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Apollo 201, 202, 4 - 17 / Skylab 2, 3, 4 / ASTP (CSM)

Apollo 15 [NASA]

Skylab 4 [NASA]

ASTP with docking module [NASA]

The Apollo spacecraft was designed as part of the Apollo Program, by the United States in the early 1960s to land men on the moon before 1970 and return them safely to earth.

Spacecraft and Subsystems

As the name implies, the Command and Service Module (CSM) was comprised of two distinct units: the Command Module (CM), which housed the crew, spacecraft operations systems, and re-entry equipment, and the Service Module (SM) which carried most of the consumables (oxygen, water, helium, fuel cells, and fuel) and the main propulsion system. The total length of the two modules attached was 11.0 meters with a maximum diameter of 3.9 meters. Block II CSM's were used for all the crewed Apollo missions.

Telecommunications included voice, television, data, and tracking and ranging subsystems for communications between astronauts, CM, LM, and Earth. Voice contact was provided by an S-band uplink and downlink system. Tracking was done through a unified S-band transponder. A high gain steerable S-band antenna consisting of four 79-cm diameter parabolic dishes was mounted on a folding boom at the aft end of the SM. Two VHF scimitar antennas were also mounted on the SM. There was also a VHF recovery beacon mounted in the CM. The CSM environmental control system regulated cabin atmosphere, pressure, temperature, carbon dioxide, odors, particles, and ventilation and controlled the temperature range of the electronic equipment.

For the long-duration Skylab missions the spacecraft was almost identical to the command and service module used for Apollo missions. Modification was made to accomodate long-duration Skylab missions and to allow the spacecraft to remain semi-dormant while docked to the Skylab cluster. A crew of three men and their provisions were carried. The mission of this spacecraft was to ferry a crew of three to the Skylab complex and return them to earth.

Command Module

The CM was a conical pressure vessel with a maximum diameter of 3.9 m at its base and a height of 3.65 m. It was made of an aluminum honeycomb sandwhich bonded between sheet aluminum alloy. The base of the CM consisted of a heat shield made of brazed stainless steel honeycomb filled with a phenolic epoxy resin as an ablative material and varied in thickness from 1.8 to 6.9 cm. At the tip of the cone was a hatch and docking assembly designed to mate with the lunar module. The CM was divided into three compartments. The forward compartment in the nose of the cone held the three 25.4 m diameter main parachutes, two 5 m drogue parachutes, and pilot mortar chutes for Earth landing. The aft compartment was situated around the base of the CM and contained propellant tanks, reaction control engines, wiring, and plumbing. The crew compartment comprised most of the volume of the CM, approximately 6.17 cubic meters of space. Three astronaut couches were lined up facing forward in the center of the compartment. A large access hatch was situated above the center couch. A short access tunnel led to the docking hatch in the CM nose. The crew compartment held the controls, displays, navigation equipment and other systems used by the astronauts. The CM had five windows: one in the access hatch, one next to each astronaut in the two outer seats, and two forward-facing rendezvous windows. Five silver/zinc-oxide batteries provided power after the CM and SM detached, three for re-entry and after landing and two for vehicle separation and parachute deployment. The CM had twelve 420 N nitrogen tetroxide/hydrazine reaction control thrusters. The CM provided the re-entry capability at the end of the mission after separation from the Service Module.

Service Module

The SM was a cylinder 3.9 meters in diameter and 7.6 m long which was attached to the back of the CM. The outer skin of the SM was formed of 2.5 cm thick aluminum honeycomb panels. The interior was divided by milled aluminum radial beams into six sections around a central cylinder. At the back of the SM mounted in the central cylinder was a gimbal mounted re-startable hypergolic liquid propellant 91,000 N engine and cone shaped engine nozzle. Attitude control was provided by four identical banks of four 450 N reaction control thrusters each spaced 90 degrees apart around the forward part of the SM.

The six sections of the SM held three 31-cell hydrogen oxygen fuel cells which provided 28 volts, two cryogenic oxygen and two cryogenic hydrogen tanks, four tanks for the main propulsion engine, two for fuel and two for oxidizer, and the subsystems the main propulsion unit.

