Though the moon is familiar to humans since time immemorial, they were able to clearly see and appreciate the surface features of the moon only four centuries ago following the invention of the telescope. After the dawn of the space age in October 1957, moon became the prime target of exploration partly due to its proximity to Earth.

In September 1959, the Soviet Luna 2 hit the lunar surface while Luna 3 took the photographs of the far side of the Moon and transmitted them to Earth. In 1966, Luna 9 gently landed on the lunar surface. In the late 60s and early 70s, Soviet spacecraft brought back small soil and rock samples from the moon and landed Lunakhod-1 and 2 robotic vehicles on the lunar surface.

Also during the 1960s, unmanned American Ranger, Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter spacecraft conducted detailed exploration of the moon. This was followed by successful human landing on the moon in Apollo spacecraft during 1969-72.