crewed Moon landings, 1969–1972
FIELD ARCHIVE / EARTH SIGNAL RECEIVED
Abandoned.
Not Forgotten.
Since the 1960s, NASA has left machines on the Moon and Mars. Some finished their missions and went quiet. A few are still working. All of them changed what we know about other worlds.
Scroll to visit the parking lots of the solar system ↓
LIVE FEED / LUNAR SURFACE RECEIVING
00 / DEFINITION CHECK
First, a plot twist:
nothing here was thrown away.
When a space mission ends, the hardware usually stays where it is. A rover cannot drive home. A lander has no fuel to lift off again. And every extra kilogram carried back to Earth would need a lot more rocket to launch in the first place.
So "abandoned" does not mean "littered". It means the mission is over and the machine is parked for good.
"Not forgotten" is just as true. Old rovers taught us how to build new ones. Old data is still being studied. Some machines are still being used, and orbiting cameras still photograph the ones that went quiet.
Four ways a mission can endSTATUS KEY / 04
Still working
ACTIVESome hardware keeps going for decades.
Mission complete
PARKEDThe job is done, the power is gone, and the machine sits in silence.
Crashed on purpose
IMPACTSome spacecraft are guided into the surface as a final experiment.
Lost
NO SIGNALSometimes things simply go wrong.
01 / SCALE OF THE STORY
By the numbers
people have walked on the Moon
electric Moon buggies still parked there
(842 lb) of Moon rocks brought back to Earth
NASA landing missions on Mars so far
of them still working today (Curiosity and Perseverance)
flights by a helicopter on another world (Ingenuity)
(28 miles): distance driven by the rover Opportunity, more than a marathon
02 / A HISTORY OF HARDWARE
Timeline of the left-behind.
A long signal across
two neighboring worlds.
Swipe or scroll sideways to travel through the timeline ↔
⚪LOST SIGNAL1999
04 / WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
Not every mission
has a happy ending
In 1999, NASA lost two Mars spacecraft. Mars Climate Orbiter was lost because two teams used different units of measurement, one metric and one not. Mars Polar Lander lost contact as it tried to land. Both failures taught engineers to double-check everything, and the lessons made later missions safer.
05 / THE SCIENCE CARRIES ON
Science it made possible.
Every ending left
something to learn.
01 / MOON
The Moon is drifting away.
Laser mirrors from Apollo measured it: about 3.8 cm a year.
→ Moon Story 3 02 / MOONThe Moon has moonquakes and layers.
Apollo seismometers listened for years.
→ Moon Story 4 03 / MOONObjects fall at the same rate without air.
The hammer-and-feather test.
→ Moon Story 7 04 / MOONWater ice hides in dark lunar craters.
LCROSS and orbiters found signs of it.
→ Moon Story 6 05 / MARSMars once had water.
Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance each found evidence.
→ Mars Stories 3, 4, 8, 9 06 / MARSMars has a liquid core and quakes.
InSight listened.
→ Mars Story 6 07 / MARSIce lies just below the Martian arctic soil.
Phoenix dug it up.
→ Mars Story 5 08 / MARSYou can fly on Mars.
Ingenuity flew 72 times.
→ Mars Story 7 09 / MARSSome ancient Martian rocks might hold clues to life.
Perseverance is still investigating.
→ Mars Story 9! "Possible signs of life" is not the same as "proof of life." Scientists need more evidence, and that is why samples matter.
06 / TWO WORLDS, DIFFERENT CLOCKS
Why do things last on
the Moon but not on Mars?
On the Moon
- No air, so no wind or rain to wear things down
- Extreme temperatures: about 120 °C (250 °F) in daylight and below −170 °C (−275 °F) at night
- Tiny space rocks (micrometeoroids) and sunlight slowly age materials
- Footprints and wheel tracks can last a very long time
On Mars
- Thin air, but strong winds that move dust
- Dust can cover solar panels and cut off power (this ended Opportunity and InSight)
- Very cold winters at some sites (this ended Phoenix)
- Seasons change how much sunlight arrives
On the Moon, it's mostly time. On Mars, it's dust, cold and sunlight.
07
WHY LEAVE IT?
WHY LEAVE IT?
THE MATH OF GETTING HOME
Why leave
things behind?
Space is like a very expensive road trip. Every kilogram takes fuel to launch, and coming home needs even more. Bringing a rover back would mean carrying another rocket to Mars and back. So missions bring home what matters most, like rocks, and leave the machines.
Apollo astronauts brought back 382 kg (842 lb) of Moon rocks and left tools, cameras and even a rover to make room and save weight for the trip home.
08 / NOT FORGOTTEN
Why old hardware still matters.
It's still teaching us.
Data from Viking, Apollo and the rovers is still being studied today.
It's still in use.
The Apollo laser mirrors still answer lasers.
It's history.
Many people think the Apollo sites should be treated like museums. In 2011, NASA published recommendations asking future visitors to protect the historic Apollo hardware.
It shapes the future.
Artemis II flew around the Moon in April 2026, and lessons from Apollo, robotic landers and orbiters like LRO helped plan it.
09 / CREW READINESS TEST
Mission check.
10 / TRANSLATION LOG
Glossary
11 / SIGNAL CLARITY
Frequently asked
questions.
12 / TEACHER'S CORNER
Take the mission
into the classroom.
Design a rover.
Give students a mission: "Survive a Martian dust storm" or "Last 14 years." Ask them to sketch a rover, choose a power source and explain their choices.
Scale it up.
Cut out the size of Sojourner (microwave oven), Curiosity (small car) and the Apollo rover, and compare them on the floor.
Signal delay game.
Two students play "Mission Control" and "Rover." Add a 3-minute to 22-minute delay between messages. What changes?
Discussion questions
- Is it OK to leave machines on other worlds? Why or why not?
- Which discovery in this site surprised you the most?
- If you designed the next lander, what would you leave behind?