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{{Short description|1961–1972 American crewed lunar exploration program}}
{{Short description|1961–1972 American crewed lunar exploration program}}
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{{Good article}}
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{{Infobox space program
{{Infobox space program
| name            = Project Apollo
| name            = Apollo program
| image          = Apollo program.svg
| image          = [[File:Apollo program.svg|frameless|upright=0.9]]
| image_size      = 200px
| alt            = The letter "A" printed with a depiction of a trans-lunar trajectory streaking across; the Moon and Earth are depicted on opposite sides of the "A", with Apollo's face outlined on the Moon
| alt            = The letter "A" with a trans-lunar trajectory streaking across; the Moon and Earth are on opposite sides of the "A", with Apollo's face outlined on the Moon
| country        = United States
| country        = United States
| organization    = [[NASA]]
| organization    = [[NASA]]
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| launcher        = {{Hlist|[[Little Joe II]]|[[Saturn I]]|[[Saturn IB]]|[[Saturn V]]}}
| launcher        = {{Hlist|[[Little Joe II]]|[[Saturn I]]|[[Saturn IB]]|[[Saturn V]]}}
}}
}}
{{United States space program sidebar}}
The '''Apollo program''', also known as '''Project Apollo''', was the United States [[human spaceflight]] program led by [[NASA]], which [[Moon landing|landed]] the first humans on the [[Moon]] in 1969. Apollo was conceived in 1960 in the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] presidency during [[Project Mercury]] and executed after [[Project Gemini]]. Apollo was later dedicated to President [[John F. Kennedy]]'s national goal, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in his address to the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] on May 25, 1961.
Kennedy's goal was accomplished on the [[Apollo 11]] mission, when astronauts [[Neil Armstrong]] and [[Buzz Aldrin]] landed their [[Apollo Lunar Module]] (LM) on July 20, 1969, and walked on the lunar surface, while [[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]] remained in [[lunar orbit]] in the [[Apollo command and service module|command and service module]] (CSM), and all three landed safely on Earth in the Pacific Ocean on July 24. Approximately 650 million people worldwide watched this first landing on television.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-25 |title=Apollo 11 Moon Landing Stories |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/share-your-story/apollo-11-moon-landing |access-date=2026-03-10 |website=National Air and Space Museum}}</ref> Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed [[astronaut]]s on the Moon, the last, [[Apollo 17]], in December 1972. In these six spaceflights, [[List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon|twelve people walked on the Moon]].


'''Project Apollo''', also the '''Apollo program''' (1961–1972), was the United States' [[human spaceflight]] program led by [[NASA]], which [[Moon landing|landed]] the first [[astronaut]]s on the [[Moon]] in 1969.<ref name="nasa-onegiantleap">{{Cite web |date=July 20, 2019 |title=July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap for Mankind |url=https://www.nasa.gov/history/july-20-1969-one-giant-leap-for-mankind/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401010503/https://www.nasa.gov/history/july-20-1969-one-giant-leap-for-mankind/ |archive-date=April 1, 2025 |publisher=[[NASA]] }}</ref> Project Apollo was conceptualized during the time of [[Project Mercury]] (1958–1963) and was realized after [[Project Gemini]] (1961–1966). In 1960, during the [[Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower presidency]] (1953–1961), the Apollo Program was conceptualized to feature a three-astronaut spacecraft, and later was dedicated to Pres. Kennedy's national goal for NASA in the 1960s, of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth", proposed in a speech to the U.S. Congress on May 25, 1961.
[[File:A Man on the Moon, AS11-40-5903 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Buzz Aldrin]] (pictured) walked on the Moon with [[Neil Armstrong]], on [[Apollo 11]], July 20–21, 1969.|alt=Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, standing on the Moon]]
[[File:NASA Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle.jpg|thumb|The Apollo 17 [[Lunar Roving Vehicle]]]]
[[File:NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg|alt=|thumb|''[[Earthrise]]'', the iconic 1968 image from [[Apollo 8]] taken by astronaut [[William Anders]]]]


The [[Apollo 11]] mission accomplished Kennedy's goal when the astronauts [[Neil Armstrong]] and [[Buzz Aldrin]] landed the [[Apollo Lunar Module]] (LM) ''Eagle'' on the Moon on July 20, 1969, while [[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]] remained in [[lunar orbit]] in the [[Apollo command and service module|command and service module]] (CSM). All three astronauts landed safely on Earth in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. Subsequently, five Apollo missions also landed [[astronaut]]s on the Moon, the last, [[Apollo 17]], in December 1972. In these six spaceflights, [[List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon|twelve astronauts walked on the Moon]].
Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first crewed flight in 1968. It encountered a major setback in 1967 when the [[Apollo 1]] cabin fire killed the entire crew during a prelaunch test. After the first Moon landing, sufficient flight hardware remained for nine follow-on landings with a plan for extended lunar [[geology of the Moon|geological]] and [[astrophysics|astrophysical]] exploration. Budget cuts forced the cancellation of three of these. Five of the remaining six missions achieved landings; but the [[Apollo 13]] landing had to be aborted after an oxygen tank exploded en route to the Moon, crippling the CSM. The crew barely managed a safe return to Earth by using the [[Apollo Lunar Module|Lunar Module]] as a "lifeboat" on the return journey.
Apollo used the [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn family of rockets]] as launch vehicles, which were also used for an [[Apollo Applications Program]], which consisted of [[Skylab]], a [[space station]] that supported three crewed missions in 1973–1974, and the [[Apollo–Soyuz]] Test Project, a joint [[United States]]-[[Soviet Union]] [[low Earth orbit]] mission in 1975.


Project Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first crewed spaceflight in 1968, but earlier had suffered a disaster in 1967, when, during a pre-launching test, the [[Apollo 1]] cabin atmosphere caught fire and killed the three astronauts. After the first Moon landing on 20 July, 1969, sufficient numbers of [[spacecraft]] and [[rocket]]s remained for fielding nine landings on the Moon, with a plan for extended [[geology of the Moon|geological]] and [[astrophysics|astrophysical]] lunar exploration; but a reduced budget for NASA cancelled three planned lunar missions. Moreover, of the remaining six lunar missions, five landed on the Moon; but the [[Apollo 13]] landing was aborted when an oxygen tank exploded and crippled the Apollo 13 CSM en route to the Moon. The resourceful crew of astronauts used the [[Apollo Lunar Module|Lunar Module]] as a lifeboat to safely return from the Moon to the Earth.  
Apollo set several major [[List of space exploration milestones, 1957–1969|human spaceflight milestones]]. It stands alone in sending humans to the lunar surface. [[Apollo 8]] was the first crewed mission to leave [[low Earth orbit]] and to orbit another celestial body, and Apollo 11 was the first crewed mission to land humans on one.


Project Apollo set several [[List of space exploration milestones, 1957–1969|spaceflight milestones]] in the 1957–1969 period, sending crewed missions beyond [[low Earth orbit]]. [[Apollo 8]] was the first crewed spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, the Moon, and Apollo 11 was the first crewed mission to land astronauts on another celestial body. Project Apollo delivered {{convert|842|lb|kg}} of lunar rocks and soil to Earth, contributing to the geologic understanding of the Moon's composition and history. The Apollo program was the foundation for NASA's human spaceflight capabilities, housed at the [[Johnson Space Center]] in Texas and the [[Kennedy Space Center]] in Florida. Apollo also advanced many technologies ([[avionics]], [[telecommunications]], [[computer]]s) incidental to [[rocket]]ry and to human spaceflight. Project Apollo used the models of [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn rockets]] as the launching vehicles for the [[Apollo Applications Program]], which comprised the [[space station]] ''[[Skylab]]'' (1973–1974), which supported the astronaut crews of three missions, and the [[Apollo–Soyuz]] Test Project, a joint U.S.–U.S.S.R. [[low Earth orbit]] mission in 1975.
Overall, the Apollo program returned {{convert|842|lb|kg}} of lunar rocks to Earth, greatly contributing to the understanding of the Moon's composition and geological history. The program laid the foundation for NASA's subsequent human spaceflight capability and funded construction of its [[Johnson Space Center]] and [[Kennedy Space Center]]. Apollo also spurred advances in many areas of technology incidental to [[rocket]]ry and human spaceflight, including [[avionics]], [[telecommunications]], and [[computer]]s.


==Name of the project==
Following the end of the Apollo program, humans would not leave low Earth orbit until the [[Artemis II]] flyby of the Moon in 2026, as part of the [[Artemis program]], established as a successor to Apollo in 2017. Artemis intends to return humans to the Moon's surface no earlier than 2028.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NASA Adds Mission to Artemis Lunar Program, Updates Architecture |url=https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-adds-mission-to-artemis-lunar-program-updates-architecture/ |publisher=NASA |date=2026-02-27 |access-date=2026-04-27 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:A Man on the Moon, AS11-40-5903 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Buzz Aldrin]] (pictured) walked on the [[Moon]] with [[Neil Armstrong]], on [[Apollo 11]], July 20–21, 1969.|alt=Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, standing on the Moon]]
[[File:NASA Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle.jpg|thumb|NASA Apollo 17 [[Lunar Roving Vehicle]]]]
[[File:NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg|alt=|thumb|''[[Earthrise]]'', the iconic 1968 image from [[Apollo 8]] taken by astronaut [[William Anders]].]]


In 1960, Project Apollo was named after [[Apollo]], the Greek god of light, music, and the Sun, by NASA manager [[Abe Silverstein]], who said: “I was naming the spacecraft like I’d name my baby”,<ref>[[#Murray & Cox|Murray & Cox 1989]], p. 55</ref> because I thought that “Apollo riding his chariot across the Sun was appropriate to the grand scale of the proposed program” of manned exploration of [[outer space]].<ref name="pressrelease">{{Cite press release |last=Kelsey |first=Charles E. |date=July 14, 1969 |title=1969 Apollo 11 News Release |url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/lewis-apollo-contributions-press-release-1969.pdf?emrc=bed0c6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206053900/https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/lewis-apollo-contributions-press-release-1969.pdf?emrc=bed0c6 |archive-date=February 6, 2025 |access-date=April 8, 2025 |publisher=[[Glenn Research Center|Lewis Research Center]] |id=69-36 |location=Cleveland, OH }}</ref>
==Name==
The program was named after the Greek god [[Apollo]] by NASA manager [[Abe Silverstein]], who later said, "I was naming the spacecraft like I'd name my baby."{{sfn|Murray|Cox|1989|p=55}} Silverstein chose the name at home one evening, early in 1960, because he felt "Apollo riding his chariot across the Sun was appropriate to the grand scale of the proposed program".<ref name="pressrelease">{{Cite press release |last=Kelsey |first=Charles E. |date=July 14, 1969 |title=1969 Apollo 11 News Release |url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/lewis-apollo-contributions-press-release-1969.pdf?emrc=bed0c6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206053900/https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/lewis-apollo-contributions-press-release-1969.pdf?emrc=bed0c6 |archive-date=February 6, 2025 |access-date=April 8, 2025 |publisher=[[Glenn Research Center|Lewis Research Center]] |id=69-36 |location=Cleveland, OH }}</ref>


In the context of the success of [[Project Mercury]] (1958–1963), the focus of Project Apollo was the development of a [[space capsule]]  for a crew of three astronauts, the [[Apollo command and service module]]s; moreover, a [[lunar landing]] became the focus of the Apollo program in 1961.<ref name="Nast 2013 t554">{{Cite magazine |last=Portree |first=David S. F. |date=September 2, 2013 |title=Project Olympus (1962) |url=https://www.wired.com/2013/09/project-olympus-1962/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250323022422/https://www.wired.com/2013/09/project-olympus-1962/ |archive-date=March 23, 2025 |access-date=October 12, 2023 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] }}</ref> After establishing that lunar mission, [[Project Gemini]] (1961–1966) followed Project Mercury to develop, test, and study aerospace technology and its applications to manned spaceflight to the Moon.
The context of this was that the program focused at its beginning mainly on developing an advanced crewed spacecraft, the [[Apollo command and service module]], succeeding the [[Mercury program]]. A [[lunar landing]] became the focus of the program only in 1961.<ref name="Nast 2013 t554">{{Cite magazine |last=Portree |first=David S. F. |date=September 2, 2013 |title=Project Olympus (1962) |url=https://www.wired.com/2013/09/project-olympus-1962/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250323022422/https://www.wired.com/2013/09/project-olympus-1962/ |archive-date=March 23, 2025 |access-date=October 12, 2023 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] }}</ref> Thereafter [[Project Gemini]] instead followed the Mercury program to test and study advanced crewed spaceflight technology.


