Apollo Program_ The Complete Story

0:00Speaker 1:1961.

0:10Speaker 2:At the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Just weeks later, the United States launched its first astronaut, Alan Shepard. He was welcomed home as a hero. But President John F. Kennedy knew that if the United States was to overtake the Soviet space program, it needed a bolder mission.

0:47Speaker 3:I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

0:58Speaker 2:As Kennedy addressed Congress, the United States had just 15 minutes of human spaceflight experience. No one knew if a moon landing was even possible, let alone in just nine years. It would be an unprecedented engineering and scientific undertaking, marked by heroism and tragedy. The incredible task of landing an astronaut on the Moon would be known as the Apollo Program. Before NASA could start designing a spacecraft for its lunar mission, it faced some fundamental questions about how it would send astronauts to the Moon. Perhaps the man best placed to provide answers was NASA's top rocket scientist, Wernher von Braun.

1:59Speaker 2:Von Braun had spearheaded development of Nazi Germany's deadly V-2 rocket during World War II. It was the world's first long-range guided missile. After the war, he'd been recruited by the US military to assist their own rocket programme. He joined NASA as the first director of its Marshall Space Flight Centre in 1960. The most obvious way to complete a lunar landing was to send a single spacecraft from Earth to the Moon and back again. But a spacecraft large enough to carry all the necessary supplies, equipment and fuel for the journey would need an impossibly huge rocket to launch into space. Von Braun wanted to solve this problem by launching the spacecraft in pieces aboard smaller rockets, and assembling it in orbit around Earth. but there was still the problem of landing such a massive spacecraft on the Moon's surface. NASA engineer John Hobolt suggested another option, one initially considered far too dangerous by NASA's most senior engineers.

3:19Speaker 2:Not one, but two spacecraft would travel to the Moon, joined together. The first was a Command and Service Module, or CSM. It would provide fuel, power, supplies and living space for three astronauts, as they travelled to and from the Moon. The second spacecraft, the Lunar Excursion Module, or LEM, would land on the Moon. It would be piloted by two astronauts, whilst the third stayed behind to fly the CSM. Because the LEM only needed equipment and fuel for a lunar landing, it could be small and light. The huge savings in weight meant this spacecraft could be launched on one smaller rocket. Von Braun endorsed Hobolt's proposal, but the plan was high risk. To dock and undock the two spacecraft, NASA would need to invent new piloting techniques, and execute them flawlessly, because if anything went wrong, the astronauts would have no hope of rescue. NASA embarked on years of pioneering research and development. The spaceflights of Project Mercury and Project Gemini paved the way for Apollo. Over 16 crewed missions in just five years, American astronauts learned how to eat, sleep, work and walk in space. But President Kennedy didn't live

4:53Speaker 2:to see these achievements. He was assassinated in 1963.

5:00Speaker 3:Many years ago, the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, because it is there. Space is there.

5:14Speaker 4:And we're going to climb it. And the moon and the planets are there.

5:18Speaker 2:And new hopes for knowledge and peace are there.

5:21Speaker 3:And therefore, as we set sail... We ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked. Thank you.

5:34Speaker 2:But before the Apollo program launched its first astronauts, it would face its darkest hour. The Apollo 1 crew were sealed inside their command module, conducting a dress rehearsal of the launch countdown. The test had been halted by constant communications problems, and Command Pilot Gus Grissom was becoming frustrated. Grissom was one of America's most experienced astronauts. He was a member of NASA's first astronaut group, the Mercury 7, who launched into space aboard tiny one-person capsules. His senior pilot was Ed White, the first American to walk in space.

6:42Speaker 2:With them was rookie astronaut Roger Chaffee, a former spy plane pilot who flew reconnaissance missions during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Under enormous pressure to land an astronaut on the Moon by the end of the decade, NASA and its contractors had rushed the design of the complex Apollo spacecraft. Even after five years of development and testing, it was still riddled with defects. During ground tests, astronauts struggled with coolant leaks, problems with the plumbing in the environmental system, and short circuits in the 20 miles of electrical wiring that filled the spacecraft. The crew were getting ready to resume the countdown.

