List of Apollo missions
The Apollo program was the third United States human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which accomplished landing the first humans on the Moon from 1969 to 1972. During the Apollo 11 mission, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo Lunar Module and walked on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command and service module, and all three landed safely on Earth on July 24, 1969. Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last in December 1972. In these six spaceflights, twelve men walked on the Moon.
Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first crewed flight in 1968. It achieved its goal of crewed lunar landing, despite the major setback of a 1967 Apollo 1 cabin fire that killed the entire crew during a prelaunch test. After the first landing, sufficient flight hardware remained for nine follow-up landings with a plan for extended lunar geological and astrophysical exploration. Budget cuts forced the cancellation of three of these. 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 damaged the CSM's propulsion and life support. The crew returned to Earth safely by using the Lunar Module as a "lifeboat" for these functions. Apollo used Saturn family rockets as launch vehicles, which were also used for an Apollo Applications Program, which consisted of Skylab, a space station that supported three crewed missions from 1973 through 1974, and the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, a joint Earth orbit mission with the Soviet Union in 1975.
Apollo set several major human spaceflight milestones. It stands alone in sending crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit. Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, while the final Apollo 17 mission marked the sixth Moon landing and the ninth crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit. The program returned of lunar rocks and soil to Earth, greatly contributing to the understanding of the Moon's composition and geological history. The program laid the foundation for NASA's subsequent human spaceflight capability. Apollo also spurred advances in many areas of technology incidental to rocketry and crewed spaceflight, including avionics, telecommunications, and computers.
The Apollo program used four types of launch vehicles. The first was the Little Joe II, which was used for uncrewed suborbital launch escape system development. The second was the Saturn I, which was used for uncrewed suborbital and orbital hardware development. The third was the Saturn IB which was used for preparatory uncrewed missions and Apollo 7. Last, the Saturn V which was used for uncrewed and crewed Earth orbit and lunar missions. The Marshall Space Flight Center, which designed the Saturn rockets, referred to the flights as Saturn-Apollo, while Kennedy Space Center referred to the flights as Apollo-Saturn. This is why the uncrewed Saturn I flights are referred to as SA and the uncrewed Saturn IB are referred to as AS.
Alphabetical mission types
The Apollo program required sequential testing of several major mission elements in the runup to a crewed lunar landing. An alphabetical list of major mission types was proposed by Owen Maynard in September 1967. Two "A-type" missions performed uncrewed tests of the CSM and the Saturn V, and one B-type mission performed an uncrewed test of the LM. The C-type mission, the first crewed flight of the CSM in Earth orbit, was performed by Apollo 7.The list was revised upon George Low's proposal to commit a mission to lunar orbit ahead of schedule, an idea influenced by the status of the CSM as a proven craft and production delays of the LM. Apollo 8 was reclassified from its original assignment as a D-type mission, a test of the complete CSM/LM spacecraft in Earth orbit, to a "C-prime" mission which would fly humans to the Moon. Once complete, it obviated the need for the E-type objective of a medium Earth orbital test. The D-type mission was instead performed by Apollo 9; the F-type mission, Apollo 10, flew the CSM/LM spacecraft to the Moon for final testing, without landing. The G-type mission, Apollo 11, performed the first lunar landing, the central goal of the program.
The initial A-G list was expanded to include later mission types: H-type missions—Apollo 12, 13 and 14—would perform precision landings, and J-type missions—Apollo 15, 16 and 17—would perform thorough scientific investigation. The I-type objective, which called for extended lunar orbital surveillance of the Moon, was incorporated into the J-type missions.