==Background==
==Background==
===Origin and spacecraft feasibility studies===
===Origin and spacecraft feasibility studies===
{{United States space program sidebar}}
{{main|Apollo spacecraft feasibility study}}
{{main|Apollo spacecraft feasibility study}}


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{{main|Space Race|Sputnik crisis}}
{{main|Space Race|Sputnik crisis}}


In November 1960, [[John F. Kennedy]] was elected president after a [[John F. Kennedy 1960 presidential campaign|campaign]] that promised American superiority over the [[Soviet Union]] in the fields of [[space exploration]] and [[missile defense]]. Up to the election of 1960, Kennedy had been speaking out against the "[[missile gap]]" that he and many other senators said had developed between the Soviet Union and the United States due to the inaction of President Eisenhower.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Christopher A. |last=Preble |title="Who Ever Believed in the 'Missile Gap'?": John F. Kennedy and the Politics of National Security |journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly |volume=33 |number=4 |date=2003 |page=813 |doi=10.1046/j.0360-4918.2003.00085.x |jstor=27552538}}</ref> Beyond military power, Kennedy used aerospace technology as a symbol of national prestige, pledging to make the US not "first but, first and, first if, but first period".<ref>[[#Beschloss|Beschloss 1997]]</ref> Despite Kennedy's rhetoric, he did not immediately come to a decision on the status of the Apollo program once he became president. He knew little about the technical details of the space program, and was put off by the massive financial commitment required by a crewed Moon landing.<ref>[[#Sidey|Sidey 1963]], pp. 117–118</ref> When Kennedy's newly appointed NASA Administrator [[James E. Webb]] requested a 30 percent budget increase for his agency, Kennedy supported an acceleration of NASA's large booster program but deferred a decision on the broader issue.<ref>[[#Beschloss|Beschloss 1997]], p. 55</ref>
In November 1960, [[John F. Kennedy]] was elected president after a [[John F. Kennedy 1960 presidential campaign|campaign]] that promised American superiority over the [[Soviet Union]] in the fields of [[space exploration]] and [[missile defense]]. Up to the election of 1960, Kennedy had been speaking out against the "[[missile gap]]" that he and many other senators said had developed between the Soviet Union and the United States due to the inaction of President Eisenhower.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Christopher A. |last=Preble |title="Who Ever Believed in the 'Missile Gap'?": John F. Kennedy and the Politics of National Security |journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly |volume=33 |number=4 |date=2003 |page=813 |doi=10.1046/j.0360-4918.2003.00085.x |jstor=27552538}}</ref> Beyond military power, Kennedy used aerospace technology as a symbol of national prestige, pledging to make the US not "first but, first and, first if, but first period".<ref>[[#Beschloss|Beschloss 1997]]</ref>  
 
Despite Kennedy's rhetoric, he did not immediately come to a decision on the status of the Apollo program once he became president. He knew little about the technical details of the space program, and was put off by the massive financial commitment required by a crewed Moon landing.<ref>[[#Sidey|Sidey 1963]], pp. 117–118</ref> When Kennedy's newly appointed NASA Administrator [[James E. Webb]] requested a 30 percent budget increase for his agency, Kennedy supported an acceleration of NASA's large booster program but deferred a decision on the broader issue.<ref>[[#Beschloss|Beschloss 1997]], p. 55</ref>


On April 12, 1961, Soviet [[cosmonaut]] [[Yuri Gagarin]] became the first person to fly in space, reinforcing American fears about being left behind in a technological competition with the Soviet Union. At a meeting of the US House [[United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology|Committee on Science and Astronautics]] one day after Gagarin's flight, many congressmen pledged their support for a crash program aimed at ensuring that America would catch up.<ref>[[#87th Congress|87th Congress 1961]]</ref> Kennedy was circumspect in his response to the news, refusing to make a commitment on America's response to the Soviets.<ref>[[#Sidey|Sidey 1963]], p. 114</ref>
On April 12, 1961, Soviet [[cosmonaut]] [[Yuri Gagarin]] became the first person to fly in space, reinforcing American fears about being left behind in a technological competition with the Soviet Union. At a meeting of the US House [[United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology|Committee on Science and Astronautics]] one day after Gagarin's flight, many congressmen pledged their support for a crash program aimed at ensuring that America would catch up.<ref>[[#87th Congress|87th Congress 1961]]</ref> Kennedy was circumspect in his response to the news, refusing to make a commitment on America's response to the Soviets.<ref>[[#Sidey|Sidey 1963]], p. 114</ref>


[[File:Kennedy Giving Historic Speech to Congress - GPN-2000-001658.jpg|thumb|right|[[President of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]] delivers his proposal to put a man on the Moon before a joint session of [[United States Congress|Congress]], May 25, 1961.|alt=President John F. Kennedy addresses a joint session of Congress, with Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and House Speaker Sam Rayburn seated behind him]]
[[File:Kennedy Giving Historic Speech to Congress - GPN-2000-001658.jpg|thumb|[[President of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]] delivers his proposal to put a man on the Moon before a joint session of [[United States Congress|Congress]], May 25, 1961.|alt=President John F. Kennedy addresses a joint session of Congress, with Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and House Speaker Sam Rayburn seated behind him]]


On April 20, Kennedy sent a memo to [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], asking Johnson to look into the status of America's space program, and into programs that could offer NASA the opportunity to catch up.<ref name="jfkmemo">{{cite web |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/6XnAYXEkkkSMLfp7ic_o-Q.aspx |title=Memorandum for Vice President |last=Kennedy |first=John F. |author-link=John F. Kennedy |date=April 20, 1961 |work=[[White House|The White House]] |publisher=[[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]] |location=Boston, MA |type=Memorandum |access-date=August 1, 2013 |archive-date=July 21, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721230444/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/6XnAYXEkkkSMLfp7ic_o-Q.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Launius |first=Roger D. |title=Apollo: A Retrospective Analysis |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/cover.html |format=PDF |access-date=August 1, 2013 |series=Monographs in Aerospace History |number=3 |date=July 1994 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=31825096 |chapter=President John F. Kennedy Memo for Vice President, 20 April 1961 |chapter-url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live }} [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/docs.htm Key Apollo Source Documents] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108100815/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/docs.htm |date=November 8, 2020 }}.</ref> Johnson responded approximately one week later, concluding that "we are neither making maximum effort nor achieving results necessary if this country is to reach a position of leadership."<ref name="lbjmemo">{{cite web |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/DjiWpQJegkuIlX7WZAUCtQ.aspx |title=Memorandum for the President |last=Johnson |first=Lyndon B. |author-link=Lyndon B. Johnson |type=Memorandum |date=April 28, 1961 |work=[[Office of the Vice President of the United States|Office of the Vice President]] |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum |location=Boston, MA |access-date=August 1, 2013 |archive-date=July 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701151811/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/DjiWpQJegkuIlX7WZAUCtQ.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Launius |first=Roger D. |title=Apollo: A Retrospective Analysis |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/cover.html |format=PDF |access-date=August 1, 2013 |series=Monographs in Aerospace History |number=3 |date=July 1994 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=31825096 |chapter=Lyndon B. Johnson, Vice President, Memo for the President, 'Evaluation of Space Program,' 28 April 1961 |chapter-url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo2.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo2.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live }} [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/docs.htm Key Apollo Source Documents] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108100815/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/docs.htm |date=November 8, 2020 }}.</ref> His memo concluded that a crewed Moon landing was far enough in the future that it was likely the United States would achieve it first.<ref name="lbjmemo" />
On April 20, Kennedy sent a memo to [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], asking Johnson to look into the status of America's space program, and into programs that could offer NASA the opportunity to catch up.<ref name="jfkmemo">{{cite web |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/6XnAYXEkkkSMLfp7ic_o-Q.aspx |title=Memorandum for Vice President |last=Kennedy |first=John F. |author-link=John F. Kennedy |date=April 20, 1961 |work=[[White House|The White House]] |publisher=[[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]] |location=Boston, MA |type=Memorandum |access-date=August 1, 2013 |archive-date=July 21, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721230444/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/6XnAYXEkkkSMLfp7ic_o-Q.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Launius |first=Roger D. |title=Apollo: A Retrospective Analysis |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/cover.html |format=PDF |access-date=August 1, 2013 |series=Monographs in Aerospace History |number=3 |date=July 1994 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=31825096 |chapter=President John F. Kennedy Memo for Vice President, 20 April 1961 |chapter-url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live }} [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/docs.htm Key Apollo Source Documents] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108100815/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/docs.htm |date=November 8, 2020 }}.</ref> Johnson responded approximately one week later, concluding that "we are neither making maximum effort nor achieving results necessary if this country is to reach a position of leadership."<ref name="lbjmemo">{{cite web |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/DjiWpQJegkuIlX7WZAUCtQ.aspx |title=Memorandum for the President |last=Johnson |first=Lyndon B. |author-link=Lyndon B. Johnson |type=Memorandum |date=April 28, 1961 |work=[[Office of the Vice President of the United States|Office of the Vice President]] |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum |location=Boston, MA |access-date=August 1, 2013 |archive-date=July 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701151811/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/DjiWpQJegkuIlX7WZAUCtQ.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Launius |first=Roger D. |title=Apollo: A Retrospective Analysis |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/cover.html |format=PDF |access-date=August 1, 2013 |series=Monographs in Aerospace History |number=3 |date=July 1994 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=31825096 |chapter=Lyndon B. Johnson, Vice President, Memo for the President, 'Evaluation of Space Program,' 28 April 1961 |chapter-url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo2.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo2.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live }} [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/docs.htm Key Apollo Source Documents] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108100815/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/docs.htm |date=November 8, 2020 }}.</ref> His memo concluded that a crewed Moon landing was far enough in the future that it was likely the United States would achieve it first.<ref name="lbjmemo" />
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{{blockquote|Now it is time to take longer strides—time for a great new American enterprise—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth.
{{blockquote|Now it is time to take longer strides—time for a great new American enterprise—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth.


...{{nbsp}}I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.<ref name="Special Message">{{cite AV media |people=Kennedy, John F. |date=May 25, 1961 |title=Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs |medium=Motion picture (excerpt) |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/xzw1gaeeTES6khED14P1Iw.aspx |access-date=August 1, 2013 |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum |location=Boston, MA |id=Accession number: TNC:200; digital identifier: TNC-200-2}}</ref>{{efn|{{Cws |title=Full text |link=Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs|nobullet=yes}}}}
...{{nbsp}}I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.<ref name="Special Message">{{cite AV media |people=Kennedy, John F. |date=May 25, 1961 |title=Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs |medium=Motion picture (excerpt) |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/xzw1gaeeTES6khED14P1Iw.aspx |access-date=August 1, 2013 |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum |location=Boston, MA |id=Accession number: TNC:200; digital identifier: TNC-200-2}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Special_Message_to_the_Congress_on_Urgent_National_Needs}}</ref>
}}
}}


==NASA expansion==
==NASA expansion==
At the time of Kennedy's proposal, only one American had flown in space—less than a month earlier—and NASA had not yet sent an astronaut into orbit. Even some NASA employees doubted whether Kennedy's ambitious goal could be met.<ref>[[#Murray & Cox|Murray & Cox 1989]], pp. 16–17</ref> By 1963, Kennedy even came close to agreeing to a joint US-USSR Moon mission, to eliminate duplication of effort.<ref>{{cite news |title=Soviets Planned to Accept JFK's Joint Lunar Mission Offer |first=Frank |last=Sietzen |url=http://www.spacedaily.com/news/russia-97h.html |agency=SpaceCast News Service |work=SpaceDaily |date=October 2, 1997 |access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref>
At the time of Kennedy's proposal, only one American had flown in space—less than a month earlier—and NASA had not yet sent an astronaut into orbit. Even some NASA employees doubted whether Kennedy's ambitious goal could be met.{{sfn|Murray|Cox| 1989|pp=16–17}} By 1963, Kennedy even came close to agreeing to a joint US-USSR Moon mission, to eliminate duplication of effort.<ref>{{cite news |title=Soviets Planned to Accept JFK's Joint Lunar Mission Offer |first=Frank |last=Sietzen |url=http://www.spacedaily.com/news/russia-97h.html |agency=SpaceCast News Service |work=SpaceDaily |date=October 2, 1997 |access-date=2026-04-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260315162748/http://www.spacedaily.com/news/russia-97h.html |archive-date=2026-03-15}}</ref>


With the clear goal of a crewed landing replacing the more nebulous goals of space stations and circumlunar flights, NASA decided that, in order to make progress quickly, it would discard the feasibility study designs of Convair, GE, and Martin, and proceed with Faget's command and service module design. The mission module was determined to be useful only as an extra room, and therefore unnecessary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4209/ch3-7.htm|title= Soyuz – Development of the Space Station; Apollo – Voyage to the Moon|access-date=June 12, 2016}}</ref> They used Faget's design as the specification for another competition for spacecraft procurement bids in October 1961. On November 28, 1961, it was announced that [[North American Aviation]] had won the contract, although its bid was not rated as good as the Martin proposal. Webb, Dryden and [[Robert Seamans]] chose it in preference due to North American's longer association with NASA and [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics|its predecessor]].{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=Ch. 2.5: [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch2-5.html "Contracting for the Command Module"]. pp. 41–44}}
With the clear goal of a crewed landing replacing the more nebulous goals of space stations and circumlunar flights, NASA decided that, in order to make progress quickly, it would discard the feasibility study designs of Convair, GE, and Martin, and proceed with Faget's command and service module design. The mission module was determined to be useful only as an extra room, and therefore unnecessary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4209/ch3-7.htm|title= Soyuz – Development of the Space Station; Apollo – Voyage to the Moon|access-date=June 12, 2016}}</ref> They used Faget's design as the specification for another competition for spacecraft procurement bids in October 1961. On November 28, 1961, [[North American Aviation]] won the contract, although its bid was not rated as good as the Martin proposal. Webb, Dryden and [[Robert Seamans]] chose it in preference due to North American's longer association with NASA and [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics|its predecessor]].{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=Ch. 2.5: [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch2-5.html "Contracting for the Command Module"]. pp. 41–44}}


Landing humans on the Moon by the end of 1969 required the most sudden burst of technological creativity, and the largest commitment of resources ($25&nbsp;billion; ${{format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|25400000000|1966}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}} US dollars){{Inflation-fn|US-GDP}} ever made by any nation in peacetime. At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 people and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/Apollo.html |title=NASA Langley Research Center's Contributions to the Apollo Program |editor-last=Allen |editor-first=Bob |work=[[Langley Research Center]] |publisher=NASA |access-date=August 1, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041210155909/https://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/Apollo.html |archive-date=2004-12-10}}</ref>
Landing humans on the Moon by the end of 1969 required the most sudden burst of technological creativity, and the largest commitment of resources ($25&nbsp;billion; ${{format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|25400000000|1966}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}} US dollars){{Inflation-fn|US-GDP}} ever made by any nation in peacetime. At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 people and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/Apollo.html |title=NASA Langley Research Center's Contributions to the Apollo Program |editor-last=Allen |editor-first=Bob |work=[[Langley Research Center]] |publisher=NASA |access-date=August 1, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041210155909/https://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/Apollo.html |archive-date=2004-12-10}}</ref>
Line 98: Line 104:
It became clear that managing the Apollo program would exceed the capabilities of [[Robert R. Gilruth]]'s [[Space Task Group]], which had been directing the nation's crewed space program from NASA's [[Langley Research Center]]. So Gilruth was given authority to grow his organization into a new NASA center, the [[Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center|Manned Spacecraft Center]] (MSC). A site was chosen in [[Houston]], Texas, on land donated by [[Rice University]], and Administrator Webb announced the conversion on September 19, 1961.<ref name="TNO 12">{{cite book |last1=Swenson |first1=Loyd S. Jr. |first2=James M. |last2=Grimwood |first3=Charles C. |last3=Alexander |title=This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/toc.htm |access-date=August 1, 2013 |series=The NASA History Series |orig-year=Originally published 1966 |date=1989 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=569889 |id=NASA SP-4201 |chapter=Chapter 12.3: Space Task Group Gets a New Home and Name |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4201/ch12-3.htm |archive-date=July 13, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713233748/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/toc.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was also clear NASA would soon outgrow its practice of controlling missions from its [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]] launch facilities in Florida, so a new [[Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center|Mission Control Center]] would be included in the MSC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dethloff |first=Henry C. |title=Suddenly Tomorrow Came ... A History of the Johnson Space Center |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |year=1993 |chapter=Chapter 3: Houston – Texas – U.S.A. |isbn=978-1502753588 |url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/suddenly_tomorrow/suddenly.htm}}</ref>
It became clear that managing the Apollo program would exceed the capabilities of [[Robert R. Gilruth]]'s [[Space Task Group]], which had been directing the nation's crewed space program from NASA's [[Langley Research Center]]. So Gilruth was given authority to grow his organization into a new NASA center, the [[Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center|Manned Spacecraft Center]] (MSC). A site was chosen in [[Houston]], Texas, on land donated by [[Rice University]], and Administrator Webb announced the conversion on September 19, 1961.<ref name="TNO 12">{{cite book |last1=Swenson |first1=Loyd S. Jr. |first2=James M. |last2=Grimwood |first3=Charles C. |last3=Alexander |title=This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/toc.htm |access-date=August 1, 2013 |series=The NASA History Series |orig-year=Originally published 1966 |date=1989 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=569889 |id=NASA SP-4201 |chapter=Chapter 12.3: Space Task Group Gets a New Home and Name |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4201/ch12-3.htm |archive-date=July 13, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713233748/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/toc.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was also clear NASA would soon outgrow its practice of controlling missions from its [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]] launch facilities in Florida, so a new [[Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center|Mission Control Center]] would be included in the MSC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dethloff |first=Henry C. |title=Suddenly Tomorrow Came ... A History of the Johnson Space Center |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |year=1993 |chapter=Chapter 3: Houston – Texas – U.S.A. |isbn=978-1502753588 |url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/suddenly_tomorrow/suddenly.htm}}</ref>


