Apollo Moon Exploration

The Apollo moon exploration missions were the culmination of a long series of missions beginning in 1964 which included the U.S. Ranger, Surveyor, and Orbiter programs and the U.S.S.R. Luna and Zond programs. There were also six one-man Earth orbiting missions (Mercury) and ten two-man orbital flights (Gemini) in the early sixties in preparation for lunar missions. In the period 1969 to 1972, Apollo 11, 12 and Apollo14 - 17 landed on the moon. Apollo 13 experienced an explosion enroute and was looped around the moon and back to the Earth barely in time to save the crew.

Apollo 11 and 12 landed in smooth lunar maria, while Apollo 14-17 reached more rocky and mountainous regions to widen the variety of samples collected.