The Ascent Engine: 3,500 Pounds of Thrust Between the Moon and Home
The simplest, most reliable rocket engine ever built for human spaceflight—because it was the one engine in Apollo that had no backup and no second chance
• Matt Dennis
The LM Crew Station: Standing Room Only on the Moon
How Grumman designed a cockpit with no seats, triangular windows, and an instrument panel for two astronauts flying a spacecraft they could see through
• Matt Dennis
The Descent Propulsion System: The Only Throttleable Engine in Apollo
How TRW built a hypergolic engine that could throttle from 10% to full thrust—the engine that slowed the Lunar Module from orbital velocity to a gentle hover above the Moon
• Matt Dennis
LM Electrical Power: Silver-Zinc Batteries and the Art of the Power Budget
How the Lunar Module ran on batteries instead of fuel cells—and how every watt was rationed across systems that all wanted more than the budget allowed
• Matt Dennis
The LM Environmental Control System: Keeping Astronauts Alive in a Tin Can
How the Lunar Module's life support system managed oxygen, temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide for two astronauts in a cabin smaller than a bathroom
• Matt Dennis
The Landing Gear: Aluminum Honeycomb, Contact Probes, and a One-Way Trip
How Grumman designed legs that could absorb the impact of landing on the Moon, fold into an adapter ring, and never be used again
• Matt Dennis
Landing Radar and Rendezvous Radar: The LM's Two Eyes
How the Lunar Module used two separate radar systems to solve two different problems—finding the ground during descent and finding the Command Module in orbit
• Matt Dennis
LM Staging: Splitting a Spacecraft in Half on the Lunar Surface
The explosive separation sequence that turned the descent stage into a launch pad and the ascent stage into a rocket—executed in milliseconds, with no margin for partial success
• Matt Dennis
SWIP: How Grumman Shaved a Ton Off the Lunar Module
The Super Weight Improvement Program that stripped 2,500 pounds from the LM through relentless engineering—chemically milling skins, drilling lightening holes, and fighting for every ounce
• Matt Dennis
The PLSS: A Life Support System You Wore on Your Back
How Hamilton Standard packed oxygen, cooling water, CO2 scrubbing, communications, and telemetry into an 84-pound backpack that kept astronauts alive on the lunar surface
• Matt Dennis
The Landing Point Designator: Analog Crosshairs for a Digital Moon
How a set of lines scribed on a window gave Apollo commanders the power to see where the computer was taking them—and override it
• Matt Dennis