Apollo program (Johnsonverse)

The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, is the primary United States human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). First conceived during President 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 Apollo 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. Seven subsequent Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last in December 1972.
Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first crewed flight in 1968. It achieved its goal of crewed lunar landing, despite the minor setback of a 1967 Apollo 1 cabin fire that could have been fatal had a blow-hatch function not been secretly implemented by concerned engineers. 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 originally forced the cancellation of three of these, until the Soviet Union landed men on the moon in 1971, thus causing President Robert F. Kennedy to extend funding for Apollo indefinitely. 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 uses Saturn family rockets as launch vehicles. Following the completion of Apollo 20, the program shifted to broader objectives, including Earth-based space stations, a lunar base, and interplanetary missions, including a flyby of Venus and manned landings on Mars. Apollo was also used for various military applications in the 1980s, a role that garnered much controversy.
The modern Apollo program is focused on supporting the International Space Station (ISS) and the lunar base (Armstrong Base).
== Background ==
=== Origin and spacecraft feasibility studies ===
The Apollo program was conceived during the Eisenhower administration in early 1960, as a follow-up to Project Mercury. While the Mercury capsule could only support one astronaut on a limited Earth orbital mission, Apollo would carry three astronauts. Possible missions included ferrying crews to a space station, circumlunar flights, and eventual crewed lunar landings.
The program was named after Apollo, the Greek god of light, music, and the sun, by NASA manager Abe Silverstein, who later said that "I was naming the spacecraft like I'd name my baby." Silverstein chose the name at home one evening, early in 1960, because he felt "Apollo riding his chariot across the Sun was appropriate to the grand scale of the proposed program."
In July 1960, NASA Deputy Administrator Hugh L. Dryden announced the Apollo program to industry representatives at a series of Space Task Group conferences. Preliminary specifications were laid out for a spacecraft with a mission module cabin separate from the command module (piloting and reentry cabin), and a propulsion and equipment module. On August 30, a feasibility study competition was announced, and on October 25, three study contracts were awarded to General Dynamics/Convair, General Electric, and the Glenn L. Martin Company. Meanwhile, NASA performed its own in-house spacecraft design studies led by Maxime Faget, to serve as a gauge to judge and monitor the three industry designs.
=== Political pressure builds ===
In November 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president after a campaign that promised American superiority over the Soviet Union in the fields of space exploration and missile defense. Up to the election of 1960, Kennedy had been speaking out against the "missile gap" that he and many other senators felt had developed between the Soviet Union and United States due to the inaction of President Eisenhower. Beyond military power, Kennedy used aerospace technology as a symbol of national prestige, pledging to make the US not "first but, first and, first if, but first period." Despite Kennedy's rhetoric, he did not immediately come to a decision on the status of the Apollo program once he became president. He knew little about the technical details of the space program, and was put off by the massive financial commitment required by a crewed Moon landing. When Kennedy's newly appointed NASA Administrator James E. Webb requested a 30 percent budget increase for his agency, Kennedy supported an acceleration of NASA's large booster program but deferred a decision on the broader issue.
On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly in space, reinforcing American fears about being left behind in a technological competition with the Soviet Union. At a meeting of the US House Committee on Science and Astronautics one day after Gagarin's flight, many congressmen pledged their support for a crash program aimed at ensuring that America would catch up. Kennedy was circumspect in his response to the news, refusing to make a commitment on America's response to the Soviets.
On May 25, 1961, twenty days after the first US crewed spaceflight Freedom 7, Kennedy proposed the manned Moon landing in a Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs.
== NASA expansion ==
At the time of Kennedy's proposal, only one American had flown in space—less than a month earlier—and NASA had not yet sent an astronaut into orbit. Even some NASA employees doubted whether Kennedy's ambitious goal could be met. By 1963, Kennedy even came close to agreeing to a joint US-USSR Moon mission, to eliminate duplication of effort.
With the clear goal of a crewed landing replacing the more nebulous goals of space stations and circumlunar flights, NASA decided that, in order to make progress quickly, it would discard the feasibility study designs of Convair, GE, and Martin, and proceed with Faget's command and service module design. The mission module was determined to be only useful as an extra room, and therefore deemed unnecessary. They used Faget's design as the specification for another competition for spacecraft procurement bids in October 1961. On November 28, 1961, it was announced that North American Aviation had won the contract, although its bid was not rated as good as Martin's. Webb, Dryden and Robert Seamans chose it in preference due to North American's longer association with NASA and its predecessor.
Landing men on the Moon by the end of 1969 required the most sudden burst of technological creativity, and the largest commitment of resources ($25 billion; $153 billion in 2018 dollars) ever made by any nation in peacetime. At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 people and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities.
On July 1, 1960, NASA established the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. MSFC designed the heavy lift-class Saturn launch vehicles, which would be required for Apollo.
=== Launch Operations Center ===
It also became clear that Apollo would outgrow the Canaveral launch facilities in Florida. The two newest launch complexes were already being built for the Saturn I and IB rockets at the northernmost end: LC-34 and LC-37. But an even bigger facility would be needed for the mammoth rocket required for the crewed lunar mission, so land acquisition was started in July 1961 for a Launch Operations Center (LOC) immediately north of Canaveral at Merritt Island. The design, development and construction of the center was conducted by Kurt H. Debus, a member of Dr. Wernher von Braun's original V-2 rocket engineering team. Debus was named the LOC's first Director. Construction began in November 1962. Upon Kennedy's death, President Johnson issued an executive order on November 29, 1963, to rename the LOC and Cape Canaveral in honor of Kennedy.
The LOC included Launch Complex 39, a Launch Control Center, and a 130 million cubic foot (3.7 million cubic meter) Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) in which the space vehicle (launch vehicle and spacecraft) would be assembled on a Mobile Launcher Platform and then moved by a transporter to one of several launch pads. Although at least three pads were planned, only two, designated A and B, were completed in October 1965; three additional pads, designated C, D, and E, would be completed between 1972 and 1978. The LOC also included an Operations and Checkout Building (OCB) to which Gemini and Apollo spacecraft were initially received prior to being mated to their launch vehicles. The Apollo spacecraft could be tested in two vacuum chambers capable of simulating atmospheric pressure at altitudes up to 250,000 feet (76 km), which is nearly a vacuum.
LC-34 is still in use by the Saturn IB, but after the introduction of the Saturn IC, the facility is no longer used for manned spaceflight.
=== Organization ===
Administrator Webb realized that in order to keep Apollo costs under control, he had to develop greater project management skills in his organization, so he recruited Dr. George E. Mueller for a high management job. Mueller accepted, on the condition that he have a say in NASA reorganization necessary to effectively administer Apollo. Webb then worked with Associate Administrator (later Deputy Administrator) Seamans to reorganize the Office of Manned Space Flight (OMSF). On July 23, 1963, Webb announced Mueller's appointment as Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, to replace then Associate Administrator D. Brainerd Holmes on his retirement effective September 1. Under Webb's reorganization, the directors of the Manned Spacecraft Center (Gilruth), Marshall Space Flight Center (von Braun), and the Launch Operations Center (Debus) reported to Mueller.
Based on his industry experience on Air Force missile projects, Mueller realized some skilled managers could be found among high-ranking officers in the United States Air Force, so he got Webb's permission to recruit General Samuel C. Phillips, who gained a reputation for his effective management of the Minuteman program, as OMSF program controller. Phillips' superior officer Bernard A. Schriever agreed to loan Phillips to NASA, along with a staff of officers under him, on the condition that Phillips be made Apollo Program Director. Mueller agreed, and Phillips managed Apollo from January 1964, until it achieved the first human landing in July 1969, after which he returned to Air Force duty.
== Choosing a mission mode ==
Once Kennedy had defined a goal, the Apollo mission planners were faced with the challenge of designing a spacecraft that could meet it while minimizing risk to human life, cost, and demands on technology and astronaut skill. Four possible mission modes were considered:
* Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR): This turned out to be the winning configuration, which achieved the goal with Apollo 11 on July 24, 1969: a single Saturn V launched a 96,886-pound (43,947 kg) spacecraft that was composed of a 63,608-pound (28,852 kg) Apollo command and service module which remained in orbit around the Moon, while a 33,278-pound (15,095 kg), two-stage Apollo Lunar Module spacecraft was flown by two astronauts to the surface, flown back to dock with the command module, and then was discarded. Landing the smaller spacecraft on the Moon, and returning an even smaller part (10,042 pounds (4,555 kg)) to lunar orbit, minimized the total mass to be launched from Earth, but this was the last method initially considered because of the perceived risk of rendezvous and docking.
* Direct Ascent: The spacecraft would be launched as a unit and travel directly to the lunar surface, without first going into lunar orbit. A 50,000-pound (23,000 kg) Earth return ship would land all three astronauts atop a 113,000-pound (51,000 kg) descent propulsion stage, which would be left on the Moon. This design would have required development of the extremely powerful Saturn C-8 or Nova launch vehicle to carry a 163,000-pound (74,000 kg) payload to the Moon.
* Earth Orbit Rendezvous (EOR): Multiple rocket launches (up to 15 in some plans) would carry parts of the Direct Ascent spacecraft and propulsion units for translunar injection (TLI). These would be assembled into a single spacecraft in Earth orbit.
* Lunar Surface Rendezvous: Two spacecraft would be launched in succession. The first, an automated vehicle carrying propellant for the return to Earth, would land on the Moon, to be followed some time later by the crewed vehicle. Propellant would have to be transferred from the automated vehicle to the crewed vehicle.
In early 1961, direct ascent was generally the mission mode in favor at NASA. Many engineers feared that rendezvous and docking, maneuvers which had not been attempted in Earth orbit, would be nearly impossible in lunar orbit. Dissenters including John Houbolt at Langley Research Center emphasized the important weight reductions that were offered by the LOR approach. Throughout 1960 and 1961, Houbolt campaigned for the recognition of LOR as a viable and practical option. Bypassing the NASA hierarchy, he sent a series of memos and reports on the issue to Associate Administrator Robert Seamans; while acknowledging that he spoke "somewhat as a voice in the wilderness," Houbolt pleaded that LOR should not be discounted in studies of the question.
Seamans' establishment of an ad-hoc committee headed by his special technical assistant Nicholas E. Golovin in July 1961, to recommend a launch vehicle to be used in the Apollo program, represented a turning point in NASA's mission mode decision. This committee recognized that the chosen mode was an important part of the launch vehicle choice, and recommended in favor of a hybrid EOR-LOR mode. Its consideration of LOR—as well as Houbolt's ceaseless work—played an important role in publicizing the workability of the approach. In late 1961 and early 1962, members of the Manned Spacecraft Center began to come around to support LOR, including the newly hired deputy director of the Office of Manned Space Flight, Joseph Shea, who became a champion of LOR. The engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), which had much to lose from the decision, took longer to become convinced of its merits, but their conversion was announced by Wernher von Braun at a briefing on June 7, 1962.
But even after NASA reached internal agreement, it was far from smooth sailing. Kennedy's science advisor Jerome Wiesner, who had expressed his opposition to human spaceflight to Kennedy before the President took office, and had opposed the decision to land men on the Moon, hired Golovin, who had left NASA, to chair his own "Space Vehicle Panel", ostensibly to monitor, but actually to second-guess NASA's decisions on the Saturn V launch vehicle and LOR by forcing Shea, Seamans, and even Webb to defend themselves, delaying its formal announcement to the press on July 11, 1962, and forcing Webb to still hedge the decision as "tentative".
Wiesner kept up the pressure, even making the disagreement public during a two-day September visit by the President to Marshall Space Flight Center. Wiesner blurted out "No, that's no good" in front of the press, during a presentation by von Braun. Webb jumped in and defended von Braun, until Kennedy ended the squabble by stating that the matter was "still subject to final review". Webb held firm and issued a request for proposal to candidate Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) contractors. Wiesner finally relented, unwilling to settle the dispute once and for all in Kennedy's office, because of the President's involvement with the October Cuban Missile Crisis, and fear of Kennedy's support for Webb. NASA announced the selection of Grumman as the LEM contractor in November 1962.
