Explain: Why the Apollo lander was done "Apollo style"

[sgt_flyer]

Wow. I had no idea the difference in scale of both crafts. I mean, I knew the American system was larger but not that it was 5 times the mass.

the apollo Service module + reentry pod are even heavier than just the reentry pod and the LEM - but it was designed for a moon mission, they needed a lot of Delta-V for that

the apollo complete CSM (without LEM) weighted roughly 30 tons, with 2800 m/s of delta-V.

one of the first soyuz models used (soyuz 7k-OK) weighted 6.5 tons with all 3 modules, but had only 390 m/s of delta-V. (current version weights a little more than 7 tons, still with 390m/s of delta-V.)

although, weirdly, there's more living space inside a soyuz than in the apollo CSM (thanks to the soyuz orbital module ) quick note though : the apollo CSM could actually carry up to 5 astronauts in spacesuits in case of emergency for the Skylab missions.

[KASASpace]

I'm sure it was explained quite well already, but:

There were originally two plans laid out for a moon landing:

1.) Direct : go there wit ha HUGE launch vehicle and land the entire craft or

2.)Earth Orbit Rendevzous (EOR): build it all in space over Earth over time

The original Nova concept was for Direct,

and the original Saturn concept was for EOR

Then came along LOR (Lunar Orbit Rendevzous)

Which launched a small vehicle to the moon, with a two man lander that lands, and comes back up and rendezvous with the orbiter, and then goes home

LOR was chosen, as we all know.

[Pockrtplanesairways]

It was successfully used in anger back in 1983.

What do you mean anger? Don't you mean an emergency?

[mrfox]

What do you mean anger? Don't you mean an emergency?

2.do/use something in anger

to do or use something for the first time, or in a real situation:

He joined the club last month, but has yet to kick a ball in anger.

http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/anger_1

[mellojoe]

What do you mean anger? Don't you mean an emergency?

Did a little Googling ... looks like Cosmonauts were aboard, and on the launchpad, and they were filling up the tanks. A leak developed, a fire broke out, and with literal seconds to spare, the escape tower was used. Pulled the men to safety about 4km downrange. Much bruising, but no major harm. The explosion of the rocket happened just underneath them, a window of 2 seconds after the escape pod fired. Scary, scary stuff.

Also, the Longman Dictionary seems to point to a British use of the phrase "in anger", which is much different usage from the Americanized phrase. I learned something today.

[Pockrtplanesairways]

I learned something today.

So did I. Kinda. I already knew about Soyuz T-10-1...

[Motokid600]

Did a little Googling ... looks like Cosmonauts were aboard, and on the launchpad, and they were filling up the tanks. A leak developed, a fire broke out, and with literal seconds to spare, the escape tower was used. Pulled the men to safety about 4km downrange. Much bruising, but no major harm. The explosion of the rocket happened just underneath them, a window of 2 seconds after the escape pod fired. Scary, scary stuff.

Also, the Longman Dictionary seems to point to a British use of the phrase "in anger", which is much different usage from the Americanized phrase. I learned something today.

Was that the only instance in history a LES was actually activated? Other then being tested..

[rdfox]

Only time a LES was actually *used* for its designed purpose. The LES on Mercury-Redstone 1 was activated due to a wiring glitch that saw the booster engine shut down at an altitude of one inch... but due to a glitch in the LES sequencing, it also blew the tower jettison bolts when it fired, but still fired the parachute-deploy mortars. So now you had a fully fueled, slightly crumpled Redstone booster sitting on the launch pad *with two parachutes hanging off the side, waiting to catch the wind*...

[softweir]

There was, as was pointed out in a post earlier in this thread, an occasion when a Soyuz launch went very wrong and the LES had to activated. It worked brilliantly, though the G-forces and turbulence were extreme - to the point that one of the cosmonauts turned off their mikes so they could swear without embarrassment!