The Apollo program was a series of space missions undertaken by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the 1960s and 1970s with the goal of landing humans on the Moon and returning them safely to Earth. The program was named after the Greek god of the Sun, Apollo. The Apollo program was the third human spaceflight program carried out by NASA, following the Mercury and Gemini programs.
The Apollo program was a massive undertaking, involving thousands of people working on a variety of tasks, from designing and building the spacecraft to training the astronauts and supporting the missions from the ground. The program included 11 missions, with the first, Apollo 1, ending in tragedy when a fire broke out in the spacecraft during a pre-launch test.
The first manned mission, Apollo 7, took place in October 1968 and was followed by six more missions that explored the surface of the Moon. The final three missions, known as the "J missions," focused on conducting scientific experiments and studying the Moon's surface in more detail.
The Apollo program achieved its goal of landing humans on the Moon with the Apollo 11 mission, which took place in July 1969. The mission's two astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, became the first humans to set foot on the Moon. The program continued with five more Moon landings, the last of which, Apollo 17, took place in December 1972.
The Apollo program was a major achievement for NASA and the United States, and it remains one of the most significant events in the history of space exploration.