Space historian James Hansen concludes that: Without NASA's adoption of this stubbornly held minority opinion in 1962, the United States may still have reached the Moon, but almost certainly it would not have been accomplished by the end of the 1960s, President Kennedy's target date. The LOR method had the advantage of allowing the lander spacecraft to be used as a "lifeboat" in the event of a failure of the command ship. Some documents prove this theory was discussed before and after the method was chosen. In 1964 an MSC study concluded, "The LM [as lifeboat] ... was finally dropped, because no single reasonable CSM failure could be identified that would prohibit use of the SPS." Ironically, just such a failure happened on Apollo 13 when an oxygen tank explosion left the CSM without electrical power. The lunar module provided propulsion, electrical power and life support to get the crew home safely.
== Spacecraft ==
Faget's preliminary Apollo design employed a cone-shaped command module, supported by one of several service modules providing propulsion and electrical power, sized appropriately for the space station, cislunar, and lunar landing missions. Once Kennedy's Moon landing goal became official, detailed design began of a command and service Module (CSM) in which the crew would spend the entire direct-ascent mission and lift off from the lunar surface for the return trip, after being soft-landed by a larger landing propulsion module. The final choice of lunar orbit rendezvous changed the CSM's role to the translunar ferry used to transport the crew, along with a new spacecraft, the lunar excursion module (LEM, later shortened to lunar module, LM, but still pronounced "lem") which would take two men to the lunar surface and return them to the CSM.
=== Command and service module ===
The command module (CM) is the conical crew cabin, designed to carry three astronauts from launch to lunar orbit and back to an Earth ocean landing. It was the only component of the Apollo spacecraft to survive without major configuration changes as the program evolved from the early Apollo study designs. Its exterior is covered with an ablative heat shield, and has its own reaction control system (RCS) engines to control its attitude and steer its atmospheric entry path. Parachutes are carried to slow its descent to splashdown. The module is 11.42 feet (3.48 m) tall, 12.83 feet (3.91 m) in diameter, and weighed approximately 12,250 pounds (5,560 kg).
A cylindrical service module (SM) supports the command module, with a service propulsion engine and an RCS with propellants, and a fuel cell power generation system with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen reactants. A high-gain S-band antenna is used for long-distance communications on the lunar flights, with a smaller dish antenna used on Earth orbit flights. On the extended lunar missions, an orbital scientific instrument package is carried. The service module is discarded just before reentry. The module is 24.6 feet (7.5 m) long and 12.83 feet (3.91 m) in diameter. The initial lunar flight version weighed approximately 51,300 pounds (23,300 kg) fully fueled, while a later version designed to carry a lunar orbit scientific instrument package weighed just over 54,000 pounds (24,000 kg). The Block III service module is half the size and weight of the baseline module.
North American Aviation won the contract to build the CSM, and also the second stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle for NASA. Because the CSM design was started early before the selection of lunar orbit rendezvous, the service propulsion engine was sized to lift the CSM off the Moon, and thus was oversized to about twice the thrust required for translunar flight. Also, there was no provision for docking with the lunar module. A 1964 program definition study concluded that the initial design should be continued as Block I which would be used for early testing, while Block II, the actual lunar spacecraft, would incorporate the docking equipment and take advantage of the lessons learned in Block I development.
Further developments in the 1970s saw the introduction of standardized spacecraft for various mission profiles:
* The Block III spacecraft, first flown in 1976, has a smaller and lighter service module, a dish antenna as opposed to an S-band antenna, batteries instead of fuel cells, and deployable solar panels to keep the batteries charged. The Block III was designed specifically for space station operations, meant to be used to shuttle astronauts to and from their destination.
* The Block IV spacecraft, first flown in 1977, modified the Block II service module by replacing the Service Propulsion Engine (SPS) with a pair of Lunar Module Ascent Engines, plus batteries instead of fuel cells. The Block IV is used for lunar operations.
* The Block V spacecraft, first flown in 1978, replaced one of the fuel cells with two SNAP-27 radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG). It was designed for interplanetary missions.
=== Apollo Lunar Module ===
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM) was designed to descend from lunar orbit to land two astronauts on the Moon and take them back to orbit to rendezvous with the command module. Not designed to fly through the Earth's atmosphere or return to Earth, its fuselage was designed totally without aerodynamic considerations and was of an extremely lightweight construction. It consists of separate descent and ascent stages, each with its own engine. The descent stage contains storage for the descent propellant, surface stay consumables, and surface exploration equipment. The ascent stage contains the crew cabin, ascent propellant, and a reaction control system. The initial LM model weighed approximately 33,300 pounds (15,100 kg), and allowed surface stays up to around 34 hours. An extended lunar module weighed over 36,200 pounds (16,400 kg), and allowed surface stays of over 3 days. The contract for design and construction of the lunar module was awarded to Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, and the project was overseen by Thomas J. Kelly.
Like the command and service module, several variants of the lunar module were introduced in the 1970s:
* The Lunar Module Shelter, first flown in 1978, can be generously described as a Frankenstein's spacecraft, combining a command module with a lunar module descent stage. It was initially developed for extended lunar landings, before becoming the early crew quarters for Armstrong Base prior to the construction of more permanent housing in the 1990s.
* The Lunar Module Truck, first flown in 1979, is an unmanned variant designed specifically to carry supplies for Armstrong Base crews.
* The Lunar Module Cargo, first flown in 2008, is a larger version of the LM Truck, designed for lunar base resupply.
== Launch vehicles ==
Before the Apollo program began, Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket engineers had started work on plans for very large launch vehicles, the Saturn series, and the even larger Nova series. In the midst of these plans, von Braun was transferred from the Army to NASA and made Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center. The initial direct ascent plan to send the three-man Apollo command and service module directly to the lunar surface, on top of a large descent rocket stage, would require a Nova-class launcher, with a lunar payload capability of over 180,000 pounds (82,000 kg). The June 11, 1962, decision to use lunar orbit rendezvous enabled the Saturn V to replace the Nova, and the MSFC proceeded to develop the Saturn rocket family for Apollo.
=== Little Joe 2 ===
Since Apollo, like Mercury, would require a launch escape system (LES) in case of a launch failure, a relatively small rocket was required for qualification flight testing of this system. A size bigger than the NAA Little Joewould be required, so the Little Joe II was built by General Dynamics/Convair. After an August 1963 qualification test flight, four LES test flights (A-001 through 004) were made at the White Sands Missile Range between May 1964 and January 1966.
=== Saturn I ===
Since Apollo, like Mercury, used more than one launch vehicle for space missions, NASA used spacecraft-launch vehicle combination series numbers: AS-10x for Saturn I, AS-20x for Saturn IB and later Saturn IC, and AS-50x for Saturn V (compare Mercury-Redstone 3, Mercury-Atlas 6) to designate and plan all missions, rather than numbering them sequentially as in Project Gemini. By the time manned spaceflights began, the spacecraft-luanch vehicle combination series numbers became internal, and the missions were publicly numbered in sequential order (missions with the Apollo Supply Craft carry the "C" prefix for "Cargo").
Saturn I, the first US heavy lift launch vehicle, was initially planned to launch partially equipped CSMs in low Earth orbit tests. The S-I first stage burned RP-1 with liquid oxygen (LOX) oxidizer in eight clustered Rocketdyne H-1 engines, to produce 1,500,000 pounds-force (6,670 kN) of thrust. The S-IV second stage used six liquid hydrogen-fueled Pratt & Whitney RL-10 engines with 90,000 pounds-force (400 kN) of thrust. A Centaur (S-V) third stage with two RL-10 engines first flew in 1967.
The first four Saturn I test flights, designated SA-1 through SA-4 were launched from LC-34, with only live first stages, carrying dummy upper stages filled with water. The first flight with a live S-IV was launched from LC-37. This was followed by five launches of boilerplate CSMs (designated AS-101 through AS-105, and alternatively as SA-5 through SA-10) into orbit in 1964 and 1965. The last three of these further supported the Apollo program by also carrying Pegasus satellites, which verified the safety of the translunar environment by measuring the frequency and severity of micrometeorite impacts.
In September 1962, NASA planned to launch four crewed CSM flights on the Saturn I from late 1965 through 1966, concurrent with Project Gemini. The 22,500-pound (10,200 kg) payload capacity would have severely limited the systems which could be included, so the decision was made in October 1963 to use the uprated Saturn IB for all crewed Earth orbital flights. Despite this, the Saturn I remained in service, launching payloads that would have otherwise flown on the Atlas-Agena or Thor-Delta rockets such as the Ranger, Lunar Orbiter, and Surveyor spacecraft. It is still in service today as the smallest Saturn rocket, available for commercial use.
=== Saturn IB ===
The Saturn IB is an upgraded version of the Saturn I. The S-IB first stage increased the thrust to 1,600,000 pounds-force (7,120 kN) by uprating the H-1 engine. The second stage replaced the S-IV with the S-IVB-200, powered by a single J-2 engine burning liquid hydrogen fuel with LOX, to produce 200,000 pounds-force (890 kN) of thrust. A restartable version of the S-IVB was used as the third stage of the Saturn V. The Saturn IB can send over 40,000 pounds (18,100 kg) into low Earth orbit, sufficient for a partially fueled Block II CSM, fully fueled Block III CSM, or the LM. Saturn IB launch vehicles and flights were designated with an AS-200 series number, "AS" indicating "Apollo Saturn" and the "2" indicating the second member of the Saturn rocket family.
The Saturn IB was the primary rocket for low Earth orbit flights until 1975, when it was replaced by the Saturn IC. The S-IB stage is still built in limited numbers, and the rocket is available for commercial and military use.
=== Saturn IC ===
Contracted in 1971, the Saturn 1C was a key part of the Phase II Apollo Program (formerly known as the Apollo Applications Program). The Saturn IC initially used the same S-IVB stage built for Apollo's Saturn IB and Saturn V, but with the new J2-S engine offering improved ISP and thrust; it was replaced by the smaller S-IVC stage with two J2-S engines in 1977, when it became clear that the S-IVB stage was overpowered for the Block III spacecraft. The Chrysler first stage of the Saturn IB was replaced with a Boeing-built stage consisting of a 6.6m monolithic tank structure, with a single F1-A replacing the original 8 H-1 engines of the Saturn IB. The development and testing of this stage was the key pacing item in the Saturn IC's development. The first unmanned flight took place in 1973 with the first Apollo Supply Craft, with manned flights to Olympus beginning in 1975 once the last of the Saturn IB inventory was used up.
Among the key capabilities of the Saturn 1C was the throttle added to the F-1 as part of F-1A development. While the F-1 (and F-1A) were originally designed with the aim of being used on the Saturn V where late-burn acceleration was controlled by shutting down engines, the F-1A had the ability to throttle to 75%, a capability that was critical in avoiding excessive acceleration later in the S-1E burn on Saturn 1C. Saturn IC launch vehicles and flights inherited the AS-200 series number from the Saturn IB.
=== Saturn II ===
The Saturn II lies between the Saturn IB and Saturn V, being a Saturn V without the S-II second stage, and omitting the center F-1 engine. The Saturn II (known as the Saturn INT-20 during development) can put approximately 132,000 pounds into a 100 nautical mile (185 km or 115 statute mile) orbit. Without the S-II stage, which makes up a large fraction of the mass of the Saturn V, a version of the Saturn II using an unmodified five-engine version of the S-IC booster would be greatly overpowered and accelerate substantially faster than the Saturn V. This would create excessive aerodynamic stress in the low atmosphere. The Saturn II launches with four engines firing and shuts down two engines (MECO-1) 146 seconds after launch. The remaining two engines burn until first-stage shutdown (MECO-2) 212 seconds after launch.
The Saturn II was a stopgap solution used to lift the Block II Apollo CSM to Olympus until the remaining stock could be used. The Saturn II last flew with astronauts in 1980, as it was considered overpowered for the lighter Block III spacecraft. Afterwards, the Saturn II was made available for commercial and military use, quickly becoming a reliable workhorse for the Air Force. During its time in the Apollo program, the launch vehicles and flights were designated with an AS-300 series number.
=== Saturn III ===
Known as the Saturn INT-18 during development, the Saturn III is a Saturn V without the S-IC first stage and augmented by two to four Titan SRBs. The vehicle can lift between 47,000 and 97,000 lbs of mass. The Saturn III was originally used to launch modules for the Olympus space station. Once the Space Shuttle was given this task, the Saturn III was made available for commercial and military use, though after the Shuttle fleet was grounded following the Columbia Rescue, the Saturn III began taking modules to the International Space Station, successfully keeping to the launch schedule and for much cheaper, a factor that contributed to the Shuttle's replacement by the unmanned Shuttle-C. The vehicle comes nine different configurations, each with different propellent loads and amounts of boosters; at least two configurations outright omit the S-IVB stage. Launch vehicles and flights inherited the AS-300 series number from the Saturn II once it was moved from the Apollo program to general usage, though only for flights supporting the Apollo program.
