Lunar Module
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Game of Solitaire: Remembering Apollo 13’s Lost Moonwalks, 50 Years On (Part 2)
In an alternate universe, Jim Lovell and Fred Haise should have been the fifth and sixth sons of humanity to have walked the surface of an alien world. In April 1970, the pair—joined by their Apollo 13 crewmate Jack Swigert—launched on the fifth piloted mission to the Moon, with an expectation that Lovell and Haise […] More
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‘Driven By Confidence’: Remembering Apollo 13’s Lost Moonwalks, 50 Years On (Part 1)
Had the cruelty of fate not intervened, a half-century ago, this month, the fifth and sixth humans ever to set foot on another world twice have walked on the dusty surface of the Moon. Following their launch aboard Apollo 13 and a voyage across 240,000 miles (370,000 km) of cislunar space, on 16 April 1970 […] More
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in Moon, Apollo, Space, Jim Lovell‘Our Finest Hour’: Remembering Apollo 13, 50 Years On (Part 4)
By the middle of April 1970, Project Apollo—America’s effort to land a man on the lunar surface—had reached one of its most decisive points of crisis. As described in last weekend’s AmericaSpace history feature, an explosion rocked the Apollo 13 spacecraft, halfway to the Moon, destroying one oxygen tank, puncturing the second, and effectively crippling […] More
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‘Up to You Now’: Remembering Apollo 13, 50 Years On (Part 3)
Fifty years ago, this week, the lives of three humans literally hung in the balance, more than 200,000 miles (320,000 km) from Earth. For weeks, the superstitious naysayers had labeled Apollo 13 as “unlucky”, but until the evening of 13 April 1970 all had gone well. Flight controllers had joked that they were “bored to […] More
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in Moon, Apollo, Space, Jim Lovell‘We Have a Problem’: Remembering Apollo 13, 50 Years On (Part 2)
Fifty years ago today, on Saturday, 11 April 1970, the third mission aimed at landing humans on the Moon got underway, with a spectacular launch from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. As recounted last weekend by AmericaSpace, Apollo 13 suffered its fair share of misfortunes ahead of launch, when a […] More
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‘Bored to Tears’: Remembering Apollo 13, 50 Years On (Part 1)
By the spring of 1970, six months had passed since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin triumphantly fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s pledge to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. Their steps on the Sea of Tranquility remain the most remarkable accomplishment of our species, yet the extent to which […] More
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‘We Have Arrived’: Remembering Apollo 10, 50 Years On (Part 3)
Four hours after a bone-jarring launch from Cape Kennedy—marking the first-ever space mission to originate from Pad 39B—and an equally rattling ride through Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI), on 18 May 1969 the crew of Apollo 10 were finally on their way to the Moon. Their mission to lunar orbit would clear the final hurdles before humanity’s […] More
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in SpaceTo ‘Simply’ Land: Remembering Apollo 10, 50 Years On (Part 1)
Five decades ago, this week, Americans could almost taste the Moon, as the days drew closer to landing a human on its dusty surfaceand honoring a national pledge from the late President John F. Kennedy. Already, in December 1968—on only the second manned flight of the Apollo spacecraft—U.S. astronauts had triumphantly voyaged to lunar orbit and in […] More
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in Moon, Space, Neil ArmstrongFirst on the Moon: Looking Back on the Apollo 11 Decision, 50 Years On
Five decades ago, in the first half of 1969, the United States space program was consumed by a single, over-arching goal: to plant American boots on the Moon, by year’s end. It was to be the culmination of a national directive from the late President John F. Kennedy, made in May 1961 in response to […] More
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in Apollo, astronaut, Lunar Module‘More Confidence Than Ever’: Remembering Apollo 9, Launched 50 Years Ago (Part 2)
Early on 5 March 1969, two men floated through a tunnel from their command ship into a spider-shaped vehicle whose descendants would soon carry astronauts to the surface of the Moon. Apollo 9 was not destined to go to the Moon, or even depart Earth orbit, and yet, as noted in last weekend’s history article, […] More
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in Apollo, Space, Lunar Module‘Not Supposed To Happen’: Remembering Apollo 9, 50 Years On (Part 1)
The year 1969 was pivotal in so many ways for humanity. At its dawn, American astronauts had newly returned from circling the Moon, and by July it had produced our first piloted landfall on another world. These astonishing achievements continue to resonate today—particularly following 2012’s untimely loss of Neil Armstrong—but there is one mission, flown […] More
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in NASA, Space, Lunar Module‘Fire in the Hole’: 50 Years Since Apollo 5, First Lunar Module Test-Flight
By a strange quirk of fate, NASA’s Apollo 5 mission—which launched 50 years ago, this week—used the same booster as should have been ridden by the ill-fated Apollo 1 crew of Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. The three astronauts were intended to fly in early 1967, atop a Saturn IB booster, to […] More
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