Moon, OK Road Trips

The first spacecraft to land on the Moon was the Soviet Luna 2 on 13 September 1959, which had no passengers, and it simply crashed on the Moon while taking pictures. The Soviet Luna 9 was the first spacecraft to soft land (meaning that it landed on the Moon without crashing) on 3 February 1966, and Luna 10 was the first to orbit the Moon on 3 April 1966. None of the Soviet Luna program spacecraft had crews. President John F. Kennedy of the United States made an ambitious plan in 1961 to send people to the Moon by the end of the decade – in part to distract from the Soviets beating the U.S. to the punch on virtually every space "first" up to that point. Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to orbit the Moon, bringing famous images to millions of households in time for Christmas 1968. Then on 21 July 1969, Apollo 11 brought Neil Armstrong to become the first person to set foot on the Moon, followed 20 minutes later by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, fulfilling Kennedy's plan. They planted a U.S. flag and collected some rock and soil samples. All subsequent Apollo missions except for Apollo 13 successfully landed on the Moon, and all of them were crewed. Apollo 13 failed to land, and it became the best-known space accident where the astronauts actually survived. The Apollo program ended in 1972, and the last mission was Apollo 17, which brought the famous Blue Marble image of Earth. Meanwhile, the Soviets would end their Luna program with Luna 24 in 1976.

Earth. Visible from only the near side of the Moon. It looks like what the Moon looks like on Earth; there are full earths, crescent earths, and new earths! However, contrary to popular misconceptions, if you don't move you will only ever see the Earth in the same place and no such thing as an "earthrise" or "earthset". But if you are orbiting the Moon, you'll see the Earth rise and set when you cross the border between the near and far sides of the Moon. The landscape of Earth changes, as clouds drift around – and as the Earth rotates. (updated Apr 2026) Dark side of the Moon. Visit the part of the Moon that is not visible from the Earth. However, it is said "there is no dark side in the Moon, really. As a matter of fact it's all dark". The truth is that any spot (except near the poles) is lit half the time: the same time a spot facing Earth is dark. During a full moon on Earth the entire Dark Side is dark, and during a new moon all of it is lit. We have satellite images, but only Apollo and Artemis astronauts who flew across the Moon have ever seen it with their own eyes. Only two missions have ever landed there, and both were unmanned Chinese landers: Chang'e 4 in 2019 and Chang'e 6 in 2024. (updated Apr 2026) South Pole–Aitken basin (the far side of the Moon, by the South Pole). An immense impact crater, roughly 2,500 km (1,600 mi)in diameter and 6.2–8.2 km (3.9–5.1 mi) deep and some mountains at the rim are similarly high. That's about as high as Mount Everest! It is one of the largest known impact craters in the Solar System.

Think of something profound to say on your arrival. Things that the Apollo astronauts said on their arrival includes: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." — Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 "Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me." — Pete Conrad, Apollo 12. Conrad was significantly shorter than Neil Armstrong. "And it's been a long way, but we're here." — Alan Shepard, Apollo 14 "As I stand out here in the wonders of the unknown at Hadley, I sort of realize there's a fundamental truth to our nature. Man must explore. And this is exploration at its greatest." — David Scott, Apollo 15 "There you are: Mysterious and Unknown Descartes. Highland plains. Apollo 16 is gonna change your image. I'm sure glad they got ol' Brer Rabbit, here, back in the briar patch where he belongs." — John Young, Apollo 16 "Hey, who's been tracking up my Lunar surface?" — Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17, the first and only professional scientist sent to the Moon on an Apollo mission Rock collecting is the most obvious hobby, and there is no shortage of rocks. Dust collecting is also a favorite among tourists. Plant a flag on the lunar surface, which can be your nation's flag or something else. Be sure to take plenty of photographs to show to the folks back home. Play golf. There are no established golf courses available, but the Moon does provide you with an excellent opportunity to practice your sand trap shots. Apollo astronauts had played golf on the Moon, really.