| Mission Type | Missions | Description |
| A | Apollo 4 Apollo 6 | "Unmanned flights of launch vehicles and the CSM, to demonstrate the adequacy of their design and to certify safety for men." |
| B | Apollo 5 | "Unmanned flight of the LM, to demonstrate the adequacy of its design and to certify its safety for men." |
| C | Apollo 7 | "Manned flight to demonstrate performance and operability of the CSM." |
| C' | Apollo 8 | "Command and service module manned flight demonstration in lunar orbit." |
| D | Apollo 9 | "Manned flight of the complete lunar landing mission vehicle in low Earth orbit to demonstrate operability of all the equipment and to perform the maneuvers involved in the ultimate mission." |
| E | — | "Manned flight of the complete lunar landing mission vehicle in Earth orbit to great distances from Earth." |
| F | Apollo 10 | "A complete mission except for the final descent to and landing on the lunar surface." |
| G | Apollo 11 | "The initial lunar landing mission." |
| H | Apollo 12 Apollo 13 Apollo 14 | "Precision manned lunar landing demonstration and systematic lunar exploration." |
| I | — | "Reserved for lunar survey missions." |
| J | Apollo 15 Apollo 16 Apollo 17 | "Extensive scientific investigation of Moon on lunar surface and from lunar orbit." |
Test flights
Uncrewed test missions
From 1961 to 1968, the Saturn launch vehicles and components of the Apollo spacecraft were tested in uncrewed flights.There was some incongruity in the numbering and naming of the first three uncrewed Apollo-Saturn, or Apollo flights. This is due to AS-204 being renamed to Apollo 1 posthumously. This crewed flight was to have followed the first three uncrewed flights. After the fire which killed the AS-204 crew on the pad during a test and training exercise, uncrewed Apollo flights resumed to test the Saturn V launch vehicle and the Lunar Module; these were designated Apollo 4, 5 and 6. The first crewed Apollo mission was thus Apollo 7. Simple "Apollo" numbers were never assigned to the first three uncrewed flights, although renaming AS-201, AS-202, and AS-203 as Apollo 1-A, Apollo 2 and Apollo 3, had been briefly considered.
| Mission | Serial No | Launch | Remarks | Refs |
| SA-1 | Saturn I SA-1 | 27 October 1961 15:06 GMT Launch Complex 34 | Test of Saturn I first stage S-I; dummy upper stages carried water | |
| SA-2 | Saturn I SA-2 | 25 April 1962 14:00 GMT Launch Complex 34 | Dummy upper stages released of water into upper atmosphere, to investigate effects on radio transmission and changes in local weather conditions | |
| SA-3 | Saturn I SA-3 | 16 November 1962 17:45 GMT Launch Complex 34 | Repeat of SA-2 mission | |
| SA-4 | Saturn I SA-4 | 28 March 1963 20:11 GMT Launch Complex 34 | Test premature shutdown of a single S-I engine | |
| SA-5 | Saturn I SA-5 | 29 January 1964 16:25 GMT Launch Complex 37B | First flight of live second stage. First orbital flight. | |
| AS-101 | Saturn I SA-6 | 28 May 1964 17:07 GMT Launch Complex 37B | Tested first boilerplate Apollo command and service module for structural integrity | |
| AS-102 | Saturn I SA-7 | 18 September 1964 17:22 GMT Launch Complex 37B | Carried first programmable-in-flight computer on the Saturn I vehicle; last launch vehicle development flight | |
| AS-103 | Saturn I SA-9 | 16 February 1965 14:37 GMT Launch Complex 37B | Carried first Pegasus micrometeorite satellite in addition to boilerplate CSM | |
| AS-104 | Saturn I SA-8 | 25 May 1965 07:35 GMT Launch Complex 37B | Carried Pegasus B and boilerplate CSM | |
| AS-105 | Saturn I SA-10 | 30 July 1965 13:00 GMT Launch Complex 37B | Carried Pegasus C and boilerplate CSM | |
| AS-201 | Saturn IB AS-201 | 26 February 1966 16:12 GMT Launch Complex 34 | First test of Saturn IB. First flight of Block I Apollo CSM. After a suborbital flight the CM landed in the Atlantic Ocean demonstrating the heat shield; however a propellant pressure loss caused premature SM engine shutdown. | |
| AS-203 | Saturn IB AS-203 | 5 July 1966 14:53 GMT Launch Complex 37B | No Apollo spacecraft carried; successfully verified restartable S-IVB stage design for Saturn V. Additional testing designed to rupture the tank inadvertently destroyed the stage. | |
