Apollo 50 Countdown: 5...4...3...

"Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare."

After the launch from Cape Kennedy, the three members of the Apollo 11 crew spent the next four days crammed together in the Command Module, the only part of the rocket which would complete the round trip and return to Earth.

The command module had a full volume of 218 cubic feet, although I suspect that some of the space wasn't really accessible to the crew*.  Sources describe this as "the same interior volume as two midsize American cars", but obviously with less opportunity to roll down the window, get out to stretch your legs, or to visit a gas station men's room - which would have been a useful thing, given that the systems used for urination and excretion were messy and unavoidably public.**

In her excellent 2010 book Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, one of the topics addressed by author Mary Roach is the manner in which potential astronauts are observed and tested in regards to their psychological stability.  Looking at the Apollo moon missions reveals the critical nature of these tests. Imagine that you have to spend a week seated on a small couch with two of your co-workers - I'll even let you pick which two - and you all have to keep some part of your body in contact with the couch while you perform every possible physical function for those seven days. And at least one of you probably snores.

- Sid

* If you'd like a better idea of what this was like, the Smithsonian has created a fascinatingly detailed virtual model of the module's interior:

https://3d.si.edu/object/3d/command-module-apollo-11:d8c63e8a-4ebc-11ea-b77f-2e728ce88125

It doesn't look like two midsize cars to me, whether they're American or not.

** The Lunar Excursion Module made no provision at all for the astronauts' basic needs, relying instead on oversized diapers for Armstrong and Aldrin during their 21 hour excursion.  Wearing a set of Depends™ must have diminished their sense of history just a little bit.