=== Saturn IV ===
Known as the Saturn INT-21 during development, the Saturn IV launched the Skylab and Olympus space stations in 1968 and 1974, respectively. The vehicle thereafter became the workhorse of the National Reconnaissance Office, used for their largest satellites. To date, the Saturn IV has a perfect launch record. For its two space station launches, the launch vehicle and mission were designated as AS-401 (Skylab), and AS-402 (Olympus).
=== Saturn V ===
Saturn V launch vehicles and flights are designated with an AS-500 series number, "AS" indicating "Apollo Saturn" and the "5" indicating Saturn V. The three-stage Saturn V was designed to send a fully fueled CSM and LM to the Moon. It is 33 feet (10.1 m) in diameter and stands 363 feet (110.6 m) tall with its 96,800-pound (43,900 kg) lunar payload. Its capability grew to 103,600 pounds (47,000 kg) for the later advanced lunar landings. The S-IC first stage burns RP-1/LOX for a rated thrust of 7,500,000 pounds-force (33,400 kN), which was upgraded to 7,610,000 pounds-force (33,900 kN). The second and third stages burn liquid hydrogen, and the third stage is a modified version of the S-IVB, with thrust increased to 230,000 pounds-force (1,020 kN) and capability to restart the engine for translunar injection after reaching a parking orbit.
=== Saturn VI ===
The largest of the Saturn rockets, the Saturn VI was designed for flights to Mars. Similar to the Saturn V (and known as the Saturn VB during development), the launch vehicle omits the S-IVB stage in favor of a crew module, with Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters attached to the S-IC stage. The Saturn VI was used for manned Martian missions in 1986, 1989, and 1993, before the program was put on the backburner. With President Donald J. Trump's 2019 NASA Authorization Budget, missions to Mars are expected to restart in 2021.
== Development history ==
=== Uncrewed Flight Tests ===
Two Block I CSMs were launched from LC-34 on suborbital flights in 1966 with the Saturn IB. The first, AS-201 launched on February 26, reached an altitude of 265.7 nautical miles (492.1 km) and splashed down 4,577 nautical miles (8,477 km) downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. The second, AS-202 on August 25, reached 617.1 nautical miles (1,142.9 km) altitude and was recovered 13,900 nautical miles (25,700 km) downrange in the Pacific Ocean. These flights validated the service module engine and the command module heat shield.
A third Saturn IB test, AS-203 launched from pad 37, went into orbit to support design of the S-IVB upper stage restart capability needed for the Saturn V. It carried a nosecone instead of the Apollo spacecraft, and its payload was the unburned liquid hydrogen fuel, the behavior of which engineers measured with temperature and pressure sensors, and a TV camera. This flight occurred on July 5, before AS-202, which was delayed because of problems getting the Apollo spacecraft ready for flight.
=== Preparation for crewed flight ===
Two crewed orbital Block I CSM missions were planned: AS-204 and AS-205. The Block I crew positions were titled Command Pilot, Senior Pilot, and Pilot. The Senior Pilot would assume navigation duties, while the Pilot would function as a systems engineer. The astronauts would wear a modified version of the Gemini spacesuit.
After an uncrewed LM test flight AS-206, a crew would fly the first Block II CSM and LM in a dual mission known as AS-207/208, or AS-278 (each spacecraft would be launched on a separate Saturn IB). The Block II crew positions were titled Commander, Command Module Pilot, and Lunar Module Pilot. The astronauts would begin wearing a new Apollo A6L spacesuit, designed to accommodate lunar extravehicular activity (EVA). The traditional visor helmet was replaced with a clear "fishbowl" type for greater visibility, and the lunar surface EVA suit would include a water-cooled undergarment.
Deke Slayton, the grounded Mercury astronaut who became director of flight crew operations for the Gemini and Apollo programs, selected the first Apollo crew in January 1966, with Grissom as Command Pilot, White as Senior Pilot, and rookie Donn F. Eisele as Pilot. But Eisele dislocated his shoulder twice aboard the KC135 weightlessness training aircraft, and had to undergo surgery on January 27. Slayton replaced him with Chaffee. NASA announced the final crew selection for AS-204 on March 21, 1966, with the backup crew consisting of Gemini veterans James McDivitt and David Scott, with rookie Russell L. "Rusty" Schweickart. Mercury/Gemini veteran Wally Schirra, Eisele, and rookie Walter Cunningham were announced on September 29 as the prime crew for AS-205.
In December 1966, the AS-205 mission was canceled, since the validation of the CSM would be accomplished on the 14-day first flight, and AS-205 would have been devoted to space experiments and contribute no new engineering knowledge about the spacecraft. Its Saturn IB was allocated to the dual mission, now redesignated AS-205/208 or AS-258, and later still to Apollo 5, planned for August 1967. McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart were promoted to the prime AS-258 crew, and Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham were reassigned as the Apollo 1 backup crew. An unmanned version of AS-258, AS-279 (Apollo 3), would be used to collect engineering data on the docking system, while AS-206 (Apollo 2) would be a solo unmanned flight for the LM.
==== Program delays ====
The spacecraft for the AS-202 and AS-204 missions were delivered by North American Aviation to the Kennedy Space Center with long lists of equipment problems which had to be corrected before flight; these delays caused the launch of AS-202 to slip behind AS-203, and eliminated hopes the first crewed mission might be ready to launch as soon as November 1966, concurrently with the last Gemini mission. Eventually, the planned AS-204 flight date was pushed to February 21, 1967.
North American Aviation was prime contractor not only for the Apollo CSM, but for the Saturn V S-II second stage as well, and delays in this stage pushed the first uncrewed Saturn V flight AS-501 from late 1966 to November 1967. (The initial assembly of AS-501 had to use a dummy spacer spool in place of the stage.)
The problems with North American were severe enough in late 1965 to cause Manned Space Flight Administrator George Mueller to appoint program director Samuel Phillips to head a "tiger team" to investigate North American's problems and identify corrections. Phillips documented his findings in a December 19 letter to NAA president Lee Atwood, with a strongly worded letter by Mueller, and also gave a presentation of the results to Mueller and Deputy Administrator Robert Seamans.
==== Apollo 1 fire ====
Grissom, White, and Chaffee decided to name their flight Apollo 1 as a motivational focus on the first crewed flight; NASA later adopted sequential numbering for all Apollo flights going forward, as the AS-xxx designations, it was feared, would be too confusing for the public. They trained and conducted tests of their spacecraft at North American, and in the altitude chamber at the Kennedy Space Center. A "plugs-out" test was planned for January, which would simulate a launch countdown on LC-34 with the spacecraft transferring from pad-supplied to internal power. If successful, this would be followed by a more rigorous countdown simulation test closer to the February 21 launch, with both spacecraft and launch vehicle fueled.
The plugs-out test began on the morning of January 27, 1967, and immediately was plagued with problems. First, the crew noticed a strange odor in their spacesuits which delayed the sealing of the hatch. Then, communications problems frustrated the astronauts and forced a hold in the simulated countdown. During this hold, an electrical fire began in the cabin and spread quickly in the high pressure, 100% oxygen atmosphere. While attempting to open the hatch, Grissom discovered a handle, very discreet and labeled "EMERGENCY ATMOSPHERE PURGE", that blew the hatch open and allowed the crew to quickly escape. Concerned engineers at North American, despite instructions not to for fears that it could misfire in space or after splashdown (the latter of which had happened to Grissom's Mercury capsule Liberty Bell 7), had been able to sneak this function in under the noses of their superiors. Had the hatch not been blown, internal cabin pressure would have risen high enough from the fire that the cabin inner wall would burst, allowing the fire to erupt onto the pad area and potentially cause an explosion of the launch escape system that could have destroyed the entire launch complex. Exposed to the outside, the fire quickly died down, with the remainder being extinguished by pad personnel. The engineers who had snuck the hatch-blowing function in were fired for their insubordination, but were later rehired once North American had a clear picture of exactly why such a function would be needed; these same engineers were given the Congressional Medal of Freedom for their foresight saving the lives of the crew.
NASA immediately convened an accident review board, overseen by both houses of Congress. While the determination of responsibility for the accident was complex, the review board concluded that "deficiencies existed in command module design, workmanship and quality control." Deke Slayton was famously quoted saying "We asked for a spacecraft, not a fire hazard!" At the insistence of NASA Administrator Webb, North American removed Harrison Storms as command module program manager. Webb also reassigned Apollo Spacecraft Program Office (ASPO) Manager Joseph Francis Shea, replacing him with George Low.
To remedy the causes of the fire, changes were made in the Block II spacecraft and operational procedures, the most important of which were use of a nitrogen/oxygen mixture instead of pure oxygen before and during launch, and removal of flammable cabin and space suit materials. The Block II design already called for replacement of the Block I plug-type hatch cover with a quick-release, outward opening door. NASA discontinued the crewed Block I program, using the Block I spacecraft only for uncrewed Saturn V flights. Crew members would also exclusively wear modified, fire-resistant A7L Block II space suits, and would be designated by the Block II titles, regardless of whether a LM was present on the flight or not.
Apollo 1 was eventually launched on May 18, 1967. The Block I command module damaged in the fire was repaired, and heavily modified. These modifications included the Block I plug hatch being replaced entirely by the Block II hatch, the new nitrogen/oxygen mixture, and the removal of all flammable materials. The A7L spacesuit was also used for the first time on the flight. The spacecraft's service module was completely replaced by a new Block II service module, and the original Block I service module is now part of a display at Kennedy Space Center. The flight was a success, and no major issues cropped up, aside from Grissom keeping the spacecraft in orbit for an extra week. While NASA initially frowned upon this, it was quickly realized that a long-term mission such as this had the benefit of working out all of the kinks and cancelling a second manned orbital test flight, thus freeing up a Saturn IB for another mission.
==== Saturn V and LM tests ====
On April 24, 1967, Mueller published an official Apollo mission numbering scheme, using sequential numbers for all flights, crewed or uncrewed. The sequence would start with Apollo 1, and would also be used for flights directly related to Apollo activities, regardless of whether the spacecraft was an Apollo spacecraft or not.
In September 1967, Mueller approved a sequence of mission types which had to be successfully accomplished in order to achieve the crewed lunar landing. Each step had to be successfully accomplished before the next ones could be performed, and it was unknown how many tries of each mission would be necessary; therefore letters were used instead of numbers. The A missions were uncrewed Saturn V validation; B was uncrewed LM validation using the Saturn IB; C was crewed CSM Earth orbit validation using the Saturn IB; D was the first crewed CSM/LM flight (this replaced AS-258, using a single Saturn V launch); E would be a higher Earth orbit CSM/LM flight; F would be the first lunar mission, testing the LM in lunar orbit but without landing (a "dress rehearsal"); and G would be the first crewed landing. The list of types covered follow-on lunar exploration to include H lunar landings, I for lunar orbital survey missions, and J for extended-stay lunar landings.
The delay in the CSM caused by the fire enabled NASA to catch up on man-rating the LM and Saturn V. Apollo 2 (AS-205) was launched on June 4, 1967, carrying the first LM into orbit. Apollo 3 (AS-258) followed on September 14, 1967, launching a modified Block I CSM with a docking probe (but no tunnel) and an LM on two separate Saturn IB rockets to test rendevouz and docking systems. Apollo 4 (AS-501) was the first uncrewed flight of the Saturn V, carrying a Block I CSM on November 9, 1967. The capability of the command module's heat shield to survive a trans-lunar reentry was demonstrated by using the service module engine to ram it into the atmosphere at higher than the usual Earth-orbital reentry speed.
Apollo 5 (AS-269) was the first crewed test flight of LM in Earth orbit, as well as the first launch of the Block II CSM. The flight was a manned version of Apollo 3. Launched on January 22, 1968, the crew, consisting of McDivitt, Schweickart, and Scott, tested the LM on orbit, and also tested EVA suits and the SIM Bay on the service module, and transposition and rendevouz maneuvers for post-TLI docking.
