Once America's most experienced astronaut, Apollo 13's Jim Lovell, who died at 97, was the first to visit the moon twice.

NASA asked James W. Head III to work with the 18 astronauts selected for the first manned mission to orbit the moon since the end of the Apollo program.

As space exploration has become more common and the number of astronauts has risen past 300, many names have faded into the background. But some will forever be associated with the golden age of space ...

On. Oct. 11, 1968, Apollo 7 launched into space with NASA astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham. This was the first mission of the Apollo program that carried a crew into space.