7:40Speaker 2:Within moments, flames ripped through the capsule, killing all three astronauts. Precisely how the fire started was never determined. But it was most likely a spark from damaged wiring, somewhere in the lower equipment bay. The atmosphere inside the command module was pure oxygen, and in this environment, even materials that were normally fire-resistant burst into flame. Within seconds, the spacecraft became an incinerator. The design of the spacecraft's heavy, multi-piece hatch made escape impossible. The inner hatch was fixed in place with six large bolts, which had to be manually unscrewed with a wrench. Even if the bolts could have been removed in time, the hatch opened inwards, and so it was sealed shut by the high pressure inside the capsule.

8:44Speaker 2:The risks of spaceflight were well understood at NASA, But Grissom, White and Chaffee did not die during a rocket launch or in orbit. They died on the ground, during a routine test, with help close at hand. The tragedy of Apollo 1 left NASA's public image in tatters. If the Apollo program was to survive, the next mission had to be a success. After a series of uncrewed test flights, the next mission to carry astronauts would be Apollo 7. Learning from the failures that caused the Apollo 1 fire, NASA redesigned the Apollo spacecraft. The new Block 2 model had fireproof wirings, and spacesuits made with non-flammable cloth. At launch, the capsule was pressurised with a safer oxygen-nitrogen mix, and its new single-piece hatch could be opened in just seven seconds.

10:01Speaker 2:The lunar module was still in the design phase, and would be tested on later flights. The Apollo 7 crew had been the Apollo 1 backups. Like Gus Grissom, Mission Commander Wally Schirra had been part of the original Mercury 7 astronaut corps. Their mission was to give the new Apollo spacecraft a thorough shakedown. 5, 4, 3, 2, we have ignition.

10:30Speaker 4:Commit liftoff. We have liftoff.

10:34Speaker 2:Schirra and his crew put the Apollo spacecraft through its paces for the first time. They performed navigation exercises and practiced docking manoeuvres, using their spent rocket booster as a target. Apollo 7 accomplished all its objectives. The mission was a success. The Apollo program was back on track. And its next step would truly be a giant leap. In April 1968... A CIA report suggested that the Soviet Union was about to send cosmonauts around the Moon. To stop the Soviets beating America to another first, Apollo 8, originally intended as a test of the lunar module in Earth orbit, would instead be sent on a mission to orbit the Moon.

11:32Speaker 2:The furthest any human had travelled from the surface of the Earth was 850 miles. Apollo 8's crew. would travel 240,000 miles from home, with no hope of rescue if their spacecraft failed. The mission commander was Frank Borman, an Air Force colonel, test pilot and aeronautical engineer. His command module pilot was Jim Lovell, who knew Borman better than most. On Gemini 7, the two men spent a record-breaking and gruelling 14 days orbiting the Earth in a tiny spacecraft.

12:11Speaker 2:Joining them was Bill Anders. His job would be to survey the Moon's surface for future landing sites. Travelling to the Moon required the largest rocket NASA had ever designed. Borman, Lovell and Anders would be the first astronauts to ride the mighty Saturn V.

12:34Speaker 4:We have committed to having a blast.

12:39Speaker 2:At over 110 metres tall, it dwarfed all previous American rockets. Its five enormous F-1 engines burned through half a million gallons of kerosene and liquid oxygen in just two and a half minutes, delivering a combined thrust of 7.5 million pounds. The second and third stages carried the spacecraft to Earth orbit, and onwards to the Moon. It took the Apollo 8 crew three days to travel to the Moon. But they did not fly alone. Like all Apollo missions, Apollo 8 was carefully managed from the Mission Operations Control Room in Houston, Texas, popularly known as Mission Control. Teams of flight controllers operated round the clock, overseeing the spacecraft's trajectory and every one of its onboard systems. All voice communications to the spacecraft passed through the Capsule Communicator, or Capcom, a position always filled by a fellow astronaut. The flight director had overall responsibility for the mission, and the final say in every decision.

13:57Speaker 2:When Apollo 8 reached the Moon, the crew had to fire their large SPS engine to slow down and be captured by the Moon's gravity. If the engine didn't fire for precisely the correct amount of time, Apollo 8 could crash into the Moon, or be hurled into deep space. It was impossible to communicate with the crew whilst they were behind the Moon. The staff at Mission Control waited nervously for news.

