The Program That Took Us to the Moon

Between 1961 and 1972, NASA's Apollo program sent 24 astronauts to the Moon and landed 12 of them on its surface. No one has been back since. This is the story behind the shirt.

The Challenge

• In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy asked Congress to commit the nation to landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth before the decade was out.
• At the time, America had flown exactly one astronaut, Alan Shepard, on a 15-minute suborbital hop.
• Hundreds of thousands of engineers, scientists, technicians and contractors went to work, with guidance and flight plans worked out on slide rules and some of the earliest integrated-circuit computers.

Tragedy and Recovery

• In January 1967, a fire during a launch pad test killed the Apollo 1 crew: Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.
• NASA redesigned the command module, and Apollo 7 returned Americans to space in October 1968.

The Road to the Moon

• Apollo 8 · Dec 1968Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first humans to orbit the Moon and brought home the famous Earthrise photograph.
• Apollo 9 · Mar 1969First crewed test of the Lunar Module, flown in Earth orbit.
• Apollo 10 · May 1969The full dress rehearsal, descending to within about nine miles of the lunar surface.

The Landings

• Apollo 11 · Jul 1969Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Sea of Tranquility while Michael Collins orbited above.
• Apollo 12 · Nov 1969Pete Conrad and Alan Bean made a pinpoint landing beside the robotic Surveyor 3 probe.
• Apollo 13 · Apr 1970An oxygen tank exploded on the way out. Mission Control and the crew turned the Lunar Module into a lifeboat and brought Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise home safely.
• Apollo 14 · Feb 1971Alan Shepard, now commanding, returned to flight and famously hit golf balls on the Moon alongside Edgar Mitchell.
• Apollo 15 · Jul 1971Dave Scott and Jim Irwin drove the first Lunar Roving Vehicle while Al Worden orbited above.
• Apollo 16 · Apr 1972John Young and Charlie Duke explored the lunar highlands.
• Apollo 17 · Dec 1972Gene Cernan and geologist Harrison Schmitt made the last Moon walks of the program, and the crew captured the Blue Marble photograph of the whole Earth.

The Hardware

• The Saturn V stood 363 feet tall and remains one of the most powerful rockets ever flown.
• The Command and Service Module carried the crew to the Moon and back, while the Lunar Module was built only to fly in the vacuum of space.
• The Apollo Guidance Computer, with its software written at MIT, steered the spacecraft to the Moon and helped land it.

What It Changed

• Astronauts brought back 842 pounds of lunar rock and soil, which scientists are still studying today.
• Apollo's demand for small, reliable electronics helped push integrated circuits into the mainstream.
• Earthrise and the Blue Marble changed the way people saw their own planet.
• Today, NASA's Artemis program is building on Apollo's legacy to send astronauts back to the Moon.