Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Moon Astronaut John Young and Lunar Rover - Apollo 16
"Contact Light"
a personal retrospective of Project Apollo
by Kipp Teague

Introduction

"Contact Light" is a nostalgic and personal look back at man's first voyages to the Moon, not from the perspective of a participant, nor from that of a historian, but instead from my own perspective as a young teenager at the time of Apollo, and an avid follower of the space program. Featured here are many "artifacts" and souvenirs from the period, as well as many rare, high-quality NASA images and video clips from the historic Apollo missions.

Earthrise as viewed from Apollo 8 I consider myself lucky to have grown up in the 1960's. What better perspective to have had than that of a twelve-year-old, old enough to be awestruck by the distant views of Earth beamed down from the capsule of Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve of 1968, but too young to fully comprehend or overly concern myself with the violence and unrest that concurrently plagued a troubled America.

Bonestell depiction of a lunar mission
© Chesley Bonestell Estate 		The era of the "space race" was an exciting period in which to live, and even as a child, one could not help but be aware of the fierce competition that was underway with the Russians, who had taken an early lead by placing the first human (Yuri Gagarin) in Earth orbit. Accompanying the early days of the space-frenzy from a young boy's perspective were toy rockets and models, lunchboxes featuring the space-art of Chesley Bonestell, space-oriented comics, Weekly Reader articles, and television fare such as "Fireball XL-5."

The President's Challenge
I was only age five at the time of John Glenn's "Friendship 7" flight and I have only a vague recollection of the televised ticker-tape parades that followed it. However, I do remember the assassination of President Kennedy a year and half later, particularly the somber mood at my family's dinner table that evening, and the restless, riderless horse from the televised funeral coverage a few days later. It was President Kennedy who had committed America to Moon, when on May 25, 1961, only twenty days following the flight of America's first man into space (Alan Shepard), he said:

President John F. Kennedy "I believe 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 Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."

Project Apollo
Project Mercury concluded in 1963 after six successful Earth-orbital and sub-orbital flights, and Project Gemini continued paving the way to the Moon in March of 1965. While I followed the Gemini flights with enthusiasm, I was more intrigued by the planned Apollo missions. In 1964, I had obtained a set of 21 "Viewmaster" images depicting NASA's Project Apollo. The stereo photographs portrayed an amazing voyage to the moon, beginning with a launch of a multi-stage Saturn rocket, and culminating with "Doug" and "Eric"'s descent to the lunar surface in a vehicle described as the "bug." In the visual story, the two astronauts soon discovered water on the moon in addition to "fluorescent" moon rocks! In the concluding scene, the astronauts are depicted presenting the president with lunar samples. Also, one of the books I ordered in 1965 from the yearly Scholastic Book Services selections was "Project Apollo," a thin children's paperback that described and illustrated the planned moon missions, including the mammoth Saturn rocket and the spindly and curious "Lunar Excursion Module."

The Apollo project was dealt a major setback in early 1967 with the tragic Apollo 1 fire and death of its crewmen during training, and it wasn't until October of 1968 (23 months after the final Gemini flight) that manned missions resumed with the launch of earth orbital mission Apollo 7. In the meantime, I and several other friends had developed a strong Apollo 4 launch as seen in Star Trek's 'Assignment: Earth' interest in a new NBC television program: Star Trek. This mix of interests in NASA and Star Trek was natural for me, and the two converged when, at the end of the Star Trek's second season, a time-travel episode was centered on Cape Kennedy and a Saturn V launch (and included footage of the launch of the first Saturn V in the unmanned Apollo 4 mission)

To The Moon
Apollo 8 Newsweek Cover - January 6, 1969 issue In December of 1968, Apollo 8 circumnavigated the Moon, bringing the Moon's far side into direct human view for the first time. This voyage also marked the farthest distance ever travelled from the Earth as well as the first occasion on which humans had entered the gravitational sphere of another planetary body. A few months later, Apollo 9 tested the Lunar Module in Earth orbit, and in May of 1969, Apollo 10 conducted a dress rehearsal for a lunar landing, descending in a Lunar Module to within ten miles of the Moon's surface.

Apollo 8 audio segment
Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 8 multimedia clips.

