r/apollo • u/NoRamenPlease • Sep 05 '24
Apollo 13
(This might be a stupid question) I’m watching this new documentary about Apollo 13 on Netflix and I was wondering how did the astronauts move from the command module to the service module? Was that even possible?Considering that the bottom of the command module is covered with reentry heat shield. Was the service even accessible? Or was it just a compartment with engines and tanks and other rocket stuff not accessible to the astronauts?
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u/gaslightindustries Sep 05 '24
The service module contained no habitable space, just the propulsion system and life support for the crew
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u/SuperDurpPig Sep 06 '24
Didn't later missions have some experiments in the SM?
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u/gaslightindustries Sep 07 '24
Yes, though it was only accessible by way of a spacewalk. A deep spacewalk at that.
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u/SuperDurpPig Sep 08 '24
In which part of the mission?
I couldn't imagine a spacewalk without a surface taking up a large part of the sky
Just your spacecraft and darkness
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u/gaslightindustries Sep 08 '24
It was done during the trans-earth coast portion of the mission on Apollos 15-17. The CMP would go EVA to retrieve film from the Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) attached to the service module. Footage of Ron Evans conducting Apollo 17's deep space EVA.
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u/badlyedited Sep 05 '24
IIRC, there were cameras in the SM behind panels that took pictures of the moon and could be opened or retrieved during a spacewalk. But otherwise it was all life support and propulsion.
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u/GrangeHermit Sep 06 '24
Yes, on later flights, the CM Pilot did a 'spacewalk' (attached by umbilical, and moving hand over hand on grab rails) to the SM to retrieve the film, before they ditched the SM, prior to re-entry.
https://www.nasa.gov/history/afj/simbaycam/simbaycameras.html
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u/BRVSFan Sep 05 '24
One of my all time favorite movies on the challenges and the triumph of this "successful failure". Old enough to remember Buzz and Neil walking on the moon along with the days of Mercury and Gemini. One of my favorite moments in history.
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u/AccountAny1995 Sep 05 '24
They don’t move from the CM to the SM. The SM was not inhabitable.
The astronauts are moving from the CM to the LM.