Apollo 7 and 9: The Earth Oribtors
Apollo 7 and 9 were earth orbitors. Their main mission was to orbit the earth for a period of time. Apollo 7 performed all of its other missions almost flawlessly. It was launched from Cape Kennedy, FL and then placed into an orbit that was 228 by 283 meters from the earth.
Its main objectives (other than to orbit) were to test Command/Service Module and crew performance; demonstrate crew/space vehicle and mission support facilities performance during a manned Command/Service Module mission; demonstrate Command/Service Module rendezvous capability [I wonder if it is as technical as it sounds]. For about 11 days straight, the command module of the ship ran through many tests. With very little exception, the operations of the ship ran as they were supposed to. The propulsion system, that would blast the ship in and out of moon orbit worked in eight tests, running from half a second to one minute and seven and a half seconds.
Apollo 7 orbited the earth a total of 163 times and had the first live broadcast from space. After the mission had been completed, Apollo 7 went to leave orbit; it was a normal deorbit, landing in the Atlantic Ocean, less than 2 km from the planned landing spot.
Apollo 9 was launched on March 3, 1969 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Its mission was to orbit the earth, do certain lunar studies and return within a ten-day period. The main experiment was to see human and equipment reactions to weightlessness and space in a time of 152 orbits around the earth.
Apollo 8 and 10: Lunar Orbitors
The main objective of the Apollo 8 mission was to see how humans reacted to lunar orbit, and see how well the trajectory worked at getting the module out of lunar orbit. It was launched on December 21, 1968 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to orbit the moon, and its crew (Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders) were the first humans to see the far side of the moon.
Apollo 10 was almost exactly the same thing as the Apollo 11 would be except it didn't land on the moon; every operation that would be run in the Apollo 11 mission that would be launched two months later were run, other than the actual landing.
Apollo 13: Lunar Flyby
This famous Apollo mission that made the movies [Tom Hanks was good in that] was supposed to be the third Apollo mission to land on the moon. At about two days into the mission, one of the crewman reported to ground control that the mission up to that point had been quite boring. Little did he know that an oxygen tank would blow in the next nine hours. It would be an incredible task ahead for the crew to get home; they would have to ration food and fuel to be able to do it, or they would surely die in space.
The navigation system would be useless because of debris outside the ship, so the crew had to use the sun as a navigation point in order to navigate their way home. With America watching on, they were able to get home safely despite a lack of food, sleep and air. What could have been one of the country's most tragic space events turned out OK; they got home.
Apollo 11, and 12: The First Two to Land
The Apollo 11 mission was simple and very understandable: to land on the moon and safely return to earth. It was able to do this. It was the first manned spacecraft to land on the moon.
The crew of Apollo 11 consisted of [everyone knows this guy] Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrid Jr., and Michael Collins. Apollo took off from its native earth soil for the moon on July 16, 1969 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It landed on the moon four days later on the twentieth of July.
After landing on the moon, crewmen Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrid Jr. took the first steps of any human onto another spatial body. They collected rock samples that would total in weight of 21.7 kg (48 lb) and later would return to earth with them.
Apollo 12 was the second of what would end up being a total of six successful moon landing missions. Its main mission after landing was to collect many parts from the Surveyor III spacecraft to find out what the longtime effects the lunar environment had on it.
Apollo 14 and 15: The Rebound Off Thirteen
Apollo 14 essentially was what Apollo 13 was supposed to be. The landing site that Apollo 13 was designated was, after the mission had failed, to Apollo 14. The area was so rich in possible lunar samples that the US couldn't leave it alone.
The Apollo 14 mission was successful. It was the first Apollo mission to really study and bring back a large amount of lunar rock samples (because it was such a prime spot it landed on).
Apollo 15 was the first lunar expedition that was designed to explore the moon over long periods of time, long periods, greater range distances, and with more instruments to work with than any of the other, previous Apollo missions.
Apollo 15 was the first mission to include the Roving Vehicle. This vehicle that could travel the surface of the moon traveled slower than the average human at 16 kph (10 mph). This assisted the astronauts in surveying the surface and collecting lunar rock and soil samples.
Apollo 16 and 17: The Final Two
Apollo 16 was the fifth of the six lunar landings and it was the second mission with the Lunar Roving Vehicle. This mission was the first to use a UV (Ultraviolet) camera as part of studies they did on the surface rocks that were on the moon.
Apollo 17 was the last [but not least] Apollo mission to go to the moon. It had carried the only trained geologist to walk onto the moon. This mission was able to go the furthest distance of any other around the landing shuttle with the aid of the Lunar Roving Vehicle and brought back the largest amount of rock and soil samples of any of the other lunar missions [told you it wasn't least].
