The first artificial object to escape Earth's gravity and pass near the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 1, the first artificial object to impact the lunar surface was Luna 2, and the first photographs of the normally occluded far side of the Moon were made by Luna 3, all in 1959. The first spacecraft to perform a successful lunar soft landing was Luna 9, and the first unmanned vehicle to orbit the Moon was Luna 10, both in 1966. The United States (U.S.) Apollo program were the first manned missions to the lunar surface, resulting in six landings between 1969 and 1972.

As part of the Earth Defense Initiative (EDI, not to be confused with the Extra Dimensional Invasion) research facilties were constructed on the moon in an effort to explore the surface for possible alien visitation and to mine for water.  The plan was to use the moon as a staging area for future exploration of the solar system, using the water to make the bases more self sufficient and to use the water as reaction mass for future space craft.  Unfortunately water was not found in any great quantity and one by one the lunar facilities were shut down.

A final tragedy occurred on September 13th, 1999 when the final base's nuclear reactor went critical and resulted in a meltdown.  Many astronauts and scientists were slain and others sustained critical injuries in the form of radiation burns and trauma due to decompression..  Since then no human lives on the moon and no one visits.

The Vindicators discovered a secret organization called ECLIPSE was secretly employing abandoned facilities on the moon.  They also discovered various alien artifacts (mostly spacecraft) stored there.  These facilities were destroyed.