Apollo 15 went unused, due to the explosion that damaged the Apollo 13 spacecraft. Apollo 14's CMP, Stu Roosa, was enthusiastic about geology, but the mission commander, Alan Shepard, less so. Scott, once assigned as Apollo 15 commander, was determined that his crew bring back the maximum amount of scientific data possible, and met with Silver in April 1970 to begin planning the geological training. The assignment of Schmitt as Apollo 15's backup LMP made him an insider, and allowed him to spark competition between the prime and backup crews. The cancellation of two Apollo missions in September 1970 transformed Apollo 15
Apollo program Apollo 8 sent the first live televised pictures of the Earth and the Moon back to Earth, and read from the creation story in the Book of Genesis, on Christmas Eve 1968. An estimated one quarter of the population of the world saw—either live or delayed—the Christmas Eve transmission during the ninth orbit of the Moon, and an estimated one fifth of the population of the world watched the live transmission of the Apollo 11 moonwalk. The Apollo program also affected environmental activism in the 1970s due to photos taken by the astronauts. The most famous, taken by the Apollo