Renshaw
1–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4

1888
 BRI
Renshaw, ErnestErnest Renshaw ‡
 BRI
Lawford, HerbertHerbert Lawford
6–3, 7–5, 6–0

1889
 BRI
Renshaw, WilliamWilliam Renshaw ‡
 BRI
Renshaw, ErnestErnest Renshaw
6–4, 6–1, 3–6, 6–0

1890
 BRI
Hamilton, WilloughbyWilloughby Hamilton ‡
 BRI
Renshaw, WilliamWilliam Renshaw
6–8, 6–2, 3–6, 6–1, 6–1

1891
 BRI
Baddeley, WilfredWilfred Baddeley ◊
 BRI
Pim, JoshuaJoshua Pim
6–4, 1–6, 7–5, 6–0

1892
 BRI
Baddeley, WilfredWilfred Baddeley †
 BRI
Pim, JoshuaJoshua Pim
4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 6–2

1893
 BRI
Pim, JoshuaJoshua Pim ‡
 BRI
Baddeley, WilfredWilfred Baddeley
3–6, 6–1, 6–3, 6–2

1894
 BRI
Pim, JoshuaJoshua Pim †
 BRI
Baddeley, WilfredWilfred Baddeley
10–8, 6–2, 8–6

1895
 BRI
Baddeley, WilfredWilfred Baddeley ◊
 BRI
Eaves, WilberforceWilberforce Eaves
4–6, 2–6, 8–6, 6–2, 6–3

1896
 BRI
Mahony, HaroldHarold Mahony ‡
 BRI
Baddeley, WilfredWilfred Baddeley
6–2, 6–8, 5–7, 8–6, 6–3

1897
 BRI
Doherty, ReginaldReginald Doherty ‡
 BRI
Mahony, HaroldHarold Mahony
6–4, 6–4, 6–3

1898
 BRI
Doherty, ReginaldReginald Doherty †
 BRI
Doherty, LaurenceLaurence Doherty
6–3, 6–3, 2–6, 5–7, 6–1

1899
 BRI
Doherty, ReginaldReginald Doherty †
 BRI
Gore, ArthurArthur Gore
1–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 6–3

1900
 BRI
Doherty, ReginaldReginald Doherty †
 BRI
Smith, SydneySydney Smith
6–8, 6–3, 6–1, 6–2

1901
 BRI
Gore, ArthurArthur Gore ‡
 BRI
Doherty, ReginaldReginald Doherty
4–6, 7–5, 6–4, 6–4

1902
 BRI
Doherty, LaurenceLaurence Doherty ‡
 BRI
Gore, ArthurArthur Gore
6–4, 6–3, 3–6, 6–0

1903
 BRI
Doherty, LaurenceLaurence Doherty †
 BRI
Riseley, FrankFrank Riseley
7–5, 6–3, 6–0

1904
 BRI
Doherty, LaurenceLaurence Doherty †
 BRI
Riseley, FrankFrank Riseley
6–1, 7–5, 8–6

1905
 BRI
Doherty, LaurenceLaurence Doherty †
 AUS
Brookes, NormanNorman Brookes
8–6, 6–2, 6–4

1906
 BRI
Doherty, LaurenceLaurence Doherty †
 BRI
Riseley, FrankFrank Riseley
6–4, 4–6, 6–2, 6–3

1907
 AUS
Brookes, NormanNorman Brookes ◊
 BRI
Gore, ArthurArthur Gore
6–4, 6–2, 6–2

1908
 BRI
Gore, ArthurArthur Gore ◊
 BRI
Barrett, Herbert RoperHerbert Roper Barrett
6–3, 6–2, 4–6, 3–6, 6–4

1909
 BRI
Gore, ArthurArthur Gore †
 BRI
Ritchie, MajorMajor Ritchie
6–8, 1–6, 6–2, 6–2, 6–2

1910
 NZL
Wilding, AnthonyAnthony Wilding ‡
 BRI
Gore, ArthurArthur Gore
6–4, 7–5, 4–6, 6–2

1911
 NZL
Wilding, AnthonyAnthony Wilding †
 BRI
Barrett, Herbert RoperHerbert Roper Barrett
6–4, 4–6, 2–6, 6–2, retired[f]

