 The joined vehicles travel like this all the way to the moon. The Service module engine fires to slow the vehicles into lunar orbit.
(During the Apollo 13 crisis, the astronauts moved into the Lunar module where there was more room and warmth.) |
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The joined vehicles travel like this all the way to the moon. The Service module engine fires to slow the vehicles into lunar orbit.
(During the Apollo 13 crisis, the astronauts moved into the Lunar module where there was more room and warmth.) |
 First seen by the crew of Apollo 8, this view of the earth, as seen from moon orbit, was captured with a telephoto lense; it does not give a very good indication of how far away the moon really is. See two pictures down for a better view... |
 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin transfer to the LEM and undock. Michael Collins remains in the Command module. |
 The Lunar module's lower stage engine burns, to slow the craft enough so that it will begin to fall towards the surface. |
 The Command/Service module remains in orbit. If anything goes wrong on the surface, it cannot land to help. |
 This is the view out the Lunar module window as the craft approaches the surface. In the last few kilometres, the pilot must steer clear of any boulders or craters that appear. The landing site had been photographed from space, but boulders and smaller craters were not visible in the photos.(In the last minute of the Apollo landing, with fuel almost gone, the pilot did have to choose a new site; he chose to look for a better spot, and was only seconds away from having to abort (fire the engine to separate the upper stage). Controllers on earth did not know what was happening, nor where the craft was, until Armstrong announced to the world that 'The Eagle has landed!'). |