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Alan Shepard, first American in space, first man to play golf on the moon. NASA / AFP

Fifty years ago, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, quickly joined by Buzz Aldrin. Michael Collins completed the crew in orbit in the module. The Apollo 11 mission, remained in the story for the feat it represents, was repeated; the program continued until Apollo 17.

He liked to repeat that he was " the last man " to walk on the moon. If almost everyone knows first, Neil Armstrong , commander of Apollo Eugene Cernan, who tuned at the end of 1972, enjoys much less notoriety, like most of the missions of the Apollo program, by the way.

A total of 12 men marched on the moon, from Apollo 11 to 17, Apollo 13 apart - a serious incident that prevented her landing. All have made it possible to carry out numerous scientific experiments on the satellite, to report samples, and even to try more funny things.

Alan Shepard took advantage of his mission aboard Apollo 14, in 1971, to take a golf club with him illegally. He is the only one in the history of humanity to have fired bullets there. At age 47, he is also the oldest to walk on the ground of the satellite, and the only astronaut of the Mercury program to go there.

The end of missions to the Moon and the beginning of cooperation

This is the end of the Apollo program . Three missions, Apollo 18, 19 and 20, which were well planned, are canceled by the American space agency, NASA. The Congress gives less and less budget margins to these scientific expeditions, and all the developed material ceases to be used.

An Apollo capsule, however, was used for the last time in 1975 for the Apollo-Soyuz mission, the first joint program between the Soviets and Americans, in full relaxation. On July 17, two ships gather in the space, the hatch opens, then the commanders Stafford and Leonov shake hands.

The beginning of a new phase in space research ; the moon is relegated to the background, but nations are starting to pool technologies. In 1996, a US Space Shuttle visits Mir Station. Then the current International Space Station, the ISS, is jointly created.

Alan L. Bean of the Apollo 12 mission descends from the Intrepid lunar landing module. This is the second team to see a foot on the satellite of the Earth. NASA / Charles Conrad