Actually Existing Space Warfare
A complete list of celestial bodies intentionally bombed by the United States of America (as of 2023-07-01)
| Date | Body | Mission | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Moon | Ranger 4 | Spacecraft failed en-route |
| 1964 | Moon | Ranger 6 | Cameras failed |
| 1964 | Moon | Ranger 7 | First success of the Ranger Program |
| 1965 | Moon | Ranger 8 | |
| 1965 | Moon | Ranger 9 | Final Ranger Mission |
| 1966 | Moon | Lunar Orbiter 1 | Somewhat ambiguous as to the intentionality |
| 1967 | Moon | Lunar Orbiter 2 | |
| 1967 | Moon | Lunar Orbiter 3 | |
| 1968 | Moon | Lunar Orbiter 5 | |
| 1969 | Moon | Apollo 12 | LEM upper stage used to gather seismic data |
| 1969 | Moon | Apollo 13 | S-IVB used to gather seismic data |
| 1970 | Moon | Apollo 14 | Both S-IVB and LEM used to gather seismic data |
| 1971 | Moon | Apollo 15 | Both S-IVB and LEM used to gather seismic data |
| 1972 | Moon | Apollo 16 | S-IVB used to gather seismic data, control of LEM ascent stage lost, so impact site is unknwon |
| 1972 | Moon | Apollo 17 | Both S-IVB and LEM used to gather seismic data |
| 1994 | Venus | Magellan | Somewhat debatable as to if this should be here |
| 1999 | Moon | Lunar Prospector | |
| 1999 | Mars | Deep Space 2 | No data recieved after impact |
| 2003 | Jupiter | Galileo | The 1995 atmospheric probe is not counted as it was supposed to slow down (and did) |
| 2005 | 9P/Tempel | Deep Impact | Flyby and impactor |
| 2009 | Moon | LCROSS | Both the spacecraft and its Centaur upper stage |
| 2012 | Moon | GRAIL | Two spacecraft (Ebb and FLow) |
| 2014 | Moon | LADEE | |
| 2015 | Mercury | MESSENGER | |
| 2017 | Saturn | Cassini | Grand Finale |
| 2022 | Dimorphos | DART | Moon of 65803 Didymos, flyby plus impactor |
Notes: Many of these are end-of mission deorbitings. Earth is not included because this is intended to be funny, not depressing. Stages that acted in a “crasher” manner for landers (eg: heatshields, parachutes, sky-cranes) are also not counted, though stages crashed for seismic purposes or debris plumes are. Shoemaker-NEAR’s hitting 433 Eros is considered a landing, and OSIRIS-REx’s interactions with Bennu a touch-and-go.
Other countries and unintentional bombings (incomplete)
| Date | Body | Mission | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Moon | Luna 2 | First human object to reach the moon, though actual data return had to wait for Luna 3. Both upper stage and spacecraft impacted |
| 1965 | Moon | Luna 5 | Technically a Lander |
| 1965 | Moon | Luna 7 | Technically a Lander |
| 1965 | Moon | Luna 7 | Technically a Lander |
| 1966 | Moon | Surveyor 2 | Technically a Lander |
| 196x | Moon | Luna 10 | Defunct as of 1966, fate unknown but has likely crashed by now |
| 1966 | Moon | Surveyor 4 | Technically a Lander. May have exploded before impact |
| 196x | Moon | Luna 11 | Defunct as of 1966, fate unknown but has likely crashed by now |
| 196x | Moon | Luna 12 | Defunct as of 1967, fate unknown but has likely crashed by now |
| 1967 | Moon | Lunar Orbiter 4 | |
| 19xx | Moon | Explorer 35 | Turned off in 1967, orbit must have decayed, but exact crash date and location is unkown |
| 196x | Moon | Luna 14 | Defunct as of 1968, fate unknown but has likely crashed by now |
| 1969 | Moon | Apollo 10 | LEM descent stage crash site unknown |
| 1969 | Moon | Luna 15 | Sample Return, crashed on descent during Apollo 11 mission |
| 1969 | Moon | Apollo 11 | We don’t actually know where the LEM ascent stage went |
| 1971 | Moon | Luna 18 | Sample Return, but crashed during descent |
| 1972 | Moon | Apollo 16 PFS-2 | Subsatellite launched to measure lunar particles and fields. Helped to lead to the discovery of masscons |
| 19xx | Moon | Apollo 15 PSF-1 | Subsatellite launched to measure charged particles and magentic fields. Turned off in 1973, but probably crashed shortly thereafter due to masscons |
| 19xx | Moon | Explorer 49 | Turned off in 1977, orbit must have decayed, but exact crash date and location is unkown |
| 1971 | Mars | Mars 2 Lander | Orbiter was more successful |
| 1973 | Mars | Mars 6 Lander | Probably crashed |
| 196x | Moon | Luna 22 | Defunct as of 1975, fate unknown but has likely crashed by now |
| 199x | Moon | Hagoromo | Probable crash, attempted to orbit in 1990 |
| 1992 | Venus | Pioneer Venus | Orbit more or less decayed naturally |
| 1993 | Moon | Hiten | |
| 1999 | Mars | Mars Climate Orbiter | The infamous unit messup |
| 1999 | Mars | Mars Polar Lander | RIP “Faster, Cheaper, Better” |
| 2005 | 25143 Itokawa | Hayabusa | Marginal sample collection |
| 2006 | Moon | SMART-1 | |
| 2008 | Moon | Moon Impact Probe | Launched alongside Chandrayaan-1 |
| 2009 | Moon | Okina | Part of Kaguya mission |
| 20xx | Moon | Ouna | Part of Kaguya mission, fate unclear. Likely to crash soon if it has not already |
| 2009 | Moon | Chang’e 1 | |
| 2009 | Moon | Kaguya | |
| 2016 | Mars | Schiaparelli EDM lander | So close… |
| 2019 | Moon | Longjiang-2 | Somewhat unclear when. Part of Chang’e 4 |
| 2019 | 162173 Ryugu | Hayabusa-2 | Multiple strikes |
| 2019 | Moon | Beresheet | First for both Israel and a private company |
| 2019 | Moon | Vikram | Fairly low speed crash due to almost landing successfully |
| 2023 | Moon | Hakuto-R | Moderate speed crash from faulty telemetry |
Notes: Information on the fates of the ambiguous lunar orbiters (if it exists) would be greatly appreciated. No Martian orbiter is included, as it is unclear that any have yet crashed. It’s possible that Soviet or ESA Venus orbiters should be included, though I know little about them.
Update history
2019-10-14: first post, confident that it’s complete. 2023-07-01: updated, I might have missed something.