Jede Apollo-Mission – erklärt in 15 Minuten

Video from the channel Eulementäre Technik about Apollo 15, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 14:45. Language: German. Video type: Documentary.

German-language documentary that covers the Apollo program in ten chapters, from the Apollo 1 fire to the last Moon landing. It focuses on the moments when the missions came close to failure.

In January 1967, during a launch-pad rehearsal, a fire in the pure-oxygen-filled capsule killed Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. NASA halted the program for 20 months and redesigned the spacecraft, including a quick-opening hatch. Apollo 8, in December 1968, was the first crewed flight to leave Earth orbit. Apollo 9 tested the lunar module in Earth orbit, and Apollo 10 descended to about 14 km from the lunar surface without landing. Apollo 11 landed in July 1969 in the Sea of Tranquility.

Apollo 12 was struck by lightning twice after liftoff and still achieved the program's most precise landing, next to the Surveyor 3 probe. Apollo 13 suffered an oxygen tank explosion about 300,000 km from Earth; the crew sheltered in the lunar module and returned on April 17, 1970. Apollo 14 took Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell to Fra Mauro. Apollo 15 debuted the lunar rover beside Hadley Rille and found the Genesis Rock. Apollo 16, in April 1972, found impact debris at Descartes instead of the expected volcanism and set a rover speed record. Apollo 17, in December 1972 with geologist Harrison Schmitt aboard, closed out the program in the Taurus-Littrow valley.