Mission Designations

There were, in total, fourteen Apollo missions, beginning with Apollo 4 and ending with Apollo 17. The first three were unmanned flight tests. The next three were manned tests in low Earth orbit, with the exception that the fifth mission, Apollo 8, which was rerouted to circumnavigate the Moon to put the final nail in the coffin of any Soviet aspirations. The remaining eight missions went to the Moon itself; and of those eight, six landed men on its surface.

Each mission had a designation letter, A through J. Each letter stood for a mission objective, and each mission objective progressed logically and sequentially to the next up to the final goal, which was not just a lunar landing, but maximized lunar exploration.

Here are the designations:

A – Unmanned tests of the Saturn V and the Command Module

   These missions were Apollo 4 and Apollo 6.

B – Unmanned tests of the Saturn V with the Lunar Module

   This was done once, with Apollo 5.

C – Manned tests of the Command Module in low Earth orbit

   This was done once, Apollo 7.

D – Manned tests of the Lunar Module in low Earth orbit

   Done once, Apollo 9.

E – Further D missions in high Earth altitude

   These were never done.

F – Scouting landing area and a dress rehearsal for landing

   This was the Apollo 10 mission.

G – Lunar landing

   Accomplished by Armstrong and Aldrin in Apollo 11.

H – Missions using the same basic equipment as G but landing in new areas and exploring farther

   These were the Apollo 12 and 14 missions (and what 13 was supposed to be).

I – Lunar orbital missions – via a Command Module but without a Lunar Module

   These missions were skipped due to time and budgetary constraints.

J – Extended missions with modifications to double the amount of surface time

   The Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions. For the J missions, the Lunar Module was different. It held more equipment, had bigger tanks and improved landing engines. More fuel and more water and oxygen – enough to double the lunar stay from about 36 hours to 68 hours. Astronauts could remove their spacesuits in the Lunar Module, something the men on Apollo 12 and 14 could not.

   Additionally, for the Command Module Pilot astronaut, who stayed in lunar orbit while his two associates descended to the Moon’s surface, there was something new to look forward to: retrieval of film from the SIM (Scientific Instrument Module), which required an EVA – an extra-vehicular activity, in this case, a space-walk – in trans-lunar space.

What about Apollos 1, 2, and 3 – why aren’t they listed above? And what was the scoop with Apollo 8? Well, check back, I’ll get to all that in the next couple of days …