Page 39 - Apollo Moonships

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SATURN V OPERATIONAL FLIGHTS
The boosters used by the Apollo Program were the Saturn IB—for Earth orbit flights—and the Saturn V—for lunar missions—except in three cases: the Apollo missions 4, 6, and 9, which flew on Saturn V rockets to the Earth orbit to test the launch vehicle and the moonships (the Command-Service Module and the Lunar Excursion Module). In total, the Saturn V rocket propelled 12 Apollo missions, ten of them manned and eight bound for the moon. The booster was used for the last time on May 14, 1973, to put in the Low Earth Orbit the first U.S. space station: the 77-ton Skylab workshop. To date, the Saturn V
is the only rocket built to send humans and payloads beyond the Earth’s orbit.
APOLLO 4 NOV 9, 1967
The fourth Apollo unmanned mission was the first to use the Saturn V to demonstrate the structural integrity of the rocket, verify its capabilities, and test the Command Module heat shield. The third stage, S-IVB, reaches 11,240 miles in altitude to simulate a translunar trajectory. The mission lasts 9 hours and 37 minutes.
APOLLO 6 APR 4, 1968
The second and last unmanned Saturn V flight was to test the structure and thermal integrity of the launch vehicle and the Command/Service Module (CSM). The mission was prolonged for 9 hours and 57 minutes.
APOLLO 8 DEC 21, 1968
The first Saturn V manned launch
and the first flight to the moon. The astronauts James Lovell, Frank Borman, and Bill Anders circumnavigated the moon ten times and achieved all their primary mission objectives. The flight takes 6 days, 3 hours, and 42 seconds.
APOLLO 9 MAR 3, 1969
The first manned test of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). The astronauts James McDivitt, Dave Scott, and Russell Schweickart execute an Earth-orbital engineering test of the CSM and of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). The mission lasts a total of 10 days, 1 hour, and 54 seconds.
APOLLO 10 MAY 18, 1969
Moon landing rehearsal mission. The astronauts Thomas Stafford, Eugene Cernan, and John Young drive the LEM down to 50,000 feet above the lunar surface. The crew carried out all the procedures of a real lunar landing mission, except for the landing itself. The mission ends after 8 days, 23 minutes, and 23 seconds.
APOLLO 11 JUL 16, 1969
The astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins accomplish the national goal set in 1961 by U.S. President John F. Kennedy: perform
a lunar landing before the end of the decade. Armstrong and Aldrin descend to the moon on July 20. The mission lasts 8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes, and 35 seconds.
APOLLO 12 NOV 14, 1969
The second lunar landing mission, conducted by astronauts Alan Bean, Charles Conrad, and Richard Gordon, implements extensive lunar tasks, including the recovery of samples from the Surveyor 3 lander, launched in 1967. The mission takes 10 days, 4 hours, 36 minutes, and 25 seconds.
APOLLO 13 APR 11, 1970
The Apollo 13 crew—formed by astronauts James Lowell, Fred Haise, and John Swigert—was prepared to land on the Fra Mauro lunar valley, but the explosion of an oxygen tank crippled the SM and forced them to abort the mission and use the LEM as a lifeboat to return home.
APOLLO 14 JAN 31, 1971
Astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, and Stuart Roosa performed the third crewed lunar landing. Shepard and Mitchell explore the Fra Mauro lunar region and deploy several scientific experiments. The mission ends after 9 days and 2 minutes..
APOLLO 15 JUL 26, 1971
The first of the “J” Apollo missions was capable of staying a long time on the moon’s surface and exploring it with a rover vehicle. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin stay three days on the moon and realize three extravehicular activities (EVA). The mission lasts 12 days, 17 hours, and 12 minutes.
APOLLO 16 APR 16, 1972
The fifth lunar landing mission, carried out by astronauts John Young, Charles Duke, and Ken Mattingly, performed three EVA’s, totaling 20 hours on the moon. In 71 hours of surface time, lunar rover expeditions travel 16.6 miles. The mission takes 11 days, 1 hour and 51 minutes.
APOLLO 17 DEC 7, 1972
Astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt perform the last mission of the Apollo lunar landing program. The surface time totals 75 hours with three EVAs and 22 miles traveled by the lunar rover. The mission was prolonged for 12 days, 13 hours, and 52 minutes.