[[File:President Kennedy speech on the space effort at Rice University, September 12, 1962.ogv|thumb|right|thumbtime=17:32|President Kennedy speaks at [[Rice University]], September 12, 1962 (17 min, 47 s).]]
[[File:President Kennedy speech on the space effort at Rice University, September 12, 1962.ogv|thumb|thumbtime=17:32|President Kennedy speaks at [[Rice University]], September 12, 1962]]


In September 1962, by which time two Project Mercury astronauts had orbited the Earth, Gilruth had moved his organization to rented space in Houston, and construction of the MSC facility was under way, Kennedy visited Rice to reiterate his challenge in [[We choose to go to the Moon|a famous speech]]:
In September 1962, by which time two Project Mercury astronauts had orbited the Earth, Gilruth had moved his organization to rented space in Houston, and construction of the MSC facility was under way, Kennedy visited Rice to reiterate his challenge in [[We choose to go to the Moon|a famous speech]]:
{{blockquote|But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why [[1924 British Mount Everest expedition|climb the highest mountain]]? Why, 35 years ago, [[Spirit of St. Louis|fly the Atlantic]]?{{nbsp}}...
{{blockquote|But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why [[1924 British Mount Everest expedition|climb the highest mountain]]? Why, 35 years ago, [[Spirit of St. Louis|fly the Atlantic]]?{{nbsp}}...


We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills; because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win{{nbsp}}...<ref name="Rice Speech">{{cite web|url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03SpaceEffort09121962.htm |url-status=dead |title=Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort |last=Kennedy |first=John F. |date=September 12, 1962 |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum |location=Boston, MA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100506113709/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical%2BResources/Archives/Reference%2BDesk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03SpaceEffort09121962.htm |archive-date=May 6, 2010 |access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref>{{efn|{{Cws |title=Full text |link=We choose to go to the moon |nobullet=yes}}}}}}
We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills; because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win{{nbsp}}...<ref name="Rice Speech">{{cite web|url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03SpaceEffort09121962.htm |url-status=dead |title=Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort |last=Kennedy |first=John F. |date=September 12, 1962 |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum |location=Boston, MA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100506113709/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical%2BResources/Archives/Reference%2BDesk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03SpaceEffort09121962.htm |archive-date=May 6, 2010 |access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=We choose to go to the moon|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/We_choose_to_go_to_the_moon}}</ref>|multiline=yes}}


The MSC was completed in September 1963. It was renamed by the [[United States Congress]] in honor of [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] soon after his death in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=4109#axzz1RbWN5hpf |title=50—Statement About Signing a Bill Designating the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, as the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center |first=Richard M. |last=Nixon |author-link=Richard M. Nixon |date=February 19, 1973 |work=The American Presidency Project |publisher=[[University of California, Santa Barbara]] |access-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref>
The MSC was completed in September 1963. It was renamed by the [[United States Congress]] in honor of [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] soon after his death in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=4109#axzz1RbWN5hpf |title=50—Statement About Signing a Bill Designating the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, as the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center |first=Richard M. |last=Nixon |author-link=Richard M. Nixon |date=February 19, 1973 |work=The American Presidency Project |publisher=[[University of California, Santa Barbara]] |access-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref>
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===Launch Operations Center===
===Launch Operations Center===
{{main|Kennedy Space Center}}
{{main|Kennedy Space Center}}
[[File:VonBraunMuellerReesSA6.jpg|thumb|[[George Mueller (NASA)|George Mueller]], [[Wernher von Braun]], and [[Eberhard Rees]] watch the [[AS-101]] launch from the firing room.]]


It also became clear that Apollo would outgrow the [[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|Canaveral launch facilities]] in [[Florida]]. The two newest launch complexes were already being built for the [[Saturn I]] and [[Saturn IB|IB]] rockets at the northernmost end: [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34|LC-34]] and [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 37|LC-37]]. But an even bigger facility would be needed for the mammoth rocket required for the crewed lunar mission, so land acquisition was started in July 1961 for a Launch Operations Center (LOC) immediately north of Canaveral at [[Merritt Island, Florida|Merritt Island]]. The design, development and construction of the center was conducted by [[Kurt H. Debus]], a member of [[Wernher von Braun]]'s original [[V-2 rocket]] engineering team. Debus was named the LOC's first Director.<ref name="NASA2">{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/biographies/debus.html |title=Dr. Kurt H. Debus |date=February 1987 |work=Kennedy Biographies |publisher=NASA |access-date=October 7, 2008}}</ref> Construction began in November 1962. Following [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|Kennedy's death]], President Johnson issued an executive order on November 29, 1963, to rename the LOC and Cape Canaveral in honor of Kennedy.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/1963-johnson.html |title=Executive Orders Disposition Tables: Lyndon B. Johnson – 1963: Executive Order 11129 |work=[[Office of the Federal Register]] |publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration]] |access-date=April 26, 2010}}</ref>
It also became clear that Apollo would outgrow the [[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|Canaveral launch facilities]] in [[Florida]]. The two newest launch complexes were already being built for the [[Saturn I]] and [[Saturn IB|IB]] rockets at the northernmost end: [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34|LC-34]] and [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 37|LC-37]]. An even bigger facility was needed for the mammoth rocket required for the crewed lunar mission, so land acquisition was started in July 1961 for a Launch Operations Center (LOC) immediately north of Canaveral at [[Merritt Island, Florida|Merritt Island]].<ref name="NASA2"/>


[[File:VonBraunMuellerReesSA6.jpg|thumb|[[George Mueller (NASA)|George Mueller]], [[Wernher von Braun]], and [[Eberhard Rees]] watch the [[AS-101]] launch from the firing room.]]
The design, development and construction of the center was conducted by [[Kurt H. Debus]], a member of [[Wernher von Braun]]'s original [[V-2 rocket]] engineering team. Debus was named the LOC's first Director.<ref name="NASA2">{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/biographies/debus.html |title=Dr. Kurt H. Debus |date=February 1987 |work=Kennedy Biographies |publisher=NASA |access-date=October 7, 2008}}</ref> Construction began in November 1962. Following [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|Kennedy's death]], President Johnson issued an executive order on November 29, 1963, to rename the LOC and Cape Canaveral in honor of Kennedy.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/1963-johnson.html |title=Executive Orders Disposition Tables: Lyndon B. Johnson – 1963: Executive Order 11129 |work=[[Office of the Federal Register]] |publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration]] |access-date=April 26, 2010}}</ref>


The LOC included [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39|Launch Complex 39]], a [[Launch Control Center]], and a {{convert|130|e6ft3|m3|adj=on}} [[Vehicle Assembly Building|Vertical Assembly Building]] (VAB).<ref>The building was renamed "Vehicle Assembly Building" on February 3, 1965. {{cite web |title=VAB Nears Completion |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4204/ch12-7.html |website=NASA History Program Office |publisher=NASA |access-date=2023-02-12 |quote=The new name, it was felt, would more readily encompass future as well as current programs and would not be tied to the Saturn booster. |archive-date=April 28, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428174930/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4204/ch12-7.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> in which the space vehicle (launch vehicle and spacecraft) would be assembled on a [[mobile launcher platform]] and then moved by a [[crawler-transporter]] to one of several launch pads. Although at least three pads were planned, only two, designated A{{nbsp}}and{{nbsp}}B, were completed in October 1965. The LOC also included an [[Operations and Checkout Building]] (OCB) to which [[Project Gemini|Gemini]] and Apollo spacecraft were initially received prior to being mated to their launch vehicles. The Apollo spacecraft could be tested in two [[vacuum chamber]]s capable of simulating atmospheric pressure at altitudes up to {{convert|250000|ft|km}}, which is nearly a vacuum.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kscpartnerships.ksc.nasa.gov/techCap/altitude.htm |url-status=dead |title=KSC Technical Capabilities: O&C Altitude Chambers |editor-last=Craig |editor-first=Kay |work=Center Planning and Development Office |publisher=NASA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328084113/http://kscpartnerships.ksc.nasa.gov/techCap/altitude.htm |archive-date=March 28, 2012 |access-date=July 29, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.luizmonteiro.com/StdAtm.aspx |title=1976 Standard Atmosphere Properties |work=luizmonteiro.com |publisher=Luizmonteiro, LLC |type=Complete [[International Standard Atmosphere]] calculator (1976 model) |access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref>
The LOC included [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39|Launch Complex 39]], a [[Launch Control Center]], and a {{convert|130|e6ft3|m3|adj=on}} [[Vehicle Assembly Building|Vertical Assembly Building]] (VAB).<ref>The building was renamed "Vehicle Assembly Building" on February 3, 1965. {{cite web |title=VAB Nears Completion |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4204/ch12-7.html |website=NASA History Program Office |publisher=NASA |access-date=2023-02-12 |quote=The new name, it was felt, would more readily encompass future as well as current programs and would not be tied to the Saturn booster. |archive-date=April 28, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428174930/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4204/ch12-7.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> in which the space vehicle (launch vehicle and spacecraft) would be assembled on a [[mobile launcher platform]] and then moved by a [[crawler-transporter]] to one of several launch pads. Although at least three pads were planned, only two, designated A{{nbsp}}and{{nbsp}}B, were completed in October 1965. The LOC also included an [[Operations and Checkout Building]] (OCB) to which [[Project Gemini|Gemini]] and Apollo spacecraft were initially received prior to being mated to their launch vehicles. The Apollo spacecraft could be tested in two [[vacuum chamber]]s capable of simulating atmospheric pressure at altitudes up to {{convert|250000|ft|km}}, which is nearly a vacuum.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kscpartnerships.ksc.nasa.gov/techCap/altitude.htm |url-status=dead |title=KSC Technical Capabilities: O&C Altitude Chambers |editor-last=Craig |editor-first=Kay |work=Center Planning and Development Office |publisher=NASA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328084113/http://kscpartnerships.ksc.nasa.gov/techCap/altitude.htm |archive-date=March 28, 2012 |access-date=July 29, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.luizmonteiro.com/StdAtm.aspx |title=1976 Standard Atmosphere Properties |work=luizmonteiro.com |publisher=Luizmonteiro, LLC |type=Complete [[International Standard Atmosphere]] calculator (1976 model) |access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref>


===Organization===
===Organization===
Administrator [[James E. Webb|Webb]] realized that in order to keep Apollo costs under control, he had to develop greater project management skills in his organization, so he recruited [[George Mueller (NASA)|George E. Mueller]] for a high management job. Mueller accepted, on the condition that he have a say in NASA reorganization necessary to effectively administer Apollo. Webb then worked with Associate Administrator (later Deputy Administrator) Seamans to reorganize the Office of Manned Space Flight (OMSF).<ref name="SecretOfApollo">[[#Johnson|Johnson 2002]]</ref> On July 23, 1963, Webb announced Mueller's appointment as Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, to replace then Associate Administrator [[D. Brainerd Holmes]] on his retirement effective September 1. Under Webb's reorganization, the directors of the Manned Spacecraft Center ([[Robert R. Gilruth|Gilruth]]), [[Marshall Space Flight Center]] ([[Wernher von Braun|von Braun]]), and the Launch Operations Center ([[Kurt H. Debus|Debus]]) reported to Mueller.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Stages to Saturn |date=January 1996 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19970009949 |page=443 |isbn=978-0-16-048909-9 |access-date=2023-02-12 |id=SP-4206}}</ref>
Administrator [[James E. Webb|Webb]] realized that in order to keep Apollo costs under control, he had to develop greater project management skills in his organization, so he recruited [[George Mueller (NASA)|George E. Mueller]] for a high management job. Mueller accepted, on the condition that he have a say in NASA reorganization necessary to effectively administer Apollo. Webb then worked with Associate Administrator (later Deputy Administrator) Seamans to reorganize the Office of Manned Space Flight (OMSF).<ref name="SecretOfApollo">[[#Johnson|Johnson 2002]]</ref> On July 23, 1963, Webb announced Mueller's appointment as Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, to replace then Associate Administrator [[D. Brainerd Holmes]] on his retirement effective September 1. Under Webb's reorganization, the directors of the Manned Spacecraft Center ([[Robert R. Gilruth|Gilruth]]), [[Marshall Space Flight Center]] ([[Wernher von Braun|von Braun]]), and the Launch Operations Center ([[Kurt H. Debus|Debus]]) reported to Mueller.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bilstein |first1=Roger E. |title=Stages to Saturn |date=January 1996 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19970009949 |page=443 |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Office |isbn=978-0-16-048909-9 |access-date=2023-02-12 |id=SP-4206}}</ref>


