As part of the Apollo program by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

, 24

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

s flew 9 missions to the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

between December 1968 and December 1972. During six successful two-man landing missions, 12 men walked on the lunar surface, six of whom drove

Lunar Roving Vehicle The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is a battery-powered four-wheeled rover used on the Moon in the last three missions of the American Apollo program ( 15, 16, and 17) during 1971 and 1972. It is popularly called the Moon buggy, a play on the t ...

s as part of the last three missions. Three men have been to the Moon twice, one only orbited both times, while the other two landed once apiece. Apart from these 24 men, no human being has gone beyond

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

. No woman has been to the Moon, but a number of animals have orbited it, including two tortoises and five mice. Apollo missions 8 and 10– 17 were the nine crewed missions to the Moon.

Apollo 4 Apollo 4 (November 9, 1967), also known as SA-501, was the uncrewed first test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the rocket that eventually took astronauts to the Moon. The space vehicle was assembled in the Vehicle Assembly Buildin ...

– 6 and

AS-201 AS-201 (or SA-201), flown February 26, 1966, was the first uncrewed test flight of an entire production Block I Apollo command and service module and the Saturn IB launch vehicle. The spacecraft consisted of the second Block I command module ...

and

AS-202 AS-202 (also referred to as SA-202) was the second uncrewed, suborbital test flight of a production Block I Apollo command and service module launched with the Saturn IB launch vehicle. It was launched on August 25, 1966, and was the first fl ...

were uncrewed, while

AS-203 AS-203 (or SA-203) was an uncrewed flight of the Saturn IB rocket on July 5, 1966. It carried no command and service module, as its purpose was to verify the design of the S-IVB rocket stage restart capability that would later be used in the A ...

is considered a test flight. The Apollo program included three other crewed missions –

Apollo 1 Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was intended to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, the American undertaking to land the first man on the Moon. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967, as the first low Earth orbita ...

(AS-204) did not launch and its crew died in a ground-based capsule fire, while

Apollo 7 Apollo 7 (October 1122, 1968) was the first crewed flight in NASA's Apollo program, and saw the resumption of human spaceflight by the agency after the fire that killed the three Apollo 1 astronauts during a launch rehearsal test on Ja ...

and

Apollo 9 Apollo 9 (March 313, 1969) was the third human spaceflight in NASA's Apollo program. Flown in low Earth orbit, it was the second crewed Apollo mission that the United States launched via a Saturn V rocket, and was the first flight of the ful ...

were low Earth orbit missions that only tested spacecraft components and docking maneuvers. Apollo missions 18, 19, and 20 were canceled. Nine astronauts later flew unused

Apollo command module The Apollo command and service module (CSM) was one of two principal components of the United States Apollo spacecraft, used for the Apollo program, which landed astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. The CSM functioned as a mother shi ...

s in the

Apollo Applications Program The Apollo Applications Program (AAP) was created as early as 1966 by NASA headquarters to develop science-based human spaceflight missions using hardware developed for the Apollo program. AAP was the ultimate development of a number of official ...

Skylab Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operations in ...

and

Apollo–Soyuz Test Project Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as a United States Apollo spacecraft docked ...

. Of the 24 astronauts who flew to the Moon, two went on to command a Skylab mission, one commanded Apollo–Soyuz, one flew as commander for Approach and Landing Tests of the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

, and two commanded orbital Space Shuttle missions.

Prime crew members

NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations during the

Gemini Gemini may refer to: Space * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac ** Gemini in Chinese astronomy * Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program * Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Northern ...

and Apollo programs was Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, one of the original

Mercury Seven The Mercury Seven were the group of seven astronauts selected to fly spacecraft for Project Mercury. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. Their names were publicly announced by NASA on April 9, 1959; these seve ...

astronauts, who was medically grounded in September 1962 due to a minor cardiac

arrhythmia Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, heart arrhythmias, or dysrhythmias, are irregularities in the heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beats per minute in adults ...

– paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Slayton was responsible for making all Gemini and Apollo crew assignments. In March 1972, Slayton was restored to flight status, and flew on the 1975

mission. The prime crew members selected for actual missions are here grouped by their NASA astronaut selection groups, and within each group in the order selected for flight. Two versions of the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) spacecraft were developed: Block I, intended for preliminary low Earth orbit testing; and Block II, redesigned for the lunar landing. The Block I crew position titles were Command Pilot, Senior Pilot (second seat), and Pilot (third seat). The corresponding Block II titles were: Commander, Command Module Pilot, and Lunar Module Pilot. The second seat pilot was given secondary responsibility for

celestial navigation Celestial navigation, also known as astronavigation, is the practice of position fixing using stars and other celestial bodies that enables a navigator to accurately determine their actual current physical position in space (or on the surface of ...

to keep the CSM's guidance computer accurately calibrated with the spacecraft's true position, and the third seat pilot served as a flight engineer, monitoring the health of the spacecraft systems.

Apollo astronauts by their dates of selection by NASA

1959

* Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom began his career at NASA in 1959. In 1966, he was selected as Command Pilot for the first crewed Apollo mission, a low Earth orbit test. This mission ended a month before its scheduled launch,

George E. Mueller George Edwin Mueller (; July 16, 1918 – October 12, 2015), was an American electrical engineer who was an associate administrator at NASA who headed the Office of Manned Space Flight from September 1963 until December 1969. Hailed as one of ...

, Associate Administrator of the Office of Manned Spaceflight, issued a directive on April 24, 1967, that the mission would be officially recorded as Apollo 1, "first manned Apollo Saturn flight - failed on ground test." when a cabin fire on the launch pad killed Grissom, Ed White and

Roger Chaffee Roger Bruce Chaffee (; February 15, 1935 – January 27, 1967) was an American naval officer, aviator and aeronautical engineer who was a NASA astronaut in the Apollo program. Chaffee was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he became an Eag ...

on January 27, 1967. * Walter M. Schirra Jr. also began his NASA career in 1959. He was selected in October 1968 as Command Pilot for

, an 11-day,

shakedown test of the three-man Apollo Command/Service Module and the first crewed launch for the Apollo project. *

Alan B. Shepard Jr. Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he be ...

– America's first man in space on ''

Freedom 7 Mercury-Redstone 3, or ''Freedom 7'', was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astr ...

'' was originally selected to command Gemini 3, but was medically grounded for the duration of Gemini due to

Ménière's disease Ménière's disease (MD) is a disease of the inner ear that is characterized by potentially severe and incapacitating episodes of vertigo, tinnitus, hearing loss, and a feeling of fullness in the ear. Typically, only one ear is affected initial ...

and assisted Slayton in Flight Operations. After corrective surgery, Shepard was restored to flight status and commanded

Apollo 14 Apollo 14 (January 31, 1971February 9, 1971) was the eighth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, the third to land on the Moon, and the first to land in the lunar highlands. It was the last of the " H missions", landings at s ...

, the third successful Moon landing mission.

1962

All of these astronauts flew on Gemini, and except for White, each commanded one Gemini and one Apollo mission: * Edward H. White II – Second-seat veteran of

Gemini 4 Gemini 4 (officially Gemini IV) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was the second crewed spaceflight in NASA's Project Gemini, occurring in June 1965. It was the tenth crewed American spaceflight (in ...

who made the United States' first walk in space, selected as Senior Pilot (second seat) on Apollo 1. White was killed in the Apollo 1 fire along with Grissom and Chaffee. *

James A. McDivitt James Alton McDivitt (June 10, 1929 – October 13, 2022) was an American test pilot, United States Air Force (USAF) pilot, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut in the Project Gemini, Gemini and Apollo programs. He joined the USAF in 1951 ...

