Page 17 - Apollo Moonships

The Tools for The job 15
APOLLO 17 MOTHER SHIP
The Apollo 17 Service-Command Module (CSM), America, was photographed from the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), Challenger, during rendezvous and docking maneuvers in lunar orbit on December 14, 1972. The CSM mother ship was the workhorse of the Apollo Program.
THE APOLLO WORKHORSE
To fly to the moon, it was necessary not only a powerful rocket but also a spacecraft capable of traveling 240 000 miles in three days to reach the moon, to circumnavigate this body several days, to drop a landing vehicle to its surface, to dock with it in lunar orbit after the lunar excursion was over, and to transport the crew back to Earth. To accomplish these tasks, engineers designed a single moonship separable into two components: a service module (SM) that would carry the stores needed for the trip (oxygen, power-generation equipment, propellant, propulsion system, etc.), and a compact command module (CM), which would serve as the control center and crew cabin during the mission. The CM was also designed with two overriding considerations in mind: to survive the fiery heat (5000 °F) of the reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere—enough to melt steel—and to descend and splash down gently.
APOLLO 11 LUNAR MODULE
The Apollo 11 Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) Eagle, in a lunar landing configuration, is seen from the Command-Service Module (CSM) Columbia prior to descending on the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon on July 20, 1969. Inside the LEM were astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin.
THE LUNAR LANDER
The Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) was divided into two sections: The lower component containing vital supplies and the engine used to land on the moon was the descent stage, while the upper part—which served as the crew cabin and housed the engine to take off from the moon—was the ascent stage. The LEM was built to carry two men from the lunar orbit to the moon’s surface, provide a base for them, and then send the ascent stage back into the lunar orbit to rendezvous and dock with the CSM mother ship. Because the LEM
should only operate in airless space and in the low-gravity environment of the moon, the engineers did not have to worry about airflow and other aerodynamic issues, which gave the ship an odd appearance. During the lunar program, six LEMs landed and took off from the moon without problems, and the ship was even used as a lifeboat by the crew of Apollo 13.