| AS-202 | Saturn IB AS-202 | 25 August 1966 17:15 GMT Launch Complex 34 | Longer duration suborbital to Pacific Ocean splashdown. CM heat shield tested to higher speed and successful SM firings. | |
| Apollo 4 | Saturn V AS-501 | 9 November 1967 12:00 GMT Launch Complex 39A | First flight of Saturn V rocket; successfully demonstrated S-IVB third stage restart and tested CM heat shield at lunar re-entry speeds. | |
| Apollo 5 | Saturn IB AS-204 | 22 January 1968 22:48 GMT Launch Complex 37B | First flight of LM; successfully fired descent engine and ascent engine; demonstrated "fire-in-the-hole" landing abort test. | |
| Apollo 6 | Saturn V AS-502 | 4 April 1968 16:12 GMT Launch Complex 39A | Second flight of Saturn V; severe "pogo" vibrations caused two second-stage engines to shut down prematurely, and third stage restart to fail. SM engine used to achieve high-speed re-entry, though less than Apollo 4. NASA identified vibration fixes and declared Saturn V man-rated. |
Uncrewed launch escape system tests
From August 1963 to January 1966 a number of tests were conducted for development of the launch escape system. These included simulated "pad aborts", which might occur while the Apollo-Saturn space vehicle was still on the launch pad, and flights on the Little Joe II rocket to simulate Mode I aborts which might occur while the vehicle was in the air.| Mission | Launch date and vehicle if used | Launch time | Remarks | Refs |
| QTV | 28 August 1963 Little Joe II | 13:05 GMT | Little Joe II qualification test | |
| Pad Abort Test 1 | 7 November 1963 | 16:00 GMT | Launch escape system abort test from launch pad | |
| A-001 | 13 May 1964 Little Joe II | 13:00 GMT | LES transonic test, success except for parachute failure | |
| A-002 | 8 December 1964 | 15:00 GMT | LES maximum altitude, Max-Q abort test | |
| A-003 | 19 May 1965 | 13:01 GMT | LES canard maximum altitude abort test | |
| Pad Abort Test 2 | 29 June 1965 | 13:00 GMT | LES pad abort test of near Block-I CM | |
| A-004 | 20 January 1966 | 15:17 GMT | LES test of maximum weight, tumbling Block-I CM |
Thermal-vacuum tests
| Number | Date | Vehicle | Crew | Notes | Refs |
| 1 | July 26, 1966 | spacecraft 008 |
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| 2 | August 2, 1966 | spacecraft 008 | Volunteers from MSC |
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| 3 | October 26, 1966 | spacecraft 008 | Two astronauts and one military pilot |
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| 4 | June 10, 1968 | 2TV-1 |
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| 5 | June 16, 1968 | 2TV-1 |
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| 6 | August 24, 1968 | 2TV-1 |
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| 7 | September 4, 1968 | 2TV-1 | Military pilots assigned to NASA |
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| 8 | April 1, 1968 | LTA-8 |
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| 9 | May 5, 1968 | LTA-8 |
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| 10 | May 24, 1968 | LTA-8 |
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| 11 | May 30, 1968 | LTA-8 |
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| 12 | June 5, 1968 | LTA-8 |
| 21 hours simulation time |
Crewed Apollo missions
The Block I CSM spacecraft did not have capability to fly with the LM, and the three crew positions were designated Command Pilot, Senior Pilot, and Pilot, based on U.S. Air Force pilot ratings. The Block II spacecraft was designed to fly with the Lunar Module, so the corresponding crew positions were designated Commander, Command Module Pilot, and Lunar Module Pilot regardless of whether a Lunar Module was present or not on any mission.A total of fifteen Saturn V vehicles were ordered, which would have been enough for three more Moon landing missions through Apollo 20. This flight was cancelled around the time of the Apollo 11 first landing mission to make the launch vehicle available for the Skylab space station. Shortly thereafter, Apollo 18 and 19 were cancelled in response to Congressional cuts in NASA's budget.