– Commander of Gemini 4, selected in late 1966 to command the first Earth orbital flight test of the

Apollo Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...

with the CSM. This mission flew in March 1969 as

. After his flight, McDivitt was promoted to Manager of Lunar Landing Operations, and in August 1969 was promoted to Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program. * Frank F. Borman II – Commander of

Gemini 7 Gemini 7 (officially Gemini VII) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was a 1965 crewed spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the fourth crewed Gemini flight, the twelfth crewed American spacefl ...

, selected to command a higher Earth orbit test of the complete Apollo spacecraft. But when delays prevented the LM from being ready in time for its first flight in December 1968, Borman's mission was changed to the first lunar orbital flight of the CSM on

Apollo 8 Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These ...

. * James A. Lovell Jr. – Second-seat veteran of Gemini 7, and commander of

Gemini 12 Gemini 12 (officially Gemini XII) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was a 1966 crewed spaceflight in NASA's Project Gemini. It was the 10th and final crewed Gemini flight ( Gemini 1 and Gemini 2 wer ...

, flew as Command Module Pilot (second seat) on Apollo 8. Lovell became the first to fly a second Apollo mission as commander of

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...

, the third lunar landing attempt. This mission was unsuccessful, due to a Service Module electrical system failure caused by an oxygen tank explosion. Lovell and his crew managed to return to Earth safely. Lovell is the only person to fly to the Moon twice without landing there. * Thomas P. Stafford – Second-seat veteran of Gemini 6A and commander of Gemini 9A, commanded a lunar orbital test of the Lunar Module on

Apollo 10 Apollo 10 (May 18–26, 1969) was a human spaceflight, the fourth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, and the second (after Apollo8) to orbit the Moon. NASA described it as a "dress rehearsal" for the first Moon landing, and ...

. He also commanded the

mission. * John W. Young – Second-seat veteran of

Gemini 3 Gemini 3 was the first crewed mission in NASA's Project Gemini and was the first time two American astronauts flew together into space. On March 23, 1965, astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young flew three low Earth orbits in their spacecraft, ...

and commander of

Gemini 10 Gemini 10 (officially Gemini X) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was a 1966 crewed spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 8th crewed Gemini flight, the 16th crewed American flight, and t ...

, flew as Command Module Pilot on

. Young later commanded the successful

Apollo 16 Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's " J missions", with an extended sta ...

lunar landing. He also commanded the first Space Shuttle flight, STS-1 '' Columbia'', April 12–14, 1981, and STS-9, also on '' Columbia'', November 28–December 8, 1983. * Neil A. Armstrong – Commander of

Gemini 8 Gemini 8 (officially Gemini VIII) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was the sixth crewed spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was launched on March 16, 1966, and was the 14th crewed American fli ...

, commanded

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...

, becoming the first human to set foot on the Moon. * Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. – Second-seat veteran of

Gemini 5 Gemini 5 (officially Gemini V) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was a 1965 crewed spaceflight in NASA's Project Gemini. It was the third crewed Gemini flight, the eleventh crewed American spacefligh ...

and commander of

Gemini 11 Gemini 11 (officially Gemini XI) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was the ninth crewed spaceflight mission of NASA's Project Gemini, which flew from September 12 to 15, 1966. It was the 17th crewed ...

, commanded

Apollo 12 Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Pete Conra ...

, the second lunar landing. He went on to command Skylab 2, successfully completing repairs to the spacecraft that saved it for this and two subsequent missions.

1963

This was the first class of astronauts for which test pilot experience was not required, but military jet fighter pilot experience was acceptable. Five of this group got their first spaceflight experience as second seat on Gemini: *

David R. Scott David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) is an American retired test pilot and NASA astronaut who was the seventh person to walk on the Moon. Selected as part of the third group of astronauts in 1963, Scott flew to space three times and com ...

