This gallery displays a constellation of vehicles used for lunar exploration. In 1961, President Kennedy committed the United States to "the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth." As a result, NASA developed a variety of lunar exploration spacecraft to take photographs of and map the Moon's surface in an effort to find a suitable landing site for future manned missions. These unmanned lunar probes and the Lunar Module are exhibited in this gallery.
Unmanned Lunar Probes
• Ranger Lunar Probe gave scientists their first close look at the lunar surface. The mission of the Surveyor project was to develop basic techniques for soft-landing on the Moon, to survey potential Apollo landing sites, and to obtain photographs and other scientific information. The mission of the Lunar Orbiters was to photograph the Moon to aid in the selection of landing sites for Apollo astronauts.
Apollo Lunar Module
• This is an actual lunar module, one of 12 built for Project Apollo. It was meant to be used in low Earth orbit to test the techniques of separation, rendezvous, and docking with the command and service module. The second of two such test vehicles, its mission was cancelled because of the complete success of the first flight.
• The lunar module had two stages. The descent (lower) stage was equipped with a rocket motor to slow the rate of descent to the lunar surface. It contained exploration equipment and remained on the Moon when the astronauts left. The ascent (upper) stage contained the crew compartment and a rocket motor to return the astronauts to the orbiting command module. After the crew entered the command module for the trip back to Earth, the lunar module was released and eventually crashed into the Moon.
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• Ranger Lunar Probe gave scientists their first close look at the lunar surface. The mission of the Surveyor project was to develop basic techniques for soft-landing on the Moon, to survey potential Apollo landing sites, and to obtain photographs and other scientific information. The mission of the Lunar Orbiters was to photograph the Moon to aid in the selection of landing sites for Apollo astronauts.
Apollo Lunar Module
• This is an actual lunar module, one of 12 built for Project Apollo. It was meant to be used in low Earth orbit to test the techniques of separation, rendezvous, and docking with the command and service module. The second of two such test vehicles, its mission was cancelled because of the complete success of the first flight.
• The lunar module had two stages. The descent (lower) stage was equipped with a rocket motor to slow the rate of descent to the lunar surface. It contained exploration equipment and remained on the Moon when the astronauts left. The ascent (upper) stage contained the crew compartment and a rocket motor to return the astronauts to the orbiting command module. After the crew entered the command module for the trip back to Earth, the lunar module was released and eventually crashed into the Moon.
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