What was / were your favourite Apollo Mission(s)???

[3488]

I actually have two & were Apollo 15 & Apollo 17, due to the landing sites (Hadley Delta / Hadly Rille A15 & Taurus / Littrow Valley A 17) & the sheer scientific return & ground covered by the Lunar Roving Vehicle.

Apollo 16 possibly just behind, though really I am in huge admiration of them all.

Andrew Brown.

 

[drwayne]

My choices for favorites may be somewhat eclectic, but here goes:

Apollo 8: To the moon for the first time. That look at the blue marble. And the reading from Genesis.
I know Apollo 7 was important, but 8 seemed *to me* like a wonderful memorial to Grissom, White
and Chaffee.

Apollo 9: They did SO much new! The new baby, the LEM (yes, I know that's the uncool way to say it, but
hey, I'm reminicin' here), dancing with the CSM in Earth orbit. Spacewalks. This flight is SO underrrated.

But #1 has to be

Apollo 13: Having lived through those days - those awful days - the triumph of the team in pulling
life from the jaws of death. SO MANY heros - most of whom will never be known for their vital
role in helping bring those guys home.

Apollo took a tremendous toll on people, marrriages, and families. So many missed games, plays,
dinners, birthdays - then, when it was over, many of these guys were either out of a job, or moved
to jobs that would never be a shadow of what they had done before. The pride of our nation was
built on so many deeply personal sacrifices from these people, who never flew, and whose stories
will never make it into a book or a movie.

Thanks guys. You are, and always will be, my heroes.

Wayne

 

[3488]

Hi drwayne,

I can certainly see oyur point. Apollo 8 ushered in something so utterly alien. For the first time in human history, human beings were confronted by a planetary body that was not Earth.

Also they were first to be in a situation when Earth was not seeable, i.e passing over the lunar farside. Apollo 9 although in Low Earth Orbit, tried & tested new hardware, equipment never before flown with new technologies, never before realised.

Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal, paving the way for Apollo 11's historic landing.

I chose 15, 16 & 17, particularly 15 & 17 simply because IMHO, the sites chosen were of such enormous scientific interest, really drove the point home of what Apollo could have evolved into had Apollo 18 & the others planned afterwards had gone ahead, paving the way for long endurance science missions on the Moon & eventually to Mars, Mercury, the moons of the outer planets & the asteroids.

I also have a thing for Apollo 15 as I have personally met Al Worden & the Late Jim Irwin. Must catch up with Dave Scott sometime.

Andrew Brown.

 

[drwayne]

It's fascinating to me that your favorites are driven more by the science, and mine are
driven more by the process of making things work to get there.

Cool.

Wayne

 

[MeteorWayne]

I think a lot of that has to do with whether you were old enough to remember it.

For those that lived through Apollo 8 and 11 particularly, and were interested, it reacted viscerally with you. Here were these men risking their lives to accomplish the impossible. I grew up with manned spaceflight. We followed every minute. We watched Genesis being read on Christmas Eve from lunar orbit. We stayed up late to watch Neil and Buzz as the first humans walked on the moon.

I don't think that those who read about it afterward can ever appreciate what it meant to us. Sure I know there was far more science done on the later missions....but the early missions were really pushing the envelope, risking life on the very hairy edge of what can be accomplished.

That excitement has never been in any NASA missions since then....it couldn't be.

TOW

 

[3488]

Hi Wayne & Wayne.

I think that could be it. I was only born in April 1969 & was only 4 months & 16 days old when Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, so I was way too young to remember it (besides I was still in hospital for much of that time).

As is probably quite obvious I am into planetary science so that's way the later missions were more interesting to me, the geologically fascinating sites visited by Apollos 15 & 17 & the scientific knowledge gleaned from those sites, were enhanced by the lunar roving vehicle, etc. The rock samples, the photography of the various lunar features, from ground level, is it volcanic, is due to impacts, is it both, etc really did it for me from a scientific point of view.

