![]() The Apollo 9 team chose the name Spider because of the craft’s spindly legs. The next Lunar Module, LM-3, was the first spacecraft since Gemini 3 that the astronauts were permitted to name. Since the testing team was not responsible for the original design of the LM, they were more likely to be impartial when considering alternations to improve performance.ģ. Most important, the team recognized that it was more effective for the testing team to be separate from the design team, Schweikart said. Tests conducted with LM-2 taught the team valuable lessons in testing procedures. However, LM-2 was still instrumental in the development of future lunar modules. Due to the success of this mission, the LM-2 was no longer needed for tests in space-Schweikart noted that LM-2 was “destined to be a hangar queen.”Ģ. LM-1 was tested during the Apollo 5 mission and proved the ascent stage, the top portion of the LM that lifted astronauts off the Moon and carried them back to the Command Module, worked properly. The first and second Lunar Modules (LM-1, LM-2) were intended to test the ascent and descent stages in space. Here are six highlights from that discussion.ġ. Four people who know the topic intimately, Bob Craddock, a geologist in the Museum's Center for Earth and Planetary Studies and author of Apollo 11: Artifacts from the First Lunar Landing Paul Fjeld, who lead the restoration of the Museum’s own Lunar Module (LM-2) Marv Rosenberg, the engineer who oversaw the drop tests of the LM-2 and Rusty Schweickart, the Lunar Module pilot for the Apollo 9 mission, were all on hand at a recent Ask an Expert talk to discuss the work that went into perfecting the Lunar Module (LM-5) for the Apollo 11 mission. ![]()
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