Apollo Program Astronauts


Apollo 1 was supposed to be flown in February 1967, the test on 27 January 1967 was a dress rehearsal which went horribly wrong. The name was bestowed on the rehearsal after the fact as a way of honoring the sacrifice of the crew.

Three uncrewed Saturn 1B space launches took place, two of which carried Apollo space capsules, but these were not given "Apollo" numbers at the time.

Apollo 4 was an unmanned launch on 9 November 1967. It was the first launch of a Saturn V and placed the mission into earth orbit. Apollo 5 was an unmanned Saturn 1B launch on 22 January 1968 that placed an Apollo Lunar Module into earth orbit. A second Saturn V launch carried a Command Module and a simulated Lunar Module into earth orbit on 4 April 1968, this last unmanned mission was Apollo 6.

Apollo 7 was the first manned launch in the series, taking the crew into earth orbit where the Apollo hardware could be tested in space with humans aboard. Apollo 8 took the crew into a lunar orbit, so Borman, Lovell and Anders became the first humans to circle the moon and see the far side for themselves. Apollo 9 and Apollo 10 also achieved lunar orbit and tested the hardware without actually landing, although the Apollo 10 lunar module descended to within 9 miles of the lunar surface.

Although Apollo 13 failed in its stated mission of another manned moon landing because of the SM explosion, it did set one record which still holds over 55 years later, the farthest distance humans have flown from the earth. At 248,655 miles or 400,171 kilomaters from the surface of the earth the record has not yet been broken.

Twelve men have walked on the moon: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John Young, Charles Duke, Gene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt. As of early 2026 only four of the 12 are still alive.

In addition to the twelve astronauts who walked on the moon, another 12 flew to the moon and orbited it or passed close to it without landing (the latter being the Apollo 13 mission): Jim Lovell, Frank Borman, William Anders, Tom Stafford, Michael Collins, Richard Gordon, Jack Swigert, Fred Haise, Stuart Roosa, Alfred Worden, Ken Mattingly, Ron Evans. As of early 2026 only Fred Haise of this group is still alive.

Jim Lovell, John Young and Gene Cernan are the only astronauts who went to the moon twice. Young and Cernan landed on their second missions, Lovell is the only person who flew to the moon twice without ever setting foot on it, because of the Apollo 13 mishap.

As of January 2026 these are the only people who have flown to the moon. In 2027 the planned Artemis III mission by NASA is supposed to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972.

Astronauts are listed in order by mission. The people listed underneath Apollo 17 (the last Apollo mission to fly) are astronauts who were accepted into the program who never made it onto a mission. Several of these people flew on the subsequent Skylab missions, the Apollo Soyuz Test Project, and later on aboard the Space Shuttle.

As of early 2026 a total of ten astronauts who were in the Apollo program (whether they flew or not on Apollo) are still alive. The oldest is Buzz Aldrin who will turn 96 if he lives another week, on 20 January 2026. The youngest is Edward Gibson, who was born 8 November 1936. He did not fly on an Apollo mission but made it into space on the Skylab 4 mission.

