Some science fiction stories that depicted a more realistic approach to going to the moon had astronauts going to an orbiting space station where smaller rockets were docked that would take them to the moon and back to the station. Because the United States was in competition with the Soviet Union, this approach was not adopted; the space stations Skylab, Salyut, and the International Space Station were all put up after Project Apollo had ended. The Apollo project used the three-stage Saturn V rocket. The bottom-most first stage lifted the assembly off the launching pad to a height of 42 miles (68 km), the second stage boosted it almost to low Earth orbit, and the third stage pushed it into orbit and then toward the moon. [4] X Trustworthy Source NASA Independent agency of the U. S. government in charge of the aerospace research and the space program Go to source The Constellation project proposed by NASA for a return to the moon in 2018 consists of a two different two-stage rockets. There are two different first stage rocket designs: a crew-only lifting stage consisting of a single five-segment rocket booster, the Ares I, and a crew-and-cargo lifting stage consisting of five rocket engines beneath an external fuel tank supplemented by two five-segment solid rocket boosters, the Ares V. The second stage for both versions uses a single-liquid fuel engine. The heavy lifting assembly would carry the lunar orbital capsule and lander, which the astronauts would transfer to when the two rocket systems dock. [5] X Trustworthy Source NASA Independent agency of the U. S. government in charge of the aerospace research and the space program Go to source
You’ll also need to have something to eat. Most of the foods used by the astronauts in space missions have to be freeze-dried and concentrated to reduce their weight and then be reconstituted by adding water when eaten. [6] X Research source They also need to be high-protein foods to minimize the amount of body waste generated after eating. (At least you can wash them down with Tang. ) Everything you take into space with you adds weight, which increases the amount of fuel necessary to lift it and the rocket carrying it into space, so you won’t be able to take too many personal effects into space – and those lunar rocks will weigh 6 times as much on Earth as they do on the moon.
The monthly launch window takes advantage of where the planned landing area is with respect to the Earth and the sun. Because Earth’s gravity forces the moon to keep the same side facing Earth, exploration missions were chosen in areas of the Earth-facing side to make radio communication between Earth and the moon possible. The time also had to be chosen at a time when the sun was shining on the landing area. The daily launch window takes advantage of launch conditions, such as the angle at which the spacecraft would be launched, the performance of booster rockets, and the presence of a ship downsite from the launch to track the rocket’s flight progress. Early on, light conditions for launching were important, as daylight made it easier to oversee aborts on the launch pad or before achieving orbit, as well as being able to document aborts with photographs. As NASA gained more practice in overseeing missions, daylight launches were less necessary; Apollo 17 was launched at night. [7] X Trustworthy Source NASA Independent agency of the U. S. government in charge of the aerospace research and the space program Go to source
Furthermore, the values for orbital and escape velocity drop the further away from Earth’s surface you go, with escape velocity always about 1. 414 (the square root of 2) times orbital velocity. [11] X Research source
With Project Apollo, this was done by firing the third-stage thrusters one last time to propel the spacecraft toward the moon. [12] X Research source Along the way, the command/service module (CSM) separated from the third stage, turned around, and docked with the lunar excursion module (LEM) carried in the upper part of the third stage. With Project Constellation, the plan is to have the rocket carrying the crew and its command capsule dock in low Earth orbit with the departure stage and lunar lander brought up by the cargo rocket. The departure stage would then fire its thrusters and send the spacecraft to the moon.
The Apollo lunar module was designed in two stages: a descent stage to get it down to the moon and an ascent stage to lift the astronauts back into lunar orbit. The descent stage was left behind on the moon (and so also was the lunar rover). [18] X Research source [19] X Research source
For Project Apollo, the command module splashed down in the ocean, as previous manned NASA missions had done, and was recovered by a Navy vessel. The command modules were not re-used. [22] X Research source For Project Constellation, the plan is to touch down on land, as Soviet manned space missions did, with splashdown in the ocean an option if touchdown on land is not possible. The command capsule is designed to be refurbished, replacing its heat shield with a new one, and reused. [23] X Trustworthy Source NASA Independent agency of the U. S. government in charge of the aerospace research and the space program Go to source