14:34Speaker 4:Apollo 8, Houston, over. Go ahead, Houston, this.

14:40Speaker 1:Is Apollo 8.

14:41Speaker 4:We've got it, we've got it. Apollo 8 now in lunar orbit.

14:47Speaker 2:Borman, Lovell and Anders were the first humans to view the lunar surface close up. But the most incredible thing they saw was their home planet. On the third orbit, Anders captured one of history's most remarkable photos. Earthrise. The image was peaceful, but 1968 had been a difficult year for the United States. The nation was bitterly divided over the war in Vietnam. Black Americans were still fighting for their civil rights. Martin Luther King was assassinated in April, and Bobby Kennedy in June. But for NASA at least, the success of Apollo 8 brought hope. For the first time, it seemed possible they might meet President Kennedy's goal, and land an astronaut on the Moon before the end of the decade. But the lunar module was still untested, and landing on the Moon held many unknowns. There would be no room for error. The Apollo program had been rocked by the tragic death of Apollo 1 astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. But it had recovered with the brilliant success of Apollo 7, the first crewed test of the command and service module. And in 1968, after seven years of intense research and development, NASA had flown

16:33Speaker 2:three astronauts 240,000 miles from home and into lunar orbit. Apollo 8 flew within 69 miles of the Moon's surface. But crossing that final gap would be the greatest challenge of the Apollo program. It would require a completely new and untested type of spacecraft– the Lunar Module. In the wake of Apollo 8's daring journey to the Moon, Apollo 9 received much less public attention. The mission wasn't even going to leave Earth orbit. But within the astronaut corps, the first crewed flight of the lunar module was seen as an even more exciting challenge. The mission's commander, Jim McDivitt, had actually turned down the chance to fly to the Moon on Apollo 8, choosing Apollo 9 instead. Like many Apollo astronauts, he was a former test pilot, and this was a chance to test a brand new flying machine.

17:57Speaker 2:Before the test flight of the Lunar Module could begin, the crew had a challenging docking manoeuvre to perform. The Lunar Module was folded inside the upper stage of the Saturn V rocket, and needed to be extracted using the Command and Service Module. Good show. Leaving Command Module Pilot Dave Scott to fly the CSM, MacDivitt and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart climbed aboard and undocked. The Lunar Module was the first true spaceship, designed only to fly in the vacuum of space. Its insect-like body was designed without the constraints of aerodynamics, but every panel, bolt and button had to be as light as possible. so the craft could lift itself off the Moon's surface. McDivitt said that it looked like cellophane and tinfoil, put together with scotch tape and staples. He gave his craft the callsign Spider.

19:11Speaker 2:Unlike the command module, Spider did not have a heat shield, so it would burn up if it tried to re-enter Earth's atmosphere. So if the astronauts couldn't re-dock with the command module after their test flight, they would have no way of returning home. But Spider's test flight went perfectly. McDevitt and Schweickart flew the lunar module over 100 miles from the command module. They tested the ascent and descent engines, and returned for a safe rendezvous. The lunar module was ready to fly to the Moon. NASA had successfully tested both the Command Module and Lunar Module, and made a trip around the Moon. Many hoped the next mission would attempt the first Moon landing. But NASA needed more experience in communications and tracking two separate spacecraft in lunar orbit.

20:14Speaker 2:Plus the challenges of rendezvous and docking in the Moon's weaker gravity. And there was another critical unknown. In 1968, NASA scientists discovered that the Moon has a highly uneven gravitational field. This is caused by huge lumps of high-density material in its crust, known as mass concentrations, or mascons, which could exert an uneven pull on a spacecraft and throw it off course. Before it was safe to attempt a landing, NASA would need to learn more about the mascons by examining their effect on another Apollo flight. Apollo 10 would be a dress rehearsal for the first landing attempt, flying every part of the mission, except for the final descent to the surface. The Apollo 10 crew was Commander Tom Stafford, Command Module Pilot John Young, and Lunar Module Pilot Gene Cernan. All three men were veterans of the Gemini program, and with five missions between them, they were the most experienced crew ever sent into space. Stafford and Cernan flew the Lunar Module to within nine miles of the Moon's surface, Their successful flight proved every phase of the mission, except for the final descent. Now, everything was