To the left is the TV view of the lunar surface beamed to Earth as the Apollo 8 astronauts read from the Bible on Christmas Eve, 1968
Also be sure to visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery
for more high-quality Early Apollo images


The Day They Landed
Liftoff of Apollo 11, July 16, 1969 On the morning of July 16, 1969, I overslept, missing the beginning of the most significant space mission ever undertaken. At 9:32 a.m. that morning, Apollo 11 lifted off for the Moon. Four days later, I found myself with my mother and father vacationing in Virginia Beach, Virginia, dining at the Black Angus Steak House and suffering the embarrassment of waitresses singing me Happy Birthday and delivering to me a cupcake with a sparkler aflame (I had to pick the cinders out of the icing). Just an hour or so prior, we had witnessed Walter Cronkite rendered speechless following the descent and touchdown of Apollo 11's "Eagle" on the moon, an event that was absolutely the most thrilling thing I had ever seen (well, heard) on television. In just a few hours, however, that thrill was to be Neil Armstrong on the Moon - July 20, 1969 topped. At 10:56 PM, as we watched from our hotel room on the Atlantic Ocean, Neil Armstrong descended the ladder on the front landing leg of the lunar module and stepped off of the leg's landing pad onto the Sea of Tranquility. Over the next two hours, we watched the ghostly black & white images as Armstrong and Aldrin 16mm film frame of Armstrong and Aldrin erecting flag hopped about on the moon, unveiled and read the commemorative plaque on the LM's front landing leg, collected rock and soil samples, planted and saluted the flag, spoke with President Nixon and finally ascended the ladder. My dad had fallen asleep before the moonwalk ended, but I had remained transfixed. At about 1 a.m., I switched off the TV. July 20, 1969 had come to an end, and along with it had also ended my first day as a teenager.

Apollo 11 audio segments
Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 11 multimedia clips.

Life Magazine, August 8, 1969 issue Buzz Aldrin stands beside LM leg and contact probe A few weeks after Apollo 11 returned to Earth, readers of Life magazine were stunned by the clarity of the first published photographs from the Moon. In stark constrast to the fuzzy black & white video broadcast during the moonwalk, the astronauts' photographs revealed the "magnificent desolation" that astronaut Buzz Aldrin had described when he stepped onto the surface.

More Apollo 11 Photographs

Apollo 11
spacecraft
atop Saturn V
on launchpad
The Lunar Module
"Eagle" as
photographed from
"Columbia"
Man on the Moon
(specifically
Edwin E.
"Buzz" Aldrin)
Aldrin unloads the
Apollo Lunar
Surface Experiment
Package
Neil Armstrong
works at the LM
(this is the only
Apollo 11 photo which
includes Armstrong)
Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery
for more high-quality Apollo 11 images


Modeling Apollo
For those interested in modeling the various Apollo spacecraft, there were plenty of options. Revell manufactured a 1/96th-scale model of the entire Apollo/Saturn V spacecraft, complete with a lunar module tucked away in the adapter stage. Revell also manufactured a larger (1/48th) scale model of adapter stage (including a lunar module), the command and service modules and the escape tower. For those who fancied real, working model rockets, the Centuri company manufactured a 1/100th-scale Saturn V rocket.
Apollo/Saturn Models

Revell 1/96th-scale
Saturn V model
photographed 1969
for Junior High
science project
 		Revell Apollo Lunar Spacecraft 1/48 scale model box - 1969  
Revell Apollo Lunar Spacecraft 1/48th-scale model
Centuri's 1/100th-scale
Saturn V working
model rocket.
See this website's Project Apollo Archive
for more Apollo-related models

Apollo Memorabilia

Life Magazine
(September 25, 1964)
Robert McCall gatefold cover
Newsweek
(October 14, 1968)
Gulf Oil Co.
Lunar Module Kit
 (click here for instruction sheet)
National
Geographic
(December 1969)
Decca Moon
Landing LP
(1969)
See this website's Project Apollo Archive for even more
Apollo memorabilia, including additional magazine covers

