View allAll Photos Tagged commandmodule
... and then, you know, you've got the actual real command module from the Apollo 15 lunar mission just sort of sitting there rusting gently, and I think my brain couldn't comprehend that or something, because I only took the one picture. What was I thinking? COMMAND MODULE!
Tom Stafford first flew aboard Gemini 6A which performed the first rendezvous in space with Gemini 7, his next mission was as Commander of Gemini 9, after that he commanded Apollo 10 which was the first flight of a lunar module in lunar orbit. His final flight was as Commander of the Amaerican hald of the Apollo / Soyuz mission, which was the first docking of American and Russian spacecraft in history.
I'm wearing my educator's lab coat, photographing the CM in bright sunlight. Standing next to me is Julie Oliver, a photographer from the Ottawa Citizen. (Photo courtesy Brian McCullough)
Apollo 15 Command Module "Endeavor"
USAF Museum
Dayton, OH
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Shee...
The Apollo II Command Module "Columbia" carried astronauts Niel Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins on their voyage to the Moon and back in 1969.
Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia" interior 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)
The Apollo 15 Command Module "Endeavour". The crew was all Air Force, so NASA gave the CM to the museum.
Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum
Apollo Command Module Boilerplate
A boilerplate is a simplified metal model created to test specific aspects of the real spacecraft, such as water landings, launch abort escape rockets, or recovery systems. It duplicates the size, weight, shape, and center of gravity of the actual vehicle.
This particular boilerplate is BP-1101A. NASA used it for flotation tests in the Gulf of Mexico in July, 1965. After some modifications, NASA used it for additional ocean testing in 1966 and 1967.
On Ioan from the National Air and Space Museum.
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)
The Virginia Air and Space center Museum in Hampton Roads, Virginia. This museum contains the original Apollo 12 command module, along with famous historic airplanes , bombers and jet fighter planes.
Fernbank Science Center
Before you is the Command Module of the Apollo 6. If you look under the capsule you will see a series of holes. These holes were drilled to investigate how the heat shield held up after this capsule re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.
The Apollo 6 mission provided a second rehearsal for launching the massive Saturn V rocket. Scientists and engineers were testing the "staging" of a giant rocket to be sure each section would work properly. An important mission objective was to check out all systems before sending astronauts into space. The vehicle carried a full payload, including a mock-up lunar module, and was to test the capsule's heat shield to see if it could withstand re-entry speeds.
Initially, the launch seemed to be fine. But approximately two minutes into the flight, the first stage's five F-1 engines developed serious thrust fluctuations that caused the rocket to bounce like a pogo stick for 30 seconds. These oscillations were so intense that an airborne chase plane's cameras recorded pieces of the adapter stage (housing the lunar module) falling off of the vehicle. Such low-frequency vibrations (known as "pogo effect") exceeded the engineering/safety design criteria of the Apollo 6 Command Module. Had astronauts been onboard the spacecraft, the mission would have been aborted by jettisoning the capsule away from the failing rocket.
Although the oscillations stopped once the first stage was discarded, the vehicles second stage performance was also less than perfect. Two of the stage's five J-2 engines failed, causing the remaining three engines to burn for a longer period of time than planned. As a result, the second stage ran out of fuel before reaching the desired 100 mile circular orbit.
To compensate the Saturn's third stage burned longer and placed the spacecraft into an unplanned 110 by 230 mile elliptical orbit. NASA engineers left Apollo 6 in this "parking orbit for two revolutions around the Earth to assess the situation and perform various system checks. When flight controllers attempted to fire the third stage again, to simulate the flight to the Moon, the J-2 engine failed to restart.
The issues with the Saturn V's three stages altered the mission, and it was decided that after separation from the third stage, the Service Module's engine would burn for seven minutes, pushing the Apollo 6 capsule to an altitude of almost 14,000 miles. At such an altitude, enough re-entry speed could then be acquired to simulate an Apollo spacecraft returning from the Moon. The capsule's heat shield withstood the fireball created by a 22,000 mile per hour plunge into the Earth's atmosphere. Apollo 6 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, completing its 10 hour perilous space odyssey, and was recovered by the crew of the U.S.S. Okinawa.