– Second-seat veteran of

, flew as Command Module Pilot on

, and commanded the

Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the United States' Apollo program and the fourth to Moon landing, land on the Moon. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a ...

lunar landing. * Eugene A. Cernan – Second-seat veteran on Gemini 9A, flew as Lunar Module Pilot on

, and commanded the final lunar landing mission

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...

. *

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...

– Second-seat veteran on

, flew as Command Module Pilot on

. * Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. – Second-seat veteran on

, flew as Lunar Module Pilot on

, the first Moon landing. *

Richard F. Gordon Jr. Richard Francis Gordon Jr. (October 5, 1929 – November 6, 2017) was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, and an American football executive. He was one of 24 people to have flown to the Moon, as the c ...

– Second-seat veteran on

, flew as Command Module Pilot on

. Gordon was selected to command the Apollo 18 lunar landing, which was later canceled. The remaining six members of this group were selected for their first space flights on Apollo: *

Roger B. Chaffee Roger Bruce Chaffee (; February 15, 1935 – January 27, 1967) was an American naval officer, aviator and aeronautical engineer who was a NASA astronaut in the Apollo program. Chaffee was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he became an E ...

– Selected as Pilot (third seat) on

, was killed with Grissom and White in the fire. *

Donn F. Eisele Donn Fulton Eisele (June 23, 1930 – December 1, 1987) (Colonel USAF) was a United States Air Force officer, test pilot, and later a NASA astronaut. He occupied the command module pilot seat during the flight of Apollo 7 in 1968. After ...

– Flew second seat on

. * R. Walter Cunningham – Flew third seat on

. * Russell L. "Rusty" Schweickart – Flew as Lunar Module Pilot on

. Schweickart performed an

EVA Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in t ...

outside the spacecraft, testing the

portable life support system A primary (or portable or personal) life support system (or subsystem) (PLSS), is a device connected to an astronaut or cosmonaut's spacesuit, which allows extra-vehicular activity with maximum freedom, independent of a spacecraft's life support ...

used on the Moon. *

William A. Anders William Alison Anders (born 17 October 1933) is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) Major general (United States), major general, former electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. In December 1968, he was a mem ...

– Flew third seat on

. *

Alan L. Bean Alan LaVern Bean (March 15, 1932 – May 26, 2018) was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, NASA astronaut and painter; he was the fourth person to walk on the Moon. He was selected to become an ast ...

– Flew as Lunar Module Pilot on

. He later served as Commander for Skylab 3.

1965

In June 1965, NASA named a group of five scientist astronauts, the first group qualified by doctorate degrees rather than test or military fighter pilot experience. Geologist Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt participated heavily in the geological training of the lunar landing astronauts, as well as assisting in the analysis of returned samples and the preparation of mission reports. In 1970, he was selected as Lunar Module Pilot for the Apollo 15 backup crew, and prime crew on Apollo 18. When program cutbacks canceled missions 18 through 20, NASA's lunar geological community insisted on having a geologist on the Moon, so Slayton reassigned Schmitt to

1966

NASA named a group of 19 more astronauts in April 1966. None had spaceflight experience before their Apollo mission. * T. Kenneth Mattingly II – Selected as prime Command Module Pilot for Apollo 13, Mattingly was exposed to

German measles Rubella, also known as German measles or three-day measles, is an infection caused by the rubella virus. This disease is often mild, with half of people not realizing that they are infected. A rash may start around two weeks after exposure and ...

days before the flight and was grounded by the flight surgeon, though ultimately did not contract the disease. He swapped places with his backup and flew on

. He also flew on STS-4 and STS-51-C * John L. "Jack" Swigert Jr. – Flew as Mattingly's backup on

. * Fred W. Haise Jr. – Flew as Lunar Module Pilot on the unsuccessful Apollo 13. Haise was selected to command the Apollo 19 lunar landing, which was canceled. Haise would later be named commander of the first crew for the Space Shuttle's Approach and Landing Tests using the prototype Space Shuttle ''Enterprise''. * Stuart A. Roosa – Command Module Pilot on

