Apollo program\nFor information about the Greek god named Apollo, see Apollo (god). \nThe Apollo program was a series of human spaceflight missions undertaken by the United States of America using the Apollo spacecraft, conducted during the years 1961-1972. It was devoted to the goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth within the decade of the 1960s. This goal was achieved with the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. The program continued into the early 1970s to carry out the initial hands-on scientific exploration of the Moon.
Choosing a Mission ModeHaving settled upon the Moon as a target, the Apollo mission planners were faced with the challenge of designing a flight plan attaining Kennedy's stated goal while minimizing risk to human life, cost and demands on technology and astronaut skill. Three possible plans were considered.
 Apollo Command and Service Modules  \nFlightsThe Apollo program included eleven manned flights, designated Apollo 7 through Apollo 17, all launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Apollo 2 through Apollo 6 were unmanned test flights; the Apollo 1 designation was retroactively applied to the originally planned first manned flight which ended in a disastrous fire during a launch pad test that killed three astronauts. The first of the manned flights employed the Saturn 1-B launch vehicle, the following flights all used the more powerful Saturn V. Two of the flights (Apollo 7 and Apollo 9) were earth orbital missions, two of the flights (Apollo 8 and Apollo 10) were lunar orbital missions, and the remaining 7 flights were lunar landing missions (although one, Apollo 13, failed to land). Briefly, Apollo 7 tested the Apollo command and service modules (CSM) in earth orbit. Apollo 8 tested the CSM in lunar orbit. Apollo 9 tested the lunar module (LM) in earth orbit. Apollo 10 tested the LM in lunar orbit. Apollo 11 achieved the first human lunar landing. Apollo 12 achieved the first lunar landing at a precise location. Apollo 13 failed to achieve a lunar landing, but succeeded in returning the crew safely to earth following a potentially disastrous in-flight explosion. Apollo 14 resumed the lunar exploration program. Apollo 15 introduced a new level of lunar exploration capability, with a long-stay-time LM and a lunar roving vehicle. Apollo 16 was the first manned landing in the lunar highlands. Apollo 17, the final mission, was the first to include a scientist-astronaut.End of the Program
Originally three additional lunar landing missions had been planned, as Apollos 18 through 20. In light of the drastically shrinking NASA budget and the decision not to produce a second batch of Saturn Vs, these missions were cancelled to make funds available for the development of the Space Shuttle, and to make their Apollo spacecraft and Saturn V launch vehicles available to the Skylab program. Only one of the Saturn Vs was actually used; the others became museum exhibits.
Another excerpt from Kennedy's Special Message to Congress:
Reasons for ApolloThe Apollo program was at least partly motivated by psycho-political considerations, in response to persistent perceptions of American inferiority in space technology vis-a-vis the Soviets, in the context of the Cold War. In this respect it succeeded brilliantly. In fact, American superiority in manned spaceflight was achieved in the precursory Gemini program, even before the first Apollo flight. The inability of the Soviets to perfect their N1 rocket prevented them from reaching the moon. Until the 1990s they denied that they had even tried. The Apollo program stimulated many areas of technology. The flight computer design used in both the lunar and command modules was, along with the Minuteman Missile System, the driving force behind early research into integrated circuits. The fuel cell developed for this program was the first practical fuel cell. Computer controlled machining (CNC) was pioneered in fabricating Apollo structural components. Many astronauts and cosmonautss have commented on the profound effects that seeing earth from space has had on them. One of the most important legacies of the Apollo program was the now-common, but not universal view of Earth as a fragile, small planet, captured in the photographs taken by the astronauts during the lunar missions. The most famous of these photographs, taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts, is "The Blue Marble." These photographs have also motivated many people toward environmentalism and space colonization.Miscellaneous information