This was followed on April 4, 1968, by Apollo 6 (AS-502) which carried a CSM and an LM Test Article as ballast. The intent of this mission was to achieve trans-lunar injection, followed closely by a simulated direct-return abort, using the service module engine to achieve another high-speed reentry. The Saturn V experienced pogo oscillation, a problem caused by non-steady engine combustion, which damaged fuel lines in the second and third stages. Two S-II engines shut down prematurely, but the remaining engines were able to compensate. The damage to the third stage engine was more severe, preventing it from restarting for trans-lunar injection. Finally, the CSM failed to separate from the S-IVB due to an electrical failure caused by the pogo oscillation, and the spacecraft was effectively stuck until Apollo 45 was launched in 1976 to rescue the stricken craft and bring it home. Based on the good performance of Apollo 6 and identification of satisfactory fixes to the Apollo 6 problems, NASA declared the Saturn V ready to fly men, canceling a third uncrewed test.
On June 22, 1968, the world's first space station, Skylab, was launched, on the first Saturn IV rocket designated AS-401. Intended as a short-term proof-of-concept space station, Skylab remained in orbit until it was deorbited in a controlled reentry in 1974.
=== Crewed development missions ===
Apollo 7, launched from LC-34 on October 11, 1968, was crewed by Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham. As the C mission had already been accomplished by Apollo 1, Apollo 7 was instead sent to Skylab to dock with the station, assess internal atmospheric conditions, and deliver the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM), made from a modified LM ascent module. As a result, Apollo 7 became the first manned Saturn V launch. On November 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy, who had survived an assassination attempt, was elected President of the United States. His election was warmly received by NASA, as he immediately withdrew all American troops from Vietnam upon his inauguration and redirected funds earmarked for the Vietnam War effort to the space program, earning him the moniker of "The Space President".
Apollo 8 was planned to be the E mission in December 1968, crewed by L. Gordon Cooper, Al Worden, and Bruce McCandless II, launched on a Saturn V instead of two Saturn IBs (the D mission had already been accomplished by Apollo 5). In the summer it had become clear that the LM would not be ready in time. Rather than waste the Saturn V on another simple Earth-orbiting mission or a Skylab visit, ASPO Manager George Low suggested the bold step of sending Apollo 8 to orbit the Moon instead, deferring the D mission to the next mission in March 1969, and eliminating the E mission. This would keep the program on track. The Soviet Union had sent two tortoises, mealworms, wine flies, and other lifeforms around the Moon on September 15, 1968, aboard Zond 5, and it was believed they might soon repeat the feat with human cosmonauts. The decision was not announced publicly until successful completion of Apollo 7. Gemini veterans Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, and rookie William Anders captured the world's attention by making ten lunar orbits in 20 hours, transmitting television pictures of the lunar surface on Christmas Eve, and returning safely to Earth.
The following March, the full lift capability of the Saturn V with men aboard and an LM was accomplished with Apollo 9, and after a final checkout of the LM, the CSM made a visit to Skylab to reboost it to a higher orbit until a time that NASA could resume flights to the station. The F mission was successfully carried out on Apollo 10 in May 1969 by Gemini veterans Thomas P. Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan. Stafford and Cernan took the LM to within 50,000 feet (15 km) of the lunar surface, with the LM not being fully-fueled so the crew wouldn't get any ideas.
The G mission was achieved on Apollo 11 in July 1969 by an all-Gemini veteran crew consisting of Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. Armstrong and Aldrin performed the first landing at the Sea of Tranquility at 20:17:40 UTC on July 20, 1969. They spent a total of 21 hours, 36 minutes on the surface, and spent 2 hours, 31 minutes outside the spacecraft, walking on the surface, taking photographs, collecting material samples, and deploying automated scientific instruments, while continuously sending black-and-white television back to Earth. The astronauts returned safely on July 24.
=== Production lunar landings ===
In November 1969, Gemini veteran Charles "Pete" Conrad and rookie Alan L. Bean made a precision landing on Apollo 12 within walking distance of the Surveyor 3 uncrewed lunar probe, which had landed in April 1967 on the Ocean of Storms. The command module pilot was Gemini veteran Richard F. Gordon Jr. Conrad and Bean carried the first lunar surface color television camera, but it was damaged when accidentally pointed into the Sun. They made two EVAs totaling 7 hours and 45 minutes. On one, they walked to the Surveyor, photographed it, and removed some parts which they returned to Earth.
The success of the first two landings allowed the remaining missions to be crewed with a single veteran as commander, with two rookies. Apollo 13 launched Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise in April 1970, headed for the Fra Mauro formation. But two days out, a liquid oxygen tank exploded, disabling the service module and forcing the crew to use the LM as a "lifeboat" to return to Earth. Another NASA review board was convened to determine the cause, which turned out to be a combination of damage of the tank in the factory, and a subcontractor not making a tank component according to updated design specifications. It was later discovered that this particular spacecraft had originally been slated for use on Apollo 10; had the failure occurred on that flight, it could have scuttled the entire program. Apollo was grounded again, for the remainder of 1970 while the oxygen tank was redesigned and an extra one was added.
The contracted batch of 15 Saturn Vs was enough for lunar landing missions through Apollo 20. NASA publicized a preliminary list of eight more planned landing sites, with plans to increase the mass of the CSM and LM for the last five missions, along with the payload capacity of the Saturn V. These final missions would combine the I and J types in the 1967 list, allowing the CMP to operate a package of lunar orbital sensors and cameras while his companions were on the surface, and allowing them to stay on the Moon for over three days. These missions would also carry the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) increasing the exploration area and allowing televised liftoff of the LM. Also, the Block II spacesuit was revised for the extended missions to allow greater flexibility and visibility for driving the LRV.
==== Extended missions ====
Apollo 15 was launched on July 26, 1971, with David Scott, Alfred Worden and James Irwin. Scott and Irwin landed on July 30 near Hadley Rille, and spent just under two days, 19 hours on the surface. In over 18 hours of EVA, they collected about 77 kilograms (170 lb) of lunar material.
Apollo 16 landed in the Descartes Highlands on April 20, 1972. The crew was commanded by John Young, with Ken Mattingly and Charles Duke. Young and Duke spent just under three days on the surface, with a total of over 20 hours EVA.
Apollo 17 landed in the Taurus–Littrow region in December 1972. Eugene Cernan commanded Ronald E. Evans and Joe Engle. Cernan and Engle stayed on the surface for just over three days and spent just over 23 hours of total EVA.
Originally, it was expected that Apollo 17 would be the final moon landing due to a Republican Congress seeking to cut funding to the space program, and the remaining hardware would be used for Skylab. However, in 1971, the Soviet Union managed to land two cosmonauts in the Ocean of Storms, and allegedly stole equipment from the Apollo 12 landing site (a claim that was vehemently denied and later debunked by a landing in the 1990s). This resulted in bipartisan support for indefinitely funding Apollo to maintain parity with the Soviets, while continuing development of the Space Shuttle in the hope that it would one day replace Apollo; ultimately, a combination of higher-than-expected costs, an ill-defined role, a fatal accident in 1986 that resulted in the deaths of seven astronauts (including a school teacher), and a close call in 2003 that resulted in a spectacular rescue, saw the entire system play nothing more than a support role to Apollo, such as resupplying and servicing Olympus, building the International Space Station, and fueling the Ares Propulsion Stack for missions to Mars. All of these factors saw the Space Shuttle replaced with the unmanned Shuttle-C variant in 2011, while the United States Air Force continues flying its own fleet of manned Space Shuttles, and Russia also maintains a fleet of similar shuttles known as the Buran shuttles (the European Space Agency and Japan also had similar spaceplanes Hermes and HOPE, but both have since been retired and replaced with more conventional spacecraft).
Apollo 18 landed in the Marius Hills in February 1973. Richard F. Gordon commanded Vance D. Brand and NASA's first scientist-astronaut, geologist Dr. Harrison H. Schmitt. Gordon and Cernan spent three days on the surface, for 26 hours of total EVA.
Apollo 19 landed in Copernicus Crater in April 1973. Fred Haise, who had been the lunar module pilot on the ill-fated Apollo 13, commanded the crew with Jerry L. Carr and William R. Pogue. During their three-day stay on the lunar surface, Haise and Carr drilled into the wall of Copernicus Crater and discovered volcanic rock.
Apollo 20, the final mission of Phase I of the Apollo program, landed in Tycho Crater in June 1973. Commanded by Edgar Mitchell, with Jack R. Lousma and Paul J. Weitz, the mission saw Mitchell and Lousma land near the Surveyor VII probe.
== History since 1973 ==
Following the completion of Apollo 20, and with a larger budget than anticipated, a second run of 25 Saturn Vs, 40 Saturn ICs, 40 Block II CSMs (half of this order was later converted to the newer Block III spacecraft), and 85 LMs was ordered. This allowed NASA to expand the scope of the Apollo program.
Apollo 21 was the Earth Resources mission, carrying instrumentation mounted on a carrier bus, to study Earth's weather patterns. Apollos 22 and 24 visited the Skylab space station for various military-related experiments. Apollo 23 was a test of laser communications, while Apollo 25 saw Vance Brand and Don L. Lind land in Schroter's Valley, during which crystals were discovered. Apollo 26 saw a Lunar Module with its descent stage replaced with an optical array to test various advanced optical systems.
Apollo C1 saw the first launch of the Apollo Supply Craft (ASC), an unmanned variant of the CSM that replaced the command module with a pressurized cargo module. The first ASC was used to move Skylab into a graveyard orbit in preparation for the launch of Olympus. Apollo C1 also served as a test for the new Saturn IC rocket.
Olympus was launched on the last first-run Saturn V on April 24, 1974. The station was designed with modular expansion in mind, assembly of which occurred between 1975 and 1986. Olympus was constantly occupied until 1997, and was deorbited in 2004.
The entire Apollo program received a major blow on April 4, 1975. Apollo 33, commanded by Robert L. Crippen with Mattingly and Pogue, experienced a catastrophic malfunction when Engine #4 on the S-IC stage abruptly gimballed due to receiving a bad signal, sending the entire vehicle off-course. Crippen immediately noticed the abrupt change in direction, and activated Abort Mode IB (one bravo), which activated the Launch Escape System; it was the first in-flight abort of a crewed flight during launch. The crew was uninjured, and the abort proved both the reliability of the Launch Escape System and the reaction time of astronauts, but the Saturn V was grounded and the lunar program ordered to stand down while investigations were carried out. Apollo 34 (the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project) did not launch until July 15, 1975, which also marked the final manned flight of the Saturn IB.
Throughout the 1970s, Olympus was continuously occupied and grew with new modules. Lunar flights did not resume until 1977, when Apollo 50, commanded by Neil Armstrong, landed at the Apollo 11 site to mark the golden mission, a mission that also marked the first flight of the Block IV spacecraft.
Apollo 54 saw an even bigger accomplishment. The one-year mission saw the CSM and modified S-IVB fly by Venus, the first time man had visited another planet.
In 1980, the Block II spacecraft was retired. Production had ended in 1976 with the introduction of the Block III spacecraft, and NASA aggressively used the remaining stock until the last production Block II spacecraft was flown on Apollo 62.
Apollo was used increasingly for military applications in the 1980s, as the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 was never ratified. As a result, the United States and USSR launched a series of space-based weapons with different purposes. The SDI system was launched by the Space Shuttle between 1983 and 1985, as was a classified manned Air Force space station called the Manned Weapons Platform (which carried 60 MIRV nuclear warheads). Apollo 76 carried a pair of Air Force personnel to the MWP in 1984, but this flight attracted too much attention from the media and conspiracy theorists, leading NASA and the USAF to develop the Crew Transfer Vehicle (CTV), comprised of Big Gemini, an Apollo Block IV SM with Agena engines and a rear-mounted docking port, a newly-developed Gemini LES, and the Saturn II. The CTV remained in service until it was replaced by the aforementioned USAF Space Shuttles in 1996. Other activities allegedly carried out by Apollo in the 80s included photo recon using a Block IV with cameras mounted in the SIM Bay, ASC craft used as tugs to move SDI satellites around, a servicing mission of a KH-11 satellite, and installing an anti-satellite autocannon on Olympus. It was also during this time the Saturn rockets were being used for non-Apollo launches, and NASA began experimenting with the Saturn IB to increase its lifespan (once it became clear the Saturn IC was the preferred rocket for launching Block III spacecraft as well as secondary payloads "hitchhiking" on the launch) by testing numerous configurations, such as one replacing the S-IB stage with a solid-fueled one, and another with a Centaur upper stage. In addition, Skylab B was launched into lunar orbit as LunarLab, with its own crew rotation cycle; LunarLab was launched in response to an announcemet by the Soviet Union that it would be launching Salyut 7 into lunar orbit, and as a result, was a primarily military station, but also did scout out potential landing sites for future lunar flights. After the Cold War ended in 1991, an ASC sent LunarLab into a heliocentric orbit.
