The Apollo Era
President John F. Kennedy threw down a gauntlet for NASA; to land a man on the moon and get them back to Earth safely. The Apollo project carried out this mission. The first Apollo flight, Apollo 1 and astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chafee perished in a tragic fire. Despite this blow, the project persisted. The first Apollo flights continued the Gemini tests, learning the capabilities of astronauts and equipment, adjusting for a moon landing. Apollo 7, 8, 9 and 10 tested command modules, lunar modules, and the orbital pattern. In the next phase, Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 landed on the moon, allowing astronauts to collect samples, run experiments, and explore the surface firsthand. The Apollo 13 mission was intended for a moon landing, but a systems malfunction required the mission to abort and return home (later dramatized in the 1995 film Apollo 13).