Don't get me wrong ALL of the Apollo missions, those that landed, those that did not all represented a long term investment in human development, even if driven by the Cold War, though some how I think the fact Apollo did proceed after Apollo 11 does make me think that the Cold War was not the only factor, because IMO, if it was, than the programme would have ended with Apollo 11, as that achieved the aim of beating the Soviet Union to the Moon with humans.

Apollo was far, far more than just that. The missions became more challenging, after the marial landings of 11 & 12 & even after 13's near miss with disaster, Apollo 14 was sent to a difficult location, Apollo was heading the right way. Shame it ended at Apollo 17, politics is like that.

However, humans will return, of that I have no doubt, when, I dunno, will they, definately. As life left the oceans & colonised land, life will leave Earth & spread to other planetary bodies. Of that I have no doubt.

Andrew Brown.

 

[drwayne]

I think a lot of that has to do with whether you were old enough to remember it.

For those that lived through Apollo 8 and 11 particularly, and were interested, it reacted viscerally with you. Here were these men risking their lives to accomplish the impossible. I grew up with manned spaceflight. We followed every minute. We watched Genesis being read on Christmas Eve from lunar orbit. We stayed up late to watch Neil and Buzz as the first humans walked on the moon.

I don't think that those who read about it afterward can ever appreciate what it meant to us. Sure I know there was far more science done on the later missions....but the early missions were really pushing the envelope, risking life on the very hairy edge of what can be accomplished.

That excitement has never been in any NASA missions since then....it couldn't be.

TOW

I agree.

Though perhaps one could argue that we are jaded. We grew up in a time when a nation was on a quest
that quite a few thought impossible, and in some sense, that established a level we might call normal.
For us, the words "Space, the final frontier" are in a very real sense a title for that time, and boy, it
seemed that frontier would always be moving.

 

[drwayne]

To some of us, the words *after* "Houston, Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed" recall how dangerous this business really was...

"Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again."

 

[MeteorWayne]

Just reading it gave me chills up my spine again. I must have heard those words spoken hundreds of times since then, and I still get the same reaction

 

[Wablam]

I would first like to thank you guys for reminiscing about the Apollo missions. Being born in 1981, Apollo was long forgotten with my generation (sadly). I still remember my third grade class being taught about planets and the solar system (that would have made me.... 8 years old ) and ever since that day in Mrs Allsip's classroom I have had a distinct interest in our existence. I believe I grasped the knowledge better than other children my age. I still remember to this day asking myself, "Well if there are all of these planets and "things out there" that we just don't know about, how can we know for sure that we are the only "people" around?"

Things take on a whole different shape when you are eight years old.

As I grew up, and made it to high school in the late 90's (yeah I'm still a baby I guess :lol, I remember being awed by a simple Astronomy class that I took as an elective. We learned real basic information, such as how to point out the Big Dipper, and what constellations were. Exoplanets were being discovered around this same time and their discoveries, plus the astronomy class really opened my mind to wondering about our existence in the Universe, and wondering what exactly we were seeing as we looked up at the night sky.

That high school astronomy class prompted me to do research on the Apollo program. I can honestly say that my favorite Apollo missions were ALL OF THEM. It is absolutely fascinating to me what the country experienced slightly before my time. I can only imagine how people felt as the first orbit of Earth by a manned spacecraft took place, how it felt to experience humanity's first steps on another heavenly body and how it felt when lives were on the line and how everyone dealt with the uncertainty of it all. Apollo pulled together humanity unlike anything of its time. Of course, JFK had a lot to do with it, but the Apollo missions themselves were what brought everyone together. It was an experience that if mentioned to anyone living at the time, they remember, and remember it well.

