Lunar lander - the development of the Apollo Lunar Module

If the Apollo programme had been designed simply to transport three astronauts to lunar orbit, allow them to conduct remote observations of its surface and return them to Earth, it would have been an historic feat of technological development in the 1960s. But President Kennedy had set an even more impressive goal, which involved a landing, and this was the function of the lunar module. The Apollo 11 lunar module, the first manned spacecraft to land on the Moon, made its touchdown in the Sea of Tranquillity on 20 July 1969. Although several decades have passed since that historic event, and many subsequent developments in space technology have taken place, the effort required to place men on the surface of the Moon and return them safely to the Earth set a precedent in engineering excellence that is hard to match even today.