Lunar Module Launch

The launch of a lunar module upper stage from the moon's surface to docking with the command service module. An animation exercise in Photoshop and After Effects using NASA still photos as source material. Music from Sibelius.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Apollo
• 11
• LEM
• moon
• lunar
• module
• astronauts
• space
• orbit
• lift-off
• Armstrong
• Aldrin

[iorixs]

if you need a rocket to get off the earth you need one to get off the moon too. the retro rockets would have used up a lot of fuel so how can you get of the moon in such a small vehicle. the space suits they wore were not popped out like a balloon the air in the suits against the vacuum would have made the astronots look like michelin men looks like bunch of ashes . what a bunch of scuzzbags for treating people with such contempt to decieve like this

[armitaj]

The LM had 2-stages, the landing used the descent stage engine and the lift-off the engine (and fuel supply) in the ascent stage.

There's no air on the moon and 1/6G, so the LM was light and unaerodynamic. It only had to go 100km up at c 5,500 km/h. Even on Earth small vehicles, like the Ansari-winning Spaceship One, can go 100km up at 3,500 km/h.

If the Apollo suits are a problem for iorxs, why aren't the suits from Gemini, Voskhod, the Shuttle and ISS? Or are all those missions fakes?

[kravin99]

Its all fake, the entire landings. Fact: the camera on the surface of the moon could not receive the signal from earth fast enough to pan as the module took off. There is an obvious delay in radio signals...do a search on "A funny thing happened on the way to the moon" it will change your mind. Dont believe your govt.

[armitaj]

About the panning...(or rather, tilting). Everyone knew when the module would lift off: there's a countdown. I remember seeing TV programmes at the time showing how the camera operator was trained to pre-emptively tilt the camera to follow the launch. And it was not my government you're talking about.

[Heath75032]

The real launch of Eagle was just as fake. I'm off to find it now.

[armitaj]

Eagle wasn't filmed lifting off from the outside; I think that only happened from Apollo 14 or 15 on, when the TV camera was panned and tilted remotely from Earth.

[ApolloWasReal]

@iorixs Apollo spacecraft engines burned nitrogen tetroxide and various hydrazines. These are "hypergolic" - igniting on contact - and produce no visible flame in vacuum. Even in air their plumes are very hard to see. Many other rockets use these same propellants and there's plenty of onboard TV footage showing that their plumes are also invisible.

The propellant tanks are those bulges on the sides of the ascent stage. The fuel tank stuck out farther for balance because it was lighter.

[Synthetrix]

Simple orbital mechanics. The speed of an orbit is related to its altitude. The higher you are the slower your orbital period. To catch up the LM need only drop into a slightly lower orbit, then raise its altitude to meet the CSM. Once they are a within a few feet they can close the gap by making minor adjustments to their speed with a RCS thrusters.

Remember that orbital rendezvous is done regularly in Earth orbit, where the orbiting objects are doing about 17,500mph.

[nakazatoGTR]

look at falcon 1 flgiht 4, watch?v=To-XOPgaGsQ

you could see the upper stage kestrel engine nozzle glowing, but little to no flame, unlike what you would expect like the afterburners of an F-14 in topgun.

face the facts avoid diversion, sotp conjecturing.

[LunarTuner]

apolloscam, you don't know what a hypergolic fuel is, do you?

[5thElement15]

great animation and excellent video I was quite fascinated by this .

[apolloscam]

Good animation, but you forgot the antigravity drive that the Apollo LEM used to launch from the moon, without any rocket exhaust.

[harrynicholas]

Well this particular video looks like a composite of stills and odd footage taken from here and there, so IT would constitute a fake mission to the moon. Anyone who thinks that NASA didn't go is just trying to reassure themselves about - I don't know what. Anyway, I believe that Moon and Mars missions are to taken up again, so in a few years we can start moaning about all the junk we left on the other planets.

[iorixs]

i dont trust nasa to tell me about the size and structure of the universe and my position in it. the moon missions are a hoax. and so is everything else nasa comes up with! the universe is probably small and the earth the center of it. i dont doubt the old truths are true and the new ones lies

[LindaStevensBZ]

Yeah that Apollo stuff looks funny! Must be fake. I mean...if it looks funny and I can't understand it...why should I be believe it? Oh crap...Fresh Prince of Bellaire is almost over. Can't believe I missed Fresh Prince because I was wasting time on this lame space science shit. LOL!

[Dstevenb]

As the A11 TV camera was uplinked via the LM antenna, I doubt you'll find any video showing an exterior view launch of Apollo 11. @ Armitaj, Apollos 15, 16 and 17 all had the LRV TV camera shoot the LM launch, with camera preemtively operated by remote control from earth. The uplink wattage was 10 Watts and aimed at the earth based two-way tracking stations.