Which Apollo Missions Made It to the Moon?

President Kennedy challenged NASA to land astronauts on the Moon by 1961; with help from Saturn rockets, Apollo made this goal come true.

Apollo spacecraft were known as Command Module and Lunar Module and could hold three astronauts at once, disintegrating into two parts for lunar landings before returning to orbit.

Apollo 11

The first Apollo mission to reach the moon was an extraordinary success. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set off aboard a Saturn V rocket on July 16, 1969 for Earth orbit, from which they would reach lunar orbit and eventually arrive on our natural satellite. After taking close-up views of our natural satellite, Armstrong became famous worldwide with his words: “One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.”

One month after launch, astronauts successfully docked their command module with an Agena spacecraft attached to their lunar module and tested out a docking procedure for future missions as well as conducting scientific experiments in orbit using television cameras to record images of their surroundings.

On 20 July, they used Eagle’s engine to alter their orbit into an elliptical one that passed closer to the moon and reduced speed until their proximity was less than 15 miles from Sea of Tranquility.

Armstrong and Aldrin boarded their lunar module and undocked it from the command service module, conducting an initial reconnaissance tour over the surface of the Moon with still and motion picture cameras before beginning their descent towards their landing site.

On their two-hour and 31-minute moonwalk, astronauts collected 21.6 kilograms of samples. Additionally, they deployed seismometers for moonquake measurements, laser retroreflectors to allow precise distance calculations between Earth and Moon and an apparatus to collect solar wind composition samples.

Returning to their lunar module was slow and tedious; they used their engines frequently to maintain low lunar orbit and keep themselves on course for success. Once back home however, quarantine precautions were put in place against bringing any germs from Earth into quarantine for three weeks as part of an additional precautionary measure against disease spread back through space travel.

Apollo 12

After the success of Apollo 11, Nasa decided to send another crewed spacecraft, Apollo 12, into orbit around the Moon. Launched on November 14, 1969 and despite being struck twice within one minute after liftoff by lightning strikes, it managed to safely arrive on its mission destination despite landing challenges posed by Mission Commander Pete Conrad who wanted a precise landing within walking distance of Surveyor 3 probe which had landed two years prior on April 20, 1967; surveyor 3’s camera and instruments would also need to be captured so scientists could study them after two years spent in space exposure!

Unfortunately, shortly after launch, the computer of the lander failed. Engineers spent several hours to assess what had transpired before being forced to reset all computers within the LM.

As Conrad and Command Module Pilot Dick Gordon prepared for their lunar mission, audiences at home had already become disinterested. To keep public attention focused on this historic feat, Nasa decided to broadcast live color television from the Moon for public consumption.

The crew’s first EVA lasted seven hours and 27 minutes, during which time they deployed several experiments such as the ALSEP seismometer that detected thousands of Moonquakes to help scientists gain more insight into our planet’s inner structure and took photographs of potential landing sites. Unfortunately, back at Intrepid they were unable to complete their planned second EVA because a key piece of equipment for the Lander camera’s self-timer had gone missing, rendering any attempt at group photos impossible and rendering post mission photo analysts confused about which part was missing from those images taken during EVA 2.

Apollo 13

Apollo 13 crew managed to return safely, despite an explosion on board, unnerving President Nixon who previously supported spaceflight and considered space heroes essential. Nixon ultimately decided on a lower risk and lower cost program with Space Shuttle as its basis.

After an impressive TV broadcast, Lovell and Haise were enjoying themselves in their lunar module, Aquarius, when an oxygen tank explosion suddenly jolted them awake. It disabled their service module – meant to land on the moon to provide water, power, and other systems to their spacecraft – disabling it completely as well as depriving them of oxygen for breathing as well as power generation capabilities; in turn reducing oxygen available for breathing as well as power production capacity; ultimately prompting them to shut down as much of their spacecraft in order to conserve energy consumption and save power consumption costs.

Mission Control urgently searched for solutions, which included everything from manually transferring flight data by hand to “lifeboat” modules to manually directing an unpredictable rocket blast at Earth (as depicted in 1995 film starring Tom Hanks). All audacious maneuvers eventually proved successful and allowed the spacecraft to safely return home.

The crew decided to discard the service module and transfer to Odyssey for reentry, using oxygen from emergency tanks while emergency power system powered down most systems to conserve limited supplies of water and electricity. They eventually restarted Lunar Module before entering Earth’s atmosphere again on April 17, 142 hours and 54 minutes after launch, splashing down exactly on schedule in Hawaii amidst cheers of praise from cheering crowds; Mission Control team received Presidential Medal of Freedom as recognition.

Apollo 14

NASA engineers used the 10-month break between Apollo 13 and 14 to make significant upgrades to the command module, such as redesigning oxygen tanks to reduce fire risks, as well as adding backup supplies of oxygen, batteries, and water. They also reconfigured the docking hatch so astronauts could enter and exit lunar modules without using robotic arms as an assistive aid.

Apollo 14 marked the third successful lunar landing for the United States Apollo program and first use of a lander to collect samples. Launched on February 5, 1971, Alan Shepard and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell made their historic landing near Cone Crater in Fra Mauro highlands region on Moon where they collected 96 pounds of lunar samples during 33 hours on surface before returning back to LM to complete a list of scientific experiments before returning back home.

After they separated from the command module, Shepard and Mitchell encountered difficulties with the Lunar Module’s abort switch, which was incorrectly reading as failure to land and would have ignited its main engines and prevented a safe landing attempt. To temporarily reset this reading they tapped on console in front of it; but this did not guarantee successful landing.

Shepard and Mitchell successfully landed within 30 meters of their target area, conducting more lunar experiments than any previous Apollo mission had previously accomplished. Later, samples were sent back home. The Apollo lunar program took years to implement successfully; unfortunately budget cuts necessitated cancellation of three missions; the other five provided vital insight into our solar system’s origins.

Similar Posts