Several of the missions involved extravehicular activity, spacewalks or moonwalks outside of the spacecraft. These were of three types: testing the lunar EVA suit in Earth orbit, exploring the lunar surface, and retrieving film canisters from the Scientific Instrument Module stored in the Service Module.
| Mission | Patch | Launch date | Crew | Launch vehicle | CM name | LM name | Duration | Remarks | Refs |
| Apollo 1 | 21 February 1967 Launch Complex 34 | Gus Grissom Ed White Roger B. Chaffee | Saturn IB | Never launched. On 27 January 1967, a fire in the command module during a launch pad test killed the crew and destroyed the module. This flight was originally designated AS-204, and was renamed to Apollo 1 at the request of the crew's families. | |||||
| Apollo 7 | 11 October 1968 15:02 GMT Launch Complex 34 | Wally Schirra Donn F. Eisele Walter Cunningham | Saturn IB | 10d 20h 09m 03s | Test flight of Block II CSM in Earth orbit; included first live TV broadcast from American spacecraft. | ||||
| Apollo 8 | 21 December 1968 12:51 GMT Launch Complex 39A | Frank Borman James Lovell William Anders | Saturn V | 06d 03h 00m 42s | First circumlunar flight of CSM, had ten lunar orbits in 20 hours. First crewed flight of Saturn V. | ||||
| Apollo 9 | 3 March 1969 16:00 GMT Launch Complex 39A | James McDivitt David Scott Rusty Schweickart | Saturn V | Gumdrop | Spider | 10d 01h 00m 54s | First crewed flight test of Lunar Module; tested propulsion, rendezvous and docking. EVA tested the Portable Life Support System. | ||
| Apollo 10 | 18 May 1969 16:49 GMT Launch Complex 39B | Thomas P. Stafford John Young Eugene Cernan | Saturn V | Charlie Brown | Snoopy | 08d 00h 03m 23s | "Dress rehearsal" for lunar landing. The LM descended to 8.4 nautical miles from lunar surface. | ||
| Apollo 11 | 16 July 1969 13:32 GMT Launch Complex 39A | Neil Armstrong Michael Collins Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin | Saturn V | Columbia | Eagle | 08d 03h 18m 35s | First crewed landing in Sea of Tranquility; including a single surface EVA. | ||
| Apollo 12 | 14 November 1969 16:22 GMT Launch Complex 39A | Charles Conrad Richard F. Gordon Jr. Alan Bean | Saturn V | Yankee Clipper | Intrepid | 10d 04h 36m 24s | First precise Moon landing in Ocean of Storms near Surveyor 3 probe. Two surface EVAs and returned parts of Surveyor to Earth. | ||
| Apollo 13 | 11 April 1970 19:13 GMT Launch Complex 39A | James Lovell Jack Swigert Fred Haise | Saturn V | Odyssey | Aquarius | 05d 22h 54m 41s | Intended Fra Mauro landing cancelled after SM oxygen tank exploded. LM used as "lifeboat" for safe crew return. First S-IVB stage impact on Moon for active seismic test. | ||
| Apollo 14 | 31 January 1971 21:03 GMT Launch Complex 39A | Alan Shepard Stuart Roosa Edgar Mitchell | Saturn V | Kitty Hawk | Antares | 09d 00h 01m 58s | Successful Fra Mauro landing. Broadcast first color TV images from lunar surface. Conducted first materials science experiments in space. Conducted two surface EVAs. | ||
