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lunar lifeboat

lunar lifeboat noun: in the US Apollo moon program, a lunar module repurposed as a makeshift shelter for an astronaut crew returning to earth after a mishap necessitating cancellation of a moon landing; the emergency procedure of using the lunar module in this manner.

Noun

lunar lifeboat (plural lunar lifeboats)

  1. In the US Apollo moon program, a lunar module repurposed as a makeshift shelter for an astronaut crew returning to earth after a mishap necessitating cancellation of a moon landing; the emergency procedure of using the lunar module in this manner.
    • At 141 hours and 30 minutes, the Lunar Module, Aquarius, after successfully fulfilling its contingency role as a Lunar Lifeboat, was jettisoned in preparation for the final plunge into the Earth's atmosphere.1970, Jim Lovell, "The Flight of Apollo 13—A Successful Failure," Society of Experimental Test Pilots Technical Review, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 130 (Google search result) (retrieved 30 July 2015)
    • As the "lunar lifeboat" neared the Earth, the hard problem loomed of how to separate the vehicles before they entered the atmosphere.1970 Sept., Steven Morris, "How Blacks View Mankind's “GIANT STEP”," Ebony, p. 35 (Google preview) (retrieved 30 July 2015)

Synonyms of lunar lifeboat

Forms of lunar lifeboat

plurallunar lifeboats

Questions about lunar lifeboat

What does lunar lifeboat mean?
Lunar lifeboat means in the US Apollo moon program, a lunar module repurposed as a makeshift shelter for an astronaut crew returning to earth after a mishap necessitating cancellation of a moon landing; the emergency procedure of using the lunar module in this manner.
What part of speech is lunar lifeboat?
Lunar lifeboat is a noun.
What is the plural of lunar lifeboat?
The plural of lunar lifeboat is lunar lifeboats.

Words near lunar lifeboat in the dictionary

  1. lunar eclipse
  2. lunar eclipses
  3. lunar hay fever
  4. lunar letter
  5. lunar letters
  6. lunar lifeboat
  7. lunar lifeboats
  8. lunar mansion
  9. lunar mansions
  10. lunar module
  11. lunar modules

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lunar lifeboat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-lunar lifeboat.wav.

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