I’m fairly behind on updating this, so a lot of search terms have been lost to time forevermore; I only have access to the most recent 50, and a lot are repeats. However, there’s been a few interesting (and previously un-mentioned) bits and pieces…

“what was the goal of Apollo 8″

The first manned orbit of the moon. This was successful; in December 1968, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders did just that.

“why was the Apollo 11 lunar module named Eagle”

A double answered, covering two different facets. In terms of why the spacecraft were named at all on Apollo 11, this was due to the two craft flying separately for a period (while the LM landed on the moon, and the CM continued to orbit the moon). Therefore, two different callsigns were needed to identify which spacecraft was being referenced while they were separate.

As for why the name “Eagle” was chosen… In his superb book ‘Carrying The Fire’, Collins writes that it was Jim Lovell who first mentioned the idea of somehow using the eagle in the Apollo 11 mission symbology. Namely, a bald-headed eagle; a recognised national symbol of the United States. The idea caught, and both the lunar module and the mission patch used the concept.

The Apollo 11 insignia, featuring the bald eagle.

“rusty schweickart flying Apollo 15″

This was confused me, so I’m opening it up. Rusty Schweickart flew one Apollo mission – Apollo 9 – and as far as I can tell, had no connection to Apollo 15. If anyone knows any differently, do share.

“where did Apollo 9 land?”

If the question is in reference to a lunar landing – it didn’t. Apollo 9 was essentially the mother of all test flights, with the first flight of a lunar module (LM-3, better known as Spider).

In terms of the Command Module return to earth, it splashed down on March 13th 1969 in the Atlantic Ocean.

“name of Apollo 1 astronauts”

This is coming up a lot but is for some reason directing to different pages of the site, so it’s best to just simplify it. The crew of Apollo 1 was as follows: Gus Grissom (Commander), Ed White (Command Module Pilot) and Roger Chaffee (Lunar Module Pilot).

“fire on Apollo flight”

There was no fire in flight during the Apollo programme. This is most likely a reference to Apollo 1, however, the Apollo 1 fire was during a test while the spacecraft was still on earth.

“why was the space suit important on Apollo 11″

Without the space suits, the astronauts would have died within seconds of entering the vacuum of space. It was a complete protection from the space environment, as well permitting the astronauts’ to breathe using oxygen stored in their back packs.

It is worth noting here that Michael Collins, who would not need a full space suit on Apollo 11 due to him remaining in the Command Module in lunar orbit during the landing, was the astronaut who oversaw all space suit design and configuration. (He did, however, require a space suit for Gemini 10, when he performed two EVAs.)

“what was the weight of the lunar module apollo 11″

The Eagle was one of the lighter lunar modules, weighing 16,448kg in total. This is divided into:

Descent Stage: 11,463kg

Ascent Stage: 4,985kg

Bear in mind this is the weight on earth. On the moon (with both ascent and descent stages), the Eagle would have weighed six times less.

“why is Apollo 17 important”

Though the answer to this may be similar to trying to answer “how long is a piece of string?”, my main suggestions would be:

• It was the final Apollo mission to land on the moon.
• One of the crew members, Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, was the first scientist-astronaut to travel into space.

“what is a capcom apollo”

CAPCOM stands for “capsule communicator”. This is the man, in Mission Control, who is responsible for speaking directly to the astronauts during their time in space. The CAPCOM was usually another astronaut from the support crew of the mission.

Also, Michael Collins mentions in his book that during his time as CAPCOM for Apollo 8, he also played a role on the ground. Namely, he was the crew’s voice when they could not be present at meetings due to a hectic training schedule. This may have just been Collins in that particular mission due to his familiarity with Apollo 8 (Collins was originally on the Apollo 8 crew, but had to withdraw due to back surgery); whether this was a traditional secondary role for CAPCOMs I can’t be sure as I have heard no other mention of it, but nevertheless, worth a mention here.

Michael Collins