MissionsThe Apollo program used four types of launch vehicles:\n*Little Joe II - unmanned suborbital launch escape system development.\n*Saturn I - unmanned suborbital and orbital hardware development.\n*Saturn IB - unmanned and manned earth orbit development and operational missions.\n*Saturn V - unmanned and manned earth orbit and lunar missions. Something to note with Apollo flights is that Marshall Space Flight Center who designed the Saturn rockets referred to the flights as Saturn-Apollo (SA) whereas Kennedy Space Center referred to the flights as Apollo-Saturn (AS). This is why the unmanned Saturn 1 flights are referred to as SA and the unmanned Saturn 1B are referred to as AS.\nUnmanned Saturn I\n*SA-1 - Test of the S-1 Rocket\n*SA-2 - Test of the S-1 Rocket and carried 109 m³ of water into the upper atmosphere to investigate effects on radio transmission and changes in local weather conditions.\n*SA-3 - Same as SA-2\n*SA-4 - Test effects of premature engine shutdown\n*SA-5 - First flight of live second stage\n*A-101 - Tested the structural integrity of a boilerplate Apollo Command and Service Module\n*A-102 - Carried the first programmable computer on the Saturn I vehicle; last test flight\n*A-103 - carried Pegasus A satellite micrometeorite satellite\n*A-104 - carried Pegasus B satellite satellite micrometeorite \n*A-105 - carried Pegasus C satellite micrometeorite satelliteUnmanned Pad Abort Tests\n
Unmanned Little Joe II\n*QTV - Little Joe II qualification test.\n*A-001 - LES transonic abort test.\n*A-002 - LES maximum altitude, Max-Q abort test.\n*A-003 - LES canard maximum altitude abort test.\n*A-004 - LES test of maximum weight, tumbling Block-I CM.Unmanned Apollo-Saturn IB and Saturn V\n*AS-201 - first test flight of Saturn IB rocket\n*AS-203 - investigate weightlessness on fuel tanks of S-IVB\n*AS-202 - sub-orbital test flight of Command and Service Module\n*Apollo 4 - first test of the Saturn V booster\n*Apollo 5 - test of the Saturn IB booster and Lunar Module\n*Apollo 6 - test of the Saturn V boosterManned\n*Apollo 1 - crew perished in fire during a test\n*Apollo 7 - first manned Apollo flight, first manned flight of the Saturn IB\n*Apollo 8 - first manned flight around the Moon, first manned flight of the Saturn V\n*Apollo 9 - first manned flight of the Lunar Module\n*Apollo 10 - first manned flight of the Lunar Module around the Moon\n*Apollo 11 - first manned landing on the Moon\n*Apollo 12 - first precise manned landing on the Moon\n*Apollo 13 - aborted landing after oxygen tank exploded en route\n*Apollo 14 - Alan Shepard becomes the only Mercury astronaut to walk on the moon\n*Apollo 15 - first mission with the Lunar Rover vehicle\n*Apollo 16 - first landing in the lunar highlands\n*Apollo 17 - final Apollo lunar missionCancelled Missions\n*Apollo 18 \n*Apollo 19 \n*Apollo 20Later missions using leftover Apollo hardware\n*Skylab\n*Apollo-SoyuzApollo Launch Complex Utilization
See also\n*List of lunar astronauts\n*List of artificial objects on the Moon\n*Apollo moon landing hoax accusations\n*Splashdown
References\n* Kranz, Gene. Failure is Not an Option. ISBN 0743200799. Kranz was a chief flight controller during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs.\n* Chaikin, Andrew. A Man on the Moon. ISBN 0140272011. Chaikin has interviewed all the surviving astronauts, plus many others who worked with the program.\n* Murray, Charles; Cox, Catherine B. Apollo: The Race to the Moon. ISBN 0671611011. This is an excellent account of what it took to build and fly Apollo.\n* Wilhelms, Don E. To a Rocky Moon. ISBN 0816510652. Tells the history of Lunar exploration from a geologist's point of view.\n* Pellegrino, Charles R.; Stoff, Joshua. Chariots for Apollo: The Untold Story Behind the Race to the Moon. ISBN 0380802619. Tells Grumman's story of building the Lunar Modules.\n* Lovell, Jim; Kluger, Jeffrey. Lost Moon: The perilous voyage of Apollo 13 aka Apollo 13: Lost Moon. ISBN 0618056653. Details the flight of Apollo 13.\n* Collins, Michael . Carrying the Fire; an Astronaut's journeys. Astronaut Mike Collins autobiography of his experiences as an astronaut, including his flight aboard Apollo 11, the first landing on the Moon\n* Slayton, Donald K; Cassutt, Michael. Deke! An Autobiograpy. ISBN 031285918X. This is an excellent account of Deke Slayton's life as an astronaut and of his work as chief of the astronaut office, including selection of the crews which flew Apollo to the Moon.External links
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