List of Apollo astronauts Totally Explained

Everything about List Of Apollo Astronauts totally explained

This is a list of all astronauts directly associated with NASA's Apollo program. A total of thirty-eight astronauts flew in an Apollo spacecraft, twenty-nine of whom were part of the Apollo program, the rest being Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz astronauts. Twenty-four of the Apollo program astronauts left Earth's orbit and flew around the Moon (Apollo 7 and Apollo 9 didn't leave low Earth orbit).
Twelve of those astronauts landed on the Moon and walked on its surface, and six of those drove a Lunar rover on the Moon. While three astronauts had flown to the Moon twice, none of them landed on the Moon more than once. The nine Apollo missions to the moon all occurred between December 1968 and December 1972.
Apart from those twenty-four people who visited the moon, no human being has ever left low Earth orbit. They have, therefore, been further from the Earth than anyone else. They are also the only people to have seen the far side of the Moon directly. The twelve who walked on the moon are the only people ever to have set foot on an astronomical object other than the Earth.

Project Apollo fatalities

Although there were no in-flight fatalities in the Apollo program, three astronauts died in a training accident that was later called Apollo 1.
They were stuck in a capsule on the launch pad when a fire broke out. The 100 percent oxygen atmosphere and flammable materials were cited as factors worsening the wiring-short sparked fire, while the hatch design precluded any hope of a timely escape. Numerous redesigns were incorporated into the spacecraft before manned flights resumed.

Virgil "Gus" Grissom - rumors claim he'd have been the first man on the Moon if he hadn't died
Edward White
Roger B. Chaffee

Other related fatalities in the Apollo program

Edward Givens - Car accident near Houston, Texas on June 6, 1967, was on support crew of Apollo 7

Clifton Williams - Plane crash near Tallahassee, Florida on October 5, 1967, was on back-up crew for Apollo 9.

People who have walked on the Moon

As of 2008, twelve people have walked on the Moon. No one has walked on the Moon since 1972.

	Name	Born	Age on First Step	Mission	Lunar EVA dates	Age today
1	Neil Armstrong	5 August 1930	38y 11m 15d	Apollo 11	July 21, 1969
2	Buzz Aldrin	20 January 1930		Apollo 11	July 21, 1969
3	Pete Conrad	2 June 1930	39y 5m 17d	Apollo 12	November 19-20, 1969	died 8 July 1999, age 69
4	Alan Bean	15 March 1932	37y 8m 4d	Apollo 12	November 19-20, 1969
5	Alan Shepard	18 November 1923	47y 2m 18d	Apollo 14	February 5-6, 1971	died 21 July 1998, age 74
6	Edgar Mitchell	17 September 1930	40y 4m 19d	Apollo 14	February 5-6, 1971
7	David Scott	6 June 1932	41y 1m 25d	Apollo 15	July 31–August 2, 1971
8	James Irwin	17 March 1930	41y 4m 14d	Apollo 15	July 31–August 2, 1971	died 8 August 1991, age 61
9	John W. Young	24 September 1930	41y 6m 28d	Apollo 16	April 21-23, 1972
10	Charles Duke	3 October 1935	36y 6m 18d	Apollo 16	April 21-23, 1972
11	Eugene Cernan	14 March 1934	38y 9m 7d	Apollo 17	December 11-14, 1972
12	Harrison Schmitt	3 July 1935	37y 5m 8d	Apollo 17	December 11-14, 1972

Duke was the youngest, at age 36 (+6mo); Shepard was the oldest, at age 47 (+2mo). James A. Lovell, Young, and Cernan are the only three astronauts to fly more than one lunar mission (two each). Of these three, only Lovell didn't walk on the lunar surface. Lovell and Fred Haise were prevented from walking on the Moon by the malfunction on Apollo 13 that resulted in the mission being aborted. Joe Engle had also trained to explore the Moon with Gene Cernan as the backup crew for Apollo 14, but Engle was later replaced by geologist Jack Schmitt when the primary crew for Apollo 17 was selected. Schmitt had been crewed with Dick Gordon in anticipation for Apollo 18. But when Apollo 18 was canceled, Schmitt bumped Engle, leaving Gordon as the last Apollo astronaut who had trained extensively for lunar exploration without ever getting a chance to fly a lunar landing.

