The Apollo missions were a series of human space exploration missions.
Apollo 7 launched a few months before December 1968. (PROSE: Nightshade) It was followed by Apollo 8 and its crew encountered the Fourth Doctor on 24 December 1968. (PROSE: Three Wise Men) Apollo 9 had launched by July 1969. (PROSE: Moon Blink)
Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on 20 July 1969. (TV: Day of the Moon, et al.)
Jim Lovell was the hero of Apollo 13 and was "real skin-of-your-teeth-stuff" according to the Fourth Doctor. (PROSE: Three Wise Men, The Wheel of Ice)
Apollo 17 was the last official Apollo mission. It was followed by five unofficial launches: Apollo 18, Apollo 19, Apollo 20, Apollo 21, and finally Apollo 22 in June 1980. Apollo 23 launched in 2010. (PROSE: Apollo 23)
Apollo 32 and Apollo 33 launched some time in the 21st century. (AUDIO: Day of the Vashta Nerada) Apollo 34 launched in 2056 and spent nearly two years taking the Bowie Base One crew to Mars. (TV: The Waters of Mars)
Behind the scenes[]
The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who contains many of the real-world details about the Apollo programme:
- The Apollo programme cost $24 billion at the time ($395 billion in 2013).
- A fire in 1967 killed the crew of Apollo 1.
- After Apollo 11, ten more flights to the Moon were planned, but only six more made it to the moon.