Command module Columbia

{{Infobox individual space vehicle

| name = Columbia

| mission = Apollo 11

| image = Apollo 11 Kommandomodul "Columbia".jpg

| caption = Columbia on display at the National Air
and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

| type = Reentry capsule

| named_after = Columbiad

| manufacturer = North American Aviation

| construction_number = CM-107

| landing_mass = {{cvt|10,873|lb}}{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-24|title=Selected Mission Weights|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_18-37_Selected_Mission_Weights.htm|website=history.nasa.gov}}

| launch_date = July 16, 1969

| launch_site = Kennedy LC-39A

| landing_date = July 24, 1969

| landing_site = Pacific Ocean

| owners = NASA

| total_hours = 195

| preservation = National Air and Space Museum

| succession = Apollo command modules

| previous_vehicle = Charlie Brown

| next_vehicle = Yankee Clipper

}}

Command module Columbia (CM-107) is the spacecraft that served as the command module during Apollo 11, which was the first mission to land humans on the Moon. Columbia is the only spacecraft of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that returned to Earth.{{Cite web |url = https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/command-module-apollo-11 |title = Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia |date = March 20, 2016 |author = National Air and Space Museum |publisher = Smithsonian Institution |language = en |access-date = September 24, 2019 |archive-date = July 20, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190720224030/https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/command-module-apollo-11 |url-status = dead }}{{Cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1I2SAYnWh3YC |title = Apollo 11 Box: Artifacts from the First Moon Landing |first = R. A. |last = Craddock |date = 2003 |publisher = Chronicle Books |isbn = 978-0-8118-3734-7 |language = en |page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=1I2SAYnWh3YC&pg=PA57 57] }}

Name

The name Columbia was first suggested to Michael Collins by Julian Scheer, NASA assistant administrator of public affairs during the Apollo program. Scheer mentioned the name, in passing, in a phone conversation, saying "some of us up here have been kicking around Columbia." Collins initially thought it was "a bit pompous" but the name eventually stuck as he could not think of a better alternative and his crewmates Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong had no objections.{{Cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-9pfwFpdtGwC&pg=PA334 |title = Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey |last = Collins |first = Michael |date = 2001 |publisher = Rowman & Littlefield |isbn = 978-0-8154-1028-7 |language = en| pages = 334–335 }} Collins was also influenced to accept the name because of its similarity to Columbiad, the name of the space gun in Jules Verne's 1865 science fiction novel From the Earth to the Moon.{{Cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wR5d7Fuixl4C&pg=PP24 |title = Tracking Apollo to the Moon |last = Lindsay |first = Hamish |date = 2001 |publisher = Springer |isbn = 978-1-85233-212-9 |language = en |page = 24 }}{{harvp|Collins|2001|p=335|ps=.}}

Post mission history

Following the mission and after a tour of U.S. cities,{{Cite web |url = https://www.soapboxmedia.com/features/CMC-Destination-Moon.aspx |title = To the moon (and Cincinnati) and back |last = McEwan |first = Liz |date = September 24, 2019 |website = Soapbox Cincinnati |language = en |access-date = September 24, 2019 }} Columbia was given to the Smithsonian Institution in 1971. It was designated a "Milestone in Flight" and displayed prominently at National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., alongside the 1903 Wright Flyer.{{harvp|Craddock|2003|p=2|ps=.}}{{Cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ROgnDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |title = Best of the National Air and Space Museum |last = van der Linden |first = F. Robert |date = 2016 |publisher = Smithsonian Institution |isbn = 978-1-58834-581-3 |language = en |page = 3 }}

In July 2016, the Smithsonian released a 3D scan of Columbia produced by the Smithsonian's Digitization Program Office.{{cite news |last = Pearlman |first = Robert Z. |date = 12 February 2016 |title = Apollo 11 Crew Wrote on Moon Ship Walls, Smithsonian 3D Scan Reveals |url = https://www.space.com/31917-apollo-11-crew-moon-ship-graffiti.html |work = Space.com |access-date = 9 March 2020 }}{{cite news |last = Weiner |first = Sophie |date = 22 July 2016 |title = Take a 3D Tour Inside the Apollo 11 Command Module |url = https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a22006/3d-tour-apollo-11/ |work = Popular Mechanics |access-date = 9 March 2020 }} During the scanning process a number of places where the astronauts had written on the walls of the capsule were found. These included a calendar and a warning about smelly waste on one of the lockers.

In 2019, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, the spacecraft traveled around the country on a tour to museums in Houston, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Cincinnati.

In 2022, Columbia was taken off display as a part of the National Air and Space Museum's renovation. When the museum reopened in the fall of 2022 it became a centerpiece of their new Destination Moon exhibit.{{cite web | url=https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/destination-moon#:~:text=Destination%20Moon%2C%20scheduled%20to%20open,with%20what%20is%20happening%20now | title=Destination Moon | date=August 11, 2020 }}

File:Columbia Command Module On Display 2024.jpg|Columbia Module in its new exhibit on display at the Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

NASM-NASM2013-02663.jpg|Interior of the Command module

Command module Columbia

Name

Post mission history

See also

References

Further reading