Apollo 10

Occurred 56 years ago

Mission Type

Lunar Landing Preparation

crew

Thomas Stafford, Eugene Cernan, John Young

Launch

May 18, 1969

SPLASHDOWN

May 26, 1969

Photo of The Apollo 10 prime crew of Eugene A. Cernan, left, John W. Young, and Thomas P. Stafford — The Apollo 10 prime crew of Eugene A. Cernan, left, John W. Young, and Thomas P. Stafford
NASA

Apollo 10 Saturn rocket streaks diagonally across blue sky just after launch — The Apollo 10 (Spacecraft 106/Lunar Module 4/Saturn 505) space vehicle is launched from Pad B, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center at 12:49 p.m., May 18, 1969.
NASA

The Apollo 10 Lunar Module Ascends toward the Command and Service Module, backdropped by the Moon's surface. — After dropping down to 47,400 feet above the moon’s surface, Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan aboard the ascent stage of Apollo 10 lunar module, return to John Young in the command module on May 22, 1969.
NASA

The Apollo 10 capsule approaches splashdown in the Pacific — S69-36594 (26 May 1969) — The Apollo 10 spacecraft, with astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young and Eugene A. Cernan onboard, approaches touchdown in the South Pacific recovery area to conclude a successful eight-day lunar orbit mission. Splashdown occurred at 11:53 a.m. (CDT), May 26, 1969, about 400 miles east of American Samoa, and about four miles from the prime recovery ship, USS Princeton.
NASA

Featured Story

Apollo 10: Mission Details

Mission Objective The Apollo 10 mission encompassed all aspects of an actual crewed lunar landing, except the landing. It was…

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Thomas P. Stafford

Commander

General Stafford was selected among the second group of astronauts in September 1962 by NASA to participate in Projects Gemini and Apollo. He has flown on four space missions, logging a total of 507 hours and 43 minutes in space. He has flown over 127 different types of aircraft and helicopters and four different types of spacecraft.

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Portrait of Apollo 10 astronaut Tom Stafford

Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, Apollo 10 commander.

NASA

Apollo 10 Articles

Read more about Apollo 10: the mission that cleared the way for the first Moon landing.

5 min read

Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, died Monday, Jan. 16, surrounded by his family. Cernan, a…

Article

8 min read

“Houston, we are returning to Earth!” With those words, Apollo 10 Commander Thomas P. Stafford announced that the Trans Earth…

Article

9 min read

Following a trouble-free three-day journey from Earth, Apollo 10 slipped behind the Moon, and communications with Mission Control was temporarily…

Article

7 min read

As Commander Thomas P. Stafford stated during a preflight press conference, Apollo 10 was planned to “sort out all the…

Article

3 min read

The May 18, 1969, launch of Apollo 10 was only one week away, and the flight crew of Commander Thomas…

Article

4 min read

Two weeks before the Apollo 10 launch, engineers at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B worked to overcome a problem…

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Apollo 10

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Apollo Flight Journal

Mission Details

The Apollo Flight Journal is a trove of detailed information about the Apollo missions. Transcripts, commentary, related documents, images, and videos from the Apollo 10 mission are available for you to explore.

Visit the Apollo 10 Flight Journal

The Apollo 10 Command Module is seen backdropped by the Moon as seen by the astronauts in the lunar module.

The Apollo 10 command module with John Young aboard, named “Charlie Brown,” is seen from the lunar module “Snoopy” with crew members Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan aboard, after separation in lunar orbit.

NASA