Page 5 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book. To close the book, close the tab.

Aphelion
(See: Apse.) Apoapsis
(See: Apse.) Apogee
(See: Apse.)
Apollo group
A group of small asteroids, less than 5km across, that cross the Earth’s orbit.
 Apollo project—Footprint on the Moon.
 Apollo project—Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the Moon.
Apse, apsis
Apollo project
The name of the NASA program that landed people on the Moon. The space vehicle designed to orbit the Moon was called Apollo, and it was launched by a Saturn
V rocket. Apollo was manned by three astronauts. Once in orbit,
the lunar module, containing two of the astronauts, detached itself from the Apollo spacecraft and powered its way to the surface of the Moon. The first person to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969, was Neil Armstrong, whose quote, as he stepped onto the lunar surface, was “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The Apollo spacecraft was also used to take crews to the Skylab space station and to join with the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Apse, apsis
Most orbiting bodies in the Universe follow elliptical (oval) orbits. An apse is the point either nearest or farthest from the focus (center) of the orbit. The line of apsides joins the two farthest points. It forms the major axis.
The point nearest the focus
is the periapsis, and the point farthest from it is the apoapsis. In the case of the Sun the periapsis
is called the perihelion, and the apsis is called the aphelion. For bodies in orbit around the Earth the words perigee and apogee are used. For bodies in orbit around Jupiter perijove and apojove are used, and for bodies orbiting a star other than the Sun periastron and apastron are used.
5