History of Moon in Timeline

By Popular Timelines Editorial Team · Updated: July 13, 2026

The Moon is Earth's only permanent natural satellite and the fifth-largest moon in the solar system. It is a dry, rocky body with a heavily cratered surface caused by eons of meteoroid impacts. Lacking a significant atmosphere or liquid water, its surface features include expansive dark basaltic plains known as maria and bright, rugged highlands. The Moon is locked in synchronous rotation with Earth, meaning it always shows the same face to our planet. It plays a critical role in Earth's environment, primarily by exerting a gravitational pull that drives oceanic tides and stabilizes the planet's axial tilt, which in turn moderates the climate. Formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago, likely from debris resulting from a massive collision between Earth and a Mars-sized protoplanet, the Moon has served as a landmark for human navigation, cultural symbolism, and scientific exploration for millennia, most notably during the Apollo missions that landed the first humans on its surface.

January 1, 1900: Reference point for lunar age calculation

On January 1, 1900, this date was established as a primary reference point used for calculating the age and phase of the Moon by determining the number of days elapsed since this specific new moon.

1920: Comparative studies on lunar crater formation

Beginning in 1920 and continuing through the 1940s, comparative studies provided evidence that lunar craters were created by high-impact collisions rather than volcanic activity, a theory that eventually helped establish lunar stratigraphy as a scientific discipline.

1957: Launch of Sputnik 1

In 1957, during the International Geophysical Year, the Soviet Union achieved the first spaceflight with the launch of the Sputnik 1 spacecraft.

1958: Luna Program Initial Attempts

During 1958, the Soviet Union's Luna program attempted three lunar missions, all of which resulted in failure.

January 1959: Luna 1 Lunar Flyby

On January 4, 1959, Luna 1 became the first human-made object to escape Earth's gravitational pull and successfully pass by the Moon.

1959: First Spaceflights to the Moon

In 1959, the Soviet Union launched the first spaceflights to an extraterrestrial body, starting with the Luna 1 flyby and the Luna 2 intentional impact on the Moon.

1966: First Soft Landing and Orbital Insertion

During 1966, the Moon saw its first soft landing achieved by Luna 9, followed by the first successful orbital insertion performed by Luna 10.

1966: Luna 9 and Luna 10 Missions

In 1966, the Luna 9 spacecraft performed the first successful soft landing on the Moon, while Luna 10 became the first vehicle to achieve a lunar orbit.

December 24, 1968: Humans Reach Lunar Orbit

On December 24, 1968, the United States successfully sent the Apollo 8 mission, marking the first time humans arrived in the orbit of the Moon.

July 20, 1969: First Human Landing on the Moon

On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission achieved the first human landing on the lunar surface, establishing the Moon as the only celestial body beyond Earth that humans have visited.

1969: Apollo 11 Moon Landing

In 1969, the Apollo 11 mission achieved the historic milestone of landing the first humans on the Moon near the Sea of Tranquility, a location that would later be identified as being near a significant lunar cave.

1969: Deployment of Lunar Seismometers

Starting in 1969, Apollo astronauts began placing seismometers on the lunar surface, marking the commencement of a project that would lead to the unexpected discovery of moonquakes.

1972: Completion of Six Apollo Missions

By 1972, a total of six Apollo missions had successfully landed twelve humans on the lunar surface, with missions staying for durations of up to three days.

1972: Conclusion of Lunar Seismic Monitoring Deployment

By 1972, the series of Apollo missions concluded the deployment phase of seismometers on the Moon, which ultimately provided data showing that moonquakes last longer than earthquakes due to crustal scattering.

1972: Collection of Lunar Sample 74220

During the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the famous high-titanium 'orange glass soil' of volcanic origin, designated as sample 74220, was collected from the Moon's surface.

1994: Clementine Spacecraft Radar Experiment

In 1994, the bistatic radar experiment conducted by the Clementine spacecraft suggested the presence of small, frozen water pockets near the lunar surface, though these findings were later contested by Arecibo radar observations.

