Lunar Module Eagle

{{Infobox individual space vehicle

| name = Eagle

| mission = Apollo 11

| image = Apollo 11 Lunar Lander - 5927 NASA.jpg

| caption = Eagle at Tranquility Base, July 20, 1969.
Neil Armstrong photographs Buzz Aldrin.

| type = Lunar module

| class = Apollo Lunar Module

| named_after = Bald eagle

| manufacturer = Grumman

| construction_number = LM-5

| launch_mass = {{cvt|33,294.5|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}}

| landing_mass = {{cvt|16,153.2|lb}}

| launch_date = July 16, 1969

| launch_site = Kennedy LC-39A

| landing_date = July 20, 1969

|deployed={{start date and age|July 20, 1969}}

| landing_site = Tranquility Base

| owners = NASA

| total_hours = {{time interval|July 16, 1969 13:32:00|July 21, 1969 23:41:31|show=h|disp=raw}}{{efn|From Earth launch to second CSM undocking.}}

| fate = {{unbulleted list

| Ascent stage: Abandoned in lunar orbit; current location unknown

| Descent stage: Landed at Tranquility Base; still there

}}

| succession = Apollo Lunar Modules

| previous_vehicle = Snoopy

| next_vehicle = Intrepid

}}

Lunar Module Eagle (LM-5) is the spacecraft that served as the crewed lunar lander of Apollo 11, which was the first mission to land humans on the Moon. It was named after the bald eagle, which was featured prominently on the mission insignia. It flew from Earth to lunar orbit on the command module Columbia, and then was flown to the Moon on July 20, 1969, by astronaut Neil Armstrong with navigational assistance from Buzz Aldrin. Eagle{{'}}s landing created Tranquility Base, named by Armstrong and Aldrin and first announced upon the module's touchdown.

The name of the craft gave rise to the phrase "The Eagle has landed", the words Armstrong said upon Eagle{{'}}s touchdown.{{cite book | last=Cresswell | first=J. | title=The Cat's Pyjamas: The Penguin Book of Clichés | publisher=Penguin Books Limited | year=2007 | isbn=978-0-14-102516-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vaB3KEhlUcEC&pg=PT427 | access-date=2021-10-22 | page=427}}

Flight

Eagle was launched with Command Module Columbia on July 16, 1969, atop a Saturn V launch vehicle from Launch Complex 39A, and entered Earth orbit 12 minutes later.

Eagle entered lunar orbit on July 19, 1969. On July 20, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin entered into the LM and separated it from Command Module Columbia.

Eagle was landed at 20:17:40 UTC on July 20, 1969, with {{convert|216|lb}} of usable fuel remaining.

After the lunar surface operations, Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the Lunar Module Eagle on July 21, 1969.

At 17:54:00 UTC, they lifted off in Eagle{{'s}} ascent stage to rejoin Michael Collins aboard Columbia in lunar orbit.

After the crew re-boarded Columbia, the Eagle was abandoned in lunar orbit. The location of its impact on the Moon's surface during an orbit decay is unknown, and there is evidence that Eagle may still be in orbit.{{cite web |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/spacecraft/location/lm.cfm?dom=pscau |title=Location of Apollo Lunar Modules |website=Smithsonian Air and Space Museum |access-date=September 24, 2018 |archive-date=July 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726080107/https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/spacecraft/location/lm.cfm?dom=pscau |url-status=dead}}[https://www.discovermagazine.com/technology/new-evidence-suggests-apollo-11s-lunar-ascent-module-could-still-be-orbiting Discover magazine website, July 2021]

Gallery

File:Apollo 11 Lunar Module prior to extraction (48322617787).jpg|Lunar Module Eagle prior to extraction from S-IVB stage on July 16, 1969

File:AP11 FINAL APPROACH.ogv|Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin land the Lunar Module Eagle on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

File:Apollo 11 plaque closeup on Moon.jpg|The plaque left on the ladder of Eagle

File:Apollo 11 50th Anniversary silver dollar reverse.png|Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative silver dollar depicting Eagle

File:Earth, Moon and Lunar Module, AS11-44-6643 c.jpg|Image of Eagle by Michael Collins from Command Module Columbia

Lunar Module Eagle

Flight

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

Further reading