Apollo programme

The Apollo program was NASA’s third human spaceflight programme. A total of 11 spaceflights were carried out, the first Apollo flight was in 1968, with the first Moon landing shortly after in 1969 and the last in 1972. Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to the Moon, it circled but did not land on surface. Apollo 11 was the first mission to land on the Moon, the crew included Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.

Michael Collins: Apollo 11 command module pilot © NASA/JSC

Profile Michael Collins: Apollo 11 command module pilot

What does lunar dust smell like? © NASA

What does lunar dust smell like?

Everything you ever wanted to know about… illusions, magic and the paranormal with prof Richard Wiseman

Everything you ever wanted to know about… Illusions, magic and the paranormal with prof Richard Wiseman

Apollo 13: Astronauts recall tense moments on stricken spacecraft (The Apollo 13 lunar module photographed from the command module just after the lunar module was jettisoned, about an hour before splashdown © AP)

Apollo 13 "We never got to a point where we said, ‘Well, we’re going to die’”

Kevin Fong: What happened to Apollo 13? (The severely damaged Apollo 13 Service Module photographed from the Lunar Module/Command Module © NASA)

Kevin Fong What happened to Apollo 13?

Katherine Johnson © Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Katherine Johnson Mathematician and NASA pioneer dies age 101

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Apollo programme © NASA

Q&A special Everything you ever wanted to know about the Apollo programme

Really, really big books about space © Getty Images

8 really, really big books about space

Why we need to go back to the Moon © NASA

The Apollo programme Why we need to go back to the Moon

50 beautiful photos of the Moon landing missions from the Project Apollo Archives All images © NASA/Flickr/Project Apollo Archives

Project Apollo Archives 50 beautiful pictures of the Moon

How 22kg of lunar rocks delivered by Apollo 11 changed our understanding of how the Moon formed (Apollo 11 brought back the first samples from the Moon – seen here arriving at the Lunar Receiving Lab in Houston, Texas © Getty Images)

Apollo 11 How 22kg of lunar rocks changed our understanding of how the Moon formed

24 July 1969 Half an hour after ‘landing’, the Apollo 11 crew, dressed in isolation suits, are met and extracted by a navy diver before being airlifted to the USS Hornet (above). © NASA/JSC

Apollo 11 16.50 GMT, 24 July 1969: Splashdown

In a vacuum chamber at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston, 5.5kg of rocks from the Moon are carefully unloaded for analysis © NASA/JSC

Is it true that Apollo Moon rock samples went missing?

In pictures: Apollo 11 astronauts' exploits on the Moon © NASA/JPL

In pictures Apollo 11 astronauts' exploits on the Moon

On air, on the Moon: BBC presenters recall the night of the Moon landing © BBC

On air, on the Moon BBC presenters recall the night of the Moon landing