* Edgar D. Mitchell – Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 14 * Alfred M. Worden – Command Module Pilot on

* James B. Irwin – Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 15 * Charles M. Duke Jr. – First achieved public recognition as

capsule communicator Flight controllers are personnel who aid space flight by working in such Mission Control Centers as NASA's Mission Control Center or ESA's European Space Operations Centre. Flight controllers work at computer consoles and use telemetry to mon ...

during the Apollo 11 Moon landing; notable for the quote: "...we copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue; we're breathing again. Thanks a lot." Duke flew as Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 16. * Ronald E. Evans Jr. – Command Module Pilot on

Astronauts who trained for Apollo but did not fly

* L. Gordon Cooper Jr. – from the Mercury Seven; veteran of Mercury ''

Faith 7 Mercury-Atlas 9 was the final crewed space mission of the U.S. Mercury program, launched on May 15, 1963, from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft, named ''Faith 7'', completed 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in ...

'' and commander of

, was replaced as Apollo 14 commander by Alan Shepard and resigned from NASA in 1970. * Clifton C. "C.C." Williams Jr. – from Group 3; was named as Schweickart's Lunar Module Pilot backup crew, but was killed when the T-38 jet he was flying crashed near

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

on October 5, 1967. He was replaced by Bean, who flew on

. * Vance D. Brand – from Group 5; was on the support crew for Apollo 8 and Apollo 13; was named as Apollo 15 backup Command Module Pilot. Flew on the 1975

(not a flight of the Apollo program). He also flew as commander of

STS-5 STS-5 was the fifth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. It launched on November 11, 1982, and landed five days later on November 16, 1982. STS-5 was the first Space Shuttle ...

, STS-41-B and

STS-35 STS-35 was the tenth flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia'', the 38th shuttle flight, and a mission devoted to astronomical observations with ASTRO-1, a Spacelab observatory consisting of four telescopes. The mission launched from Kennedy Spac ...

. * Edward G. Givens Jr. – from Group 5; was on the support crew of Apollo 7, but died in a car crash near

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

on June 6, 1967. *

Joe H. Engle Joe Henry Engle (born August 26, 1932) is an American Aviator, pilot, aeronautical engineer and former NASA astronaut. He was the commander of two Space Shuttle missions including STS-2 in 1981, the program's second orbital flight. He also flew ...

– from Group 5; was originally named as Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot, but lost his slot to Schmitt. After Apollo, he flew in the

Approach and Landing Tests, then commanded

STS-2 STS-2 was the second Space Shuttle mission conducted by NASA, and the second flight of the orbiter ''Columbia''. The mission, crewed by Joe H. Engle and Richard H. Truly, launched on November 12, 1981, and landed two days later on November 14, ...

and

STS-51-I STS-51-I was the 20th mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the sixth flight of Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. During the mission, ''Discovery'' deployed three communications satellites into orbit. The mission launched from Kennedy Space C ...

Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon

Twelve men walked on the

during six

Moon landing A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959. The United St ...

s of the Apollo program between July 1969 and December 1972. All landed on the surface only once, and five missions consisted of two or more surface EVAs. Four of them are still alive Most astronauts at that time came from the military services and were considered to be on active duty during their NASA service. The few exceptions were considered civilian NASA astronauts, regardless of any prior military service. On the last of their three Apollo 17 extravehicular activities (EVAs),

Harrison Schmitt Harrison Hagan Schmitt (born July 3, 1935) is an American geologist, retired NASA astronaut, university professor, former U.S. senator from New Mexico, and the most recent living person—and only person without a background in military aviation ...

stepped out of the

Apollo lunar module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...

onto the surface of the Moon after

Gene Cernan Eugene Andrew Cernan (; March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. During the Apollo 17 mission, Cernan became the eleventh human being to ...

