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Apollo 10 lift-off as viewed by fish-
eyed camera.
Apollo Text by Russell E. Chappell

Contents

Introduction 5

Man Dares to Orbit 6

Taking the Moon's Measure 12

The Systems, the People are'Go' 16

July 20 7 1969—A Dream Achieved 26

Adventure and Discovery 34

Answers to Long-standing Questions 56

In play of searchlights, Apollo 11

gleams on pad like a giant star
sapphire.

© National Geographic Society

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents,

U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402
 Introduction

It was as if man, experimenting at the the Moon? On the rim of Van Serg the Story of Creation in the first 10
verge of the River Euphrates, had just Crater, he and Astronaut Gene verses of Genesis, and then he added
learned that a hollowed-out log would Cernan got orders from Earth to de- in his own words, "God bless all of
float and had tested it timidly on a part "... immediately if not sooner." you—all of you on the good Earth."
voyage near the shore. And his "We can't ... we can't leave this," Astronaut Neil Armstrong. who put
chieftain declared, "Before the end of Schmitt insisted. "This may be the the first human footprint on the Moon,
this millenium we shall build a much youngest mantle over whatever was will forever be known for his remark
larger boat, sail it to the end of the thrown out of the craters," and, when on that historic occasion. "That's one
great Western Sea, and return safely." Cernan too insisted on staying small step for a man. one giant leap
That was where man stood, in a longer, Mission Control deferred to for mankind." But Armstrong also
sense, in 1961. He had recently the judgment of man on the scene. had something to say about what
learned how an object no larger than Cernan and Schmitt brought back a Earth means to those who have
a basketball could be rocketed into sample of the Moon that a machine, ventured away from it: "We were
orbit around the Earth. Only one on command from Earth, would have sorry to see the Moon go," he said,
mortal had yet traveled such an obediently abandoned. commenting on the liftoff of Lunar
orbital path. And the President of Then there was Apollo 13, when for Module Eagle from the Moon. "but
the United States set forth the task: the only time during the project the we were certainly glad to see that
... This nation should commit itself Apollo spacecraft failed, and the men Earth return."
to achieving the goal, before this in the black emptiness of space used Even as the men in space looked
decade is out, of landing a man on their skill and intelligence to fight for on the Earth and saw that it was good
the Moon and returning him safely —and win—their lives. They were and, compared with the dark void in
to Earth." more than 320,000 kilometers which it orbited, was small and
The decade is over and the task is (200,000 miles) from Earth on the limited, the people on Earth were
done: Project Apollo has been outward voyage and moving 3,400 discovering how they had fouled the
achieved. kilometers, (2,100 miles) c!oser to the waters and paved over the green land
How to measure the accomplish- Moon with each hour when an and wasted the resources from a
ment? As a triumph of exploration explosion in its Service Module restricted supply. Pictures that the
that landed 12 brave men on the crippled the command ship. Astro- astronauts took from space, showing
Moon? As a supreme test of nauts James Lovell Jr., Fred W. the Earth fragile and blue and vivid
technology that marshaled the brain Haise Jr., and John L. Swigert Jr. in the dark, told all who would look
and muscle of half a million people took to what they called their life raft, that three billion of us ride a
to create the world's greatest the Lunar Module Aquarius, rode it spacecraft in a deady vacuum with a
machine? As a monumental scientific around the Moon, and back to Earth, life-support system as vital to us all
inquiry that delivered billions of bits reboarding the cold and waterless as the backpack to an astronaut on
of data to investigators on Earth and Command Module Odyssey for their the lifeless Moon.
yielded new insight on the origin of successful reentry and splashdown. What the men in space could tell
the universe? Swigert was a last-minute replace- us about our plight, fortunately for
Certainly Apollo accomplished all ment for Astronaut Thomas K. the Earth and its people, was not all
of these things and did them superbly Mattingly II who had been exposed they had to tell. Their eyes and
well. Consider the machine. the to German measles during launch cameras and sensitive instruments
propellant-loaded Saturn V rocket. preparations. could pinpoint the ravished spots on
All 2.7 million kilograms (6 million "We do not realize what we have the planet. Their discoveries about
pounds) of it in three giant stages on Earth until we leave it." said the composition and possible origin
towered 28 stories above the launch Lovell, who, while on the long way of the Moon, too, tell us more about
pad at Cape Kennedy, its 11 engines home, called Earth "a grand oasis in the beginnings of our Earth and what
ready at ignition to develop the power the vastness of space." may be done to take care of it and
to send 43,000 kilograms (95,000 It was a theme voiced repeatedly its precious life-support system.
pounds) racing Moonward. It by the men who had penetrated the In terms of man's history on Earth
performed without flaw on nine void, had ventured far enough the Space Age is a mere blink of the
missions to the Moon. beyond the Earth to see it from the eye. Yet in this blink of the eye the
Regard the men, the dozen who cold and airless emptiness around dimensions of man's capabilities in
walked on the lifeless surface of the us as the frail and beautiful place it science and engineering have burst
Moon and the 15 others who flew into is in the inimical surroundings of the all shackles at a wildly accelerating
the grasp of its one-sixth gravity. The solar system. Astronaut Frank rate. The limits to what man can do
astronauts demonstrated that, how- Borman, who commanded Apollo 8. and where he may go are vanishing.
ever sophisticated the machines— the first mission to encircle the Moon, Is there any reason why we cannot,
Ranger, Lunar Orbiter or Surveyor— borrowed the eloquence of the Old as did the crew of Apollo 13, call on
that got there before him, man's intel- Testament to express his awe at the our vast technology, our science, our
ligence was essential to exploration. glory of Earthrise as seen from above own wit and courage to save
Remember Apollo 17, the final the bleak lunarscape. ourselves from the void? The Earth,
mission. and Astronaut Harrison .. And God saw that it was we all know now, is a spacecraft that
(Jack) Schmitt, the first geologist on good," he concluded his reading of must be saved to save ourselves.
 Man Dares
to
Orbit

To comprehend how the future could "Let's get on with it."

be squeezed into so small a piece of With those words. T. Keith
the present, it helps to know where Glennan, the first NASA admin-
technology stood on Oct. 4, 1957, istrator, launched Project Mercury.
when the beep of Earth-orbiting It got under way in 1961 with
Sputnik announced the dawn of the suborbital flights by Astronauts Alan
Space Age. That only 12 years later B. Shepard Jr. and Virgil I. (Gus)
men could land on the Moon and Grissom, went on to send John H.
return seems breathtakingly quick. Glenn and then M. Scott Carpenter
But the state of the art, as the on three-orbit missions and the
engineers say, was such that the six-orbit mission of Walter M. Schirra
means for exploring space were Jr. in 1962 and ended with the 22
The first seven astronauts, from left: close to hand in 1957. The Soviet orbits by L. Gordon Cooper in 1963.
M.Scott Carpenter: L.Gordon Cooper, Union, partly because of its remote It was only 20 days after Shepard's
Jr.; John H.Glenn,Jr.; Virgil I. Grissom; geography, had decided to develop 15-minute parabola down range from
Walter M.Schirra,Jr.; Alan B.Shepard, a long-range rocket as early as 1947 what was then called Cape Canaveral
Jr.; Donald K.Slayton. and, six weeks before Sputnik flew, that President John F. Kennedy went
announced that the job was done. before Congress and called for a
American scientists and engineers, national effort to send men to the
building on the German experience Moon and back. "I believe we
with the V-2, which in turn was based possess all the resources and talents
on the work of American Robert necessary." he said, ''but ... we
Goddard, had been working on have never specified long-range
rocketry for all three branches of the goals on an urgent time schedule, or
military. managed our resources and our time
Nineteen fifty-seven, moreover, was so as to insure their fulfillment."
the International Geophysical Year,
a world-wide scientific effort
scheduled to run on, oddly enough,
for 18 months and expire at the end
of 1958. Sometime during those 18
months, the United States had
promised.. a scientific satellite would
be lofted into orbit. When the bird,
the 3.6 kilogram (8 pound) Vanguard,
finally flew on March 17, 1958, it was
a month and a half after the Army's
Explorer I became the first American
satellite.
So when the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, created
by Congress to explore space,
opened for business on Oct. 1, 1958,
the new agency could draw upon
programs in being, could absorb the
very people who were doing the work
and the places where they were
doing it. From the first week of its
existence NASA was able to consider
the proposal to put a man in orbit
around the Earth, measure his
reactions in space flight, and get him
safely home.

