The mission of Luna 13 was to land on the Moon and characterize the lunar surface. The Luna 13 spacecraft was launched toward the Moon from an earth-orbiting platform and accomplished a soft landing on December 24, 1966, in the region of Oceanus Procellarum.

Lunar Orbiter 2's primary mission was to photograph smooth areas of the lunar surface to help select safe landing sites for the Apollo missions. The spacecraft took photos covering nearly 1.6 millions square miles of the Moon's surface.

Luna 12 was launched to complete the mission that Luna 11 failed to accomplish: to take high resolution photos of the Moon from lunar orbit. First high resolution of the Moon taken from lunar orbit.

Luna 11 was designed to take the first photographs of the surface of the Moon from lunar orbit. A secondary objective was to obtain data on gravitational anamolies on the Moon.

The Lunar Orbiter 1 mission was designed primarily to photograph smooth areas of the lunar surface for selection of safe landing sites for the Apollo missions.

The mission of Surveyor 1 was to demonstrate the technology necessary to achieve landing and operations on the lunar surface. Surveyor 1 collected information about the lunar surface that informed the planning for the Apollo crewed lunar landings.

The primary objective of Luna 10 was to achieve first lunar orbit, gain experience in orbital operations and study the lunar environment. First spacecraft to orbit the Moon and first human-made object to ever sucessfully orbit around another celestial body.

Luna 9 was intended to, and did, achieve the first soft landing on the Moon. The lander proved spacecraft would not simply sink into lunar dust, a finding that paved the way for future Moon landings, including the Apollo missions.