Left: The crew of Apollo 12 – Charles “Pete” Conrad,
left, Richard F. Gordon, and Alan L. Bean. Right:

Apollo 12, the second manned mission to the surface of
the moon,was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida,
with astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr.; Richard F. Gordon,
Jr.; and Alan L. Bean aboard.

President Richard Nixon viewed the liftoff from Pad A at
Cape Canaveral. He was the first president to attend the
liftoff of a manned space flight.

Thirty-six seconds after takeoff, lightning struck the
ascending Saturn 5 launch rocket (below )which tripped
the circuit breakers in the command module and caused
a power failure.

Fortunately, the launching rocket continued up normally,
and within a few minutes power was restored in the
spacecraft.

President Richard Nixon (white coat) viewing the liftoff of
Apollo 12.

     
    
  
    
    
    
   
Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission,was launched with
astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr.; Donn F. Eisele; and Walter
Cunningham aboard.

Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012)

At 12:51 EDT on July 24, 1969, Apollo 11, the U.S. spacecraft that
had taken the first astronauts to the surface of the moon, safely
returned to Earth.

The American effort to send astronauts to the moon had its origins
in a famous appeal President John F. Kennedy made to a special
joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961.
        
        

The Apollo 11 astronauts are, from left, Neil Armstrong,
Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. They were quarantined
after splashdown to ensure they did not bring back any contamination from the moon. (Image credit: NASA)

ROSS SIMPSON

A Piper Saratoga similar to the accident aircraft.

On July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. died when the light
aircraft he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off
Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Kennedy’s wife, Carolyn Bessette, and sister-in-law, Lauren
Bessette, were also on board and died.

The Piper Saratoga departed New Jersey‘s Essex County
Airport; its intended route was along the coastline of
Connecticut and across Rhode Island Sound to Martha’s
Vineyard Airport.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr.
(November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999