{"id":27068,"date":"2021-06-08T08:05:25","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T07:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/?p=27068"},"modified":"2021-06-08T08:05:27","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T07:05:27","slug":"how-many-men-have-walked-on-the-moon-and-how-many-of-them-are-still-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/?p=27068","title":{"rendered":"How many men have walked on the Moon and how many of them are still alive?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In July 1969, the first men walked on the Moon and I watched it live on television. The previous year, the film “2001: A Space Odyssey”<\/em> was released which portrayed a community on the Moon at the turn of the century. At that time, we assumed that there would be a growing programme of lunar landings with a developing colony on the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five decades later, we see nothing of that. Indeed the last time that anyone walked on the Moon was 11-14 December 1972 and we have no clear timetable for humans to return which makes those who went there between 1969-1972 all the more special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NASA<\/a>\u00a0assigned 32 American\u00a0 astronauts<\/a>\u00a0to the\u00a0 Apollo lunar landing program<\/a>me, and 24, flying on nine missions between December 1968 and December 1972, orbited the\u00a0 Moon<\/a>. During six two-man landing missions 12 astronauts walked on the lunar surface, and six of those drove\u00a0 Lunar Roving Vehicles<\/a>. Three flew to the Moon twice, one orbiting both times and two landing once apiece. Apart from these 24 men, no human being has gone beyond\u00a0 low Earth orbit<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, only 12 men have ever walked on the Moon and a mere four of them are still alive today – a rare breed indeed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"