Apollo missions

• 1968Apollo 7The first crewed Apollo mission — an 11-day Earth-orbit test that proved the redesigned Command Module after the Apollo 1 tragedy.
• 1968Apollo 8The first crewed flight to leave Earth orbit and circle the Moon — 10 lunar orbits on Christmas Eve 1968, and the iconic “Earthrise” photograph.
• 1969Apollo 9The first crewed flight of the Lunar Module — tested in Earth orbit, flying free and rendezvousing with the Command Module before the real thing.
• 1969Apollo 10The full dress rehearsal for the Moon landing — everything but the landing itself, with the Lunar Module skimming to within 15 km of the surface.
• 1969Apollo 11The first crewed Moon landing. Armstrong and Aldrin spent ~21.5 hours on the surface while Collins orbited above; all three returned safely after 8 days.
• 1969Apollo 12The second Moon landing — a pinpoint touchdown beside the Surveyor 3 probe, after the Saturn V was struck by lightning seconds into the flight.
• 1970Apollo 13An aborted Moon landing turned survival epic: an oxygen-tank explosion crippled the spacecraft, and the crew swung around the Moon on a free-return trajectory to make it home.
• 1971Apollo 14Alan Shepard returns to space a decade after his Mercury hop to walk on the Moon — completing the Fra Mauro exploration Apollo 13 was meant to do.
• 1971Apollo 15The first of the “J-missions” — three days of geology at Hadley Rille with the first Moon car, and a deep-space spacewalk on the way home.
• 1972Apollo 16A three-day exploration of the rugged Descartes Highlands by John Young and Charlie Duke, driving the rover across the lunar uplands.
• 1972Apollo 17The final Apollo landing — the only night launch, the only geologist on the Moon, and the last human footsteps on another world to date.