How many rockets have been to the moon

But the political winds shifted as quickly as public interest faded. Pyle says that higher-ups in NASA flight control were in fact relieved when the order came to shut down Apollo.

They understood perhaps better than anyone how lucky they were that no Apollo crew was lost on the way to or from the moon. Tragically, the Apollo 1 crew died in a pre-launch fire. Legendary Mission Control pioneer Christopher Kraft was one of them. He has called for increased NASA funding to send men and women back to the moon by But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Schirra, Donn R. Eisele, and Walter Cunningham during the first live telecast from space. The astronauts gave several video press conferences from Earth orbit during their flight.

The camera has three attachable lenses: a 10mm lens, a wide angle lens, and an extra wide angle lens. At the same time, the Saturn V moon rocket, after only two test flights without crews, was pronounced ready for a piloted flight. Upon taking office, Paine had to decide whether to send Apollo 8, the first manned mission aboard the Saturn V, to the vicinity of the Moon or only into Earth orbit.

During the s the United States possessed a remarkable record of success in its human space flight missions. In a highly risky enterprise, NASA and the country endured only one searing tragedy. On January 27, the astronaut crew selected for the first piloted Apollo mission, Apollo 1, were in their spacecraft on Launch Complex They were participating in a practice countdown for an Earth-orbit mission scheduled to start several weeks later.

At p. Edward H. White II, command module pilot Virgil I. Grissom, mission commander Roger B. Chaffee, lunar module pilot. We are in a risky business and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. Grissom, after the Gemini 3 mission, March After this tragic fire, NASA introduced new safety features to improve protection of the astronauts.

We remember these astronauts and their contribution to the space program. Photo courtesy of NASA. Saturn V rocket model in Apollo to the Moon Standing about 3. One of the five F-1 engines used to power the Saturn V rocket. The aft end of the Saturn rocket, laying on its side. This shows the cluster of five F-1 engines that fueled the first stage of the rocket. The spacecraft soft-landed in Kazakhstan. Luna 15 was launched in a veil of secrecy only three days before Apollo The Soviets did not reveal the target or mission of Luna 15 causing some concern on the part of the United States.

Would Luna 15's mission interfere with Apollo 11? Where would it land? Would there be communication interference? Just two hours before the liftoff of Apollo 11, Luna 15 began its descent to the surface in the Sea of Crisis. The spacecraft crashed landed on the lunar surface.

The Soviets issued a statement claiming the research part of the mission was complete, but there had been hints that Luna 15 was intended to be sample return mission. No samples were returned. The spacecraft's second stage rocket shut down early and the rocket failed to achieve Earth orbit.

Zond 6 was seen by the western powers as being the Soviet Union's final test before launching cosmonauts to the Moon. Once the spacecraft left Earth orbit, it took 2 days to reach the Moon. There, it took pictures as it swung close to the lunar surface. Zond 6 then returned to Earth. Instead of splashing down in the Indian Ocean, like the previous Zond 5 mission, controllers programmed the spacecraft to bounce off the atmosphere and redirected the capsule to parachute to a landing within Soviet territory.

Zond 5 left Earth orbit, flew around the Moon and returned to our planet, splashing down in the Indian Ocean. The spacecraft was recovered and taken back to the USSR for study. Not much information was released about this mission, but many believed Zond 5 was one of the last steps before the Soviet Union landed cosmonauts on the Moon.

Surveyor 7 landed in the lunar highlands near the crater Tycho. Scientists used the scoop on the spacecraft to "weigh" lunar rocks, based on how much current was needed to lift each rock.

Images sent back from the spacecraft indicated, for the first time, that some of the lunar rocks had been molten at some time in their history. The mission was successfully completed on February 21, Launched: November 7, Lunar landing: November 9, Surveyor 6 touched down in Sinus Medii. Once on the surface, the spacecraft took a series of pictures and soil samples. Then, on November 17, controllers ordered the spacecraft's engines to fire, lifting Surveyor 6 off the lunar surface 3 meters 10 feet and setting it down again a few feet from the original landing site.

