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  Apollo command module cockpit location

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Author Topic:   Apollo command module cockpit location
spacescribe
Member

Posts: 21
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2013

posted 04-21-2013 11:50 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spacescribe     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I looked at this diagram of the Apollo command module and could not find where the cockpit is. Was it on the upper level of the module?

Jim Behling
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Posts: 1488
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010

posted 04-21-2013 12:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jim Behling   Click Here to Email Jim Behling     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The cockpit is the middle part of the module. It has labels for the instrument panel and the couches are easy to see.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-21-2013 12:05 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
On edit: To expand on what Jim writes...

Unlike the space shuttle, which inside its crew compartment had both a flight deck and mid-deck, with the upper deck serving as a cockpit, the Apollo command module's crew cabin was a single level.

Therefore, in the diagram that you have linked, the cockpit — which doubled as the living quarters — is where you see the seats (or couches, as labeled) positioned such that the astronauts were laying on their backs at launch. The control panels were above them.

The other areas exposed by the cutaway diagram were not accessible by the crew and were not part of the cabin.

If it helps, this photo shows me sitting in a mockup of the Apollo command module, looking in through the hatch:

dabolton
Member

Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009

posted 04-21-2013 02:05 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for dabolton     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
If you mentally rotate the astronauts to a heads-up position, it is easier to grasp the concept that the 'dashboard' is directly in front of them.

spacescribe
Member

Posts: 21
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2013

posted 04-21-2013 02:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for spacescribe     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Ah, okay. I'm starting to get it now. Like the shuttle, did Apollo have cockpit windows or side or rear windows to look out? I remember in the Apollo 13 movie they were navigating in space via a window.

Robert, where is that mockup of Apollo you sat in? I'd like to see it one day as well.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-21-2013 03:18 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Courtesy another collectSPACE member (SpaceAholic, aka Scott Schneeweis) here's a labeled photo showing the window locations on the Apollo command module. The rendezvous windows provided the forward view, the observation windows offered a side view.

The scenes you may be remembering from "Apollo 13" however, may be from inside the lunar module, as that is when they show the timed engine burn to put them on course with a return to Earth.

The Apollo CM mockup is located at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas. It was originally built for the miniseries "SPACE," based on the James Michener book by the same title. Today, it is part of the museum's space camp.

spacescribe
Member

Posts: 21
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2013

posted 04-21-2013 04:34 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for spacescribe     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
That information is great. Thank you.

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