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Forty years ago Apollo 11 set off on a mission and accomplished what man had dream of since he looked to the heavens, exploring the heavens and landing on the moon. I wasn’t alive when this amazing feat of engineering, determination and sheer courage took place, but despite this I have a healthy respect for the accomplishment, partly due to the matters of scale involved.

First let’s look at the physical size of the Apollo 11 crafts and rocket :

Apollo 11 Crafts and Rocket compared to a Semi Truck and Space Shuttle. You should click the image to enlarge.

We’ll start with the Command/Service Module and Lunar Lander. When combined these two vehicles are barely longer than your average Semi Truck and have an internal area smaller than that of the 1 bedroom apartment in which I currently sit. For 4 days the astronauts lived in this small space on their journey to the moon. Also try to imagine how the crew of the lander would have to maneuver inside of the module while wearing the bulky spacesuits and backpacks required to explore the Lunar surface. Armstrong, as the mission commander, got to make the decision to be the first out of the module and onto the moon, but it was also the logical choice to have him exit first due to his piloting position near the hatch. With both Neil and Buzz suited it would be extremely difficult for Buzz to get to the door first.

Wernher von Braun next to the bottom of a Saturn V Rocket

Now let’s look at the Saturn V rocket, which still holds the record as being the largest rocket ever built. I remember as a child seeing this behemoth at the Kennedy Space Center on a family trip and being in awe. This rocket dwarfs the Space Shuttle, today’s most well known space fairing vehicle, and is also just one foot shorter than St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England. In addition to all this, Saturn V was also the first rocket that wasn’t a converted U.S. Air Force missile, and was built specifically with the aim of space exploration.

These facts illustrate to me some of the amazing things about Apollo 11 that I’ve learned over the years. If you’d like to find out more I’d suggest checking out We Choose the Moon, a wonderful site that shows recreations of all the stages of our trip to the moon.

Tagged: Apollo 11, Command/Service Module, Lunar Lander, Saturn V rocket