Apollo Program - Blog Posts

History Made: Apollo 11 Splashes Down Today in 1969

The Apollo 11 Command Module “Columbia” is hoisted onto its recovery ship the USS Hornet, following splashdown on July 24, 1969. Credit: NASA

Four days after their historic achievement, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:49 p.m. EDT, about 900 miles from Hawaii. The crew was recovered by the crew of the USS Hornet where President Richard Nixon was waiting to greet them. 

Watch a replay of the original live broadcast of the recovery on NASA TV starting at 12:45 p.m. EDT. 

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Display and Keyboard (DSKY)

The display and keyboard (DSKY) is the user interface to the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC). It has an array of indicator lights, numeric displays, and a calculator-style keyboard. Commands were entered numerically, as two-digit numbers: Verb, and Noun. Verb described the type of action to be performed and Noun specified which data were affected by the action specified by the Verb command.

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Apollo 8 Christmas Message

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon seen from Apollo 8. They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.

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Flight Director/Attitude Indicator

The Flight Director/Attitude Indicator (FD/AI) is one of the most important instruments in the Apollo program.

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Astronauts jumping on the moon with teletubbies music is the dumbest and cutest thing I've ever seen in a while.

Apollo 13 concept art by Ryan Aeronautical

The world needs more space nerds

Apollos 15 and 17.

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/images15.html

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/images17.html

Apollo 17 Lunar module docking after trans-lunar injection (1972)

Happy Moon Landing Day!

Today is the 55th anniversary!