21:37Speaker 2:in place. It was time to attempt the landing. Apollo 11 would be commanded by Neil Armstrong, a brilliant engineer and test pilot. Early in his NASA career, he'd flown the experimental X-15 rocket plane, up to an altitude of 207,000 feet, at speeds of almost 4,000 miles per hour. When he joined the space program as part of NASA's second astronaut group, he was one of the few astronauts to be offered a command on his first mission, Gemini 8. Gemini 8 achieved the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit. But the mission almost ended in disaster when a faulty manoeuvring thruster caused the Gemini capsule to spin wildly. Armstrong's calm and swift piloting brought the spacecraft under control, and although the mission was cut short, he'd proved his almost superhuman ability to remain calm under pressure. Joining him as Lunar Module Pilot was Buzz Aldrin. A graduate of MIT, Aldrin wrote his doctoral thesis on piloting techniques for orbital rendezvous, and had an extraordinary understanding of orbital mechanics. He'd proven his expertise on Gemini 12. When the spacecraft's rendezvous radar malfunctioned,

23:09Speaker 2:he was able to compute the orbital manoeuvres himself, and guide the capsule to a successful docking with an unmanned target rocket. The command module pilot was Michael Collins. He would remain aboard the command module whilst Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the Moon. He had no regrets about his assignment, telling reporters that he was going 99.9% of the way there, and that was fine with him. But years later, he would recount his greatest fear– that Armstrong and Aldrin would be stranded on the surface, leaving him to travel back to Earth alone. The 15th of July, 1969. Almost a million people were gathering at Cape Kennedy to watch the three astronauts fly to the moon. But not everyone was there to celebrate. As launch preparations were made, around 150 people, mostly African-American mothers and their children, arrived at Cape Kennedy to protest the launch. They were led by the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, who had succeeded Dr. Martin Luther King as leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, after King's assassination the previous year. Their message was simple– It was inhuman

24:41Speaker 2:to spend billions of dollars sending men to the moon, while one in five Americans lacked proper food, shelter and health care. NASA Administrator Thomas Paine met with the protesters the evening before the launch. He told Abernathy that if we could solve the problems of poverty by not pushing the button to launch men to the moon tomorrow, then we would not push that button. Their terse meeting resolved nothing. But it ended with a handshake, and a promise by Abernathy that he would pray for the safe flight of the astronauts. The following day, ten of the protesters were invited into the VIP stands, to watch the launch of Apollo 11.

25:24Speaker 1:10, 9, ignition sequence start. 4 days later, on the 20th of July, Armstrong and Aldrin climbed into their lunar module, callsign Eagle, and began their descent to.

25:50Speaker 5:The lunar surface.

26:08Speaker 2:Years of hard work and training had led to this moment. The descent to the lunar surface would test their skills to the very limit. Back on Earth, in Houston, Texas, the staff of Mission Control watched as Eagle passed behind the Moon for a final time. They monitored every system in both spacecraft, and guided the astronauts through the complex flight plan. And the success of the mission was about to rest on the shoulders of 26-year-old guidance officer Steve Bales.

26:47Speaker 2:The master alarm sounded in the Lunar Module cockpit. Eagle's guidance computer was trying to tell the astronauts that something was wrong. Its simple display showed the numbers 1202. But neither Armstrong or Aldrin knew what this meant. Flight Director Gene Kranz was seconds away from calling an abort. He turned to Bales for answers. 1202 meant the guidance computer was overloaded. It had too many tasks to complete in its computing cycle, and was dropping some in order to continue functioning. Without a working guidance computer, the astronauts would have to abort. But the alarm wasn't sounding continuously. This meant that most computational cycles were being completed properly. Bales decided that as long as the problem was only intermittent, the landing could continue.

27:47Speaker 5:But then another problem ….

27:54Speaker 2:The Lunar Module was approaching the surface too fast, and had overshot its intended landing site. Now the computer was guiding them towards a massive, football-stadium-sized crater, surrounded by a field of car-sized boulders. With the Lunar Module almost out of fuel, Armstrong took manual control. Mission Control could only watch. The landing rested on Armstrong's piloting skills.

28:23Speaker 5:As around 600 million people watched from Earth, Armstrong took his first steps on the lunar surface.

