Cut-away illustrations of the Apollo spacecraft Lunar Module (LM). The lunar module consisted of an ascent stage (top of module) and descent stage (bottom of module). The ascent stage contained the crew cabin, life support systems, instrument panels and flight controls. The descent stage housed an engine to control the module's descent, the lunar rover and instruments for surface experiments. It was used as a launchpad by the ascent module and was left on the lunar surface.