Apollo 13 is Launched Today in 1970

Marking the 43rd anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission we have a timeline of the History of the Apollo Program.

The Apollo program was the third human space flight program carried out by NASA, running from 1961 to 1975.

After a series of unmanned mission from 1961 to 1967, Apollo 1 was set to be the first manned mission of the Apollo program. Tragically, the mission never reached its launched date, as the Apollo Command/Service Module caught fire during a launch rehearsal, killing all three astronauts on board.

Despite this major setback, the primary objective of landing a man on the moon was completed on 20th July 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11 mission.

In total, there were six manned lunar landings from 1969 to 1972. Apollo 13 famously made it into lunar orbit but had to abort landing because of an Oxygen tank explosion.

Apollo 17 ended up being the final manned lunar mission of the Apollo program. Apollo 18 and 19 were both cancelled due to budget cuts, while Apollo 20 was cancelled to allow it’s Saturn V to launch the Skylab space station.

History of the Apollo Program