How did the astronauts get to the Moon and back?

Answer 1

In very broad terms:

1. The crew launched atop a Saturn V rocket into Earht orbit, which takes 8-10 minutes
2. From Earth orbit they fired the rocket on the Apollo Commond/Service Module (CSM) for less than 10 minutes
3. They then coasted to the moon, a trip that lasts about three days.
4. Once they got near the moon the turned around and fired the CSM engine again to slow back down, entering Lunar orbit
5. While in Lunar orbit two members of the crew would enter the LunarModule (LM), close the hatch, disconnect from the CSM, and use the LM's Descent Engine to slow down and then land on the moon's surface.
6. Once the surface missions was complete the crew would fire the LM's Ascent Engine to return to Lunar orbit.
7. In Orbit, they would join up with the CSM which had stayed up there and the two crew members would reenter the CSM and close the hatch.
8. The LM was then disconnected and, as planned, allowed to crash into the moon (the shockwaves of the crash were used to analyze the interior of the moon via science packages the crew left behind on the surface)
9. The crew would fire the CSM engine to exit Lunar orbit
10. They coasted, once again, all the way back to Earth
11. Once they got close to Earth they disconnected the Service Module, exposing the heat shield on the bottom of the Command Module.
12. They entered earth's atmosphere and floated down to Earth under parachutes, landing in the ocean
13. They were then retrieved from the ocean by Navy helicopter and flown to a nearby Navy ship upon which they would sail home.