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| Apollo 11 was the first mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface and returned to Earth. On 20 July 1969 two astronauts (Apollo 11 Commander Neil A. Armstrong and LM pilot Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr.) landed in Mare Tranquilitatis (the Sea of Tranquility) on the Moon in the Lunar Module (LM) while the Command and Service Module (CSM) (with CM pilot Michael Collins) continued in lunar orbit. During their stay on the Moon, the astronauts set up scientific experiments, took photographs, and collected lunar samples. The LM took off from the Moon on 21 July and the astronauts returned to Earth on 24 July. |  |
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| Apollo 12 was the second mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface and returned to Earth. On 19 November 1969 two astronauts (Apollo 12 Commander Charles P. "Pete" Conrad and LM Pilot Alan L. Bean) landed in Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms) on the Moon in the Lunar Module (LM) while the Command and Service Module (CSM) (with CM pilot Richard F. Gordon) continued in lunar orbit. During their stay on the Moon, the astronauts set up scientific experiments, took photographs, examined the nearby Surveyor 3 spacecraft which had landed on the Moon 2 1/2 years earlier and removed pieces for later examination on Earth, and collected lunar samples on two moonwalk EVA's. The LM took off from the Moon on 20 November and the astronauts returned to Earth on 24 November. |  |
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| Apollo 13 was intended to be the third mission to carry humans to the surface of the Moon, but an explosion of one of the oxygen tanks and resulting damage to other systems resulted in the mission being aborted before the planned lunar landing could take place. The crew, commander James A. Lovell, Jr., command module pilot John L. Swigert, Jr., and lunar module pilot Fred W. Haise Jr., were returned safely to Earth on 17 April 1970. |  |
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| Apollo 14 was the third mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface and returned to Earth. On 5 February 1971 two astronauts (Apollo 14 Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr. and LM pilot Edgar D. Mitchell) landed near Fra Mauro crater on the Moon in the Lunar Module (LM) while the Command and Service Module (CSM) (with CM pilot Stuart A. Roosa) continued in lunar orbit. During their stay on the Moon, the astronauts set up scientific experiments, took photographs, and collected lunar samples. The LM took off from the Moon on 6 February and the astronauts returned to Earth on 9 February. |  |
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| Apollo 15 was the fourth mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface and returned to Earth. On 30 July 1971 two astronauts (Apollo 15 Commander David R. Scott and LM pilot James B. Irwin) landed in the Hadley Rille/Apennines region of the Moon in the Lunar Module (LM) while the Command and Service Module (CSM) (with CM pilot Alfred M. Worden) continued in lunar orbit. During their stay on the Moon, the astronauts set up scientific experiments, took photographs, and collected lunar samples. The LM took off from the Moon on 2 August and the astronauts returned to Earth on 7 August. |  |
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| Apollo 16 was the fifth mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface and returned to Earth. On 21 April 1972 two astronauts (Apollo 16 Commander John W. Young and LM pilot Charles M. Duke, Jr.) landed in the Descartes region of the Moon in the Lunar Module (LM) while the Command and Service Module (CSM) (with CM pilot Thomas K. Mattingly, II) continued in lunar orbit. During their stay on the Moon, the astronauts set up scientific experiments, took photographs, and collected lunar samples. The LM took off from the Moon on 24 April and the astronauts returned to Earth on 27 April. |  |
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| Apollo 17 was the sixth and last Apollo mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface. On 11 December 1972 two astronauts (Apollo 16 Commander Eugene A. Cernan and LM pilot Harrison H. Schmitt, the first scientist on the Moon) landed in the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon in the Lunar Module (LM) while the Command and Service Module (CSM) (with CM pilot Ronald E. Evans) continued in lunar orbit. During their stay on the Moon, the astronauts set up scientific experiments, took photographs, and collected lunar samples. The LM took off from the Moon on 14 December and the astronauts returned to Earth on 19 December. |  |
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Copyright
Sarah Murphy 2004
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