Despite being costly and fraught with risks, the Apollo program was a monumental success for NASA, landing a total of 12 astronauts on the surface of the Moon.
While many have traveled to space, very few have set foot on the Moon. Earth’s natural satellite is located about 370,000 km away, a relatively short distance in cosmic terms. The first two people to walk on the Moon were Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission. Following them, 10 other astronauts roamed the lunar surface during various Apollo missions, according to IFL Science.
Apollo 12
Just four months after Apollo 11, the next mission landed on the Moon in the Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms) region. Charles “Pete” Conrad and Alan Bean touched down on the lunar surface on November 19, 1969. This landing occurred within the range of the automated spacecraft Surveyor 3. Conrad and Bean brought back parts of Surveyor 3 to Earth. Apollo 12 was also the first mission to use hammocks on another celestial body, as the two astronauts wanted a more comfortable place to sleep.
The astronauts successfully landed and walked on the Moon. (Photo: NASA).
Apollo 14
The Apollo 13 mission faced severe issues en route to the Moon, forcing a cancellation of its landing. The third human Moon landing occurred on February 5, 1971, when Alan Shepard (the first American in space) and Edgar Mitchell became the fifth and sixth people to walk on the Moon. The Apollo 14 spacecraft also encountered some problems, but nothing too serious. The most famous event of this mission was Shepard hitting two golf balls. He also became the oldest person to walk on the Moon at the age of 47.
Apollo 15
David Scott and James Irwin landed on the Moon on July 20, 1971. NASA aimed to cut costs, resulting in numerous changes to the mission to maximize resources, including the first use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, the first vehicle driven by humans beyond Earth. Scott conducted the famous Galileo experiment, demonstrating that objects fall at the same rate regardless of mass. He did this by dropping a feather and a hammer.
The mission also featured Alfred Worden, who did not land on the Moon but performed an extravehicular activity (EVA) to collect footage from two lunar mapping cameras mounted outside the module while it was 321,869 km from Earth. This mission held the record for the most people exposed to the vacuum of space at the same time until the private spacewalk of the Polaris Dawn mission occurred a month prior.
Apollo 16
John Young and Charles Duke landed on the Moon on April 21, 1972. The pair spent nearly three days on the lunar surface, collecting materials including Big Muley, the largest rock ever brought back from the Moon by the Apollo missions, weighing 11.7 kg. The lunar module was named Orion after one of the brightest constellations in the sky. Pilot Thomas Mattingly opted to name the command and service module Casper because “there were too many serious things on this flight, so I decided to choose a humorous name,” he said.
Apollo 17
Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt are the last astronauts to have walked on the Moon as of now. They landed on December 11, 1972. Apollo 17 was the longest crewed Moon landing mission, during which the astronauts traveled the farthest from their spacecraft, spent the most time on the Moon both inside and outside the spacecraft, and brought back the largest lunar rock samples to Earth. Scientist Schmitt was also the first person to have an allergic reaction to lunar dust.
