Between 1969 and 1972, the U.S. Apollo program sent twelve men to land on the Moon, the first of which were Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in Apollo 11. The first men sent to the Moon were Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, in Apollo 8. Before and since that time, the Moon has been the target of numerous landing and orbiting space probes, starting with the Soviet Luna 1 in 1959.