{"id":426764,"date":"2026-05-14T04:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T04:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/426764\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T04:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T04:52:07","slug":"how-did-apollo-separate-hackaday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/426764\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did Apollo Separate? | Hackaday"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve watched a Saturn V launch, you\u2019ve probably seen how a large rocket will often jettison a stage on the way up. There are several reasons for this \u2014 there is no reason to haul an empty fuel container, for example. However, you can probably imagine how the separation works. You release something \u2014 probably explosive bolts \u2014 and gravity pulls the old stage away from you as you climb on the next stage\u2019s engines. But what about on the way back? The command module drops the service module before reentry. [Apollo11Space] has a video explaining just how complicated that was to pull off<\/a>. You can watch it below.<\/p>\n

The main problem? The service module has almost everything you need: oxygen, a big engine, fuel, and electrical generation capability. If you\u2019ve ever seen a real command module, they are tiny. Somehow, you need to get the command module prepared to be on its own for the amount of time it takes to land, and get the service module safely away.<\/p>\n

In orbit, gravity isn\u2019t a big help in pulling the two pieces apart. For that reason, the mission design called for a very specific orientation for the separation. There are a number of other details you might not have known about.<\/p>\n

Landing Apollo 11 successfully depended on some spy tech<\/a>. We imagine the separation of the LEM<\/a> had some similar issues, although even the moon\u2019s weak gravity would have helped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve watched a Saturn V launch, you\u2019ve probably seen how a large rocket will often jettison a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-426764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}