Looking into the LM descent stage engine nozzle

Here's one view you can have during lunch. The LM descent engine nozzle is at center with the heat shield around it and the legs in the four corners. The contraption left of the engine at the edge of the stage is the landing radar. The front of the LM with the ladder on the front landing gear is at lower right.

The LM at the Moon Rock Cafe

If you have lunch at the Moon Rock Cafe in the Saturn V center, you can sit at tables right underneath a real live Lunar Module. This is LM-9 which was originally scheduled to fly the Apollo 15 mission before that mission was canceled. LM-9 was an "H" series LM similar to what flew on Apollos 11, 12, 13 and 14. Apollo 15 flew LM-10, the first of the "J" series LMs designed for longer stays on the Moon and to carry more weight to the lunar surface (including the Lunar Rovers). LM-9 became an unflown spare and one of only three flight ready LMs that rest in museums (LM-2 at the NASM in Washington D.C and LM-13 is at the Cradle of Aviation on Long Island). Several other simulators, replicas and test articles can be found in other museums. This image was taken with my 10mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 1/40 seconds at f/5, ISO 400.

3D LM

This 3D anaglyph of the Lunar Module at the Air & Space Museum was made with Stereo Picture Maker. You'll need your red-cyan anaglyph glasses to see it properly.

LM-2 Landing gear detail #2

Here's another closeup, this time of the lower landing gear actuator hardware at the base of the descent stage where the landing gear hinges from the stage.

Landing Gear attach point, LM-2

This is a closeup of the mounting point on the outriggers of the landing gear on LM-2 in the National Air & Space Museum. After orbiting around the LM with a wider angle lens, I put on my 70-300mm zoom and started taking closeups of details of the vehicle. I wanted to see the nuts and bolts up close. This image was taken at 119mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/4.5, ISO 3200.

Another view of LM-2

Another view - this one from ground level - of LM-2 in the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC. This image was taken with the kit lens at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 1600.

LM-2

LM-2 was to be used for the 2nd unmanned test flight of a Lunar Module in Earth orbit, but the flight of LM-1 went so well, that LM-2 was not needed. Since it was an early production model intended for unmanned flight, it remained the only early production Lunar Module that didn't get used for manned tests. So when it was donated to the Smithsonian and prepared for display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, it was redressed to look like LM-5 which carried the first crew of humans to the surface of the Moon in July 1969 as the Eagle of Apollo 11. This image was taken with the kit lens at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/60 seconds at f/4, ISO 400.