What is a fanlisting?
A fanlisting is a place for all the fans of a particular show, movie, actor/actress, singer, etc. to come together and build the biggest listing of people all around the world who are fans of that subject. In this case, the subject is the Apollo space program. This fanlisting has been approved by TheFanlistings.org.
What is the Apollo space program?
The Apollo space program was conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration after the successful completion of the Mercury and Gemini programs. The Apollo space capsule was capable of carrying three men, and could be launched from either a Saturn 1B or a Saturn V rocket, depending on the mission.
Mission specifics:
- Apollo 1 | Grissom, White and Chaffee
January 27, 1967. Astronauts died tragically in a cabin fire while conducting a test mission on the launch pad.
- Apollo 7 | Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham
October 11-22, 1968. First Apollo mission to fly. Made 168 orbits of Earth.
- Apollo 8 | Borman, Lovell and Anders
December 21-27, 1968. First occupied launch of Saturn V. Looped around moon on Christmas Eve.
- Apollo 9 | McDivitt, Scott and Schweikart
March 3-13, 1969. 151 orbits of Earth. First human test of Lunar Module.
- Apollo 10 | Stafford, Young and Cernan
May 18-26, 1969. Orbited moon. Lunar Module dropped to within nine miles of lunar surface.
- Apollo 11 | Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins
July 16-24, 1969. Landed on moon with 30 seconds of fuel remaining. Took core samples. Planted American flag.
- Apollo 12 | Conrad, Gordon and Bean
November 14-24, 1969. Met up with and returned parts of old Surveyor 3 probe.
- Apollo 13 | Lovell, Haise and Sweigert
April 11-17, 1970. Oxygen tank blew en-route. Survived in LM, looped around moon, returned home safely.
- Apollo 14 | Shepard, Roosa and Mitchell
January 31 - February 9, 1971. Extensive scientific experiments. Astronauts almost got lost when landscape became disorienting.
- Apollo 15 | Scott, Irwin and Worden
July 26 - August 7, 1971. First use of Lunar Rover. Astronauts rode over 27 km. First Apollo space walk.
- Apollo 16 | Young, Mattingly and Duke
April 16-27, 1972. Malfunction almost scrubbed landing. Stayed three days, got Lunar Rover up to almost 18 km/hr.
- Apollo 17 | Cernan, Evans and Schmitt
December 7-19, 1972. Last men on moon (so far.)
Where can I find out more about Apollo?
I highly recommend Andrew Chaikin's book A Man on the Moon (ISBN 0140272011), which has been published in many forms, most notably by Time Life as a three-volume, heavily illustrated hardcover boxed set (ISBN 0783556799.) This book was later turned into the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon, hosted and directed by Tom Hanks. This series is available on DVD.
Other books I have found to be helpful, informative and/or entertaining are:
- Moon Shot by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton (ISBN 1878685546) - probably the most entertaining read for Mercury/Gemini/Apollo anecdotes.
- Full Moon by Michael Light (ISBN 0375406344) - a fantasticly large tabletop picture book, and a must-have for any Apollo enthusiast. Michael Light is the first person to obtain permission from NASA to remove their archival film from all missions and digitally scan them, thus obtaining the highest quality reproductions available. This book features many pictures that were previously unreleased to the public. It has recently been reproduced in a small 8x8" form, in hardcover (ISBN 0375414940.)
- Observing the Moon by Gerald North (ISBN 0521622743) - a great reference book, and quite recent (2001.) It has a good overview of the program, moon facts, scientific findings, and references upon references for more information. I find it quite helpful if I'm not sure where to look for something.
- The Once and Future Moon by Paul D. Spudis - a shameless plug for my former advisor at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, but actually a very user-friendly guide to what we know about the Moon, what we learned through the Apollo program and more recent missions, and what we could do if we could get back there. A talented writer.