The Apollo Missions

Bethany Taylor
October 13, 2013



























The Apollo missions were an importance to both lunar discovery and manned space
flight discovery. In fact, only two men had been into space before the Apollo missions. John
Kennedy set the goal to send man to the moon and started the Apollo missions in 1961. Some
of these missions were more successful than others, as some resulted in problems. But in a
total of seventeen missions the Apollo missions we strived to reach our goal in stepping foot on
the moon.
Scheduled to be the first manned Apollo mission on January 27, 1969, disaster claimed
the mission before it could even lift off the ground. During a pretest flight, there was a mixture
of problems that caused a fatal closure to the mission. Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward
White, and Roger Chaffee all entered the space craft that early afternoon. Grissom noticed an
odd spell in his space suit after its loop was attached to the spacecraft. The master alarm was
periodically triggered by a high oxygen flow. Both of these problems were dismissed and
caused delay. Later, even more problems arose in communication. Right before countdown,
the crew noticed a burst of oxygen flow and then eventually fire (Smithsonian National Air and
Spacecraft Musem).
Everyone tried to escaped, and most made it, but it was too late for the Astronaut
crew. This was a surprising throw back for NASA and almost ended the Apollo missions. They
named this mission Apollo 1 in memory of Grissom, White, and Chaffee. After this, the Apollo
missions were unmanned for a while to test out different launch vehicles.
Apollo 7 was the first successful manned mission after Apollo 1. Although this mission
didnt make it to the moon, but it made it around the Earth 163 times and lasted almost 11
days. This mission was important because it tested the improvements of the command module
that contained new hardware and escaped system. Both of these improvements were to keep
Apollo 1 from repeating.
The next three Apollo missions help get mankind to the moon. Apollo 8, 9, and 10 all
made it to the moon and orbited it, but never landed. Apollo 8 was the first to make a manned
trip to the moon. Then Apollo 9 was conducted to test the lunar module. And Apollo 10 was
basically a rehearsal for the landing on the Moon. The Apollo 10 spacecraft had changed
because it contained mass simulators for the modular equipment storage assembly and the
Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (Lunar and Planetary Institute). This mission was
conducted as if it were to land on the moon, only without landing on the moon.
Apollo 11 would be the first manned flight to actually land and was one of the biggest
land marks for space discovery. Neil Armstrong and Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin were the first two men
to ever set foot on the moon. The famous words One small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind were said by Armstrong as he step foot on the lunar surface. Armstrong and Buzz
explored the lunar surface, collected samples, and returned safely back to Earth. The next six
Apollo missions were launched to land on the moon and proceed to explore and bring back
samples.
Apollo 12 was a successful even though it was stormy during launch. Apollo 13 wasnt so
lucky. On the way to the moon after about a 56 hour flight, Astronauts James A. Lovell Jr., Fred
W. Haise, Jr. had to abort the mission due to problems with the fuel cells and then later more
problems within the oxygen tanks. The astronauts eventually had to use the lunar module as a
life boat. The crew had a lot of variables that they had to sort through. Now they had to use
the Lunar Module and stretch out their resources from a 45 hour lifespan to a 90 hour one.
They had to turn off electrical systems, conserve water, and attempt to stay comfortable as the
temperature dropped. Even through all the problems, this mission became one of the most
known as it made news.
The Apollo missions after Apollo 13 all had the same goals; to preform
experiments, take photographs, explore, and bring home lunar samples. Only now, the
astronauts had a manually driven vehicle to expand explorations. Each Apollo mission explored
a new and different region of the moon, but Apollo 17 marked the end of these lunar missions
in 1974.
The Apollo missions are truly and important part of our astronomy and space discovery.
Without these missions, we would have never set foot on the Moon and we might not have
made so many discoveries and collected so many lunar samples. These samples were important
in exploring the geography of the moon. Without these missions we lose a bit of history.










Works Cited
Lunar and Planetary Institute. Apollo Mission. 2012. 2 October 2013
<http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/>.
Moon Zoo. n.d. 2 October 2013 <http://www.moonzoo.org/Apollo_Moon_Missions>.
Smithsonian National Air and Spacecraft Museum. The Apollo Program. n.d. 2 October 2013
<http://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/index.htm>.