1998: NASA Lunar Prospector Mission Commencement

Beginning in 1998 and extending into 1999, the NASA Lunar Prospector mission collected critical lunar data that was later used by scientists in 2016 to map hydrogen distribution on the Moon.

1998: Lunar Prospector Hydrogen Detection

In 1998, the neutron spectrometer onboard the Lunar Prospector spacecraft identified high concentrations of hydrogen within the first meter of the lunar regolith in polar regions.

August 11, 1999: Modern reference point for lunar age calculation

August 11, 1999, serves as an alternative reference date used to calculate the Moon's phase by measuring the number of days passed since this new moon relative to a synodic month.

2006: Discovery of Recent Lunar Volcanism

In 2006, scientific analysis of the Ina depression in Lacus Felicitatis revealed jagged, dust-free geological features estimated to be only 2 million years old, suggesting recent lunar activity. Further research conducted in 2006 identified 70 irregular mare patches indicating volcanic activity within the last 50 million years, which challenges previous assumptions about the Moon's mantle temperature and thermal history.

2007: Revised Lunar Formation Models

In 2007, new scientific models emerged regarding the formation of the Moon, suggesting that a significantly larger portion of lunar material originated from the proto-Earth than previously estimated in earlier impact simulations.

2008: Discovery of lunar surface water ice by Chandrayaan-1

In 2008, the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft utilized the Moon Mineralogy Mapper to detect absorption lines linked to hydroxyl, providing evidence of significant water ice deposits on the Moon's surface with concentrations reaching up to 1,000 ppm.

2009: LCROSS lunar impact and water detection

In 2009, the LCROSS mission deployed a 2,300 kg impactor into a permanently shadowed polar crater on the Moon, successfully detecting at least 100 kg of water—later refined to approximately 155 kg—within the resulting debris plume.

2010: Discovery of Lunar Lava Tube

In 2010, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured images that led to the discovery of a cave near the Sea of Tranquility. This site is identified as a collapsed lava tube that could serve as a potential shelter for future lunar missions.

May 2011: Discovery of Water in Lunar Melt Inclusions

In May 2011, researchers reported the presence of 615–1410 ppm of water within melt inclusions found in lunar sample 74220. This finding suggested that lunar magma concentrations were comparable to those in Earth's upper mantle, though the water remains difficult to access.

2016: Discovery of Hydrogen-Rich Polar Deposits

In 2016, planetary scientists analyzed data from previous missions to identify two hydrogen-rich regions on the Moon, which are believed to be ancient water ice deposits from when the Moon's poles were located in different positions prior to tidal locking.

August 2018: Definitive evidence of water-ice on the Moon

In August 2018, researchers analyzed data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) and identified definitive evidence of water-ice on the lunar surface. The study confirmed that ice exists in permanently shadowed craters at the North and South poles, with higher concentrations in the South, where the lack of sunlight prevents the ice from sublimating.

2018: Confirmation of polar water ice

During 2018, scientists used reflectance spectra data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper to confirm the presence of water ice in shadowed lunar regions located within 20° latitude of the north and south poles.

October 2020: Detection of Molecular Water on the Sunlit Lunar Surface

In October 2020, various independent spacecraft, including the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), confirmed the presence of molecular water on the sunlit portions of the Moon's surface.

2022: High-Resolution Simulation of Giant Impacts

In 2022, researchers utilized high-resolution simulations to demonstrate how giant impacts can place a satellite with characteristics similar to the Moon into a stable orbit beyond Earth's Roche limit. The study showed that even satellites passing within the Roche limit can survive by being partially stripped and shifted into wider orbits, providing a potential solution to lunar formation theories.

November 1, 2023: Discovery of Theia remnants within Earth

On November 1, 2023, researchers utilized advanced computer simulations to determine that material originating from the protoplanet Theia may currently reside deep within the Earth's interior.

2026: Study on the survival of the Earth-Moon system

In 2026, a scientific study was published suggesting that the Earth-Moon system might potentially survive the Sun's transition into a red giant, which would otherwise likely engulf them.