The New Childrens Encyclopedia

APOLLO SPACECRAFT

For the three-day trip between Earth and the Moon, the Apollo

crew spent most of their time in the cone-shaped Command

Module (CM). The crew also returned to Earth in the

Command Module and landed by parachuting into the ocean.

THE APOLLO PROGRAM

23

, LUNAR MODULE The Moon

lander was officially called the lunar

module. The crew lived in the upper

of the two sections. It was this section

that blasted off from the Moon and

carried them back to the CM.

A camera took pictures

and sent them back

to Earth.

The wheels were

solid and made of

wire mesh.

d COMMAND MODULE

One astronaut stayed in the

CM in orbit around

the Moon. The

others went down

to the Moon’s

surface.

1970 1971

July 26

Launch of

Apollo 15, the

first mission

with a rover.

April 13

An oxygen tank

exploded on Apollo

13 , canceling its

Moon landing.

TAKE A LOOK

. Bending in spacesuits
wasn’t easy, so tools
were designed to pick
things up. Altogether,
838 lb (380 kg) of
rocks were brought to
Earth and stored in a
special room.

Scientists wanted to

learn more about the

Moon, so astronauts

collected lots of soil

and rock samples.

The Moon buggy

Walking and carrying

samples was hard

work, even in the

Moon’s low gravity

(everything weighs

one-sixth of what it

does on the Earth).

So NASA gave the last

three Apollo crews a lunar

rover to drive. Crews traveled

farther and could carry more.

SPACE

1972

July 17

Apollo-Soyuz docking: first

joint US-Russian

manned

mission.

1975

December 19

Splashdown of Apollo

17 , the last manned

mission to the Moon.

Dish antenna for

communications

with Earth.