Apollo 17 Spacecraft Information

Among the changes to the Apollo 17 spacecraft were modifications to the Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) to accommodate three new orbital experiments. In addition, many minor changes were made to the spacecraft because of problems that occurred during the Apollo 16 mission. Among these was the redesign of the lower edge of the thermal shields on the aft equipment rack on the LM to prevent exhaust gases from entering the cavity behind the shields. The LRV itself was essentially unchanged; however, extensive changes were made to the experiment pallet to accommodate experiments unique to Apollo 17.

      The Command Service Module America

The spacecraft consisted of three modules, a lunar module (LM), command module (CM), and a service module (CSM). After the spacecraft orbited the Moon, the LM and CSM separated. Two astronaunts in the LM landed on the lunar surface, while the CM pilot remained in lunar orbit in the command module.

      The Lunar Module Challenger

The lunar module was a two-stage vehicle designed for space operations near and on the Moon. The lunar module stood 7 meters high and was 9.4 meters wide (diagonally across the landing gear). The ascent and descent stages of the LM operated as a unit until staging, when the ascent stage functioned as a single spacecraft for rendezvous and docking with the command module (CM). The on-orbit dry mass of the LM was 4240 kilograms.

      The Lunar Roving Vehicle

The lunar roving vehicle (LRV), used for the first time on Apollo 15, was a four-wheeled manually controlled, electrically powered vehicle that carried the crew and their equipment over the lunar surface. The increased mobility and ease of the travel made possible by this vehicle permitted the crew to travel much greater distances than on previous lunar landing missions. The vehicle was designed to carry the two crewmen and a science payload at a maximum velocity of about 16 kilometers per hour (8.6 mph) on a smooth, level surface and at reduced velocities on slopes up to 25°. It could be operated from either crewman's position, as the control and display console was located on the vehicle centerline. The deployed vehicle was appoximately 10 feet long, 7 feet wide, and 45 inches high. Its chassis was hinged such that the forward and aft sections fold back over the center portion, and each of the wheel suspension systems rotated so that the folded vehicle fit in quadrant I of the lunar module. The gross operational weight was approximately 1535 pounds of which 455 pounds was the weight of the vehicle itself. The remainder was the weight of the crew, their equipment, communications equipment, and the science payload.

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