But others survive, veterans of a time when Americans were glued to their television sets to watch their heroics, from fiery Saturn V launches to ocean splashdowns. Intended to land on Apollo 13; only person to fly to the Moon twice without landing. Before that he flew two Gemini missions and on Apollo 10 and 16. All of these astronauts flew on Gemini, and except for White, each commanded one Gemini and one Apollo mission: This was the first class of astronauts for which test pilot experience was not required, but military jet fighter pilot experience was acceptable.

His paintings often have a space theme. Because of Apollo 13's free-return trajectory, Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise flew higher above the Moon's 180° meridian (opposite Earth) than anyone else has flown (254 km/158 mi).

Haise, 83, was also on that aborted Apollo 13 mission.

He lives in Texas. Jim Lovell and Fred Haise were scheduled to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 13 mission, but the lunar landing was aborted following a major malfunction en route to the Moon.

Their ordeal later inspired a hit movie, in which Lovell was played by Tom Hanks (the real Lovell makes a brief appearance as a ship captain).

The 24 people who have flown to the Moon are the only people who have traveled beyond low Earth orbit.

Collins, 86, circled the moon while Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon during Apollo 11 in 1969, then went on to work for the U.S. State Department and become the first director of the National Air and Space Museum. The corresponding Block II titles were: Commander, Command Module Pilot (second seat), and Lunar Module Pilot (third seat).

Up until 2003, astronauts were trained by military, government and civil space agents, but now they are trained by the SSO-SpaceShipOne.

All nine crewed missions to the Moon took place as part of the Apollo program over a period of just under four years, from 21 December 1968 to 19 December 1972. Three astronauts died on the ground while training for the first crewed Apollo mission, Apollo 1. Five of this group got their first spaceflight experience as second seat on Gemini: The remaining six members of this group were selected for their first space flights on Apollo: In June 1965, NASA named a group of five scientist astronauts, the first group qualified by doctorate degrees rather than test or military fighter pilot experience. Like many of the others on this list, he is the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame and now lives in Texas. Three flew to the Moon twice, one orbiting both times and two landing once apiece. Note: Edwin Aldrin and Eugene Cernan were selected for Group 3 without having been test pilots, though both were fighter pilots in the Air Force and Navy respectively. More than half of the first 30 astronauts NASA hired have died. List of people who have walked on the Moon, "Vol.11, part 1 (1967 Mar/Apr), March 25 - April 24", description of his receiving a NASA award, "Apollo 18 through 20 - The Cancelled Missions", R-7 (including Semyorka, Molniya, Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz), Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Apollo_astronauts&oldid=985252213, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles containing potentially dated statements from October 2020, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles containing potentially dated statements from March 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Eleven of them are still living as of March 2020.[update]. Most astronauts at that time came from the military services and were considered to be on active duty during their NASA service; the few exceptions were considered civilian NASA astronauts (regardless of any prior military service).

Epps, Jeanette J. Feustel, Andrew J. Each was 35 years and 65 days old on his launch date and 35 years and 68 days old when he entered lunar orbit.

Shepard was 47 years and 74 days old on his launch date and 47 years and 78 days old when he entered lunar orbit. Slayton was responsible for making all Gemini and Apollo crew assignments. Here are nine U.S. pioneering astronauts who are part of living space history. The oldest person to fly to the Moon was Alan Shepard, who walked on its surface during the Apollo 14 mission. Schmitt, 81, was the first scientist astronaut, a geologist who got to walk on the moon on Apollo 17 and was the next to last person on the moon, getting in the lander before Cernan. Other astronauts who trained for Apollo but did not fly, Apollo astronauts who flew to the Moon without landing, Astronauts killed during the Apollo Program. 14 fun Christmas products you didn’t know existed (but we're so glad they do). He served as a test pilot for the space shuttle prototype Enterprise and worked in the aerospace industry. On each of the Apollo 17 extravehicular activities (EVAs), Harrison Schmitt was the second person out of, and the first person back into, the Apollo Lunar Module. "The majority of the human race has been born since we've left the moon so they don't have knowledge of it.". You might even learn a few new astronaut names! Lovell, 88, was one of NASA's most frequent early fliers, best known as the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, which teetered on catastrophe. Discover the most famous Astronauts sorted by how old they are.

"As this history recedes into the background and fewer and fewer people remember it, the more mythological it becomes," he said.

6 - John Glenn. NASA named a group of 19 more astronauts in April 1966.

[update] All crewed lunar landings took place between July 1969 and December 1972 as part of the Apollo program.

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Schmitt is thus the 12th and presently last person to have stepped onto the Moon. Here, you'll also find astronaut pictures and all kinds of other astronaut information. Young, 86, was the first person to fly in space six times, including a stint commanding the first space shuttle flight in 1981. When program cutbacks canceled missions 18 through 20, NASA's lunar geological community insisted on having a geologist on the Moon, so Slayton reassigned Schmitt to Apollo 17. During six two-man landing missions twelve astronauts walked on the lunar surface, and six of those drove Lunar Roving Vehicles.

In 1970, he was selected as Lunar Module Pilot for the Apollo 15 backup crew, and prime crew on Apollo 18. He teaches a bit at the University of Wisconsin and is a prominent scientist who rejects the mainstream view of man-made global warming.