The Apollo missions were a series of space missions, both manned and unmanned, flown by NASA between 1961 and 1975. They culminated with a series of manned moon landings between 1969 and 1972.
Launch vehicles[]
The Apollo program used four types of launch vehicles:
- Little Joe II - unmanned suborbital launch escape system development.
- Saturn I - unmanned suborbital and orbital hardware development.
- Saturn IB - unmanned and manned earth orbit development and operational missions.
- Saturn V - unmanned and manned earth orbit and lunar missions.
The Marshall Space Flight Center, which designed the Saturn rockets, referred to the flights as Saturn-Apollo (SA), while 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. Dates given below are dates of launch.
Unmanned missions[]
Saturn I[]
Mission | LV Serial No | Launch Date | Launch Time | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|
SA-1 | S-101 | 27 October 1961 | 15:06 GMT | Test of the Saturn 1 Rocket |
SA-2 | S-102 | 25 April 1962 | 14:00 GMT | 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. |
SA-3 | AS-103 | 16 November 1962 | 17:45 GMT | Repeat of the SA-2 mission. |
SA-4 | AS-104 | 28 March 1963 | 20:11 GMT | Test effects of premature engine shutdown |
SA-5 | AS-105 | 29 January 1964 | 16:25 GMT | First flight of live second stage |
A-101 | AS-106 | 28 May 1964 | 17:07 GMT | Tested the structural integrity of a boilerplate Apollo Command and Service Module |
A-102 | AS-107 | 18 September 1964 | 17:22 GMT | Carried the first programmable computer on the Saturn I vehicle; last test flight |
A-103 | AS-109 | 16 February 1965 | 14:37 GMT | Carried Pegasus A micrometeorite satellite plus a CSM boilerplate |
*A-104 | AS-108 | 25 May 1965 | 07:35 GMT | Carried Pegasus B micrometeorite satellite plus a CSM boilerplate |
A-105 | AS-110 | 30 July 1965 | 13:00 GMT | Carried Pegasus C micrometeorite satellite plus a CSM boilerplate |
Pad abort tests[]
Mission | Launch Date | Launch Time | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
Pad Abort Test-1 | 7 November 1963 | 16:00 GMT | Launch Escape System (LES) abort test from launch pad. |
Pad Abort Test-2 | 29 June 1965 | 13:00 GMT | LES pad abort test of near Block-I CM. |
Little Joe II[]
Mission | LV Serial No | Launch Date | Launch Time | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|
QTV | 28 August 1963 | 13:05 GMT | Little Joe II qualification test. | |
A-001 | 13 May 1964 | 13:00 GMT | LES transonic test failed. | |
A-002 | 8 December 1964 | 15:00 GMT | LES maximum altitude, Max-Q abort test. | |
A-003 | 19 May 1965 | 13:01 GMT | LES canard maximum altitude abort test. | |
A-004 | 20 January 1966 | 15:17 GMT | LES test of maximum weight, tumbling Block-I CM. |
Unmanned Apollo-Saturn IB and Saturn V[]
Mission | Rocket | LV Serial No | Launch Date | Launch Time | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AS-201 | Saturn IB | AS-201 | 26 February 1966 | 16:12 GMT | First test flight of Saturn IB rocket |
AS-203 | Saturn IB | AS-203 | 5 July 1966 | 14:53 GMT | Investigated effects of weightlessness on fuel tanks of S-IVB. Sometimes informally called Apollo 2. |
AS-202 | Saturn IB | AS-202 | 25 August 1966 | 17:15 GMT | Sub-orbital test flight of Command and Service Module. Sometimes informally called Apollo 3. |
Apollo 4 | Saturn V | AS-501 | 9 November 1967 | 12:00 GMT | First test of the Saturn V booster |
Apollo 5 | Saturn IB | AS-204 | 22 January 1968 | 22:48 GMT | Test of the Saturn IB booster and Lunar Module |
Apollo 6 | Saturn V | AS-502 | 4 April 1968 | 16:12 GMT | Test of the Saturn V booster |
Skylab 1 | Saturn INT-21 | AS-513 | 14 May 1973 | 17:30 GMT | Unmanned launch of Skylab 1 workshop using Saturn INT-21 (two-stage version of the Saturn V booster). Last flight of Saturn V booster. |
Manned missions[]
Mission | Rocket | LV Serial No | Commander | Senior Pilot or Command Module Pilot | Pilot or Lunar Module Pilot | CM Name | LM Name | Launch Date | Launch Time | Duration |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apollo 1 | Saturn IB | AS-204 | Grissom | White | Chaffee | N/A | No LM | 21 February 1967 (Planned) | N/A | N/A |
Unlaunched - On 27 January 1967 Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee were killed when a fire erupted in their Apollo spacecraft during a test on the launch pad. | ||||||||||