Based on his industry experience on Air Force missile projects, Mueller realized some skilled managers could be found among high-ranking officers in the [[U.S. Air Force]], so he got Webb's permission to recruit General [[Samuel C. Phillips]], who gained a reputation for his effective management of the [[LGM-30 Minuteman|Minuteman]] program, as OMSF program controller. Phillips's superior officer [[Bernard Adolph Schriever|Bernard A. Schriever]] agreed to loan Phillips to NASA, along with a staff of officers under him, on the condition that Phillips be made Apollo Program Director. Mueller agreed, and Phillips managed Apollo from January 1964, until it achieved the first human landing in July 1969, after which he returned to Air Force duty.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Samuel C. Phillips, Who Directed Apollo Lunar Landing, Dies at 68 |first=Alfonso A. |last=Narvaez |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/01/obituaries/samuel-c-phillips-who-directed-apollo-lunar-landing-dies-at-68.html?pagewanted=1 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 1, 1990 |access-date=April 14, 2010}}</ref>
Based on his industry experience on Air Force missile projects, Mueller realized some skilled managers could be found among high-ranking officers in the [[U.S. Air Force]], so he got Webb's permission to recruit General [[Samuel C. Phillips]], who gained a reputation for his effective management of the [[LGM-30 Minuteman|Minuteman]] program, as OMSF program controller. Phillips's superior officer [[Bernard Adolph Schriever|Bernard A. Schriever]] agreed to loan Phillips to NASA, along with a staff of officers under him, on the condition that Phillips be made Apollo Program Director. Mueller agreed, and Phillips managed Apollo from January 1964, until it achieved the first human landing in July 1969, after which he returned to Air Force duty.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Samuel C. Phillips, Who Directed Apollo Lunar Landing, Dies at 68 |first=Alfonso A. |last=Narvaez |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/01/obituaries/samuel-c-phillips-who-directed-apollo-lunar-landing-dies-at-68.html?pagewanted=1 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 1, 1990 |access-date=April 14, 2010}}</ref>
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==Choosing a mission mode==
==Choosing a mission mode==
{{see also|Moon landing}}
{{see also|Moon landing}}
[[File:John C. Houbolt - GPN-2000-001274.jpg|right|thumb|[[John Houbolt]] explaining the [[Lunar orbit rendezvous|LOR]] concept]]
[[File:John C. Houbolt - GPN-2000-001274.jpg|thumb|[[John Houbolt]] explaining the [[Lunar orbit rendezvous|LOR]] concept]]
[[File:Apollo Direct Ascent.png|thumb|right|Early Apollo configuration for [[Direct ascent|Direct Ascent]] and [[Earth orbit rendezvous|Earth Orbit Rendezvous]], 1961]]
[[File:Apollo Direct Ascent.png|thumb|An early Apollo configuration for [[Direct ascent|Direct Ascent]] and [[Earth orbit rendezvous|Earth Orbit Rendezvous]], 1961]]


Once Kennedy had defined a goal, the Apollo mission planners were faced with the challenge of designing a spacecraft that could meet it while minimizing risk to human life, limiting cost, and not exceeding limits in possible technology and astronaut skill.  Four possible mission modes were considered:
Once Kennedy had defined a goal, the Apollo mission planners were faced with the challenge of designing a spacecraft that could meet it while minimizing risk to human life, limiting cost, and not exceeding limits in possible technology and astronaut skill.  Four possible mission modes were considered:
* '''[[Direct ascent|Direct Ascent]]:''' The spacecraft would be launched as a unit and travel directly to the lunar surface, without first going into lunar orbit. A {{convert|50000|lb|kg|adj=on}} Earth return ship would land all three astronauts atop a {{convert|113000|lb|kg|adj=on}} descent propulsion stage,<ref name="Nova_scale">Using the Apollo 11 lunar lander's mass ratio of {{convert|22667|lb|kg|adj=on}} descent stage to {{convert|10042|lb|kg|adj=on}} ascent stage, scaled up to Nova's {{convert|163000|lb|kg|adj=on}} payload.</ref> which would be left on the Moon. This design would have required development of the extremely powerful [[Saturn C-8]] or [[Nova (rocket)|Nova]] launch vehicle to carry a {{convert|163000|lb|kg|adj=on}} payload to the Moon.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=[http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch2-6.html Ch. 2.6, "Influences on Booster Determination"]}}
* '''[[Direct ascent|Direct Ascent]]:''' The spacecraft would be launched as a unit and travel directly to the lunar surface, without first going into lunar orbit. A {{convert|50000|lb|kg|adj=on}} Earth return ship would land all three astronauts atop a {{convert|113000|lb|kg|adj=on}} descent propulsion stage,<ref name="Nova_scale">Using the Apollo 11 lunar lander's mass ratio of {{convert|22667|lb|kg|adj=on}} descent stage to {{convert|10042|lb|kg|adj=on}} ascent stage, scaled up to Nova's {{convert|163000|lb|kg|adj=on}} payload.</ref> which would be left on the Moon. This design would have required development of the extremely powerful [[Saturn C-8]] or [[Nova (NASA rocket)|Nova]] launch vehicle to carry a {{convert|163000|lb|kg|adj=on}} payload to the Moon.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=[http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch2-6.html Ch. 2.6, "Influences on Booster Determination"]}}
* '''[[Earth orbit rendezvous|Earth Orbit Rendezvous]] (EOR):''' Multiple rocket launches (up to 15 in some plans) would carry parts of the Direct Ascent spacecraft and propulsion units for [[Trans-lunar injection|translunar injection]] (TLI). These would be assembled into a single spacecraft in Earth orbit.
* '''[[Earth orbit rendezvous|Earth Orbit Rendezvous]] (EOR):''' Multiple rocket launches (up to 15 in some plans) would carry parts of the Direct Ascent spacecraft and propulsion units for [[Trans-lunar injection|translunar injection]] (TLI). These would be assembled into a single spacecraft in Earth orbit.
* '''Lunar Surface Rendezvous:''' Two spacecraft would be launched in succession. The first, an automated vehicle carrying propellant for the return to Earth, would land on the Moon, to be followed some time later by the crewed vehicle. Propellant would have to be transferred from the automated vehicle to the crewed vehicle.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=Chapter 3.2: [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch3-2.html ''Early Reaction to LOR'']. pp. 61–67}}
* '''Lunar Surface Rendezvous:''' Two spacecraft would be launched in succession. The first, an automated vehicle carrying propellant for the return to Earth, would land on the Moon, to be followed some time later by the crewed vehicle. Propellant would have to be transferred from the automated vehicle to the crewed vehicle.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=Chapter 3.2: [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch3-2.html ''Early Reaction to LOR'']. pp. 61–67}}
* '''[[Lunar Orbit Rendezvous]] (LOR):''' This turned out to be the winning configuration, which achieved the goal with [[Apollo 11]] on July 20, 1969: a single [[Saturn V]] launched a {{convert|96886|lb|kg|adj=on}} spacecraft that was composed of a {{convert|63608|lb|kg|adj=on}} [[Apollo command and service module]] which remained in orbit around the Moon and a {{convert|33278|lb|kg|adj=on}} two-stage [[Apollo Lunar Module]] spacecraft which was flown by two astronauts to the surface, flown back to dock with the command module and was then discarded.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Orloff |first1=Richard W. |title=Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference. Launch Vehicle/Spacecraft Key Facts – 2nd table |date=September 2004 |publisher=NASA History Division |location=Washington DC |isbn=016-050631-X |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_18-12_Launch_Vehicle-Spacecraft_Key_Facts.htm |access-date=August 8, 2018}}</ref> Landing the smaller spacecraft on the Moon, and returning an even smaller part ({{convert|10042|lb|disp=or}}) to lunar orbit, minimized the total mass to be launched from Earth, but this was the last method initially considered because of the perceived risk of rendezvous and docking.
* '''[[Lunar Orbit Rendezvous]] (LOR):''' This turned out to be the winning configuration, which achieved the goal with [[Apollo 11]] on July 20, 1969: a single [[Saturn V]] launched a {{convert|96886|lb|kg|adj=on}} spacecraft that was composed of a {{convert|63608|lb|kg|adj=on}} [[Apollo command and service module]] which remained in orbit around the Moon and a {{convert|33278|lb|kg|adj=on}} two-stage [[Apollo Lunar Module]] spacecraft which was flown by two astronauts to the surface. Its ascent stage was flown back to dock with the command module and was then discarded.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Orloff |first1=Richard W. |title=Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference. Launch Vehicle/Spacecraft Key Facts – 2nd table |date=September 2004 |publisher=NASA History Division |location=Washington DC |isbn=016-050631-X |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_18-12_Launch_Vehicle-Spacecraft_Key_Facts.htm |access-date=August 8, 2018}}</ref> Landing the smaller spacecraft on the Moon, and returning an even smaller part ({{convert|10042|lb|disp=or}}) to lunar orbit, minimized the total mass to be launched from Earth, but this was the last method initially considered because of the perceived risk of rendezvous and docking.


In early 1961, direct ascent was generally the mission mode in favor at NASA. Many engineers feared that rendezvous and docking, maneuvers that had not been attempted in [[Geocentric orbit|Earth orbit]], would be nearly impossible in [[lunar orbit]]. LOR advocates including [[John Houbolt]] at Langley Research Center emphasized the important weight reductions that were offered by the LOR approach. Throughout 1960 and 1961, Houbolt campaigned for the recognition of LOR as a viable and practical option. Bypassing the NASA hierarchy, he sent a series of memos and reports on the issue to Associate Administrator Robert Seamans; while acknowledging that he spoke "somewhat as a voice in the wilderness", Houbolt pleaded that LOR should not be discounted in studies of the question.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=Ch. 3.4: [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch3-4.html "Early Reaction to LOR"]. p. 71}}
In early 1961, direct ascent was generally the mission mode in favor at NASA. Many engineers{{who|date=April 2026}} feared that rendezvous and docking, maneuvers that had not been attempted in [[Geocentric orbit|Earth orbit]], would be nearly impossible in [[lunar orbit]]. LOR advocates—including [[Tom Dolan (engineer)|Tom Dolan]] at [[Vought]] and [[John Houbolt]] at Langley Research Center—emphasized the important weight reductions that were offered by the LOR approach. Throughout 1960 and 1961, Houbolt campaigned for the recognition of LOR as a viable and practical option. Bypassing the NASA hierarchy, he sent a series of memos and reports on the issue to Associate Administrator Robert Seamans; while acknowledging that he spoke "somewhat as a voice in the wilderness", Houbolt pleaded that LOR should not be discounted in studies of the question.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=Ch. 3.4: [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch3-4.html "Early Reaction to LOR"]. p. 71}}


{{anchor|Nicholas E. Golovin}}
{{anchor|Nicholas E. Golovin}}
Seamans's establishment of an ad hoc committee headed by his special technical assistant Nicholas E. Golovin in July 1961, to recommend a [[launch vehicle]] to be used in the Apollo program, represented a turning point in NASA's mission mode decision.<ref name="hansen21">[[#Hansen|Hansen 1999]], p. 32</ref> This committee recognized that the chosen mode was an important part of the launch vehicle choice, and recommended in favor of a hybrid EOR-LOR mode. Its consideration of LOR—as well as Houbolt's ceaseless work—played an important role in publicizing the workability of the approach. In late 1961 and early 1962, members of the Manned Spacecraft Center began to come around to support LOR, including the newly hired deputy director of the Office of Manned Space Flight, [[Joseph Francis Shea|Joseph Shea]], who became a champion of LOR.<ref name="hansen24">[[#Hansen|Hansen 1999]], pp. 35–39</ref> The engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), who were heavily invested in direct ascent, took longer to become convinced of its merits, but their conversion was announced by [[Wernher von Braun]] at a briefing on June 7, 1962.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=Ch. 3.6: [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch3-6.html "Settling the Mode Issue"]. pp. 81–83}}
Seamans's establishment of an ad hoc committee headed by his special technical assistant Nicholas E. Golovin in July 1961, to recommend a [[launch vehicle]] to be used in the Apollo program, represented a turning point in NASA's mission mode decision.<ref name="hansen21">[[#Hansen|Hansen 1999]], p. 32</ref> This committee recognized that the chosen mode was an important part of the launch vehicle choice, and recommended in favor of a hybrid EOR-LOR mode. Its consideration of LOR—as well as Houbolt's ceaseless work—played an important role in publicizing the workability of the approach.<ref name="hansen24"/>
 
In late 1961 and early 1962, members of the Manned Spacecraft Center began to come around to support LOR, including the newly hired deputy director of the Office of Manned Space Flight, [[Joseph Francis Shea|Joseph Shea]], who became a champion of LOR.<ref name="hansen24">[[#Hansen|Hansen 1999]], pp. 35–39</ref> The engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), who were heavily invested in direct ascent, took longer to become convinced of its merits, but their conversion was announced by [[Wernher von Braun]] at a briefing on June 7, 1962.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=Ch. 3.6: [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch3-6.html "Settling the Mode Issue"]. pp. 81–83}}


But even after NASA reached internal agreement, it was far from smooth sailing. Kennedy's [[President's Science Advisory Committee|science advisor]] [[Jerome Wiesner]], who had expressed his opposition to human spaceflight to Kennedy before the President took office,<ref>{{Cite report |title=Managing NASA in the Apollo Era |chapter=2: The Lunar Landing Decision and Its Aftermath |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4102/ch2.htm|access-date=2023-02-12 |website=history.nasa.gov}}</ref> and had opposed the decision to land people on the Moon, hired Golovin, who had left NASA, to chair his own "Space Vehicle Panel", ostensibly to monitor, but actually to second-guess NASA's decisions on the [[Saturn V]] launch vehicle and LOR by forcing Shea, Seamans, and even Webb to defend themselves, delaying its formal announcement to the press on July 11, 1962, and forcing Webb to still hedge the decision as "tentative".{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=[http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch3-7.html Ch. 3.7, "Casting the Die"]}}
Even after NASA reached internal agreement, it was far from smooth sailing. Kennedy's [[President's Science Advisory Committee|science advisor]] [[Jerome Wiesner]], who had expressed his opposition to human spaceflight to Kennedy before the President took office,<ref>{{Cite report |title=Managing NASA in the Apollo Era |chapter=2: The Lunar Landing Decision and Its Aftermath |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4102/ch2.htm|access-date=2023-02-12 |website=history.nasa.gov}}</ref> and had opposed the decision to land people on the Moon, hired Golovin, who had left NASA, to chair his own "Space Vehicle Panel", ostensibly to monitor, but actually to second-guess NASA's decisions on the [[Saturn V]] launch vehicle and LOR by forcing Shea, Seamans, and even Webb to defend themselves, delaying its formal announcement to the press on July 11, 1962, and forcing Webb to still hedge the decision as "tentative".{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=[http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch3-7.html Ch. 3.7, "Casting the Die"]}}


