The Eagle back? | NPO Radio 1

Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969. Four days later, on July 20, humans set foot on the lunar surface for the first time in history. “The eagle has landed!” He rang. The Apollo lunar lander consisted of two parts. For the return of the moon, only the upper part, the ascension stage, was used to launch the two astronauts and the recovered moon tilts into orbit.

The landing zone, the descent stage, was left on the moon and served as a launch pad. Once in orbit around the moon, the astronauts attached the ascension stage to the command module, which had been orbiting the moon from the start. These two astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, then boarded this command module, which was piloted by Michael Collins.

Smaller and smaller circles around the moon.

After the siphoning of the lunar rocks, the lock was able to be closed and the ascension stage yielded. NASA realized a few months later, during the Apollo 12 mission, that the Eagle may still be orbiting the moon. It was then assumed that the module would slowly lose altitude and eventually impact the moon. However, no one has ever been able to answer this.

.. or towers in a stable orbit?

Recently, scientist James Meador of the California Institute of Technology decided to track down where Eagle was said to have been run over. After all, the date, time, and location of the module’s disposal are well known. This happened at an altitude of about 125 kilometers above the lunar surface. But whatever uncertainties Meador included in his calculations, the result was that the Eagle would have entered a stable orbit around the moon, rather than crashing into the lunar surface.

The ascension stage is therefore probably still orbiting the moon. In this case, Earth’s radar observations could potentially locate the Eagle – and possibly bring it back to Earth.

Unfortunately, there is also a chance that the Eagle may have exploded, as there was still fuel inside. But if the Eagle still exists, shouldn’t we bring it back to Earth and put it in a space museum? It would be a great location for the historic spaceship.