page_title: Apollo program
section_title: Astronauts
hierarchical_section_title: Apollo program / Astronauts
caption_attribution_description: English: The Apollo 11 lunar landing mission crew, pictured from left to right, Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. Español: La tripulación encargada de aterrizar en la luna el Apolo 11. De izquierda a derecha: Neil A. Armstrong, comandante; Michael Collins, piloto del modulo de control; y Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., piloto del modulo lunar. Esperanto: La ŝipanaro komisiita por surlunigi Apolon 11-an. El maldekstre: Neil A. Armstrong, komandoro; Michael Collins, stirbloka piloto; y Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunbloka piloto. Français&#160;: L'équipage d'Apollo 11, le premier à avoir été sur la lune. De gauche à droite&#160;: Neil A. Armstrong, commandant&#160;; Michael Collins, pilote du module&#160;; et Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., pilote du module lunaire. Português: A tripulação da missão Apollo 11, da esquerda para a direita: Neil A. Armstrong, comandante; Michael Collins, piloto do módulo de comando; e Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., piloto do módulo lunar. Українська: Екіпаж Аполлон-11, зліва направо: Ніл Армстронг — командир; Майкл Коллінз — пілот командного модуля і Базз Олдрін — пілот місячного модуля.
context_page_description: 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, which succeeded in landing the first humans on the Moon from 1969 to 1972. It was first conceived during Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration as a three-person spacecraft to follow the one-person Project Mercury, which put the first Americans in space. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in an address to Congress on May 25, 1961. It was the third US human spaceflight program to fly, preceded by the two-person 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 Apollo Lunar Module on July 20, 1969, and walked on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command and service module, and all three landed safely on Earth on July 24.
context_section_description: NASA's director of flight crew operations during the Apollo program was Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts who was medically grounded in September 1962 due to a heart murmur. Slayton was responsible for making all Gemini and Apollo crew assignments.
  Thirty-two astronauts were assigned to fly missions in the Apollo program. Twenty-four of these left Earth's orbit and flew around the Moon between December 1968 and December 1972 (three of them twice). Half of the 24 walked on the Moon's surface, though none of them returned to it after landing once. One of the moonwalkers was a trained geologist. Of the 32, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed during a ground test in preparation for the Apollo 1 mission.
  The Apollo astronauts were chosen from the Project Mercury and Gemini veterans, plus from two later astronaut groups. All missions were commanded by Gemini or Mercury veterans. Crews on all development flights (except the Earth orbit CSM development flights) through the first two landings on Apollo 11 and Apollo 12, included at least two (sometimes three) Gemini veterans. Dr. Harrison Schmitt, a geologist, was the first NASA scientist astronaut to fly in space, and landed on the Moon on the last mission, Apollo 17. Schmitt participated in the lunar geology training of all of the Apollo landing crews.
  NASA awarded all 32 of these astronauts its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, given for "distinguished service, ability, or courage", and personal "contribution representing substantial progress to the NASA mission". The medals were awarded posthumously to Grissom, White, and Chaffee in 1969, then to the crews of all missions from Apollo 8 onward. The crew that flew the first Earth orbital test mission Apollo 7, Walter M. Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham, were awarded the lesser NASA Exceptional Service Medal, because of discipline problems with the flight director's orders during their flight. The NASA Administrator in October, 2008, decided to award them the Distinguished Service Medals, by this time posthumously to Schirra and Eisele.
caption: Apollo 11 crew, from left: Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin
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