, and is therefore the 12th and most recent person to have stepped out onto the Moon. When they re-entered the lunar module Cernan stepped in last, and is therefore (at present) the last person to have walked on the Moon.

Alan Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he beca ...

was the oldest person to walk on the Moon, at age 47 years and 80 days.

Charles Duke Charles Moss Duke Jr. (born October 3, 1935) is an American former astronaut, United States Air Force (USAF) officer and test pilot. As Lunar Module pilot of Apollo 16 in 1972, he became the tenth and youngest person to walk on the Moon, at ...

was the youngest, at age 36 years and 201 days.

Jim Lovell James Arthur Lovell Jr. (; born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of th ...

and

Fred Haise Fred Wallace Haise Jr. ( ; born November 14, 1933) is an American former NASA astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot with the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force, and a test pilot. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon, having f ...

were scheduled to walk on the Moon during the

mission, but the lunar landing was aborted following an explosion in the spacecraft

service module A service module (also known as an equipment module or instrument compartment) is a component of a crewed space capsule containing a variety of support systems used for spacecraft operations. Usually located in the uninhabited area of the spacec ...

en route to the Moon. Haise was again scheduled to walk on the Moon as commander of Apollo 19, but Apollo 18 and Apollo 19 were canceled on September 2, 1970.

Joe Engle Joe Henry Engle (born August 26, 1932) is an American pilot, aeronautical engineer and former NASA astronaut. He was the commander of two Space Shuttle missions including STS-2 in 1981, the program's second orbital flight. He also flew three ...

had trained on the backup crew for

to explore the Moon with Cernan, but he was replaced by Schmitt on the primary crew for

. Schmitt had previously been crewed with

Command Module pilot Dick Gordon in anticipation of Apollo 18, but Schmitt replaced Engle on Apollo 17 after the cancellation of Apollo 18 and Apollo 19, leaving Gordon as the last Apollo astronaut to train extensively for lunar exploration without ever landing on the Moon.

Apollo astronauts who flew to the Moon without landing

Besides the 12 people who have walked on the Moon, 12 more have flown to within 0.001 lunar distance of its surface. During each of the six missions with successful lunar landings, one astronaut remained in lunar orbit while the other two landed. In addition, the three-person crews of

and

also entered lunar orbit, and the crew of

looped around the Moon on a

free-return trajectory In orbital mechanics, a free-return trajectory is a trajectory of a spacecraft traveling away from a primary body (for example, the Earth) where gravity due to a secondary body (for example, the Moon) causes the spacecraft to return to the primar ...

. All nine crewed missions to the Moon took place as part of the Apollo program over a period of just under four years, from 21 December 1968 to 19 December 1972. The 24 people who have flown to the Moon are the only people who have traveled beyond

. Ten of them are still living

John Young John Young may refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) (died 1820), Scottish professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow * John C. Young (college president) (1803–1857), American educator, pastor, and president of Centre Col ...

, and

Eugene Cernan Eugene Andrew Cernan (; March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. During the Apollo 17 mission, Cernan became the eleventh human being to ...

are the only three people to have flown to the Moon twice. Young and Cernan each set foot on it during their respective second lunar missions, while Lovell is the only person to have flown to the Moon twice without landing. During Cernan's first lunar mission on Apollo 10, he tied the present record set by

Bill Anders William Alison Anders (born 17 October 1933) is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) major general, former electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. In December 1968, he was a member of the crew of Apollo 8, ...

on Apollo 8 as the youngest person to fly to the Moon. Each was 35 years and 65 days old on his launch date and 35 years and 68 days old when he entered lunar orbit. The oldest person to fly to the Moon was

, who walked on its surface during the

mission. Shepard was 47 years and 74 days old on his launch date and 47 years and 78 days old when he entered lunar orbit.

and

were scheduled to walk on the Moon during the

mission, but the lunar landing was aborted following a major malfunction en route to the Moon. Haise was again scheduled to walk on the Moon as commander of Apollo 19, but Apollo 18 and Apollo 19 were canceled on September 2, 1970. Because of Apollo 13's free-return trajectory, Lovell, Swigert and Haise flew higher above the Moon's 180° meridian (opposite Earth) than anyone else has flown (254 km/158 mi). Coincidentally, due to the Moon's distance from Earth at the time, they simultaneously set the present record for humans' greatest distance from Earth, reaching an altitude of 400,171 km (248,655 mi) above sea level at 0:21 UTC on 15 April 1970.

