The Apollo Program

 

 

Considered by many to be America's most signficant achievement in science, technology, and exploration, the Apollo Program ran from 1961-1972, and featured 11 manned missions from 1968-1972, six of which (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) resulted in landing American astronauts on the lunar surface, fulfilling President John F. Kennedy's goal of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth."  Apollo 7 and 9 were missions conducted in Earth orbit to test the Command and Lunar Modules and Apollos 8 and 10 tested various components of spacecraft while orbiting the moon. Although Apollo 13 failed to make a lunar landing due to an explosion en route to the moon, its dramatic rescue is considered by some to be NASA's finest hour. The six missions that landed on the moon returned a wealth of scientific data and almost 400 kilograms of lunar samples. Experiments included those related to soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind.

 

Many years ago, the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why he wanted to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."  Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.                                                                                                                   -President John F. Kennedy, Houston, Texas, 12 September 1962

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I sat on top of that thing.  Twice.  The Saturn V was a living, breathing beast.    -Gene Cernan, Apollo 10, Apollo 17

 

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Here we came all this way to the moon, and yet the most significant thing we saw once we got there was our own home planet, the Earth. -Bill Anders, Apollo 8

 

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It’s total, complete silence and that beautiful view, then the realization, of course, that you’re going 25,000 miles an hour.  You recognize that you’re not there because you deserve to be there…that you’re just lucky.  You’re there to be a representative, at that point in history, having that experience, in a sense, for the rest of mankind.   -Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9

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It was almost dangerous.  You lose sight of the fact that it’s a vacuum out there and if you spring a leak, you’re dead.   -Charlie Duke, Apollo 16