 When we look at footage and pictures of the Apollo command module returning from the moon, it looks like the spacecraft is just falling through the atmosphere towards the ocean. But it didn't. Though it didn't have wings, the Apollo command module could sort of fly. The command module was, at least externally, a symmetrical colon shape, about 11 feet tall and 13 feet around at its widest point. But internally, everything inside the spacecraft was arranged such that its center of gravity was slightly off-center towards the astronauts' feet. Space meant that the spacecraft leaned in one direction as it fell through the atmosphere. And when it fell supersonically, or faster than the speed of sound, that slight lean translated into lift. The crew could direct the spacecraft using their thrusters. Small bursts of propellant could roll the spacecraft, changing the lift vector up or down or side to side. This gave the blunt-bodied spacecraft some cross-range capability, and it's actually the same capability that the Mars Science Laboratory mission used when it delivered the Curiosity rover to a slightly elevated landing location. So when did this cross-range capability come in handy on Apollo missions? Well, when Apollo 11 was about 12 hours from splashdown, the weather in the primary landing location was starting to look back. NASA needed to bring the crew down in a secondary landing location, some 215 miles away. It was close enough to the primary site that the spacecraft was able to actually make the distance using its lift capability. The crew never had to make an extra burn before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. Questions or comments? Leave them below. For weekly Vintage Space updates, don't forget to subscribe.