The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which succeeded in preparing and landing the first men on the Moon from 1968 to 1972. It was first conceived in 1960 during President 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.
Buzz Aldrin (pictured) walked on the Moon with Neil Armstrong, on Apollo 11, July 20–21, 1969.
Earthrise, the iconic 1968 image from Apollo 8 taken by astronaut William Anders
President Kennedy delivers his proposal to put a man on the Moon before a joint session of Congress, May 25, 1961.
George Mueller, Wernher von Braun, and Eberhard Rees watch the AS-101 launch from the firing room.
Human spaceflight is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be remotely operated from ground stations on Earth, or autonomously, without any direct human involvement. People trained for spaceflight are called astronauts, cosmonauts (Russian), or taikonauts (Chinese); and non-professionals are referred to as spaceflight participants or spacefarers.
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, 1969
Gemini 4 astronaut Ed White in open space, 1965
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide taking a space selfie in 2012
International Space Station crewmember Tracy Caldwell Dyson views the Earth, 2010