MOON EXPLORATION
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:41 pmThe Apollo program included a large number of uncrewed test missions and 12 crewed missions: three Earth orbiting missions (Apollo 7, 9 and Apollo-Soyuz), two lunar orbiting missions (Apollo 8 and 10), a lunar swingby (Apollo 13), and six Moon landing missions (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17). Two astronauts from each of these six missions walked on the Moon (Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, Charles Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John Young, Charles Duke, Gene Cernan, and Harrison Schmitt), the only humans to have set foot on another solar system body.
Apollo 11 Mission
The mission plan of Apollo 11 was to land two men on the lunar surface and return them safely to Earth. The launch took place at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on July 16, 1969, at 08:32 a.m. EST. The spaccraft carried a crew of three: Mission Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. The mission evaluation concluded that all mission tasks were completed satisfactorily.
Apollo 14 Mission
The Apollo 14 mission, with a crew including Alan Shepard Jr., Stuart A. Roosa, and Edgar D. Mitchell, was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on January 31, 1971. It was the third mission to achieve lunar landing. The spacecraft landed in the Fra Mauro highlands, the same area that was to have been explored on Apollo 13. Although the primary mission objectives for Apollo 14 were the same as those of Apollo 13, provisions were made for returning a significantly greater quantity of lunar material and scientific data than had been possible previously. An innovation that allowed an increase in the range of lunar surface exploration and the amount of material collected was the provision of a collapsible, two-wheeled cart, the modular equipment transporter (MET), for carrying tools, cameras, a portable magnetometer, and lunar samples. Lunar liftoff occurred on February 6 with mission completion on February 9.
Apollo 16 Mission
The successful Apollo 16 manned lunar-landing mission was the second in a series of three J-type missions planned for the Apollo program. These missions were characterized by a larger scientific payload, increased hardware capabiblity, and the battery-powered lunar roving vehicle. These additions resulted in benefits to the Apollo 16 mission, such as a mission of 11.1 days, a stay on the lunar surface of 71 hours, a lunar surface traverse distance of approximately 27 kilometers, and a scientific instrument module containing equipment for orbital experiments and photographic tasks. The crew were on the lunar surface for 20.2 hours and collected approximately 96 kilograms of samples.
Apollo 11 Mission
The mission plan of Apollo 11 was to land two men on the lunar surface and return them safely to Earth. The launch took place at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on July 16, 1969, at 08:32 a.m. EST. The spaccraft carried a crew of three: Mission Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. The mission evaluation concluded that all mission tasks were completed satisfactorily.
Apollo 14 Mission
The Apollo 14 mission, with a crew including Alan Shepard Jr., Stuart A. Roosa, and Edgar D. Mitchell, was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on January 31, 1971. It was the third mission to achieve lunar landing. The spacecraft landed in the Fra Mauro highlands, the same area that was to have been explored on Apollo 13. Although the primary mission objectives for Apollo 14 were the same as those of Apollo 13, provisions were made for returning a significantly greater quantity of lunar material and scientific data than had been possible previously. An innovation that allowed an increase in the range of lunar surface exploration and the amount of material collected was the provision of a collapsible, two-wheeled cart, the modular equipment transporter (MET), for carrying tools, cameras, a portable magnetometer, and lunar samples. Lunar liftoff occurred on February 6 with mission completion on February 9.
Apollo 16 Mission
The successful Apollo 16 manned lunar-landing mission was the second in a series of three J-type missions planned for the Apollo program. These missions were characterized by a larger scientific payload, increased hardware capabiblity, and the battery-powered lunar roving vehicle. These additions resulted in benefits to the Apollo 16 mission, such as a mission of 11.1 days, a stay on the lunar surface of 71 hours, a lunar surface traverse distance of approximately 27 kilometers, and a scientific instrument module containing equipment for orbital experiments and photographic tasks. The crew were on the lunar surface for 20.2 hours and collected approximately 96 kilograms of samples.