1969:
Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia
"Spacecraft 107 – alias Apollo 11 alias 'Columbia' The Best Ship to Come Down the Line.
God Bless Her."
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.
Following their historic landing and exploration of the lunar surface, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin rejoined Michael Collins aboard Columbia. Collins, as CM pilot, fired the large engine on the service module and headed back to Earth. Several days later, on July 24, they discarded the SM and entered Earth's atmosphere.
Columbia's exterior is covered with an epoxyresin ablative heat shield. As Columbia entered the atmosphere at a speed of 40,000 kilometers per hour (25,000 miles per hour), its exterior reached a temperature of 2,760° C (5,000° F). The heat shield protected the craft from burning and vaporizing. Columbia finished its flight with a parachute landing in the Pacific Ocean, where the USS Hornet retrieved it and its crew.
Following splashdown, while en route to Hawaii on the USS Hornet, Michael Collins crawled back into the command module (it was connected to the mobile quarantine facility by an air-tight tunnel) and wrote a short note on one of the equipment bay panels.
The Apollo command module Columbia has been designated a "Milestone of Flight" by the Museum and is displayed almost directly under the permanent location of the 1903 Wright Flyer, the first successful powered airplane.
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