What were the apolo missions?

Answer 1

There were three "Greek god" named series of US manned space missions; the "Mercury" series of 7 single-astronaut capsules, a dozen or so "Gemini" two-astronaut missions designed to to basic theory testing for space docking and maneuvering, and a series of "Apollo" missions which would culminate in landing men on the Moon.

The first few were basic testing missions. In the Apollo 1, three astronauts died when a fire began in the pure-oxygen atmosphere. A couple were unmanned tests, and a couple were restricted to Earth orbit. Apollo 8 was the first mission to circle the Moon, and brought our first "live" view of the farside of the Moon. Apollo 11 was the first Moon landing.

As a boy growing up in the 1950's, I was always certain that I would live to see the first men on the Moon. Now as an old man in 2012, I certainly hope I won't have lived to see the LAST American to land on the Moon! But there have been no manned lunar missions in almost 40 years, and none are now planned....