sentences:  Both the United States and the USSR had the capability to soft-land objects on the surface of the Moon for several years before that.The USSR successfully landed its first uncrewed probe (Luna 9) on the Moon in February 1966, and the United States followed with Surveyor 1 in June 1966, but no uncrewed landers carried retroreflectors before Lunokhod 1 in November 1970.To the very least, the retroreflectors are proof that human-made probes reached the exact locations of the Apollo 11, 14 and 15 landing sites at exactly the same time as those missions.