The Apollo 11 Command Module “Columbia”

image courtesy of NASA

Part II of our series on Apollo 11 will focus on the Command Module “Columbia”

The Apollo 11 command module Columbia served as the living quarters for the three-person crew during most of the first human lunar landing mission. On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins climbed into Columbia for their eight-day journey. The command module (CM) was one of three parts of the complete Apollo spacecraft. The other two were the service module (SM) and the lunar module (LM). The SM contained the main spacecraft propulsion system and consumables (oxygen, water, propellants, and hydrogen). Armstrong and Aldrin used the LM to descend to the Moon’s surface. The CM was the only portion of this historic spacecraft that returned to Earth.

The cone-shaped spacecraft is divided into three compartments: forward, crew, and aft. The forward compartment is at the cone’s apex, the crew compartment is in the center, and the aft compartment is in the base, or blunt end, of the craft. The forward compartment contained the parachutes and recovery equipment. The crew compartment has a volume of 5.9 cubic meters (210 cubic feet) – about the size of a standard automobile interior. It contains three couches for the crew during launch and landing. The couches are arranged so that each astronaut faces the main instrument panel. During flight, the astronauts could fold up the couches to make more room in the spacecraft. Near the feet of the couches, in the lower equipment bay, there was enough room to stand up.

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