Built Components For Command, Service, And Excursion Modules

Rolls-Royce this week observed the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing by commemorating the important role the company (then the Allison Gas Turbine Company) played in the Mission to the Moon.

Engineers working at the Group’s Indianapolis site designed and built the fuel tanks for both the Command Module / Service Module and the Lunar Excursion Module for Apollo 11. These tanks, made from titanium 1/30th of an inch thick, carried the propellant that put the Apollo 11 in lunar orbit and allowed the Lunar Excursion Module to land on the moon. The tanks also supplied the fuel for the return trip to Earth.

Current and retired employees gathered at the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust Museum (Allison branch) to join with nine of the employees who worked on the Apollo program during the 1960s and 1970s.

Heritage Trust Museum (Allison Branch) President, David Newill, said: “It is an honor to recognize the men and women who contributed to the success of the first manned lunar landing. The innovation required to design and build fuel tanks that could withstand the rigors of space travel continues to contribute to the sophisticated technology and advanced manufacturing processes that the company employs designing and building gas turbine engines today.”

FMI: www.rolls-royce.com