Repeat Performance
In November of 1969, Apollo 12 returned America to the moon, despite an inauspicious liftoff during which the spacecraft was twice struck by lightning. Soon, however, the world was watching with excitement once again as live TV transmissions commenced from the moon, this time in color! That excitement quickly turned to disappointment, however, as while moving the camera, one of Apollo 12's astronauts accidentally pointed the TV camera into the sun, burning out the pickup tube. Viewers could only listen in as astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean collected samples, conducted experiments and visited the nearby Surveyor 3 spacecraft which had landed several years earlier. Surveyor's camera was returned to Earth by the crew, and is now on display in the National Air & Space Museum. In future years, Alan Bean would more than compensate for his earlier mistake in ruining the Apollo 12's TV camera, with his remarkable paintings of Apollo astronauts exploring and working on the moon. In November of 1998, a hardbound collection of Bean's Apollo artwork was published in the book "Apollo: An Eyewitness Account..." (click HERE to visit the Amazon.com "at a glance" page for this title)

Apollo 12 audio segment
Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 12 multimedia clips.
Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery
for more high-quality Apollo 12 images

A Close Call
In the Spring of 1970, just when it appeared that NASA had things down pat, disaster struck when one of Apollo 13's oxygen tanks exploded en route to the moon, crippling the primary spacecraft and forcing all three astronauts to seek refuge in the lunar module, which served as a lifeboat for the remainder of the mission. As chronicled in Ron Howard's superb film "Apollo 13," a nation was held in suspense for TV view of Apollo 13 command module descending on the mains several days as mission controllers and the imperiled astronauts sought to conserve the remaining oxygen and return safely to Earth. I recall our Junior High English class hurrying across the hall on that April day to a science classroom to watch the televised reentry, and I will never forget the cheer that went up in that classroom when the command module's parachutes were first spotted.

Original NASA Apollo Timetable
The Apollo 13 near-disaster put the brakes on NASA's Apollo timeline, an ambitious plan that included a trip to the Moon approximately every four to six months in 1970 through 1972.
APOLLO 13. March, 1970. Land in Fra Mauro formation of flat highlands, stay about 22 hours. Collect soil and rock from an old area relatively untouched by what many believed were ancient floods or volcanoes.
APOLLO 14. July, 1970. Land in Censorinus crater area for a stay of about 22 hours. Investigate craters, possibly carved in moon's surface by meteors.
APOLLO 15. November, 1970. Land in Littrow area of volcano-like projections, remain about 22 hours. Attempt a pinpoint landing on an exact, pre-selected target.
APOLLO 16. March, 1971. Descend to crater Copernicus, remaining for about 70 hours. Extract from crater and high-rising column within formation rocks believed to be from far below the lunar surface.
APOLLO 17. Late in 1971. Land near rugged highland crater Tycho for stay of about 70 hours. Test first moon "rover" vehicle.
APOLLO 18. Early 1972. Land in Marius Hills, remain about 70 hours. Collect soil and rock samples from volcanic-like domes and valleys between.
APOLLO 19. Middle or late 1972. Land deep in Schroeter's Valley, with about 70 hours on the surface. Attempt a descent into a deep crater to determine cause of mysterious "red flashes" seen there by astronomers.
APOLLO 20. Late 1972 or early 1973. Land near the Hyginus Rill, a long, major canyon, for stay of about 70 hours. Investigate canyon for possible lunar core material.
This timeline had been altered slightly even before the Apollo 13 mission, when in January, 1970, Apollo 20 was cancelled in order to reserve the last production Saturn V for use in launching the planned Skylab orbiting laboratory a few years later. This change shifted the planned Apollo 18 and 19 lunar missions to 1974 to follow Skylab, but further budget-cutting in late 1970 also resulted in the cancellation of Apollo 18 and 19.


The Cape
In June of 1970, during the lull that followed the near-catastrophe of Apollo 13, my family vacationed in Florida on a trip that included a stop at Kennedy Space Center. The standard tour took us to the former Mercury and Gemini Launch facilities on Kipp at the Cape, June 1970 Cape Canaveral (at the time renamed Cape Kennedy) as well as to the site of the tragic Apollo 1 fire just three years prior. The highlight of the tour was a visit to Apollo/Saturn Launch Complex 39A and 39B and to the massive Vehicle Assembly Building, a building so large that clouds occasionally formed inside and drenched workers with brief downpours. Just outside the VAB were parked two of the massive crawler vehicles used to transport assembled Apollo/Saturn vehicles down the three mile crawlerway to one of the two launchpads (Apollo 10 was the only mission to utilize pad 39-B). The KSC gift shop was stocked with standard tourist trinkets of course, but amidst the post cards, models, bumper stickers and key chains was a book that became for me an invaluable reference source on NASA's launch facilities and early Apollo/Saturn missions... Moonport U.S.A. (not to be confused with the later "Moonport" title in the NASA History Series).

