The Apollo 10 command module
Visitors to the Science Museum are to be offered a rare chance to see inside the Apollo 10 command module that US astronauts used to fly around the moon in May 1969.
On May 23 2009 the craft will be in the Museum's popular Exploring Space Gallery with its hatch cover removed so that people can look closely at the actual controls.
For space buffs it's a unique opportunity – Apollo 10 was the dress rehearsal for the moon landing mission of Apollo 11. Had 10 not delivered, 11's landing would not have gone ahead.
"If you want to learn how to pilot a real space ship, now's your chance," said Doug Millard, the Science Museum's Senior Curator of Space Technology, promising a chance to "look closely at the controls and systems the astronauts used to travel to the moon and back."
"If you're lucky you’ll be able to make out some scribbled calculations on the consoles. Imagine living in something the size of this spacecraft for eight days – and hurtling into space and away from everything you have known and loved."
The small capsule guided US astronauts Tom Stafford, John Young and Gene Cernan back to Earth in a blazing ball of flame as it punched its way into the atmosphere at a still unbroken world human speed record of 24,791 miles per hour (more than 11km per second). Visitors will be able to see the charred heat shield of the capsule, bearing testimony to this scorching descent.
The event is a taster of the Science Museum’s space season, which starts on July 20 2009 and continues with activities throughout the summer holidays.