But these military operations were overshadowed by an even bigger accomplishment. In 1982, a Titan III rocket launched Apollo 67, which was the first unmanned test of the Martian Excursion Module. Throughout the early 80s, a whole new system for Martian flights was developed, including the Saturn VI, the Ares Propulsion Stack (launched by the Saturn V and fueled by the Space Shuttle), and the aforementioned MEM, with the Block V CSM incorporated in. On March 27, 1986, a little over a year after launch, Apollo 81 landed on Mars, with John Young and Robert Crippin being the first humans to set foot on Mars. Two more Martian flights were flown in 1989 and 1993, before the Mars flights were put on the backburner to focus on new projects.
In 1993, the Clinton administration announced that Space Station Freedom would be combined with the Mir-2 and ESA Columbus space station concepts to create the International Space Station. The station would be constructed using the Space Shuttle and Proton-K rocket, with crew rotation provided by multiple nations; initially, the Apollo Block III and Soyuz were to be the only crew transfer craft, before the ESA developed the Hermes shuttle, Russia resumed development of the Buran program, and Johnson Aerospace was contracted to bring commercial astronauts to the station aboard the Antares spacecraft. Resupply was initially provided by the ASC and Progress, later joined by the Shuttle-C and ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), and commercial spacecraft such as Johnson Verrezzano, SpaceX Dragon, Orbital ATK Antares; in future, additional commercial manned spacecraft will service the station, these being the SpaceX Dragon 2 and Boeing CST-100 Starliner. In 2002, NASA sent a crew to assertain Olympus' condition, coming to the conclusion that it would be cheaper to just build a new station, resulting Olympus' deorbiting in 2004.
Project Apollo
Mission 	Designation	Launch Date 	Crew 	Duration 	Type 	CSM Block, Launch Vehicle and Location 	Remarks
N/A 	AS-201 	February 26, 1966 	unmanned	37 minutes, 19.7 seconds 	Suborbital CSM Test 	Block I, Saturn IB, LC-34 	First suborbital test of the Block I CSM.
N/A 	AS-203 	July 5, 1966 	unmanned	~6 hours 	S-IVB Restart Test 	N/A, Saturn IB, LC-37B 	Tested the engine restart capabilities of the S-IVB stage. The stage was inadvertently destroyed after four orbits, but was considered a success, nonetheless.
N/A 	AS-202 	August 25, 1966 	unmanned	1 hour, 33 minutes, 2 seconds 	Suborbital CSM Test 	Block I, Saturn IB, LC-34 	First flight to include the spacecraft guidance, navigation control system and fuel cells.
Apollo 1 	AS-204 	May 18, 1967 	Gus Grissom, Commander
Ed White, Senior Pilot
Roger Chaffee, Command Module Pilot	14 days 	LEO CSM Test 	Block IB, Saturn 1B, LC-34 	Originally scheduled for February 1, the fire on January 27 forced a delay while repairs and redesign were carried out by NASA and North American Aviation. The original Block I suits were also replaced by the much safer A7L suits. The flight was only meant to last six days, but Grissom had promised to keep the spacecraft in orbit for fourteen, which he followed through on. While NASA initially disapproved of this, they soon realized doing so would allow them to scrap any future Earth orbit check-out flights for the CSM and skip straight to testing the Lunar Module.
Apollo 2 	AS-205 	June 4, 1967 	Unmanned	11 hours 10 minutes 	LEO Lunar Module Test 	N/A, Saturn 1B, LC-34 	First test of the Lunar Module. Unlike future flights, the LM on this mission lacked landing legs.
Apollo 3 	AS-258 	September 14, 1967	Unmanned	Approx. 1 day 	LEO CSM-LM rendezvous and docking tests 	Block I, Two Saturn IBs, LC-34 and LC-37 	First Rendezvous and Docking test of the CSM and LM. First time LM had landing legs.
Apollo 4 	AS-501 	November 4, 1967 	Unmanned	8 hours, 36 minutes, 9 seconds 	Saturn V test launch 	Block I, Saturn V, LC-39A 	First test launch of Saturn V, and first launch from LC-39.
Apollo 5 	AS-269 	January 11, 1968 	Jim McDivitt, Commander
Rusty Schweickart, Lunar Module Pilot
David Scott, Command Module Pilot	8 days 	Manned CSM-LM rendezvous and docking test 	Block II, Two Saturn IBs, LC-34 and LC-37 	First manned LM test; second manned Apollo flight; first flight of Block II spacecraft. Basically, a manned version of Apollo 3. Also tested EVA suits and the SIM Bay, which was used for weather observation on behalf of the National Weather Service. There had been talk of deploying a weather satellite from the SIM Bay, but it was decided that its cameras were sufficient.
Apollo 6 	AS-502 	March 4, 1968 	Unmanned	Undetermined 	Saturn V Qualification Flight 	Block I, Saturn V, LC-39A 	The second test of the Saturn V, this mission was plagued by two major problems. First, severe pogo oscillations in the S-IC and S-II caused the CSM to be inserted into the wrong orbit. Then, the CSM failed to separate from the S-IVB, forcing NASA to abort the mission. It wasn't until 1977 when the crew of Apollo 46 managed to dock with the stricken craft and manually separate it that the CM was finally able to come home.
Skylab 	AS-401 	June 22, 1968 	Unmanned	6 years 	Skylab Launch 	N/A, Saturn IV, LC-39B 	Launch of the Skylab space station. First launch of the Saturn IV, and first launch from LC-39B.
Apollo 7
Skylab 1 	AS-503 	October 11, 1968 	Wally Schirra, Commander
Donn Eisele, Command Module Pilot
Walter Cunningham, Flight Engineer	10 days, 20 hours, 9 minutes, 3 seconds 	Skylab Visit/Assembly 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39 	First visit to Skylab, and first manned launch of the Saturn V. Aboard the station, the crew activated the station, boosted it to a higher orbit, and conducted three experiments relating to the use of ballistic weaponry in space. Also delivered the Apollo Telescope Mount, which necessitated the use of a Saturn V for the flight.
Apollo 8 	AS-504 	December 21, 1968 	Frank Borman, Commander
Jim Lovell, Command Module Pilot
Bill Anders, "Lunar Module Pilot"	6 days, 3 hours, 10 minutes, 13 seconds 	CSM Lunar Orbit Mission 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	First manned lunar flight, as well as the first manned deep space flight. The CSM made 10 orbits of the moon.
Apollo 9
Skylab 2 	AS-505 	March 3, 1969 	Gordon Cooper, Commander
Al Worden, Command Module Pilot
Bruce McCandless II, Lunar Module Pilot	10 days, 1 hour, 0 minutes, 54 seconds 	Saturn V Lift Capability Test/LM Final Checkout/Skylab Visit	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	First launch of the LM on a Saturn V. Second visit to Skylab.
Apollo 10 	AS-506 	May 18, 1969 	Tom Stafford, Commander
Gene Cernan, Lunar Module Pilot
John Young, Command Module Pilot	8 days, 0 hours, 3 minutes, 23 seconds 	Lunar Landing Dress Rehearsal 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Dress rehearsal for Apollo 11. First lunar flight for LM. First all-veteran spaceflight, featuring the first color TV broadcast from space.
Apollo 11 	AS-507 	July 16, 1969 	Neil Armstrong, Commander
Buzz Aldrin, Lunar Module Pilot
Mike Collins, Command Module Pilot	8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes, 35 seconds 	First Lunar Landing 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Historic manned lunar landing. Armstrong and Aldrin landed in the Sea of Tranquility.
Apollo 12 	AS-508 	November 14, 1969 	Pete Conrad, Commander
Alan Bean, Lunar Module Pilot
Dick Gordon, Command Module Pilot	10 days, 4 hours, 36 minutes, 24 seconds 	Lunar Landing 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	First pinpoint landing, and the first multi-EVA mission. Conrad and Bean landed in the Ocean of Storms, not too far from the Surveyor III probe.
Apollo 13 	AS-509 	April 11, 1970 	Jim Lovell, Commander
Fred Haise, Lunar Module Pilot
Jack Swigert, Command Module Pilot	5 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes, 41 seconds 	Lunar Landing (Planned) 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Was intended to land at Fra Mauro. However, on April 13, Cryogenic Tank #2 exploded en route to the Moon. The mission turned into a fight for survival. Amazingly, the crew returned safely.
Apollo 14 	AS-510 	January 31, 1971 	Alan Shepard, Commander
Edgar Mitchell, Lunar Module Pilot
Stuart Roosa, Command Module Pilot	9 days, 0 hours, 1 minute, 58 seconds 	Lunar Landing 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Visited Fra Mauro, where Apollo 13 was intended to land. Alan Shepard hit the first golf ball in space on this mission. This was the first "full-up" mission, the first mission with the ALSEP experiment package, and the first where the commander was identified by a red stripe on his suit.
Apollo 15 	AS-511 	July 26, 1971 	David Scott, Commander
Jim Irwin, Lunar Module Pilot
Al Worden, Command Module Pilot	12 days, 7 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds 	Lunar Landing 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	First mission with the lunar rover. Scott and Irwin landed at Hadley Rille, where they conducted the first extensive geology mission. The mission also saw the first satellite launched from a manned spacecraft (a staple of the later Space Shuttle missions), the first use of the SIM Bay on a lunar mission, and the first deep-space EVA.
Apollo 16 	AS-512 	April 16, 1972 	John Young, Commander
Charlie Duke, Lunar Module Pilot
Ken Mattingly, Command Module Pilot	11 days, 1 hour, 51 minutes, 5 seconds 	Lunar Landing 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Landed in the Descartes Highlands. Set the record for amount of lunar samples brought back from the surface, a record still unmatched.
Apollo 17 	AS-513 	December 7, 1972 	Gene Cernan, Commander
Joe Engle, Lunar Module Pilot
Ron Evans, Command Module Pilot	12 days, 13 hours, 51 minutes, 59 seconds	Lunar Landing 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39B 	Initially thought to be the last lunar landing, a massive influx of cash approved by Congress funded the program through 1990, citing an increasing need for research and development of consumer technology (this was the public reason; the real reason was because the Soviet Union had landed a man on the Moon earlier that year in the Ocean of Storms, and allegedly stole equipment left behind by Conrad and Bean; the Soviet Union did confirm they had landed in the Ocean of Storms, but denied stealing any equipment; the funding came as a need to keep Apollo around to keep parity with the Soviets and to investigate military applications for the system; the Space Shuttle would continue development, though, as would a mission to put a man on Mars, and expand Skylab with new modules to increase its scientific capabilities). Apollo 17 landed in Tauros-Littrow, home to some huge boulders.
Apollo 18 	AS-514 	February 4, 1973 	Dick Gordon, Commander
Harrison Schmidt Lunar Module Pilot
Vance Brand, Command Module Pilot	16 days 	Extended Lunar Landing 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39C 	First launch from LC-39C, and the first extended lunar landing. Gordon and Conrad landed in Marius Hills, which gave insight about the volcanic history of the Moon from domes in the area. Harrison Schmidt became the first geologist on the moon.
Apollo 19 	AS-515 	April 17, 1973 	Fred Haise, Commander
Jerry Carr, Lunar Module Pilot
William Pogue, Command Module Pilot	20 days 	Extended Lunar Landing 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Haise and Carr landed in Copernicus Crater, where they drilled into the crater walls and found evidence of past volcanic activity.
Apollo 20 	AS-516 	June 1, 1973 	Edgar Mitchell, Commander
Jack Lousma, Lunar Module Pilot
Paul Weitz, Command Module Pilot	20 days 	Extended Lunar Landing 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Mitchell and Lousma landed in Tycho Crater, close to the Surveyor VII probe. This flight marked the end of Phase 1 of the Apollo program.
