Apollo Program 40th Anniversary Program Booklet, Flown Metal Coin, NASA 40th Pin

Description

2009, Apollo 40 years Booklet, Flown metal Medallion, and Official NASA Apollo 40 years pin
Pictures and stories of ALL Apollo program missions 1-17, Crews, Vehicles, Lunar Rovers
Apollo 40 years Booklet
has 26 pages, plus inner and outer covers
Excellent used condition with no folds, tears, dog ears, or writing. Colors and Graphics are Outstanding
Apollo 40 years Flown Metal Medallion
is in Perfect condition, and is in its Original Protective Plastic Capsule
Official NASA Apollo 40 years pin
is also in Perfect condition and still in its Original Protective Bag
Please see ALL attached pictures
Shipping includes a Tracking Number
Apollo program
The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the third United States
human spaceflight
program carried out by the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), which succeeded in preparing and
landing
the first humans on the
Moon
from
1968
to
1972
. It was first conceived during
Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration
as a three-person spacecraft to follow the one-person
Project Mercury
, which put the first Americans in space. Apollo was later dedicated to President
John F. Kennedy
's national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in an address to
Congress
on May 25, 1961. It was the third US human spaceflight program to fly, preceded by the two-person
Project Gemini
conceived in 1961 to extend spaceflight capability in support of Apollo.
Kennedy's goal was accomplished on the
Apollo 11
mission when astronauts
Neil Armstrong
and
Buzz Aldrin
landed their
Apollo Lunar Module
(LM) on July 20, 1969, and walked on the lunar surface, while
Michael Collins
remained in
lunar orbit
in the
command and service module
(CSM), and all three landed safely on Earth on July 24. Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed
astronauts
on the Moon, the last,
Apollo 17
, in December 1972. In these six spaceflights,
twelve people walked on the Moon
.
Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first crewed flight in 1968. It encountered a major setback in 1967 when an
Apollo 1
cabin fire killed the entire crew during a prelaunch test. After the first successful landing, sufficient flight hardware remained for nine follow-on landings with a plan for extended lunar
geological
and
astrophysical
exploration. Budget cuts forced the cancellation of three of these. Five of the remaining six missions achieved successful landings, but the
Apollo 13
landing was prevented by an oxygen tank explosion in transit to the Moon, which destroyed the service module's capability to provide electrical power, crippling the CSM's propulsion and life support systems. The crew returned to Earth safely by using the lunar module as a "lifeboat" for these functions. Apollo used the
Saturn family of rockets
as launch vehicles, which were also used for an
Apollo Applications Program
, which consisted of
Skylab
, a
space station
that supported three crewed missions in 1973–74, and
Apollo–Soyuz
, a joint US–
Soviet Union
Earth-orbit mission in 1975.
Apollo set several major
human spaceflight milestones
. It stands alone in sending crewed missions beyond
low Earth orbit
.
Apollo 8
was the first crewed spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, and Apollo 11 was the first crewed spacecraft to land humans on one.
Overall the Apollo program returned 842 pounds (382 kg) of lunar rocks and
soil
to Earth, greatly contributing to the understanding of the Moon's composition and geological history. The program laid the foundation for NASA's subsequent human spaceflight capability, and funded construction of its
Johnson Space Center
and
Kennedy Space Center
. Apollo also spurred advances in many areas of technology incidental to rocketry and human spaceflight, including
avionics
, telecommunications, and computers.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (June 17, 2009)
– Just 40 years ago, the Earth stood still to watch in awe as the crew of Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. Four days earlier, the intrepid crew of three men, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, launched aboard the massive Saturn V rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center carrying the hopes and dreams of mankind with them. The Apollo program changed the way we looked at ourselves, as travelers beyond Earth.
40th Anniversary Celebration at the
Apollo/Saturn V Center
(July 16, 2009)
Celebrate 40 years of the first steps on the moon at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, the launching point of all Apollo missions, on July 16, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. This date marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
An elite group of special astronaut guests are scheduled to celebrate the
40th Anniversary of the Apollo program
during a public ceremony at the
Apollo/Saturn V Center
sharing their personal stories with guests from underneath a gigantic 363-foot long Saturn V rocket, including:
Walt Cunningham, Lunar Module Pilot, Apollo 7
Buzz Aldrin, Lunar Module Pilot, Apollo 11
Edgar Mitchell, Lunar Module Pilot, Apollo 14
Al Worden, Command Module Pilot, Apollo 15
Charlie Duke, Lunar Module Pilot, Apollo 16
Vance Brand, Apollo Command Module Pilot, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project; Apollo 8 and 13 support crewman, Apollo 15 backup command module pilot
Jerry Carr, Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) for Apollo 8 and 12, Skylab 4
Bruce McCandless, Apollo 14 astronaut support crew, STS-41B and STS-31 astronaut