OK, sorry for the awful pun. But for years I had never seen the docking mechanism between the Apollo Command Module and Lunar Module. Now, thanks to my friends at the Kansas Cosmosphere, I know what it looks like! To the left is the CM, to the right, the LM. As with most things Apollo it's not simple, but it got the job done, and with only the rare hitch. One exception was during the flight of Apollo 14, when it took six tries to dock with the LM still nestled in the SIVB stage. Stu Roosa, CM pilot, made increasingly aggressive docking attempts, but the latches would not lock. He also had to be cognizant of how delicate the LM was- the machine was lightly constructed, and too much thrust during docking could crush the ascent stage like a discarded Coke can. Fortunately for all. on the sixth try the latches fired, and the two spacecraft were off to the moon.
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