Table of Contents
How did the Apollo docking system work?
The Apollo docking ring mounted 12 automatic latches to secure the joined modules. Astronauts used the blue handles to manually lock or unlock individual latches. The ring also supported the docking probe, and allowed connection of two cables between the Command Module and Lunar Module.
How did Apollo 11 dock in space?
2. Apollo’s crew compartment was about the same size as a large car. Having left Earth, Apollo performed a mid-flight turn to dock with the Lunar Module, which was carried into space behind the Command Module, before turning again and heading for the Moon.
How did the Lunar Module dock?
The S-IVB is the part that propels the spacecraft out of low Earth orbit and on its way to the moon. The fairing opens up and the CSM detaches, turns around, and docks to the LM. The front of the CM has a hatch that mates with a hatch on the top of the LM. After docking, the CSM pulls the LM away from the S-IVB.
How did Eagle dock with Columbia?
That process uncovered the lunar landing module, Eagle, which had been tucked safely behind Columbia inside the third stage, and Collins had to turn Columbia around and position its nose to dock with the top of Eagle. “This of course was a critical maneuver in the flight plan.
How did the CM dock with the LM?
The docking probe sticking out from the CM had three latches. As the tip of the probe went into a hole in the conical drogue on the LM, a pneumatic system actuated by nitrogen gas moved the latches from their cocked into the locked position.
How did Apollo 11 get off the Moon?
Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin on the spaceflight Apollo 11 in July 1969. “The broken switch had snapped off from the engine-arm circuit breaker, the one vital breaker needed to send electrical power to the ascent engine that would lift Neil and me off the moon,” he writes.
What did Apollo 11 dock with?
On July 21, after just 21 hours and 36 minutes on the Moon, the ascent engine fired, bringing the Eagle back to dock with Columbia, and returning astronauts Aldrin and Armstrong to the Command and Service Module with astronaut Collins.
How did the astronauts get off the Moon?
The astronauts used Eagle’s ascent stage to lift off from the lunar surface and rejoin Collins in the command module. They jettisoned Eagle before they performed the maneuvers that propelled Columbia out of the last of its 30 lunar orbits onto a trajectory back to Earth.
How was the lunar module deployed?
The LM descent engine fired for 30 seconds at 19:08 UT, putting the craft into a descent orbit with a closest approach 14.5 km above the Moon’s surface. The astronauts deployed the EASEP and other instruments, took photographs, and collected 21.55 kg of lunar rock and soil.
How did Neil Armstrong return to Earth?
At 1:53 pm on July 21 the astronauts lifted off from the Moon in the module’s ascent stage and then rendezvoused with Collins and the orbiting spacecraft. The three explorers fired away from lunar orbit on July 22 and returned to Earth on July 24.
How the Eagle left the moon?
Eagle entered lunar orbit on July 19, 1969. On July 20, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin entered into the LM and separated it from Command module Columbia. At 17:54:00 UTC, they lifted off in Eagle’s ascent stage to rejoin Michael Collins aboard Columbia in lunar orbit.
What did Michael Collins drop during space walk?
During the spacewalk, he famously lost a camera, which is frequently cited as one of the items of “space junk” orbiting Earth. On Jan. 9, 1969, NASA announced that Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin would be on the crew of Apollo 11, the United States’ first moon landing attempt.
Was the LEM pressurized?
In some places the walls were so thin – the vehicle was designed to fly in a vacuum so only had to withstand being pressured to 5 psi – astronauts had to watch they didn’t hit anything too hard. The foil that acted as a micrometeoroid shield in some sections was actually taped in place.
Does ISS slow down for docking?
The spacecraft that want to dock with the Space station have to speed up to almost the same speed and same direction as the space station. They then approach it at a very slow relative velocity.
How does the space shuttle catch up to the space station?
Each module was installed by ISS and space shuttle crewmembers during spacewalks and using a robotic arm. The space shuttle travels slightly faster in its lower orbit, and thus “catches up” to the ISS, while making small orbit corrections to raise its orbit and align the vehicles.
What happened to the Apollo 13 LEM?
The LM was jettisoned shortly before reaching Earth, the astronauts returning to the Command Module for the reentry. The LM re-entered and burned in the Earth’s atmosphere over the southwest Pacific, any surviving pieces impacted in the deep ocean off the coast of New Zealand.
How did the command module connect to the service module?
The command module was mated atop the service module, connected by three tension ties extending from the CM’s heat shield to six compression pads on the top of the SM. These ties were stainless straps 2.5 inches wide and 4 inches long bolted to the spacecraft on either end.
How did NASA get past the Van Allen radiation belt?
The astronauts had low exposure in the Van Allen belts due to the short period of time spent flying through them. Apollo flight trajectories bypassed the inner belts completely, passing through the thinner areas of the outer belts.
Why did NASA stop going to the moon?
But in 1970 future Apollo missions were cancelled. Apollo 17 became the last manned mission to the Moon, for an indefinite amount of time. The main reason for this was money. The cost of getting to the Moon was, ironically, astronomical.
