Picking up
mission summaries where
Urbano left off:
Apollo 12 was not exceptional; the mission was to retrieve the unmanned Surveyor 3 probe from the moon. The story of Apollo 13 is well-known, thanks to the Tom Hanks movie on the subject. Originally scheduled to land on the moon, an equipment malfunction forced the astronauts to simply circle it and return to Earth. The Apollo 14 mission marked the first time astronauts used a hand cart to pick up rocks, and on Apollo 15 the Lunar Roving Vehicle - a sort of lunar golf cart - was introduced. The LRV was used again on Apollo 16, which conducted a number of experiments while the astronauts were on the moon's surface. Apollo 17 was the last of the Apollo missions to the moon, and the crew included the first scientist in the program. They set up the sixth automated research station before returning home.
Project Apollo's goals extended beyond landing a man on the moon and returning him safely home. According to NASA, other stated goals for the project were:
Source: http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo.html