FactSentinel

Between 1969 and 1972, NASA's Apollo program successfully landed astronauts on the Moon on six separate missions: Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Twelve astronauts in total walked on the lunar surface, beginning with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in July 1969 and ending with Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in December 1972. Apollo 13 was intended to be a landing mission but was aborted after an oxygen tank explosion, which is why the numbering of landings skips from 12 to 14.

The evidence for these landings is extensive and comes from many independent sources. The astronauts brought back about 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of lunar rock and soil, which scientists around the world have studied for decades. These samples show characteristics that match no Earth rocks, including unique isotopic compositions and a lack of water. The missions also left retroreflector arrays on the surface, and observatories in several countries still bounce lasers off them to measure the Earth-Moon distance. In addition, orbiters from the United States, India, Japan, and China have photographed the landing sites, showing descent stages, equipment, and even footpaths. Thousands of engineers and contractors worked on the program, and the Soviet Union, which tracked the missions closely during the Space Race, never disputed the achievement.

A common misconception is that the landings were staged, often citing the "waving" flag or the absence of stars in photographs. The flag moved because of the astronauts twisting the pole in a vacuum, and stars are missing because camera exposures were set for the brightly lit surface. No human has walked on the Moon since 1972.