Lunar module

LK (left) andApollo Lunar Module(right)

Alunar moduleis alunar landerdesigned to allow astronauts to travel between a spacecraft inlunar orbitand the lunar surface. As of 2021, theApollo Lunar Moduleis the only lunar module to have ever been used in human spaceflight, completing six lunar landings from 1969 to 1972 during theUnited States'Apollo program.

TheLKlunar module was developed by theSoviet Unionin the 1960s as a part of severalSoviet crewed lunar programs.Several LK modules were flown without crew inlow Earth orbit,but the LK lunar module never flew to the Moon, as the development of theN1 RocketLaunch Vehiclerequired for the lunar flight suffered setbacks (including several launch failures), and after the first crewedMoon landingswere achieved by theUnited States,the Soviet Union cancelled both the N1 Rocket and the LK Lunar Module programs without any further development.

Proposed lunar modules

• Altair (spacecraft),a proposed lunar module for theConstellation programpreviously known as the Lunar Surface Access Module
• Human Landing System,a class of proposed lunar modules forNASA'sArtemis program
  • Boeing Lunar Lander,proposed byBoeing
  • Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander,proposed byLockheed Martin
  • Starship HLS,proposed bySpaceX
• Lanyue(formerly known asChina crewed lunar surface lander) is a lunar module being developed by theChina Academy of Space Technology
• Luna-Glob,a lunar exploration program by the Russian Federal Space Agency
• XEUS,a lunar module being developed byUnited Launch AllianceandMasten Space Systems

See also

• Lunar lander
• List of crewed lunar lander designs
• Moon landing
• Moonbase

External links

• NASA report on the Apollo 11 Lunar Module