The Apollo Space Program

The Journeys to the Moon

In memory of Gus Grissom, Ed White, & Roger Chaffee. The Crew of Apollo 1.

The Apollo space program had but one goal. To put Americans on the moon. This program was founded out of the challenge of the late President John F. Kennedy to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. It would take two previous space programs and thousands of workers, scientist, and engineers to achieve this goal. Spacecraft had to be developed and rockets had to be built. It would take the ingenius mind of aerospace engineer Dr. Werner von Braun to build the rocket that would take men to the moon, the Saturn V. Unfortunately, some would loose their lives in pursuit of this endeavour. The Apollo program would eventually put Neil Armstrong on the moon in 1969, and eleven astronauts after that.

The Apollo 1 Crew

Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom* Mission Commander Age 40 One of the original Mercury 7 astronauts selected in 1959, Gus was a household name. Grissom was one of the most, if not the most, experienced and trusted Astronauts in the American space program. If he had lived, he would have been the first man to walk on the moon. Mercury-Redstone 4 Grissom became only the second American astronaut to fly in space on his Mercury flight in 1961. Grissom's flight, made two months after Alan Shepard's first, set the stage for John Glenn's orbital flight the next year. Gemini-Titan 3 Grissom won command of the first mission of the Project Gemini Space Program. He and rookie John Young tested the new two man Gemini capsule in Earth orbit. The Gemini 3 mission in 1965 made Gus Grissom the first man to complete two space flights. Apollo 1 Further emphasizing NASA's trust in Grissom, he was named to command the first Apollo flight. This would have made him the first man to fly in space three times. It also would have made him the first man to fly on the maiden voyages of two different spacecraft.	Edward H. White II Senior Pilot Age 36 Selected as an astronaut in 1962 as one of "The Next Nine." Ed White was a West Point graduate and former U.S. Air Force test pilot. Gemini-Titan 4 The Gemini 4 mission in 1965 was a record setting flight. Ed White became the first American astronaut to walk in space. His 21 minute EVA was nearly twice the duration of the one made by Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov a few months prior. Apollo 1 Apollo 1 would have been White's second mission into space. His distinction of being the first American to walk in space, and his selection to Gus Grissom's crew would have no doubt elevated him to a lunar mission command later on.	Roger B. Chaffee Pilot Age 31 A graduate of Purdue Univeristy, Roger Chafee was a brilliant young aerospace engineer. He was selected as an astronaut in 1963 as one of "The Fourteen." Apollo 1 Apollo 1 would have been Chaffee's first trip into space. He would have been the first of his astronaut group to make an Apollo flight. This illustrates the trust Deke Slayton had in Chaffee, a rookie astronaut being assigned to Gus Grissom's maiden crew.

Interesting Fact: CSI character Gil Grissom was named in honor of astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom.

Schirra's Space

Mercury Astronaut & Apollo 7 commander Wally Schirra* (center), returned America to space nearly two years after
the Apollo 1 tragedy. The first Apollo flight was the last flight for Schirra- who retired from NASA in 1969.

Manned Flights:

The Lunar Landing Missions

Interesting Fact: Neil Armstrong's signature is the most sought after autograph in the world.

Neil Armstrong- It has been accomplished

Born in 1930, Neil Alden Armstrong was destined to fly. He earned an aeronautical engineering degree from Purdue, and flew combat missions during the Korean War. As a test pilot, he made seven high speed/ high altitude flights in the X-15 rocket plane. Selected as a NASA astronaut in 1962, Armstrong's first flight into space was as command pilot for Gemini 10 in 1966. Armstrong, along with Dave Scott, was forced to inact the first emergency landing from space as their spacecraft tumbled out of control. As the Apollo program began, Armstrong's first assignment was as Frank Borman's back-up for the first manned mission to the moon in December 1968. Armstrong was then named as commander of Apollo 11. An assignment that would eventually make him the first man to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. He retired from NASA in 1971 and began teaching aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Neil Armstrong is known for his humble personality and his love of engineering.

The Faces of Alan Shepard- An American Legend

Alan Shepard in 1961, 37 years old, before becoming the first American in Space on Mercury 3.	Alan Shepard in 1971, 47 years old, prior to commanding Apollo 14 and becoming the fifth man to walk on the moon.

The heroic bronze statue of Alan B. Shepard Jr.*. The first American in space.
The statue was deticated in 2000, two years after Shepard passed away. It is located at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, FL.

John Young- The All American Astronaut. Click arrow to view

A brilliant night launch kicked off the start of Apollo 17. This record 12 day mission brought an end to mankind's exploration of our moon. The Apollo 17 crew collected a record amount of lunar material and spent a record time on its surface. Thirty-Seven years have now passed since Commander Gene Cernan last left the surface of the moon.

Interesting Fact: Both the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, and the last man on the moon, Gene Cernan, were graduates of Purdue University's College of Engineering. Cernan graduated one year after Armstrong.

The Apollo Soyuz Test Project

Concieved in the Early 1970's by political leaders from both nations, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) took five years of planning. New technology had to be developed to allow the U.S. and Soviet spacecraft to link up including the Apollo Universal Docking Module.The crews each learned the other's language and trained many times together over the years leading up to the mission. The U.S. crew included one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, Deke Slayton*. The Soviet crew was commanded by the first man to walk in space, Alexei Leonov*. The Apollo-Soyuz mission, finally launched in 1975, brought a finale to the Great Space Race.

Numbers in parentheses indicate number of flights flown by astronaut. (1) indicates their first space flight. An (*) asterisk after a name denotes one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. (*) Denotes one of the original Vostok 20 cosmonauts.

CM- Command Module | LM / LEM- Lunar Module / Lunar Excursion Module | CSM- Command Service Module | SM- Service Module

Back to Main Page

Mercury Gemini Apollo Skylab Shuttle Records Timeline Constellation Quizzes Space Travelers Recommended Media ISS

© 2004-2008. U.S. Space Flight History. Josh Campbell
All rights reserved.