Apollo Lunar Module The first manned lunar landing occurred on July 20, 1969 with the Apollo 11 LM "Eagle". Four days later, the Apollo 11 crew in the Command Module "Columbia" splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, completing President John F. Kennedy's goal "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." This was followed by precision landings on Apollo 12 "(Intrepid)" and Apollo 14 "(Antares)".In April 1970, the Apollo 13 lunar module "Aquarius" played an unexpected role in saving the lives of the three astronauts after an oxygen tank in the service
Apollo 10 American Samoa. The astronauts were recovered by , and subsequently flown to Pago Pago International Airport in Tafuna for a greeting reception, before being flown on a C-141 cargo plane to Honolulu. After Apollo 10, NASA required astronauts to choose more "dignified" names for their command and lunar modules. This proved unenforceable: Apollo 16 astronauts Young, Mattingly and Duke chose "Casper", as in Casper the Friendly Ghost, for their command module name. The idea was to give children a way to identify with the mission by using humor. The Smithsonian has been accountable for the command module "Charlie Brown" since