<P> The Soviet Union's Luna programme was the first to reach the Moon with unmanned spacecraft in 1959; the United States' NASA Apollo program achieved the only manned missions to date, beginning with the first manned lunar orbiting mission by Apollo 8 in 1968, and six manned lunar landings between 1969 and 1972, with the first being Apollo 11 . These missions returned lunar rocks which have been used to develop a geological understanding of the Moon's origin, internal structure, and later history . Since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the Moon has been visited only by unmanned spacecraft . </P> <P> Within human culture, both the Moon's natural prominence in the earthly sky, and its regular cycle of phases as seen from the Earth have provided cultural references and influences for human societies and cultures since time immemorial . Such cultural influences can be found in language, lunar based calendar systems, art, and mythology . </P> <P> The usual English proper name for Earth's natural satellite is "the Moon". The noun moon is derived from moone (around 1380), which developed from mone (1135), which is derived from Old English mōna (dating from before 725), which ultimately stems from Proto - Germanic * mǣnōn, like all Germanic language cognates . Occasionally, the name "Luna" is used . In literature, especially science fiction, "Luna" is used to distinguish it from other moons, while in poetry, the name has been used to denote personification of our moon . </P> <P> The principal modern English adjective pertaining to the Moon is lunar, derived from the Latin Luna . A less common adjective is selenic, derived from the Ancient Greek Selene (Σελήνη), from which is derived the prefix "seleno -" (as in selenography). Both the Greek Selene and the Roman goddess Diana were alternatively called Cynthia . The names Luna, Cynthia, and Selene are reflected in terminology for lunar orbits in words such as apolune, pericynthion, and selenocentric . The name Diana is connected to dies meaning' day' . </P>

Where does the name of the moon come from