The Plan

Founded in 1958, the National Aero­nautics and Space Administration

The huge Saturn V rocket that took Apollo 11 into space weighed 5.8 million pounds (2.6 million kilograms). It stood 363 feet (110.6 meters) high. The rocket had three stages. The first and second stage took the spacecraft up into orbit around Earth, while the third stage sent the spacecraft traveling toward the Moon. The five first-stage engines burned liquid oxygen and kerosene. The five second – stage engines burned liquid oxygen and nitrogen. The third – stage engine burned liquid oxy­gen. In the first 2.5 minutes of flight, Saturn V burned about

528,0 gallons (about 2 million liters) of fuel.

The Apollo 11 spacecraft weighed about 103,000 pounds (46,762 kilograms) at launch. The cone-shaped command module Columbia was 12 feet (3.7 meters) high. The cylinder­shaped service module stood 22 feet (6.7 meters) high. The lunar module, the Eagle, was 21 feet (6.4 meters) high. It weighed 29,983 pounds (13,612 kilo­grams). The lunar module had two engines: one for descent and one for leaving the Moon.

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