Glenn enters Mercury spacecraft

preparatory to America's first manned
Earth orbital flight.

Redstone launches Grissom on sec- Shepard is lifted aboard helicopter

ond manned suborbital flight. after completing first U. S. manned
suborbital mission, May 5, 1961.
 And then he established the time- engines in its first stage alone would Apollo spacecraft, and the Moon
table—"before this decade is out." be more powerful than all eight of landing ship could be put together
Up to then the space agency had Saturn I's. (The little rocket on atop a tracked carrier as big as a
been thinking about a Moon voyage Apollo's escape tower, as it came baseball diamond.
as something that might take place about, had more boost than the The NASA Marshall Space Flight
at some vaguely future date in the Redstone that lifted off Alan Center in Huntsville, Ala. needed test
1970s. NASA planning was based on Shepard.) And Saturn V would have stands big enough to hold down
the development of ever-stronger to be ready and thoroughly tested Saturn V during static tests. As the
boosters. The strongest of the before 1970. command center for Apollo missions,
vehicles then being developed, the Saturn V was just one item on the the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center
Saturn I, had eight engines and 6.6 long shopping list that NASA's next was to be built at Houston, Texas.
million newtons (1.5 million pounds) administrator James E. Webb took to To track the spacecraft and collect
of thrust. It had just passed a tied- the industrial marketplace, where 95 information from them, the network
down firing test. per cent of NASA funds were to go. directed from the NASA Goddard
For a manned mission to the Moon, Cape Canaveral, soon to be renamed Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Project Apollo would need a monster Cape Kennedy, needed a building had to have new land bases around
called Saturn V; each of the five 525 feet tall where the Saturn V, the the world and ships specially

USNS Mercury, used for tracking

when Apollo spacecraft were in Earth
orbit.

Above right: Test firing of Saturn V

second stage.

Saturn V test flight. 1:

 L

Transporter carries Apollo 101Saturn

gas OA V from Vehicle Assembly Building.

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Saturn V (1st) stage at Michoud

Assembly Facility, New Orleans, La.

9
 constructed and instrumented. learn whether they could maneuver
Before men put down on the Moon two spacecraft so that they could
it would help, too. if more could be rendezvous and dock with each other
learned about the conditions there far from the Earth. That was required
than could be seen through the most by the Moon flight plan: To launch
powerful of telescopes on Earth. three men and a Moon ship into Earth
There would, in fact, have to be orbit, blast them out of orbit and off
unmanned spacecraft to fly to the to the Moon, separate a landing craft
Moon, take a close look, and report with two men from a command ship,
Mercury (foreground) and Gemini back to Earth. and finally, after the two had walked
spacecraft at manufacturer's plant. Besides all that, and a great deal on the Moon. thrust them back into
more, there would also have to be a Moon orbit for rendezvous with the
preparatory series of space flights command ship and the third man
called Project Gemini. Mercury for return to Earth.
showed that men could live and work
in space for as long as a day. To go
to the Moon and back, though, men
would have to be able to function in
space for a week or more.
Launch Escape System Under the lunar orbit rendezvous
technique adopted by NASA in July
e Command Module 1962, astronauts would also have to
Enlarged —{ Service Module
Below .11
Service Propulsion System

Five
F-I
Engin

© National Geographic Society Apollo Spacecraft

and Saturn V Launch Vehicle

Apollo Lunar Landing Mission Profile

10


Locations of ground stations used in

tracking, communicating with, and
Goldstone • •Bermuda •^?^ acquiring data from Apollo. Ships and
• Cape Canaveral aircraft also give support.
Guaymas •
• Hawaii • Grand Bahama Is. Grand Canary Is.
Corpus

• Guam Christi •Antigua

•
Ascension Is.
4 0 1
Tananarive

Carnarvon
• Canberra

Apollo 91Saturn V roll-out.

11
 Taking
the
Moon's
Measure
Sequence of pictures telecast by
Ranger 9 as it hurtled into the Moon.

Even before Gemini began to test touching down lightly and, in addition
the skills and endurance of the to sending back photos. could dig
astronauts, people on Earth got their trenches and relay back to Earth
first close-up views of the surface of important findings about the texture
the Moon. The automated Ranger 7 of the Moon.
soared from the Cape July 28, 1964, Surveyor 3 went beyond science
and, before striking the Moon, sent and engineering to pure serendipity.
back 4,316 photographs, the last one It bounced upon landing and shot a
i ♦ L •..^
1 taken 480 meters (1500 feet) above picture of one of its own footprints.
the surface. Objects less than a It was plain: the Moon's surface was
meter (yard) wide were discernible. firm enough to support a walking
Rangers 8 and 9, just as man.
successful, confirmed that there were Lunar Orbiter's task was to take
broad smooth stretches of Moon- long photographic looks at proposed
scape suitable for landings. The Apollo landing places, and the first
automated Surveyors, unlike crash- three of the series carried it out. That
landing Rangers, were capable of done, the last three Lunar Orbiters

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View across part of the vast Moon

crater Corpernicus taken by the cam-
era on Lunar Orbiter 2. From horizon
to base of photograph is about 290
kilometers (180 miles).

12
Surveyor 3 and its surface sampler
arm cast shadow on the Moon.
is
Surveyor surface sampler pauses be-
tween two trenches it dug in lunar
material.

^R

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 undertook nothing less than the job
of mapping the Moon, and their
photographs, 10 times as clear as
anything possible from an observ-
atory on Earth, covered more than
99 per cent of the Moon.
Project Gemini, meanwhile, was
showing that astronauts could do all
that was being asked of them. There
were 10 manned Gemini flights, all of
them sent into orbit by the 1.9 million
newton (430,000 pound) thrust Titan
II. On the first mission Astronauts
Virgil Grissom and John W. Young
steered their spacecraft through
three changes of orbit. On the second
Edward White clambered out of the
spacecraft and "walked" about at
the end of a golden tether.
Geminis 7 and 6, lifting off one
after the other from the Cape,
successfully rendezvoused in orbit,
and maneuvered in close formation.
Walter M. Schirra Jr., and Thomas
P. Stafford then splashed down in
6. while Frank Borman and James
A. Lovell went on to fly Gemini 7 for
206 orbits. almost two weeks in space,
and returned to Earth in good fettle.
Docking in space was first accom-
plished by Neil A. Armstrong and
David R. Scott using Gemini 8 with an
Agena stage as target vehicle. A
short circuit curtailed the mission
and forced an emergency landing in
the Pacific Ocean. Gemini 10. 11 and
12 dockings went without incident.
Now the men, both flight and
ground crews, were trained and
ready for the great voyage. They
even had an inkling of what would
await them on the Moon. All that was
wanting was the rocket and the
spacecraft to take them there.

t
1
Edward H. White 11 floats outside
Gemini 4 spacecraft during the first
walk in space by an American astro-
naut, June 3, 1965.

