Apollo Command/Service Module

The Command/Service Module (CSM) was a spacecraft built for NASA by North American Aviation. It was one of the two spacecraft that were utilized for the Apollo program, along with the Lunar Module, to land astronauts on the Moon. Together they were called the Apollo spacecraft. After the conclusion of the Apollo program, the CSM saw service as a ferry for the Skylab program and for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project where a CSM rendezvoused in orbit with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft. The spacecraft, as its name suggests, consisted of two segments, the command module (reentry capsule) which housed the crew and the equipment needed for re-entry and splashdown, and a service module that provided propulsion, electrical power and storage for various consumables required during a mission. The service module would be cast off and allowed to burn up in the atmosphere before the command module re-entered and brought the crew home.... Mehr