---
title: "Apollo program"
chunk: 12/12
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T12:32:53.499827+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The crew of 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 well known include Earthrise, taken by William Anders on Apollo 8, and The Blue Marble, taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts. The Blue Marble was released during a surge in environmentalism, and became a symbol of the environmental movement as a depiction of Earth's frailty, vulnerability, and isolation amid the vast expanse of space.
According to The Economist, Apollo succeeded in accomplishing President Kennedy's goal of taking on the Soviet Union in the Space Race by accomplishing a singular and significant achievement, to demonstrate the superiority of the free-market system. The publication noted the irony that in order to achieve the goal, the program required the organization of tremendous public resources within a vast, centralized government bureaucracy.

=== Apollo 11 broadcast data restoration project ===

Prior to Apollo 11's 40th anniversary in 2009, NASA searched for the original videotapes of the mission's live televised moonwalk. After an exhaustive three-year search, it was concluded that the tapes had probably been erased and reused. A new digitally remastered version of the best available broadcast television footage was released instead.

== Depictions on film ==

=== Documentaries ===
Numerous documentary films cover the Apollo program and the Space Race, including:

=== Docudramas ===
Some missions have been dramatized:

=== Fictional ===
The Apollo program has been the focus of several works of fiction, including:

Apollo 18 (2011), horror movie which was released to negative reviews.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), Science Fiction/Action movie. The film depicts the Apollo Program as having been created to study and explore a Cybertronian spacecraft known as "The Ark," which crash landed on the dark side of the Moon in the early 1960s.
Men in Black 3 (2012), Science Fiction/Comedy movie. Agent J, played by Will Smith, goes back to the Apollo 11 launch in 1969 to ensure that a global protection system is launched in to space.
For All Mankind (2019), TV series depicting an alternate history in which the Soviet Union was the first nation to land a man on the Moon and the Apollo missions were expanded as part of an accelerated Space Race, culminating in the establishment of a permanent US Moon base called Jamestown.
The Apollo Murders (2021), an alternate history novel by Chris Hadfield set in 1973 during the Cold War in which Apollo 18 is launched on a clandestine military mission to the Moon
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), fifth Indiana Jones film, in which Jürgen Voller, a NASA member and ex-Nazi involved with the Apollo program, wants to time travel. The New York City parade for the Apollo 11 crew is portrayed as a plot point.

== See also ==

== Notes ==

== References ==

=== Citations ===

=== Sources ===

== Further reading ==

== External links ==

Apollo program history at NASA's Human Space Flight (HSF) website
The Apollo Program at the NASA History Program Office
"Apollo Spinoffs". Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.
The Apollo Program at the National Air and Space Museum
Apollo 35th Anniversary Interactive Feature at NASA (in Flash)
Lunar Mission Timeline at the Lunar and Planetary Institute
Apollo Collection, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections

=== NASA reports ===
Apollo Program Summary Report (PDF), NASA, JSC-09423, April 1975
NASA History Series Publications
Project Apollo Drawings and Technical Diagrams at the NASA History Program Office
The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal Archived June 18, 2004, at the Wayback Machine edited by Eric M. Jones and Ken Glover
The Apollo Flight Journal by W. David Woods, et al.

=== Multimedia ===
NASA Apollo Program images and videos
Apollo Image Archive at Arizona State University
Audio recording and transcript of President John F. Kennedy, NASA administrator James Webb, et al., discussing the Apollo agenda (White House Cabinet Room, November 21, 1962)
The Project Apollo Archive by Kipp Teague is a large repository of Apollo images, videos, and audio recordings
The Project Apollo Archive on Flickr
Apollo Image Atlas—almost 25,000 lunar images, Lunar and Planetary Institute
The short film The Time of Apollo (1975) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
The short film The Time of Apollo (1975) is available for free viewing and download at the National Archives.
The Journeys of Apollo – NASA Documentary on YouTube
Apollo (11, 13 and 17) in real time multimedia project