More Kennedy Space Center Photographs

Vehicle Assembly Building
and Mobile Launch Towers 		     
Apollo Saturn Facilities
Test Vehicle AS-500F
Rollout of AS-501
(Apollo 4)
Launch Pad 39A and
Crawlerway to VAB
See this website's Project Apollo Archive
for more Kennedy Space Center photographs and memorabilia


"It's Been A Long Way..."
Apollo 14 - Alan Shepard on the Moon July 1971 National Geographic - Apollo 14 cover In January of 1971, the Apollo program got back on its feet with the successful moon landing of Apollo 14, commanded by Alan Shepard, America's first man in space (Mercury Redstone 3). One of the most memorable moments during the Apollo 14 moonwalk was a lighthearted one in which Shepard whacked a golf ball for "miles and miles" on the moon's surface.

Apollo 14 audio segments
Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 14 multimedia clips.
Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery
for more high-quality Apollo 14 images


"Man Must Explore"
launch of Apollo 15, July 26, 1971 The summer of 1971 found my family back at Cape Kennedy, but this time our vacation was timed to coincide with a moon launch. On the morning of July 26, 1971, we stood along a crowded causeway several miles from Pad 39A awaiting the liftoff. A cousin operated our Super 8 movie camera while I watched through binoculars. When the Saturn V's engines ignited, a cloud of smoke billowed outward immediately and obscured our view, but in a few seconds, the rocket emerged from the exhaust cloud atop a brilliant flame. It was just about then that the initial shockwave from the thundering F-1 engines reached us...an incredible rumble that lasted for several minutes as the rocket slowly rose and arced in a southeasterly direction out over the Atlantic Ocean. Visibility was excellent that day, and we were able to follow the rocket for several minutes, even up to the point of booster stage separation (which was accompanied by a sudden flaring of exhaust around the vehicle). Apollo 15 was on its way to the moon, carrying with it a new vehicle...the Lunar Rover.

The day prior to the launch of Apollo 15, we had toured the Kennedy Space Center once again, and had viewed the launch vehicle from close proximity (as close as visitors were allowed, that is...see the movie clip below). At one point during the tourbus ride, we had caught sight of a trio of Corvettes, one red, one blue and one yellow, parked outside the small beachhouse retreat for the crewmen.

Apollo 15 Live TV Frame In a few days, our vacation took us to Florida's west coast and Sanibel Island, and I found myself facing a serious dilemna. There was sunshine, sand and the ocean just outside our beachfront cottage, but at the same time, two of Apollo 15's astronauts were Apollo 15 Live TV Frame not just walking, but also driving around on the moon! Actually for me, the choice was quite simple, and despite my father's displeasure, I watched every minute of TV coverage of the moonwalk. I didn't mind. After all, there was no such thing as a home VCR back then, and I wasn't about to miss history in the making.

Apollo 15 Photographs

Detailed view of
Apollo 15 launch
Astronaut Dave Scott and
Rover at Hadley Rille
Apollo 15 CSM
in lunar orbit
Apollo 15 splashdown
with fouled main chute
Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery
for more high-quality Apollo 15 images

Apollo 15 audio segments
Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 15 multimedia clips.



Prime-Time Apollo
April 15-21, 1972 TV Guide Featuring Apollo 16 Crew The quality of color television images from the Moon had improved dramatically with Apollo 15, and would continue to improve with each remaining mission. Despite this, and despite extended prime-time coverage given to the Apollo 16 mission, the general television audience had become bored with the moonwalks, and many began to consider them routine and tedious. This turn of events was predictable, Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin and Lunar Rover yet sadly ironic, in that it was with Apollo 15 that exploration of the Moon had truly begun, with challenging and geologically significant landing sites, and multiple and extended EVAs utilizing the Lunar Roving Vehicle to traverse far greater distances than with previous missions (the total traversal for the first three lunar landings was a meager 5.5 kilometers - Apollo 15's alone was 28 km., and missions 15, 16 and 17 racked up a whopping 90 km. of total lunar traversal!).

