Who’s going to the moon? Seemingly everybody.

Will the moon get crowded?

In the old days, only the United States and the Soviet Union could get to the moon. Both sent probes there—starting with the Soviet spacecraft Luna 2, which crashed into the lunar surface in 1959. Of course, the ultimate accomplishment was the Apollo program and its 6 successful manned lunar landings.

New players

The United States is preparing to return. The Constellation program is an updated and expanded version of Apollo, designed to take Americans back to the moon and perhaps beyond…to Mars.

The Russians, who once had a manned lunar landing program, which failed, doesn’t seem to have one now. But others are planning lunar landings.

Shooting for the moon

China hopes to land a man on the moon by 2020 or so.  India has talked of a manned moon mission by 2015. Japan may be looking at a manned moon landing by 2025.

All three have had successful unmanned lunar missions already. China and India successfully crash landed (!) probes onto the moon within the last year. Japan launched a lunar probe which sent back high resolution video.

Private industry goes to the moon, too?!

It seems like a long shot, but even a private company has plans to send a probe to the moon. Astrobotic Technology Inc. hopes to send up a lunar rover to the Apollo 11 landing site, and send back video by 2010.

Well, maybe.