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Project Apollo

The Apollo program was the third human spaceflight. The Apollo missions had the largest capsule and had crews of three astronauts.

The main goal of the Apollo missions was to land men on the moon. Apollo 1-10 missions were to orbit the moon and take pictures of the entire surface so a safe landing spot could be found. Apollo 11-18 goal was to land on the moon and have the astronauts explore the moon to collect rock and dust to bring back to earth.

The Apollo missions had a sad beginning. A fire broke out in the capsule of Apollo 1. Because the cabin had pure oxygen inside of it, the fire spread quickly. The astronauts made it to the door, but could not open it in time. All three astronauts died in the fire. The three astronauts were Gus Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger Chaffee.

The flights used the new Saturn V rockets to go the moon. It was a large rocket that was 60 feet tall. The astronaut capsule was at the very top. It was filled with gases like liquid nitrogen and was the most powerful rocket ever flown at that time. It had huge engines and usually did not need booster rockets. Because of its power, it could carry 130 tons into space. It was made just for trips to the moon.

Six manned landings on the Moon were finally done. Apollo 13 had an emergency and did not make it to the moon. Twelve astronauts ended up walking on the moon. They collected rocks samples, took pictures, set-up scientific instruments, drove cars on the surface and even played golf.

The Apollo astronauts were chosen from the astronauts from the Project Mercury and Gemini flights. After the sixth flight the United States ended their moon missions in 1972 and has not returned since.

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