Editing Apollo 15 (section)

== Background ==
{{Further|Apollo program}}

In 1962, [[NASA]] contracted for the construction of fifteen [[Saturn V]] rockets to achieve the Apollo program's goal of a crewed landing on the Moon by 1970; at the time no one knew how many missions this would require.{{sfn|Chaikin|pp=232–233}} In 1969 [[Apollo 11]] succeeded in landing on the Moon with the sixth Saturn{{nbsp}}V, so nine rockets remained available for a hoped-for [[Canceled Apollo missions#Follow-on lunar missions|total of ten landings]]. These plans included a heavier, extended version of the [[Apollo spacecraft]] to be used in the last five missions (Apollo 16 through 20). The revamped Lunar Module would be capable of up to a 75-hour stay, and would carry a [[Lunar Roving Vehicle]] to the Moon's surface. The service module would house a package of orbital experiments to gather data on the Moon. In the original plan Apollo 15 was to be the last of the non-extended missions to land in [[Censorinus (crater)|Censorinus crater]]. But in anticipation of budget cuts, NASA cancelled three landing missions by September 1970. Apollo 15 became the first of three extended missions, known as J missions, and the landing site was moved to [[Hadley Rille]], originally planned for [[Apollo 19]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Apollo 18 through 20 – The Cancelled Missions|last=Williams|first=David R.|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_18_20.html|publisher=[[NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive]]|date=December 11, 2003|access-date=January 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224161154/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_18_20.html|archive-date=December 24, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>