Apollo 16 astronaut Charles M. Duke at Plum Crater Apollo 16 continued the lunar "J" mission series in April of 1972, landing in the Moon's Descartes region. The J-Missions (Apollo 15, 16 and 17) differed TV frame of LM ascent stage ignition from the previous Apollo flights in that, in addition to carrying a LRV, they each used more advanced versions of the Apollo Lunar Module and Command and Service Modules. Also, on each of these missions, while the Commander and Lunar Module Pilot explored the moon's surface, the Command Module Pilot was busy in orbit using the spacecraft's SIM (Scientific Instrument Module) to photographically map the Moon and to perform a variety of sensing experiments.

Apollo 16 audio segments
Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 16 multimedia clips.
Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery
for more high-quality Apollo 16 images


Contact Light
In the Fall of 1972, with the final Apollo mission only a couple of months away, I had suddenly found a new obsession, and one that would eventually determine my choice of a career. It began as a Junior in high school when a fellow classmate showed me a roll of paper containing a series of somewhat-perplexing typewritten sentences, words and symbols. I quickly learned that this was the log of an interactive session between a teletype machine in the school's Physics office and a remote computer elsewhere in town.

It was Apollo itself that had introduced me to the concept of computer programming, specifically by way of the detailed descriptions of the onboard computer systems provided by John Noble Wilford in his book "We Reach The Moon." I found Apollo's "DSKY" (Display Keyboard) interface, and its simple but powerful NOUN/VERB, data/action command and programming system detailed in the book particularly fascinating. So, it was only natural that I took quickly to the Honeywell "time-sharing" system to which I discovered I had access through my high school's klunky and noisy teletype. Not only was I able to play and work with an honest-to-God computer, but among its many programs was a text-based lunar landing simulator!

For this website, I have incorporated elements of the original 1970's lunar lander program into a JavaScript version which you can play from your browser. Click on the lander display to the right to load the simulator from http://www.retroweb.com/lander.html. Land safely to see a special message and photograph from man's last mission to the Moon. APOLLO LUNAR LANDER SIMULATOR click to fly the Apollo Lunar Landing Simulator
requires JavaScript1.1-capable browsers such as Netscape Navigator v3.x and Microsoft Internet Explorer v4.x

The Grand Finale
portion of Apollo 17 Station 5 pan - courtesy David Harland
Portion of an Apollo 17 panoramic view taken at Taurus-Littrow "Station 5"
 (courtesy David Harland)

Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt Apollo 17 Live TV Frame - Schmitt prepares to photograph Cernan and Flag With December of 1972 arrived the end of the manned lunar expeditions as Apollo 17 journeyed to the Moon's Taurus-Littrow region. The final mission, which commenced with the first night launch of a Saturn V, was the only Apollo mission to include an astronaut-scientist, Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt, who held a Ph.D. in geology. Apollo 17 set records for total duration of lunar EVA's (22 hours), distance driven with the LRV (36 km.) and lunar samples collected (254 lbs.), and brought the manned lunar landing missions to conclusion in grand fashion with a spectacular televised lunar liftoff.

Apollo 17 audio segments
Visit the Project Apollo Archive for Apollo 17 multimedia clips.
Also visit the Project Apollo Image Gallery
for more high-quality Apollo 17 images

Post-Apollo
Although the excitement of the lunar landing missions was gone, remnants of the Apollo program continued into the mid-seventies with the Skylab missions (using a Saturn SIV-B stage converted into an orbiting laboratory) and ended in 1975 with the Apollo-Soyuz "Test Project" in which astronauts (including Deke Slayton from the "original seven") in an Apollo spacecraft rendezvoused and docked with a Soviet crew in a Soyuz spacecraft.