14
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 The Systems,
the People
are `Go'

In the excitement over Mercury not

many noticed that a Saturn I put a
boiler-plate Apollo spacecraft,
unmanned of course, into orbit in
mid-1964. And with Gemini flying few
paid heed when the next year the
giant Saturn V began static test
firings. The hardware, in short, was
hard on the heels of the men.
At this point a shocking tragedy
intervened. The three Astronauts
assigned to the first Apollo mission
perished when fire engulfed the
interior of their spacecraft during a
launch rehearsal. It was atop a Saturn
IB, January 27, 1967 at Launch
Complex 34. A stunned nation

Apollo 61Saturn V lift-oft, April 4, 1968.

This flight qualified Saturn V for sub-
sequent manned flights.
Three views of Apollo 6 launch taken
by camera mounted on the 108-meter
(360-foot) level of the umbilical tower.

16
17
 S-IV B (third stage) of Saturn V as
seen by Apollo 7 crew.

mourned Virgil I. Grissom, Edward with the spent upper stage of the
H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee. rocket. Millions saw their live TV
It would be months before the pictures. When nearly 11 days and
Apollo Program again was on a firm 163 orbits later they splashed down
operating schedule. The first launch within a mile of their recovery ship,
of a Saturn V was made in late 1967 the Apollo command and service
and, in early 1968, an unmanned modules had been thoroughly tested
Lunar Module made its first flight. —near the Earth.
The LM's ascent and descent stage
rocket motors were test fired in orbit.
Everything began falling into place
on Oct. 11, 1968, when a Saturn IB
pushed Apollo 7 into Earth orbit.
Astronauts Schirra, Donn F. Eisele,
and Walter Cunningham practiced
rendezvous and simulated docking

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Mission Control Center, Houston,
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Apollo 7 crew, left to right: Don

F.Eisele; Walter M.Schirra,Jr.; and
Walter Cunningham

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Earth-rise over the Moon as viewed
by Apollo 8 crew.

Apollo 8 ventured across nearly a

quarter of a million miles of space to
circle within 112 kilometers ( 70 miles)
of the Moon at Christmastime 1968.
The Apollo 8 crew was the first to ride
the thunder of Saturn V. Astronauts
Borman, Lovell, and William A.
Anders traveled farther, faster, and
looked closer at another celestial
body than any men before them.

Commanding officer (left) of the USS

Yorktown recovery ship introduces,
left to right, Anders, Borman, and
Lovell to his crew.

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Well-wisher waves flag as he views

Apollo 8 lift-off through binoculars.

21
 orv- I

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Lunar module gets first manned
flight test.

Apollo 9 was the first manned

operation in space of the strange
craft that would actually land men
on the Moon, the gangling Lunar
Module (LM) which the crew
christened Spider. Apollo 9 lifted off
March 3, 1969, and five days later
Astronauts James McDivitt and
Russell Schweickart took Spider off
for a test flight. On their return to the Apollo 9 crew, left to right: Russell
mother ship its pilot, David R. Scott, L.Schweickart, David R.Scott, and
said, "You're the biggest, friendliest, James A.McDivitt
funniest-looking Spider I've ever
seen."
Spider's hollow drogue fitted
delicately onto the other craft's
docking probe, and a buzzer signaled
that two such ships could indeed be
rejoined in space.
"Wow!" McDivitt cried. "I haven't
heard a sound that good for a long
time."
40

. . it e

Apollo Command Module simulator at

Kennedy Space Center, Fla., as de-
picted by artist Nicholas Solovioff.

23
 Apollo 10 Lunar Module orbits Moon.

The decade had not quite nine Apollo 10 crew, left to right: Eugene A
months to run and there still Cernan, John IN. Young, and Thomas
remained the dress rehearsal, the P.Stafford
eight-day flight of Apollo 10, which a,
was to carry out every step except jop
the landing upon the Moon itself.
This time the millions could follow it
all on color television; they saw
Apollo 10 lift off on May 18 and saw
the Earth from space for the first time
almost as vividly as the astronauts
had seen it.
"We're right there," Astronaut
Eugene A. Cernan, at the controls of
the LM, called out four days later.
"We're right over it.'' He and Stafford, Apollo 10 Command/Service Module
leaving John W. Young in orbit, flew over the Moon.
the LM down to within 15,000 meters
(50.000 feet) of the Moon's Sea of
Tranquility, the place chosen for the
first landing.
Moments later, preparing to fly
back to the mother ship, Stafford
took the controls when the LM
suddenly began to gyrate. He
straightened it out, flew back into
Moon orbit to dock with the Com-
mand and Service Module and so
started their safe return to Earth.

Crescent Earth captured on Apollo

10 film.

Half Moon as seen by Apollo 10.

24
25
 July 20,1969-
A Dream Achieved
Sketch shows spidery-legged Lunar
Module with Armstrong and Aldrin
separating from the Command Module
and Collins.

The man destined to put the first doctor of science degree in

footprint on the Moon was Neil A. astronautics. Michael Collins, with a
Armstrong, a civilian who had, in a bachelor of science degree, was to
sense, been preparing himself for the fly the Apollo command ship in
role since his birth in 1930 in parking orbit around the Moon while
Wapakoneta, Ohio. As a Navy pilot, his fellow crewmen explored below.
he flew combat in Korea, and later, Perhaps a million Americans came
as a NASA test pilot, flew the rocket- to Cape Kennedy to see them off. So
propelled X-15 at record speed into did 3,000 newsmen from 56
the fringes of space. countries, half of the U.S. Congress,
Armstrong had a degree in and the Vice President of the United
aeronautical engineering and, like States. Millions more watched the
the two Air Force officers he would launch on world-wide television.
command in Apollo 11, had President Richard Nixon prepared to
experience in space in Gemini. Edwin go aboard the carrier Hornet in the
E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr., who would be Pacific to welcome the crew back to
the second man on the Moon, had a Earth.

Michael Collins,
Command Module pilot

© National Geographic Society

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Neil A.Armstrong, Commander

Edwin E.Aldrin,Jr.,
26 Lunar Module Pilot
Armstrong and Aldrin practice Moon
landing in Lunar Module Simulator.

