March is a Busy Birthday Month for Apollo Astronauts
March is a particularly busy month for birthdays of Apollo astronauts. Nine of the 38 men who flew Apollo spacecraft in Earth orbit, to the moon and to the Skylab space station have birthdays this month.
So happy birthday to the six living Apollo astronauts who are celebrating this month, including:
- Frank Borman, Apollo 8: March 14, 1928 (age 88)
- Eugene Cernan, Apollo 10 & 17: March 14, 1934 (age 82)
- Alan Bean , Apollo 12 & Skylab 3: March 15, 1932 (age 84)
- Walt Cunningham. Apollo 7: March 16, 1932 (age 84)
- Ken Mattingly, Apollo 16: March 17, 1936 (age 80)
- Jim Lovell, Apollo 8 & 13: March 25, 1928 (age 87)
Three other Apollo astronauts with birthdays this month have sadly passed on:
- Deke Slayton, Apollo Soyuz Test Project: March 1, 1924 June 13, 1993 (aged 69)
- Wally Schirra, Apollo 7: March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007 (aged 84)
- James Irwin, Apollo 15: March 17, 1930 – August 8, 1991 (aged 61) .
Twenty-six of the 38 astronauts from Apollo, Skylab and the Apollo Soyuz Test Program remain alive today. All but one of the astronauts — Skylab 4’s Edward Gibson – are in their 80’s. Ken Mattingly joins his fellow octogenarians today as he turns 80.
With the death of Apollo 14 moon walker Edgar Mitchell last month at the age of 85, the United States lost its first full lunar crew. He was pre-deceased by crew mates Stuart Roosa in 1994 and Alan Shepard in 1998.
The table below shows the birthdays and ages of the astronauts in these programs.
| MISSION | OBJECTIVES |
CREW |
BORN | DIED |
AGE |
| Apollo 7 Oct. 11-22 1968 |
Test command service module in Earth orbit | Wally Schirra | March 12, 1923 | May 3, 2007 | d. 84 |
| Donn Eisele | June 23, 1930 | December 2, 1987 | d. 57 | ||
| Walt Cunningham | March 16, 1932 | — | 84 | ||
| Apollo 8 Dec. 21-27 1968 |
First human voyage to the moon; 10 orbits above the lunar surface | Frank Borman | March 14, 1928 | — | 88 |
| Jim Lovell | March 25, 1928 | — | 87 | ||
| Bill Anders | October 17, 1933 | — | 82 | ||
| Apollo 9 March 3-13 1969 |
Test command service module and lunar module in Earth orbit | James A. McDivitt | June 10, 1929 | — | 86 |
| David R. Scott | June 6, 1932 | — | 83 | ||
| Russell L. Schweickart | October 25, 1935 | — | 80 | ||
| Apollo 10 May 18-26 1969 |
Dress rehearsal for first human landing on the moon; lunar module flew within 50,000 feet of lunar surface | Tom Stafford | September 17, 1930 | — | 85 |
| John Young | September 24, 1930 | — | 85 | ||
| Eugene Cernan | March 14, 1934 | — | 82 | ||
| Apollo 11 July 16-24 1969 |
First manned moon landing on Sea of Tranquility; Armstrong and Aldrin spent more than two hours walking on the surface | Neil Armstrong | August 5, 1930 | August 25, 2012 | d. 82 |
| Buzz Aldrin | January 20, 1930 | — | 86 | ||
| Michael Collins | October 31, 1930 | — | 85 | ||
| Apollo 12 Nov. 14-24 1969 |
Second manned landing on the moon; recovered part of Surveyor 3 lander | Charles “Pete” Conrad | June 2, 1930 | July 8, 1999 | d. 69 |
| Alan Bean | March 15, 1932 | — | 84 | ||
| Dick Gordon | October 5, 1929 | — | 86 | ||
| Apollo 13 April 11-17 1970 |
Landing in Fra Mauro aborted due to explosion in service module oxygen tank | Jim Lovell | March 25, 1928 | — | 87 |
| Fred Haise | November 14, 1933 | — | 82 | ||
