The orbit of the LM ascent stage decayed on January 24, 1968 and it fell to Earth, while the orbit of the LM descent stage decayed on February 12, 1968 and it disintegrated in Earth’s atmosphere as it descended toward Earth.

The mission was deemed a total success by NASA mission managers. The first unmanned flight of the Apollo Lunar Module meant that the United States had the ability to land astronauts onto the lunar surface, and lift them back up once their Moon mission was accomplished.

The United States of America was going to the Moon, which it did with Apollo 11 when it lifted off on July 16, 1969. The lunar module, LM-5 (“Eagle”) then landed U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

For additional information, please go to:

NASA website “Apollo 5: NSSDC ID: 1968-007A”.

National Air and Space Museum website “The Apollo Program”.

NASA Kennedy Space Center website “Apollo”.
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