When flight outside of the Earth’s atmosphere was first recognized as a possibility, lunar exploration became a goal. The United States created the Apollo missions to explore and study the moon. People were curious to know what it was like there because although it is an object that is clearly visible, little was known about it. There were six successful manned moon landings between 1969 and 1972 and astronauts were able to collect samples to help scientists understand more about lunar composition and history. Once man reached the moon, however, interest started to die. In 1972, the final two Apollo missions were canceled because of the enormous cost of the program. The lessons learned from Apollo are being taught to future astronauts and NASA