Apollo 7 | Saturn IB | AS-205 | Schirra | Eisele | Cunningham | N/A | No LM | 11 October 1968 | 15:02 GMT | 10d 20h 09m 03s |
First manned Apollo flight, first manned flight of the Saturn IB. Only manned Apollo launch not from LC 39 | ||||||||||
Apollo 8 | Saturn V | AS-503 | Borman | Lovell | Anders | N/A | No LM | 21 December 1968 | 12:51 GMT | 06d 03h 00m 42s |
First manned flight around the Moon, first manned flight of the Saturn V. | ||||||||||
Apollo 9 | Saturn V | AS-504 | McDivitt | Scott | Schweickart | Gumdrop | Spider | 3 March 1969 | 16:00 GMT | 10d 01h 00m 54s |
First manned flight of the Lunar Module. | ||||||||||
Apollo 10 | Saturn V | AS-505 | Stafford | Young | Cernan | Charlie Brown | Snoopy | 18 May 1969 | 16:49 GMT | 08d 00h 03m 23s |
First manned flight of the Lunar Module around the Moon. | ||||||||||
Apollo 11 | Saturn V | AS-506 | Armstrong | Collins | Aldrin | Columbia | Eagle | 16 July 1969 | 13:32 GMT | 08d 03h 18m 35s |
First manned landing on the Moon, 20 July. | ||||||||||
Apollo 12 | Saturn V | AS-507 | Conrad | Gordon | Bean | Yankee Clipper | Intrepid | 14 November 1969 | 16:22 GMT | 10d 04h 36m 24s |
First precise manned landing on the Moon. Recovered part of Surveyor 3 probe. | ||||||||||
Apollo 13 | Saturn V | AS-508 | Lovell | Swigert | Haise | Odyssey | Aquarius | 11 April 1970 | 19:13 GMT | 05d 22h 54m 41s |
Oxygen tank exploded en route, forcing cancellation of landing. First (and, as of 2007, only) manned non-orbital lunar flight. | ||||||||||
Apollo 14 | Saturn V | AS-509 | Shepard | Roosa | Mitchell | Kitty Hawk | Antares | 31 January 1971 | 21:03 GMT | 09d 00h 01m 58s |
Alan Shepard, the sole astronaut of the Mercury MR-3 mission - and thus the first American in space - walks (and plays golf) on the Moon. | ||||||||||
Apollo 15 | Saturn V | AS-510 | Scott | Worden | Irwin | Endeavour | Falcon | 26 July 1971 | 13:34 GMT | 12d 07h 11m 53s |
First mission with the Lunar Rover vehicle. | ||||||||||
Apollo 16 | Saturn V | AS-511 | Young | Mattingly | Duke | Casper | Orion | 16 April 1972 | 17:54 GMT | 11d 01h 51m 05s |
First landing in the lunar highlands. | ||||||||||
Apollo 17 | Saturn V | AS-512 | Cernan | Evans | Schmitt | America | Challenger | 7 December 1972 | 05:33 GMT | 12d 13h 51m 59s |
Final Apollo lunar mission, first night launch, only mission with a professional geologist. |
Canceled lunar missions[]
- Main article: Canceled Apollo missions
Mission name/designation | Commander | CM
Pilot |
LM
Pilot |
Mission date | Date of cancellation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apollo 18 | Gordon | Brand | Schmitt | February 1972 | 2 September 1970 |
Budget cuts - NOTE: The Apollo 15 designation was re-used as Apollo 16 became 15, 17 became 16, and 18 became 17. | |||||
Apollo 19 | Haise | Pogue | Carr | July 1972 | 2 September 1970 |
Budget cuts | |||||
Apollo 20 | Conrad or Roosa | Weitz | Lousma | December 1972 to February 1973 | 4 January 1970 |
Launch vehicle needed to launch Skylab |
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Post-Apollo missions using Apollo hardware and Saturn IB[]
Mission | Rocket | LV
Serial No |
Commander | Pilot | Science Pilot | Launch Date | Launch Time | Duration |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Skylab 2 | Saturn IB | AS-206 | Conrad | Weitz | Kerwin | 25 May 1973 | 13:00 GMT | 28d 00h 49m 49s |
First crew of the Skylab Space Station. | ||||||||
Skylab 3 | Saturn IB | AS-207 | Bean | Lousma | Garriott | 28 July 1973 | 11:10 GMT | 59d 11h 09m 34s |
Second Skylab crew. SM thruster malfunction nearly necessitated a Rescue Mission. | ||||||||
Skylab 4 | Saturn IB | AS-208 | Carr | Pogue | Gibson | 16 November 1973 | 14:01 GMT | 84d 01h 15m 31s |
Third and final Skylab crew. Penultimate flight of Apollo. | ||||||||
Mission | Rocket | LV Serial No | Commander | CM
Pilot |
Docking Module Pilot | Launch Date | Launch Time | Duration |
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (Apollo 18) | Saturn IB | AS-209 | Stafford | Brand | Slayton | 15 July 1975 | 12:20 GMT | 09d 01h 28m |
Final flight of both Apollo and the Saturn Ib. Rendezvous and docking with Soyuz 19 spacecraft. The inadvertent entry of toxic gases into the cabin atmosphere created a potentially life-threatening health risk to the astronauts during re-entry. |