27
 Launch of Apollo 11, July 16,1969.

July 16, 1969, dawned fair and hot hurtled the space ship out of orbit
over the palmetto scrub on Merritt and onto a path to the Moon at 38,700
Island and the Cape. The tempera- kilometers per hour(24,200 mph).
ture was in the mid-30's Celsius Now it was time to take LM Eagle
(mid-90s Fahrenheit), the clouds at out of its shipping crate, an enclosed
4,600 meters (15,000 feet), the breeze compartment atop the launch rocket,
out of the southeast at 18 kilometers and fit Eagle to the nose of the
per hour (10 knots). The decade mother ship, Columbia. The
had not quite half a year to run. astronauts exploded the bolts that
The Apollo moonship, capped by held Columbia to the crate and blew
the escape tower and its small off the four panels that sheltered
rocket, sat atop the Saturn V. The Eagle during the ride through the
whole assembly rose 111 meters (363 Earth's atmosphere.
feet) above the pad and its sleek Columbia moved off 30 meters (100
majesty masked an intricacy of more feet), turned around, came back and
than nine million parts. docked head to head with Eagle. Now
Countdown started 28 hours ahead the third stage of Saturn V, consum-
of launch and could find flaws in only ing the splash of fuel left in it, could ,..*: LP-
two of the many parts, a leaky valve be fired off into a long orbit of the
and a faulty signal light. Both were Sun, getting it out of their path to
corrected while the three astronauts, the Moon.
who rose at 4:15 a.m., were on their Next day, the 17th, the astronauts
way to the pad in their air-condi- made their only course correction of
tioned van. the voyage out, a three-second burn
Armstrong went aboard at 6:54 and that not only sharpened up their
took position in the Apollo's lefthand heading but also tested the service
couch. Five minutes later Collins module engine that would have to get
joined him on the right and Aldrin in them into and out of orbit of the
the center. The swing arm that they Moon. That day, too, and again on
had walked across withdrew at 9:27. the 18th the crew sent color telecasts
Five minutes to liftoff and still of themselves back to Earth. In the
counting.... long hours between they amused
Neither words nor pictures, even themselves by listening to music on a
motion pictures, can tell truly the small tape recorder and once, to
thunder and lightning of Saturn V's the temporary mystification of
five great engines. The first engine Mission Control, relieved the tedium © Time, Inc.
fired eight and nine-tenths seconds by broadcasting recorded whistles
before launch and then as the others and bells.
roared into lKe that first brilliant Life aboard Apollo 11 quickened
orange-red glow became a huge on the 19th along with the speed of
fireball that grew into a tower of the spacecraft as it departed the
flame, thrusting against the Earth with reduced Earth gravity and felt the
33 million newtons (7.6 million pull of the Moon. Armstrong reported,
pounds) of fiery muscle. Not until the "The view of the Moon ... is really
great rocket had risen past the spectacular. It fills about three-
service tower did the tidal wave of quarters of the hatch window and, of
throaty thunder sweep over the awed course, we can see the entire
thousands. circumference even though part of it
Apollo 11 took off at 9:32, within a is in complete shadow and part of
fraction of a second of schedule. it's in earthshine."
"Good luck and Godspeed," Launch The growing size of the Moon
Control radioed. "Thank you very signaled that soon Apollo 11 must be
much," Armstrong replied. "We know thrust into lunar orbit, a maneuver
this will be a good flight." known to the astronauts as lunar
The great voyage to the Moon was orbit insertion (LOI). At 12:58 p.m.
under way. Eastern Standard Time Mission
From orbit of the Earth to orbit of Control gave the word:
the Moon is a three-way trip. It began "You are go for LOI."
for Apollo 11 at 12:22 p.m. on its "Roger," Aldrin replied. "Go for
second circuit of the Earth. The first LOI."
two stages of Saturn V having been Columbia's main engine thrust
jettisoned, the third stage fired and with 90,200 newtons (20,500 pounds)

Ex-President Lyndon B. Johnson and

Mrs. Johnson follow Apollo 11 liftoff.
Mr. Johnson was an ardent supporter

28 of the space program.
© National Geographic Society
Reporters and photographers from
throughout the world witness Apollo
11 lift-off.

_4

Firing Room at Kennedy Launch

Control Center.

29
 Astronaut's bootprint made in lunar l'
soil during Apollo 11 mission.

4 ^•

for six minutes, slowing the space- signs of all men in space, surged
craft so that it could be snared by the from a normal 77 to 156. He flew
Moon's gravity. A 17-second burn a Eagle beyond the boulders, beyond
little later fixed the course at 100 to a 24-meter (80-foot) crater, seeking
122 kilometers (54 to 66 nautical a smoother spot.
miles) above the Moon and, orbiting Aldrin's voice could be heard
every two hours, the astronauts calling out the altitude readings:
settled down to sleep. ''Seventy-five feet. Things looking
Next afternoon, after separating good. Lights on. Picking up some
and test-flying Eagle near Columbia, dust.Thirty feet. Two and a half down.
Armstrong and Aldrin began their Faint shadow. Four forward. Four
descent in the radio silence behind forward, drifting to the right a little.
the Moon. Not until Collins, orbiting Contact light. Okay, engine stop."
in Columbia, emerged from behind "The Eagle has landed," Armstrong
the Moon did Mission Control hear of informed Houston at 4:18 p.m.
their departure. Not many people in America got a
"Everything's going just swimming- full night's sleep. Armstrong opened
ly," Collins said. "Beautiful!'' the Eagle's hatch at 10:39 p.m. and,
Four hundred feet above the Moon, while climbing down the 3-meter
though, Armstrong and Aldrin looked (10-foot), nine-step ladder to the
down and saw that Eagle was bound Moon, deployed a television camera
for a touchdown among boulders 3 so that all on Earth could watch him.
meters (10 feet) across. Armstrong "I'm at the foot of the ladder," he
took manual control from the on- reported and at 10:56 planted his left
board computer. His heartbeat, boot on the Moon. Aldrin followed
monitored on Earth as are the vital him out at 11:11 and for two hours

Armstrong descends ladder on Lunar

Module prior to becoming first human
being to set foot upon the Moon. Black
bar is TV anomaly.

Aldrin steps down to lunar surface.

30


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Aldrin on the Moon. Face-plate re-

` f/ects the scene he sees.

31
 As the astronauts are shown stepping
from their helicopter to the carrier's
deck. Mission Control flashes "Task
Accomplished" on the big board and
proud flight controllers, technicians
and officials spring to their feet, wav-
ing flags and shouting.

and 47 minutes they worked and Eagle and after 4 in the morning when
investigated where no man had they settled down to sleep. Not long
walked before. after noon the next day, the 21st, the
They erected and saluted an astronauts fired the ascent engine
American flag, set out three scientific and launched Eagle on the first leg
instruments, collected 21 kilograms of what was to be a triumphant return
(46 pounds) of rocks and soil, talked to Earth.
to President Nixon in his Oval Office Surrounded by their historic boot
at the White House, and came to marks, the flag, and the experiment
enjoy the sensation of loping about packages at Tranquility Base, still
in one-sixth gravity. "We felt very stood the four spidery legs of the
comfortable," Armstrong later said. Eagle. On one of them a small stain-
"It was preferable both to weight- less steel plaque recorded:
lessness and to the Earth's gravity." "Here men from the planet Earth
It was well past midnight in the first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969
Eastern United States when the men A.D. We came in peace for all man-
on the Moon closed the hatch on kind."

Back inside Lunar Module after walk-

ing on Moon, Armstrong removes
helmet.

Eagle approaches Columbia for

rendezvous and docking after lift-off
from Moon.

