Apollo Space Capsule - Los Angeles, CA
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member Metro2
N 34° 08.418 W 118° 21.304
11S E 375064 N 3778541
This replica is located at Universal Studios Theme Park in Los Angeles.
Waymark Code: WMNWFB
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 05/11/2015
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member DougK
Views: 4

The placard accompanying this replica indicates that is is the actual prop used in the 1995 film "Apollo".

Wikipedia (visit link) adds:

The Apollo spacecraft was first conceived in 1960 as a three-man craft to follow Project Mercury, with an open-ended mission. It could be used to ferry astronauts to an Earth-orbiting space station, or for flights around or orbiting the Moon, and possibly landing on it. NASA solicited feasibility study designs from several companies in 1960 and 1961, while Faget and the Space Task Group worked on their own design using a conical/blunt-body capsule (Command Module) supported by a cylindrical Service Module providing electrical power and propulsion. NASA reviewed the entrants' designs in May 1961, but when President John F. Kennedy proposed a national effort to land a man on the Moon during the 1960s, NASA decided to reject the feasibility studies and proceed with Faget's design, focused on the lunar landing mission. The contract to build Apollo was awarded to North American Aviation.

The Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) was originally designed to take three men directly to the surface of the Moon, atop a large landing stage with legs. The Command Module sized out at 12 feet 10 inches (3.91 m) in diameter, by 11 feet 1.5 inches (3.39 m) long. The Service Module was 13 feet (4.0 m) long, with a total vehicle length of 36 feet 2.5 inches (11.04 m) including the engine bell. The hypergolic propellant service propulsion engine was sized at 20,500 pounds-force (91,000 N) to lift the CSM off the lunar surface and send it back to Earth. This required a single-launch vehicle much larger than the Saturn V, or else multiple Saturn V launches to assemble it in Earth orbit before sending it to the Moon.

Early on, it was decided to use the lunar orbit rendezvous method, using a smaller Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) to ferry two of the men between lunar orbit and the surface. The reduction in mass allowed the lunar mission to be launched with a single Saturn V. Since significant development work had started on the design, it was decided to continue with the existing design as Block I, while a Block II version capable of rendezvous with the LEM would be developed in parallel. Besides addition of a docking tunnel and probe, Block II would employ equipment improvements based on lessons learned from the Block I design. Block I would be used for unmanned test flights and a limited number of Earth orbit manned flights. Though the service propulsion engine was now bigger than required, its design was not changed since significant development was already in progress; however, the propellant tanks were downsized slightly to reflect the modified fuel requirement. Based on astronaut preference, the Block II CM would replace the two-piece plug door hatch cover, chosen to avoid an accidental hatch opening such as had happened on Gus Grissom's Mercury-Redstone 4 flight, with a one-piece, outward-opening hatch to make egress easier at the end of the mission.

The Mercury-Gemini practice of using a prelaunch atmosphere of 16.7 pounds per square inch (1,150 mbar) pure oxygen proved to be disastrous in combination with the plug-door hatch design. While participating in a pre-launch test on the pad on January 27, 1967 in preparation for the first manned launch in February, the entire crew of Apollo 1—Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger Chaffee—were killed in a fire that swept through the cabin. The plug door made it impossible for the astronauts to escape or be removed before their deaths. An investigation revealed the fire was probably started by a spark from a frayed wire, and fed by combustible materials that should not have been in the cabin. The manned flight program was delayed while design changes were made to the Block II spacecraft to replace the pure oxygen pre-launch atmosphere with an air-like nitrogen/oxygen mixture, eliminate combustible materials from the cabin and the astronauts' space suits, and seal all electrical wiring and corrosive coolant lines.

The Block II spacecraft weighed 63,500 pounds (28,800 kg) fully fueled, and was used in four manned Earth and lunar orbital test flights, and seven manned lunar landing missions. A modified version of the spacecraft was also used to ferry three crews to the Skylab space station, and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission which docked with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft. The Apollo spacecraft was retired after 1974."
Type of Aircraft: (make/model): Apollo Space Capsule

Construction:: replica

Location (park, airport, museum, etc.): Universal Studios Theme Park

inside / outside: outside

Access restrictions:
Adult entry $95 hours vary but usually 9-6 on weekdays and 9 to 8 on weekends.


Tail Number: (S/N): Not listed

Other Information:: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Photo of aircraft (required - will be interesting to see if the aircraft is ever repainted or progress if being restored)
Photo of serial number (required unless there is not one or it is a replica)
Photo(s) of any artwork on the aircraft (optional but interesting)

Tell why you are visiting this waymark along with any other interesting facts or personal experiences about the aircraft not already mentioned.
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Metro2 visited Apollo Space Capsule  -  Los Angeles, CA 07/26/2014 Metro2 visited it