Editing Apollo program (section)

{{Short description|1961–1972 American crewed lunar exploration program}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2014}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox space program
| name            = Apollo program
| image           = Apollo program.svg
| image_size      = 200px
| alt             = The letter "A" printed with a depiction of a trans-lunar trajectory streaking across; the Moon and Earth are depicted on opposite sides of the "A", with Apollo's face outlined on the Moon
| country         = United States
| organization    = [[NASA]]
| purpose         = Crewed [[lunar landing]]
| cost            = {{Unbulleted list
  | $25.4 billion (1973)
| $257 billion (2020)<ref name="www_planetary_org">{{Cite web |title=How much did the Apollo program cost? |url=https://www.planetary.org/space-policy/cost-of-apollo |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401150614/https://www.planetary.org/space-policy/cost-of-apollo |archive-date=April 1, 2025 |access-date=March 25, 2024 |publisher=[[The Planetary Society]] }}</ref>
}}
| status          = Completed
| duration        = 1961–1972
| firstflight     = {{Unbulleted list
  | [[Saturn I SA-1|SA-1]]
  | {{Start date|1961|10|27}}
  }}
| firstcrewed     = {{Unbulleted list
  | [[Apollo 7]]
  | {{Start date|1968|10|11}}
  }}
| lastflight      = {{Unbulleted list
  | [[Apollo 17]]
  | {{Start date|1972|12|19}}
  }}
| successes       = 32
| failures        = 2 ([[Apollo 1]] and [[Apollo 13|13]])
| partialfailures = 1 ([[Apollo 6]])
| launchsite      = {{Unbulleted list
  | [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34|Cape Kennedy]]
  | [[Kennedy Space Center]]
  | [[White Sands Missile Range|White Sands]]
  }}
| crewvehicle     = {{Hlist|[[Apollo command and service module|Apollo CSM]]|[[Apollo Lunar Module|Apollo LM]]}}
| launcher        = {{Hlist|[[Little Joe II]]|[[Saturn I]]|[[Saturn IB]]|[[Saturn V]]}}
}}
{{United States space program sidebar}}

The '''Apollo program''', also known as '''Project Apollo''', was the United States [[human spaceflight]] program led by [[NASA]], which successfully [[Moon landing|landed]] the first humans on the [[Moon]] in 1969.<ref name="nasa-onegiantleap">{{Cite web |date=July 20, 2019 |title=July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap for Mankind |url=https://www.nasa.gov/history/july-20-1969-one-giant-leap-for-mankind/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401010503/https://www.nasa.gov/history/july-20-1969-one-giant-leap-for-mankind/ |archive-date=April 1, 2025 |publisher=[[NASA]] }}</ref> Apollo followed [[Project Mercury]] that put the first Americans in space. It was conceived in 1960 as a three-person spacecraft during President [[Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower|Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration]]. Apollo was later dedicated to President [[John F. Kennedy]]'s national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in an address to [[United States Congress|Congress]] on May 25, 1961. It was the third American human spaceflight program to fly, preceded by [[Project Gemini]] conceived in 1961 to extend spaceflight capability in support of Apollo.

Kennedy's goal was accomplished on the [[Apollo 11]] mission when astronauts [[Neil Armstrong]] and [[Buzz Aldrin]] landed their [[Apollo Lunar Module]] (LM) on July 20, 1969, and walked on the lunar surface, while [[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]] remained in [[lunar orbit]] in the [[Apollo command and service module|command and service module]] (CSM), and all three landed safely on Earth in the Pacific Ocean on July 24. Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed [[astronaut]]s on the Moon, the last, [[Apollo 17]], in December 1972. In these six spaceflights, [[List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon|twelve people walked on the Moon]].

[[File:Aldrin Apollo 11 original.jpg|thumb|[[Buzz Aldrin]] (pictured) walked on the [[Moon]] with [[Neil Armstrong]], on [[Apollo 11]], July 20–21, 1969.|alt=Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, standing on the Moon]]
[[File:NASA Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle.jpg|thumb|NASA Apollo 17 [[Lunar Roving Vehicle]]]]
[[File:NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg|alt=|thumb|''[[Earthrise]]'', the iconic 1968 image from [[Apollo 8]] taken by astronaut [[William Anders]]]]

Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first crewed flight in 1968. It encountered a major setback in 1967 when an [[Apollo 1]] cabin fire killed the entire crew during a prelaunch test. After the first successful landing, sufficient flight hardware remained for nine follow-on landings with a plan for extended lunar [[geology of the Moon|geological]] and [[astrophysics|astrophysical]] exploration. Budget cuts forced the cancellation of three of these. Five of the remaining six missions achieved successful landings, but the [[Apollo 13]] landing had to be aborted after an oxygen tank exploded en route to the Moon, crippling the CSM. The crew barely managed a safe return to Earth by using the lunar module as a "lifeboat" on the return journey. Apollo used the [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn family of rockets]] as launch vehicles, which were also used for an [[Apollo Applications Program]], which consisted of [[Skylab]], a [[space station]] that supported three crewed missions in 1973–1974, and the [[Apollo–Soyuz]] Test Project, a joint [[United States]]-[[Soviet Union]] [[low Earth orbit]] mission in 1975.

Apollo set several major [[List of space exploration milestones, 1957–1969|human spaceflight milestones]]. It stands alone in sending crewed missions beyond [[low Earth orbit]]. [[Apollo 8]] was the first crewed spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, and Apollo 11 was the first crewed spacecraft to land humans on one.

Overall, the Apollo program returned {{convert|842|lb|kg}} of lunar rocks and soil to Earth, greatly contributing to the understanding of the Moon's composition and geological history. The program laid the foundation for NASA's subsequent human spaceflight capability and funded construction of its [[Johnson Space Center]] and [[Kennedy Space Center]]. Apollo also spurred advances in many areas of technology incidental to rocketry and human spaceflight, including [[avionics]], telecommunications, and computers.