Apollo drogue and probe assemblies. The docking ring is part of the Apollo Command Module.
Module statistics
Docked
19 times
Diameter
32 inches (81 cm)
The docking mechanism of the Apollo was a "probe and drogue" system designed to allow the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) to dock with the Apollo Lunar Module. The same system was later used for the Skylab 2, Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 CSMs to dock with the Skylab space station, and the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project CSM to dock with a Docking Module adapter which allowed docking with the Soyuz 19 spacecraft. There were 12 hard latches.[1][2][3]
The Apollo system differed from the Gemini Docking Mechanism in that after locking, the probe and drogue mechanism could be manually removed to allow access between the two docked craft. Ideas from this system were instrumental in creating later systems, like those used in the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and others.[4]
The Apollo docking system was used successfully in thirteen missions in Earth and lunar orbits between 1969 and 1975. The only serious problems were experienced on Apollo 14 and Skylab 2, when the probe systems failed to capture the drogue receptacles during repeated docking attempts. Successful docking was eventually accomplished in both missions.[5]
The dockingmechanism of the Apollo was a "probe and drogue" system designed to allow the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) to dock with the Apollo Lunar...
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, docking an Apollo spacecraft with a Soyuz using a specially designed docking module to accommodate the different docking systems...
non-androgynous mechanism for docking with the Agena target vehicle or Augmented Target Docking Adapter. It was the first American craft that could dock to another...
Androgynous Peripheral Docking System (APDS) are used interchangeably to describe a Russian family of spacecraft dockingmechanisms, and are also sometimes...
The NASA Docking System is NASA's implementation of the International Docking System Standard (IDSS), an international spacecraft docking standard promulgated...
also in the transposition, docking, and extraction maneuver at the beginning of the translunar coast. The dockingmechanism was a non-androgynous system...
least amount of propellant used in docking. But when he gently brought the modules together, the dockingmechanism would not activate. He made several...
The Apollo program used several television cameras in its space missions in the late 1960s and 1970s; some of these Apollo TV cameras were also used on...
descent stages of the United States Apollo Lunar Modules flown on lunar landing missions Apollo 11 through Apollo 17, to be left permanently on the lunar...
exploration. It was commissioned and placed on the Moon by the crew of Apollo 15 at Hadley Rille on August 2, 1971, UTC, next to a plaque listing 14 names...
The Apollo 11 goodwill messages are statements from leaders of 73 countries around the world on a disc about the size of a 50-cent piece made of silicon...
Orbit Rendezvous and the Apollo Program". NASA. Handbook Automated Rendezvous and Docking of Spacecraft by Wigbert Fehse Docking system agreement key to...
Experiment (LEAM) was a lunar science experiment that flew to the Moon on board Apollo 17 in 1972. It collected information on dust particles produced as a result...
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Mattingly and known as transposition, docking, and extraction, went smoothly. Following transposition and docking, the crew noticed the exterior surface...
and mechanisms for the entrainment and release of water vapour from Apollo 14's ascent stage. While the origins of the water detected by Apollo 14 remain...
the former Soviet space program. His notable designs including the dockingmechanisms for crewed spacecraft; it was his Androgynous Peripheral Attach System...
Kontakt docking system used a three-pronged grappler on the active moving spacecraft. The active spacecraft would then attempt a soft docking between...
collaborations in outer space. This culminated in the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first docking of spacecraft from two different spacefaring nations...
primitive probe (Soyuz 4) and drogue (Soyuz 5) docking assembly. A connecting tunnel for the dockingmechanism had not yet been developed, which prevented...
Command Module. Plug hatches were retained for the CM docking hatch and the two hatches on the Apollo Lunar Module, as the risk of fire in the low-pressure...
fully automated space docking in the history of space exploration on 30 October 1967. Mutual search, approach, mooring, and docking were automatically performed...
active one for docking, and have the active "probe" dockingmechanism. Automated flight. The spacecraft is the passive one for docking, and have the passive...
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