ABSTRACT
The first American in space had been launched by the Mercury Redstone. The contract for the design and manufacture of the Apollo command module was granted before the decision to go with Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) was made. By late 1962, plans were well underway for the command module of an Earth orbital and circumlunar craft. The contractor, North American, had given some thought to attaching a propulsion stage for a landing on the Moon. However, this need was circumvented by the switch to LOR. The greatest impact that the decision to go with LOR had on the design of the command module was the need to incorporate a docking mechanism with the ability to transfer two astronauts to the lunar module. The greatest impact that the decision to go with LOR had on the design of the command module was the need to incorporate a docking mechanism with the ability to transfer two astronauts to the lunar module.