People who flew around the Moon without landing

On each of the missions listed above one astronaut orbited the Moon while the other two landed. In addition each of the Apollo 8, Apollo 10, and Apollo 13 missions had a three-man crew and closely encountered the Moon (entering orbit in the case of the former two missions, while Apollo 13 only passed around it). Thus twelve more people have been within a few hundred kilometers of the Moon (along with Young and Cernan who flew out to the Moon and back without landing, but landed on subsequent missions):

Frank Borman - Apollo 8

Jim Lovell - Apollo 8, Apollo 13: intended to land

William Anders - Apollo 8

Tom Stafford - Apollo 10

*John Young - Apollo 10 (* - later landed on Apollo 16)

**Eugene Cernan - Apollo 10 (** - later landed on Apollo 17)

Michael Collins - Apollo 11

Dick Gordon - Apollo 12 (had been slated to land on Apollo 18)

Jack Swigert - Apollo 13

Fred Haise - Apollo 13: intended to land (had been slated to land on Apollo 19)

Stuart Roosa - Apollo 14

Al Worden - Apollo 15

Ken Mattingly - Apollo 16

Ronald Evans - Apollo 17

Other Apollo astronauts

Apollo 7 and Apollo 9 orbited the Earth only; therefore these five Apollo astronauts never went to the Moon:

Walter Schirra - Apollo 7

Donn Eisele - Apollo 7, (was on backup-crew for Apollo 10)

Walter Cunningham - Apollo 7

James McDivitt - Apollo 9

Rusty Schweickart - Apollo 9 (was on backup-crew for Skylab 2) (David Scott from Apollo 9 went on to land on the Moon in Apollo 15.)
Backup crewmembers who never flew an Apollo flight
Each Apollo flight had a backup crew who trained to carry out the mission if the original crew was unable to fly. Only one backup crew member was ever used: Jack Swigert switched places with Ken Mattingly after Mattingly had been exposed to German measles a few days prior to the launch of Apollo 13. (Mattingly later flew aboard Apollo 16). However, shortly before the launch of Apollo 17, Eugene Cernan badly injured his leg playing softball and only just recovered in time for the mission. Had he been unable to fly he'd have been replaced by back-up commander John Young, who would have become the only man to walk on the moon twice and would have done so on consecutive missions.

Gordon Cooper - backup commander for Apollo 10 - lost the primary commander slot on Apollo 13 to Alan Shepard, and resigned from NASA in 1970.

Joseph Henry Engle - backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 14 - lost the primary pilot slot on Apollo 17 to Harrison Schmitt after the cancellation of Apollo 18. Engle later flew on the Space Shuttle Enterprise and commanded STS-2 with astronaut Richard Truly in 1981. He also commanded Discovery on STS-51-I in 1985.

Don Lind - backup command module pilot for Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 (he also may have slated to land on the moon with Apollo 21 if missions beyond Apollo 20 had been planned). Lind later flew on the space shuttle mission STS-51-B.
List of Apollo astronauts by astronaut class
From the Mercury Seven

Walter Marty Schirra, Jr., USN – Apollo 7

Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., USN – Apollo 14 From Astronaut Group 2

Neil Alden Armstrong, USN – Apollo 11

Frank Frederick Borman II, USAF – Apollo 8

Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr., USN – Apollo 12, Skylab 2

James Arthur Lovell, Jr., USN – Apollo 8, Apollo 13

James Alton McDivitt, USAF – Apollo 9

Thomas Patten Stafford, USAF – Apollo 10, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

John Watts Young, USN – Apollo 10, Apollo 16 From Astronaut Group 3

Buzz Aldrin, USAF – Apollo 11

William Alison Anders, USAF – Apollo 8

Alan LaVern Bean, USN – Apollo 12, Skylab 3

Eugene Andrew Cernan, USN – Apollo 10, Apollo 17

Michael Collins, USAF – Apollo 11

Walter Cunningham, USMC – Apollo 7

Donn Fulton Eisele, USAF – Apollo 7

Richard Francis Gordon, Jr., USN – Apollo 12

Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart, USAF – Apollo 9

David Randolph Scott, USAF – Apollo 9, Apollo 15 From Astronaut Group 4

Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt – Apollo 17 From Astronaut Group 5

Charles Moss Duke, Jr., USAF – Apollo 16

Ronald Ellwin Evans, Jr., USN – Apollo 17

Fred Wallace Haise, Jr., USMC – Apollo 13

James Benson Irwin, USAF – Apollo 15

Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II, USN – Apollo 16

Edgar Dean Mitchell, USN – Apollo 14

Stuart Allen Roosa, USAF – Apollo 14

John Leonard "Jack" Swigert, Jr., USAF – Apollo 13

Alfred Merrill Worden, USAF – Apollo 15 In addition, the following astronauts flew on Post-Apollo missions using Apollo hardware:
From the Mercury Seven

Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton, USAF – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project From Astronaut Group 4

Owen Kay Garriott – Skylab 3

Edward George Gibson – Skylab 4

Joseph Peter Kerwin, USN – Skylab 2 From Astronaut Group 5

Vance DeVoe Brand, USMC – Skylab Rescue (never flown), Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

Gerald Paul Carr, USMC (had been slated to land by Apollo 19) – Skylab 4

Jack Robert Lousma USMC, (had been slated to land on the moon by Apollo 20) - Skylab 3

William Reid Pogue, USAF – Skylab 4

Paul Joseph Weitz, USN – Skylab 2Further Information
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