Page 51 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

extravehicular activity Any
task performed by people outside the protected environment of a space vehicle’s pressurized compartments.
 The Moon rover enabled the astronauts on later Moon missions to explore widely from their landing module.
The entire journey from the Moon to the Earth thus relied on the attractive force of the Earth’s gravity. No additional rocket thrust was needed. That allowed the CSM to jettison the SM and its rocket and to turn around (while still under free fall) so that the blunt heat shield end faced forward. The touchdown was in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969.
Because it was not known if there was life on the Moon, the CM was carefully cleaned, and the astronauts were kept isolated.
Apollo 15, launched on July 26, 1971, carried a Moon rover, a four-wheeled, battery-powered lunar travel vehicle that allowed the astronauts to explore greater areas of the Moon’s surface.
Between then and December 1972 more missions were completed, taking a total of 12 people to
the Moon’s surface. Finally, this hugely costly, but immensely satisfying, program was brought to a close.
 Apollo 11 capsule recovered from the sea.
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