command module

American  

noun

1. (often initial capital letters) the portion of the Apollo spacecraft that contained the crew's living compartment and the on-board controls.

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command module British  

noun

1. the cone-shaped module used as the living quarters in an Apollo spacecraft and functioning as the splashdown vehicle

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Etymology

Origin of command module

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Its office features a replica of the Apollo 11 command module and an authentic Enigma encryption machine from 1943—the German device cracked by Allied codebreakers including celebrated British mathematician Alan Turing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

In 1969, while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made history taking the first steps on the lunar surface, Collins was alone in the command module, orbiting the Moon.

From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026

For her 16th, Joel takes her to a science museum, where she lives out her dream of going to space by climbing inside the Apollo 15 command module.

From Salon • May 19, 2025

In Downey, North American Aviation built the command module of the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed astronauts on the moon.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 19, 2024

Five months after that, Apollo 10 took off and proved that the Lunar Lander could dock with the command module.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

Related Words

• capsule
• spacecraft
• spaceship