32
 >f

Commemorative plaque on Lunar

Module leg says: "Here men from the
planet Earth first set foot upon the
Moon. July 1969, A.D. We came in
peace for all mankind." The plaque
is signed by the Apollo 11 crew
and President Richard M. Nixon.

Left to right, Armstrong, Collins, and

Aldrin smile through window of Mobile
Quarantine Facility aboard USS
Hornet after recovery.

Items left on the Moon. A silicon disc

carrying statements from Presidents
Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, and Eisen-
hower and from leaders of 73 other
nations; a gold replica of an olive
branch, traditional symbol of peace;
and the emblem of what was sched-
uled to be the first manned Apollo
flight. Astronauts Virgil (.Grissom, N
Edward H. White 11, and Roger i
B.Chaffee died in a fire in their space-
craft on the ground while practicing
for their mission.

33
 Adventure
and
Discovery

Even before the decade had run its "Boy, you sure lean forward," Bean
course, Project Apollo soared beyond remarked.
adventure seasoned with science to .. Don't think you're going to
science spiced with adventure. Apollo steam around here quite as fast as
12's Charles (Pete) Conrad, Alan L. you thought you were," Conrad
Bean, and Richard Gordon weathered replied.
a Nov. 14 launch during which a bolt Jubilant enthusiasm marked all
of lightning briefly bewildered the their activities: setting out the experi-
ship's guidance system and for the ments, finding Surveyor 3 and
first time set off on a trajectory that, snipping off bits of it for examination
unlike earlier routes, would not loop on Earth, collecting 34 kilograms (75
them around the Moon and safely pounds) of rock samples so different
home if their engines failed. from Apollo 11's as to show that the
They had to set that kind of course Moon had a complex geology indeed.
to reach their landing site in the What they fetched home so pleased
Ocean of Storms where they were to scientists that one of them, W. T.
deploy six experiments, including a Pecora, director of the U.S.
seismometer and a small nuclear Geological Survey, described
power station to operate them. Apollo 11's bag as ''a geological hors
Conrad, as Armstrong had before d'oeuvre" and Apollo 12's as ''a
him, seized control of the LM Intrepid veritable feast."
from the on-board computer and put Apollo 12 further intrigued the
himself and Bean down within 183 scientists with the first bang regis-
meters (600 feet) of the target, tered by their seismometer. After
Surveyor 3, the unmanned space- rejoining the orbiting command craft
craft that took a lucky bounce 31 Yankee Clipper, the astronauts sent
months earlier. Intrepid hurtling into the Moon at
Apollo 11's astronauts had urged 8,000 kilometers per hour (5000 mph).
that future explorations start with a On Earth that force might have
short period to get familiar with move- created a slight two-minute tremor,
ment on the Moon. Bean and Conrad, but the seismometer on the Moon
who later likened his progress to a detected shock waves for 55 minutes.
giraffe in slow motion, entered into Geophysicists now eagerly awaited
this exercise with whoops of delight. Apollo 13, which was to crash the

Apollo 12 crew, left to right: Charles

Conrad,Jr.; Richard F.Gordon, and
Alan L.Bean.

Az '' 9
C Opp

l^
G

f )TE Astronaut Bean examines the un-

1
ATE
M manned Surveyor 3 that landed on
Moon April 19, 1967. Apollo 12 Lunar
^r r
Module is on horizon.

V
i
wdr-
r^

Apollo 12 operations on Moon in

34 glare of Sun.


FIN PER-=

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 Astronauts and flight controllers
anxiously monitor consoles during
Apollo 13 mission.
r

larger Saturn V third stage on the work of computers:

Moon. In the end that was the only How to rescue Apollo 13? s
scientific chore that Apollo 13 did Something more than an hour later,
accomplish. Three days out from the an anxious world heard Mission
Cape on April 13, 1970, Astronauts Control relay the answer to Apollo
Lovell and Haise had just finished 13: "... We are now looking toward
checking out the LM Aquarius and an alternate mission, swinging around
Lovell was in the tunnel halfway back the Moon and using the LM power
to the command ship Odyssey, where systems . . .
Swigert had the controls. Suddenly, And that's what the astronauts did.
they heard "a pretty large bang." Lovell and Haise powered up
At first Lovell and Swigert thought Aquarius while Swigert battened
Haise, as planned, had merely re- down Odyssey. Early in the morning of
leased a valve in Aquarius. But Haise, April 14 the Aquarius engine fired the
returning to Odyssey, scanned the crippled expedition onto a course
instruments and saw that a main that would send it around the Moon
electrical system was decaying. and back toward Earth. For more
Swigert alerted Mission Control: than 90 hours three men rode a
"Hey, we've got a problem here." spacecraft built to accommodate two
Hundreds of technicians in Mission men for 60 hours.
Control and three men in space
coolly assessed the damage. Within t
minutes, analyzing data from ground
and space, thousands of experts at
universities and NASA contractor
plants put the problem to a vast net-

Jill

r?

Artist portrays particles from

damaged spacecraft accompanying r
Aquarius and the ruptured Odyssey
as Apollo 13 fires engine to alter
course.
 of .aaoz

a ,

wroo

JN

Val

37
 View of damaged Service Module.

Approaching Earth, they fired the

Aquarius engine again to thread
themselves through the slender gate-
way out of space, shifted to the
lifeless Odyssey, and cut loose the
damaged Service Module and their
lifeboat, the Aquarius. Carrier Iwo
Jima, steaming on station in the
Pacific Ocean, picked them up 45
minutes after splashdown, the fastest
recovery ever.
For Apollo 14, originally scheduled
to take Alan Shepard, Stuart A.
Roosa, and Edgar D. Mitchell toward
the Moon in October 1970, the mishap
spelled a change of landing site and
a delay until the following January

Separation sequence leading to re-

entry of Command Module Odyssey.

38
 Elation in Mission Control Center after
safe recovery of Apollo 13 crew.

^V
M

r -pow
'

^ 1

^ I

4 ^ e

V^

i y F

MF

^ 4

Ik
 Apollo 14 Lunar Module withdraws
from Command Module.

Tracks of Modularized Equipment

Transporter (MET) used on Apollo 14
mission lead away from Lunar Module
on Moon.

^,.
w

_ '' ^.`-•.-.tom_: -^i ,^ °""' }^^?'- '^^^^'... _

-
2S "_^^_=
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-"'^l^.w4: J _ ram•- - -
 while the spacecraft was altered to
prevent what had been pinpointed as
an explosion in an oxygen tank.
Apollo 14 finally headed for what
had been 13's destination, a landing
in the foothills of the scientifically
promising Fra Mauro region. Like
Apollo 13, Apollo 14 also aimed its
Saturn third stage at the Moon.
The first American in space and, at
47, the oldest to land on the Moon,
Shepard was grounded by an ear
infection all through Gemini. "It's
been a long way," he all but sighed
on climbing out of Antares, "but
we're here."
Shepard and Mitchell set up an
automated science laboratory that
included another seismometer. When
they later left the Moon and crashed
their empty LM on the surface,
scientists on Earth received two sets
of radioed vibrations to study.
The two Moon walkers also intro-
duced what NASA called MET (for

Shepard shades his eyes against

brilliant sunlight.