Wiesner kept up the pressure, even making the disagreement public during a two-day September visit by the President to [[Marshall Space Flight Center]]. Wiesner blurted out "No, that's no good" in front of the press, during a presentation by von Braun. Webb jumped in and defended von Braun, until Kennedy ended the squabble by stating that the matter was "still subject to final review". Webb held firm and issued a [[request for proposal]] to candidate Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) contractors. Wiesner finally relented, unwilling to settle the dispute once and for all in Kennedy's office, because of the President's involvement with the October [[Cuban Missile Crisis]], and fear of Kennedy's support for Webb. NASA announced the selection of [[Grumman]] as the LEM contractor in November 1962.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=[http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch4-4.html Ch. 4.4, "Pressures by PSAC"]}}
Wiesner kept up the pressure, even making the disagreement public during a two-day September visit by the President to [[Marshall Space Flight Center]]. Wiesner blurted out "No, that's no good" in front of the press, during a presentation by von Braun. Webb jumped in and defended von Braun, until Kennedy ended the squabble by stating that the matter was "still subject to final review". Webb held firm and issued a [[request for proposal]] to candidate Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) contractors. Wiesner finally relented, unwilling to settle the dispute once and for all in Kennedy's office, because of the President's involvement with the October [[Cuban Missile Crisis]], and fear of Kennedy's support for Webb. NASA announced the selection of [[Grumman]] as the LEM contractor in November 1962.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=[http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch4-4.html Ch. 4.4, "Pressures by PSAC"]}}
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{{blockquote|Without NASA's adoption of this stubbornly held minority opinion in 1962, the United States may still have reached the Moon, but almost certainly it would not have been accomplished by the end of the 1960s, President Kennedy's target date.<ref>[[#Hansen|Hansen 1999]], p. 42</ref>}}
{{blockquote|Without NASA's adoption of this stubbornly held minority opinion in 1962, the United States may still have reached the Moon, but almost certainly it would not have been accomplished by the end of the 1960s, President Kennedy's target date.<ref>[[#Hansen|Hansen 1999]], p. 42</ref>}}


The LOR method had the advantage of allowing the lander spacecraft to be used as a "lifeboat" in the event of a failure of the command ship. Some documents prove this theory was discussed before and after the method was chosen. In 1964 an MSC study concluded, "The [[Apollo Lunar Module|LM]] [as lifeboat]{{nbsp}}... was finally dropped, because no single reasonable [[Apollo command and service module|CSM]] failure could be identified that would prohibit use of the [[Apollo command and service module#Service propulsion system|SPS]]."<ref>{{cite book |last = Letterman |first = John B. |title = Survivors: True Tales of Endurance: 500 Years of the Greatest Eyewitness Accounts |page=404 |publisher = Simon & Schuster |date = 2003 |location = New York |isbn = 0-7432-4547-4 |url = https://archive.org/details/survivorstruetal00lett |chapter=Explosion on Apollo 13; April 1970: From the Earth to the Moon and Back |quote=Lovell writes, 'Naturally, I'm glad that view didn't prevail, and I'm thankful that by the time of Apollo 10, the first lunar mission carrying the LM, the LM as a lifeboat was again being discussed.'}}</ref> Ironically, just such a failure happened on [[Apollo 13]] when an oxygen tank explosion left the CSM without electrical power. The lunar module provided propulsion, electrical power and life support to get the crew home safely.<ref name="KSC-Apollo_13">{{cite web |url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html |last=Dumoulin |first=Jim |title=Apollo-13 (29) |work=Historical Archive for Manned Missions |publisher=NASA |date=June 29, 2001 |access-date=September 12, 2012 |archive-date=August 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819103041/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The LOR method had the advantage of allowing the lander spacecraft to be used as a "lifeboat" in the event of a failure of the command ship. Some documents prove this theory was discussed before and after the method was chosen. In 1964 an MSC study concluded, "The [[Apollo Lunar Module|LM]] [as lifeboat]{{nbsp}}... was finally dropped, because no single reasonable [[Apollo command and service module|CSM]] failure could be identified that would prohibit use of the [[Apollo command and service module#Service propulsion system|SPS]]."<ref>{{cite book |last = Letterman |first = John B. |title = Survivors: True Tales of Endurance: 500 Years of the Greatest Eyewitness Accounts |page=404 |publisher = Simon & Schuster |date = 2003 |location = New York |isbn = 0-7432-4547-4 |url = https://archive.org/details/survivorstruetal00lett |chapter=Explosion on Apollo 13; April 1970: From the Earth to the Moon and Back |quote=Lovell writes, 'Naturally, I'm glad that view didn't prevail, and I'm thankful that by the time of Apollo 10, the first lunar mission carrying the LM, the LM as a lifeboat was again being discussed.'}}</ref> That type of failure happened on [[Apollo 13]] when an oxygen tank explosion left the CSM without electrical power. The lunar module provided propulsion, electrical power and life support to get the crew home safely.<ref name="KSC-Apollo_13">{{cite web |url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html |last=Dumoulin |first=Jim |title=Apollo-13 (29) |work=Historical Archive for Manned Missions |publisher=NASA |date=June 29, 2001 |access-date=September 12, 2012 |archive-date=August 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819103041/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>


==Spacecraft==
==Spacecraft==
{{main|Apollo (spacecraft)}}
{{main|Apollo (spacecraft)}}
[[File: Winslow-Meteor Crater- Apollo Test Capsule.jpg|thumb|An Apollo [[boilerplate (spaceflight)|boilerplate]] command module is on exhibit in the [[Meteor Crater]] Visitor Center in [[Winslow, Arizona]].]]
[[File:Winslow-Meteor Crater- Apollo Test Capsule.jpg|thumb|An Apollo [[boilerplate (spaceflight)|boilerplate]] command module is on exhibit in the [[Meteor Crater]] Visitor Center in [[Winslow, Arizona]].]]


Faget's preliminary Apollo design employed a cone-shaped command module, supported by one of several service modules providing propulsion and electrical power, sized appropriately for the space station, cislunar, and lunar landing missions. Once Kennedy's Moon landing goal became official, detailed design began of a command and service module (CSM) in which the crew would spend the entire direct-ascent mission and lift off from the lunar surface for the return trip, after being soft-landed by a larger landing propulsion module. The final choice of lunar orbit rendezvous changed the CSM's role to the translunar ferry used to transport the crew, along with a new spacecraft, the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM, later shortened to LM (Lunar Module) but still pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɛ|m}}) which would take two individuals to the lunar surface and return them to the CSM.<ref name="SummaryReport" />
Faget's preliminary Apollo design employed a cone-shaped command module, supported by one of several service modules providing propulsion and electrical power, sized appropriately for the space station, cislunar, and lunar landing missions. Once Kennedy's Moon landing goal became official, detailed design began of a command and service module (CSM) in which the crew would spend the entire direct-ascent mission and lift off from the lunar surface for the return trip, after being soft-landed by a larger landing propulsion module. The final choice of lunar orbit rendezvous changed the CSM's role to the translunar ferry used to transport the crew, along with a new spacecraft, the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM, later shortened to LM (Lunar Module) but still pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɛ|m}}) which would take two individuals to the lunar surface and return them to the CSM.<ref name="SummaryReport" />
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===Apollo Lunar Module===
===Apollo Lunar Module===
{{main|Apollo Lunar Module}}
{{main|Apollo Lunar Module}}
[[File:Apollo 11 Lunar Lander - 5927 NASA.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Apollo 11]] [[Lunar Module Eagle|Lunar Module ''Eagle'']] (and [[Buzz Aldrin]]) on the Moon, photographed by [[Neil Armstrong]]]]
[[File:Buzz Aldrin and Apollo 11 Lunar Lander, AS11-40-5927.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Apollo 11]] [[Lunar Module Eagle|Lunar Module ''Eagle'']] (and [[Buzz Aldrin]]) on the Moon, photographed by [[Neil Armstrong]]]]


The [[Apollo Lunar Module]] (LM) was designed to descend from lunar orbit to land two astronauts on the Moon and take them back to orbit to rendezvous with the command module. Not designed to fly through the Earth's atmosphere or return to Earth, its fuselage was designed totally without aerodynamic considerations and was of an extremely lightweight construction. It consisted of separate descent and ascent stages, each with its own engine. The descent stage contained storage for the descent propellant, surface stay consumables, and surface exploration equipment. The ascent stage contained the crew cabin, ascent propellant, and a reaction control system. The initial LM model weighed approximately {{convert|33300|lb|kg}}, and allowed surface stays up to around 34 hours. An [[Apollo Lunar Module#Extended J-class missions|extended lunar module]] (ELM) weighed over {{convert|36200|lb|kg}}, and allowed surface stays of more than three days.<ref name="ABTN_LV2">{{Cite web|title=Apollo by the Numbers|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/sp-4029.pdf|access-date=2023-02-12|website=nasa.gov |page=276}}</ref> The contract for design and construction of the lunar module was awarded to [[Grumman|Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation]], and the project was overseen by [[Thomas J. Kelly (aerospace engineer)|Thomas J. Kelly]].<ref>{{cite news |title=T. J. Kelly, 72, Dies; Father of Lunar Module |first=Warren E. |last=Leary |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/27/nyregion/t-j-kelly-72-dies-father-of-lunar-module.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 27, 2002 |access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref>
The [[Apollo Lunar Module]] (LM) was designed to descend from lunar orbit to land two astronauts on the Moon and take them back to orbit to rendezvous with the command module. Not designed to fly through the Earth's atmosphere or return to Earth, its fuselage was designed totally without aerodynamic considerations and was of an extremely lightweight construction. It consisted of separate descent and ascent stages, each with its own engine. The descent stage contained storage for the descent propellant, surface stay consumables, and surface exploration equipment. The ascent stage contained the crew cabin, ascent propellant, and a reaction control system. The initial LM model weighed approximately {{convert|33300|lb|kg}}, and allowed surface stays up to around 34 hours. An [[Apollo Lunar Module#Extended J-class missions|extended lunar module]] (ELM) weighed over {{convert|36200|lb|kg}}, and allowed surface stays of more than three days.<ref name="ABTN_LV2">{{Cite web|title=Apollo by the Numbers|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/sp-4029.pdf|access-date=2023-02-12|website=nasa.gov |page=276}}</ref> The contract for design and construction of the lunar module was awarded to [[Grumman|Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation]], and the project was overseen by [[Thomas J. Kelly (aerospace engineer)|Thomas J. Kelly]].<ref>{{cite news |title=T. J. Kelly, 72, Dies; Father of Lunar Module |first=Warren E. |last=Leary |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/27/nyregion/t-j-kelly-72-dies-father-of-lunar-module.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 27, 2002 |access-date=August 1, 2013}}</ref>
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[[File:Saturnsandlittlejoe2.gif|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Four Apollo rocket assemblies, drawn to scale: [[Little Joe II]], [[Saturn I]], [[Saturn IB]], and [[Saturn V]]]]
[[File:Saturnsandlittlejoe2.gif|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Four Apollo rocket assemblies, drawn to scale: [[Little Joe II]], [[Saturn I]], [[Saturn IB]], and [[Saturn V]]]]


Before the Apollo program began, Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket engineers had started work on plans for very large launch vehicles, the [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn series]], and the even larger [[Nova (rocket)|Nova]] series. In the midst of these plans, von Braun was transferred from the Army to NASA and was made Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center. The initial direct ascent plan to send the three-person Apollo command and service module directly to the lunar surface, on top of a large descent rocket stage, would require a Nova-class launcher, with a lunar payload capability of over {{convert|180000|lb|kg|abbr=out}}.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Aerospace Alphabet: ABMA, ARPA, MSFC|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4206/ch2.htm|access-date=2023-02-12|website=history.nasa.gov}}</ref> The June 11, 1962, decision to use lunar orbit rendezvous enabled the Saturn V to replace the Nova, and the MSFC proceeded to develop the [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn rocket family]] for Apollo.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Missions, Modes, and Manufacturing|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4206/ch3.htm|access-date=2023-02-12|website=history.nasa.gov}}</ref>
Before the Apollo program began, Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket engineers had started work on plans for very large launch vehicles, the [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn series]], and the even larger [[Nova (NASA rocket)|Nova]] series. In the midst of these plans, von Braun was transferred from the Army to NASA and was made Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center. The initial direct ascent plan to send the three-person Apollo command and service module directly to the lunar surface, on top of a large descent rocket stage, would require a Nova-class launcher, with a lunar payload capability of over {{convert|180000|lb|kg|abbr=out}}.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Aerospace Alphabet: ABMA, ARPA, MSFC|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4206/ch2.htm|access-date=2023-02-12|website=history.nasa.gov}}</ref> The June 11, 1962, decision to use lunar orbit rendezvous enabled the Saturn V to replace the Nova, and the MSFC proceeded to develop the [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn rocket family]] for Apollo.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Missions, Modes, and Manufacturing|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4206/ch3.htm|access-date=2023-02-12|website=history.nasa.gov}}</ref>


Since Apollo, like Mercury, used more than one launch vehicle for space missions, NASA used spacecraft-launch vehicle combination series numbers: AS-10x for Saturn I, AS-20x for Saturn IB, and AS-50x for Saturn V (compare [[Mercury-Redstone 3]], [[Mercury-Atlas 6]]) to designate and plan all missions, rather than numbering them sequentially as in Project Gemini. This was changed by the time human flights began.<ref name="missionNumbers" />
Since Apollo, like Mercury, used more than one launch vehicle for space missions, NASA used spacecraft-launch vehicle combination series numbers: AS-10x for Saturn I, AS-20x for Saturn IB, and AS-50x for Saturn V (compare [[Mercury-Redstone 3]], [[Mercury-Atlas 6]]) to designate and plan all missions, rather than numbering them sequentially as in Project Gemini. This was changed by the time human flights began.<ref name="missionNumbers" />
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==Lunar mission profile==
==Lunar mission profile==
The first lunar landing mission was planned to proceed:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gatland|first1=Kenneth|title=Manned Spacecraft|date=1976|publisher=MacMillan|location=New York|pages=75–85, 88–89}}</ref>
The first lunar landing mission was planned to proceed:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gatland|first1=Kenneth|title=Manned Spacecraft|date=1976|publisher=MacMillan|location=New York|pages=75–85, 88–89}}</ref>
<gallery mode=packed widths="190" heights="131">
<gallery mode=packed widths="190" heights="131">
File:Apollo11-01.png|'''Launch''' The three Saturn{{nbsp}}V stages burn for about 11 minutes to achieve a {{convert|100|nmi|km|adj=on}} circular [[parking orbit]]. The third stage burns a small portion of its fuel to achieve orbit.
File:Apollo11-01.png|'''Launch''' The three Saturn{{nbsp}}V stages burn for about 11 minutes to achieve a {{convert|100|nmi|km|adj=on}} circular [[parking orbit]]. The third stage burns a small portion of its fuel to achieve orbit.
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[[Apollo 7]], launched from LC-34 on October 11, 1968, was the C{{nbsp}}mission, crewed by [[Wally Schirra|Schirra]], [[Donn F. Eisele|Eisele]], and [[Walter Cunningham|Cunningham]]. It was an 11-day Earth-orbital flight which tested the CSM systems.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo7.html|title=Mission Objective|date=July 8, 2015 |access-date=July 8, 2016}}</ref>
[[Apollo 7]], launched from LC-34 on October 11, 1968, was the C{{nbsp}}mission, crewed by [[Wally Schirra|Schirra]], [[Donn F. Eisele|Eisele]], and [[Walter Cunningham|Cunningham]]. It was an 11-day Earth-orbital flight which tested the CSM systems.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo7.html|title=Mission Objective|date=July 8, 2015 |access-date=July 8, 2016}}</ref>