1912
 NZL
Wilding, AnthonyAnthony Wilding †
 BRI
Gore, ArthurArthur Gore
6–4, 6–4, 4–6, 6–4

1913
 NZL
Wilding, AnthonyAnthony Wilding †
 USA
McLoughlin, MauriceMaurice McLoughlin
8–6, 6–3, 10–8

1914
 AUS
Brookes, NormanNorman Brookes ‡
 NZL
Wilding, AnthonyAnthony Wilding
6–4, 6–4, 7–5

1915
No competition (due to World War I)

1916

1917

1918

1919
 AUS
Patterson, GeraldGerald Patterson ‡
 AUS
Brookes, NormanNorman Brookes
6–3, 7–5, 6–2

1920
 USA
Tilden, BillBill Tilden ‡
 AUS
Patterson, GeraldGerald Patterson
2–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–4

1921
 USA
Tilden, BillBill Tilden †
 SAF
Norton, BrianBrian Norton
4–6, 2–6, 6–1, 6–0, 7–5

1922
 AUS
Patterson, GeraldGerald Patterson
 BRI
Lycett, RandolphRandolph Lycett
6–3, 6–4, 6–2

1923
 USA
Johnston, BillBill Johnston
 USA
Hunter, FrancisFrancis Hunter
6–0, 6–3, 6–1

1924
 FRA
Borotra, JeanJean Borotra
 FRA
Lacoste, RenéRené Lacoste
6–1, 3–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–4

1925
 FRA
Lacoste, RenéRené Lacoste
 FRA
Borotra, JeanJean Borotra
6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 8–6

1926
 FRA
Borotra, JeanJean Borotra
 USA
Kinsey, HowardHoward Kinsey
8–6, 6–1, 6–3

1927
 FRA
Cochet, HenriHenri Cochet
 FRA
Borotra, JeanJean Borotra
4–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4, 7–5

1928
 FRA
Lacoste, RenéRené Lacoste
 FRA
Cochet, HenriHenri Cochet
6–1, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2

1929
 FRA
Cochet, HenriHenri Cochet
 FRA
Borotra, JeanJean Borotra
6–4, 6–3, 6–4

1930
 USA
Tilden, BillBill Tilden
 USA
Allison, WilmerWilmer Allison
6–3, 9–7, 6–4

1931
 USA
Wood, SidneySidney Wood
 USA
Shields, FrankFrank Shields
walkover[h]

1932
 USA
Vines, EllsworthEllsworth Vines
 GBR
Austin, BunnyBunny Austin
6–4, 6–2, 6–0

1933
 AUS
Crawford, JackJack Crawford
 USA
Vines, EllsworthEllsworth Vines
4–6, 11–9, 6–2, 2–6, 6–4

1934
 GBR
Perry, FredFred Perry
 AUS
Crawford, JackJack Crawford
6–3, 6–0, 7–5

1935
 GBR
Perry, FredFred Perry
 GER
Cramm, Gottfried vonGottfried von Cramm
6–2, 6–4, 6–4

1936
 GBR
Perry, FredFred Perry
 GER
Cramm, Gottfried vonGottfried von Cramm
6–1, 6–1, 6–0

1937
 USA
Budge, DonDon Budge
 GER
Cramm, Gottfried vonGottfried von Cramm
6–3, 6–4, 6–2

1938
 USA
Budge, DonDon Budge
 GBR
Austin, BunnyBunny Austin
6–1, 6–0, 6–3

1939
 USA
Riggs, BobbyBobby Riggs
 USA
Cooke, ElwoodElwood Cooke
2–6, 8–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2

1940
No competition (due to World War II)

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946
 FRA
Petra, YvonYvon Petra
 AUS
Brown, GeoffGeoff Brown
6–2, 6–4, 7–9, 5–7, 6–4

1947
 USA
Kramer, JackJack Kramer
 USA
Brown, TomTom Brown
6–1, 6–3, 6–2

1948
 USA
Falkenburg, BobBob Falkenburg
 AUS
Bromwich, JohnJohn Bromwich
7–5, 0–6, 6–2, 3–6, 7–5

1949
 USA
Schroeder, TedTed Schroeder
 TCH
Drobný, JaroslavJaroslav Drobný
3–6, 6–0, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4

1950
 USA
Patty, BudgeBudge Patty
 AUS
Sedgman, FrankFrank Sedgman
6–1, 8–10, 6–2, 6–3

1951
 USA
Savitt, DickDick Savitt
 AUS
McGregor, KenKen McGregor
6–4, 6–4, 6–4

1952
 AUS
Sedgman, FrankFrank Sedgman
 EGY
Drobný, JaroslavJaroslav Drobný
4–6, 6–2, 6–3, 6–2

1953
 USA
Seixas, VicVic Seixas
 DEN
Nielsen, KurtKurt Nielsen
9–7, 6–3, 6–4

1954
 EGY
Drobný, JaroslavJaroslav Drobný
 AUS
Rosewall, KenKen Rosewall
13–11, 4–6, 6–2, 9–7

1955
 USA
Trabert, TonyTony Trabert
 DEN
Nielsen, KurtKurt Nielsen
6–3, 7–5, 6–1

1956
 AUS
Hoad, LewLew Hoad
 AUS
Rosewall, KenKen Rosewall
6–2, 4–6, 7–5, 6–4

1957
 AUS
Hoad, LewLew Hoad
 AUS
Cooper, AshleyAshley Cooper
6–2, 6–1, 6–2

1958
 AUS
Cooper, AshleyAshley Cooper
 AUS
Fraser, NealeNeale Fraser
3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 13–11