Lunar activities

Armstrong descended the lunar module ladder and spoke his famous

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." He then went to work on collecting the contingency sample, which was a scoop of the lunar surface collected early in the mission in case there was an emergency. Armstrong took the TV camera off the lunar module and mounted it to a tripod. After that, Aldrin descended the ladder to join Armstrong. Aldrin egressed to the surface about nineteen minutes after Armstrong. They had some trouble planting the American flag into the lunar soil, but were able to secure it into the surface. Aldrin positioned himself in front of a video camera and began experimenting with different locomotion techniques on the surface. During these experiments, Armstrong and Aldrin received a phone call from President Nixon, congratulating them for the successful landing. Aldrin then set to work documenting the condition of the spacecraft to ensure it was in proper condition for their upcoming launch. After setting up a couple of experiments with Armstrong, Aldrin went to work hammering a tube into the lunar surface to obtain a core sample. Aldrin's EVA ended when they loaded the lunar samples into the spacecraft and tossed out unneeded items, just before sealing the hatch. Armstrong performed the majority of the photography on the surface, which is why there are only five photos of him on the Moon. Soon after piloting the LM ''Falcon'' to a landing at

Hadley Rille Hadley may refer to: Places Canada * Hadley Bay, on the north of Victoria Island, Nunavut England * Hadley, London, a former civil parish within Barnet Urban District from 1894 to 1965 * Hadley, Shropshire, part of the new town of Telford, ...

, Scott accomplished the only stand-up EVA through the lander's top hatch, using it as a high place from which to refine the geology traverses he and Irwin would undertake during the following days. Scott became the first to drive a vehicle on the Moon as he drove the

, more than doubling Apollo 14's EVA time. After the final traverse, back outside the LM, Scott performed a demonstration of Galileo's theory that all objects fall at the same rate in vacuum by dropping a hammer and a feather for the television camera. Irwin came onto the lunar surface soon after his commander, Scott. As the LRV's first passenger, he had an often rough ride as Scott swerved to avoid craters. It was Irwin who, during the second EVA, first spotted the

Genesis Rock The Genesis Rock (sample 15415) is a sample of Moon rock retrieved by Apollo 15 astronauts James Irwin and David Scott in 1971 during the second lunar EVA, at Spur crater. With a mass of , it is currently stored at the Lunar Sample Laborato ...

and aided Scott in collecting this bit of the early lunar crust. A man of deep Christian religious faith, Irwin quoted from

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

while on the lunar surface and later became an evangelist.

Apollo astronauts who never flew to the Moon

In addition to the nine lunar missions, there were two crewed flights in the Apollo program that remained in Earth orbit to test fly the spacecraft.

was a crewed test flight of the CSM, and

was a crewed flight test of the CSM and LEM. Of the six astronauts who participated in these missions, five were never rotated to a lunar mission. In addition, the three

missions and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project used crewed CSMs in Earth orbit and are considered part of the

Apollo Applications Project The Apollo Applications Program (AAP) was created as early as 1966 by NASA headquarters to develop Space science, science-based human spaceflight missions using hardware developed for the Apollo program. AAP was the ultimate development of a numbe ...

. Although Conrad, Bean, and Stafford commanded three of these four flights, the remaining crew members were rookies and thus had long missed the opportunity to fly a Moon mission. Of the seven rookies who flew Skylab, three of them (

Paul J. Weitz Paul Joseph Weitz (July 25, 1932 – October 22, 2017) was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, who flew into space twice. He was a member of the three-man crew who flew on Skylab 2, ...

