Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter
Earth's Moon
You probably already know that the first person on the Moon was Neil Armstrong, but how many others have walked on the Moon? Altogether, 12 people have walked on the surface of our planet’s satellite. These astronauts were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John W. Young, Charles Duke, Eugene Cernan, and Harrison Schmidt. No woman has ever walked on the Moon as there were not yet women in the space program during the Apollo missions. None of those who walked on the Moon ever did it more than once.
On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the Moon. He was soon followed by Buzz Aldrin, a fellow astronaut on the Apollo 11.
Pete Conrad and Alan Bean were on the Apollo 12 mission. The Apollo 12 crew experienced the most difficult launch of all the Apollo missions because there were lightening strikes after takeoff, which knocked out the guidance system and power for a time. They were on the Moon for two days between the 19th and 20th of November 1969.
The next two people to set foot on the Moon were Alan B. Shepard and Edgar Mitchell who were part of the Apollo 14 mission. They landed on the satellite on February 9th 1971. While on the Moon, Shepard fashioned a golf club and tried hitting golf balls.
David Scott and James Irwin landed on the Moon on July 31, 1971 and stayed there until August 2nd. Unlike the previous missions which landed on the flat lunar plains, the Apollo 15 landed between two mountains.
John Young and Charles Duke were the next people to walk on the Moon. They were on the satellite from April 21 to 23, 1972. Young was the commander of the Apollo 16 during the mission, which was almost aborted because there was a problem with the command module. They landed though, and it was actually the first mission where they landed in the highlands.
The final people to walk on the Moon were Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt. The astronauts of the Apollo 17 landed on the Moon on December 11th 1972 and left it on the 14th. Before he left the Moon, he wrote his daughter’s initials on the surface. Since the satellite does not experience weather conditions, her initials would have stayed there for a very long time. Since 1972, no one has been on the Moon.
Universe Today has articles on the first man on the Moon and the flag on the Moon.
For more information, check out the Apollo program and NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide on the Moon.
Astronomy Cast has an episode on the Moon.
References:
NASA: Which astronauts walked on the Moon?
NASA: What Was the Apollo Program?
Comments on this entry are closed.