1959
 USA[j]
Olmedo, AlexAlex Olmedo
 AUS
Laver, RodRod Laver
6–4, 6–3, 6–4

1960
 AUS
Fraser, NealeNeale Fraser
 AUS
Laver, RodRod Laver
6–4, 3–6, 9–7, 7–5

1961
 AUS
Laver, RodRod Laver
 USA
McKinley, ChuckChuck McKinley
6–3, 6–1, 6–4

1962
 AUS
Laver, RodRod Laver
 AUS
Mulligan, MartinMartin Mulligan
6–2, 6–2, 6–1

1963
 USA
McKinley, ChuckChuck McKinley
 AUS
Stolle, FredFred Stolle
9–7, 6–1, 6–4

1964
 AUS
Emerson, RoyRoy Emerson
 AUS
Stolle, FredFred Stolle
6–4, 12–10, 4–6, 6–3

1965
 AUS
Emerson, RoyRoy Emerson
 AUS
Stolle, FredFred Stolle
6–2, 6–4, 6–4

1966
 ESP
Santana, ManuelManuel Santana
 USA
Ralston, DennisDennis Ralston
6–4, 11–9, 6–4

1967
 AUS
Newcombe, JohnJohn Newcombe
 FRG
Bungert, WilhelmWilhelm Bungert
6–3, 6–1, 6–1

text: Open era[edit]

text:
Year[d]
Country
Champion
Country
Runner-up
Score in the final[4]

1968
 AUS
Laver, RodRod Laver
 AUS
Roche, TonyTony Roche
6–3, 6–4, 6–2

1969
 AUS
Laver, RodRod Laver
 AUS
Newcombe, JohnJohn Newcombe
6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–4

1970
 AUS
Newcombe, JohnJohn Newcombe
 AUS
Rosewall, KenKen Rosewall
5–7, 6–3, 6–2, 3–6, 6–1

1971
 AUS
Newcombe, JohnJohn Newcombe
 USA
Smith, StanStan Smith
6–3, 5–7, 2–6, 6–4, 6–4

1972
 USA
Smith, StanStan Smith
 ROM
Năstase, IlieIlie Năstase
4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 7–5

1973
 TCH
Kodeš, JanJan Kodeš
 URS
Metreveli, AlexAlex Metreveli
6–1, 9–8(7–5), 6–3

1974
 USA
Connors, JimmyJimmy Connors
 AUS
Rosewall, KenKen Rosewall
6–1, 6–1, 6–4

1975
 USA
Ashe, ArthurArthur Ashe
 USA
Connors, JimmyJimmy Connors
6–1, 6–1, 5–7, 6–4

1976
 SWE
Borg, BjörnBjörn Borg
 ROM
Năstase, IlieIlie Năstase
6–4, 6–2, 9–7

1977
 SWE
Borg, BjörnBjörn Borg
 USA
Connors, JimmyJimmy Connors
3–6, 6–2, 6–1, 5–7, 6–4

1978
 SWE
Borg, BjörnBjörn Borg
 USA
Connors, JimmyJimmy Connors
6–2, 6–2, 6–3

1979
 SWE
Borg, BjörnBjörn Borg
 USA
Tanner, RoscoeRoscoe Tanner
6–7(4–7), 6–1, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4

1980
 SWE
Borg, BjörnBjörn Borg
 USA
McEnroe, JohnJohn McEnroe
1–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–7(16–18), 8–6

1981
 USA
McEnroe, JohnJohn McEnroe
 SWE
Borg, BjörnBjörn Borg
4–6, 7–6(7–1), 7–6(7–4), 6–4

1982
 USA
Connors, JimmyJimmy Connors
 USA
McEnroe, JohnJohn McEnroe
3–6, 6–3, 6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–5), 6–4

1983
 USA
McEnroe, JohnJohn McEnroe
 NZL
Lewis, ChrisChris Lewis
6–2, 6–2, 6–2

1984
 USA
McEnroe, JohnJohn McEnroe
 USA
Connors, JimmyJimmy Connors
6–1, 6–1, 6–2

1985
 FRG
Becker, BorisBoris Becker
 USA
Curren, KevinKevin Curren
6–3, 6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–3), 6–4

