The Goal
The Apollo program was designated to mainly land humans on the moon and bring them back safely onto the earth. Conversely, only about six of the missions (which are Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17) achieved this daring goal. The Apollo program's goals soon went beyond landing humans on the moon and returning them safely on earth.
The new goals were now to:
- To establish the technology to meet other national interests in space.
- To achieve preeminence in space for the United States.
- To carry out a program of scientific exploration of the Moon.
- To develop man's capability to work in the lunar environment.
The Apollo Spacecraft
The Apollo Spacecraft is dismantled into three parts, the command module, the service module, and the lunar module:
The Command Module (CM)
This is the basic structure that holds the crew's quarters and flight control section. It is the spacecrafts control centre and consists of multiple equipment that control and monitor the structure's complex control systems. Furthermore, the structure also consist comfort and safety equipment for the module's flight crew. The command module is coated with three layers of heat shields that help protect the external structure of the module prior to its high velocity re-entry into the earth. The Service Module (SM)
This supports the spacecrafts propulsion and support systems. The Service Module is mainly connected to the command module prior to re-entry. The Service module functions as a supplier for oxygen, water and electric power to the command module. The body of the service module is an aluminum made honey-comb which is in between two aluminum face sheets which each has a thickness of one inch. The service module consists of a Service Propulsion Subsystem engine, with 16 Reaction Control Subsystem engines divided into four quads. The engines are the main source of thrust to control the flight path until the Service and Command modules are separated just prior to the re-entry into the earth's atmosphere.The Lunar Module (LM)
This functions as a structure that transports the crew to the lunar surface. The lunar module is divided into two sections; these are the Ascent Stages and the descent stage. The ascent stage carries astronauts along with the navigation, guidance, control, communications, life support, environmental control, electrical power and propulsion systems. The descent stage carries the scientific equipment, a propulsion system, additional electric power, water and oxygen for the ascent stage.
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 is the first successful manned mission to land on the moon. The Famous Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969 at the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex. The crews of the Apollo 11 are Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr. The objective of the flight was to execute a manned lunar landing and return the missions safely which was achieved. One of the famous quote that was said in one the moon was "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" - Neil Alden Armstrong. The landing of the lunar module on the moon is on July 21, 1969.