- -MRTF--

'4 .r
Alan B.Shepard,Jr. Edgar D. Mitchell Stuart A.Roosa

41
 Passive Seismic Experiment Package
(PSEP) for detecting meteorite im-
pacts and Moonquakes is in fore-
ground, central power station in rear.

modularized equipment transporter),

a two-wheeler which they took turns
pulling during two long explorations,
one of them several disappointing
yards short of an objective, Cone
Crater. Altogether Shepard spent
nearly nine and a half hours walking
on the Moon, Mitchell a few minutes
less.
In light of Shepard's final act on
the Moon the MET might better have
been called a caddy cart. Just before
reboarding Antares, he took two golf
balls from his Moon suit and, after
one whiffy, one-handedly drove them
into the airless one-sixth gravity with
the handle of a geological tool.
"There it goes," he exulted. "Miles
and miles."
Actually, Shepard estimated after-
wards, the first went about 180
meters (200 yards) and the second
360 meters (400 yards).

Near rim of Cone Crater, the Apollo 14

astronauts encountered rocks nearly
as big as a meter (3 feet) in diameter.

• f -

y ^^

— f L = _+ 1 .-ram , ^ - ids^. -. , ^.- ^ J -t ^ '

^J. ..

42
View of entire Apollo Lunar Surface
Experiment Package array except
nuclear power source.

Charged Particle Lunar Environment Mitchell operates TV camera.

Experiment (CPLEE) in foreground de-
tects atomic particles from space.

Suprathermal Ion Detector (SIDE) in

foreground detects ions (atoms from
which electrons have been stripped)
in lunar environment.

Mitchell takes handtool from MET.

Radioisotope Thermoelectric Gener-

ator for ALSEP in foreground, beside
I
astronaut's shadow.

t
 Travel grew easier for men on the James B. Irwin salutes U.S. flag beside
Moon with Apollo 15. David R. Scott, Lunar Module and lunar rover. Hadley
15's commander, boarded a battery- Delta is in background.
powered jeep-like vehicle on the
Moon on July 31, 1971, and pro-
nounced it ''a reasonable fit."
"OK, Dave,'' said Mission Control.
"And buckle up for safety."
NASA called it LRV (for lunar
roving vehicle) and the New York
News called it "the merry moon-
mobile. The astronauts came to call it
the Rover and with its help Scott and
James B. Irwin logged more than 18
hours of travel from the LM Falcon's
base on the Marsh of Decay to the •
foothills of the 4,500-meter (15,000-
foot) Apennine Mountains and the

r '*,t
2.

^-
.:::g

Scott reaches for lunar rock sample.

4'^ T

David R.Scott in lunar rover

71

44
 UN7 ^
TA-1

W-7

44*1^

CA

AIr

^c

NORM w
%v
_ ±!'t^ ::ice ^: 4 ^r ^ «^ ^t'^4.t ^ !^ } - ^ J! .... , ^

Hadley Delta (mountain) and St.

George Crater.

AI R

45
 Oblique view of Hadley-Apennine
area, lower center, as photographed
by camera in SIM bay of Apollo 15
Command Module in lunar orbit.

1.6 kilometer (mile)-wide180 to 360-

meter-deep (600 to 1,200-foot-deep)
Hadley Rille.
When Scott and Irwin had finished
their investigations, the television ^ r
audience on Earth could see for the
r *I
first time the liftoff of the LM to rejoin
Alfred M. Worden in the Endeavour.
The scene was picked up by the
camera mounted on the abandoned
Rover. On the way home Worden Y
recorded a notable first: a walk in
deep space, more than 317,000
kilometers (197,000 miles) from Earth,
to retrieve film from cameras in the
Service Module before it was
discarded.
• :sue%

.:.
6
AM
After splashdown, left to right: Scott,
Irwin, and Worden.

lam

Mapping camera shoots overlapping

pictures (light squares) as laser altim-
eter (dashed lines) measures dis-
tance to Moon's surface and stellar
camera simultaneously photographs
star field to determine precise atti-
tude of the Moon-orbiting Endeavour. i
Panoramic camera takes wider ex- t
posures (dark area).
i
© National Geographic Society 1

46 4.
With instruments of increasing so- Suprathermal Ion Detector ( 5): Regis- gauges Earth- Moon distances to an
phistication, six Apollo landings on ters the rate at which ions are created accuracy of less than six inches.
the Moon set up a network of minia- in the Moon's tenuous atmosphere
ture laboratories. Exceeding their life and detects ions from space. Lunar Surface Gravimeter (11): De-
expectancies, most of the devices— tecting changes as small as 1/10
here drawn to scale—still send tor- Cold Cathode Ion Gauge (6): Captur- billionth in the force of the Moon's
rents of data to Earth. ing particles of the Moon's thin at- gravity field, this experiment is
mosphere, the gauge monitors its searching for the gravitational waves
Subsatellite (1): Deployed from the constantly changing density. predicted in Einstein's theory of
orbiting Command Module, this un- relativity.
manned satellite radios data on solar Lunar Surface Magnetometer ( 7):
wind, cosmic rays, the Moon's weak Sensors at the ends of the three Lunar Atmospheric Composition Ex-
magnetic field, and its irregular gravi- booms record the Moon's slight mag- periment (12): This sophisticated
tational field. netic field. analyzer of lunar gases was carried
only by Apollo 17, as were devices
Active Seismic Experiment (2): After Charged Particle Lunar Environment 11 and 13.
the Lunar Module departs, a mortar (8): This device records the flow of
hurls grenadelike charges as far as particles hurled outward by the Sun. Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites Experi-
3,000 feet. Detonations send seismic including those that cause Earth ment (13): Impacting micrometeorites
signals to geophones, revealing sub- auroras. and the surface fragments they dis-
surface differences. lodge generate electrical signals that
Passive Seismic Experiment (9): Re- reveal the particles' speed, direction,
Heat-Flow Experiment ( 3): Probe cording moonquakes and meteorite and mass.
planted eight feet in the lunar soil impacts, the seismometer enables
holds sensors that measure heat flow- scientists to draw profiles of the lunar
ing from the interior. interior.

Solar Wind Spectrometer (4): This Laser Ranging Retroreflector ( 10):

measures the number of electrons Bouncing laser pulses back to Earth,
and protons streaming from the Sun, the reflector measures Earth rotation,
Text describing experiments reprinted
as well as their velocity, direction, polar motion, and continental drift, with permission of National Geographic
and temperature. as well as aspects of lunar physics. It Society, © 1973.

47
 ! .^. ,^,,,^ ..... ^ ••-
_aste _

i::. _ _ may, y `'.

..ate• .^ a►

i ar

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^
^
- _ a - i _ ^•^,:'
^f _ yam.. .^ ^P .p

:Itlu--i

dip• _

In

48
 Apollo 16 astronaut Charles M.Duke,
Jr., collects samples at rim of Plum
Crater. Lunar rover is in background.

Edward I.Fendell, seated at console in

Mission Control, remotely controlled
TV camera that astronauts set up
on Moon. Scenes were fed directly to
television networks.

Like 15 before it and 17 yet to

come, Apollo 16 used an advanced
configuration of the spacecraft that
got a load as big as a moving van to
the Moon. Apollo 16 Commander
John W. Young and LM Pilot Charles
M. Duke Jr. also were the first astro-
nauts to land in the Moon's highlands,
putting down April 20, 1972, on the
rock-strewn plains of the Descartes
region.
But for six tense hours there was

IW

Young stands amid ALSEP array he

and Duke deployed on Moon.

