NASA’s Apollo program intended to land astronauts on the lunar surface and safely return them to Earth. Six Apollo missions (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) accomplished this goal. Apollo 7 and 9 were Earth-orbiting missions to test the Command and Lunar Modules and did not return lunar data. Apollo 8 and 10 tested different components while orbiting the Moon and returned many lunar surface photographs.
Apollo 13 didn’t land on the lunar surface due to a malfunction but also returned photographs. The six Apollo missions that managed to land on the Moon returned a treasure of scientific data and approximately 400 kilograms of lunar samples. Experiments included seismic, soil mechanics, meteoroids, lunar ranging, heat flow, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.
What Was the Apollo Program?
The Apollo Program was a NASA project that resulted in American astronauts making a total of 11 spaceflights and walking on the Moon. The first four missions tested the equipment used in the Apollo Program. Six of the other seven missions landed on the Moon.
The first Apollo mission took place in 1968, and the first moon landing happened in 1969. The last lunar landing was in 1972. A total of 12 astronauts walked on the Moon. The Apollo astronauts conducted scientific research there, studying the Moon’s surface. They accumulated moon rocks to bring them back to Earth.
What Kind of Spacecraft Were Used for the Apollo Program?
NASA created the Apollo Command Module for this program. It was a capsule with room for a crew of three astronauts. The crew traveled in the Command Module on the way to the moon and back. It was bigger than the spacecraft used in the Mercury and Gemini programs. The Apollo astronauts had room to move around inside the spacecraft. The crew area had roughly as much room as a car.
The other spacecraft, the Lunar Module, was used for landing on the lunar surface. This spacecraft carried astronauts from orbit around the moon to the lunar surface and back into orbit. It could carry two Apollo astronauts.
The Apollo program used two kinds of rockets. The first flights used the smaller Saturn IB rocket, which was nearly as tall as a 22-story building. This rocket had two stages, which means it was made of two parts.
When the first part ran out of fuel, it dropped away from the other and burned up in Earth’s atmosphere. The second part continued flying. The Saturn IB rocket was used to test the new Apollo capsule in Earth orbit.
The other flights used the more powerful Saturn V rocket. This three-stage rocket, which was approximately as tall as a 36-story building, sent the Apollo spacecraft to the moon.
How Did The Apollo Astronauts Land on the Moon?
The Apollo spacecraft was launched on top of the massive Saturn V rocket, which was made of three huge stages. The first two rocket stages used up their fuel, reaching the Earth’s orbit. The third rocket stage was used to push the Apollo Command Module and Lunar Module to the Moon.
Once the spacecraft reached the Moon, the two modules, the Lunar Module and the Command Module, separated. Two astronauts were in the Lunar Module and landed on the Moon’s surface. The third Apollo astronaut stayed in the Command Module in orbit around the Moon.
On the last three missions, Apollo astronauts drove on the Moon with the amazing lunar rover to examine more of the lunar surface. The lunar rovers were built to be folded to fit in a storage area on the (LM) Lunar Module. The lunar rovers were left on the lunar surface.
When the two Apollo astronauts were finished working on the Moon’s surface, they got back in the (LM)Lunar Module and took off. It returned into orbit around the Moon and connected with the Command Module. The two Apollo astronauts got back into the Command Module. They left the Lunar Module behind and returned back to Earth. The (LM) Lunar Module later crashed into the lunar surface. Back on Earth, the Command Module landed in the ocean, and a rescue ship picked up the Apollo astronauts.
When Did Astronauts First Visit the Moon?
The first human-crewed mission to the Moon was Apollo 8. It orbited around our closest neighbor on Christmas Eve in 1968. Nevertheless, Apollo 8 did not land on the Moon. It orbited the Moon, then came back to Earth. The astronauts were Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and Jim Lovell.
The first man on the Moon happened on July 20, 1969, with the Apollo 11 mission. The crew of Apollo 11 was Commander Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon’s surface while Michael Collins stayed in orbit around the Moon. When Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon, he said, “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.”
Summary
The Apollo program, also named Project Apollo, was a project by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The goal was to send a human to explore the Moon and bring him home to Earth.