| Apollo 15 | 26 July 1971 13:34 GMT Launch Complex 39A | David Scott Alfred Worden James Irwin | Saturn V | Endeavour | Falcon | 12d 07h 11m 53s | Landing at Hadley–Apennine. First extended LM, three-day lunar stay. First use of Lunar Roving Vehicle. Conducted 3 lunar surface EVAs and one deep space EVA on return to retrieve orbital camera film from SM. | ||
| Apollo 16 | 16 April 1972 17:54 GMT Launch Complex 39A | John Young Ken Mattingly Charles Duke | Saturn V | Casper | Orion | 11d 01h 51m 05s | Landing in Descartes Highlands. Conducted 3 lunar EVAs and one deep space EVA. | ||
| Apollo 17 | 7 December 1972 05:33 GMT Launch Complex 39A | Eugene Cernan Ronald Evans Harrison Schmitt | Saturn V | America | Challenger | 12d 13h 51m 59s | Landing at Taurus–Littrow. First professional geologist on the Moon. First night launch. Conducted 3 lunar EVAs and one deep space EVA. |
Canceled missions
Several planned missions of the Apollo program of the 1960s and 1970s were canceled for a variety of reasons, including changes in technical direction, the Apollo 1 fire, hardware delays, and budget limitations.| Mission name/designation | Commander | Command Module Pilot | Lunar Module Pilot | Mission date | Date of cancellation | Remarks | Refs |
| AS-205 | Walter Schirra | Donn Eisele | Walter Cunningham | August 1967 | 22 December 1966 | Deemed unnecessary; crew flew on Apollo 7 | |
| Apollo 18 | Richard Gordon | Vance Brand | Harrison Schmitt | February 1972 | 2 September 1970 | Budget cuts | |
| Apollo 19 | Fred Haise | William Pogue | Gerald Carr | July 1972 | 2 September 1970 | Budget cuts | |
| Apollo 20 | Pete Conrad or Stuart Roosa | Paul Weitz | Jack Lousma | December 1972 | 4 January 1970 | Launch vehicle needed to launch Skylab |
Post-Apollo missions using Apollo hardware
There were several missions that used Apollo hardware after the cancellation of Apollo 18, Apollo 19, and Apollo 20.| Order | Launch | Mission | Launch vehicle | Commander | Pilot | Science Pilot | Duration | Remarks | Refs |
| 1 | 14 May 1973 17:30 UTC Launch Complex 39A | Skylab 1 | Saturn V | Uncrewed launch of the Skylab space station. The space station was later crewed by missions Skylab 2, Skylab 3 and Skylab 4. | |||||
| 2 | 25 May 1973 13:00 GMT Launch Complex 39B | Skylab 2 | Saturn IB | Pete Conrad | Paul J. Weitz | Joseph P. Kerwin | 28d 00h 49m 49s | First crew of the Skylab space station. | |
| 3 | 28 July 1973 11:10 GMT Launch Complex 39B | Skylab 3 | Saturn IB | Alan Bean | Jack R. Lousma | Owen K. Garriott | 59d 11h 09m 34s | Second Skylab station crew. Reaction Control System thruster malfunction nearly necessitated a Rescue Mission. | |
| 4 | 14:01 GMT Launch Complex 39B | Skylab 4 | Saturn IB | Gerald P. Carr | William R. Pogue | Edward Gibson | 84d 01h 15m 31s | Third and final Skylab crew. Penultimate flight of Apollo. | |
| 5 | 15 July 1975 12:20 GMT Launch Complex 39B | Apollo-Soyuz Test Project | Saturn IB | Thomas P. Stafford | Vance D. Brand | Deke Slayton | 09d 01h 28m | Final flight of both Apollo and the Saturn IB. Rendezvous and docking with Soyuz 19 spacecraft. The inadvertent entry of toxic gases into the cabin atmosphere created a potentially life-threatening health risk to the astronauts during re-entry. |