Apollo 21 	AS-206 	July 8, 1973 	Pete Conrad, Commander
Joseph Kerwin, Pilot
Paul Weitz, Flight Engineer	6 days 	Earth Resources 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-34 	Earth Resources study using instrumentation mounted on a carrier bus placed into a 260km orbit using a Block II CSM and a Saturn IB.
Apollo 22
Skylab 3 	AS-207 	July 9, 1973 	Rusty Schwieckart, Commander
Bruce McCandless II, Pilot
Story Musgrave, Flight Engineer	28 days 	Skylab Visit 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-34 	First manned flight to Skylab since Apollo 9. Ten experiments were performed on this mission, all military in nature.
Apollo 23 	AS-517 	September 18, 1973	Alan Bean, Commander
Jack Lousma, Pilot
Owen Gariott, Flight Engineer	7 days 	High Orbit Laser Communications Test 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	To provide a possible alternative to using radio links for interplanetary communications Perkins-Elmer, a firm later involved in the construction of the Hubble Space Telescope was asked to design a laser communications system. By 1966, their work was sufficiently advanced to propose that NASA set aside an Apollo mission to test out their planned system. A CSM and LM were launched into a synchronous orbit on the first Saturn V launched for an Earth orbital mission since Apollo 9, and tested the system. Results were inconclusive.
Apollo 24
Skylab 4 	AS-208 	October 20, 1973 	Jerry Carr, Commander
William Pogue, Pilot
Ed Gibson, Flight Engineer	45 days 	Skylab Visit 	Block II, Saturn 1B, LC-34 	In recent years, it was stated that the crew of Apollo 24 conducted a secret spy mission for the Department of Defense. Final flight to Skylab.
Apollo 25 	AS-518 	January 27, 1974 	Vance Brind, Commander
Don Lind, Lunar Module Pilot
William Lenoir, Command Module Pilot	14 days 	Lunar Landing 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39D 	First launch from LC-39D. Brand and Lind landed in Schroter's Valley, where they discovered crystalline rocks.
Apollo C1 	CS-201 	February 17, 1974 	Unmanned	5 days 	Skylab Decommissioning 	ASC, Saturn IC, LC-37 	First flight of the Apollo Supply Craft, first flight of the Block III service module, and first launch of the Saturn IC. Moved Skylab to a graveyard orbit.
Apollo 26 	AS-209 	April 5, 1974 	Jim Lovell, Commander
Story Musgrave, Pilot
David Scott, Flight Engineer	12 days 	High Orbit Optical Systems Experiment 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-34 	Placed in synchronous orbit a LM whose descent stage was replaced with an optical array for the purpose of testing various advanced optical systems, such as segmented mirrors, communications lasers and stellar interferometry. Final use of the original drogue-and-chute docking system.
Olympus 	AS-402 	April 24, 1974 	Unmanned	30 years 	Olympus Launch 	N/A, Saturn IV, LC-39A 	Launch of second American space station.
Apollo 27
Olympus 1 	AS-210 	May 22, 1974 	Ed White, Commander
Gus Grissom, Pilot
Roger Chaffee, Flight Engineer	10 days 	Olympus Assembly 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-34 	First manned flight to Olympus, and first time a module was added to a space station, as well as the first flight to use the APAS docking system. Delivered the Multi-Dock Adapter, allowing future expansion. This mission was nicknamed the "Apollo 1 Reunion", as the entire crew of Apollo 1 was reunited (though with Grissom and White's positions swapped).
Apollo 28
Olympus 2 	AS-211
AS-403	August 16, 1974 	Neil Armstrong, Commander
Al Worden, Pilot
Robert Crippen, Flight Engineer	10 days 	Olympus Assembly 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-34
N/A, Saturn INT-21, LC-39A 	Delivered Science Module A
Apollo 29
Olympus 3 	AS-212 	October 10, 1974 	Karol Bobko, Commander
Gordon Fullerton, Pilot
William Thornton, Flight Engineer	40 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-34 	Start of Olympus crew rotation cycle.
Apollo 30
Olympus 4 	AS-213
AS-404	December 3, 1974 	John Young, Commander
Karl Henize, Pilot
Anthony W. England, Flight Engineer	10 days 	Olympus Assembly 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-34
N/A, Saturn IV, LC-39A 	Delivered the Mess Module.
Apollo 31 	AS-214 	January 18, 1975 	Unmanned	2 days 	Spacecraft testing 	Block III, Saturn 1B, LC-34 	First orbital test flight of the Apollo Block III spacecraft.
Apollo 32
Olympus 5 	AS-215 	February 15, 1975 	Buzz Aldrin, Commander
Robert Overmeyer, Pilot
Henry Hartsfield, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-34 	Used Science Module A for ten science experiments relating to plant growth.
Apollo 33 	AS-519 	April 4, 1975 	Robert Crippin, Commander
Ken Mattingly, Lunar Module Pilot
William Pogue, Command Module Pilot	4 minutes 	Lunar Landing (Planned) 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	80 seconds into flight, Engine #4 on the S-IC stage gimballed unexpectedly, sending the vehicle off-course. Commander Robert Crippin immediately noticed the abrupt change in direction on the navball, and activated Mode 1B (one bravo), marking the first in-flight use of the LES. The Range Safety Officer initiated the self-destruct after the CM was clear, and CM landed safely, and the crew was recovered uninjured, but shaken and angry at having lost their chance to go to the Moon. Following the disaster, the Saturn V was grounded indefinitely pending a full investigation. The crew lobbied heavily to be put on the next lunar flight, but Deke Slayton refused on the grounds that it would disrupt the crew rotation; this later became a moot point when Congress ordered a stand-down on all lunar flights pending investigation.
Apollo 34 	AS-216 	July 15, 1975 	Thomas P. Stafford, Commander
Vance D. Brand, Command Module Pilot
Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, Docking Module Pilot	9 days, 1 hour, 28 seconds 	Apollo-Soyuz Test Project 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-34 	The first Apollo flight since the Apollo 33 mishap, and the first joint US-Soviet spaceflight. This was scheduled to be the final manned flight of the Saturn IB, but the Apollo 33 mishap forced the continued use of the rocket due to the Saturn II using the same S-IC stage as the Saturn V. Launch with a special docking adapter, the CSM docked with Soyuz 19 for a historic handshake and joint scientific experiments. The only major issue was during re-entry, when Apollo 34's crew was exposed to toxic nitrogen tetroxide fumes caused by the RCS oxidizer venting from the spacecraft and re-entering a cabin air intake. All three astronauts survived, but had to go to the hospital.
Apollo 35 	AS-217 	July 29, 1975 	Unmanned	Approx. 2 hours 	Suborbital Test 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-37 	First suborbital test of the Apollo Block III spacecraft. Essentially a repeat of AS-201 and 202, the flight successfully demonstrated the engine and systems of the new service module.
Apollo 36
Olympus 6 	AS-218 	August 19, 1975 	William Anders, Commander
Russell Schweickart, Pilot
Phillip Chapman, Flight Engineer	30 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-34 	First manned flight of the Saturn IC. Conducted experiments on muscular degeneration in microgravity. Also carried out a classified spy mission of Chinese naval yards.
Apollo C2 	CS-202 	August 24, 1975 	Unmanned	5 days 	Olympus Resupply 	ASC, Saturn IC, LC-39A 	First Olympus resupply, and first time a space station had been resupplied. Delivered pressurized cargo module that was left behind as Storage Module A.
Apollo 37 	AS-219 	September 6, 1975 	Dick Gordon, Commander
Robert Overmyer, Pilot
Edgar Mitchell, Flight Engineer	8 days 	Satellite Rendevouz and Refurbishment 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-34 	A CSM with a special capture mechanism rendevouzed with OSO 3 and replaced the failed on-board tape recorder. This experimental mission set a precedent for later Space Shuttle missions of the same profile.
Apollo 38
Olympus 7 	AS-301 	September 17, 1975	Michael Collins, Commander
Donald H. Peterson, Pilot
Harrison Schmidt, Flight Engineer	30 days 	Olympus Assembly 	Block II, Saturn II, LC-39A 	First launch of the Saturn II. Delivered the Docking Module to allow up to five spacecraft to be docked at Skylab (including Soyuz and Progress craft). There was much anxiety going into this mission, as the INT-20 uses the S-IC stage that had exploded on Apollo 33. Fortunately, the stage worked flawlessly, though lunar flights remained in a stand-down state.
Apollo 39
Olympus 8 	AS-302 	October 5, 1975 	James A. McDivitt, Commander
Karol J. Bobko, Pilot
Robert Parker, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block II, Saturn II, LC-39A 	Used Science Module A to study how various chemicals react in a vacuum.
Apollo 40
Olympus 9 	AS-303 	November 17, 1975 	Robert Crippin, Commander
Roger L. Chaffee, Pilot
Anthony W. England, Flight Engineer	12 days 	Olympus Assembly 	Block II, Saturn II, LC-39C 	Delivered the Carrier Module
Apollo 41
Olympus 10 	AS-304 	February 2, 1976 	Karol Bobko, Commander
Joseph Allen, Pilot
Richard H. Truly, Flight Engineer	40 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block II, Saturn II, LC-39C 	Minor launch anomaly when the S-IB stage experienced a 20% loss of thrust. The spacecraft managed to make it the rest of the way into orbit using the SPS. This, however, raised fears that there wouldn't be enough fuel for a de-orbit burn, leading NASA to assemble a Saturn IB with a modified Block II CM adding two additional seats at LC-37 just in case, but the crew managed to use the RCS thrusters to de-orbit, and then used the remaining fuel to slow their descent.
Apollo 42
Olympus 11 	AS-223 	March 22, 1976 	Unmanned	7 days 	Olympus Resupply 	Block II, Saturn IB, LC-37 	Delivered pressurized module that was left behind as Storage Module B.
Apollo 43 	AS-224 	April 19, 1976 	Alan Bean, Commander
Ronald Evans, Pilot
Jack Lousma, Flight Engineer	6 days 	LEO Test 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-34 	First manned flight of the Block III spacecraft.
Apollo 44
Olympus 12 	AS-305 	May 4, 1976 	Deke Slayton, Commander
Stuart A. Roosa, Pilot
Phillip Chapman, Flight Engineer	30 days 	Olympus Assembly 	Block II, Saturn INT-20, LC-39C 	Delivered Science Module B
Apollo C3 	CS-203 	July 18, 1976 	Unmanned	2 minutes, 13 seconds 	Olympus Resupply (planned) 	ASC, Saturn 1B, LC-37 	Guidance system failure caused the rocket to go off-course, forcing the range safety officer to activate the self-destruct sequence.
Apollo 45 	AS-225 	July 30, 1976 	John Young, Commander
Robert Crippin, Pilot
L. Gordon Cooper, Flight Engineer	7 days 	Rescue 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-34 	This flight rendezvoused with the stricken Apollo 6 Block I spacecraft. Young and Cooper, on EVA, successfully separated the CSM from the S-IVB, allowing Houston to safely land it, finally bringing an end to Apollo 6. Apollo 46 landed three days later after deploying an Experiment Pallet to observe Tropical Storm Anna.
Apollo C4 	CS-204 	September 4, 1976 	Unmanned	7 days 	Olympus Resupply 	ASC, Saturn IC, LC-34 	Launched following the destruction of Apollo C3.
Apollo 46
Olympus 13 	AS-226 	October 11, 1976 	Alan Shepard, Commander
Stuart Roosa, Pilot
Edgard Mitchell, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-34 	Experiments related to ion propulsion were carried out. First Block III docking to Skylab.
Apollo 47
Olympus 14 	AS-306 	December 9, 1976 	William R. Pogue, Commander
Joe Engle, Pilot
Karl Henize, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block II, Saturn II, LC-39C 	Carried out classified testing of anti-ballistic missile (ABM) technology. A classified DOD payload was also deployed from the SIM Bay, as the spacecraft on this mission was originally designed to carry out a J mission.
Apollo 48 	AS-520 	January 13, 1977 	Unmanned	10 days 	Spacecraft Testing 	Block IV, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Tested the Apollo Block IV spacecraft. Apollo 48 flew roughly the same profile as Apollo 8, but spent longer in lunar orbit for endurance testing. Also tested the new modifications to the Saturn V, thus making this the first launch of the Saturn V since Apollo 33.