On July 20, 1984, Apollo came full circle for me when I attended an anniversary event at the National Air and Space Museum in DC. On hand for the panel discussion and Lunar Landing Party that evening were three moonwalkers, Alan Bean (Apollo 12), Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17) and Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11). It was a memorable birthday for me as we watched a replay of the Apollo 11 ladder descent and first steps, timed to the minute with the actual event that same day in 1969. I am not an autograph collector, but on that day, I not only got an autograph, but also a handshake, from a man who precisely fifteen years prior to that moment had been standing on the surface of the Moon. (Note: My Apollo anniversary experiences would not end here. See below the Apollo 11 30th Anniversary addendum to this retrospective)

The Apollo Legacy
On December 13, 1972, Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan left the last human footprint on the lunar surface as man's exploration of the moon came to an end, an event at that time considered insignificant by most Americans, for whom the climactic excitement of Neil Armstrong's first step three years earlier had long faded. "Been there, done that" would sum up the general attitude in today's lingo, and in fact, as awe-inspiring and exciting as the lunar landing missions were to many like myself, the harsh reality was that the Apollo program was very expensive, and the scientific payoff was too narrow in scope to continue the lunar landings at such costs.

But, it had been worth every penny.

More than simply a means of unravelling the mysteries of the Moon, and despite its roots in cold war oneupmanship, the Apollo program provided a generation with a technical challenge and unifying source of inspiration unlike anything in recent human history, and will most likely remain unmatched in this regard for the foreseeable future. Many like myself owe their choice of technical, scientific and engineering careers at least partly to the inspiration of Apollo. More importantly, with Apollo, our 300,000-year-old species at long last broke the bonds of the Earth and took its first "giant leap" into the Universe.

For those of you who were there in 1969, I hope you enjoyed this nostalgic look back at Project Apollo. For those not around or too young to recall, I hope "Contact Light" has given you some sense of what you missed, and here is hoping that we will all again be witness in our lifetimes to an achievement as grand, as glorious and as significant.

Kipp Teague
September, 1998

Apollo 11 30th Anniversary Addendum
July 24, 1999
When I began work on "Contact Light" a year ago, I never envisioned that on July 16, 1999, I would be standing in a re-created Apollo firing room at Kennedy Space Center, face to face with four Apollo astronauts, thirty years from the day on which two of those same astronauts lifted off for the Moon from a launch pad just three miles away. But there I was, and there they were: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan and Walter Cunningham, seated in front of the firing room consoles at the Saturn V Center, fielding questions from the press. I was even bold enough to pose a question to Neil Armstrong about whether he was planning to write a memoir, to which he simply smiled and replied "No, not at this time."

Not far away, at the Launch Complex 39 press site, the U.S. flag flew at half-mast for the astronauts' fallen comrade, Pete Conrad, who had died earlier in the month from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident (and whose death reminds us that the number of human beings who have visited the Moon will for the foreseeable future continue to dwindle rather than increase).

Thirty years after Apollo 11, the legacy of Apollo remains pervasive at Kennedy Space Center: the Saturn V vehicle on display, the massive Vehicle Assembly Building and crawler, and the historic Launch Complex 39 pad A. On pad B (from which Apollo 10 lifted off), Space Shuttle Columbia stood waiting to continue the human adventure in space and to extend our view into the universe by delivering into orbit the Chandra X-Ray telescope.

Although the shuttle Columbia did not launch on July 20 as was planned, the atmosphere was electric that evening as crowds flocked to the causeways and beaches to view the launch and as reporters and photographers awaited liftoff at the press site. The excitement reminded me that, while we may never again experience anything akin to the Apollo 11 lunar landing, the dream is indeed still alive and the frontier of space still beckons. I must confess, however, as I stood in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building, I longed to see just one more Saturn V roll through its doors and out to the launch pad.

Apollo Saturn Facilities Test Vehicle AS-500F         Apollo 17 Commander Gene Cernan on the Moon

Visit this web site's Project Apollo Archive for further information on the Apollo program, including a mission chronology, a list of Apollo crews, diagrams and maps, multimedia clips, a list of available books and videos, links, a mailing list signup form and an extensive Apollo Image Gallery

Mission and launch vehicle photographs on this page are courtesy of
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

This RetroWeb page Copyright © Kipp Teague
(This page debuted on June 8, 1998)

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