Apollo 10 went nearly all the way to the lunar surface - went into an orbit with a lowest point of 14,447 meters, took a close look at the Apollo 11 landing site - then jettisoned the landing module and returned to the command module. Tested everything they could test except for the actual landing on the surface.
It was quite an adventure also - they came close to hitting the lunar surface on the way back to orbit when they span out of control as a result of hitting the wrong switch (or rather - hitting it twice instead of once). That lost so much energy that they were on a trajectory to hit the Moon before they got out of it.
And turned up some things to fix for Apollo 11.
See also ‘Weaving Up the Freeway’: The Triumph of Apollo 10 (Part 4)
Here is Gene Cerman in an interview about it.
And wikipedia article: Apollo 10
This was one of several lessons from Apollo 10.
It was quite an adventure also - they came close to hitting the lunar surface on the way back to orbit when they span out of control as a result of hitting the wrong switch (or rather - hitting it twice instead of once). That lost so much energy that they were on a trajectory to hit the Moon before they got out of it.
And turned up some things to fix for Apollo 11.
See also ‘Weaving Up the Freeway’: The Triumph of Apollo 10 (Part 4)
Here is Gene Cerman in an interview about it.
And wikipedia article: Apollo 10
This was one of several lessons from Apollo 10.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
4.8m answer views110.4k this month
Top Writer2017, 2016, and 2015
Published WriterHuffPost, Slate, and 4 moreHuffPost, Slate, Forbes, Newsweek, Business Insider, and Science 2.0