The Apollo Lunar Module (LM), originally referred to as the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the spacecraft used by NASA to fly astronauts between lunar orbit and the Moon’s surface. It is unique among spacecraft in that it is not streamlined or engineered for flight in anything other than the vacuum of space. The chief contractor for the real LMs was Grumman Aerospace Corporation which built thirteen lunar modules, with six of the thirteen landing successfully on the Moon. The LM on board the Apollo 13, served as a lifeboat after an explosion destroyed a portion of the Apollo spacecraft making it inoperable.

This lunar module full-size replica was used at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to train all 12 astronauts who walked on the Moon and is the only trainer on which all of them trained. From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, all astronauts, from Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11 through Eugene Cernan on Apollo 17, trained for their lunar missions on the LM. Simulated missions included deploying the LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) or “Rover” and the ALSEP (Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package). Just like the actual LM, this two-part vehicle has an ascent and a descent stage. It stands 23 feet tall and weighs approximately 8,000 pounds, four fifths the weight of an unfueled flight LM. The heat-reflective gold mylar covering the descent stage was specifically designed for the Apollo mission.