Apollo command and service module

The Apollo command and service module, known as the CSM, was one of the two principal components of the United States Apollo spacecraft used during the Apollo program, which landed twelve astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. It served as the mission's mother ship, carrying a crew of three astronauts together with the Apollo Lunar Module to lunar orbit and returning the astronauts to Earth. The CSM was built in two connected parts, the conical command module, a cabin that housed the crew and the equipment needed for atmospheric reentry and splashdown, and the cylindrical service module, which supplied propulsion, electrical power, and storage for consumables during the mission. An umbilical connection carried power and consumables between the two modules until shortly before reentry, when the service module was jettisoned and burned up in the atmosphere while the command module carried the crew home. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/