IN THE SPOTLIGHT

sule, its interior about the size of a car, was the main work and living area for the three-man crew. And it was the craft astronaut Michael Collins piloted while his crewmates, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, descended to the moon’s surface in the Lunar Module “Eagle.”

The command module was the only part of the spacecraft to return to Earth, however, and that made it an object of fascination. More than 3 million people saw it and an accompanying moon rock during a tour of U.S. state capitals in 1970 and 1971. Americans often waited hours to get inside a trailer that housed the capsule during its tour. The capsule visited every state and missed only one state capital, visiting Anchorage in Alaska rather than Juneau, before it was transferred to the Smithsonian.

The Apollo 11 capsule is currently being readied for its trip at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Conservators are giving the capsule a full checkup — examining and documenting its condition before it goes on tour. One concern for Smithsonian conservator Lisa Young is the condition of the spacecraft’s heat shield, which was designed to take a beating on its re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere. Layers of the heat shield were designed to burn away when the craft re-entered the atmosphere and what remains will need to be stabilized before the capsule goes traveling.

Visitors who go to see the capsule on tour will also get to see other objects that were used on the lunar mission.

The Apollo 11capsule sits in the restoration hanger at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.