This is the Orion capsule. Had funding not been cut, it would have sat atop the Ares rocket (which had proven successful in testing and launches back in the fall of 2009) and taken a crew of four to the ISS (International Space Station) or a crew of six to the moon (they had intended to go back by 2020 at the latest).
This is the seventh of seven selected photos from my vacation for my 365 Project. This is the topmost nose section of the Saturn V rocket with the command module below.
Here's a fairly decent view of the connector linking the CM to the Service Module (SM). Just before the SM was jettisoned, this large array of connections was cut by a guillotine driven by an explosive charge.
Liz and I ventured to Kennedy Space Center for our nerdy Valentine's day date. Cool, huh? We wanted to be different.
An Apollo command module, which was launch on the Saturn V.
Charlie Duke was the Apollo 16 Lunar Module Pilot, and became the 10th man to walk on the moon. Here he can be seen holding my flag which was part of his personal collection, and which flew to the moon aboard the Command Module " Casper" during the Apollo 16 mission.
Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum
Apollo Command Module Boilerplate
A boilerplate is a simplified metal model created to test specific aspects of the real spacecraft, such as water landings, launch abort escape rockets, or recovery systems. It duplicates the size, weight, shape, and center of gravity of the actual vehicle.
This particular boilerplate is BP-1101A. NASA used it for flotation tests in the Gulf of Mexico in July, 1965. After some modifications, NASA used it for additional ocean testing in 1966 and 1967.
On Ioan from the National Air and Space Museum.
Fernbank Science Center
Before you is the Command Module of the Apollo 6. If you look under the capsule you will see a series of holes. These holes were drilled to investigate how the heat shield held up after this capsule re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.
The Apollo 6 mission provided a second rehearsal for launching the massive Saturn V rocket. Scientists and engineers were testing the "staging" of a giant rocket to be sure each section would work properly. An important mission objective was to check out all systems before sending astronauts into space. The vehicle carried a full payload, including a mock-up lunar module, and was to test the capsule's heat shield to see if it could withstand re-entry speeds.
Initially, the launch seemed to be fine. But approximately two minutes into the flight, the first stage's five F-1 engines developed serious thrust fluctuations that caused the rocket to bounce like a pogo stick for 30 seconds. These oscillations were so intense that an airborne chase plane's cameras recorded pieces of the adapter stage (housing the lunar module) falling off of the vehicle. Such low-frequency vibrations (known as "pogo effect") exceeded the engineering/safety design criteria of the Apollo 6 Command Module. Had astronauts been onboard the spacecraft, the mission would have been aborted by jettisoning the capsule away from the failing rocket.
Although the oscillations stopped once the first stage was discarded, the vehicles second stage performance was also less than perfect. Two of the stage's five J-2 engines failed, causing the remaining three engines to burn for a longer period of time than planned. As a result, the second stage ran out of fuel before reaching the desired 100 mile circular orbit.
To compensate the Saturn's third stage burned longer and placed the spacecraft into an unplanned 110 by 230 mile elliptical orbit. NASA engineers left Apollo 6 in this "parking orbit for two revolutions around the Earth to assess the situation and perform various system checks. When flight controllers attempted to fire the third stage again, to simulate the flight to the Moon, the J-2 engine failed to restart.
The issues with the Saturn V's three stages altered the mission, and it was decided that after separation from the third stage, the Service Module's engine would burn for seven minutes, pushing the Apollo 6 capsule to an altitude of almost 14,000 miles. At such an altitude, enough re-entry speed could then be acquired to simulate an Apollo spacecraft returning from the Moon. The capsule's heat shield withstood the fireball created by a 22,000 mile per hour plunge into the Earth's atmosphere. Apollo 6 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, completing its 10 hour perilous space odyssey, and was recovered by the crew of the U.S.S. Okinawa.
Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum
Apollo Command Module Boilerplate
A boilerplate is a simplified metal model created to test specific aspects of the real spacecraft, such as water landings, launch abort escape rockets, or recovery systems. It duplicates the size, weight, shape, and center of gravity of the actual vehicle.
This particular boilerplate is BP-1101A. NASA used it for flotation tests in the Gulf of Mexico in July, 1965. After some modifications, NASA used it for additional ocean testing in 1966 and 1967.
On Ioan from the National Air and Space Museum.