Today's episode takes a look at one of  the most sophisticated pieces of spacecraft ever built - the Lunar Excursion Module or LEM. The LEM was not designed to return to Earth. Instead, the spacecraft would be intentionally abandoned to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere or crash on the moon after transferring the astronauts back to the command module for the return ride home.

Of the nine manned LEMs that flew for NASA, eight did just that. Apollo 13's LEM saved the crew after an explosion disabled their service module and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere as did the one used for testing on Apollo 9. The others flew to the moon, were jettisoned, then were sent crashing into the moon. One of them, however, escaped and is still flying in deep space.

This episode tells the story of the lunar module and this one in particular - Apollo 10's Snoopy that is still intact in space and has been recently found. Can it be the only LEM to come home?

SHOW NOTES:

Documentary on the Lunar Orbital Technique Used By Apollo (NASA - Video)
NASA Documentary: Apollo 10 - Tell The World We Have Arrived (Video)
Apollo 10 Jettisons Snoopy And It Runs Away (NASA - Video)
Apollo 13 Says Farewell to the Lunar Module Aquarius (NASA - Video 38:15 into the clip)
Apollo 10's Mission Patch (Smithsonian - JPG)
Snoopy in Space (Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang - NASA Cartoon Video)
Lucy and Linus Theme (The Peanuts Theme by the Jerry Granelli Trio - Video)