View allAll Photos Tagged commandmodule
A space vehicle module designed to carry the crew, the chief communication equipment, and the equipment for reentry
Rob Speed says: "It's the command module from Skylab 4, which I think is the very last Apollo mission"
Orion Capsule Mockup. It's a bit bigger and roomier than the Apollo capsules, seating four. Currently under development, NASA plans on flying these in a few years.
Detail of the Apollo 9 command module heat shield.
It's amazing that the heat shields actually worked. It seems like there was just enough protection, because this thing looks really toasted.
Apollo capsule CM-011A, a mockup used for testing purposes. Amazingly small for 3 people - definitely no room to move around. Aboard the USS Hornet, which was used as a capsule recovery ship for the lunar missions. The trailer to the right is the quarantine unit used to keep the astronauts for a while to make sure they didn't bring back any little green alien bugs with them.
The late Wally Schirra was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, and the only man to fly Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.
The Apollo Command Module from the Skylab 3 mission (which was the second crewed flight to the Skylab space station) located at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
The two holes below the lifting lug are Reaction Control System (RCS) motors to adjust the CM's pitch before and during re-entry.
The Apollo Command Module from the Skylab 3 mission (which was the second crewed flight to the Skylab space station) located at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
This the umbilical connection to the Service Module from the Command Module.
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
Washington D.C., U.S.A.
(Full size/resolution photos: reijo.kivela@viapori.fi, Copyright: Markus Kivelä 2011-12)
The Apollo Command Module from the Skylab 3 mission (which was the second crewed flight to the Skylab space station) located at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Astronaut Hall of Fame and Museum;
Kennedy Space Center
May 11, 2009 - day of Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch for Mission STS-125
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.
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.
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.
Currently 41 years old, NASA's Command Module CSM-106 Charlie Brown from Apollo 10 is on loan to the London Science Museum.
On May 29th 1969 it set the world speed record for a manned vehicle, at 24,791mph. The heat shield is brown and looks like it was burned to a crisp, and the original aluminiumised PET skin is gone and looks for all the world like the module is made of wood.
Original DSC_2318
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.
The Apollo 9 command module is on loan from the Air & Space Museum. This small cone is the only part of a 367 foot Saturn V rocket that returns to earth intact.
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.