While ancient legends on Earth report the reflection of the Moon to appear as a wheel of green cheese, its soil is not edible. There are no restaurants or shops available on the Moon, no food service amenities and no moon pies. Take all the food you need with you. Astronaut food has been called incredibly bland, but then again so has airline food.

"Moon River, wider than a mile, I'm crossing you in style some day. Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker..." There is some amount of water across much of the surface of the Moon in the form of ice, but it is unclear how easy it is to access. Thus far, all manned missions have brought their needed water with them. The modern International Space Station has some water reclamation capability, but missions in the Apollo era did not. Due to its weight, water is expensive and costly to transport but there is no viable alternative. Any long term stay will have to rely on recycling water in some fashion.

The next phases of Artemis lunar exploration will probably involve the construction of permanent manned bases in the Moon's polar regions. In the meantime, accommodation is limited to what you bring. The lunar landers of Apollo and Artemis programs have all been equipped to be used for sleeping, so chances are that you'll be sleeping in whatever you landed in. Because of the sunlight, there may be some difficulties going to bed. Astronauts sleep and wake on command, using the time zone of their departure place.

Only the United States has successfully sent humans to the Moon as of 2026. The other countries to have successfully landed objects on the moon are the Soviet Union, China, India, and Japan. If you cannot get into space, you can still see the Moon from Earth; see Astronomy. The space tourism company Space Adventures is planning to take some people around the Moon. The plan is to first spend about ten days at the International Space Station, then a six-day journey to the moon and back. The spacecraft won't land on the Moon, instead simply looping around it and coming back to Earth. It will fly within "a few hundred kilometers" of the Moon. The time of departure and the price is still undetermined, but the price will probably be in the hundreds of millions of dollars range. Contact them if you're interested and you have the dough. As of 2026, there are no serious plans for tourism on the surface of the Moon. All proposed missions to the lunar surface are for professional astronauts only, and are not the type of thing where anyone could pay money to go to the Moon. Some private companies have proposed tourist trips to the lunar surface, but none of these have started serious development. All Artemis missions from Artemis IV will be landings and colonization. NASA also planned to build a "Gateway" station in the lunar orbit where astronauts can prepare for the landing and the trip back, but these plans seem to be on hold as of 2026. Russia, Japan, China, and India have all proposed manned lunar landings in the 2030s and 40s.

NASA's Moon Trek mapping application has extensive information, images, and tools to help you plan a mission or just learn about the Moon. The Google Moon also provides a vaguely decent map of the Moon, with information and labels for past landing sites. Conventional aircraft are useless on the Moon since there is no atmosphere to generate the aerodynamic lift they require to fly. Internal combustion engines have to carry around both fuel and oxidizer (air or a substitute) and there are issues with cooling in a near perfect vacuum. When you orbit the Moon, you will be in a lunar lander (called Human Landing System (HLS) for Artemis missions) which will give you living space and can fly without surrounding air. The lander can also land on the Moon. The primary method of transportation has been battery-powered lunar rovers, commonly known as "moon buggies". Some lunar rovers can have passengers, such as the ones used by the last three Apollo missions, called Lunar Roving Vehicles (LRVs). They were carried by the lunar module and never went faster than about 10 km/h (6 mph). They are still stranded at Mons Hadley, the Descartes Highland and the Taurus-Littrow valley. Whether they still are in any workable condition or can be brought into one with limited repairs is not known. Gravity on the Moon's surface is only one-sixth of that on the Earth, which compensates in part for having to wear a bulky pressurized spacesuit.

The Moon is subject to international law under the Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Treaty (although none of the major spacefaring nations have ratified the latter, so its applicability is questionable). Among other things, the Outer Space Treaty puts the responsibility of any man-made object with the state that launched it (a malfunctioning Soviet satellite named Kosmos 954 spread radioactive material all over northern Canada in 1978, for which the Soviet government eventually paid CA$3 million), so check with the laws of the government where you will be launched from.