[[Apollo 8]] was planned to be the D mission in December 1968, crewed by McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart, launched on a Saturn{{nbsp}}V instead of two Saturn IBs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo8.html#.V4BhBRUrJeV|title=Mission Objective|date=July 8, 2009 |access-date=July 8, 2016}}</ref> In the summer it had become clear that the LM would not be ready in time. Rather than waste the Saturn V on another simple Earth-orbiting mission, ASPO Manager George Low suggested the bold step of sending Apollo{{nbsp}}8 to orbit the Moon instead, deferring the D{{nbsp}}mission to the next mission in March 1969, and eliminating the E mission. This would keep the program on track. The Soviet Union had sent two tortoises, mealworms, wine flies, and other lifeforms around the Moon on September 15, 1968, aboard [[Zond 5]], and it was believed they might soon repeat the feat with human cosmonauts.<ref name="Chaikin">{{cite book |last=Chaikin |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Chaikin |title=[[A Man on the Moon]]: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts |date=1994 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=978-0-670-81446-6 |lccn=93048680 |ref=Chaikin}}</ref><ref name="Moon Race 1968">{{cite magazine |title=Poised for the Leap |url=http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,844661-1,00.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204221712/http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,844661-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 4, 2013 |access-date=December 15, 2011 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=December 6, 1968 |location=New York}}</ref> The decision was not announced publicly until completion of Apollo 7. Gemini veterans [[Frank Borman]] and [[Jim Lovell]], and rookie [[William Anders]] captured the world's attention by making ten lunar orbits in 20 hours, transmitting television pictures of the lunar surface on [[Christmas Eve]], and returning safely to Earth.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=Ch. 11.6: [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch11-6.html "Apollo 8: The First Lunar Voyage"]. pp. 274–284}}
[[Apollo 8]] was planned to be the D mission in December 1968, crewed by McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart, launched on a Saturn{{nbsp}}V instead of two Saturn IBs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo8.html#.V4BhBRUrJeV|title=Mission Objective|date=July 8, 2009 |access-date=July 8, 2016}}</ref> In the summer it had become clear that the LM would not be ready in time. Rather than waste the Saturn V on another simple Earth-orbiting mission, ASPO Manager George Low suggested the bold step of sending Apollo{{nbsp}}8 to orbit the Moon instead, deferring the D{{nbsp}}mission to the next mission in March 1969, and eliminating the E mission. This would keep the program on track. The Soviet Union had sent two tortoises, mealworms, wine flies, and other lifeforms around the Moon on September 15, 1968, aboard [[Zond 5]], and it was believed they might soon repeat the feat with human cosmonauts.<ref name="Chaikin">{{cite book |last=Chaikin |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Chaikin |title=[[A Man on the Moon]]: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts |date=1994 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=978-0-670-81446-6 |lccn=93048680 |ref=Chaikin}}</ref><ref name="Moon Race 1968">{{cite magazine |title=Poised for the Leap |url=http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,844661-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713190309/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,844661-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-07-13 |access-date=December 15, 2011 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=December 6, 1968 |location=New York}}</ref> The decision was not announced publicly until completion of Apollo 7. Gemini veterans [[Frank Borman]] and [[Jim Lovell]], and rookie [[William Anders]] captured the world's attention by making ten lunar orbits in 20 hours, transmitting television pictures of the lunar surface on [[Christmas Eve]], and returning safely to Earth.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|loc=Ch. 11.6: [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch11-6.html "Apollo 8: The First Lunar Voyage"]. pp. 274–284}}


[[File:Apollo 11 first step.jpg|thumb|left|[[Neil Armstrong]] descends the LM's ladder in preparation for the first steps on the lunar surface, as televised live on July 20, 1969.]]
[[File:Apollo 11 first step.jpg|thumb|left|[[Neil Armstrong]] descends the LM's ladder in preparation for the first steps on the lunar surface, as televised live on July 20, 1969.]]
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====Extended missions====
====Extended missions====
[[File:Apollo 15 Lunar Rover and Irwin.jpg|thumb|[[Lunar Roving Vehicle]] used on Apollos 15–17]]
[[File:Apollo 15 Lunar Rover and Irwin.jpg|thumb|[[Lunar Roving Vehicle]] used on Apollos 15–17.]]


Apollo 15 was launched on July 26, 1971, with [[David Scott]], [[Alfred Worden]] and [[James Irwin]]. Scott and Irwin landed on July 30 near [[Mons Hadley|Hadley Rille]], and spent just under two days, 19 hours on the surface. In over 18 hours of EVA, they collected about {{convert|77|kg|lb}} of lunar material.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo15.html |title=Apollo 15 |date=July 8, 2009 |website=NASA |access-date=June 9, 2016}}</ref>
Apollo 15 was launched on July 26, 1971, with [[David Scott]], [[Alfred Worden]] and [[James Irwin]]. Scott and Irwin landed on July 30 near [[Mons Hadley|Hadley Rille]], and spent just under two days, 19 hours on the surface. In over 18 hours of EVA, they collected about {{convert|77|kg|lb}} of lunar material.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo15.html |title=Apollo 15 |date=July 8, 2009 |website=NASA |access-date=June 9, 2016}}</ref>
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== Mission summary ==
== Mission summary ==
{{Main list|List of Apollo missions}}
{{Main list|List of Apollo missions
}}
{{sticky header}}
{{sticky header}}
{| class="wikitable sticky-header"
{| class="wikitable sticky-header"
|-
|-
! Designation !! width=120px|Date !! width=60px|{{Abbr|LV|Launch Vehicle Serial Number}} !! {{Abbr|CSM|Commmand and Service Module Serial Number}} !! {{Abbr|LM|Lunar Module Serial Number}} !! width=130px|Crew !! Summary
! Mission !! width=120px|Date !! width=60px|{{Abbr|LV|Launch Vehicle Serial Number}} !! {{Abbr|CSM|Commmand and Service Module Serial Number}} !! {{Abbr|LM|Lunar Module Serial Number}} !! width=130px|Crew !! Summary
|-
|-
| [[AS-201]] || Feb 26, 1966 || AS-201 || CSM-009 || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || First flight of Saturn IB and Block I CSM; suborbital to Atlantic Ocean; qualified heat shield to orbital reentry speed.
| [[AS-201]] || Feb 26, 1966 || AS-201 || CSM-009 || {{N/A}} || {{N/A}} || First flight of Saturn IB and Block I CSM; suborbital to Atlantic Ocean; qualified heat shield to orbital reentry speed.
|-
|-
| [[AS-203]] || Jul 5, 1966 || AS-203 || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || No spacecraft; observations of liquid hydrogen fuel behavior in orbit to support design of S-IVB restart capability.
| [[AS-203]] || Jul 5, 1966 || AS-203 || {{N/A}} || {{N/A}} || {{N/A}} || No spacecraft; observations of liquid hydrogen fuel behavior in orbit to support design of S-IVB restart capability.
|-
|-
| [[AS-202]] || Aug 25, 1966 || AS-202 || CSM-011 || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || Suborbital flight of CSM to Pacific Ocean.
| [[AS-202]] || Aug 25, 1966 || AS-202 || CSM-011 || {{N/A}} || {{N/A}} || Suborbital flight of CSM to Pacific Ocean.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 1]] || Feb 21, 1967 || SA-204 || CSM-012 || {{sdash}} || [[Gus Grissom]]<br />[[Ed White (astronaut)|Ed White]]<br />[[Roger B. Chaffee]] || Not flown. All crew members died in a fire during a launch pad test on January 27, 1967.
| [[Apollo 1]] || Feb 21, 1967 || SA-204 || CSM-012 || {{N/A}} || [[Gus Grissom]]<br />[[Ed White (astronaut)|Ed White]]<br />[[Roger B. Chaffee]] || Not flown. All crew members died in a fire during a launch pad test on January 27, 1967.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 4]] || Nov 9, 1967 || SA-501 || CSM-017 || LTA-10R || {{sdash}} || First test flight of Saturn V, placed a CSM in a high Earth orbit; demonstrated S-IVB restart; qualified CM heat shield to lunar reentry speed.
| [[Apollo 4]] || Nov 9, 1967 || SA-501 || CSM-017 || LTA-10R || {{N/A}} || First test flight of Saturn V, placed a CSM in a high Earth orbit; demonstrated S-IVB restart; qualified CM heat shield to lunar reentry speed.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 5]] || Jan 22–23, 1968 || SA-204 || {{sdash}} || LM-1 || {{sdash}} || Earth orbital flight test of LM, launched on Saturn IB; demonstrated ascent and descent propulsion; human-rated the LM. No crew.
| [[Apollo 5]] || Jan 22–23, 1968 || SA-204 || {{N/A}} || LM-1 || {{N/A}} || Earth orbital flight test of LM, launched on Saturn IB; demonstrated ascent and descent propulsion; human-rated the LM. No crew.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 6]] || Apr 4, 1968 || SA-502 || CM-020<br />SM-014 || LTA-2R || {{sdash}} || Uncrewed, second flight of Saturn V, attempted demonstration of trans-lunar injection, and direct-return abort using SM engine; three engine failures, including failure of S-IVB restart. Flight controllers used SM engine to repeat Apollo 4's flight profile. Human-rated the Saturn V.
| [[Apollo 6]] || Apr 4, 1968 || SA-502 || CM-020<br />SM-014 || LTA-2R || {{N/A}} || Uncrewed, second flight of Saturn V, attempted demonstration of trans-lunar injection, and direct-return abort using SM engine; three engine failures, including failure of S-IVB restart. Flight controllers used SM engine to repeat Apollo 4's flight profile. Human-rated the Saturn V.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 7]] || Oct 11–22, 1968 || SA-205 || CSM-101 || {{sdash}} || [[Wally Schirra]]<br />[[Walter Cunningham|Walt Cunningham]]<br />[[Donn F. Eisele|Donn Eisele]] || First crewed Earth orbital demonstration of Block II CSM, launched on Saturn IB. First live television broadcast from a crewed mission.
| [[Apollo 7]] || Oct 11–22, 1968 || SA-205 || CSM-101 || {{N/A}} || [[Wally Schirra]]<br />[[Walter Cunningham|Walt Cunningham]]<br />[[Donn F. Eisele|Donn Eisele]] || First crewed Earth orbital demonstration of Block II CSM, launched on Saturn IB. First live television broadcast from a crewed mission.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 8]] || Dec 21–27, 1968 || SA-503 || CSM-103 || LTA-B || [[Frank Borman]]<br />[[Jim Lovell|James Lovell]]<br />[[William Anders]] || First crewed flight of Saturn V; First crewed flight to Moon; CSM made 10 lunar orbits in 20 hours.
| [[Apollo 8]] || Dec 21–27, 1968 || SA-503 || CSM-103 || LTA-B || [[Frank Borman]] <br />[[Jim Lovell|James Lovell]]<br />[[William Anders]] || First crewed flight of Saturn V; First crewed flight to Moon; CSM made 10 lunar orbits in 20 hours.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 9]] || Mar 3–13, 1969 || SA-504 || CSM-104<br />''Gumdrop'' || LM-3<br />''Spider'' || [[James McDivitt]]<br /> [[David Scott]]<br />[[Rusty Schweickart|Russell Schweickart]] || Second crewed flight of Saturn V; First crewed flight of CSM and LM in Earth orbit; demonstrated portable life support system to be used on the lunar surface.
| [[Apollo 9]] || Mar 3–13, 1969 || SA-504 || CSM-104<br />''Gumdrop'' || LM-3<br />''Spider'' || [[James McDivitt]]<br /> [[David Scott]]<br />[[Rusty Schweickart|Russell Schweickart]] || Second crewed flight of Saturn V; First crewed flight of CSM and LM in Earth orbit; demonstrated portable life support system to be used on the lunar surface.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 10]] || May 18–26, 1969 || SA-505 || CSM-106<br />''[[Charlie Brown]]'' || LM-4<br />''[[Lunar Module Snoopy|Snoopy]]'' || [[Thomas P. Stafford|Thomas Stafford]]<br />[[John Young (astronaut)|John Young]]<br />[[Gene Cernan|Eugene Cernan]] || Dress rehearsal for first lunar landing; flew LM down to {{cvt|50000|ft|km mi}} from lunar surface.
| [[Apollo 10]] || May 18–26, 1969 || SA-505 || CSM-106<br />''[[Command module Charlie Brown|Charlie Brown]]'' || LM-4<br />''[[Lunar Module Snoopy|Snoopy]]'' || [[Thomas P. Stafford|Thomas Stafford]]<br />[[John Young (astronaut)|John Young]]<br />[[Gene Cernan|Eugene Cernan]] || Dress rehearsal for first lunar landing; flew LM down to {{cvt|50000|ft|km mi}} from lunar surface.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 11]] || Jul 16–24, 1969 || SA-506 || CSM-107<br />''[[Command module Columbia|Columbia]]'' || LM-5 ''[[Lunar Module Eagle|Eagle]]'' || [[Neil Armstrong]]<br />[[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]]<br />[[Buzz Aldrin]] || First landing, in [[Tranquility Base]], [[Mare Tranquillitatis|Sea of Tranquility]]. Surface EVA time: 2h&nbsp;31m. Samples returned: {{cvt|47.51|lb}}.
| [[Apollo 11]] || Jul 16–24, 1969 || SA-506 || CSM-107<br />''[[Command module Columbia|Columbia]]'' || LM-5 ''[[Lunar Module Eagle|Eagle]]'' || [[Neil Armstrong]]<br />[[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]]<br />[[Buzz Aldrin]] || First landing, in [[Tranquility Base]], [[Mare Tranquillitatis|Sea of Tranquility]]. Surface EVA time: 2h&nbsp;31m. Samples returned: {{cvt|47.51|lb}}.
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| [[Apollo 12]] || Nov 14–24, 1969 || SA-507 || CSM-108<br />''Yankee Clipper'' || LM-6<br />''Intrepid'' || [[Pete Conrad]]<br />[[Richard F. Gordon Jr.|Richard Gordon]]<br />[[Alan Bean]] || Second landing, in [[Oceanus Procellarum|Ocean of Storms]] near [[Surveyor 3]]. Surface EVA time: 7h&nbsp;45m. Samples returned: {{cvt|75.62|lb}}.
| [[Apollo 12]] || Nov 14–24, 1969 || SA-507 || CSM-108<br />''Yankee Clipper'' || LM-6<br />''Intrepid'' || [[Pete Conrad]]<br />[[Richard F. Gordon Jr.|Richard Gordon]]<br />[[Alan Bean]] || Second landing, in [[Oceanus Procellarum|Ocean of Storms]] near [[Surveyor 3]]. Surface EVA time: 7h&nbsp;45m. Samples returned: {{cvt|75.62|lb}}.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 13]] || Apr 11–17, 1970 || SA-508 || CSM-109<br />''Odyssey'' || LM-7<br />''Aquarius'' || James Lovell<br />[[Jack Swigert]]<br />[[Fred Haise]] || Third landing attempt aborted in transit to the Moon, due to SM failure. Crew used LM as "lifeboat" to return to Earth. Mission called a "successful failure".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo13.html |title=Apollo 13 |publisher=NASA |location=US |date=July 9, 2009 |access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref>
| [[Apollo 13]] || Apr 11–17, 1970 || SA-508 || CSM-109<br />''Odyssey'' || LM-7<br />''Aquarius'' || James Lovell<!-- (already linked for Apollo 8 above) --><br />[[Jack Swigert]]<br />[[Fred Haise]] || Third landing attempt aborted in transit to the Moon, due to SM failure. Crew used LM as "lifeboat" to return to Earth. Mission called a "successful failure".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo13.html |title=Apollo 13 |publisher=NASA |location=US |date=July 9, 2009 |access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref>
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 14]] || Jan 31 – Feb 9, 1971 || SA-509 || CSM-110<br />''Kitty Hawk'' || LM-8<br />''Antares'' || [[Alan Shepard]]<br />[[Stuart Roosa]]<br />[[Edgar Mitchell]] || Third landing, in [[Fra Mauro formation]]. Surface EVA time: 9h&nbsp;21m. Samples returned: {{cvt|94.35|lb}}.
| [[Apollo 14]] || Jan 31 – Feb 9, 1971 || SA-509 || CSM-110<br />''Kitty Hawk'' || LM-8<br />''Antares'' || [[Alan Shepard]]<br />[[Stuart Roosa]]<br />[[Edgar Mitchell]] || Third landing, in [[Fra Mauro formation]]. Surface EVA time: 9h&nbsp;21m. Samples returned: {{cvt|94.35|lb}}.
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| [[Apollo 15]] || Jul 26 – Aug 7, 1971 || SA-510 || CSM-112<br />''Endeavour''|| LM-10<br />''Falcon'' || David Scott<br />[[Alfred Worden]]<br />[[James Irwin]] || Fourth landing, in [[Hadley-Apennine]]. First extended mission, used [[Lunar Roving Vehicle|Rover]] on Moon. Surface EVA time: 18h&nbsp;33m. Samples returned: {{cvt|169.10|lb}}.
| [[Apollo 15]] || Jul 26 – Aug 7, 1971 || SA-510 || CSM-112<br />''Endeavour''|| LM-10<br />''Falcon'' || David Scott<br />[[Alfred Worden]]<br />[[James Irwin]] || Fourth landing, in [[Hadley-Apennine]]. First extended mission, used [[Lunar Roving Vehicle|Rover]] on Moon. Surface EVA time: 18h&nbsp;33m. Samples returned: {{cvt|169.10|lb}}.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 16]] || Apr 16–27, 1972 || SA-511 || CSM-113<br />''Casper'' || LM-11<br />''Orion'' || John Young<br />[[Ken Mattingly]]<br />[[Charles Duke]] || Fifth landing, in [[Descartes Highlands|Plain of Descartes]]. Second extended mission, used Rover on Moon. Surface EVA time: 20h&nbsp;14m. Samples returned: {{cvt|207.89|lb}}.
| [[Apollo 16]] || Apr 16–27, 1972 || SA-511 || CSM-113<br />''Casper'' || LM-11<br />''Orion'' || John Young <!-- (already linked above) --><br />[[Ken Mattingly]]<br />[[Charles Duke]] || Fifth landing, in [[Descartes Highlands|Plain of Descartes]]. Second extended mission, used Rover on Moon. Surface EVA time: 20h&nbsp;14m. Samples returned: {{cvt|207.89|lb}}.
|-
|-
| [[Apollo 17]] || Dec 7–19, 1972 || SA-512 || CSM-114<br />''America'' || LM-12<br />''Challenger'' || Eugene Cernan<br />[[Ronald Evans (astronaut)|Ronald Evans]]<br />[[Harrison Schmitt]] || Only Saturn V night launch. Sixth landing, in [[Taurus–Littrow]]. Third extended mission, used Rover on Moon. First geologist on the Moon. Apollo's last crewed Moon landing. Surface EVA time: 22h&nbsp;2m. Samples returned: {{cvt|243.40|lb}}.
| [[Apollo 17]] || Dec 7–19, 1972 || SA-512 || CSM-114<br />''America'' || LM-12<br />''Challenger'' || Eugene Cernan<br />[[Ronald Evans (astronaut)|Ronald Evans]]<br />[[Harrison Schmitt]] || Only Saturn V night launch. Sixth landing, in [[Taurus–Littrow]]. Third extended mission, used Rover on Moon. First geologist on the Moon. Apollo's last crewed Moon landing. Surface EVA time: 22h&nbsp;2m. Samples returned: {{cvt|243.40|lb}}.
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==Samples returned==
==Samples returned==
{{main|Moon rock}}
{{main|Moon rock}}
{{multiple image
{{multiple image
| align            = right
| align            = right
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==Costs==
==Costs==
Apollo cost $25.4&nbsp;billion or approximately $257&nbsp;billion (2023) using improved cost analysis.<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1016/j.spacepol.2022.101476| issn = 0265-9646| volume = 60| pages = 101476| last = Dreier| first = Casey| title = An Improved Cost Analysis of the Apollo Program| journal = Space Policy| date = 2022-05-01| doi-access = free| bibcode = 2022SpPol..6001476D}}</ref>
Apollo cost $25.4&nbsp;billion or approximately $257&nbsp;billion (2023) using improved cost analysis.<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1016/j.spacepol.2022.101476| issn = 0265-9646| volume = 60| article-number = 101476| last = Dreier| first = Casey| title = An Improved Cost Analysis of the Apollo Program| journal = Space Policy| date = 2022-05-01| doi-access = free| bibcode = 2022SpPol..6001476D}}</ref>


