Page 42 - Apollo Moonships

40 On bOard apOllO mOOnships
COMMAND MODULE STRUCTURE
Designed to be used as a control center and living quarters during Apollo missions, the Command Module (CM)—a conical-shaped vessel—consists of two basic sections: the inner structure (pressure shell) made of aluminum sheets and the outer structure (heat shield), made of stainless steel coated with an ablative material used to control the rate of heat absorption by charring or melting rapidly when exposed to high temperatures. The inner structure was divided into three sections protected by their respective
heat shields: the forward, aft, and crew compartments. The forward compartment occupied the area at the tip of the cone that surrounded the access (docking) tunnel designed to communicate the CM with the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM); the aft compartment was situated around the base of the capsule; while the crew compartment—basically the pressurized flight cabin—occupied the center of the ship and covered most of its volume (218 cubic feet of a total of 456 cubic feet).
OUTER STRUCTURE 1 2
11
12 shield 13 14
Urine dump Waste–water dump Crew access hatch
Sea recovery tether ring
15 Aft pitch engines
16 Pilot parachute mortar
17 Main landing parachute
18 Drogue parachute mortar
19 LES Tower electrical receptacle
20 Drogue chute attachment fitting an disconnect
21 Engine protector
22 Hatch window
23 Aft compartment instrumentation
24 Aft compartment metallic frame
25 Removable panel for maintenance of equipment
26 Aft compartment structural frame
INNER STRUCTURE
20 21
22
26
5
Forward heat
3
6
4
Crew compartment heat shield
Aft heat shield
7
8
9
13
14
10
1112 15
Forward compartment
1 Docking mechanism
2 Forward hatch
3 Launch Escape System tower leg wells
4 Forward pitch engines
5 Extravehicular activity handle
6 Rendezvous window
7 Side window
8 Yaw engines
9 Steam vent
10 Roll engines
COMMAND MODULE PROFILE
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17
18
19
24
25
Crew compartment
Aft compartment
Diameter: Length:
Volume:
Weight:
Control thrusters: Propellant: Power: Environment:
12.83 feet
10.58 feet
456 cubic feet
12 800 pounds
12 x 94 pounds–force 270 pounds
3 x 28 V DC batteries Pure oxygen at 340 mbar
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