In 1959, the Soviet Union's Luna-2 became the first spacecraft to land on the Moon.
Moon Express intends to be the first private company to land on the moon.
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It was specifically designed to crash-land on the Moon after capturing a series of images of the lunar surface on its approach.
Moon Express would use existing companies such as SpaceX to handle the rocket launch of the lander and then use its own technology to actually land on the moon.
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Ranger IV was also equipped with a seismometer and radio transmitter, designed to be released in a small capsule from the rocket before impact and land on the Moon in sufficiently good condition to measure the frequency of natural earthquakes in the body of the Moon.
The Second Era, which saw Soviet cosmonauts and U.S. astronauts almost routinely venturing into space, was punctuated in 1969 when Neil Armstrong (who, in a sad irony, just passed at the age of 82) and Dr. Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon.
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His bold statement might have been more of a publicity drive for Energia rather than a clear commitment to a program, but China, which has committed itself to a space program to land men on the moon by 2017 has also stated its interest in helium-3.
China and India are competing with each other to see who will be the first to land another astronaut on the Moon.
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Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress and articulated the following vision: Land a man on the moon, before this decade is out, and return him safely to Earth.
Where once America could land a man on the moon, now it is reduced to sending WallE to Mars.
Even the wealthiest cannot land a sea plane on the waters of Sun Moon Lake.
The same thing was said about our ability to harness the science and technology to land a man safely on the surface of the moon.
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Instead of focusing on who owns the moon, the international community needs find ways to incentivize future business activity on the moon by guaranteeing that rights to land and resources will not be preempted by competing interests, said Hertzfeld.
Plans to land astronauts on an asteroid have been mooted and the technology involved in landing astronauts on the moon once again would not require too much adaptation to landing on an NEO.
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