<P> 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; however, Rangers 4 and 6 successfully repeated the Soviet lunar impacts as part of their secondary missions . </P> <P> Failures included three U.S. attempts 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). </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Mission </Th> <Th> Mass (kg) </Th> <Th> Launch vehicle </Th> <Th> Launch date </Th> <Th> Goal </Th> <Th> Result </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Pioneer 0 </Td> <Td> 38 </Td> <Td> Thor - Able </Td> <Td> 17 August 1958 </Td> <Td> Lunar orbit </Td> <Td> Failure--first stage explosion; destroyed </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Pioneer 1 </Td> <Td> 34 </Td> <Td> Thor - Able </Td> <Td> 11 October 1958 </Td> <Td> Lunar orbit </Td> <Td> Failure--software error; reentry </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Pioneer 2 </Td> <Td> 39 </Td> <Td> Thor - Able </Td> <Td> 8 November 1958 </Td> <Td> Lunar orbit </Td> <Td> Failure--third stage misfire; reentry </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Pioneer 3 </Td> <Td> 6 </Td> <Td> Juno </Td> <Td> 6 December 1958 </Td> <Td> Flyby </Td> <Td> Failure--first stage misfire, reentry </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Pioneer 4 </Td> <Td> 6 </Td> <Td> Juno </Td> <Td> 3 March 1959 </Td> <Td> Flyby </Td> <Td> Partial success--first US craft to reach escape velocity, lunar flyby too far to shoot photos due to targeting error; solar orbit </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Pioneer P - 1 </Td> <Td> 168 </Td> <Td> Atlas - Able </Td> <Td> 24 September 1959 </Td> <Td> Lunar orbit </Td> <Td> Failure--pad explosion; destroyed </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Pioneer P - 3 </Td> <Td> 168 </Td> <Td> Atlas - Able </Td> <Td> 29 November 1959 </Td> <Td> Lunar orbit </Td> <Td> Failure--payload shroud; destroyed </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Pioneer P - 30 </Td> <Td> 175 </Td> <Td> Atlas - Able </Td> <Td> 25 September 1960 </Td> <Td> Lunar orbit </Td> <Td> Failure--second stage anomaly; reentry </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Pioneer P - 31 </Td> <Td> 175 </Td> <Td> Atlas - Able </Td> <Td> 15 December 1960 </Td> <Td> Lunar orbit </Td> <Td> Failure--first stage explosion; destroyed </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Ranger 1 </Td> <Td> 306 </Td> <Td> Atlas--Agena </Td> <Td> 23 August 1961 </Td> <Td> Prototype test </Td> <Td> Failure--upper stage anomaly; reentry </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Ranger 2 </Td> <Td> 304 </Td> <Td> Atlas--Agena </Td> <Td> 18 November 1961 </Td> <Td> Prototype test </Td> <Td> Failure--upper stage anomaly; reentry </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Ranger 3 </Td> <Td> 330 </Td> <Td> Atlas--Agena </Td> <Td> 26 January 1962 </Td> <Td> Landing </Td> <Td> Failure--booster guidance; solar orbit </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Ranger 4 </Td> <Td> 331 </Td> <Td> Atlas--Agena </Td> <Td> 23 April 1962 </Td> <Td> Landing </Td> <Td> Partial success--first U.S. spacecraft to reach another celestial body; crash impact--no photos returned </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Ranger 5 </Td> <Td> 342 </Td> <Td> Atlas--Agena </Td> <Td> 18 October 1962 </Td> <Td> Landing </Td> <Td> Failure--spacecraft power; solar orbit </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Ranger 6 </Td> <Td> 367 </Td> <Td> Atlas--Agena </Td> <Td> 30 January 1964 </Td> <Td> Impact </Td> <Td> Failure--spacecraft camera; crash impact </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Ranger 7 </Td> <Td> 367 </Td> <Td> Atlas--Agena </Td> <Td> 28 July 1964 </Td> <Td> Impact </Td> <Td> Success--returned 4308 photos, crash impact </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Ranger 8 </Td> <Td> 367 </Td> <Td> Atlas--Agena </Td> <Td> 17 February 1965 </Td> <Td> Impact </Td> <Td> Success--returned 7137 photos, crash impact </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Ranger 9 </Td> <Td> 367 </Td> <Td> Atlas--Agena </Td> <Td> 21 March 1965 </Td> <Td> Impact </Td> <Td> Success--returned 5814 photos, crash impact </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th> Mission </Th> <Th> Mass (kg) </Th> <Th> Launch vehicle </Th> <Th> Launch date </Th> <Th> Goal </Th> <Th> Result </Th> </Tr>

When did usa first land on the moon