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The ascent stage is where the astronauts ate and slept while on the Moon. It contains all of the electronic equipment necessary for controlling both the decent stage and the ascent stage during decent, ascent, and rendezvous. It also contains all the environmental control and life support systems, the docking apparatus, and the reaction control systems. It too has an engine that was used to launch the astronauts from the lunar surface and into orbit with the awaiting command module. The last act of the lower decent stage was to serve as a launch platform for the ascent stage. The ascent stage is physically smaller than the decent stage. Because the decent stage was left behind on the Moon, weight is shed, and fuel is conserved. The lunar module gives us a good example as to how well John Houbolt lunar rendezvous concept actually worked.
1Apollo 17 LM ascent stage in space. 74k jpg 2 Apollo LM ascent stage diagram. 120k jpg 3 Apollo 11 LM ascent stage approaching CSM. 29k jpg 4 Apollo 17 LM liftoff, ascent stage separation from descent stage. 28k jpg Photo credits: NASA
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