Apollo 49 	AS-227 	February 24, 1977 	Jim Lovell, Commander
Henry Hartsfield, Pilot
John Swigert, Docking Module Pilot	14 days 	Apollo-Soyuz Test Project II 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-34 	Second international spaceflight, ASTP II docked at Salyut 5, which was in truth an Almaz military station, something that did not escape the crew's notice. During their stay aboard the station, Apollo 50 made a pass of the station en route the the Moon, with the launched time so the men aboard Salyut could film the TLI.
Apollo 50 	AS-520 	March 6, 1977 	Neil Armstrong, Commander,
Bruce McCandless II Lunar Module Pilot
William Pogue, Command Module Pilot	12 days 	"Return to Moon" Lunar Landing 	Block IV, Saturn V, LC-39A 	The golden Apollo mission was marked by the first Saturn V flight since Apollo 33, the first manned lunar landing since 1975, the first flight of the Block IV CSM, and the first use of the APAS Docking System on a lunar flight. Armstrong and Young landed at Tranquility Base, approx. 120 feet from the Apollo 11 Descent Stage. Over three EVAs, equipment left behind by Armstrong and Aldrin was recovered, including the various experiments and parts from the Descent Stage. This mission was Armstrong's final flight, as he announced retirement on the deck of the USS Kitty Hawk.
Apollo 51
Olympus 15 	AS-307 	April 15, 1977 	Bruce McCandless II, Commander
Story Musgrave, Pilot
Edward Gibson, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block II, Saturn II, LC-39C 	Carried out experiments regarding muscle degradation in microgravity in Science Module B
Apollo 52 	AS-521 	May 6, 1977 	William Lenoir, Commander
Owen Garriott, Pilot
Ronald Evans, Flight Engineer	24 days 	Manned Venus Flyby Phase A 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39B 	First phase of the Manned Venus Flyby project of the Apollo Applications Program. Evaluated the use of an S-IVB for long-term habitation.
Apollo 53 	AS-522 	August 20, 1977 	Jim Lovell, Commander
Tom Stafford, Pilot
Story Musgrave, Flight Engineer	30 days 	Manned Venus Flyby Phase B 	Block III, Saturn V, LC-39B 	Second phase of the Manned Venus Flyby project. Using the Block III spacecraft, the SIVB, modified with the Environmental Support Module and solar panels, put the stack in a circular orbit around Earth at an altitude of 25,000 miles. The craft was exposed to elements similar to that en route to Venus.
Apollo C5 	CS-205 	October 4, 1977 	Unmanned	280 days 	Olympus Resupply 	ASC, Saturn IC, LC-37 	Final flight of Block I ASC. Remained docked at Olympus to await Apollo 54's return.
Apollo 54 	AS-523 	November 5, 1977 	Richard F. Gordon, Commander
Jack Lousma, Pilot
Robert Overmeyer, Flight Engineer	1 year 	Manned Venus Flyby Phase C 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	On February 19, 1978, Apollo 55 flew within 5,000 miles of Venus, making the crew the first humans to visit another planet, never mind the fact that the flight was the first manned interplanetary mission. The return from Venus was spent taking observations of Mercury and the sun, which were 0.03 AU away. Upon return to Earth, the SIVB spent its remaining fuel inserting the stack into LEO (another first), timed to rendevouz with Olympus. Finally, in a rather complex maneuver, the S-IVB was docked to Olympus by the ASC of Apollo C5 to serve as the Crew Quarters Module. Apollo 54 returned to Earth safely after a four-day stay at Olympus on July 20, 1978, the ninth anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. For the duration of Apollo 54, no other Apollo flights were launched, and, aside from the landings of the Viking probes, and various activities related to the Pioneer and Voyager programs, was NASA's main focus.
Apollo C6 	CS-206 	August 17, 1978 	Unmanned	7 days 	Olympus Resupply 	ASC, Saturn IC, LC-37 	First Apollo flight since Apollo 54's launch. Docked to the station to await Apollo 55. First flight of Block II ASC.
Apollo 55
Olympus 16 	AS-228 	August 22, 1978 	Robert Crippin, Commander
Karol Bobko, Pilot
Story Musgrave, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-34 	Restart of Olympus Crew Rotation Cycle. Conducted experiments regarding hydroponics, which would be needed for a lunar base.
Apollo 56 	AS-229 	October 11, 1978 	Unmanned	5 days 	Unmanned CSM Test 	Block V, Saturn IC, LC-37 	Unmanned test of the Block V spacecraft to be used on manned Mars missions.
Apollo 57 	AS-524
AS-525	December 7, 1978 	Vance D. Brand, Commander
Don L. Lind, Lunar Module Pilot
Richard F. Truly, Command Module Pilot	18 days 	Extended Lunar Landing 	Block IV, x2 Saturn V, LC-39A/B 	First flight of the LM Shelter, which was launched on a separate Saturn V. During their stay at Sinus Medii, Brand and Lind recovered parts from Surveyor 6 and inspected the wreckage of Surveyor 4, and drove their LRV to Bruce Crater.
Apollo 58 	AS-526 	February 18, 1979 	Fred Haise, Commander
C. Gordon Fullerton, Pilot
Joe Engle, Flight Engineer	8 days 	LM Truck Delivery 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	First Apollo lunar flight that did not land manned, as well as the first flight of LM Truck. Delivered the first LM Truck to Armstrong Plains as part of Phase 1 of NASA's lunar base.
Apollo C7 	CS-207 	May 15, 1979 	Unmanned	7 days 	Olympus Resupply 	ASC, Saturn IC, LC-37 	
Apollo 59 	AS-527 	August 21, 1979 	John Young, Commander
Richard Covey, Pilot
Steven Hawley, Flight Engineer	8 days 	LM Truck Delivery 	Block II, Saturn V, LC-39A 	First flight with members of Astronaut Group 8 (AKA Thirty-Five New Guys or TFNG). Delivered the second LM Truck to Armstrong Plains.
Apollo 60 	AS-528
AS-529	November 7, 1979 	Robert Crippin, Commander
John McBride, Lunar Module Pilot
Brewster Shaw, Command Module Pilot	120 days 	Lunar Base Stay 	Block II, x2 Saturn V, LC-39A/B 	At the time, this was the longest stay on the lunar base. A second Saturn V was launched five days prior to the main craft to deliver an LM Shelter and an orbital module for Shaw to stay in. This flight was also a "make-up" for Robert Crippin, who was commander of the ill-fated Apollo 33. This was the final lunar flight of the Block II CSM.
Apollo 61
Olympus 17 	AS-308 	January 16, 1980 	Richard F. Truly, Commander
S. David Griggs, Pilot
Sally Ride, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Assembly 	Block II, Saturn II, LC-39D
Saturn III, SLC-13 	First American woman in space. On a lesser note, first launch of the Saturn III. Was also the first Apollo mission launched from SLC-13. Delivered the European Research Module, representing the start of joint missions between NASA and the ESA.
Apollo 62
Olympus 18 	AS-309 	June 2, 1980 	Richard Covey, Commander
Brewster Shaw, Pilot
Robert Stewart, Flight Engineer	120 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block II, Saturn II, LC-34 	Observed solar winds, UV rays, and Near-Earth Objects. Final flight for the Block II spacecraft (and final manned flight of the Saturn II), which the crew marked by leaving a plaque aboard Olympus with the following words:
APOLLO BLOCK II
1967-1980
GATEWAY TO THE MOON AND BEYOND
When the decision was made to decommission and deorbit Olympus in 2002, this plaque was removed and reinstalled aboard the International Space Station.
Apollo 63
Olympus 19 	AS-230 	July 4, 1981 	Francis "Dick" Scobee, Commander
Loren Shriver, Pilot
Shannon Lucid, Flight Engineer	120 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-34 	Conducted medical experiments. In November, Lucid returned aboard STS-2, exchanged for Richard Truly.
Apollo C8 	CS-208 	August 11, 1981 	Unmanned	8 days 	Olympus Resupply 	ASC, Saturn IC, LC-37 	Delivered experimental kinetic slugs for testing.
LunarLab 	AS-530 	January 6, 1982 	Unmanned	10 years 	Launch of LunarLab 	N/A, Saturn V, LC-39A 	On January 2, 1982, the Soviet Union announced that the Salyut 7 space station would be put in lunar orbit. Concerned that the USSR was doing so to spy on Armstrong Base, Ronald Reagan ordered NASA to put Skylab B in lunar orbit. However, the Saturn III was determined to be unable to do so, leading NASA to use the "wet workshop" concept instead. LunarLab entered lunar orbit three days after launch.
Apollo 64 	AS-530 	February 6, 1982 	Sally Ride, Commander
Dale Gardner, Pilot
Guion Bluford, Flight Engineer	10 days 	LunarLab Visit 	Block IV, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Highly anticipated by the civil rights community, this flight saw the first African-American in space. It was also the first flight commanded by a woman, and the first Saturn V launch since Apollo 8 to lack the LM. The spacecraft visited LunarLab and powered it up for the first time, completing fabrication work on the interior and taking observations of the moon. Not on the record was the installation of a 23mm autocannon, intended to destroy Salyut 7 and any other Soviet lunar probes if war erupted between the NATO and Warsaw Pact.
Apollo 65 	AS-531 	May 14, 1982 	Jim Lovell, Commander
Fred Haise, Lunar Module Pilot
Terry Hart, Command Module Pilot	12 days 	Armstrong Base Landing 	Block IV, Saturn V, LC-39B 	First visit to Armstrong Base. Ostensibly, Lovell and Haise (who both made their final visits to space on this mission) were assigned to "make up" for Apollo 13. Sure enough, Lovell finally achieved his dream of walking on the moon. Among the other activities, aside from checking over Armstrong Base, included setting up multiple, classified cameras to spy on Salyut 7, which had launched into lunar orbit the month prior, and setting up a hydroponic farm in Shelter #2.
Apollo 66
Olympus 20 	AS-231 	June 7, 1982 	C. Gordon Fullerton, Commander
Guy S. Gardner, Pilot
Bonnie J. Dunbar, Flight Engineer	50 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-34 	Conducted further hydroponic experiments, and also installed a classified 20mm autocannon to be used against Soviet satellites and spacecraft.
Apollo 67 	AT-301 	July 22, 1982 	Unmanned	4 days 	MEM Orbital Test 	N/A, Titan III, SLC-40 	Unmanned test of an early version of the Martian Excursion Module. First Apollo mission launched on a non-Saturn rocket.
Apollo 68 	AS-232 	September 25, 1982	Robert Stewart, Commander
David Walker, Pilot
Ellison Onizuka, Flight Engineer	6 days 	Classified DOD Mission 	Block IIB (alleged), Saturn IC, Vandenberg SLC-6 (alleged)	The exact details of this mission remain sketchy, as almost all information besides landing location and rocket are classified, and the crew was publicly announced due to Onizuka being the first astronaut of Japanese descent to fly into space. The launch site is unknown, though it was noted by locals that a rocket launched from Vandenberg AFB the same day Apollo 68 allegedly was, as no mission coverage was provided. This meant that the mission was likely launched into a polar orbit, which would make it the first such Apollo mission. Exactly what occurred on the mission is still unknown, though it is believed that a large camera was installed in the SIM Bay to spy on Soviet installations possessing ICBMs and mobile launchers, as well as submarine yards alleged to have SLBMs and Warsaw Pact bases in Eastern Europe; as a result, it is believed that a Block II SM was used on the flight, attached to a Block III CM (a combination colloquially known as the "Block IIB"). It is also believed that an Experiment Pallet carrying an autocannon was deployed, and target practice was carried out on derelict satellites. These sketchy details make Apollo 68 one of the most controversial flights of the program due to its alleged demonstration of Apollo's military applications and use of weaponry in space.
Apollo CM1 	CS-501 	November 4, 1982 	Unmanned	8 days 	LunarLab Resupply 	ASC, Saturn V, LC-39A 	First resupply mission to LunarLab, and first lunar flight of the ASC (hence the "CM" prefix). The spacecraft returned to Earth, inserted itself into LEO, and was picked up by Columbia during STS-5, the first operational Space Shuttle flight. This was part of an experiment for reusing Apollo craft.
