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A polite critique: Six successful missions which landed, yes. I'd argue 10 successful missions in total. Excluding Apollo 1 and 13, there were four additional m

A polite critique: Six successful missions which landed, yes. I'd argue 10 successful missions in total. Excluding Apollo 1 and 13, there were four additional missions which were never tasked with landing on The Moon; I would argue that those can be considered successful as well. [Edit]: Changed "with landing" to "with landing on The Moon"

frosted-flakes 7y ago
For reference, here's what each mission did: Apollo 1: Burned on the launchpad, killing Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Apollo 4-6: unmanned missions Apollo 7: Flew in Earth orbit and tested the command module (the lunar module wasn't ready yet). Apollo 8: Orbited the moon, further testing the command module and scoping out a potential landing spot. Apollo 9: Flew in Earth orbit, testing rendezvous between the lunar module and command module. Apollo 10: Dress rehearsal of the moon landing, except they didn't land. Came withing 50k feet of the surface. Apollo 11: The first moon landing. Only went outside for less than 3 hours. Landed 4 miles away from the target. Apollo 12: Second moon landing. Two 4 hour walks outside. Landed very close to the target. Apollo 13: Oxygen tank exploded in command module on the way to the moon. Used the lunar module as a lifeboat, slingshotting around the moon before returning to Earth. Apollo 14: Apollo 13, but successful. Did two 8 hour walks. Apollo 15: Upgraded lunar module that could carry the rover and additional supplies, and new suits that they could take off inside the lunar module (previous missions only took off the helmet and gloves). Three 8 hour stints outside, venturing tens of miles away from the lander, including up the side of a mountain. Focus of the mission was entirely on science and collecting samples. Apollo 16-17: Apollo 15, but at different places and more extreme. --- I'm almost finished listening to "A Man on the Moon" by Andrew Chaikin that tells the story of each mission. Highly recommended.
- daveslash 7y ago
  Thank you, for both the reference material and for the "A Man on the Moon" recommendation.

frosted-flakes 7y ago

For reference, here's what each mission did: Apollo 1: Burned on the launchpad, killing Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Apollo 4-6: unmanned missions Apollo 7: Flew in Earth orbit and tested the command module (the lunar module wasn't ready yet). Apollo 8: Orbited the moon, further testing the command module and scoping out a potential landing spot. Apollo 9: Flew in Earth orbit, testing rendezvous between the lunar module and command module. Apollo 10: Dress rehearsal of the moon landing, except they didn't land. Came withing 50k feet of the surface. Apollo 11: The first moon landing. Only went outside for less than 3 hours. Landed 4 miles away from the target. Apollo 12: Second moon landing. Two 4 hour walks outside. Landed very close to the target. Apollo 13: Oxygen tank exploded in command module on the way to the moon. Used the lunar module as a lifeboat, slingshotting around the moon before returning to Earth. Apollo 14: Apollo 13, but successful. Did two 8 hour walks. Apollo 15: Upgraded lunar module that could carry the rover and additional supplies, and new suits that they could take off inside the lunar module (previous missions only took off the helmet and gloves). Three 8 hour stints outside, venturing tens of miles away from the lander, including up the side of a mountain. Focus of the mission was entirely on science and collecting samples. Apollo 16-17: Apollo 15, but at different places and more extreme. --- I'm almost finished listening to "A Man on the Moon" by Andrew Chaikin that tells the story of each mission. Highly recommended.

daveslash 7y ago
Thank you, for both the reference material and for the "A Man on the Moon" recommendation.