28:53Speaker 4:That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

29:03Speaker 2:The precisely choreographed moonwalk had taken two years to plan. For two hours and 40 minutes, Armstrong and Aldrin gathered rock samples, set up scientific experiments and took photographs. The Apollo 11 crew returned home as heroes. Their names now amongst those of the greatest explorers in history. Now that President Kennedy's goal had been accomplished, was there any point in returning to the Moon? What was left for the Apollo program to achieve? The new mission would be science.

30:09Speaker 2:The Moon's origins remained a mystery. Where did it come from? Could its scarred surface tell the story of the early Solar System, and in turn, help us understand the origins of our own world? But although NASA now possessed the knowledge and technology to land on the Moon … it would soon receive a powerful reminder of the dangers of spaceflight.

30:35Speaker 4:On the 20th of.

30:37Speaker 5:July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon.

30:59Speaker 2:But now that President Kennedy's goal had been accomplished, interest in space exploration began to fade. NASA's budget was slashed. There would only be resources for six more lunar flights. But in its final chapter, the Apollo program would make its greatest scientific discoveries, and face the deadliest perils of spaceflight. Apollo 11 landed safely, but it completely missed its intended landing site. NASA's plans for lunar exploration relied on its ability to land astronauts at precise points of scientific interest.

31:58Speaker 2:It would be up to Apollo 12 to attempt a pinpoint landing. Apollo 12 would aim to land next to the Surveyor 3 probe, which had been on the Moon since 1967. If NASA could hit this precise target, they'd prove that a pinpoint landing was possible. Apollo 12's crew was Mission Commander Pete Conrad, Command Module Pilot Dick Gordon, and Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean. They were a tight-knit crew who drove matching gold corvettes to work at Kennedy Space Center. Conrad and Gordon had already flown together on Gemini 11. and all three men had been stationed at the United States Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland.

32:59Speaker 2:But their mission almost didn't make it into orbit. As the countdown reached zero, huge thunderclouds loomed overhead. The colossal Saturn V rocket and its exhaust trail were acting as a gigantic lightning rod. Two lightning strikes shut down the surface module's fuel cells and knocked out the command module's guidance system. But nobody had seen the strikes. All they could see was a barrage of errors and warnings. In Mission Control, Flight Director Jerry Griffin was moments from calling an abort. But a young flight controller named John Aron was able to interpret the chaotic data and come up with a solution. With no time to explain, he relayed an obscure instruction to the crew.

34:07Speaker 4:Apollo 12 Houston, try SCE to auxiliary, over. NCE to auxiliary. SCE, SCE to auxiliary.

34:19Speaker 2:The command was so obscure that neither the flight director or Conrad had any idea what it meant. But in the Lunar Module pilot's seat, Alan Bean understood Aaron's solution. He switched to a set of backup electronics that had escaped the lightning strike. And the mission was back on track.

34:39Speaker 4:I'm not sure you can get hit by lightning.

34:44Speaker 2:The problem had been diagnosed and fixed within moments. It was a testament to the rigorous training of the astronauts and mission control staff. The crew of Apollo 12 continued their journey to the moon, and made a safe landing. When Pete Conrad set foot on the lunar surface, his first words lacked Neil Armstrong's gravitas. but he more than made up for it with his delight. As he looked around the landing site, he saw that their mission had been accomplished.

35:40Speaker 4:That's what I see sitting on the side of the crater.

35:55Speaker 2:Apollo 12 had made its pinpoint landing next to the Surveyor 3 probe. It was located in Oceanus Procellarum, also known as the Ocean of Storms. Now, NASA had sent astronauts to the moon four times, including two successful landings. But if lunar flight was starting to look routine, the next Apollo mission would be a terrifying reminder of the dangers of spaceflight.

36:30Speaker 1:NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.

