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by Retric 1780 days ago
The first soft landing on the moon occurred in 1966. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_9

Many rockets did soft landing on earth before that point, but none of them had been in space.

1 comments

Sure, if that probe's rather crude landing system is enough for you, suit yourself with Luna 9. However, the LM landed on its legs in one piece, just like DC-X, New Shepard, Grasshopper, and F9 first stage did later.
I think it’s fair to classify Luna 9’s landing as soft because at 14 mph it was survivable, though other landers where softer. LM was an achievement not just because humans, but also because it could take off again without maintenance.