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Gene Cernan first flew aboard Gemini 9 and performed a highly risky EVA, his next flight was as Lunar Module Pilot aboard Apollo 10, which flew the Lunar Module to within a few miles of the lunar surface in preparation of the Apollo 11 mission. His final mission was as Commander of Apollo 17, when he became the last person to leave his footprints on the surface of the moon. Here he is posing with my framed Apollo 17 checklist page, which came from his personal collection and spent 3 days on the lunar surface during his Apollo 17 mission.
Rocket Science. Apollo Control Panel.
Dove gray on black; charcoal; white.
Standard width microfiber.
Alexei Leonov was one of the original group of Cosmonauts along with Yuri Gagarin, he was the first human ever to walk in space. And he was also the commander of the Russian half othe the Apollo /Soyuz mission, which achieved the first docking of American / Russian spacecraft
Kansas Cosmosphere
The fact that you are able to view the actual Apollo 13 Command Module Odyssey is due a remarkable twenty-year effort by the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center to save the spacecraft.
Following the conclusion of the Apollo 13 mission in April 1970, Odyssey was shipped back to Downey, California, to the North American Rockwell factory where it had been built. The purpose of this move was to conduct an intensive post-flight inspection on the spacecraft, which was normal procedure for all Apollo spacecraft returning from a mission. During these post-flight inspections, many components and systems were removed from the spacecraft to evaluate how they withstood the rigors of the mission. If problems were found, engineering changes would be made to future Command Modules. In addition, many parts were removed to reuse on other missions or were placed in storage as spare parts.
The unusual aspect of Odyssey's post-flight inspection was that virtually its entire interior was removed. Literally tens thousands of parts and systems were placed in government storage throughout the country or sent to the companies that had built them for evaluation. Even though the American public thought the Apollo 13 drama was one of NASA's finest hours, the space agency did not see it that way. They saw the mission as a failure and pressured the Smithsonian Institution -which owned the spacecraft - to send it out of the country. After being placed on short-term display at the Kennedy Space Center, and then in storage for many years, Odyssey was sent to an aviation museum in Paris, France, for exhibition. There it would remain, still gutted and lacking the dignity it so deserved, for more than 15 years.
In the early 1990s, the Cosmosphere began efforts to work with the Smithsonian to develop a plan to bring Apollo 13 back to the United States for restoration and public display. The political challenges in working with both the American and French governments to gain control of such an important historical artifact were immense. Finally in 1995, all political elements fell together and the Smithsonian formally requested that Odyssey be returned to the United States in order to conduct one of the most important and complex restoration projects ever attempted on a space artifact. The only group in the world with the expertise and capability to conduct the restoration was the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.
The Cosmosphere located nearly 80,000 pieces from the spacecraft, Odyssey, in hundreds of warehouses and storage sites throughout the nation. This work was made all the more difficult because many of the pieces had been recycled after the Apollo 13 mission and flown on other Apollo spacecraft, which greatly added to the amount of paperwork and time involved. In an extraordinary example of thorough detective work, virtually every piece now in the spacecraft has been fully documented to have been inside Odyssey on the day of its launch.
Finally, in November 1995, Odyssey arrived back on American soil and in Hutchinson. Cosmosphere restoration craftsmen began their own two-year long saga to evaluate, disassemble and then completely restore the spacecraft back to its original, immediate post-flight condition. The restoration was completed in full view of hundreds of thousands of museum visitors.
In December 1997, Odyssey's restoration was formally concluded. The spacecraft is now one of the most complete flown Apollo spacecrafts in existence. Its restoration is widely considered one of the most important, complete and historically accurate restorations conducted on a major American space artifact.
Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia" on display sans protective display enclosure at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C. The Museum is undergoing renovations before celebrating it's 40th anniversary in 2016. (08/16/15)
In 1971, the US and the USSR agreed to carry out a docking in orbit of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft. This project was called the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). An airlock was needed to transition from the American cabin pressure system of 5 pounds per square inch pure oxygen to the Soviet mixed oxygen/nitrogen system at normal atmospheric pressure (about 14.7 psi). NASA contracted with North American Rockwell, the CSM contractor, to build the Docking Module (DM). On the front was mounted the three-leaf androgynous docking system, which was jointly designed by US and Soviet engineers. It could be used in either a passive (retracted) or active (extended) docking configuration. The DM launched with the Apollo on July 15, 1975 and was used in the historic docking with Soyuz 19 two days later. After undocking on July 19, the American crew of Stafford, Brand and Slayton performed scientific experiments in the DM.
The Smithsonian's DM is the backup to the flight DM. It was transferred from NASA to the Smithsonian in 1980.
Edited Apollo 9 image of an astronaut half out of the Command Module and looking at the docked Lunar Module.
15 May 1987, Moscow, USSR --- Tourists view a mock-up of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz international space mission at the Cosmos Pavilion, a museum devoted to the Soviet space program. --- Image by © Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS
Edited Apollo 17 image (taken from the ascending Lunar Module) of the Command Service Module flying over the Taurus Littrow Valley (where the Lunar Module had just take off from) in a lower orbit to catch up to the Lunar Module. These images look interesting because it looks as if the CSM is flying through a valley on the Moon.
Edited Apollo 17 image (taken from the ascending Lunar Module) of the Command Service Module flying over the Taurus Littrow Valley (where the Lunar Module had just take off from) in a lower orbit to catch up to the Lunar Module. These images look interesting because it looks as if the CSM is flying through a valley on the Moon. Processing variant.
This is a good profile shot of the Command Module. The black trapezoidal shape near the door is the bezel for one of the two forward-facing windows.
As I mentioned elsewhere, the side window is as substitute, made of plastic in a wooden frame. Right after Apollo 7's return to Earth, the original window was removed to let engineers look into a condensation problem.
Edited Apollo 17 image (taken from the ascending Lunar Module) of the Command Service Module in a lower lunar orbit than the Lunar Module. This was to let the CSM catch up with the Lunar Module (lower orbits are faster than higher orbits which leads to the weird (but true!) situation in orbital mechanics: if you want to go faster around a planet (or moon), you need to brake). Color/processing variant.
This isn't my best quality photo, and the barriers are still in place. The cool part is the cylinder to the right foreground. That's a Lunar Module leg strut, one of the lot manufactured in Montreal. I don't know if it's a flight spare or a rejected part.
Edited Apollo 9 image of an astronaut on a space walk whose helmet visor is reflecting the entire Earth.
© Lindbloom Photography
This is "Columbia" the Apollo 11 command module that brought the Apollo 11 astronauts home from first ever moon landing mission in 1969. This is in the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in Washington DC.
Apollo 17 Command Module America recovery operations. Photo signed by Captain Norman K. Green, Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Ticonderoga (CV-14/CVA-14/CVS-14), the primary recovery ship.
Thick card stock, 5" x 7".
See also:
www.navsource.org/archives/02/people/green_norman_k.jpg
Credit: NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive website
And excellent ancillary reading at:
ww2db.com/ship_spec.php?ship_id=438
Edited Apollo 17 image (taken from the ascending Lunar Module) of the Command Service Module flying over the Taurus Littrow Valley (where the Lunar Module had just take off from) in a lower orbit to catch up to the Lunar Module. These images look interesting because it looks as if the CSM is flying through a valley on the Moon. Processing variant.
15 May 1987, Moscow, USSR --- Tourists view a mock-up of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz international space mission at the Cosmos Pavilion, a museum devoted to the Soviet space program. --- Image by © Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS
Edited Apollo 17 image (taken from the ascending Lunar Module) of the Command Service Module flying over the Taurus Littrow Valley (where the Lunar Module had just take off from) in a lower orbit to catch up to the Lunar Module. These images look interesting because it looks as if the CSM is flying through a valley on the Moon. Processing variant.
