Why did we create the Apollo Program?

Since in 1961, the former Soviet Union beat the U.S. to the goal of putting the first human in space, the U.S. vowed to put a human on the moon. The Apollo program was begun for that purpose.

What kind of spacecraft did the Apollo Program use?

NASA designed an Apollo craft consisting of three parts: a command module where the astronauts would travel; a service module, which contained supplies and equipment; and a lunar module, which would detach to land on the moon. In all, they had produced fifteen Apollo spacecraft, twelve designed for piloted missions and three for unpiloted missions. The three unpiloted missions were flown to test the powerful new Saturn V rocket and lunar module.      The Saturn series of launch vehicles are large-scale rockets developed for NASA's Apollo lunar landing program.   Saturn V was developed to carry the Apollo spacecraft into lunar orbit. At 104 tons, the rocket payload was roughly 4 times that of the Space Shuttle. Saturn V development commenced in 1961 with formal government approval of the Apollo program. In order to launch what at that time would be the largest rocket ever, a special rocket assembly facility and No.39 launch complex was newly constructed at the Kennedy Space Center. The first test launch of the Saturn V took place in November 1967. In December 1968, the third Saturn V to be launched sent Apollo 8 around the Moon. The sixth Saturn V launched on July 20, 1969 propelled Apollo 11 to the Moon for the first successful manned landing on the lunar surface. The Saturn V rocket was used for subsequent Apollo missions to the Moon. Of these, one was subsequently used to carry the manned Skylab 1 (space station) mission into space. The remaining two unused versions of the Saturn V are now on display to the public.

What mission ended in tragedy?

In January 1967, during a ground test of Apollo 1, a fire engulfed the command module, killing the three astronauts on board, Virgil Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. The accident caused a two-year launch delay, during which over fifteen hundred modifications were made to the command module.

What mission was the first to send a man to the moon?

On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 was launched with American astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Micheal Collins on board. Four days later Armstrong and Aldrin climbed into the lunar module and landed on the moon. Once on the moon, they planted the American flag on the moon's surface, held a telephone conversation with Presdent Richard Nixon, set up science experiments, and collected rockes and soil samples. They left behind a plaque that read: "Here men from the planet Earth first set fott upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."

What exactly went wrong with Apollo 13?

The accident of Apollo 13 occurred fifty-six hours into the flight. A crew member had unknowingly triggered the explosion by stirring the tanks of liquid oxygen. Investigators later discovered the wiring in an oxygen tank had been damaged. Thus , when the tanks were stirred, the faulty wiring shorted out and started a fire. All three of the crew members had to go into the lunar module since the hot gases got into the service module and blew out one wall of the unit.
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