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A bit about science Humanity ’ s trip to the moon
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We are all familiar with the sight of the moon at night . It ’ s that small white object decorating the night ’ s sky …
When we think of it we tend to play down the significance of its distance from us . It may be the closest astronomical object to earth , but it is still around 380.000Km away . And this is the equivalent of 30 earths in a row or 9.6 times the earth ’ s perimeter at the equator . The first landing of humans on it in 1969 was thus a huge achievement . The reference is to the well-known Apollo 11 mission , the first mission to ever land humans on the moon . The 3 astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission where Neil Armstrong , Michael Collins and Edwin “ Buzz ” Aldrin .
The spaceship used for this mission was the “ Saturn 5 ” and consisted of 3 main parts from top to bottom :
The command module , the control center of the rocket . This also served as the part where the astronauts lived . It housed the control and instrument panel , the communication system , the environmental control system , the crew couches and more . The command module was the only part of the spaceship that would return with the astronauts to earth .
The service module , housing the rocket ’ s engines . It also included a separate propulsion system for controlling and fixing the spaceship ’ s attitude . This part was retained attached throughout the mission until just before reentering earth ’ s atmosphere . At this point it was purposefully disconnected and left behind .
The lunar module , a smaller detachable spaceship used by two of the astronauts , Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin , to reach the moon surface . The Saturn 5 did not land to the moon , but stayed in its orbit with Michael Collins waiting for the two astronauts to return .
This was probably done among other reasons for fuel economy and easier landing ,