After an oxygen tank exploded and crippled their service module, the Apollo 13 astronauts were forced to abandon plans to make the third manned lunar landing. The extent of the damage is revealed in this grainy, grim photo, taken as the service module was drifting away, jettisoned only hours prior to the command module's reentry and splashdown. An entire panel on the side of the service module has been blown away and extensive internal damage is apparent. Visible below the gutted compartment is a radio antenna and the large, bell-shaped nozzle of the service module's rocket engine. On April 17, 1970 the three astronauts returned safely to Earth.
Here's a nice view of the equipment packed into the space around the CM's side of the tunnel to the Lunar Module.
Just above the hatch is a pair of pitch control motors. The two bell-shaped objects just above the motors are canisters for the CM's two drogue parachutes. Right up at the apex is a blanking plate sealing the tunnel that would lead to the Lunar Module.
The Gemini capsule took astronauts Dick Gordon and Pete Conrad into space, setting an altitude record of 1,400 kilometers (850 miles). This Gemini mission gave us the first view of Earth as a sphere, and was also the first American flight to have a computer-controlled reentry.
Animated GIF created from Apollo 17 images of the Command Service Module flying over Taurus Littrow Valley as it catches up to the Lunar Module, in a higher orbit.
There are only four images that I could find so the animation is very short.
Smaller version with a reduced scale (for those whose bandwidth is constrained or don't really need to see a large animated GIF).
To view animation, download image then drag to an open browser where it will play.
Mission commander Wally Schirra would have been on the left, Command Module Pilot Donn Eisele in the center, and Lunar Module Pilot Walt Cunningham on the left.
Even for Apollo 7 and Apollo 8, which didn't carry Lunar Modules, the title "Lunar Module Pilot" was still used.
Apollo-era Advertising, from Time Magazine.
This is from a 1965 issue. North American built the Apollo's Saturn V second stage, their Rocketdyne division built the actual main rocket engines on the first stage, and North American Aviation built the Apollo Command Module and Service Module (CSM).
North American was acquired before the moon landing by Rockwell, who briefly used both names. Rockwell went on to be prime contractor to build the space shuttle.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pensacola,_Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida. As of 2018, the population was estimated to be 52,713. Pensacola is the principal city of the Pensacola Metropolitan Area, which had an estimated 494,883 residents as of 2018. Pensacola is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the Gulf Coast region, the largest between New Orleans and Tampa.
Pensacola is the site of the first Spanish settlement within the borders of the continental United States in 1559, predating the establishment of St. Augustine by 6 years, although the settlement was abandoned due to a hurricane and not re-established until 1698. Pensacola is a seaport on Pensacola Bay, which is protected by the barrier island of Santa Rosa and connects to the Gulf of Mexico. A large United States Naval Air Station, the first in the United States, is located southwest of Pensacola near Warrington; it is the base of the Blue Angels flight demonstration team and the National Naval Aviation Museum. The main campus of the University of West Florida is situated north of the city center.
The area was originally inhabited by Muskogean-speaking peoples. The Pensacola people lived there at the time of European contact, and Creek people frequently visited and traded from present-day southern Alabama. Spanish explorer Tristán de Luna founded a short-lived settlement in 1559. In 1698 the Spanish established a presidio in the area, from which the modern city gradually developed. The area changed hands several times as European powers competed in North America. During Florida's British rule (1763–1781), fortifications were strengthened.
It is nicknamed "The City of Five Flags", due to the five governments that have ruled it during its history: the flags of Spain (Castile), France, Great Britain, the United States of America, and the Confederate States of America. Other nicknames include "World's Whitest Beaches" (due to the white sand of Florida panhandle beaches), "Cradle of Naval Aviation", "Western Gate to the Sunshine State", "America's First Settlement", "Emerald Coast", "Red Snapper Capital of the World", and "P-Cola".
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Naval_Aviation_Museum
The National Naval Aviation Museum, formerly known as the National Museum of Naval Aviation and the Naval Aviation Museum, is a military and aerospace museum located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.
The space between the command module and the service module. The service module is a prop; boilerplate built to emulate the final design.
photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
This photo is licensed under a Creative Commons license. If you use this photo within the terms of the license or make special arrangements to use the photo, please list the photo credit as "Scott Beale / Laughing Squid" and link the credit to laughingsquid.com.