Apollo

The Artemis II mission, which will return US astronauts to lunar space, has run into problems that have critics demanding NASA remove the crew from the flight for safety reasons. The bigger question is, why do we have astronauts at all?

Looking back at data from the geology experiments left on the lunar surface by the Apollo missions half a century ago, scientists have finally determined that the Moon has a solid core surrounded by a fluid outer core similar to the Earth's.

Fifty years ago this week, Apollo 15 lifted off on the first true lunar exploration mission. Using an improved Lunar Module, the ninth crewed Apollo mission featured the first vehicle to drive on the Moon, allowing astronauts to roam farther than ever before.

Fifty years ago today, on January 31, 1971, a Saturn V rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center carrying Apollo 14`. As the follow-on from the ill-fated Apollo 13, this was the Moon mission that would make or break the US space program.

This weekend marks 50 years since the launch of Apollo 13. Only seven months after Apollo 11, the third manned lunar landing attempt was already seen as routine, but it would become one of the most remarkable stories of survival in history.

Apollo astronaut Colonel Alfred Merrill "Al" Worden has died at the age of 88. Worden was the Command Module Pilot for the 1971 Apollo 15 lunar landing mission, where he remained in orbit while his crewmates descended to the lunar surface.

On November 14, 1969, the second manned mission to land on the Moon lifted off from Cape Kennedy. Four months after the historic Apollo 11 landing, it was the first true manned exploration mission to the lunar surface. But why return to the Moon?

When the Apollo 11 astronauts set foot on the Moon, one of their main tasks was to break out a special tool kit that they used for collecting samples of rock and soil for return to Earth. Now Comex is working to create an updated version to be used by the next generation of lunar explorers.

Fifty years ago, two men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the surface of the Moon. That's a very simple sentence to write, but getting to grips with what is almost certainly one of the most momentous events in the whole of human history is far less easy. So what was Apollo 11?

NASA has opened the doors to the restored Mission Control Center (MCC) from which Apollo-era flight controllers guided astronauts on the first bold voyages to the Moon. The agency has also released a time-lapse video showing the multimillion-dollar project unfold.

This is the story of the Apollo Guidance Computer that helped the Apollo astronauts safely navigate to the Moon. It was a computer that was so advanced that the engineers who created it said they probably wouldn't have tried to do so if they'd known what they were getting themselves into.

Fifty years ago and a quarter of a million miles away, three astronauts carried out the dress rehearsal for one of the greatest events in human history. On May 18, 1969, Apollo 10 lifted off. Its mission: to return to the Moon and pave the way for the Apollo 11 lunar landing two months later.