Apollo 16, with Commander John Young, Command Module Pilot Thomas “Ken” Mattingly, and Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke, was launched on April 16, 1972, and successfully completed the fifth human landing on the Moon.
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Moon. On July 20, 1969, humans walked on another world for the first time in history, achieving the goal that President John F. Kennedy had set in 1961, before Americans had even orbited the Earth.
The Apollo 13 mission was to be the third lunar landing in the program before an on board explosion forced the mission to circle the Moon without landing.
Apollo 16's exploration of the lunar surface overturned a prevailing scientific opinion at the time that the lunar highlands were of volcanic origin. This was the first crewed landing in the central lunar highlands. The crew made the first spacewalk during the return journey to Earth.
Apollo 16 returned safely to Earth on April 27, 1972.
The Apollo 16 mission terminated a day early due to concerns over technical issues that popped up on the way to the moon and while in orbit around it. The crew splashed down on April 27, 1972.
The spacecraft and parachute system descended in this configuration to water landing. The three parachutes were disconnected and one of the good main parachutes was recovered. The failure occurred abruptly.
During their 71 hours on the Moon, the Apollo 16 crew conducted three extravehicular activities totaling about 20.3 hours on the lunar surface.
the fire that killed Apollo 1 astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger B. Chaffee.
Apollo 1 – 1967
A flash fire broke out in the command module of Apollo 204 during a simulated launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, killing astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee of asphyxiation.
Tomorrow marks the 45th anniversary of the start of a mission that came to be known as NASA's most famous successful failure. Apollo 13 captured the world's attention after an explosion crippled the spacecraft. The three astronauts and dozens of flight controllers labored for days to solve one challenge after another.
With the world anxiously watching, Apollo 13, a U.S. lunar spacecraft that suffered a severe malfunction on its journey to the moon, safely returns to Earth on April 17, 1970.
Two Apollo missions were failures: a 1967 cabin fire killed the entire Apollo 1 crew during a ground test in preparation for what was to be the first crewed flight; and the third landing attempt on Apollo 13 was aborted by an oxygen tank explosion en route to the Moon, which disabled the CSM Odyssey's electrical power ...
Alongside him were two rookies: Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell and Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa. Though Apollo 14 was a success, it wasn't without some intense troubleshooting of its own.
In all, 24 American astronauts made the trip from Earth to the Moon between 1968 and 1972. Three astronauts made the journey from Earth to the Moon twice: James Lovell (Apollo 8 and Apollo 13), John Young (Apollo 10 and Apollo 16), and Gene Cernan (Apollo 10 and Apollo 17).
The lunar module casts a distinct shadow on the Cayley Plains. The landing site is about 500 meters east of the rim of Spook Crater, which was visited by the crew during the first EVA. (NASA photograph AS16-4558[P].)
Apollo 2 and 3: There were no craft named Apollo 2 or 3. Apparently after the Apollo-1 craft was destroyed during a pre-flight test at Cape Canaveral, the first few mission (through Apollo-6) were unmanned missions to test various aspects of the Apollo program - Launch vehicle, CSM, LM, and their inter-play.
The Apollo 13 malfunction was caused by an explosion and rupture of oxygen tank no. 2 in the service module. The explosion ruptured a line or damaged a valve in the no. 1 oxygen tank, causing it to lose oxygen rapidly.
Apollo 13 was to be the third lunar landing attempt, but the mission was aborted after rupture of service module oxygen tank.
Mattingly had been scheduled to fly on the Apollo 13 mission, but three days prior to launch, he was held back and replaced by Jack Swigert due to exposure to German measles (which Mattingly did not contract).
Apollo 16 lifted off at 12:54 p.m. EST April 16, 1972, from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Two significant command and service module problems – one en route to the moon and one in lunar orbit – contributed to a delay in landing and a subsequent early termination of the mission by one day.
The Apollo 11 astronauts, who were the first to land on the Moon in 1969, were among the highest-paid professionals in the world at that time. These pioneering space explorers received a salary of $17,000 a year for their work on the lunar mission. In today's money, this would equate to a salary of over $100,000.
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mark Collins didn't have a toilet onboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft so they had to use a specialised bit of equipment. The 'roll-on cuff' was basically a rubber tube that was hooked on to a 'receiver' and collection bag.