As most people know the Apollo 11 spacecraft took astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the Moon in 1969.
For the past 40 years or so the capsule has been displayed in a protective plastic case, within the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, USA. Now the Smithsonian has recently announced plans around 3D scanning Apollo 11 capsule in order to share it more widely with the future generations.
This new digital approach will include making complete 3D scans of the interior and exterior, which will be used to develop a high quality digital tour of the spacecraft. This will allow people to experience the capsule from the comfort of home, and see what it would be like to sit in Armstrong’s command seat.
The digital data captured through the scanning process will also be made available through the museum’s website, enabling modellers to create a detailed scale 3D printable model of the capsule. The data may also be used to create a simulator game from the scans.
It is envisaged that the data will be publically available before the end of this year.