• TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    16 days ago

    It wasn’t an orbital rocket afaik. It went further than orbit, as it traveled to the gravitational influence of the moon and back.

    • ch00f@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      It orbited Earth several times before heading to the Moon. The maneuver that connected the LEM to the top of the command module happened in Earth orbit.

      • Deme@sopuli.xyz
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        16 days ago

        Partially correct. They orbited the Earth for 2.5h before the last stage of the launch vehicle starts the 5 minute TLI burn at T+02:44. The docking happens after that. Source (pages 108 -109).

      • Harmonics041@feddit.uk
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        16 days ago

        I thought the reconfiguration happened after the TLI burn and that the S4-B stage did the TLI burn. So technically it’s not in LEO but it at a point in its orbit close to earth. At one point it was in orbit so I guess you could call it an orbital rocket…