...r '^ 4

49
I` /V
 Color enhanced ultraviolet photo-
graph of Earth taken on Moon by
Apollo 16 shows regions of atomic
oxygen and molecular nitrogen in
Earth's atmosphere and airglow
bands.

doubt that they would be able to land

on the Moon at all. It happened just
after their LM Orion separated from
the command ship Casper and
minutes before they were to descend.
Casper's pilot Thomas K. Mattingly
II found that his main engine
vibrated while on secondary steering.
While both ships continued in neigh-
boring orbits, an actual engine test
and two simulated tests by computer
were conducted on Earth.
Finally Young and Duke were
cleared to land and they ultimately
spent a record 71 hours and two
minutes on the Moon. They ventured
Apollo 16 Ultraviolet Camera/Spec- forth three times and set up still
trograph on Moon. It photographed another nuclear-powered laboratory,
ultraviolet light emitted by Earth and the fourth, on the Moon.
other celestial objects.

John W.Young, above, Charles

M.Duke,Jr., far left, and Thomas
K.Mattingly 11

51

J
 - = y

Photo from Lunar Module catches - .__• I

Command/Service Module, in
distance, passing over Apollo 17
landing site.

Stiff plasticized maps are taped to-

gether to patch rover's broken fender.

^V

52
 Panoramic view of Apollo 17 ALSEP.
North Massif is in background.

Apollo 17 wound up the project

with a night launch on Dec. 7, 1972.
That was unusual enough, but the
most interesting distinction of the
mission was the first auto repair on
Ft the Moon. Just after unloading the
Rover, Apollo 17's commander, Gene
Cernan, damaged a fender with a
hammer and patched it with adhesive
tape. On his first venture out with
geologist Jack Schmitt, the fender
fell off altogether and Cernan,
troubled like all others on the Moon
by the dust, exclaimed, "Oh, it pretty

Sculptured Hills overlook another

^ view of ALSEP.
a
4
ae-

Eno

Pale orange soil discovered during

second EVA excited lunar scientists.
It hinted of ancient volcanic activity.

53


op^V^:..:
Y r A`f• ^ 1

_ of

r f

ii., 11 3 ^ y. Aw
v^
'c.•r

"gat

wy^ eN " 1j ' t*'

^r

„y r 0
0 !",

^^►-- ^^: .ram

Schmitt examines huge split lunar

boulder.

Lunar farewell. Last Apollo crew

viewed this Earthrise on Moon as they
prepared to rocket out of lunar orbit
back to Earth.

54
 Apollo 17 astronauts, left to right:
Harrison H.Schmitt, Ronald E.Evans, ^^-
and, seated, Eugene A.Cernan.

me -r •

Vee IT

II

near makes me sick at losing that

fender."
Later on, with coaching from the
sidelines in Houston, the astronauts
taped together a fender of sorts from
unused plastic-coated map sheets.
It was near the end of their third
exploration that Cernan and Schmitt,
as related earlier, convinced Mission
Schmitt collects rock sample. Control that they should linger to get
a core sample from a trench near the
Sculptured Hills. They also electrified
observers on Earth by finding orange-
colored soil in the Taurus-Littrow
Valley, which hinted strongly at an
ancient volcanic eruption on the
Moon.

OF

Cernan (left) and Evans drift before

camera in their spacecraft.

Evans is hoisted aboard helicopter

after splashdown. Recovery vessel in
background.

55
 Answers
to
Long-standing
Questions

Project Apollo operations, ended and that the Moon was formed more Photomicrograph of lunar igneous
with the splashdown and recovery of than four billion years ago in a rock distinctly shows individual
Apollo 17's America in the Pacific on manner and place still to be mineral grains.
Dec. 17, 1972. A dozen men walked determined.
and rode over 110 kilometers (60 The findings stream in steadily—
miles) on the surface of the Moon, from laboratories in 16 nations where
spending a total of 160 man-hours scientists have been studying the
and conducting more than 50 major 382 kilograms (841 pounds) of rock
scientific experiments. and soil and the many thousands of
What did they learn? photographs brought home by Apollo.
They learned, for an example, that After the last mission was flown,
the center of the Moon's mass is on what's more, a dozen experiments
the side nearer the Earth, that the planted on the Moon in five lunar
Moon was hot at some time and may laboratories have continued to pour Lunar rock named "Big Mulie," col-
still be hot at its core, that its information back to Earth. lected on Apollo 16 mission, is
chemical composition is very like the What this tells about the Moon examined at Lunar Receiving Labora-
Earth's but in different proportions matters mostly for what it tells about tory, Houston, Texas.

56
 WNW
JKA

OWN
•
Air

46

/
p.

44

wol*
;

IK -0
044

40 410^

4!i
 the Earth and the Sun, the spacecraft Earth Crust
that carries three billion of us and the
great energy source so essential to
our survival. From clues gathered on
the Moon science,is beginning to
piece together the history of the
Earth and the Sun and round out our
understanding of our environment.
That understanding, as Jack
Schmitt once put it, is needed "so Mantle
that we can start to tackle this long-
term-50, 100, 200-year—problem,
the problem of preserving and pro-
tecting the environment on the Earth."

Glass splash on lunar rock. Dark

bubbly looking material is glass
formed when a meteorite impacted
the Moon. It was still hot when it
struck this rock and stuck in place.

Instruments set up by Apollo expe-

ditions have detected distinct layering
beneath the surface of the Moon.
The Moon appears to be solid to a
depth of approximately 800 kilome-
ters (roughly 500 miles), which is
about halfway to its center. The Moon
is at least partially molten at depths
below 1000 kilometers (600 miles).
Contrary to prevailing pre-Apollo
opinion that the Moon was cold, the
Moon seems to have a warm interior.
Apollo instruments detected heat
flowing outward from the Moon's in-
terior at a rate slightly lower than that
of Earth but surprisingly large for the
Moon's size. These artist's render-
ings compare the internal structures
of the Moon and Earth.

Moon Crust

Mantle

© National Geographic Society Core

Photomicrograph shows a rock almost
entirely feldspar, and therefore,
anorthosite.

Most of the material in this photo-

micrograph is lunar glass. Note swirls
caused by flow of glass when it was
still hot enough to be fluid.

Ultraviolet images of very hot blue

stars near the center of the Milky Way
appear in this ultraviolet camera
exposure. Streaks are caused by the
Moon's rotation during 30-minute
exposure. Bright object at lower left
is not a star, but the planet Jupiter.

59

Apollo expeditions landed on and Apollo 17: Massifs

explored six areas of the Moon. Their created by the impact

locations are shown on the Moon map that dug the Serenita-
on opposite page. Their principal tis basin guard the val-
physical features are briefly de- ley of Taurus-Littrow.
scribed and depicted on this page. After lava filled the
valley some 3.7 billion
years ago, an ava-
lanche brought down
highland rock, putting
it handily in reach of
the lunar explorers.