Name	Birthday	Death Date	Cemetery	City	County	State	Country	Notes
Grissom, Gus	4/3/1926	1/27/1967	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Mercury-Redstone 4 (suborbital), Gemini 3, Apollo 1 (died in the command module fire on the launchpad)
Chaffee, Roger Bruce	2/15/1935	1/27/1967	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	No actual spaceflight experience, Apollo 1, Pilot (died in the command module fire on the launchpad)
White, Edward Higgins	11/14/1930	1/27/1967	United States Military Academy West Point Post Cemetery	West Point	Orange	New York	USA	Gemini 4, Apollo 1, Senior Pilot (died in the command module fire on the launchpad)
Eisele, Donn Fulton	6/23/1930	12/1/1987	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Apollo 7, CM Pilot, earth orbit only
Schirra, Wally	3/12/1923	5/3/2007	Not Known (There is a cenotaph for him at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery but he is not buried there)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Apollo 7, Commander, earth orbit only
Cunningham, Walter	3/16/1932	1/3/2023	Texas State Cemetery	Austin	Travis	Texas	USA	Apollo 7, LM Pilot, earth orbit only (designated as such even though there was no LM on this mission)
Lovell, Jim	3/25/1928	8/7/2025	United States Naval Academy Cemetery	Annapolis	Anne Arundel	Maryland	USA	Apollo 8, CM Pilot, lunar orbit only, Apollo 13, Commander, circumlunar trajectory with return to Earth after Command Module failure
Borman, Frank	3/14/1928	11/7/2023	United States Military Academy West Point Post Cemetery	West Point	Orange	New York	USA	Apollo 8, Commander, lunar orbit only
Anders, William Alison	10/17/1933	6/7/2024	United States Naval Academy Cemetery	Annapolis	Anne Arundel	Maryland	USA	Apollo 8, LM Pilot, lunar orbit only
McDivitt, James Alton	6/10/1929	10/13/2022	Cremated, Location of Ashes Unknown	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Apollo 9, Commander, earth orbit only
David Scott	6/6/1932	Still alive						Apollo 9, CM Pilot, earth orbit only, Apollo 15, Commander, walked on the moon
Rusty Schweickart	10/25/1935	Still alive						Apollo 9, LM Pilot, earth orbit only
Young, John Watts	9/24/1930	1/5/2018	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Apollo 10, CM Pilot, lunar orbit only, Apollo 16, Commander, walked on the moon
Stafford, Thomas Patten	9/17/1930	3/18/2024	Greenwood Cemetery	Weatherford	Custer	Oklahoma	USA	Apollo 10, Commander, lunar orbit only
Cernan, Eugene Andrew	3/14/1934	1/16/2017	Texas State Cemetery	Austin	Travis	Texas	USA	Apollo 10, LM Pilot, lunar orbit only, Apollo 17, Commander, walked on the moon
Buzz Aldrin	1/20/1930	Still alive						Apollo 11, LM Pilot, walked on the moon
Collins, Michael	10/31/1930	4/28/2021	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Apollo 11, CM Pilot, remained in lunar orbit
Armstrong, Neil	8/5/1930	8/25/2012	Cremated, Ashes Scattered	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Apollo 11, Commander, walked on the moon
Gordon, Richard Francis	10/5/1929	11/6/2017	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Apollo 12, CM Pilot, remained in lunar orbit
Conrad, Charles Peter	6/2/1930	7/8/1999	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Apollo 12, Commander, walked on the moon
Bean, Alan	3/15/1932	5/26/2018	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Apollo 12, LM Pilot, walked on the moon
Fred Haise	11/14/1933	Still alive						Apollo 13, LM Pilot, circumlunar trajectory with return to Earth after Command Module failure
Swigert, Jack	8/30/1931	12/27/1982	Mount Olivet Cemetery	Wheat Ridge	Jefferson	Colorado	USA	Apollo 13, CM Pilot, circumlunar trajectory with return to Earth after Command Module failure
Roosa, Stuart Allen	8/16/1933	12/12/1994	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Apollo 14, CM Pilot, remained in lunar orbit
Shepard, Alan Bartlett	11/18/1923	7/21/1998	Forest Hill Cemetery	East Derry	Rockingham	New Hampshire	USA	Apollo 14, Commander, walked on the moon
Mitchell, Edgar Dean	9/17/1930	2/4/2016	Not Known (There is a cenotaph for him at the Johnson Space Center in Houston)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Apollo 14, LM Pilot, walked on the moon
Irwin, James Benson	3/17/1930	8/8/1991	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Apollo 15, LM Pilot, walked on the moon
Worden, Alfred Merrill	2/7/1932	3/18/2020	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Apollo 15. CM Pilot, remained in lunar orbit
Charles Duke	10/3/1935	Still alive						Apollo 16, LM Pilot, walked on the moon
Mattingly, Ken	3/17/1936	10/31/2023	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Apollo 16, CM Pilot, remained in lunar orbit
Harrison Schmitt	7/3/1935	Still alive						Apollo 17, LM Pilot, walked on the moon
Evans, Ronald Ellwin	11/10/1933	4/7/1990	Valley Presbyterian Church Memorial Garden	Paradise Valley	Maricopa	Arizona	USA	Apollo 17, CM Pilot, remained in lunar orbit
Leroy Gordon Cooper	3/6/1927	10/4/2004	Cremated, some of his ashes were sent into earth orbit	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Mercury-Atlas 9, Gemini 5, was part of the Apollo group but was bumped by Alan Shepard and subsequently retired from NASA
Clifton Curtis Williams, Jr.	9/26/1932	10/5/1967	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	Astronaut Group 3, selected for the Apollo program but killed in a plane crash
Owen K. Garriott	11/22/1930	4/15/2019	Enid Cemetery	Enid	Garfield	Oklahoma	USA	NASA Astronaut Group 4 (1965), Skylab 3, STS-9
Edward G. Gibson	11/8/1936	Still alive						NASA Astronaut Group 4 (1965), Skylab 4
Duane E. Graveline	3/2/1931	9/5/2016	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	NASA Astronaut Group 4 (1965), Resigned from NASA in 1965 due to personal issues
Joseph P. Kerwin	2/19/1932	Still alive						NASA Astronaut Group 4 (1965), Skylab 2
F. Curtis Michel	6/5/1934	2/26/2015	Houston National Cemetery	Houston	Harris	Texas	USA	NASA Astronaut Group 4 (1965), Resigned from NASA in 1969
Vance D. Brand	5/9/1931	Still alive						NASA Astronaut Group 5 (1966), Apollo Soyuz Test Project, STS-5, STS-41-B, STS-35
John S. Bull	9/25/1934	8/11/2008	Alta Mesa Memorial Park	Palo Alto	Santa Clara	California	USA	NASA Astronaut Group 5 (1966), Resigned from the Astronaut Corps in 1968 for medical reasons
Gerald P. Carr	8/22/1932	8/26/2020	Cremated, Location of Ashes Unknown	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	NASA Astronaut Group 5 (1966), Skylab 4
Joe H. Engle	8/26/1932	7/10/2024	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA	NASA Astronaut Group 5 (1966), STS-2, STS 51-1
Edward G. Givens	1/5/1930	6/6/1967	Quanah Memorial Park	Quanah	Hardeman	Texas	USA	NASA Astronaut Group 5 (1966), Was on the Apollo 7 support crew, killed in a car crash in 1967
Don L. Lind	5/18/1930	8/30/2022	Logan City Cemetery	Logan	Cache	Utah	USA	NASA Astronaut Group 5 (1966), STS 51-B
Jack R. Lousma	2/29/1936	Still alive						NASA Astronaut Group 5 (1966), Skylab 3, STS-3
Bruce McCandless, II	6/8/1937	12/21/2017	United States Naval Academy Cemetery	Annapolis	Anne Arundel	Maryland	USA	NASA Astronaut Group 5 (1966), STS-41-B, STS-31
William R. Pogue	1/23/1930	3/3/2014	Cremated, some of his ashes were sent into earth orbit	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	NASA Astronaut Group 5 (1966), Skylab 4
Paul J. Weitz	7/25/1932	10/22/2017	Cremated, Location of Ashes Unknown	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	NASA Astronaut Group 5 (1966), Skylab 2, STS-6

Return to Aviation links page


Other navigation links on my site

Return to Main Page

Contact us

© 2026 by Christopher Mills