36:45Speaker 2:The third lunar landing attempt marked a shift in the Apollo programme. Previous missions had largely been test flights of the spacecraft. Apollo 13 would focus on scientific discovery. It would land at the Fra Mauro Highlands, whose ancient terrain could provide insight into the origins of the solar system. Adapting a motto from the US Naval Academy, The mission patch features the words, Ex Luna Scientia, from the moon, knowledge. But before the crew of Apollo 13 reached the moon, a disaster would leave them fighting for their lives. The mission commander was veteran astronaut Jim Lovell, who had travelled further and spent more time in space than any other astronaut, Between his Gemini 7 flight with Frank Borman, his Gemini 12 flight with Buzz Aldrin, and his trip around the Moon on Apollo 8, he'd spent 572 hours in space, and travelled almost 7 million miles. He was joined by two rookie astronauts, Lunar Module Pilot Fred Hayes, and Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly. But just two days before launch, Ken Mattingly was grounded after being exposed to German measles, and replaced by another astronaut, Jack Swaggart. Swaggart was considered

38:26Speaker 2:an excellent pilot, but the last-minute change was a difficult blow for a crew that had trained so intensely together.

38:39Speaker 4:This is the crew of Apollo 13 wishing everybody there a nice evening, and we're just about ready to close out our inspection of Aquarius and get back to a pleasant evening at Odyssey.

38:52Speaker 2:The Apollo 13 crew had just completed a live TV broadcast on their way to the moon, but it went no further than mission control. With public interest in the Apollo program fading, no US TV network would carry their show. As the astronauts packed away their camera equipment, there were a few housekeeping procedures to take care of. The command and service module was powered by three fuel cells. that generated electricity by mixing hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen was stored as a very cold liquid in two storage tanks.

39:42Speaker 2:In zero gravity, the temperature and density of the oxygen could become uneven in different areas of the tank. which made it difficult to measure how much was left. The solution was to stir the liquid oxygen with a fan. During a ground test just a few weeks earlier, a heater inside oxygen tank number 2 was accidentally left on, and its interior was baked to over 500 degrees Celsius. This damaged the Teflon insulation around the wires leading to the fans. When Jack Swagger turned that fan on, electrical current arced across the wires, starting a fire. The pressure of expanding gas turned the oxygen tank into a bomb.

40:36Speaker 4:Houston, we've had a problem.

40:44Speaker 2:As the staff at Mission Control frantically tried to understand what had happened to the spacecraft, Lovell glanced out of the side window of the command module. Their second oxygen tank had also been damaged in the blast and was bleeding its contents into space. Soon, there would be nothing left for the astronauts to breathe, let alone to generate electricity. there was one chance for survival. Apollo 13's lunar module, Aquarius, had oxygen, fuel, and a descent engine that could be used to put them on a course back to Earth.

41:30Speaker 2:The crew shut down the command module to preserve its tiny reserve of battery power for re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. And all three of them climbed into the two-person lunar module. conditions were cramped and bitterly cold. NASA staff worked around the clock to solve countless engineering and navigation problems that put the astronauts' lives in constant danger. One of the most serious problems they faced was stopping the astronauts from being poisoned by their own exhaled carbon dioxide. The lunar module used round canisters of lithium hydroxide to filter carbon dioxide from the air. But there were only enough of these canisters to support two astronauts for two days. The command module used a similar system, but those canisters were square-shaped. Fortunately, to provide an emergency backup, NASA had developed a procedure during preparation for Apollo 8, to build an air purifier using a lithium hydroxide canister and items found in the spacecraft.

42:56Speaker 2:The makeshift device was made of cardboard, tape and an astronaut's sock. But it worked perfectly, and removed the poisonous carbon dioxide from the cabin's atmosphere. Having survived the flight back to Earth, the crew faced re-entry into the Earth's They climbed back into the command module and jettisoned Aquarius, which wouldn't survive re-entry. The command module had been powered down and left in freezing conditions for days. Its heat shield might have been cracked when the oxygen tank exploded, or its parachutes might have frozen solid. the astronauts were expected to be out of contact with Houston for four minutes during re-entry. But four minutes passed, and then five, with no word from the crew. But after six agonizing minutes, Odyssey reappeared. the astronauts had survived. Apollo 13 failed to land on the Moon, but against all the odds and through incredible determination and ingenuity, NASA brought Lovell, Hayes and Swaggart home safely. The mission became known as the Successful Failure.

44:46Speaker 2:Apollo 14 would see the unlikely return of one of America's original space heroes. Alan Shepard. Launching aboard a tiny one-person capsule, Shepard became the first American in space in May 1961. Oxygen go!

45:11Speaker 4:All systems are go!

