1966, Jan.: Luna 9 - first soft landing & first panoramic photos (4 images) of landing site, in Oceanus Procellarum (S)

1966, Mar.: Luna 10 - first orbiter to study gravity and magnetic fields of Moon, but little released to public (O)

1966, May: Surveyor 1 - first US soft landing, near Flamsteed, excellent surface photography (11,240 images) (S)

1966, Aug.: Lunar Orbiter 1 - first high resolution orbiter images, of landing sites (O)

1966, Sept.: Luna 12 - high resolution photos to select landing site for failed Soviet equivalent of Apollo program (O)

1966, Nov.: Lunar Orbiter 2 - 205 more landing site photos (O)

1966, Dec.: Luna 13 - second Soviet soft landing, in Oceanus Procellarum, 3 photos (S)

1966: Surveyor I, A Preliminary Report - First study of lunar rocks and soils from a US soft lander; demonstrated that a space ship would not sink into lunar dust.

1967, Mar.: Lunar Orbiter 3 - final 182 photos of potential landing sites (O)

1967, Apr.: Surveyor 3 - soil studies and photography (6326) in Oceanus Procellarum (S)

1967, May: Lunar Orbiter 4 - nearly complete high resolution photography of nearside; the most widely used lunar images ever obtained (O)

1967, July: Explorer 35 - determined that the Moon had no magnetic field (O)

1967, Aug.: Lunar Orbiter 5 - farside medium resolution photography and fill in of poor Lunar Orbiter IV images of eastern limb (O)

1967, Sept.: Surveyor 5 - first in situ chemical analysis (Mare Tranquillitatis) of another planet, 19,118 surface photos (S)

1967, Nov.: Surveyor 6 - 29,952 surface photos; first spacecraft to take off from Moon (hopped 8 ft for stereo views of Sinus Medii with its cameras) (S)

1967, Nov.: Surveyor 7 - first landing and chemical analysis of highlands (near Tycho), 21,038 surface photos (S)

1967: GP Kuiper EA Whitaker, RG Strom, JW Fountain & SM Larson: Consolidated Lunar Atlas - A massive blue box filled with hundreds of actual photographs of the Moon - the best lunar atlas thus far.

1967: P Moore & P Cattermole: The Craters of the Moon - what should have been the last, pre-Apollo gasp of speculation that lunar craters were volcanic.

1968, Sept.: Zond 5 - first lunar flyby and return to Earth of plants, small animals and insects, plus photos of Earth and Moon in recovered capsule (F, ER)

1968, Nov.: Zond 6 - second loop around the Moon and return to Earth with stereoscopic photos of lunar surface, some with Earth in space above (F, ER)

1968, Dec.: Apollo 8 - first humans to orbit the Moon, first in situ photos of Moon taken by humans, and first film of Moon returned to Earth by American spacecraft. (H, O)

1968: Alter, Dinsmore (ed) Lunar Atlas. This Dover edition is a one-third reduced size version of an atlas originally prepared and published by the Space Science Laboratory of the North American Aviation company in 1964. A used copy cost $15 in 1998, the SSL original sells for a few hundred dollars.

1969, May: Apollo 10 - first humans to rendezvous in lunar orbit following testing of lunar lander (H, O)

1969, July: Apollo 11 - first humans to land on the Moon (Mare Tranquillitatis), bringing back samples that revolutionized lunar science (H)

1969, Aug: Zond 7 - color photos of Moon and Earth; film returned to Earth (F, ER)

1969, Nov.: Apollo 12 - pinpoint landing at Surveyor 3 in Oceanus Procellarum (H)

1969; 1984: EH Cherrington, Jr.: Exploring the Moon Through Binoculars and Small Telescopes - A wonderful introduction to the pleasures of viewing the Moon every day of the month. A book that will never become outdated. A greedy used book seller offered it for $18 in 1998, but it is still available new for $15 from Dover Publications!

1969: DWG Arthur & AP Agnieray: Lunar Designations and Positions, Quadrants I-IV, Tucson. - A set of 4 maps compiled from the charts in Arthur et al (1963-6). This was accepted by the IAU as the official lunar nomenclature, but has been modified since. This is the last official map that contains Greek letter designations for mountains. Maps still available from Sky Publishing.