Of this amount, $20.2&nbsp;billion (${{format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|20200000000|1966}}}} adjusted) was spent on the design, development, and production of the [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn family]] of launch vehicles, the [[Apollo (spacecraft)|Apollo spacecraft]], [[Apollo a7l|spacesuits]], [[Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package|scientific experiments]], and mission operations. The cost of constructing and operating Apollo-related ground facilities, such as the NASA human spaceflight centers and the [[Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network|global tracking and data acquisition network]], added an additional $5.2&nbsp;billion (${{format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|5200000000|1966}}}} adjusted).
Of this amount, $20.2&nbsp;billion (${{format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|20200000000|1966}}}} adjusted) was spent on the design, development, and production of the [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn family]] of launch vehicles, the [[Apollo (spacecraft)|Apollo spacecraft]], [[Apollo a7l|spacesuits]], [[Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package|scientific experiments]], and mission operations. The cost of constructing and operating Apollo-related ground facilities, such as the NASA human spaceflight centers and the [[Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network|global tracking and data acquisition network]], added an additional $5.2&nbsp;billion (${{format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|5200000000|1966}}}} adjusted).
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===Cultural impact===
===Cultural impact===
[[File:The Earth seen from Apollo 17.jpg|thumb|right|''[[The Blue Marble]]'' photograph taken on December{{nbsp}}7, 1972, during Apollo 17. "We went to explore the Moon, and in fact discovered the Earth." —[[Eugene Cernan]]]]
[[File:The Blue Marble, AS17-148-22727.jpg|thumb|right|''[[The Blue Marble]]'' photograph taken on December{{nbsp}}7, 1972, during Apollo 17. "We went to explore the Moon, and in fact discovered the Earth." —[[Eugene Cernan]]]]


The crew of Apollo 8 sent the first live televised pictures of the Earth and the Moon back to Earth, and read from the creation story in the [[Book of Genesis]], on [[Christmas Eve]] 1968.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/topics/history/features/apollo_8.html|website=NASA|access-date=July 20, 2016|title=Apollo 8: Christmas at the Moon|date=February 19, 2015}}</ref> An estimated one-quarter of the population of the world saw—either live or delayed—the Christmas Eve transmission during the ninth orbit of the Moon,<ref>[[#Chaikin|Chaikin 1994]], p. 120</ref> and an estimated one-fifth of the population of the world watched the live transmission of the Apollo 11 moonwalk.<ref>[[#Burrows|Burrows 1999]], p. 429</ref>
The crew of Apollo 8 sent the first live televised pictures of the Earth and the Moon back to Earth, and read from the creation story in the [[Book of Genesis]], on [[Christmas Eve]] 1968.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/topics/history/features/apollo_8.html|website=NASA|access-date=July 20, 2016|title=Apollo 8: Christmas at the Moon|date=February 19, 2015}}</ref> An estimated one-quarter of the population of the world saw—either live or delayed—the Christmas Eve transmission during the ninth orbit of the Moon,<ref>[[#Chaikin|Chaikin 1994]], p. 120</ref> and an estimated one-fifth of the population of the world watched the live transmission of the Apollo 11 moonwalk.<ref>[[#Burrows|Burrows 1999]], p. 429</ref>
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The Apollo program has been the focus of several works of fiction, including:
The Apollo program has been the focus of several works of fiction, including:
*''[[Apollo 18 (film)|Apollo 18]]'' (2011), [[Horror film|horror]] movie which was released to negative reviews.
*''[[Apollo 18 (film)|Apollo 18]]'' (2011), [[Horror film|horror]] movie which was released to negative reviews.
*''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon]]'' (2011), Science Fiction/Action movie. The film depicts the Apollo Program as having been created to study and explore a Cybertronian spacecraft known as "The Ark," which crash landed on the dark side of the Moon in the early 1960s.
*''[[Men in Black 3]]'' (2012), Science Fiction/Comedy movie. [[Agent J]], played by [[Will Smith]], goes back to the Apollo 11 launch in 1969 to ensure that a [[Golden Dome (missile defense system)|global protection system]] is launched in to space.
*''[[Men in Black 3]]'' (2012), Science Fiction/Comedy movie. [[Agent J]], played by [[Will Smith]], goes back to the Apollo 11 launch in 1969 to ensure that a [[Golden Dome (missile defense system)|global protection system]] is launched in to space.
*''[[For All Mankind (TV series)|For All Mankind]]'' (2019), TV series depicting an [[alternate history]] in which the Soviet Union was the first nation to land a man on the Moon.
*''[[For All Mankind (TV series)|For All Mankind]]'' (2019), TV series depicting an [[alternate history]] in which the Soviet Union was the first nation to land a man on the Moon and the Apollo missions were expanded as part of an accelerated Space Race, culminating in the establishment of a permanent US Moon base called Jamestown.
*''[[The Apollo Murders]]'' (2021), an alternate history novel by [[Chris Hadfield]] set in 1973 during the Cold War in which Apollo 18 is launched on a clandestine military mission to the Moon
*''[[Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny]]'' (2023), fifth [[Indiana Jones]] film, in which Jürgen Voller, a NASA member and ex-[[Nazism|Nazi]] involved with the Apollo program, wants to [[time travel]]. The New York City parade for the Apollo 11 crew is portrayed as a plot point.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Travis |first1=Ben |title=Indiana Jones 5 Will Pit Indy Against Nazis Again, In 1969 – Exclusive |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/indiana-jones-5-nazis-1969-exclusive |access-date=December 24, 2022 |work=Empire |date=November 11, 2022}}</ref>
*''[[Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny]]'' (2023), fifth [[Indiana Jones]] film, in which Jürgen Voller, a NASA member and ex-[[Nazism|Nazi]] involved with the Apollo program, wants to [[time travel]]. The New York City parade for the Apollo 11 crew is portrayed as a plot point.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Travis |first1=Ben |title=Indiana Jones 5 Will Pit Indy Against Nazis Again, In 1969 – Exclusive |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/indiana-jones-5-nazis-1969-exclusive |access-date=December 24, 2022 |work=Empire |date=November 11, 2022}}</ref>


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{{Div col}}
{{Div col}}
* [[Apollo 11 in popular culture]]
* [[Apollo 11 in popular culture]]
* [[Apollo program training]]
* [[Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package]]
* [[Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package]]
* [[Artemis Program]]
* [[Exploration of the Moon]]
* [[Exploration of the Moon]]
* [[Leslie Cantwell collection]]
* [[Leslie Cantwell collection]]
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* [[Soviet crewed lunar programs]]
* [[Soviet crewed lunar programs]]
* [[Stolen and missing Moon rocks]]
* [[Stolen and missing Moon rocks]]
* [[Artemis Program]]
{{div col end}}
{{div col end}}


