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From the December 2024 difficulty
All however one of many Apollo program’s used lunar modules both crashed into the Moon’s floor or burned up in Earth’s ambiance.
The Apollo 10 astronauts snapped this picture of the Snoopy lunar module exterior the window of command module Charlie Brown in the course of the mission. Credit score: NASA/JSC/ASU
What turned of the discarded lunar modules from the Apollo missions?
James JarvisSan Francisco, California
All however one of many Apollo program’s used lunar modules both crashed into the Moon’s floor or burned up in Earth’s ambiance. Apollo 10’s lunar module, Snoopy, remains to be on the market, drifting aimlessly across the photo voltaic system, ready for some future exo-archaeologist to grab it up for show on the Smithsonian.
The mission was designed as a rehearsal for the principle occasion on the Moon, however it set data of its personal. Historical past glazes over Apollo 10 due to the importance of what adopted. Nevertheless, the crew accomplished the identical duties as Apollo 11 — minus touchdown on the Moon.
They usually used Snoopy, the lunar module, in addition to Charlie Brown, the command module, to journey farther and sooner than any people have earlier than or since.
Through the mission, Snoopy was jettisoned into house as deliberate and will have entered orbit across the Solar. Nevertheless, its location stays a thriller regardless of efforts by novice astronomers to seek for it utilizing the final recognized 1969 orbital coordinates. They recognized a variety of goal websites, however to this point they’ve been unsuccessful.
Curiously, a minimum of a few of the different landers’ precise lunar influence websites — together with Apollo 11’s Eagle — are additionally a thriller that future house explorers could sometime discover and excavate.
Eric BetzScience Author, Seattle, Washington
This query and reply initially appeared within the October 2015 difficulty.
