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Luna 27
Luna 27 (Луна-27) is a planned Russian lunar lander mission that will drill into the Moon's south polar regolith to study water ice, launching in 2029 and 2030.
Luna 28
Luna 28, also known as Luna-Grunt, is a planned Russian lunar sample return mission to collect polar regolith and water ice and return it to Earth.
LunaNet
LunaNet is a NASA-led framework of agreed standards and protocols for interoperable communications and navigation around the Moon, run as an internet-like network of commercial, government, and international providers.
Lunar Flag Assembly
The Lunar Flag Assembly (LFA) is the telescoping pole and crossbar device that let Apollo astronauts plant a US flag on the airless Moon, 1969 to 1972.
Lunar Gateway
Lunar Gateway, also called the Lunar Orbital Platform, was a planned modular space station in lunar orbit under NASA's Artemis program, sidelined in 2026 in favor of a Moon base.
Lunar Landing Research Vehicle
The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV), or Lunar Landing Test Vehicle, was a NASA aircraft built by Bell Aerosystems that simulated Moon landings on Earth, training Apollo astronauts from 1964.
Lunar orbit
A lunar orbit, also called a selenocentric orbit, is the path of a spacecraft around the Moon, first achieved by the Soviet Luna 10 in 1966.
Lunar Polar Exploration Mission
The Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX) is a joint ISRO and JAXA robotic mission to prospect for water ice at the lunar south pole, targeted for 2028.
Lunar Prospector
Lunar Prospector was a NASA Discovery Program orbiter that circled the Moon from 1998 to 1999, mapping its surface composition, gravity, and magnetic fields and searching for polar water ice.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a NASA robotic spacecraft, managed from Goddard Space Flight Center, that has orbited the Moon since June 2009 and is the longest-lived lunar mission ever flown.
Lunar rover
A lunar rover, or Moon rover, is a motorized vehicle for traveling across the Moon's surface. The Soviet Lunokhod 1 was first in 1970, followed by Apollo's crewed rovers in 1971.
Lunar Roving Vehicle
The Lunar Roving Vehicle, known as the Moon buggy, was a battery-powered, four-wheeled rover driven on the Moon during the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions in 1971 and 1972.
Lunar Trailblazer
Lunar Trailblazer was a NASA small satellite mission to map the form and distribution of water on the Moon, launched February 26, 2025, but lost contact the next day.
Lunar-based Ultraviolet Telescope
The Lunar-based Ultraviolet Telescope (LUT), also called the Moon-based Ultraviolet Telescope, is a 15-centimeter near-ultraviolet telescope carried by China's Chang'e-3 lander, which began observing near Sinus Iridum in 2013.
Lunokhod programme
The Lunokhod program was a Soviet series of robotic lunar rovers, the world's first planetary rovers: Lunokhod 1 landed in Mare Imbrium in 1970, Lunokhod 2 in 1973.
LVM3
LVM3, formerly the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III), is ISRO's heavy-lift three-stage rocket that launched Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon.
M-V
The M-V, also written M-5 or Mu-5, was a Japanese three-stage solid-propellant rocket developed by ISAS to launch scientific satellites, flying seven times between 1997 and 2006.
Made In Space
Made In Space, Inc. was an American space manufacturing company founded in 2010 that built the first 3D printer on the International Space Station; Redwire acquired it in 2020.
Mae Jemison
Mae Jemison (Mae Carol Jemison) is an American physician, engineer, and former NASA astronaut who became the first African American woman in space aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
Magnetic sail
A magnetic sail, or magsail, is a proposed propellantless spacecraft propulsion system that deflects solar wind plasma with a superconducting loop; Andrews and Zubrin proposed it in 1988.
Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster
A magnetoplasmadynamic thruster, also known as an MPD thruster or Lorentz Force Accelerator, is an electric spacecraft thruster that accelerates plasma propellant electromagnetically via Lorentz forces.
Magnetorquer
A magnetorquer, also called a magnetic torquer or torque rod, is a spacecraft device that rotates the craft by interacting its coil-generated field with Earth's magnetic field.
Manned Maneuvering Unit
The Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) was a nitrogen-propelled backpack, built by Martin Marietta for NASA, that let astronauts fly untethered from the Space Shuttle. First flown in 1984, it was used to retrieve satellites.
Manned Orbiting Laboratory
The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was a classified 1960s US Air Force and NRO program to place two-man crews on a reconnaissance space station, canceled in 1969 without flying.
Marc Garneau
Marc Garneau, full name Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau (1949–2025), was a Canadian naval officer and astronaut who became the first Canadian in space in 1984.
Mariner 1
Mariner 1, also known as Mariner I, was the first United States spacecraft launched toward another planet, an intended Venus flyby destroyed at liftoff on July 22, 1962.
Mariner 10
Mariner 10 is a NASA flyby spacecraft that used a planetary gravity assist to become the first mission to explore Venus and Mercury, returning 7,000 photos.
Mariner 2
Mariner 2, also called Mariner II, was a NASA flyby spacecraft built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that passed Venus on December 14, 1962, the first successful interplanetary mission.
Mariner 4
Mariner 4 (Mariner IV) was a NASA spacecraft launched in 1964 that flew past Mars in 1965, capturing the first close-up images of another planet.
Mariner 5
Mariner 5 was a NASA spacecraft, originally a Mariner 4 backup, modified for a 1967 Venus flyby that found surface temperatures of 527 °C and no magnetic field.