Ask someone if they know the names of the astronauts who have walked on the Moon, and most people would be able to list Neil Armstrong, and maybe even Buzz Aldrin. But can you name the rest of the Apollo astronauts who made it down to the lunar surface? How many people have walked on the Moon?
In total twelve people have walked on the Moon. Besides Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – who were the first two astronauts to leave their bootprints on the Moon — there were also Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John Young, Charles Duke, Eugene Cernan, and Harrison Schmitt.
Interestingly, out of the dozen people who walked on the Moon, no one ever did it more than once.
Here’s some additional information about the men who walked on the Moon and their missions:
Pete Conrad and Alan Bean were the Moon walkers on the Apollo 12 mission. The Apollo 12 crew experienced two lightning strikes just after their Saturn V rocket launched on November 14, 1969. The jolts knocked out the guidance system and power for a time, but thanks to quick thinking by Mission Control and Alan Bean, the systems were recovered. The Apollo 12 crew proved they could make a pin-point landing, touching down just 185 meters (600 feet) from the Surveyor 3 unmanned spacecraft. During one of their EVAs, Conrad and Bean walked to the Surveyor 3 spacecraft and removed pieces of it bring back to Earth for analysis. Conrad and Bean were on the Moon for two days, November 19 and 20, 1969.
The next mission to launch to the Moon was Apollo 13, but because an oxygen tank on the spacecraft’s Service Module exploded two days after launch, the crew was not able to land on the Moon – and a harrowing and spectacular recovery ensued. You can find out more about the Apollo 13 mission here.
David Scott and James Irwin landed on the Moon on July 31, 1971 for the Apollo 15 mission, staying for three days, until August 2nd. Unlike the previous missions which landed on the flat lunar plains, the Apollo 15 landed between two mountains in an area called Hadley Rille. The two astronauts spent 18½ hours outside the spacecraft on lunar extra-vehicular activity (EVA), and this time the Apollo crew brought along the first lunar rover, which allowed them to travel much farther from the Lunar Module than previous missions. During three moonwalks, Scott and Irwin deployed several science experiments and collected 77 kg (170 lb) of lunar rock samples.
John Young and Charles Duke were the next men to walk on the Moon with the Apollo 16 mission. When the crew reached lunar orbit, the mission almost had to be aborted because of a problem with Command/Service Module’s main engine. They landed though, and it was the first mission to land in the lunar highlands. They were on the lunar surface for three days, from April 21 to 23, 1972. John Young and Charles Duke spent 71 hours — just under three days — on the lunar surface, during which they conducted three moonwalks, totaling 20 hours and 14 minutes. The pair drove the lunar rover a total of 26.7 kilometres (16.6 miles).
The final people to walk on the Moon were Eugene (Gene) Cernan and Harrison (Jack) Schmitt. They launched of the first night-time liftoff of the Saturn V rocket, and the astronauts of Apollo 17 landed on the Moon on December 11, 1972. Their three-day stay on the Moon lunar surface included three moonwalks,where they collected lunar samples and deployed scientific instruments. The Apollo 17 crew returned to Earth on December 19 after a 12-day mission. Before he left the Moon, Cernan scratched the initials of his daughter Tracy into the lunar regolith. Since the Moon does not experience weather conditions like wind or rain to erode anything away, her initials should stay there for a very long time.
And since 1972, no person has been either on the Moon or in lunar orbit.
And even though no one has landed on the Moon more than once, three different astronauts have actually traveled to the Moon more than once. Jim Lovell orbited the Moon on Apollo 8 and flew around the Moon on the aborted Apollo 13 mission. John Young and Gene Cernan were both on Apollo 10 which orbited the Moon, and then later Young walked on the moon on Apollo 16, and Cernan walked on the Moon during Apollo 17. Apollo mission.
For more information on the Apollo program see:
NASA’s Apollo Missions website
Kennedy Space Center’s Apollo mission website, which includes a gallery of images
The Lunar and Planetary Institute’s Lunar Missions Timeline
The long-awaited detection of gravitational waves has opened up a whole new world of astronomy.…
When it comes to exploring our planetary neighbours, Mars tends to get a lot of…
I’ve used this fact a gazillion times; every atom in your body has been through…
Nature is filled with examples of extreme life (aka. extremophiles), which are so-called because they…
In the last couple of decades, it's become increasingly clear that massive galaxies like our…
Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS may put on a quick show this month. Comet G3 ATLAS…