List of Apollo mission types

In September 1967, Owen Maynard of the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas proposed a series of Apollo missions that would lead up to a manned lunar landing.[1] Seven mission types were outlined, each testing a specific set of components and tasks, and each previous step would need to be completed successfully before the next mission type could be undertaken.[2] These were:

The planned sequence was changed when it became clear the first manned Lunar Module, LM-3, would not be ready in time for the December 1968 launch of Apollo 8, so this was flown as a lunar orbital mission using just the CSM (sometimes referred to as "a C Prime mission") and the E mission was canceled.

  • F – Manned CSM and LM operations in lunar orbit, a "dress rehearsal" for the first landing (Apollo 10)
  • G – First manned lunar landing (Apollo 11)
  • H – precision landings with up to two-day stays on the Moon, with two lunar extravehicular activities or "moonwalks" (Apollo 12, Apollo 13 (planned), Apollo 14)
  • I – long duration CSM lunar orbital surveys using a Scientific Instrument Module mounted in an empty Service Module bay. These were incorporated into the J missions.
  • J – longer three-day stays using an Extended LM, with three LEVAs and a Lunar Roving Vehicle (Apollo 15, Apollo 16, Apollo 17). Apollo 18 to 20 would have been J missions. Apollo 15 was originally planned as an H mission but was promoted to J as the program was curtailed.

References

  1. ↑ Murray, Charles, and Catherine Bly Cox. Apollo: The Race to the Moon. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989. pp. 315–16.
  2. ↑ "Part 2(D) – July through September 1967". The Apollo Spacecraft – A Chronology. Volume IV. NASA. 1975. Retrieved 2008-01-29.

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