Apollo Pintle Injector Tee

Design

To land on the Moon, the Lunar Module's descent engine had to throttle smoothly from full power down to a gentle hover. TRW solved it with a variable-area pintle injector. Oxidizer (nitrogen tetroxide) flowed down the centre and out past a fixed pintle as a ring of individual sprays. Fuel (Aerozine 50) left the faceplate as a thin cylindrical sheet, and the oxidizer sprays broke it up and mixed with it. A movable sleeve, linked to the flow control valves, changed the size of both openings at the same time, so the mixture stayed right at every thrust setting.

The engine throttled between 10% and 60% of its 10,500 lbf maximum, or ran at full thrust; the range between 65% and 92.5% was avoided to protect the nozzle. On Apollo 13 the same engine pushed the crippled spacecraft back towards Earth. The pintle injector design later went into SpaceX's Merlin engines.

This design shows the engine in half-section, with Detail A drawing out the injector: the fixed pintle, the movable sleeve and the two propellant paths.

Item

A premium tee built for both comfort and longevity. Designed with reinforced shoulder tape to keep seams stable, a ribbed knit collar that holds its shape, and a seamless construction that minimizes fabric waste while giving a refined finish. The smooth, durable cotton base is ideal for high-quality prints and feels great against the skin. Ethically sourced materials ensure every piece meets our standard for responsible production.

Care instructions

- Non-chlorine: bleach as needed
- Do not iron
- Do not dryclean
- Machine wash: cold (max 30C or 90F)
- Tumble dry: low heat