The Apollo missions were a series of spacecraft launched by NASA in the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Apollo program, with the goal of landing humans on the Moon and bringing them safely back to Earth. These missions represented a major milestone in space exploration, as they were the first successful manned missions to the Moon.
The Apollo program was initiated by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, in response to the Soviet Union’s successful launch of the first manned spacecraft, Sputnik. Kennedy’s goal was for the United States to land a man on the Moon by the end of the decade, and the Apollo missions were designed to achieve this goal.
The first manned mission of the Apollo program was Apollo 7, which was launched in October 1968. This mission was followed by a series of other successful manned missions, including Apollo 8, which orbited the Moon, and Apollo 11, which landed the first humans on the Moon in July 1969. Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were the first two astronauts to step foot on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins stayed in orbit aboard the command module.
The Apollo program continued with several more missions, including Apollo 12, which landed on the Moon’s surface in November 1969, and Apollo 13, which was intended to be a lunar landing mission but was forced to abort due to a malfunction on the spacecraft. The final manned mission of the Apollo program was Apollo 17, which landed on the Moon in December 1972.
Throughout the course of the Apollo program, a total of 12 astronauts walked on the Moon, conducting experiments and collecting samples of lunar rock and soil. The Apollo missions also paved the way for future space exploration, including the development of the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.