I hope during my lifetime something happens that resembles Apollo and all its glory. Planned missions to Mars and the moon should reinvigorate public appeal for space exploration. I just live in a generation where we are blind to what it means for humanity to be stuck on the Earth. You can tell anyone that there are tons of near-Earth objects that can produce extinction events, to which people now reply, "If it happens, it happens". It's mostly sensationalism to the general populace. However, what if there IS something we can do? People don't think of humanity as just another species. People don't think of humanity as anything, really. We live in a very selfish culture nowadays where things that matter to the individual are way more important than things that should matter to the collective. Humanity has shown what it can do in the face of adversity though (Apollo is a great example of this in action) and so maybe adversity is what is needed to get us off this rock and around the galaxy.

I thank you once again for your time and for sharing your experiences.

 

[Shaky]

Hi Wablam - I wish you could have "been there." Obviously, you would have been as amazed as we were. Still, don't give up hope! Also, I believe books and many movies and documentaries on the subject can get people motivated for all types of things. Space exploration sure, but also other lessons like taking bold actions, team work, dedication, competency and even project management!

Picking a favorite mission is as hard as picking a favorite astronaut, but the previous poster is spot on about how 8 and 11 were filled with risk and daring that made them truly unique and an experience for everyone.

 

[Smersh]

I greatly enjoyed all the missions but, as others here have mentioned, I think my favourite was Apollo 8 because this was the first manned space mission to actually leave Earth's orbit and travel further away from our mother planet than anyone had ever been before.

It was totally heading into unknown territory and I found it very exciting. I remember sitting on the upper deck of a London double-decker bus, a few hours after the launch that I had watched on tv, and listening to mission updates on a transistor radio. When it was announced that the spacecraft was "85,000 miles from Earth" (or something like that) I thought "YIKES!" (or something like that ... :lol: )

 

[jim48]

Well of course the one to beat is Apollo 11. As an adult I have read tons of books on the space program, but as a kid at the time of the missions, well, I thought Apollo 10 was cool because they named the command module Charlie Brown and the lunar lander Snoopy. There's a famous photo of the crew on the way to the launch pad patting the head of a huge stuffed Snoopy doll held by a NASA employee. I thought the LIFE magazine photos from Apollo 9 were great, the first time we'd seen the lunar lander. What a weird looking thing! Beautiful color shots in Earth orbit. Apollo 8 of course for the famous Earthrise photo, which went on to become the most reproduced photo in history. That one was stunning and still is. Apollo 12 was cool because they got hit by lightning during the launch. I liked it when they started jaunting about in the Lunar Rover in later missions. The last one took off at night, which was very easy to see from my vantage point here in south Florida. Apollo 11 is still the one to beat, however. I'll always remember the build-up to that, the huge press coverage. the reactions from around the world. The '60s were almost over and the world seemed to be going to hell in a hand basket, but for one brief, shining moment, the world paused to look at the television, and up at the night sky.

 

[silylene]

I just wanted to put in a small boost for the most forgotten Apollo mission, Apollo 7. This mission was the first to do a manned test of the Saturn 1B booster. The hugely successful demonstrations of the boosters and command module and other mission components led to the surprising mission modification to make Apollo 8 a circumlunar mission. For those who remember, Apollo 7 was also notable for the disharmony between the crew and mission controllers.

 

[CalliArcale]

It's impossible to pick a favorite, but I do have a special place in my heart for the last one -- the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. In addition to being quite historic and laying groundwork (both political and technical) for the ISS, I was born while it was underway. ;-)

 

[silylene]

Apollo 8 was also notable in that this was the smelliest mission ever. Mission commander Borman had a very bad bout of flu during the mission, and then in one particularly bad episode, he suffered 'containment malfunctions' using baggies in a zero-g environment (inability to capture excreta). Maybe this is too much information.

 

[drwayne]

I just wanted to put in a small boost for the most forgotten Apollo mission, Apollo 7. This mission was the first to do a manned test of the Saturn 1B booster. The hugely successful demonstrations of the boosters and command module and other mission components led to the surprising mission modification to make Apollo 8 a circumlunar mission. For those who remember, Apollo 7 was also notable for the disharmony between the crew and mission controllers.

There is little doubt that this mission suffers in memory from falling between the fire and Apollo 8.

