| Lunar Orbit Rendezvous |
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The first was direct ascent, which is exactly how it sounds. A huge rocket (called "Nova") launches into space and lands on the moon. The second was earth-orbit rendezvous, where two smaller rockets launch the capsule with the astronauts and a fuel tank. The astronauts would meet with the fuel tank in orbit, fill up the capsule and depart Earth orbit for the moon. The third "mode" was Lunar Orbit Rendezvous, a plan developed by a team led by John C. Holboldt. In this "mode", a rocket launches the capsule with the astronauts and a lunar lander, known as the "lunar excursion module"(LEM). When the astronauts reach lunar orbit, the LEM undocks from the command-module (capsule) and descends to the surface of the moon. One astronaut of three remains in the command module which orbits the moon. The astronauts that have landed on the moon re-launch using an ascent stage of the LEM and re-join with the command module which is orbiting the moon to return to the earth. |
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