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Wikipedia dicit:

“The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the third United States human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which succeeded in landing the first humans on the Moon from 1969 to 1972. First conceived during Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration as a three-man spacecraft to follow the one-man Project Mercury which put the first Americans in space, Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy’s national goal of “landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth” by the end of the 1960s, which he proposed in an address to Congress on May 25, 1961. It was the third US human spaceflight program to fly, preceded by the two-man Project Gemini conceived in 1961 to extend spaceflight capability in support of Apollo.

Kennedy’s goal was accomplished on the Apollo 11 mission when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their lunar module (LM) on July 20, 1969, and walked on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command and service module (CSM), and all three landed safely on Earth on July 24. Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last in December 1972. In these six spaceflights, twelve men walked on the Moon.

Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first manned flight in 1968. It achieved its goal of manned lunar landing, despite the major setback of a 1967 Apollo 1 cabin fire that killed the entire crew during a prelaunch test. After the first landing, sufficient flight hardware remained for nine follow-on landings with a plan for extended lunar geological and astrophysical exploration. Budget cuts forced the cancellation of three of these. Five of the remaining six missions achieved successful landings, but the Apollo 13 landing was prevented by an oxygen tank explosion in transit to the Moon, which destroyed the service module’s capability to provide electrical power, crippling the CSM’s propulsion and life support systems. The crew returned to Earth safely by using the lunar module as a “lifeboat” for these functions. Apollo used Saturn family rockets as launch vehicles, which were also used for an Apollo Applications Program, which consisted of Skylab, a space station that supported three manned missions in 1973–74, and the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, a joint US-Soviet Union Earth-orbit mission in 1975.”

Video Credit: NASA

Wikipedia dixit:

“Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was the first manned mission of the United States Apollo program, which had as its ultimate goal a manned lunar landing. The low Earth orbital test of the Apollo Command/Service Module never made its target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test on January 27 at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the Command Module (CM). The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was officially retired by NASA in commemoration of them on April 24, 1967.

Immediately after the fire, NASA convened the Apollo 204 Accident Review Board to determine the cause of the fire, and both houses of the United States Congress conducted their own committee inquiries to oversee NASA’s investigation. The ignition source of the fire was determined to be electrical, and the fire spread rapidly due to combustible nylon material, and the high pressure, pure oxygen cabin atmosphere. The astronauts’ rescue was prevented by the plug door hatch, which could not be opened against the higher internal pressure of the cabin. A failure to identify the test as hazardous (because the rocket was unfueled) led to the rescue being hampered by poor emergency preparedness.

During the Congressional investigation, then-Senator Walter Mondale publicly revealed a NASA internal document citing problems with prime Apollo contractor North American Aviation, which became known as the “Phillips Report”. This disclosure embarrassed NASA Administrator James E. Webb, who was unaware of the document’s existence, and attracted controversy to the Apollo program. Despite congressional displeasure at NASA’s lack of openness, both congressional committees ruled that the issues raised in the report had no bearing on the accident.

Manned Apollo flights were suspended for 20 months while the Command Module’s hazards were addressed. However, the development and unmanned testing of the Lunar Module (LM) and Saturn V Moon rocket continued. The Saturn IB launch vehicle for Apollo 1, AS-204, was used for the first LM test flight, Apollo 5. The first successful manned Apollo mission was flown by Apollo 1’s backup crew on Apollo 7 in October 1968.”

Video credit: NASA

Coalition for Deep Space Exploration dixit:

“It is with great sadness and profound gratitude that the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration notes the passing of Apollo Astronaut Captain Eugene “Gene” Cernan on Monday, January 16. He was 82.

Known for his continued support of human space exploration, Capt. Cernan left his mark on history with three historical space missions as the Pilot of Gemini IX, the Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo X and the Commander of Apollo XVII. He holds the distinction of being the second American to walk in space and the last man to walk on the Moon. Cernan received numerous honors throughout his 20 years as a Naval Aviator including the Navy Distinguished Flying Cross, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the FAI International Gold Medal for Space, induction into the U.S. Space Hall of Fame, enshrinement into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, Naval Aviation’s Hall of Honor and the International Aerospace Hall of Fame. Recently, Cernan authored the book, “The Last Man on the Moon” and participated in the 2016 documentary of the same name which detailed his influential role in the space industry.

Reflecting on Gene Cernan’s life, it’s easy to see he was a true American hero and one of our greatest pioneers for human space exploration. Although Capt. Cernan was the last man to walk on the Moon, he certainly didn’t want to be the last as he spent recent years inspiring future generations and encouraging the U.S. government to return America to its prominent role in human deep space exploration, said Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar, Executive Director of the Coalition. On behalf of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, I offer our most sincere condolences to Capt. Cernan’s family and pray that his passion for exploration will continue to be an inspiration to us all.“

Video credit: NASA

Credits: NASA

During the Apollo 13 mission, after the explosion of an oxygen tank crippled the Service Module, the astronauts had to abandon the third Moon landing. The Apollo 13 crew used the Lunar Module as a lifeboat. The Lunar Module was jettisoned by the Command Module just prior to re-entry.

A team of engineers from the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) played a key role in the separation of the Lunar Module and the Command Module. As the tunnel connecting the two modules was pressurized, the UTIAS team had to determine how much pressure was necessary to safely separate the modules. Not an easy task considering the fact that if there was too much air in the tunnel, the explosion that triggered the separation would have damaged the hatch of the Command Module, and the astronauts would not have survived the re-entry.

The Apollo 13 astronauts, Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot John L. Swigert, and Lunar Module Pilot Fred W. Haise, were recovered by the U.S.S. Iwo Jima in the South Pacific after splashing down on April 17, 1970.

If you are in Toronto next Tuesday, on April 13, 2010, you can meet some of the members of the UTIAS team at the Canadian Air and Space Museum. They will receive the Pioneer Award for their role in the Apollo 13 rescue.

Credits: NASA

Beginning in August 1961, the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory (later known as the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory) developed the Apollo Primary Guidance, Navigation, and Control System (PGNCS). The PGNCS was an inertial guidance system that allowed Apollo spacecraft to navigate during periods when communication with Earth was interrupted. Both the Apollo command module (CM) and lunar module (LM) were equipped with a PGNCS.

This summer, June 10-12, MIT is hosting a celebration to honor those who made the Apollo Program possible. The highlights of the event are the Giant Leaps Symposium, In Memoriam: Robert Seamans, and Tours of MIT space labs. For more information, you can visit the MIT website.