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The Apollo capsule and it's support module stayed in space but they were connected. The support module which had all the life and power sustaining elements was jettisoned before the manned capsule returned to earth. Is that what you are talking about ?

2007-01-05 03:34:14 · answer #1 · answered by Gene 7 · 0 0

There are 3 parts that flew to the Moon during the Apollo missions:

1) The service module (which included the Earth obit insertion stage and the Apollo capsule which would be used to re-enter Earth atmosphere upon return)
2.1) The LEM Lower Stage (Lunar Excursion Module)
2.2) The LEM Upper Stage

Only the Service module stayed in orbit around the Moon. The LEM (both parts) undocked from the service module and descended down to the Moon. There the LEM landed (using the lower stage boosters, which were spent upon landing), and the mission was performed. Afterwards, the astronauts entered the LEM, and the upper stage seperated from the lower and took off from the Moon. The upper stage of the LEM used its own set of boosters to re-enter Lunar orbit and then dock with the service module in orbit. Once docked, the astronauts transferred out of the LEM and back into the service module. The service module then fired its main engine to enter a transfer orbit back to Earth.

The reason the service module did not land with the LEM was purely due to the way it was designed. The service module was simply too heavy for the LEM engines to handle, and the reason for this is that the craft was not designed to take the service module to the Moon. One man remained in the service module while the other two landed on the Moon in the LEM.

The missions were designed as such to ensure safety and mission success.

2007-01-05 11:35:42 · answer #2 · answered by AresIV 4 · 3 0

Ares explained the mission / craft design and operation very well. This mission design is called a "Lunar orbit rendezvous."

The reason the mission was designed this way is fuel. A single vehicle that would launch from the earth, travel to the moon, land on it in one piece, and take off again in one piece would weigh so much that the amount of fuel required to lift it off from the Earth would be incredible. This amount of fuel, in turn demands an even larger launch vehicle than the one used (Saturn V rocket). This weight / fuel dillemna was a major hurdle for the project designers to overcome.

Another option under consideration was an Earth orbit rendezvous. They would launch the lunar vehicle and the crew seperately. The crew would rendezvous with the lunar lander in earth orbit and fly it to the moon, land, and take off again to return to the Earth all in one piece. This still required a huge amount of fuel (and thus a huge launch vehicle).

Lunar orbit rendezvous was not seriously considered at first because it was dangerous and had of course never been tried before Apollo. Testing unproven aspects of the mission and the new equipment is why they launched so many Apollo missions that didn't go to the moon or land on it.

For example, they tested the LEM / CSM rendezvous in Earth orbit first (Apollo 9). This was a bit safer since the test being in Earth orbit made a rescue possible if a problem happened, whereas a rescue at the moon would have been all but impossible.

Once they had tested each phase of the mission and each piece of equipment in flight, they gave the go ahead for Apollo 11 to land on the moon, and the rest is history. This unconventional method made it much more feasible to engineer and actually launch the mission because it required so much less fuel.

2007-01-05 12:40:24 · answer #3 · answered by ZeroByte 5 · 0 0

It was done this way because it was not necessary to take the entire spacecraft down to the surface of the moon, and would have required far too much fuel. To minimise the amount of fuel required a very light craft (the lunar module) was used to make the descent to the surface, leaving the rest of the spacecraft in lunar orbit.

2007-01-05 20:44:40 · answer #4 · answered by Martin 5 · 0 0

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