^P-^ r

Apollo 15: The Apen-

nine Mountains soar
nearly 5 kilometers
(three miles), and
enigmatic Hadley Rille
slashes a 300 meters Apollo II: Jumbled
(1,000-toot) canyon boulders ejected from
at the spectacular site. whitish West crater
This mission and covered this first lunar
Apollo 14: Ejecta Apollo 16 collected site. Neil Armstrong,
thrown up by the Im- highland rock dated as clearing West's debris,
Apollo 12: This mis- brium impact, 1120 being more than 4 bil- found a level area for
sion alighted on a ray, kilometers (700 miles) lion years old, setting down. The site
or band of ejecta, distant, formed the Fra lies in Mare Tran-
blasted from the Mauro hills site. Mis- quillitatis, which filled
crater Copernicus, sion samples give a with lava 3.7 billion
400 kilometers (250 date for the cataclysm: years ago.
miles) to the north. about 4 billion years
The ray lies atop ago. Basalts of Oce-
Oceanus Procellarum, anus Procellarum lap
composed of layers of against the hills, prov-
dark mare basalt that ing that the uplands
welled upward from predate the lava flows.
the mantle some 3.2
billion years ago. Apollo 16: Seeking
rocks from loftier ter-
rain, Apollo 16 visited
the Descartes high-
lands. Debris hurled
from North Ray crater,
right, and nearby
South Ray crater
strews the surface,
while beneath lie de-
posits from more
ancient meteorite im-
pacts. These high-
lands and those of
Apollo 14, 15, and 17
abound with breccias
—rock fragments and
soil that have adhered
because of the heat
Text and illustrations describing lunar
sites reprinted with permission of
and pressure of im-
National Geographic Society, © 1973. pacts.

60 * U.S. GPO : 1974 0-548-563

Apollo lunar landing sites.

61
 Highlights of Manned Space Flights

Spacecraft Crew Date Fight Time Revolutions Remarks

Name (Hrs., Min., Sec.)

Mercury Freedom 7 Alan B. Shepard, Jr. 5/5/61 00:15:22 Suborbital America's first manned spaceflight.

Liberty Bell 7 Virgil I. Grissom 7/21/61 00:15:37 Suborbital Evaluated spacecraft functions.

Friendship 7 John H. Glenn, Jr. 2/20/62 04:55:23 3 America's first manned orbital space
flight.

Aurora 7 M. Scott Carpenter 5/24/62 04:56:05 3 Initiated research experiments to

further future space efforts.

Sigma 7 Walter M. Schirra, Jr. 10/3/62 09:13:11 6 Developed techniques and procedures
applicable to extended time in space.

Faith 7 L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. 5/15-16/63 34:19:49 22 Met the final objective of the Mercury
program—spending one day in space.

Gemini Gemini 3 Virgil I. Grissom 3/23/65 04:52:31 3 America's first two-man space flight.
John W.Young

Gemini 4 James A. McDivitt 6/3-7/65 97:56:12 62 First walk in space by an American

Edward H. White, II astronaut. First extensive maneuver
of spacecraft by pilot.

Gemini 5 L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. 8/21-29/65 190:55:14 120 Eight day flight proved man's capacity
Charles Conrad, Jr. for sustained functioning in space
environment.

Gemini 7 Frank Borman 12/4-18/65 330:35:01 206 World's longest manned orbital flight.
James A. Lovell, Jr.

Gemini 6A Walter M. Schirra, Jr. 12/15-16/65 25:51 :24 16 World's first successful space
Thomas P. Stafford rendezvous.

Gemini 8 Neil A. Armstrong 3/16-17/66 10:41 :26 6.5 First docking of two vehicles in space.
David R. Scott

Gemini 9A Thomas P. Stafford 6/3-6/66 72:20:50 45 Three rendezvous of a spacecraft and

Eugene A. Cernan a target vehicle. Extravehicular
exercise-2 hours, 7 minutes.

Gemini 10 John W. Young 7/18-21 /66 70:46:39 43 First use of target vehicle as source of
Michael Collins propellant power after docking. New
altitude record-475 miles.

Gemini 11 Charles Conrad, Jr. 9/12-15/66 71:17:08 44 First rendezvous and docking in initial
Richard F. Gordon, Jr. orbit. First multiple docking in space.
First formation flight of two space
vehicles joined by a tether. Highest
manned orbit—apogee about 853
miles.

Gemini 12 James A. Lovell, Jr. 11 /11-15/66 94:34:31 59 Astronaut walked and worked outside
Edwin E. Aldrin. Jr. of orbiting spacecraft for more than
5 1/2 hours—a record proving that a
properly equipped and prepared man
can function effectively outside of
his space vehicle. First photograph of
a solar eclipse from space.

62
 Spacecraft Crew Date Fight Time Revolutions Remarks
Name (Hrs., Min., Sec.)

Apollo Apollo 7 Walter H. Schirra 10/11-22/68 260:8:45 163 First manned Apollo flight
Donn Eisele demonstrated the spacecraft, crew
Walter Cunningham and support elements. All performed
as required.

Apollo 8 Frank Borman 12/21-27/68 147:00:41 10 rev. History's first manned flight to the
James A. Lovell, Jr. of Moon vicinity of another celestial body.
William Anders
6
Apollo 9 James A. McDivitt 3/3-13/69 241:00:53 151 First all-up manned Apollo flight (with
David R. Scott Saturn V and command, service. and
Russell L. Schweickart lunar modules). First Apollo EVA.
First docking of CSM with LM.

Apollo 10 Thomas P. Stafford 5/18-26/69 192:03:23 31 rev. Apollo LM descended to within 9 miles
John W. Young of Moon of Moon and later rejoined CSM.
Eugene A. Cernan First rehearsal in lunar environment.

Apollo 11 Neil A. Armstrong 7/16-24/69 195:18:35 30 rev. First landing of men on the Moon,
Michael Collins of Moon Total stay time: 21 hrs., 36 min.
Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.

Apollo 12 Charles Conrad, Jr. 11/14-24/69 244:36:25 45 rev. Second manned exploration of the
Richard F. Gordon, Jr. of Moon Moon. Total stay time: 31 hrs., 31 min.
Alan L. Bean

Apollo 13 James A. Lovell; Jr. 4/11-17/70 142:54:41 — Mission aborted because of service
John L. Swigert, Jr. module oxygen tank failure.
Fred W. Haise, Jr.

Apollo 14 Alan B. Shepard, Jr. 1/31-2/9/71 216:01:59 34 rev. First manned landing in and explora-
Stuart A. Roosa of Moon tion of lunar highlands. Total stay
Edgar D. Mitchell time: 33 hrs., 31 min.

Apollo 15 David R. Scott 6/26-7/7/71 295:11:53 74 rev. First use of lunar roving vehicle.
Alfred M. Worden of Moon Total stay time: 66 hrs., 55 min.
James B. Irwin

Apollo 16 John W. Young 3/16-27/72 265:51:05 64 rev. First use of remote controlled tele-
Thomas K. Mattingly II of Moon vision camera to record lift-off of the
Charles M. Duke, Jr. LM ascent stage from the lunar
surface. Total stay time: 71 hrs.,2 min.

Apollo 17 Eugene A. Cernan 12/7-19/72 301:51:59 75 rev. Last manned lunar landing and
Ronald E. Evans of Moon exploration of the Moon in the Apollo
Harrison H. Schmitt program returned 243 lbs. of lunar
samples to Earth. Total stay time:
75 hrs.

63
EP-100 Produced by the Office of Public Affairs
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Washington, D.C. 20546