Apollo Project

"That's one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind."
- Neil Armstrong

The national effort that enabled Astronaut Neil Armstrong to speak those words as he stepped onto the lunar surface, fulfilled a dream as old as humanity. But Project Apollo's goals went beyond landing Americans on the Moon and returning them safely to Earth.

Further goals:

• To establish the technology to meet other national interests in space.
• To achieve preeminence in space for the United States.
• To carry out a program of scientific exploration of the Moon.
• To develop man's capability to work in the lunar environment.


Taken from Kennedy Space Center Apollo Homepage

 

The 12 Apollo missions that involved astronauts are described below.

  • Apollo 1 - Ended in tragedy January 27, 1967.
    Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White, Roger B. Chaffee were killed in a command module fire on the launch pad during a launch simulation at the Kennedy Space Center.
    The mission would have been the first manned Apollo mission.
    The tragedy prompted NASA to suspend Saturn 1B launches for almost a year and led to a major redesign of the Apollo Command Module.

No missions or flights were ever designated Apollo 2 and 3

  • Apollo 7 - October 11-12, 1968
    Crew: Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, R. Walter Cunningham

  • Apollo 8 - December 21-27, 1968
    Crew: Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., William A. Anders

  • Apollo 9 - March 3-13, 1969
    Crew: James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, Russell L. Schweickart

  • Apollo 10 - May 18-26, 1969
    Crew: Eugene A. Cernan, John W. Young, Thomas P. Stafford

  • Apollo 11 - July 16-24, 1969
    Crew: Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.

    First manned lunar landing mission and lunar surface EVA.
    "HOUSTON, TRANQUILITY BASE HERE. THE EAGLE HAS LANDED." - July 20, 1969.

  • Apollo 12 - November 14-24, 1969
    Crew: Charles Conrad, Jr., Richard F. Gordon, Jr., Alan L. Bean

  • Apollo 13 - April 11-17, 1970
    Crew: James A. Lovell, Jr., John L. Swigert, Jr. Fred W. Haise, Jr

    Third lunar landing attempt. Mission aborted after rupture of service module oxygen tank. Classed as "successful failure" because of experience in rescuing crew.

  • Apollo 14 - January 31 - Febraury 9, 1971
    Crew: Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Stuart A. Roosa, Edgar D. Mitchell

  • Apollo 15 - July 26-August 7, 1971
    Crew: David R. Scott, James B. Irwin, Alfred M. Worden

  • Apollo 16 - April 16-27, 1972
    Crew: John W. Young, Thomas K. Mattingly II, Charles M. Duke, Jr.

  • Apollo 17 - December 7-19, 1972
    Crew: Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald B. Evans, Harrison H. Schmitt

    Taken from space.com homepage

Copyright © 2004 Matt Kirsch
Website hosted by Deb Geisler & Michael Benveniste