List of Apollo astronauts

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Eugene Cernan operating the Lunar rover during Apollo 17
Eugene Cernan operating the Lunar rover during Apollo 17

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 did not 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.

Contents

[edit] Project Apollo fatalities

Apollo 1 Crew (L-R: Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee)
Apollo 1 Crew (L-R: Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee)

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.

  1. Virgil "Gus" Grissom - rumors claim he would have been the first man on the Moon if he had not died[1]
  2. Edward White
  3. Roger B. Chaffee

[edit] Other related fatalities in the Apollo program

  1. Edward Givens - Car accident near Houston, Texas on June 6, 1967, was on support crew of Apollo 7
  2. Clifton Williams - Plane crash near Tallahassee, Florida on October 5, 1967, was on back-up crew for Apollo 9.

[edit] 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 77
2 Buzz Aldrin 20 January 1930 39y 6m 0d 78
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 76
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 77
7 David Scott 6 June 1932 41y 1m 25d Apollo 15 July 31–August 2, 1971 76
8 James Irwin 17 March 1930 41y 4m 14d died 8 August 1991, age 61
9 John W. Young 24 September 1930 41y 6m 28d Apollo 16 April 21-23, 1972 77
10 Charles Duke 3 October 1935 36y 6m 18d 72
11 Eugene Cernan 14 March 1934 38y 9m 7d Apollo 17 December 11-14, 1972 74
12 Harrison Schmitt 3 July 1935 37y 5m 8d 72

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 did not 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.

[edit] 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):

Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to reach the Moon (Frank Borman, center)
Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to reach the Moon (Frank Borman, center)
  1. Frank Borman - Apollo 8
  2. Jim Lovell - Apollo 8, Apollo 13 (intended to land)
  3. William Anders - Apollo 8
  4. Tom Stafford - Apollo 10
  5. John Young - Apollo 10 (later landed on Apollo 16)
  6. Eugene Cernan - Apollo 10 (later landed on Apollo 17)
  7. Michael Collins - Apollo 11
  8. Dick Gordon - Apollo 12 (had been slated to land on Apollo 18) [2]
  9. Jack Swigert - Apollo 13
  10. Fred Haise - Apollo 13 (intended to land; had been slated to land on Apollo 19) [2]
  11. Stuart Roosa - Apollo 14
  12. Al Worden - Apollo 15
  13. Ken Mattingly - Apollo 16
  14. Ronald Evans - Apollo 17

[edit] Other Apollo astronauts

Dave Scott's spacewalk on Apollo 9
Dave Scott's spacewalk on Apollo 9

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

  1. Walter Schirra - Apollo 7
  2. Donn Eisele - Apollo 7 , (was on backup-crew for Apollo 10)
  3. Walter Cunningham - Apollo 7
  4. James McDivitt - Apollo 9
  5. 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.)

[edit] 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 would 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.

  1. Gordon Cooper - backup commander for Apollo 10 - lost the primary commander slot on Apollo 13 to Alan Shepard, and resigned from NASA in 1970.
  2. 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.
  3. Don Lind - backup command module pilot for Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 (he also may have been 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.

[edit] List of Apollo astronauts by astronaut class

From the Mercury Seven

From Astronaut Group 2

From Astronaut Group 3

From Astronaut Group 4

From Astronaut Group 5

In addition, the following astronauts flew on Post-Apollo missions using Apollo hardware:

From the Mercury Seven

From Astronaut Group 4

From Astronaut Group 5

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Spaceflight lists and timelines
General spaceflight
Human spaceflight
General
People
Solar System exploration
Earth-orbiting satellites
Vehicles
Launches by rocket type
Agencies, companies, facilities
Other mission lists and timelines

[edit] References

  1. ^ Detailed Biographies of Apollo I Crew - Gus Grissom [1], Mary C. Zornio, NASA, accessed July 19, 2006.
  2. ^ a b Apollo 18 through 20 - The Cancelled Missions[2], Dr. David R. Williams, NASA, accessed July 19, 2006.