For the J-Series, the configuration was changed: The six sections of the SM held three 31-cell hydrogen oxygen fuel cells which provided 28 volts, an auxiliary battery, three cryogenic oxygen and three cryogenic hydrogen tanks, four tanks for the main propulsion engine, two for fuel and two for oxidizer, the subsystems the main propulsion unit, and a Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) bay which held a package of science instruments and cameras to be operated from lunar orbit and on Apollo 15 and 16 a small Particles and Fields Subsatellite to be put into lunar orbit.

Two helium tanks were mounted in the central cylinder. Electrical power system radiators were at the top of the cylinder and environmental control radiator panels spaced around the bottom.

Crews

List of all Apollo Crews

Nation: USA
Type / Application: Crewed spacecraft for earth orbit and lunar orbit
Operator: NASA
Contractors:
Equipment:
Configuration:
Propulsion: AJ10-137 main engine, 16 × R-4D
Power: Fuel cells, batteries
Lifetime:
Mass: 28801 kg (#11); 30371 kg (#15); 19979 kg (#SL-2)
Orbit:
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
Apollo 201 (CSM 009) N/A 26.02.1966 CC LC-34 * Saturn-1B
Apollo 202 (CSM 011) N/A 25.08.1966 CC LC-34 * Saturn-1B
Apollo 204 (Apollo 1, CSM 012) - not launched CC LC-34 * Saturn-1B Destroyed in pre-launch fire
Apollo 4 (CSM 017) 1967-113A 09.11.1967 CCK LC-39A Saturn-5 with LTA 10R
Apollo 6 (CM 020 / SM 014) 1968-025A 04.04.1968 CCK LC-39A P Saturn-5 with LTA 2R
Apollo 7 (CSM 101) 1968-089A 11.10.1968 CC LC-34 Saturn-1B
Apollo 8 (CSM 103) 1968-118A 21.12.1968 CCK LC-39A Saturn-5 with LTA B
Apollo 9 (CSM 104, Gumdrop) 1969-018A 03.03.1969 CCK LC-39A Saturn-5 with LM 3
Apollo 10 (CSM 106, Charlie Brown) 1969-043A 18.05.1969 CCK LC-39B Saturn-5 with LM 4
Apollo 11 (CSM 107, Columbia) 1969-059A 16.07.1969 CCK LC-39A Saturn-5 with LM 5
Apollo 12 (CSM 108, Yankee Clipper) 1969-099A 14.11.1969 CCK LC-39A Saturn-5 with LM 6
Apollo 13 (CSM 109, Odyssey) 1970-029A 11.04.1970 CCK LC-39A Saturn-5 with LM 7
Apollo 14 (CSM 110, Kitty Hawk) 1971-008A 31.01.1971 CCK LC-39A Saturn-5 with LM 8
Apollo 15 (CSM 112, Endeavour) 1971-063A 26.07.1971 CCK LC-39A Saturn-5 with LM 10, PFS 1
Apollo 16 (CSM 113, Casper) 1972-031A 16.04.1972 CCK LC-39A Saturn-5 with LM 11, PFS 2
Apollo 17 (CSM 114, America) 1972-096A 07.12.1972 CCK LC-39A Saturn-5 with LM 12
Skylab 2 (Apollo SLM-1, CSM 116) 1973-032A 25.05.1973 CCK LC-39B Saturn-1B
Skylab 3 (Apollo SLM-2, CSM 117) 1973-050A 28.07.1973 CCK LC-39B Saturn-1B with S150
Skylab 4 (Apollo SLM-3, CSM 118) 1973-090A 16.11.1973 CCK LC-39B Saturn-1B
ASTP (Apollo-Soyuz, CSM 111) 1975-066A 15.07.1975 CCK LC-39B Saturn-1B with ASTP-DM
Apollo (CSM 102) - not launched
Apollo (CSM 105) - not launched
Apollo (CSM 115) - not launched
Apollo (CSM 119) - not launched

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