Apollo 13 mission to land on the Moon. The astronauts' mission insignia was sculpted as a medallion depicting "Steeds of Apollo" by Lumen Martin Winter and was struck by the Franklin Mint. The Apollo 13 mission was to explore the Fra Mauro formation, or Fra Mauro highlands, named after the diameter Fra Mauro crater located within it. It is a widespread, hilly selenological area thought to be composed of ejecta from the impact that formed Mare Imbrium. The next Apollo mission, Apollo 14, eventually made a successful flight to Fra Mauro. April 14, 1970 UTC (April 13, 21:07:53 CST) April 15, 1970,
Apollo program Thirty-two astronauts were assigned to fly missions in the Apollo program. Twenty-four of these left Earth's orbit and flew around the Moon between December 1968 and December 1972 (three of them twice). Half of the 24 walked on the Moon's surface, though none of them returned to it after landing once. One of the moonwalkers was a trained geologist. Of the 32, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed during a ground test in preparation for the Apollo 1 mission. The Apollo astronauts were chosen from the Project Mercury and Gemini veterans, plus from two later astronaut groups.