Part 6

Most tools and other pieces of equipment used by Apollo astronauts on the Moon were left behind as the astronauts departed to return to the Earth. This was done to conserve weight in the lunar module ascent stage so that the maximum quantity of samples of lunar soil and rocks could be brought back to the Earth.

Some tools and pieces of equipment, however, were returned to the Earth. These include such items as a lunar hammer, a 16-mm camera, film cassettes, lunar sample return containers, parts of a lunar roving vehicle fender, and parts of the unmanned spacecraft _Surveyor 3_ visited by _Apollo 12_ astronauts.

In addition, astronauts carried small mementos with them when they landed on the Moon.

Other lunar tools and instruments on exhibit were backup, prototype, or used by the astronauts in pre-flight training.

The lunar hammer is on loan from Alan L. Bean; other tools and instruments are from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Apollo Command Module: Skylab 4

The _Skylab 4_ command module ferried the crew of the last Skylab mission—astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue. The _Skylab 4_ crew lived in the Skylab for 84 days, from November 16, 1973, to February 8, 1974.

In flight, the Apollo command module operated with a service module—an equipment section, 7.4 meters (24 feet) long and 4 meters (13 feet) in diameter—attached to the command module. The service module provided electrical power, oxygen, and water for the command module for most of a typical flight.

In addition, the service module contained the 9300-kilogram (20,500-pound) thrust Service Propulsion System, an engine capable of being throttled and restarted. During Apollo lunar flights, the engine provided thrust for mid-course trajectory changes and boosted the command/service module combination out of lunar orbit and back to Earth. The service module was jettisoned just before reentry into the earth’s atmosphere.

During reentry, the command module’s exterior was subjected to temperatures of around 2800°C (5000°F). The command module is covered with an ablative heat shield composed of a phenolic epoxy resin in a fiberglass honeycomb structure. As friction with the earth’s atmosphere caused the heat shield to char and vaporize, the heat was carried away from the spacecraft. The heat shield varies in thickness from 7 centimeters (2.75 inches) at the base to .6 centimeter (.25 inch) at the forward section. Total weight of the heat shield is about 1400 kilograms (3000 pounds).

The prime contractor for the Apollo Command Module was North American Rockwell Corporation.

The command module is from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Diameter 3.9 m. (12 ft., 10 in.) max. Length 3.2 m. (10 ft., 7 in.)

Moon Rocks

During the six Apollo program moon landings, astronauts collected and returned to Earth samples of the lunar surface. The samples were collected both from the flat maria regions—great basins created by ancient meteoric impacts and later filled with lava from the moon’s interior—and from the highland regions.

Subsequent analysis of the samples has indicated that the moon’s surface is largely composed of three kinds of rock.

Basalt, the rock of the maria regions, was formed as lavas from the interior of the Moon welled to the surface, filled the great meteoric impact basins, and then cooled.

Anorthosite, the highland rock, is believed by many scientists to have formed when the original crust of the Moon cooled and solidified. According to this theory, a light mineral, plagioclase, floated to the surface of the Moon and formed the anorthosite.

Breccia, the shocked rock, is composed of large and small fragments of rocks which were shattered and redistributed on the lunar surface by meteoric impacts. Subsequently, the fragments were recombined into new rocks by heat and pressure.

Lunar soils are largely composed of fragments of the three types of rocks and their minerals, and glass produced by meteoric impacts and volcanic eruptions.

Lunar rock samples are on loan from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Suggested Reading

Historical and General Background Clarke, Arthur C. _The Promise of Space._ New York: Harper & Row, 1968. Dornberger, Walter. _V-2._ New York: Viking Press, 1954. Durant III, Frederick C.; and George S. James, eds. _First Steps Towards Space_ (Smithsonian Annals of Flight, No. 10). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974. Available through the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 (stock no. 4705-00011). Emme, Eugene, ed. _The History of Rocket Technology._ Detroit: Wayne State Press, 1964. Ley, Willy. _Rockets, Missiles, and Men in Space._ New York: Viking Press, 1968. Stoiko, Michael. _Soviet Rocketry: Past, Present and Future._ New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston, 1970. Von Braun, W.; and F. I. Ordway. _History of Rocket and Space Travel._ New York: T. Y. Crowell, 1975. Biographical Lehman, Milton. _This High Man._ New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1963. Thomas, Shirley, ed. _Men of Space._ 8 vols. Philadelphia: Chilton Book Co., 1963. Popular Cortright, Edgar M. _Exploring Space with a Camera._ Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968. Davis, Merton; and Bruce C. Murray. _View From Space: Photographic Exploration of the Planets._ New York: Columbia University Press, 1971. Gatland, Kenneth. _Spacecraft and Boosters._ Fallbrook, California: Aero Publications, 1964. ——. _The Robot Explorers._ New York: Macmillan, 1972. Moore, Patrick. _Space._ London: Burke Publishing Co., 1968. Sharpe, Mitchell R. _Living in Space._ New York: Doubleday, 1969. Technical Corliss, William R. _Space Probes and Planetary Exploration._ Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand, 1965. Glasstone, Samuel. _Sourcebook on the Space Sciences._ New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 1965. Purser, Paul E.; Maxime A. Faget; and Norman F. Smith, eds. _Manned Spacecraft._ New York: Fairchild Publications, Inc., 1964. Ruppe, Harry O. _Introduction to Astronautics._ 2 vols. Campbell, California: Academy Press, 1966-1967. Apollo Moon Landings Collins, Michael. _Carrying the Fire._ New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1974. Cortright, Edgar M., ed. _Apollo Expeditions to the Moon._ Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975 (stock no. 033-000-00630-6). Lewis, Richard S. _Appointment on the Moon._ New York: Viking Press, 1969. ——. _Voyages of Apollo._ Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1974. Wilford, John N. _We Reach the Moon._ Rev. ed. Chicago: W. W. Norton & Co., 1971. Speculative Sagan, Carl. _The Cosmic Connection._ New York: Doubleday, 1973. Shkolvskii, I. S.; and Carl Sagan. _Intelligent Life in the Universe._ New York: Holden-Day, 1966. Strong. J. G. _Flight to the Stars: An Inquiry into the Feasibility of Interstellar Flight._ New York: Hart Publishing Co., 1965. Sullivan, Walter. _We Are Not Alone: The Search for Intelligent Life on Other Worlds._ New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.

103 Vertical Flight 102 Air Transportation 101 Museum Shop 100 Milestones of Flight 115 Theater Entrance 114 Space Hall 113 Rocketry & Space Flight 105 General Aviation 106 Exhibition Flight 107 Life in the Universe 108 South Lobby 109 Flight Testing 110 Satellites 111 Benefits From Flight

203 Sea-Air Operations 201 Spacearium 215 Theater 213 Flight Technology 205 World War II Aviation 206 Balloons and Airships 207 Air Traffic Control 208 Special Exhibits 209 World War I Aviation 210 Apollo to the Moon 211 Flight and the Arts

Front Cover:

Back Cover:

(All photographs from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.)

Transcriber’s Notes

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

—Silently corrected a few palpable typos.

—Moved captions nearer the relevant images; tweaked image references within captions accordingly.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.