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Project Apollo was a series of Human Spaceflight missions undertaken by the United States Of America using the Apollo Spacecraft and Saturn Launch Vehicle , conducted during the years 1961–1972. Developed by North American Aviation , 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 July 1969. The program continued into the early 1970s to carry out the initial hands-on scientific exploration of the Moon, with a total of six successful landings. As of 2006, there has not been any further human spaceflight beyond Low Earth Orbit . The later Skylab Program and the joint American-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz Test Project used equipment originally produced for Apollo, and are often considered to be part of the overall program. The name Apollo , like earlier manned space-flight programs, was named after a god from Classical Civilization s, and comes from one of the Greek gods. BACKGROUND The Apollo Program was originally conceived late in the Eisenhower administration as a follow-on to the Mercury Program , doing advanced manned earth-orbital missions. In fact, it became the third program, following Gemini . The Apollo Program was dramatically reoriented to an aggressive lunar landing goal by President Kennedy with his announcement at a special joint session of Congress on May 25 , 1961 : :"...I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish..." (Excerpt from "Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs". {Link without Title} ) CHOOSING A MISSION MODE Having settled upon the Moon as a target, the Apollo mission planners were faced with the challenge of designing a set of flights that would meet Kennedy's stated goal while minimizing risk to human life, cost and demands on technology and astronaut skill. Four possible plans were considered.
In contrast with the other plans, the LOR plan required only a small part of the spacecraft to land on the moon, thereby minimizing the mass to be launched from the moon's surface for the return trip. The mass to be launched was further minimized by leaving part of the LM (that with the descent engine) behind, on the moon. The Lunar Module itself was composed of a descent stage and an ascent stage, the former serving as a launch platform for the latter when the lunar exploration party blasted off for lunar orbit where they would dock with the CSM prior to returning to Earth. The plan had the advantage that since the LM was to be eventually discarded, it could be made very light, so the moon mission could be launched with a single Saturn V rocket. However, at the time that LOR was decided, some mission planners were uneasy at the large numbers of dockings and undockings called for by the plan. To learn lunar landing techniques, astronauts practiced in the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle ( LLRV ), a flying vehicle that simulated (by means of a special, additional jet engine) the reduced gravity that the Lunar Module would actually fly in. FLIGHTS The Apollo program included eleven manned flights, designated '' Apollo 7 '' through '' Apollo 17 '', all launched from the Kennedy Space Center , Florida . '' Apollo 4 '' through '' Apollo 6 '' were unmanned test flights (officially there was no ''Apollo 2'' or ''Apollo 3''). 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, Virgil "Gus" Grissom , Edward White , and Roger B. Chaffee , in January 1967. The first of the manned flights employed the Saturn IB launch vehicle; the remaining 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). '' 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, and the program's first manned night launch. APOLLO APPLICATIONS PROGRAM In the speech which initiated Apollo, Kennedy declared that no other program would have as great a long-range effect on America's ambitions in Outer Space . Following the success of Project Apollo, both NASA and its major contractors investigated several post-lunar applications for the Apollo hardware. The "Apollo Extension Series", later called the " Apollo Applications Program ", proposed up to thirty flights to Earth Orbit. Many of these would use the space that the Lunar Module took up in the Saturn rocket to carry scientific equipment. One plan involved using the Saturn IB to take the Command/Service Module (CSM) to a variety of low-earth orbits for missions lasting up to 45 days. Some missions would involve the docking of two CSMs, and transfer of supplies. The Saturn V would be necessary to take it to Polar Orbit , or Sun-synchronous Orbit (neither of which has yet been achieved by any manned spacecraft), and even to the Geosynchronous orbit of Syncom 3 , a communications satellite not quite in Geostationary orbit. This was the first functioning Communications Satellite at that now-common great distance from the Earth, and it was small enough to be carried through the hatch and taken back to Earth for study as to the effects of radiation on its electronic components in that environment over a period of years. A return to the moon was also planned, this time to orbit for a longer time to map the surface with high-precision equipment. This mission would not include a landing. Of all the plans only two were implemented; the Skylab space station (May 1973 – February 1974), and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (July 1975). Skylab 's fuselage was constructed from the second stage of a Saturn IB , and the station was equipped with the Apollo Telescope Mount , itself based on a Lunar Module . The station's three crews were ferried into orbit atop Saturn IB s, riding in CSMs; the station itself had been launched with a modified Saturn V . Skylab's last crew departed the station on February 8 , 1974 , whilst the station itself returned prematurely to Earth in 1979, by which time it had become the oldest operational Apollo component. