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Apollo Lunar Missions
The Apollo program was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them
safely back to Earth. Six of the missions (Apollos 11, 12, 14,
15, 16, and 17) achieved this goal. Apollos 7 and 9 were Earth orbiting
missions to test the Command and Lunar Modules, and did not return lunar data.
Apollos 8 and 10 tested various components while orbiting the Moon, and returned
photography of the lunar surface. Apollo 13 did not land on the Moon due to a
malfunction, but also returned photographs. The six missions that landed on the
Moon returned a wealth of scientific data and almost 400 kilograms of lunar
samples. Experiments included soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic, heat flow,
lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.
To the Moon and Back 
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Click on the spacecraft name for information about the spacecraft and data
held offsite at NSSDC
Apollo
8 Launched 21 December 1968
Lunar Orbit and Return
Returned to Earth 27 December 1968
Apollo
10 Launched 18 May 1969
Lunar Orbit and Return
Returned to Earth 26 May 1969
Launched 16 July 1969
Landed on Moon 20 July 1969
Sea of Tranquility
Images
from Apollo 11
Returned to Earth 24 July 1969![[Apollo 11 Logo]](../../../../../Countries/USA/States%20and%20territories/Florida/NASA/Photos/Apollo/ap11patch.gif)
Apollo
12 Launched 14 November 1969
Landed on Moon 19 November 1969
Ocean of Storms
Returned to Earth 24 November 1969
Apollo
13 Launched 11 April 1970
Lunar Flyby and Return
Malfunction forced cancellation of lunar landing
Returned to Earth 17 April 1970
Apollo
14 Launched 31 January 1971
Landed on Moon 5 February 1971
Fra Mauro
Returned to Earth 9 February 1971
Apollo
15 Launched 26 July 1971
Landed on Moon 30 July 1971
Hadley Rille
Returned to Earth 7 August 1971
Apollo
16 Launched 16 April 1972
Landed on Moon 20 April 1972
Descartes
Returned to Earth 27 April 1972
Apollo
17 Launched 07 December 1972
Landed on Moon 11 December 1972
Taurus-Littrow
Returned to Earth 19 December 1972
The Apollo mission consisted of a Command Module (CM) and a Lunar Module
(LM). The CM and LM would separate after lunar orbit insertion. One crew member
would stay in the CM, which would orbit the Moon, while the other two astronauts
would take the LM down to the lunar surface. After exploring the surface,
setting up experiments, taking pictures, collecting rock samples, etc., the
astronauts would return to the CM for the journey back to Earth.
See the Early Preparations and the
related flights that did not actually go to the moon but were an
important part of this program and don't miss the additional
resources related to the Lunar program. |
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