45:16Speaker 2:He was due to command the first mission of Project Gemini, but he began experiencing bouts of extreme dizziness and nausea. He was diagnosed with Meniere's disease, a disorder of the inner ear. There was no known cure, and it seemed he would never be assigned to another spaceflight. Shepard was appointed Chief of the Astronaut Office. overseeing crew training and mission planning. Outside of NASA, he also made a small fortune investing in real estate, banking and oil drilling. But he was determined to fly in space again. In the summer of 1968, he underwent an experimental and risky surgical procedure to correct his disorder. Now, Shepard would return as the commander of Apollo 14. But Shepard's struggles continued. The mission was almost overcome by glitches on the way to the moon. After launch, the docking mechanism between the command module and lunar module wouldn't engage. Before lunar descent, the computer tried to abort the landing and had to be reprogrammed mid-flight. Finally, the landing radar stopped working just as the crew were approaching the surface. But Shepard had come

46:49Speaker 2:too far to be stopped by glitches. With the support of Mission Control, he and his crew overcame these problems, and made a perfect landing. The closest yet to their target. Over the course of two moonwalks, Shepard and his Lunar Module pilot Ed Mitchell ventured further from their Lunar Module than any previous astronauts. They climbed steep terrain, investigated ancient craters, and gathered more rock and soil samples than Apollo 11 or 12. With his mission objectives completed, Shepard brought out a golf ball that he'd smuggled in the pockets of his spacesuit. Using his sampling tool as a club, he teed off next to the lunar module. The final three missions would be the most scientifically productive, and they were equipped with advanced hardware. Their upgraded lunar module had enough supplies to support astronauts for three days. New spacesuits and backpacks enabled moonwalks as long as seven hours. And the new lunar rover allowed astronauts to explore much larger areas of the moon's Meanwhile the Command Module pilot conducted extensive surveys of the Moon from orbit, using a new suite

48:38Speaker 2:of cameras and scientific instruments. Dave Scott, on his third spaceflight, would be the commander of Apollo 15. The crew made one of the biggest geological discoveries of the program, when they unearthed a chunk of an orthocyte, a piece of the Moon's primordial crust. 4.5 billion years old. Apollo 16 was commanded by John Young, who had already flown to the Moon on Apollo 10. The lunar module pilot was Charlie Duke. and the Command Module pilot would be Ken Mattingly, who had lost his place on Apollo 13 just days before the launch, and was finally getting his chance to fly in space. Young and Duke spent three days on the lunar surface, travelling great distances. with the aid of the lunar rover. But now, budget cutbacks had brought the Apollo program to an early end. Apollo 17 would be its final flight. On December 7th, 1972, Apollo 17 prepared to depart. It was the only night launch of a Saturn V. The rocket's blazing exhaust plume lit up the sky at Cape Kennedy. The final mission was commanded by Gene Cernan. His command module pilot was Ron Evans. and the lunar module pilot was Harrison Schmitt. On this final mission,

50:48Speaker 2:Schmitt represented a first. A professional geologist, he was the only scientist-astronaut to walk on the Moon. Apollo 17 landed at Taurus-Littrow, the most geologically complex site yet visited. Cernan and Schmitt spent a total of 22 hours walking on the Moon. They travelled 19 miles across its surface. And they collected more scientific data than any other mission. But after three days on the Moon, it was time to leave. Cernan and Schmidt would be the last humans to walk on the Moon in the 20th century. But as the Apollo program came to an end, NASA was preparing for new adventures in spaceflight. The first US space station, Skylab, would launch in 1973, aboard an Apollo Saturn V rocket.

52:00Speaker 2:In 1975, the United States and the Soviet Union flew a joint mission, the Apollo-Soyuz test project. It was the final flight of an Apollo spacecraft, and the symbolic end of the space race. 1981 would see the first flight of the Space Shuttle. The mission was commanded by Apollo astronaut John Young, and it ushered in the next era of spaceflight. But for the Apollo program, 1972 was the end of the road. As Cernan climbed into the lunar module at the end of the mission, he bade farewell to the moon and shared his hope that humans would soon return.

52:52Speaker 4:And as we leave the moon in Taurus literal, we leave as we came and God willing as we shall return with peace and hope for all mankind.

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