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[[Image:Apollo 17.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Apollo 17 on the launchpad.]]

[[Image:Apollo 17.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Apollo 17 on the launchpad.]]

'''Project Apollo''' began when [[United States]] President [[John F. Kennedy]] proposed that America put a man on the [[Moon]] by the end of the 1960s. In 1969 his dream came true with [[Apollo 11]] when [[Neil Armstrong]] became the first man to walk on the moon.  However, this success was not without costs. Less than a year later, the aborted mission [[Apollo 13]] almost resulted in the death of the crewmembers.  Only extraordinary measures by the flight team on the ground and in the spacecraft prevented it from becoming a tragedy. But tragedy was not fully avoided; three astronauts, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, had been killed three years earlier in a fire on Apollo 1 while the rocket was on the launch pad.  

'''Project Apollo''' is the pride of American spaceflight. It began when [[United States]] President [[John F. Kennedy]] proposed that America put a man on the [[Moon]] by the end of the 1960s. In 1969 his dream came true with [[Apollo 11]] when [[Neil Armstrong]] became the first man to walk on the moon.  However, this success was not without costs. Less than a year later, the aborted mission [[Apollo 13]] almost resulted in the death of the crewmembers.  Only extraordinary measures by the flight team on the ground and in the spacecraft prevented it from becoming a tragedy. But tragedy was not fully avoided; three astronauts, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, had been killed three years earlier in a fire on Apollo 1 while the rocket was on the launch pad.  

Beginning with Apollo 15, a small electric car was used to transport the astronauts across the surface of the moon. A total of twelve men walked on the moon, but after Apollo 17 in 1972, the program came to an end.  The Saturn 5 booster constructed for Apollo 18 carried Skylab, America's first space station, into orbit.

Beginning with Apollo 15, a small electric car was used to transport the astronauts across the surface of the moon. A total of twelve men walked on the moon, but after Apollo 17 in 1972, the program came to an end.  The Saturn 5 booster constructed for Apollo 18 carried Skylab, America's first space station, into orbit.