NASA’s Look at 50 Years of Apollo

On October 11th, 1968, NASA launched its first Apollo crew into space. Apollo 7’s Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham spent 11 days in low Earth orbit, thoroughly testing the Apollo Command and Service Module’s systems.

This historic mission launched on December 21, 1968. On Christmas Eve, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders were the first humans to orbit the Moon and the first to see an Earthrise above its surface.

This historic mission launched on December 21, 1968. On Christmas Eve, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders were the first humans to orbit the Moon and the first to see an Earthrise above its surface.

March 3, 1969, Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart performed systems checks and gathered data on Apollo 9, paving the way for future Apollo missions.

The Apollo 10 mission encompassed all aspects of an actual crewed lunar landing, except the landing. It was the first flight of a complete, crewed Apollo spacecraft to operate around the Moon.