As you point out, clearly, we had a lot to learn about longer duration missions.

Wayne

 

[Chryseplanatia]

Definitely Apollo 12; Conrad was a card and Bean the perfect foil. The scene smacking the fuel rod in the cask on the LM with the "universal tool" (hammer) was a hoot.

More amusing still: when the camera went out. The networks scrambled to find something... ANYTHING... to show on the air. CBS switched to Grumman Aerospace in NY; they had a concrete lunar surface and a LM simulator there with two guys in moon suits. Only problem was trying to follow the "action" from the EVA downlink...

ABC: Dashed over to Western Costume in LA, got a couple of really groovy "space suits"- they can be seen in some old "Twilight Zone" episodes, with big rolled cuffs around the glassless helmet, and nice zipper in the front. Very Cheez-Whiz.

But NBC took the award that evening. They had contracted with Bob Barker, the famed marionette performer, who had made up two pressure-suited puppets. A miniature lunar landscape and we're in business. Only problem was it looked just like Thunderbirds or Fireball XL5... guys walking around with bent knees and hovering arms. And they had to cut-away every time one of the astros picked up another tool, cuz somebody had to reach in and fasten a new mini-tool to the puppet's hand.

I'd love to find tapes of these awful simulations, but I'm not sure they are in the archives.

 

[fghhgf]

All of them were great really, but the three that stand out for me were 8, 11 and 15.

8 becase of the sheer audacity and danger and of course the 1st time into deep Space, 11 for obvious reasons and the coolness of Armstrong in finding a landing depite the 1202 program alarm going off and 15 because for me Dave Scott was flawless and tireless in his work, epsecially with that drill he damaged his fingers working on and of course it was the 1st long term stay with the Rover and extra science. Also the Hammer and Feather experiment ! :mrgreen:

But really they were all incredible feats.

 

[starwood]

15...I can just imagine dropping in over the Appenines.

 

[WetHog]

Newb here. I've been a lurker for sometime that always meant to registar on here but I put it off. This topic got my attention and forced my hand. So hello to everyone.

Having said all that, I am a huge fan of Apollo 15, 16, and 17 primarily because those three missions were really the major exploratory missions. But for me Apollo 12 holds a special place in my heart. First pinpoint landing, visited an old probe and brought back an artifact, but most importantly the crew of Apollo 12 seemed to have the most personality and seemed to be a group of best friends exploring the moon. Of all the books I"ve read about the era of Apollo there always seems to be a story about the 12 guys that makes me laugh. It has been said Pete Conrad, Dick Gordan, and Al Bean were the best Apollo crew of the bunch, and that might be true, but to me they have proven to be the most interesting.

 

[cpumasterwv]

I hate to be the cliche one. My favorite Apollo mission was 13. The total amount of raw ingenuity put into bringing those three men home alive and in moderatly good condition is an amazing feet. They may not have landed, by they survived and proved that the LM was much more robust than it appeared.

 

[raoul]

15:
What a huge contrast with 14, just a few months earlier.
And 15 had far more to offer in variety, quality, length....
15 was also very well followed on TV!

 

[clint_dreamer]

I am partial to Apollo 8. Even though I wasn't born for another 12 years or so this was the one that became my favourite when I started learning about the Apollo program. I like it because it was the first manned voyage to another body in the Solar System and also the first manned launch of the Saturn V.

And the crew was the perfect choice for Time's Man of the Year in 1968.

Like everyone else I'm sure I also have much love for the Apollo 13 mission. It was a tremendous feat by everyone involved to bring these men home safely.

 

[odiedb]

For me it was Apollo 10, with Stafford, Young, and Cernan! Though an actual landing never took place, real human emotions surfaced. When the LEM went out of control 10 miles above the Lunar Surface, Stafford yelled: "Son of a *****!" with all becoming concerned about their situation..... Sadly most stories of the Apollo missions leave this out, but it is real history.... Actually it was a refreshing change from the bland Bible reading of Apollo 8!