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* {{cite book |last=Launius |first=Roger D. |title=Apollo: A Retrospective Analysis |url=https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_20040084534 |access-date=August 1, 2013 |edition=Reprint |series=Monographs in Aerospace History |number=3 |orig-year=Originally published July 1994 |date=July 2004 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |ref=Launius }}
* {{cite book |last=Launius |first=Roger D. |title=Apollo: A Retrospective Analysis |url=https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_20040084534 |access-date=August 1, 2013 |edition=Reprint |series=Monographs in Aerospace History |number=3 |orig-year=Originally published July 1994 |date=July 2004 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |ref=Launius }}
* {{cite book |last=Mindell |first=David A. |title=Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight |date=2008 |publisher=The MIT Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-262-13497-2 |oclc=733307011}}
* {{cite book |last=Mindell |first=David A. |title=Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight |date=2008 |publisher=The MIT Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-262-13497-2 |oclc=733307011}}
* {{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Charles |author1-link = Charles Murray (political scientist) |last2=Cox |first2=Catherine Bly |title = Apollo: The Race to the Moon |date=1989 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=0-671-61101-1 |oclc=19589707 |lccn=89006333 |ref=Murray & Cox }}
* {{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Charles |author1-link = Charles Murray (political scientist) |last2=Cox |first2=Catherine Bly |title = Apollo: The Race to the Moon |date=1989 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=0-671-61101-1 |oclc=19589707 |lccn=89006333 }}
* {{cite book |last=Orloff |first=Richard W. |title=Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/SP-4029.htm |access-date=August 1, 2013 |series=The NASA History Series |orig-year=First published 2000 |date=September 2004 |publisher=[[NASA]] |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=0-16-050631-X |lccn=00061677 |id=NASA SP-2000-4029 |ref=Orloff }}
* {{cite book |last=Orloff |first=Richard W. |title=Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/SP-4029.htm |access-date=August 1, 2013 |series=The NASA History Series |orig-year=First published 2000 |date=September 2004 |publisher=[[NASA]] |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=0-16-050631-X |lccn=00061677 |id=NASA SP-2000-4029 |ref=Orloff }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Papike |first1=James J. |last2=Ryder |first2=Graham |last3=Shearer |first3=Charles K. |date=January 1998 |title=Planetary Materials: Lunar Samples |journal=[[Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry]] |volume= 36 |issue=1 |pages=5.1–5.234 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=[[Mineralogical Society of America]] |isbn=0-939950-46-4 |lccn=99474392 |issn=0275-0279 |ref=Papike et al.}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Papike |first1=James J. |last2=Ryder |first2=Graham |last3=Shearer |first3=Charles K. |date=January 1998 |title=Planetary Materials: Lunar Samples |journal=[[Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry]] |volume= 36 |issue=1 |pages=5.1–5.234 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=[[Mineralogical Society of America]] |isbn=0-939950-46-4 |lccn=99474392 |issn=0275-0279 |ref=Papike et al.}}
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== Further reading ==
== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |url = http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/APSR-JSC-09423.pdf |title = Apollo Program Summary Report}}&nbsp;{{small|(46.3&nbsp;MB)}} NASA Report JSC-09423, April 1975
* {{cite book |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/APSR-JSC-09423.pdf |title=Apollo Program Summary Report}}&nbsp;{{small|(46.3&nbsp;MB)}} NASA Report JSC-09423, April 1975
* {{cite book |last=Collins |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Collins (astronaut) |others=Foreword by [[Charles Lindbergh]] |title=Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys |orig-year=Originally published 1974; New York: [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |date=2001 |publisher=Cooper Square Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8154-1028-7 |lccn=2001017080 |ref=Collins |url=https://archive.org/details/carryingfire00mich}} The autobiography of Michael Collins' experiences as an astronaut, including his flight aboard Apollo 11.
* {{cite book |last=Collins |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Collins (astronaut) |others=Foreword by [[Charles Lindbergh]] |title=Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys |orig-year=Originally published 1974; New York: [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |date=2001 |publisher=Cooper Square Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8154-1028-7 |lccn=2001017080 |ref=Collins |url=https://archive.org/details/carryingfire00mich}} The autobiography of Michael Collins' experiences as an astronaut, including his flight aboard Apollo 11.
* {{cite book |last=Cooper |first=Henry S.F. Jr. |author-link=Henry S. F. Cooper Jr. |title=Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed |orig-year=Originally published 1972; New York: Dial Press |date=1995 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=0-8018-5097-5 |oclc=31375285 |lccn=94039726 |ref=Cooper |url=https://archive.org/details/thirteenapollofl00coop}} Although this book focuses on Apollo 13, it provides a wealth of background information on Apollo technology and procedures.
* {{cite book |last=Cooper |first=Henry S.F. Jr. |author-link=Henry S. F. Cooper Jr. |title=Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed |orig-year=Originally published 1972; New York: Dial Press |date=1995 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=0-8018-5097-5 |oclc=31375285 |lccn=94039726 |ref=Cooper |url=https://archive.org/details/thirteenapollofl00coop}} Although this book focuses on Apollo 13, it provides a wealth of background information on Apollo technology and procedures.
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* {{cite book |last=Kranz |first=Gene |author-link=Gene Kranz |title=Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond |date=2000 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=0-7432-0079-9 |oclc=43590801 |lccn=00027720 |ref=Kranz |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780743200790}} Factual, from the standpoint of a flight controller during the [[Project Mercury|Mercury]], [[Project Gemini|Gemini]], and Apollo space programs.
* {{cite book |last=Kranz |first=Gene |author-link=Gene Kranz |title=Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond |date=2000 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=0-7432-0079-9 |oclc=43590801 |lccn=00027720 |ref=Kranz |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780743200790}} Factual, from the standpoint of a flight controller during the [[Project Mercury|Mercury]], [[Project Gemini|Gemini]], and Apollo space programs.
* {{cite book |last1=Lovell |first1=Jim |author-link1=Jim Lovell |last2=Kluger |first2=Jeffrey |author-link2=Jeffrey Kluger |title=[[Lost Moon|Apollo 13]] |orig-year=Previously published 1994 as ''[[Lost Moon]]'' |date=2000 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin Company]] |location=Boston |isbn=0-618-05665-3 |oclc=43118301 |lccn=99089647 |ref=Lovell & Kluger}} Details the flight of Apollo 13.
* {{cite book |last1=Lovell |first1=Jim |author-link1=Jim Lovell |last2=Kluger |first2=Jeffrey |author-link2=Jeffrey Kluger |title=[[Lost Moon|Apollo 13]] |orig-year=Previously published 1994 as ''[[Lost Moon]]'' |date=2000 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin Company]] |location=Boston |isbn=0-618-05665-3 |oclc=43118301 |lccn=99089647 |ref=Lovell & Kluger}} Details the flight of Apollo 13.
* {{cite journal |last1=McMahon |first1=Adam |title=To the Moon and Back: Reexamining Presidential Decision-Making and the Apollo Program |journal=Space Policy |volume=62 |year=2022 |page=101516 |doi=10.1016/j.spacepol.2022.101516 |bibcode=2022SpPol..6201516M |ref=none|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite journal |last1=McMahon |first1=Adam |title=To the Moon and Back: Reexamining Presidential Decision-Making and the Apollo Program |journal=Space Policy |volume=62 |year=2022 |article-number=101516 |doi=10.1016/j.spacepol.2022.101516 |bibcode=2022SpPol..6201516M |ref=none |doi-access=free}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Musgrave |first1=Paul |last2=Nexon |first2=Daniel |title=Defending Hierarchy from the Moon to the Indian Ocean: Symbolic Capital and Political Dominance in Early Modern China and the Cold War |journal=International Organization |volume=72 |issue=3 |year=2018 |pages=591–626 |doi=10.1017/S0020818318000139 |ref=none|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Musgrave |first1=Paul |last2=Nexon |first2=Daniel |title=Defending Hierarchy from the Moon to the Indian Ocean: Symbolic Capital and Political Dominance in Early Modern China and the Cold War |journal=International Organization |volume=72 |issue=3 |year=2018 |pages=591–626 |doi=10.1017/S0020818318000139 |ref=none |doi-access=free}}
* {{cite book |last1=Pellegrino |first1=Charles R. |author-link1=Charles R. Pellegrino |last2=Stoff |first2=Joshua |title=Chariots for Apollo: The Untold Story Behind the Race to the Moon |date=1999 |publisher=Avon Books |location=New York |isbn=0-380-80261-9 |oclc=41579174 |ref=Pellegrino & Stoff}} Tells [[Grumman]]'s story of building the lunar modules.
* {{cite book |last1=Pellegrino |first1=Charles R. |author-link1=Charles R. Pellegrino |last2=Stoff |first2=Joshua |title=Chariots for Apollo: The Untold Story Behind the Race to the Moon |date=1999 |publisher=Avon Books |location=New York |isbn=0-380-80261-9 |oclc=41579174 |ref=Pellegrino & Stoff}} Tells [[Grumman]]'s story of building the lunar modules.
* {{Cite book |last1=Scott |first1=David |author-link1=David Scott |last2=Leonov |first2=Alexei |author-link2=Alexei Leonov |last3=Toomey |first3=Christine |others=Foreword by [[Neil Armstrong]]; introduction by [[Tom Hanks]] |title=Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race |edition=1st U.S. |date=2004 |publisher=[[Thomas Dunne Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-312-30865-5 |oclc=56587777 |lccn=2004059381 |ref=Scott & Leonov |url=https://archive.org/details/twosidesofmoon00scot}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Scott |first1=David |author-link1=David Scott |last2=Leonov |first2=Alexei |author-link2=Alexei Leonov |last3=Toomey |first3=Christine |others=Foreword by [[Neil Armstrong]]; introduction by [[Tom Hanks]] |title=Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race |edition=1st U.S. |date=2004 |publisher=[[Thomas Dunne Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-312-30865-5 |oclc=56587777 |lccn=2004059381 |ref=Scott & Leonov |url=https://archive.org/details/twosidesofmoon00scot}}
* {{cite book |last=Seamans |first=Robert C. Jr. |title=Project Apollo: The Tough Decisions |series=Monographs in Aerospace History|number=37 |date=2005 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=0-16-074954-9 |oclc=64271009 |lccn=2005003682 |id=NASA SP-4537 |ref=Seamans}} History of the crewed space program from 1{{nbsp}}September 1960, to 5{{nbsp}}January 1968.
* {{cite book |last=Seamans |first=Robert C. Jr. |title=Project Apollo: The Tough Decisions |series=Monographs in Aerospace History |number=37 |date=2005 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=0-16-074954-9 |oclc=64271009 |lccn=2005003682 |id=NASA SP-4537 |ref=Seamans}} History of the crewed space program from 1{{nbsp}}September 1960, to 5{{nbsp}}January 1968.
* {{cite book |last1=Slayton |first1=Donald K. |author1-link = Deke Slayton |last2=Cassutt |first2=Michael |author2-link = Michael Cassutt |title = Deke!: An Autobiography |date=1995 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=0-312-85918-X |ref=Slayton & Cassutt }} Account of Deke Slayton's life as an astronaut and of his work as chief of the astronaut office, including selection of Apollo crews.
* {{cite book |last1=Slayton |first1=Donald K. |author1-link=Deke Slayton |last2=Cassutt |first2=Michael |author2-link=Michael Cassutt |title=Deke!: An Autobiography |date=1995 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=0-312-85918-X |ref=Slayton & Cassutt}} Account of Deke Slayton's life as an astronaut and of his work as chief of the astronaut office, including selection of Apollo crews.
* {{Cite book |url = https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19690022643_1969022643.pdf |title = The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology |volume=1}}&nbsp;{{small|(131.2&nbsp;MB)}} From origin to November 7, 1962
* {{Cite book |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19690022643_1969022643.pdf |title=The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology |volume=1}}&nbsp;{{small|(131.2&nbsp;MB)}} From origin to November 7, 1962
* {{Cite book |url = https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740004394_1974004394.pdf |title = The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology |volume=2}}&nbsp;{{small|(13.4&nbsp;MB)}} November 8, 1962 – September 30, 1964
* {{Cite book |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740004394_1974004394.pdf |title=The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology |volume=2}}&nbsp;{{small|(13.4&nbsp;MB)}} November 8, 1962 – September 30, 1964
* {{Cite book |url = https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19760014180_1976014180.pdf |title = The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology |volume=3}}&nbsp;{{small|(57.7&nbsp;MB)}} October 1, 1964 – January 20, 1966
* {{Cite book |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19760014180_1976014180.pdf |title=The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology |volume=3}}&nbsp;{{small|(57.7&nbsp;MB)}} October 1, 1964 – January 20, 1966
* {{Cite book |url= https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19800011953_1980011953.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19800011953_1980011953.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title = The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology |volume=4}}&nbsp;{{small|(24.2&nbsp;MB)}} January 21, 1966 – July 13, 1974
* {{Cite book |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19800011953_1980011953.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19800011953_1980011953.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology |volume=4}}&nbsp;{{small|(24.2&nbsp;MB)}} January 21, 1966 – July 13, 1974
* {{Cite book |last=Wilhelms |first=Don E. |author-link=Donald Wilhelms |title = To a Rocky Moon: A Geologist's History of Lunar Exploration |url = https://archive.org/details/torockymoongeolo0000wilh |url-access=registration |date=1993 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |location=Tucson |isbn=0-8165-1065-2 |oclc=26720457 |lccn=92033228 |ref=Wilhelms}} The history of lunar exploration from a geologist's point of view.
* {{Cite book |last=Wilhelms |first=Don E. |author-link=Donald Wilhelms |title=To a Rocky Moon: A Geologist's History of Lunar Exploration |url=https://archive.org/details/torockymoongeolo0000wilh |url-access=registration |date=1993 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |location=Tucson |isbn=0-8165-1065-2 |oclc=26720457 |lccn=92033228 |ref=Wilhelms}} The history of lunar exploration from a geologist's point of view.
{{refend}}
{{refend}}


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* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/ The Project Apollo Archive on Flickr]
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/ The Project Apollo Archive on Flickr]
* [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/ Apollo Image Atlas]—almost 25,000 lunar images, Lunar and Planetary Institute
* [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/ Apollo Image Atlas]—almost 25,000 lunar images, Lunar and Planetary Institute
* [https://apolloinrealtime.org/ Apollo (11, 13 and 17) in real time multimedia project]
* {{Internet Archive short film |id = gov.ntis.ava03129vnb1 |name = The Time of Apollo (1975) }}
* {{Internet Archive short film |id = gov.ntis.ava03129vnb1 |name = The Time of Apollo (1975) }}
* [https://catalog.archives.gov/id/649447 The short film ''The Time of Apollo (1975)'' is available for free viewing and download at the National Archives.]
* [https://catalog.archives.gov/id/649447 The short film ''The Time of Apollo (1975)'' is available for free viewing and download at the National Archives.]
* {{YouTube|GNJpoP642wc|''The Journeys of Apollo'' – NASA Documentary}}
* {{YouTube|GNJpoP642wc|''The Journeys of Apollo'' – NASA Documentary}}
* [https://apolloinrealtime.org/ Apollo (11, 13 and 17) in real time multimedia project]
* {{Vimeo|141812811|''Apollo Missions'' (mashup timelapse)}}<ref name="a776">{{cite web | last=Plait | first=Phil | title=You Have 60 Seconds to Get to the Moon and Back. Go. | website=Slate Magazine | date=2015-10-29 | url=https://slate.com/technology/2015/10/apollo-missions-photos-combined-into-animation.html | access-date=2026-05-05}}</ref>


{{Apollo program}}
{{Apollo program}}
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[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Engineering projects]]
[[Category:Engineering projects]]
[[Category:Exploration of the Moon]]
[[Category:American lunar exploration program]]
[[Category:Human spaceflight programs]]
[[Category:Human spaceflight programs]]
[[Category:NASA programs]]
[[Category:NASA programs]]
[[Category:Space program of the United States]]
[[Category:Space program of the United States]]
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