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The US-space flight program was very young, as President Kennedy requested the NASA to bring a man to moon before the decade was over. 5 months an 11 days before the period was over, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin were the first men on the moon in 1969. 12 astronauts explored by foot or by vehicle the surface of the moon. They entered new land and got much important scientific information.
1967:
January
"Apollo 1". The Apollo-project started with an accident, it was the only fatal accident in the whole Apollo Project. The astronauts Virgil Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Edward White died one month before the start of the rocket because of a fire in the space cap. The fire broke out because the Americans used pure oxygen as atmosphere. That increased the fire risk. A short-circuit on an unfavourable place was enough to cause the catastrophe. The Astronauts suffocated.
1968:
October
Was much better than "Apollo 1" the numbering should show that too. Apollo 7 was a new start for the whole American space travel. They orbited the earth 168 times before they landed on the 22. October. After some Missions Walter Cunningham, Donn Eisele and Walter Schirra tested Apollo in the space
December
James Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman flight with "Apollo 8" to the backside of the moon. They were in the orbit for 20 hours to explore a landing point because the lunar module called LEM wasn't ready at this moment. They orbited the moon 10 times and described it as an oasis in the space. This mission was very important because a further hurdle was taken.
1969:
March
The LEM was ready for a first test flight. Russel Schweickart, David Scott and James McDivitt on "Apollo 9" were the first who tried the off couple and dock on manoeuvres of the lunar module. The mission was completed without great disasters and the LEM had passed its first test.
Mai
The last test for the moon landing was "Apollo 10" Thomas Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan flew 15 kilometres near to the moon. They tested with the LEM Snoopy all manoeuvres in a moon orbit under the conditions that Apollo 11 will have. Apollo 10 was ready to land on the moon, but it was necessary to test it all under 1:1 Conditions. Because OF THAT Apollo 10 is very important too for moon landing.
July
Apollo 11
Neil Armstrong, commander
Michael Collins, commander module pilot
Edwin E. Aldrin Jr, lunar module pilot
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"Apollo 11" made history with the first moon landing. The race for the moon found an end and the winner was America. It was one of the best missions in the history of space travelling. Neil Armstrong the first man on the moon became a national hero with the words: A small step for man, but a great step for mankind. But it was not sure if the whole crew would come back to earth. The Chances of the lunar module to start again were at 50:50. Collins was the one who stayed in the command unit while the others entered the lunar module walk on the moon. He should be the one who has to leave his friends if the lunar module wasn't able to start again. But everything worked perfect and the 2 astronauts landed on the moon without problems. On the 20.Juli 1969 at 20.18 MEZ the space ship eagle landed on the moon only a few kilometres from the calculated landing point. Armstrong landed the LEM perfectly on the moon. The return to earth and the splash down were nearly perfect. After their return the 3 astronauts had to stay in quarantine for 17 days because nobody had known if they brought lunar microbes to earth.
November
The mission target of "Apollo 12" was to find Surveyor 3 an unmanned space probe. Surveyor 3 was sent out in 1967 to check if there is dust layers on the moon which would make it impossible to drive a car on the moon or which would bring the moon landing ferry in addition too sink. Now it was Apollo 12´s turn to bring Surveyor 3 back to earth. Apollo 12 got problems seconds after the start because the rocket got hit 2 times by flash. The damages weren't very heavy and were repaired easily. Apollo 12 found the probe and brought it back to earth.
1970:
April
"Apollo 13" brought the space flight back into the middle of public interest. On the 13. April the astronauts James Lovell, Fred Haise and John Swigert heard a loud noise. 2 of 3 gas cells failed. But the gas cells were the smallest problem they had because one Oxygen tank was nearly empty and the second one was about to go empty. Without Oxygen the 3rd gas cell wasn't able to work too. What happened? The temperature in one tank was about 540 degrees because of that the cable isolation burned off and a short circuit was the follow. The tank exploded and damaged the second tank. The only thing that saved the astronauts was the lunar module. They orbited the moon and took curse on earth. They had to manoeuvre with the descent rocket of the lunar module.
1971:
January
Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell were on Apollo 14 and explored new moon terrain. Shepard was the only one of the 7 Mercury astronauts, who was thereby during a moon landing. But this mission was not very spectacular; generally the first sub orbital flight of Shepard was more excitingly as this mission
July
Apollo 15 brought James Irwin, David Scott, Alfred Worden and the first moon vehicle to the moon. They described the car was like an intractable wild horse. With the car long distance trips were possible and things could be transported easier.
1972:
April
Charles Duke, John Young and Thomas Mattingly tested the moon cars down force. They drove circles and hard curves to see if the tires are good enough. They found out that none of the 94kg rocks that were collected from the moon, were from its time of origin.
December
At the last Apollo-mission Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt broke all records. They were on the moon for the longest time, put back the longest way and got the most rock probes.
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