Apollo Lunar Module, Card No 35 (RaceIntoSpace 1971)

The Race Into Space (Brooke Bond, 1971)

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Card No. 35: Apollo Lunar Module

1969

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Specially designed to land on the Moon, the 32,500 pound Lunar Module operates in conjunction with the Apollo Command and Service Modules from which two of three astronauts transfer in lunar orbit.

After separating from the parent, speed is reduced by the descent engine and the craft falls on a curved path towards the lunar surface. Arriving near the landing site the astronauts override the automatic control system to achieve a vertical soft-landing 'on the hover'.

Leaving the Moon the astronauts blast-off in the ascent stage of the LM using the four-legged descent stage as a launch platform. They must rejoin the orbiting parent spacecraft to return home.

The first lunar landing was made by Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin on July 20, 1969.