NASA marks 50th anniversary of Apollo The Apollo programme began 50 years ago with the first manned Apollo space flight which laid the groundwork for the missions that saw a dozen men land on the moon between 1969 and 1972 May 2, 1945: In closing weeks of World War II, Wernher von Braun – Nazi Germany’s leading aerospace engineer and developer of V2 rocket – surrenders to U.S. forces and is secretly moved to United States, where he works on U.S. Army’s ballistic missile programme Jul 29, 1958: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) founded. Von Braun and team assimilated into NASA in 1960, where they develop Saturn rocket programme Von Braun with Saturn IB rocket used in early Apollo flights May 25, 1961: In address to Congress, President John F. Kennedy sets goal of “landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth” by end of 1960s. Later We choose to go to the Moon speech garners wide public support Anniversary logo offers nod to past and glimpse of future MANNED APOLLO MISSIONS Apollo 1 – Jan 27, 1967: Flash fire kills astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee during prelaunch test. Disaster makes NASA re-examine all aspects of space programme Apollo 7 – Oct 11-22, 1968: Crew: Wally Schirra, Walt Cunningham, Donn Eisele. First manned Apollo mission orbits Earth for 11 days Apollo 8 – Dec 21-27, 1968: Frank Borman, Bill Anders, Jim Lovell. First mission launched by Saturn V rocket. In orbit around moon Anders takes iconic Earthrise photograph 1 2 3 4 5 6 Saturn V launch vehicle Apollo 9 – Mar 3-13, 1969: James McDivitt, Rusty Schweickart, David Scott. Remains in Earth orbit but tests separation of lunar module from command module Apollo 10 – May 18-26, 1969: Thomas Stafford, Eugene Cernan, John Young. Full rehearsal for moon landing. Lunar module comes within 16km of moon’s surface Apollo 11 – Jul 16-24, 1969: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins. Armstrong becomes first human being to walk on another world Apollo 12 – Nov 14-24, 1969: Charles Conrad, Alan Bean, Richard Gordon. Recovers pieces of 1967 Surveyor III robotic lander, to study effects of lunar environment on spacecraft Apollo 13 – Apr 11-17, 1970: Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Jack Swigert. Crew never reach moon after oxygen tank explodes and depletes almost all power from command module. Crew limp back to Earth, using lunar module as lifeboat Damaged Apollo 13 Apollo 14 – Jan 31- Feb 9, 1971: Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, Stuart Roosa. Shepard walks 2.7km – and plays golf – on moon Apollo 15 – Jul 26- Aug 7, 1971: David Scott, James Irwin, Alfred Worden. Mission includes lunar rover which drives more than 27km Apollo 16 – Apr 16-27, 1972: John Young, Charles Duke, Ken Mattingly. Second rover mission. Problems cut mission short by one day Apollo 17 – Dec 7-19, 1972: Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, Ronald Evans. Last Apollo mission features three moonwalks of over seven hours. Samples from this and previous moon missions continue to reveal valuable information to this day “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” Neil Armstrong, Jul 20, 1969 Sources: NASA, Lunar and Planetary Institute Pictures: NASA © GRAPHIC NEWS