Page 68 - Apollo Moonships

66 on board apollo moonships
LUNAR MODULE CABIN
The Lunar Module cabin consisted of the crew compartment
and the ascent stage midsection, which provided a habitable volume of 160 cubic feet (the unpressurized aft equipment bay was not part of the cabin). The crew compartment included the flight stations used by the crew to govern the spaceship: the commander’s station on the left and the lunar lander pilot’s on the right. Each station had its own display panel, flight controls, and a forward-vision window. To save weight and improve
the field-of-view during the moon landing, the stations had
no seats; from an upright position, the astronauts were much closer to the instruments, and their downward vision towards the moon surface increased significantly. However, the lack of couches made it necessary to provide the crewmen with ground fixation equipment to avoid them floating around in “zero gravity” conditions. The engineers devised a restraint assembly consisting of velcro on the floor of the cabin to interface with the
astronaut’s boots and ropes attached by rings to his spacesuits that were pushed down by a reel system with about 30 pounds of downward force. The crew compartment also contained
the forward hatch, a docking window above the commander’s station, and several cabinets to stow all kinds of equipment, from personal hygiene items to cameras and tools. For its part, the midsection housed critical units such as the Environmental Control System (ECS), the Waste Management System (WMS),
a water dispenser, and components of the Electrical Power System (EPS) and the Primary Guidance, Navigation, and Control System (PGNCS). This area also contained life support and communications umbilicals, the Oxygen Purge System, a docking tunnel to communicate with the Command-Service Module, and different types of containers. In the middle of the lower deck was a cylindrical cover used to separate the midsection interior from the protruding part of the ascent engine mounted below.
INSIDE THE ASCENT STAGE CREW COMPARTMENT
1 Commander’s flight station
2 Pilot’s flight station
3 Forward vision–window
4 Lighting controls
5 Attitude controller
6 Guidance and navigation computer
7 Thrust/translation controller
8 Data entry and display assembly
9 Commander’s restraint assembly
10 Forward hatch
11 Pilot’s restraint assembly
MIDSECTION
12 Ascent engine cover
13 Ascent engine thrust chamber
14 Ascent engine nozzle
15 Carbon dioxide an odor removal canisters
16 Environmental Control System (ECS) equipment
17 Electrical umbilicals
18 Overhead hatch
AFT EQUIPMENT BAY
19 Equipment rack assembly
20 Electrical and electronic devices
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