Twenty-four astronauts have been on or near the Moon. Twelve of these landed on the Moon and actually walked on its surface.

All are men from the United States of America who traveled to the Moon as part of NASA's Apollo program during the period from December 1968 to December 1972.

Apart from these 24 people, no human being has ever left Earth orbit (with a height of a few hundred km); they have thus gone farther from the Earth than anyone else has ever gone (see "where no man has gone before").

There were no in-flight fatalities in the Apollo program.

People who have walked on the Moon

As of 2005, only the following twelve people have walked on the Moon, each on one mission only. Nobody has walked on the Moon since 1972.

1. Neil Armstrong - Apollo 11 - July, 1969
2. Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin - Apollo 11 - July, 1969
3. Charles "Pete" Conrad - Apollo 12 - November, 1969
4. Alan Bean - Apollo 12 - November, 1969
5. Alan Shepard - Apollo 14 - February, 1971
6. Edgar Mitchell - Apollo 14 - February, 1971
7. David Scott - Apollo 15 - July, 1971
8. James Irwin - Apollo 15 - July, 1971
9. John Young - Apollo 16 - April, 1972 (also on Apollo 10, without landing)
10. Charles Duke - Apollo 16 - April, 1972
11. Gene Cernan - Apollo 17 - December, 1972 (also on Apollo 10, without landing)
12. Harrison Schmitt - Apollo 17 - December, 1972

People who have encountered the Moon closely without landing

On each of the (first listed) missions above one astronaut orbited the Moon while the other two landed. In addition each of the Apollo 8, Apollo 10 and Apollo 13 missions had a three man crew and closely encountered the Moon (entering orbit in the case of the former two missions, while Apollo 13 only passed around it). Thus 12 more people have been close to the Moon:

1. Frank Borman - Apollo 8
2. Jim Lovell - Apollo 8, Apollo 13
3. Bill Anders - Apollo 8
4. Tom Stafford - Apollo 10
5. Michael Collins - Apollo 11
6. Dick Gordon - Apollo 12
7. Jack Swigert - Apollo 13
8. Fred Haise - Apollo 13
9. Stuart Roosa - Apollo 14
10. Al Worden - Apollo 15
11. Ken Mattingly - Apollo 16
12. Ronald Evans - Apollo 17

The three astronauts who have served on two lunar missions are Lovell, Young and Cernan. Of these three, only Lovell missed an opportunity to walk on the lunar surface.