1986
 FRG
Becker, BorisBoris Becker
 TCH
Lendl, IvanIvan Lendl
6–4, 6–3, 7–5

1987
 AUS
Cash, PatPat Cash
 TCH
Lendl, IvanIvan Lendl
7–6(7–5), 6–2, 7–5

1988
 SWE
Edberg, StefanStefan Edberg
 FRG
Becker, BorisBoris Becker
4–6, 7–6(7–2), 6–4, 6–2

1989
 FRG
Becker, BorisBoris Becker
 SWE
Edberg, StefanStefan Edberg
6–0, 7–6(7–1), 6–4

1990
 SWE
Edberg, StefanStefan Edberg
 FRG
Becker, BorisBoris Becker
6–2, 6–2, 3–6, 3–6, 6–4

1991
 GER
Stich, MichaelMichael Stich
 GER
Becker, BorisBoris Becker
6–4, 7–6(7–4), 6–4

1992
 USA
Agassi, AndreAndre Agassi
 CRO
Ivanišević, GoranGoran Ivanišević
6–7(8–10), 6–4, 6–4, 1–6, 6–4

1993
 USA
Sampras, PetePete Sampras
 USA
Courier, JimJim Courier
7–6(7–3), 7–6(8–6), 3–6, 6–3

1994
 USA
Sampras, PetePete Sampras
 CRO
Ivanišević, GoranGoran Ivanišević
7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–5), 6–0

1995
 USA
Sampras, PetePete Sampras
 GER
Becker, BorisBoris Becker
6–7(5–7), 6–2, 6–4, 6–2

1996
 NED
Krajicek, RichardRichard Krajicek
 USA
Washington, MaliVaiMaliVai Washington
6–3, 6–4, 6–3

1997
 USA
Sampras, PetePete Sampras
 FRA
Pioline, CédricCédric Pioline
6–4, 6–2, 6–4

1998
 USA
Sampras, PetePete Sampras
 CRO
Ivanišević, GoranGoran Ivanišević
6–7(2–7), 7–6(11–9), 6–4, 3–6, 6–2

1999
 USA
Sampras, PetePete Sampras
 USA
Agassi, AndreAndre Agassi
6–3, 6–4, 7–5

2000
 USA
Sampras, PetePete Sampras
 AUS
Rafter, PatrickPatrick Rafter
6–7(10–12), 7–6(7–5), 6–4, 6–2

2001
 CRO
Ivanišević, GoranGoran Ivanišević
 AUS
Rafter, PatrickPatrick Rafter
6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 9–7

2002
 AUS
Hewitt, LleytonLleyton Hewitt
 ARG
Nalbandian, DavidDavid Nalbandian
6–1, 6–3, 6–2

2003
  SUI
Federer, RogerRoger Federer
 AUS
Philippoussis, MarkMark Philippoussis
7–6(7–5), 6–2, 7–6(7–3)

2004
  SUI
Federer, RogerRoger Federer
 USA
Roddick, AndyAndy Roddick
4–6, 7–5, 7–6(7–3), 6–4

2005
  SUI
Federer, RogerRoger Federer
 USA
Roddick, AndyAndy Roddick
6–2, 7–6(7–2), 6–4

2006
  SUI
Federer, RogerRoger Federer
 ESP
Nadal, RafaelRafael Nadal
6–0, 7–6(7–5), 6–7(2–7), 6–3

2007
  SUI
Federer, RogerRoger Federer
 ESP
Nadal, RafaelRafael Nadal
7–6(9–7), 4–6, 7–6(7–3), 2–6, 6–2

2008
 ESP
Nadal, RafaelRafael Nadal
  SUI
Federer, RogerRoger Federer
6–4, 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(8–10), 9–7

2009
  SUI
Federer, RogerRoger Federer
 USA
Roddick, AndyAndy Roddick
5–7, 7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–5), 3–6, 16–14

2010
 ESP
Nadal, RafaelRafael Nadal
 CZE
Berdych, TomášTomáš Berdych
6–3, 7–5, 6–4

2011
 SRB
Djokovic, NovakNovak Djokovic
 ESP
Nadal, RafaelRafael Nadal
6–4, 6–1, 1–6, 6–3

2012
  SUI
Federer, RogerRoger Federer
 GBR
Murray, AndyAndy Murray
4–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–4