| Jack Swigert | August 30, 1931 | December 27, 1982 | d. 51 | ||
| Apollo 14 Jan. 31 – Feb. 9, 1971 |
Exploration of the Fra Mauro formation | Alan Shepard | November 18, 1923 | July 21, 1998 | d. 74 |
| Edgar Mitchell | September 17, 1930 | February 4, 2016 | d. 85 | ||
| Stu Roosa | August 16, 1933 | December 12, 1994 | d. 61 | ||
| Apollo 15 July 28 – Aug. 7, 1971 |
Exploration of Hadley Rille; first use of the lunar rover; Worden made first deep space walk to retrieve film from the service module | David Scott | June 6, 1932 | — | 83 |
| James Irwin | March 17, 1930 | August 8, 1991 | d. 61 | ||
| Al Worden | February 7, 1932 | — | 84 | ||
| Apollo 16 April 16-27 1972 |
Exploration of Descartes Highlands; Young and Duke spent more than 20 hours walking and driving on the surface | John W. Young | September 24, 1930 | — | 85 |
| Charles Duke | October 3, 1935 | — | 80 | ||
| Ken Mattingly | March 17, 1936 | — | 80 | ||
| Apollo 17 Dec. 7-19 1972 |
Final manned moon mission; Cernan and Schmitt spent 22 hours outside the lunar module exploring Taurus-Littrow highlands | Eugene Cernan | March 14, 1934 | — | 82 |
| Harrison Schmitt | July 3, 1935 | — | 80 | ||
| Ron Evans | November 10, 1933 | April 7, 1990 | d. 56 | ||
| Skylab 2 May 25 – June 22 1973 |
First U.S. space station crew; set new space duration record of 28 days; during launch, Skylab damaged with one solar panel torn off, another trapped against the ship by debris; crew freed the solar panel and spread a parasol over area where micrometeorite/heat shield had been torn off; astronauts completed many of planned experiments | Pete Conrad | June 2, 1930 | July 8, 1999 | 69 |
| Joseph Kerwin | February 19, 1932 | — | 84 | ||
| Paul Weitz | July 25, 1932 | — | 83 | ||
| Skylab 3 July 28 – Sept. 25 1973 |
Second U.S. space station crew set new space duration record of 59 days; conducted experiments on human body’s adaptation in space, observed sun using powerful space telescopes; placed second shield over parasol to protect station | Alan Bean | March 15, 1932 | — | 84 |
| Owen Garriott | November 22, 1930 | — | 85 | ||
| Jack Lousma | February 29, 1936 | — | 80 | ||
| Skylab 4 Nov. 16, 1973 – Feb. 8, 1974
|
Third and final crew set new duration record of 84 days; continued experiments begun by first two crews | Gerald Carr | August 22, 1932 | — | 83 |
| Edward Gibson | November 8, 1936 | — | 79 | ||
| William Pogue | January 23, 1930 | March 3, 2014 | d. 84 | ||
| Apollo- Soyuz Test Project July 15-24 1975
|
First joint docking of American and Soviet spacecraft in orbit; first and only spaceflight for Deke Slayton, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts | Tom Stafford | September 17, 1930 | — | 85 |
| Vance Brand | May 9, 1931 | — | 84 | ||
| Deke Slayton | March 1, 1924 | June 13, 1993 | d. 69 |
One response to “March is a Busy Birthday Month for Apollo Astronauts”
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Among my siblings we have five birthdays between January 20 and March 3. About a decade ago I told my mother that when I was ten years old I figured out what dad liked to give her for her birthday (June 5), but I was smart enough at the time to keep my mouth shut. She laughed, gave a sad smile of remembrance, and replied that “June was always a busy month.”
Many March birthdays might be explained by the tradition of June weddings.