{{short description|Command module used for Apollo 11}} {{Use American English|date=October 2019}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}} {{italic title|string=Columbia}} {{Infobox individual space vehicle | name = ''Columbia'' | mission = Apollo 11 | image = Apollo 11 Kommandomodul "Columbia".jpg | caption = ''Columbia'' on display at the National Air<br> and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. | type = Reentry capsule | named_after = ''Columbiad'' | manufacturer = North American Aviation | construction_number = CM-107 | landing_mass = {{cvt|10,873|lb}}<ref name="CM-weigh">{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-24|title=Selected Mission Weights|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_18-37_Selected_Mission_Weights.htm|website=history.nasa.gov}}</ref> | launch_date = July 16, 1969 | launch_site = Kennedy LC-39A | landing_date = July 24, 1969 | landing_site = Pacific Ocean | owners = NASA | total_hours = 195 | preservation = National Air and Space Museum | succession = Apollo command modules | previous_vehicle = ''Charlie Brown'' | next_vehicle = ''Yankee Clipper'' }} {{Apollo11series}} '''Command module ''Columbia''''' ('''CM-107''') is the spacecraft that served as the command module during Apollo 11, which was the first mission to land humans on the Moon. ''Columbia'' is the only spacecraft of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that returned to Earth.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url = https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/command-module-apollo-11 |title = Apollo 11 Command Module ''Columbia'' |date = March 20, 2016 |author = National Air and Space Museum |publisher = Smithsonian Institution |language = en |access-date = September 24, 2019 |archive-date = July 20, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190720224030/https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/command-module-apollo-11 |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1I2SAYnWh3YC |title = Apollo 11 Box: Artifacts from the First Moon Landing |first = R. A. |last = Craddock |date = 2003 |publisher = Chronicle Books |isbn = 978-0-8118-3734-7 |language = en |page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=1I2SAYnWh3YC&pg=PA57 57] }}</ref>
== Name == The name ''Columbia'' was first suggested to Michael Collins by Julian Scheer, NASA assistant administrator of public affairs during the Apollo program. Scheer mentioned the name, in passing, in a phone conversation, saying "some of us up here have been kicking around ''Columbia''." Collins initially thought it was "a bit pompous" but the name eventually stuck as he could not think of a better alternative and his crewmates Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong had no objections.<ref>{{Cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-9pfwFpdtGwC&pg=PA334 |title = Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey |last = Collins |first = Michael |date = 2001 |publisher = Rowman & Littlefield |isbn = 978-0-8154-1028-7 |language = en| pages = 334–335 }}</ref> Collins was also influenced to accept the name because of its similarity to ''Columbiad'', the name of the space gun in Jules Verne's 1865 science fiction novel ''From the Earth to the Moon''.<ref>{{Cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wR5d7Fuixl4C&pg=PP24 |title = Tracking Apollo to the Moon |last = Lindsay |first = Hamish |date = 2001 |publisher = Springer |isbn = 978-1-85233-212-9 |language = en |page = 24 }}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Collins|2001|p=335|ps=.}}</ref>
== Post mission history == Following the mission and after a tour of U.S. cities,<ref name="Cincinnati">{{Cite web |url = https://www.soapboxmedia.com/features/CMC-Destination-Moon.aspx |title = To the moon (and Cincinnati) and back |last = McEwan |first = Liz |date = September 24, 2019 |website = Soapbox Cincinnati |language = en |access-date = September 24, 2019 }}</ref> ''Columbia'' was given to the Smithsonian Institution in 1971.<ref name=":0" /> It was designated a "Milestone in Flight" and displayed prominently at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., alongside the 1903 ''Wright Flyer''.<ref>{{harvp|Craddock|2003|p=2|ps=.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ROgnDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |title = Best of the National Air and Space Museum |last = van der Linden |first = F. Robert |date = 2016 |publisher = Smithsonian Institution |isbn = 978-1-58834-581-3 |language = en |page = 3 }}</ref>
In July 2016, the Smithsonian released a 3D scan of ''Columbia'' produced by the Smithsonian's Digitization Program Office.<ref name=Pearlman>{{cite news |last = Pearlman |first = Robert Z. |date = 12 February 2016 |title = Apollo 11 Crew Wrote on Moon Ship Walls, Smithsonian 3D Scan Reveals |url = https://www.space.com/31917-apollo-11-crew-moon-ship-graffiti.html |work = Space.com |access-date = 9 March 2020 }}</ref><ref name=Weiner>{{cite news |last = Weiner |first = Sophie |date = 22 July 2016 |title = Take a 3D Tour Inside the Apollo 11 Command Module |url = https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a22006/3d-tour-apollo-11/ |work = Popular Mechanics |access-date = 9 March 2020 }}</ref> During the scanning process a number of places where the astronauts had written on the walls of the capsule were found.<ref name=Pearlman /> These included a calendar and a warning about smelly waste on one of the lockers.<ref name=Pearlman />
In 2019, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, the spacecraft traveled around the country on a tour to museums in Houston, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Cincinnati.<ref name="Cincinnati" />
In 2022, ''Columbia'' was taken off display as a part of the National Air and Space Museum's renovation. When the museum reopened in the fall of 2022 it became a centerpiece of their new Destination Moon exhibit.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/destination-moon#:~:text=Destination%20Moon%2C%20scheduled%20to%20open,with%20what%20is%20happening%20now | title=Destination Moon | date=August 11, 2020 }}</ref>
<gallery mode=packed heights=180> File:Columbia Command Module On Display 2024.jpg|Columbia Module in its new exhibit on display at the Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. NASM-NASM2013-02663.jpg|Interior of the Command module </gallery>
==See also== * Lunar Module ''Eagle''
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == {{refbegin}} *{{Cite book |url = https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4205.pdf |title = Chariots for Apollo: The NASA History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft to 1979 |last1 = Brooks |first1 = Courtney G. |last2 = Grimwood |first2 = James M. |last3 = Swenson |first3 = Loyd S. |date = 1979 |publisher = NASA |language = en }} {{refend}}
{{Apollo program}} {{Apollo program hardware}}
Category:Apollo 11 Category:Spacecraft which reentered in 1969 Category:Individual spacecraft Category:Buzz Aldrin Category:Neil Armstrong Category:Michael Collins (astronaut) Category:Crewed spacecraft Category:Apollo program hardware Category:Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets Category:Spacecraft that orbited the Moon Category:Individual spacecraft in the Smithsonian Institution Category:Spacecraft launched in 1969