2013
 GBR
Murray, AndyAndy Murray
 SRB
Djokovic, NovakNovak Djokovic
6–4, 7–5, 6–4

2014
 SRB
Djokovic, NovakNovak Djokovic
  SUI
Federer, RogerRoger Federer
6–7(7–9), 6–4, 7–6(7–4), 5–7, 6–4

2015
 SRB
Djokovic, NovakNovak Djokovic
  SUI
Federer, RogerRoger Federer
7–6(7–1), 6–7(10–12), 6–4, 6–3

2016
 GBR
Murray, AndyAndy Murray
 CAN
Raonic, MilosMilos Raonic
6–4, 7–6(7–3), 7–6(7–2)

2017
  SUI
Federer, RogerRoger Federer
 CRO
Čilić, MarinMarin Čilić
6–3, 6–1, 6–4

text: Statistics[edit]

text: Multiple Champions[edit]

text: Title defended in the challenge round

text:
Player
Open Era
Amateur Era
All-time
Years

 Federer, RogerRoger Federer (SUI)
8
0
8
2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017

 Renshaw, WilliamWilliam Renshaw (BRI)
0
7
7
1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1889

 Sampras, PetePete Sampras (USA)
7
0
7
1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000

 Doherty, LaurenceLaurence Doherty (BRI)
0
5
5
1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906

 Borg, BjörnBjörn Borg (SWE)
5
0
5
1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980

 Doherty, ReginaldReginald Doherty (BRI)
0
4
4
1897, 1898, 1899, 1900

 Wilding, AnthonyAnthony Wilding (NZL)
0
4
4
1910, 1911, 1912, 1913

 Laver, RodRod Laver (AUS)
2
2
4
1961, 1962, 1968, 1969

 Baddeley, WilfredWilfred Baddeley (BRI)
0
3
3
1891, 1892, 1895

 Gore, ArthurArthur Gore (BRI)
0
3
3
1901, 1908, 1909

 Tilden, BillBill Tilden (USA)
0
3
3
1920, 1921, 1930

 Perry, FredFred Perry (GBR)
0
3
3
1934, 1935, 1936

 Newcombe, JohnJohn Newcombe (AUS)
2
1
3
1967, 1970, 1971

 McEnroe, JohnJohn McEnroe (USA)
3
0
3
1981, 1983, 1984

 Becker, BorisBoris Becker (GER)
3
0
3
1985, 1986, 1989

 Djokovic, NovakNovak Djokovic (SRB)
3
0
3
2011, 2014, 2015

 Hartley, JohnJohn Hartley (BRI)
0
2
2
1879, 1880

 Pim, JoshuaJoshua Pim (BRI)
0
2
2
1893, 1894

 Brookes, NormanNorman Brookes (AUS)
0
2
2
1907, 1914

 Patterson, GeraldGerald Patterson (AUS)
0
2
2
1919, 1922

 Borotra, JeanJean Borotra (FRA)
0
2
2
1924, 1926

 Lacoste, RenéRené Lacoste (FRA)
0
2
2
1925, 1928

 Cochet, HenriHenri Cochet (FRA)
0
2
2
1927, 1929

 Budge, DonDon Budge (USA)
0
2
2
1937, 1938

 Hoad, LewLew Hoad (AUS)
0
2
2
1956, 1957

 Emerson, RoyRoy Emerson (AUS)
0
2
2
1964, 1965

 Connors, JimmyJimmy Connors (USA)
2
0
2
1974, 1982

 Edberg, StefanStefan Edberg (SWE)
2
0
2
1988, 1990

 Nadal, RafaelRafael Nadal (ESP)
2
0
2
2008, 2010

 Murray, AndyAndy Murray (GBR)
2
0
2
2013, 2016

text: Champions by country[edit]

text:
Country
Amateur Era
Open Era
All-time
First title
Last title

 United Kingdom (UK)[e][k]
35
2
37
1877
2016

 United States (USA)
18
15
33
1920
2000

 Australia (AUS)
15
6
21
1907
2002

  Switzerland (SUI)
0
8
8
2003
2017

 France (FRA)
7
0
7
1924
1946

 Sweden (SWE)
0
7
7
1976
1990

 Germany (GER)[l]
0
4
4
1985
1991

 New Zealand (NZL)
4
0
4
1910
1913

 Serbia (SRB)
0
3
3
2011
2015

 Spain (ESP)
1
2
3
1966
2010

 Croatia (CRO)
0
1
1
2001
2001

 Czechoslovakia (TCH) ¤[m]
0
1
1
1973
1973

 Egypt (EGY)
1
0
1
1954
1954

 Netherlands (NED)
0
1
1
1996
1996

text: Former country ¤