The spacecraft then took pictures of the former landing site, checking for evidence of a crater created by the rocket's exhaust. No crater was found, indicating that the Moon's surface was solid.

Last contact with the spacecraft was December 14, Launched: September 8, Lunar landing: September 10, Despite a serious helium leak that occurred during its trip to the Moon, controllers were able to bring Surveyor 5 to a success touchdown.

Once on the ground, controllers ordered the spacecraft to fire its engine to test the composition of the soil beneath the lander. The test firing blew away a few clumps of soil, but did not create a crater.

The final transmission from the spacecraft was received on December 17, The mission ended when controllers sent the spacecraft crashing to the lunar surface on January 31, Controllers lost contact with Surveyor 4 just two and a half minutes before it was to touch down in Sinus Medii.

The spacecraft was the first to take pictures of the Moon's south pole. It took images from orbit for eight months before controllers sent the spacecraft crashing to the lunar surface. Crashing the spacecraft into the Moon kept an area around the Moon clear of debris that might compromise the upcoming crewed missions.

As Surveyor 3 came in for a soft landing on the Moon one of its thrusters didn't turn off at the proper time and the spacecraft bounced a couple of times before it came to rest in the Ocean of Storms. Onboard the spacecraft, a scoop was used to collect soil samples, and a camera took over 6, images. The spacecraft's orbit was altered several times during the mission to give controllers on Earth more experience with communications during lunar orbit.

Lunar Orbiter 3 was able to photograph Surveyor 2 on the surface. The mission ended on October 9, , when controllers deliberately crashed the spacecraft into the Moon. Launched: December 21, Lunar landing: December 24, Luna 13 bounced to a landing on the lunar surface coming to a rest in the Oceans of Storms between the craters Selencus and Craft. The lander collected soil samples and conducted experiments to determine the soil density and radioactivity.

The mission ended on December 30, , when the spacecraft's supplies were depleted. Lunar Orbiter 2 went into lunar orbit and took over pictures during its mission, including an oblique view of the crater Copernicus that was voted one of the best images of the century by the press.

The spacecraft was deliberately sent crashing into the lunar surface on October 11, , bringing to an end the successful mission. The primary mission of the spacecraft was to photograph the lunar surface and it did, taking 1, pictures including images of the Sea of Rains and the area surrounding the crater Aristarchus.

The mission was terminated on January 19, after orbits. Launched: September 20, Lunar impact: September 22, Just before touchdown, one of the thrusters on the spacecraft malfunctioned during a mid course correction and Surveyor 2 tumbled out of control. It crashed into the moon, southeast of the crater Copernicus. The spacecraft, designed to test new technology, completed orbits before its mission was terminated on October 1, The spacecraft sent back high-quality images by television of over two million square miles of lunar surface, including the first detailed images of potential Apollo landing sites.

After circling the Moon times in 77 days, engineers on Earth deliberately crashed the spacecraft onto the Moon's surface, so that it wouldn't interfere with the upcoming crewed missions.

Surveyor 1 was the first spacecraft from the United States to perform a controlled landing on the surface of the Moon. Once on the surface, Surveyor 1 took over 11, images of the lunar landscape during its six-week mission. Luna 10 arrived at the Moon becoming the first spacecraft to successfully go into orbit around another celestial body. While in orbit, Luna 10 studied radiation levels, cosmic ray intensities, and took readings of the Moon's weak magnetic field. The spacecraft successfully transmitted data for two months, circling the Moon times before its mission came to an end on May 30, The spacecraft was unable to achieve a lunar trajectory.

It re-entered Earth's atmosphere on March 3, Launched: January 31, Lunar landing: February 3, Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to make a controlled landing onto the surface of another celestial body. Scientists believe Luna 9 landed on the sloping floor of a shallow crater. Over the next two days, the spacecraft sent back three panoramas of the lunar landscape.