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project involved a docking in Earth orbit between an un-named CSM and a Soviet Soyuz Spacecraft . The mission lasted from July 15 to July 24 , 1975 . Although the Soviet Union continued to operate the Soyuz and Salyut space vehicles, NASA's next manned mission would not be until STS-1 on April 12 , 1981 . In 1964/5 Grumman the primary contrator for the Apollo LM systems attempted to interest the USAF and Navy in a military version of CSM/LM configuration. The LM would have been equiped with a manipulator arm and projectile weapons to intercept and disable enemy satellites. The proposal was never fully developed and was abandoned in 1967. END OF THE PROGRAM Originally three additional lunar landing missions had been planned, as ''Apollo 18'' through ''Apollo 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. However, the Apollo Program has not entirely been consigned to history. The next generation of NASA spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), which is to replace the Space Shuttle following its retirement in 2010, is influenced largely by the Apollo Program. The most notable difference is the CEV will return to Earth on land, much like the Russian Soyuz Spacecraft , rather than at sea as the Apollos did. Another excerpt from Kennedy's Special Message to Congress: :"I believe we should go to the moon. But I think every citizen of this country as well as the Members of the Congress should consider the matter carefully in making their judgment, to which we have given attention over many weeks and months, because it is a heavy burden, and there is no sense in agreeing or desiring that the United States take an affirmative position in outer space, unless we are prepared to do the work and bear the burdens to make it successful. If we are not, we should decide today and this year. ]] :"This decision demands a major national commitment of scientific and technical manpower, material and facilities, and the possibility of their diversion from other important activities where they are already thinly spread. It means a degree of dedication, organization and discipline which have not always characterized our research and development efforts. It means we cannot afford undue work stoppages, inflated costs of material or talent, wasteful interagency rivalries, or a high turnover of key personnel. :"New objectives and new money cannot solve these problems. They could in fact, aggravate them further--unless every scientist, every engineer, every serviceman, every technician, contractor, and civil servant gives his personal pledge that this nation will move forward, with the full speed of freedom, in the exciting adventure of space." (Excerpt from "Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs") REASONS FOR APOLLO The Apollo program was at least partly motivated by psycho-political considerations, in the context of the Cold War and the Space Race . 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 Circuit s. 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 Astronaut s and Cosmonauts 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
MISSIONS The Apollo program used four types of launch vehicles:
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 Saturn I
Unmanned pad abort tests
Unmanned Little Joe II
Unmanned Apollo - Saturn IB and Saturn V
Manned
The original pre-lunar landing program was more conservative but, as the 'all-up' test flights for the Saturn V proved successful, some missions were deleted. The revised schedule published in October 1967 had the first manned Apollo CSM earth orbit mission (''Apollo 7'') followed by an Earth Orbit Rendezvous of the CSM and LM launched on two Saturn 1Bs (''Apollo 8'') followed by a Saturn V launched CSM on a Large Earth Orbit Mission (''Apollo 9'') followed by the Saturn V launched dress rehearsal in Lunar Orbit with ''Apollo 10''. By the summer of 1968 it became clear to program managers that a fully functional LM would not be available for the ''Apollo 8'' mission. Rather than perform a simple earth orbiting mission, they chose to send ''Apollo 8'' around the moon during Christmas. The original idea for this switch was the brainchild of George Low. Although it has often been claimed that this change was made as a direct response to Soviet attempts to fly a piloted Zond spacecraft around the moon, there is no evidence that this was actually the case. NASA officials were aware of the Soviet Zond flights, but the timing of the Zond missions does not correspond well with the extensive written record from NASA about the ''Apollo 8'' decision. It is relatively certain that the ''Apollo 8'' decision was primarily based upon the LM schedule, rather than fear of the Soviets beating the Americans to the moon. Cancelled missions See Also: Cancelled Apollo missions
CURRENT LOCATIONS OF APOLLO COMMAND AND LUNAR MODULES AS-202 Command Module - USS Hornet Alameda , California Apollo 1 Command Module - Langley Research Center , Hampton , VA Apollo 5 Lunar Module - Burned up in Earth's atmosphere Apollo 6 Command Module - Fernbank Science Center , Atlanta, Georgia Apollo 7 Command Module - Frontiers Of Flight Museum , Dallas, Texas Apollo 8 Command Module - Museum Of Science And Industry (Chicago) , Chicago, Illinois Apollo 9 Command Module "Gumdrop" - San Diego Aerospace Museum , San Diego, California Apollo 9 Lunar Module "Spider" - Burned up in Earth's atmosphere Apollo 10 Command Module "Charlie Brown" - Science Museum , London, England Apollo 10 Lunar Module "Snoopy" - In Heliocentric Orbit Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia" - National Air And Space Museum , Washington, D.C. Apollo 11 Lunar Module "Eagle" - Jettisoned from Columbia on July 21 , 1969 at 23:41 UT Impact site unknown Apollo 12 Command Module "Yankee Clipper" - Virginia Air And Space Center , Hampton, Virginia Apollo 12 Lunar Module "Intrepid" - Impacted Moon on November 20 , 1969 at 22:17:17.7 UT 3.94 S, 21.20 W Apollo 13 Command Module "Odyssey" - Kansas Cosmosphere And Space Center , Hutchinson, Kansas Apollo 13 Lunar Module "Aquarius" - Burned up in Earth's atmosphere April 17 , 1970 Apollo 14 Command Module "Kitty Hawk" - Astronaut Hall Of Fame , Titusville, Florida Apollo 14 Lunar Module "Antares" - Impacted Moon on February 7 , 1971 at 00:45:25.7 UT 3.42 S, 19.67 W Apollo 15 Command Module "Endeavor" - National Museum Of The United States Air Force , Wright-Patterson Air Force Base , near Dayton, Ohio Apollo 15 Lunar Module "Falcon" - Impacted Moon on August 4 , 1971 at 03:03:37.0 UT 26.36 N, 0.25 E Apollo 16 Command Module "Casper" - U.S. Space & Rocket Center , Huntsville, Alabama Apollo 16 Lunar Module "Orion" - Released on April 24 , 1972 , loss of attitude control made targeted impact impossible, impact site unknown Apollo 17 Command Module "America" - NASA Johnson Space Center , Houston, Texas Apollo 17 Lunar Module "Challenger" - Impacted Moon on December 15 , 1972 at 06:50:20.8 UT 19.96 N, 30.50 E Apollo-Soyuz Command Module - John F. Kennedy Space Center , Cape Canaveral, Florida Apollo-Soyuz Test Command Module - Museum Of Flight , Seattle, Washington Skylab 2 / Crew 1 Command Module - National Museum Of Naval Aviation , Pensacola, Florida Skylab 3 / Crew 2 Command Module - NASA John H. Glenn Research Center At Lewis Field , Cleveland, Ohio Skylab 4 / Crew 3 Command Module - National Air And Space Museum , Washington, D.C. Later missions using left over Apollo hardware
Apollo Launch Complex utilization
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