Apollo program

Historical eventJuly 111962

Apollo program

Project Apollo: At a press conference, NASA announces lunar orbit rendezvous as the means to land astronauts on the Moon, and return them to Earth.

Everything on July 11Original source

In context

When
Wednesday, July 11 196264 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
20th century · 1960s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: From 1962.

What happened

The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo was conceived in 1960 in the Dwight D. Eisenhower presidency during Project Mercury and executed after Project Gemini. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in his address to the U.S. Congress on May 25, 1961.

July 11 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1962Apollo program
  2. 1991Jeddah
  3. 1991Nigeria Airways Flight 2120
  4. 1995Yugoslav Wars
  5. 20062006 Mumbai train bombings
  6. 2007Siege of Lal Masjid
  7. 2010Islamism
  8. 2010Spain national football team
  9. 2011Evangelos Florakis Naval Base explosion
  10. 2015El Chapo
  11. 2021Virgin Galactic

Also in 1962

  • September 9Charles de GaulleFrench president Charles de Gaulle delivered his "speech to the German youth" to 20,000 people in the courtyard of Ludwigsburg Palace (pi…
  • September 12We choose to go to the MoonIn a speech at Rice Stadium in Houston, U.S. president John F. Kennedy reiterated an aspiration to land a man on the Moon before 1970 (vi…
  • September 13James MeredithAn appeals court orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, the first African-American student admitted to the segrega…
  • September 15Soviet UnionThe Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis.
  • September 17NASANASA announced the Next Nine astronauts selected for the purpose of landing on the moon.
  • September 18Aeroflot Flight 213Aeroflot Flight 213 crashed into a mountain near Chersky Airport, killing 32 people.
  • October 20ChinaChina launches simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line, igniting the Sino-Indian War.
  • July 13Cabinet reshuffleIn an unprecedented reshuffle, British prime minister Harold Macmillan (pictured) dismissed seven members of his cabinet.

Everything we record for 1962 →

Sources

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“Apollo program”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/apollo-program-1962-july-11, accessed October 24, 2026.

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Questions about this entry

When did Apollo program happen?

July 11 1962 — 64 years ago, on a Wednesday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

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