Lunar Module

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Apollo Lunar Module Eagle : The first landed the lunar module (1969)

A Lunar Module is a landing and ascending vehicle, with the spaceman between a spacecraft in a lunar orbit and may communicate with the lunar surface. So far, only the ferries of the US Apollo program have actually landed on the moon .

American lunar lander

The Apollo lunar module (short LM for Lunar Module ) was created in the 1960s and was constructed in two stages. The lower part - the descent module - remained on the lunar surface upon return. A total of fifteen of these ferries were made. Six of them landed on the moon with astronauts between 1969 and 1972.

The two-stage Altair ferry was designed for the Constellation program in the 2000s . However, the program was discontinued because the budget and schedule were exceeded and the ferry was never built.

For the Artemis program initiated in 2019, NASA would like to develop two different lunar shuttles. There are three very different technical concepts to choose from, from a one-part to a three-part system. In contrast to all previous ferry projects, the Artemis ferries should be at least partially reusable.

Soviet lunar module

For the Soviet manned lunar program , the " moon ship " ( Russian Лунный корабль - Lunniy Korabl , short LK ) was developed, a single-stage lander. Only a simple landing gear should remain on the moon here. The ferry took four test flights in Earth orbit from 1970 to 1971 before the program was discontinued.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Lunar Module: A National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. (PDF) American Society of Mechanical Engineers , April 19, 2002, accessed May 18, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Kendall Brown, John Connolly: An Altair Overview - Designing a Lunar Lander for 21st Century Human Space Exploration. (PDF) NASA , 2012, accessed on May 18, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Eric Berger: NASA has taken a significant step toward human landings on the Moon. In: Ars Technica . February 11, 2019, accessed May 18, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Presentation by Jim Bridenstine at the Florida Institute of Technology, May 23, 2019.
  5. ^ NASA Selects Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX Human Landers for Artemis . Nasaspaceflight.com, April 30, 2020.
  6. ↑ Arlin Crotts: The New Moon: Water, exploration, and Future Habitation . Cambridge University Press , 2014, pp. 469 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ Kris Christiaens: Lunniy Korabl: De Russische Maanlander. In: spacepage.be. Retrieved May 18, 2019 (Dutch).