Owen K. Garriott Owen Kay Garriott (November 22, 1930 – April 15, 2019) was an American electrical engineer and NASA astronaut, who spent 60 days aboard the Skylab space station in 1973 during the Skylab 3 mission, and 10 days aboard Spacelab-1 on a Spac ...

, and

Jack R. Lousma Jack Robert Lousma (born February 29, 1936) is an American astronaut, aeronautical engineer, retired United States Marine Corps officer, former naval aviator, NASA astronaut, and politician. He was a member of the second crew, Skylab-3, on ...

) would return to space aboard the Space Shuttle.

Vance Brand Vance DeVoe Brand (born May 9, 1931) is an American naval officer, aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He served as command module pilot during the first U.S.-Soviet joint spaceflight in 1975, and as commander of thr ...

flew on ASTP as Command Module Pilot and would command three Shuttle missions. Except for Garriott, all Apollo astronauts who also flew on the Shuttle served as Commander. * Walter M. Schirra Jr. – Commander of

. *

– Command Module Pilot of

* R. Walter Cunningham – Lunar Module Pilot of

– Commander of

* Russell L. "Rusty" Schweickart – Lunar Module Pilot of

Joseph P. Kerwin Joseph Peter Kerwin (born February 19, 1932) is an American physician and former NASA astronaut, who served as Science Pilot for the Skylab 2 mission from May 25 – June 22, 1973. He was the first physician to be selected for astronaut training ...

– Science Pilot of

Skylab 2 Skylab 2 (also SL-2 and SLM-1) was the first crewed mission to Skylab, the first American orbital space station. The mission was launched on an Apollo command and service module by a Saturn IB rocket on May 25, 1973, and carried NASA astronau ...

– Pilot of

– Science Pilot of

Skylab 3 Skylab 3 (also SL-3 and SLM-2) was the second crewed mission to the first American space station, Skylab. The mission began on July 28, 1973, with the launch of NASA astronauts Alan Bean, Owen Garriott, and Jack Lousma in the Apollo command ...

– Pilot of

Gerald P. Carr Colonel Gerald Paul Carr (August 22, 1932August 26, 2020) was an American mechanical and aeronautical engineer, United States Marine Corps officer, naval aviator, and NASA astronaut. He was commander of Skylab 4, the third and final crewed vi ...

– Commander of

Skylab 4 Skylab 4 (also SL-4 and SLM-3) was the third crewed Skylab mission and placed the third and final human spaceflight, crew aboard the first American space station. The mission began on November 16, 1973, with the launch of Gerald P. Carr, Edward ...

* Edward G. Gibson – Science Pilot of

William R. Pogue William Reid Pogue (January 23, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American astronaut and Aviator, pilot who served in the United States Air Force (USAF) as a fighter pilot and test pilot, and reached the rank of Colonel (United States), colonel. H ...

– Pilot of

* Vance D. Brand – Command Module Pilot of Apollo-Soyuz Test Project *

Donald K. Slayton Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton (March 1, 1924 – June 13, 1993) was a United States Air Force pilot, aeronautical engineer, and test pilot who was selected as one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts. He went on to become NASA's first ...

– Docking Module Pilot of Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

Astronauts who died during the Apollo Program

Three astronauts died on the ground while training for the first crewed Apollo mission,

References

* * * *

External links

*
One Giant Leap for Mankind
35th Anniversary of Apollo 11, NASA, Michael Makara, accessed July 14, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Apollo astronauts Astronauts by space program

Apollo astronauts As part of the Apollo program by NASA, 24 astronauts flew 9 missions to the Moon between December 1968 and December 1972. During six successful two-man landing missions, 12 men walked on the lunar surface, six of whom drove Lunar Roving Vehicl ...

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

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