List of Apollo missions

[2] Uncrewed test flights beginning in 1966 demonstrated the safety of the launch vehicles and spacecraft to carry astronauts, and four crewed flights beginning in October 1968 demonstrated the ability of the spacecraft to carry out a lunar landing mission.

[3] Five subsequent missions landed astronauts on various lunar sites, ending in December 1972 with twelve men having walked on the Moon[4] and 842 pounds (382 kg) of lunar rocks and soil samples returned to Earth, greatly contributing to the understanding of the Moon's composition and geological history.

[5] Two Apollo missions were failures: a 1967 cabin fire killed the entire Apollo 1 crew during a ground test in preparation for what was to be the first crewed flight;[6] and the third landing attempt on Apollo 13 was aborted by an oxygen tank explosion en route to the Moon, which disabled the CSM Odyssey's electrical power and life support systems, and made the propulsion system unsafe to use.

The crew circled the Moon and were returned safely to Earth using the LM Aquarius as a "lifeboat" for these functions.

[7] From 1961 through 1967, Saturn launch vehicles and Apollo spacecraft components were tested in uncrewed flights.

These included simulated "pad aborts", which might occur while the Apollo-Saturn space vehicle was still on the launch pad, and flights on the Little Joe II rocket to simulate Mode I aborts which might occur while the vehicle was in the air.

Launch Complex 39A The Apollo program required sequential testing of several major mission elements in the runup to a crewed lunar landing.

An alphabetical list of major mission types was proposed by Owen Maynard in September 1967.

The C-type mission, the first crewed flight of the CSM in Earth orbit, was performed by Apollo 7.

The list was revised upon George Low's proposal to commit a mission to lunar orbit ahead of schedule, an idea influenced by the status of the CSM as a proven craft and production delays of the LM.

The G-type mission, Apollo 11, performed the first lunar landing, the central goal of the program.

The I-type objective, which called for extended lunar orbital surveillance of the Moon,[15] was incorporated into the J-type missions.