Apollo 69 	AS-532 	February 14, 1983 	Dale Gardner, Commander
Michael J. Smith, Pilot
John M. Lounge, Flight Engineer	40 days 	LunarLab Crew Rotation 	Block IV, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Surveyed possible landing sites on the far side of the Moon.
Apollo 70
Olympus 21 	AS-233 	June 21, 1983 	Owen Garriott, Commander
David Walker, Pilot
Anna Fisher, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-34 	Studied how fish in water react to microgravity. Also observed Warsaw Pact military operations in Eastern Europe, which alerted NATO that the Soviets were misinterpreting Able Archer 83. This was the final flight to use the A7L spacesuit; all flights until 1994 would use the Launch & Entry Suit (LES), and the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) suit would now be used for EVA up to the present day, both for Earth orbital and lunar flights.
Manned Weapons Platform	AS-404 	June 29, 1983 	Unmanned	34 years 	Manned Weapons Platform Launch 	Saturn IV, SLC-6 	Strictly classified launch of the Manned Weapons Platform. The area around Vandeberg was completely locked down to avoid any leaks from getting to the KGB, including the airspace, waters, and the Continental Rail mainline. Launch declassified on July 20, 2017.
Apollo 71 	AS-234 	July 4, 1983 	Roger Chaffee, Commander
Frederick Hauck, Pilot
Kathryn Sullivan, Flight Engineer	6 days 	Classified DOD Mission 	Block III, Saturn IC, Vandenberg SLC-6 	First true classified Apollo mission. Observed preparations for the Soviet Mars 12/13 launches. First flight to use the LES suit.
Apollo 72
Olympus 22 	AS-235 	September 12, 1983	Jon McBride, Commander
Michael Coats, Pilot
James von Hoften, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-39B 	Unlike the last few Olympus missions, this flight was dedicated completely to science, and marked the beginning of the Olympus Science Program. Most of the experiments were actually first mapped out in 1968 for Skylab, before the space station program was refocused towards military applications and supporting lunar and Venusian flights. Experiments included mineral balance, UV stellar astronomy, galactic x-ray mapping, exothermic brazing, sphere forming, and nuclear emulsion. First flight to use the EMU suit.
Apollo C9 	CS-209 	October 20, 1983 	Unmanned	6 days 	Olympus Resupply 	ASC, Saturn 1B, LC-37 	Delivered the second round of Olympus Science Program experiments.
Apollo 73
Olympus 23 	AS-236 	November 5, 1983 	John E. Blaha, Commander
Mary L. Cleave, Pilot
Wubbo Ockels, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-34 	Experiments included UV x-ray solar photography, in-flight aerosol analysis, and also deployed the magnetometer boom from Science Lab B, and collected solar wind particles for return to Earth.
Apollo 74 	AS-601 	January 13, 1984 	Unmanned	10 days 	Saturn VI and Ares Propulsion Stack Test 	Block I, Saturn VI, LC-39E 	First test flight of the Saturn VI, which eclipsed the Saturn V as the largest rocket ever built. It was also the first launch from Pad E, and the first flight of the Block I CSM since Apollo 6. The Ares Propulsion Stack was launched separately in stages utilizing the Space Shuttle and Titan III. The stack went into a highly-elliptical orbit and was subjected to trans-Martian conditions. The CM re-entered at a velocity predicted to be the same as it would be travelling at following a return from Mars.
Apollo 75 	AS-237 	February 18, 1984 	Charles F. Bolden, Commander
S. David Griggs, Pilot
James Buchli, Flight Engineer	8 days 	"Weather Observation" (true profile classified) 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-34 	This mission tested a predecessor of Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative system. NASA did publicize the launch, though, and the DOD covered up the mission profile by stating it was a weather observation flight utilizing an Experiment Pallet and cameras in the SIM Bay. This remained the official explanation (and even then, it was disputed because the Block III SM is too small to house a SIM Bay, meaning a Block IV SM was probably used) until the flight was declassified on July 20, 2017.
Apollo 76 	AS-238 	April 10, 1984 	Terry Hart, Commander
John Davis, Pilot
Ulysses Pollock, Flight Engineer	80 days 	Manned Weapon Platform Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn IC, Vandenberg SLC-6 	Declassified on July 20, 2017, Apollo 76 was one of few flights that visited the Manned Weapon Platform, carrying Air Force personnel (with NASA astronaut Terry Hart as commander). The launch, though, attracted undue attention from the press and conspiracy theorists, leading to the creation of the USAF Crew Transfer Vehicle.
Apollo 77
Olympus 24 	AS-602 	June 6, 1984 	Francis "Dick" Scobee, Commander
Mike Smith, MEM Pilot
Ronald McNair, Command Module Pilot	62 days 	Manned MEM Test/Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn VI, LC-39E 	First manned launch of the Saturn VI, and first manned flight of the MEM. Scobee and Smith tested the MEM in Earth orbit, within close proximity of Olympus. Afterwards, the MEM re-entered Earth's atmosphere unmanned to test the heatshields, which succeeded, and the crew docked to Olympus as part of the crew rotation cycle.
Apollo C10 	CS-210 	July 12, 1984 	Unmanned	6 days 	Skylab Resupply 	ASC, Saturn IC, LC-34 	Delivered third round of Olympus Science Program experiments.
Apollo 78
Olympus 25 	AS-239 	September 19, 1984	Karol J. Bobko, Commander
John E. Blaha, Pilot
James Van Hoften, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation/Classified DOD Mission 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-39B 	Experiments included UV stellar astronomy, zero-g flammability, in-vitro immunology, libration clouds, body mass measurement, and multipurpose furnace systems. This flight may have also undocked from Olympus for several days to carry out a DOD mission involving taking pictures of worrying troop buildups in Eastern Europe. The only evidence of this is staticy recordings by amateur radio operators; through the static, the words "Soviet", "tank", "MRBM", and "Warsaw Pact" are audible, as well as a lack of mission coverage for two days.
Apollo 79 	AS-603 	October 1, 1984 	Unmanned	6 months 	Unmanned Mars Mission Test 	Block I, Saturn VI, LC-39E 	This flight sent the Saturn VI upper stage, the MEM, a Block I CSM with a docking port added, and the Ares Propulsion Stack towards Mars. During the flight, all maneuvers and steps were tested, important engineering data regarding trans-Martian conditions was gathered, and upon reaching Mars, the MEM entered the atmosphere and landed, before lifting off several hours later and rendevouzing with the main spacecraft. The MEM was then jettisoned, and the remainder of the stack sent into a heliocentric orbit. With the success of the test, NASA was now confident it could send men to Mars.
Apollo 80 	AS-240 	November 8, 1984 	Frederick Hauck, Commander
David Walker, Pilot
Anna Fisher, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Classified DoD Mission 	Block III, Saturn IC, Vandeberg SLC-6 	Details on Apollo 80 remain hazy, though the most accepted theory is that it was a tandem flight with the first manned flight of the USAF Crew Transfer Vehicle (CTV) to the Manned Weapons Platform.
Apollo C11 	CS-211 	February 8, 1985 	Unmanned	6 days 	Olympus Resupply 	ASC, Saturn IC, LC-34 	Delivered European Experiment Package.
Apollo 81
Ares 1 	AS-604 	March 21, 1985 	John Young, Commander
Robert Crippin, MEM Pilot
John H. Casper, Command Module Pilot	1 year, 8 months 	Mars Landing 	Block V, Saturn VI, LC-39E 	The historic first manned Mars landing. Key mission events included a gravity assist by flying by Venus on September 8, 1985 (marking the second manned flyby of Venus), Mars orbit injection on March 25, 1986, the landing itself on March 27, the first EVA on March 30 (after three days to adjust to Martian gravity), lift-off on April 23, TEI on April 24, and return to Earth on November 6, 1986. Unlike Apollo 55, NASA continued launching other Apollo missions while 90 was underway.
Apollo 82 	AS-241 	May 6, 1985 	Michael Coats, Commander
James P. Bagian, Pilot
Robert C. Springer, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Classified DoD Mission 	Block III, Saturn IC, Vandenberg SLC-6 	Rumored to have been a mission to service a KH-11 satellite.
Apollo C12 	CS-212 	June 18, 1985 	Unmanned	6 days 	Olympus Resupply 	ASC, Saturn IC, LC-37 	Delivered first wave of equipment for Halley's Comet observation.
Apollo 83
Olympus 26 	AS-242 	September 14, 1985	Wubbo Ockels, Commander
Franklin Chang Diaz, Pilot
David Leemsta, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-34 	Rumored to have carried out a test firing of the autocannon.
Apollo 84 	AS-533 	December 15, 1985 	Karol J. Bobko, Commander
Frederick D. Gregory, Pilot
Rhea Seddon, Flight Engineer	80 days 	LunarLab Crew Rotation 	Block IV, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Observed sun activity and supported Apollo 86.
Apollo 85
Olympus 27 	AS-243 	January 28, 1986 	Don L. Lind, Commander
Ronald J. Grabe, Pilot
John Fabian, Flight Engineer	120 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-39B 	Scheduled to be launched the same day as STS-51-L, there was much debate after the Challenger disintegrated as to whether or not it would be appropriate to launch Apollo 85. The decision was eventually made to go ahead with the launch so as not to disrupt the Olympus crew rotation cycle, after the downrange recovery forces working to recover debris were cleared and/or put on standby in the event of a Mode 1 abort. Part of the original plan involved a tandem flight with Challenger. The flight, otherwise, was relatively uneventful, continuing the Olympus Science Program. The flight also set a new endurance record.
Apollo 86 	AS-534 	February 15, 1986 	Sally Ride, Commander
Steven Nagel, Lunar Module Pilot
Jeffrey Hoffman, Command Module Engineer	20 days 	Armstrong Base Landing 	Block IV, Saturn V, LC-39A 	First visit to Armstrong Base, and first lunar landing, since 1982. Base activities included reactivation, hydroponics maintenance, and scouting the surrounding area in a lunar rover. While Ride and Nagel were on the surface, Hoffman docked the CSM to LunarLab and stayed with the crew of Apollo 94. Sally Ride became the first woman to walk on the moon on this flight.
Apollo 87
Olympus 28 	AS-244 	March 7, 1986 	James P. Bagian, Commander
Roy D. Bridges Jr., Pilot
Claude Nicollier, Flight Engineer	60 days 	Olympus Assembly 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-39B 	Delivered Hydroponics Module. Final Olympus Assembly flight.
Apollo 88 	AS-535 	April 3, 1986 	Donald Williams, Commander
Roy Bridges, Pilot
Sherwood Spring, Flight Engineer	8 days 	Halley's Comet Observation 	Block IV, Saturn V, LC-39A 	Launched into a very high orbit, Apollo 88 completed the objectives originally set for the shuttle Columbia on what would have been STS-61-E. The ASTRO-1 platform was carried in the SIM Bay, and successfully observed Halley's Comet on its closest approach to Earth.
Apollo C13 	CS-213 	June 24, 1986 	Unmanned	6 days 	Olympus Resupply 	ASC, Saturn IC, LC-37 	Removed the Carrier Module, and deorbited it.
Apollo CM2 	CS-502 	June 27, 1986 	Unmanned	8 days 	LunarLab Resupply 	ASC, Saturn V, LC-39B 	Second resupply of LunarLab.
Apollo 89
Olympus 29 	AS-245 	August 4, 1986 	Richard Covey, Commander
Sidney Gutierrez, Pilot
Charles Veach	60 days 	Olympus Crew Rotation 	Block III, Saturn IC, LC-39C 	Continued testing of Olympus' autocannon. Also the first mission with members of Astronaut Group 10 ("The Maggots").
Apollo 90 	AS-536
AS-537
AS-538	October 19, 1986 	Karol Bobko, Commander
Blaine Hammond, Lunar Module Pilot
Michael McCulley, Command Module Pilot	20 days 	Armstrong Base Construction 	Block IV, x3 Saturn V, LC-39A/B/C 	Start of Phase II construction of Armstrong Base. First triple launch of the Apollo program. Two LM Trucks were launched first, followed by a Block IV CSM and Lunar Module. The first permanent structure, the Armstrong Base Central Hub (ABCH), was constructed using prefabricated components over a course of five days. During this period, McCulley docked to LunarLab. On November 6, after Bobko and Hammond had rendevouzed with McCulley and LunarLab, the crew used the station's telescope to observe Apollo 81's return from Mars.
WORK-IN-PROGRESS
Category:Johnsonverse