Soviet Union's  touches down on  the moon in 1966

Luna 9

The U.S. follows  four months  later with 

Surveyor 1

NASA clinches the space race with the Soviets in 1969 with a moon landing by Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin 12 astronauts explore  the surface over six missions, before the programme ends with Apollo 17 in 1972

Arrow

China, in 2013, becomes  third country  to successfully land on the moon, delivering a rover named  Yutu, Chinese for  jade rabbit

China follows with the Yutu-2 rover  in 2019, this time touching down on  the moon's unexplored far side

A sample return mission on the moon's near side in  2020 yields nearly  4 pounds (1.7 kilograms) of lunar rocks and dirt

Another sample  return mission  from the far side in 2024 delivers  rocks and soil from  the less explored  part of the moon

In 2023, Russia tries for its first moon landing  in nearly a half-century, but the Luna 25 spacecraft smashes into the moon

After its first lander slams into the moon  in 2019, India regroups and launches Chandrayaan-3  in 2023

The craft  successfully touches down, making  India the  fourth country  to score a  lunar landing

Japan became the  fifth country to land successfully on the moon, with its spacecraft touching down in January