Apollo Astronauts Dwindle as NASA Celebrates Program’s 50th Anniversary
Apollo 8 crew members William Anders, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell on the carrier after their mission. (Credit: NASA)
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
As NASA celebrates the 50th anniversary of manned Apollo flights leading to the first moon landing in July 1969, the number of astronauts from the program is slowly dwindling away.
Of the 29 men who flew in the Apollo lunar program, 15 are still alive while 14 others have passed away. When the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz programs are included, there are 21 Apollo-era astronauts still with us while 17 have died.
Two of the surviving lunar astronauts — Frank Borman and James Lovell — are 90 years old; the rest of them are in their 80’s. Edward Gibson, who flew during the Skylab 4 mission, is the youngest at 81.
Walt Cunningham, 86, is the lone astronaut surviving astronaut from Apollo 7, the first manned flight of the program. The capsule from that successful 11-day Earth orbit test of the command service module splashed down 50 years ago on Monday, Oct. 22.
Cunningham was predeceased by: Donn Eisele, who died at the age of 57 of a heart attack in December 1987; and commander Wally Schirra, who passed away in May 2007 at the age of 84 of a heart attack.
The Apollo 8 and Apollo 9 crews are the only crews with all three members still alive. Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders turned 85 last Wednesday.
Apollo 9 commander James McDivitt is 89 and crew mates David Scott and Russell “Rusty” Schweickart are 86 and 82 years old, respectively. Schweickart will turn 83 on Thursday.
Four of the 12 astronauts who walked on the moon are still with us: Buzz Aldrin, 88, of Apollo 11; Scott, 86, of Apollo 16; Charles Duke, 83, of Apollo 16; and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, 83, of Apollo 17.
The crews of Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 have passed away. The crew of Apollo 1 — Virgil “Gus Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee — died when a fire swept though their Apollo 1 capsule during a ground test in January 1967.
The table below shows the status of Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz crews.
| APOLLO, SKYLAB & APOLLO-SOYUZ MISSIONS | |||||
| MISSION | OBJECTIVES |
CREW |
BORN | DIED |
AGE |
| Apollo 1 |
Test command service module in Earth orbit; crew died in a flash fire that swept through the command module during a practice countdown | Virgil “Gus” Grissom | April 3, 1926 | January 27, 1967 | d. 40 |
| Edward White II | October 14, 1930 | January 27, 1967 | d. 36 | ||
| Roger Chaffee | February 15, 1935 | January 27, 1967 | d. 31 | ||
| 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 | — | 86 | ||
| Apollo 8 Dec. 21-27 1968 |
First human voyage to the moon; 10 orbits above the lunar surface | Frank Borman | March 14, 1928 | — | 90 |
| Jim Lovell | March 25, 1928 | — | 90 | ||
| Bill Anders | October 17, 1933 | — | 85 | ||
| Apollo 9 March 3-13 1969 |
Test command service module and lunar module in Earth orbit | James A. McDivitt | June 10, 1929 | — | 89 |
| David R. Scott | June 6, 1932 | — | 86 | ||
| Russell L. Schweickart | October 25, 1935 | — | 82 | ||
| 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 | — | 88 |
| John Young | September 24, 1930 | Jan. 5, 2018 | d. 87 | ||
| Eugene Cernan | March 14, 1934 | Jan. 16, 2017 | d. 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 | — | 88 | ||
| Michael Collins | October 31, 1930 | — | 87 | ||
| 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 | May 26, 2018 | d. 86 | ||
| Dick Gordon | October 5, 1929 | Nov. 6, 2017 | d. 88 | ||
| Apollo 13 April 11-17 1970 |
Landing in Fra Mauro aborted due to explosion in service module oxygen tank | Jim Lovell | March 25, 1928 | — | 90 |
| Fred Haise | November 14, 1933 | — | 84 | ||
| 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 | — | 86 |
| James Irwin | March 17, 1930 | August 8, 1991 | d. 61 | ||
| Al Worden | February 7, 1932 | — | 86 | ||
| 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 | Jan. 5, 2018 | d. 87 |
| Charles Duke | October 3, 1935 | — | 83 | ||
| Ken Mattingly | March 17, 1936 | — | 82 | ||
| 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 | Jan. 16, 2017 | d. 82 |
| Harrison Schmitt | July 3, 1935 | — | 83 | ||
| Ronald 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 | d. 69 |
| Joseph Kerwin | February 19, 1932 | — | 86 | ||
| Paul Weitz | July 25, 1932 | October 22, 2017 | d. 85 | ||
| 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 | May 26, 2018 | d. 86 |
| Owen Garriott | November 22, 1930 | — | 87 | ||
| Jack Lousma | February 29, 1936 | — | 82 | ||
| 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 | — | 86 |
| Edward Gibson | November 8, 1936 | — | 81 | ||
| 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 who had been grounded due to a heart irregularity | Tom Stafford | September 17, 1930 | — | 88 |
| Vance Brand | May 9, 1931 | — | 87 | ||
| Deke Slayton | March 1, 1924 | June 13, 1993 | d. 69 | ||
4 responses to “Apollo Astronauts Dwindle as NASA Celebrates Program’s 50th Anniversary”
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Looks like decent odds at least one of these men will see his 100th birthday. It would be even nicer if one or more of these men – particularly the Moonwalkers – could see some much younger Americans take that particular baton from them before they all pass on. I’d say the odds of that happening look increasingly decent too.
well, at this point, it will be either through SpaceX OR Blue Origin.
It will not be because of NASA.
Oddly, NASA could be back to the moon before 4 years, but they have become far too complacent and CONgress is far too competitive against private space.
Thank you for updating us on those amazing crews. The mission chart is a very succinct way of showing their dwindling number. It’s hard to believe how many are now in their 90’s.
Scott flew on Apollo 15, not 16.