Apollo 15 "J-Mission" Command & Service Module (CSM) (1/72)

The fourth American space mission to land on the Moon was Apollo 15, and it was conducted from 26 July to 7 August 1971 after a Saturn V rocket blasted the spacecraft into orbit. NASA described the mission as the “most successful manned flight” up till that point. This was because Apollo 15 was the first of what are described as “J missions”. A “J mission” was one that permitted a longer stay on the Moon’s surface to allow more intensive scientific experimentation and exploration.

The Lunar Module (LM) with callsign Falcon stayed three days on the lunar surface and the two astronauts spent a total of 18.5 hours outside their craft over the course of three moonwalks. Apollo 15 also witnessed the first use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, its top speed of 12km/h allowing the crew to foray much further afield from their LM. Simultaneously, the Command/Service Module (CSM) named Endeavour took a number of readings and photographs as it circled the Moon while awaiting the return of the LM.

The latest addition to Dragon’s immensely popular Space Collection is a 1/72 model of the Apollo 15 CSM performing its space mission. The spacecraft has brand new parts, and it’s delivered fully finished and pre-painted so as to be ready for immediate display. A notable visual feature of the model is the distinctive antennas. As well as the steerable S-band high-gain (deep space) antenna for communications with Earth, there is a long HF dipole center-feed antenna. On the original craft, this retractable antenna measured some 80 feet in length. The Yagi seven-element antenna used for VHF communications is also mounted on the CSM. This Apollo 15 model performing its very first “J Mission” will add something special to any collection!