| This is a High Definition 3D model of the Main Ringsail and Pilot Parachute most famously used in triplicate on the Apollo missions during splashdown. Earlier Mercury and Gemini missions also used solo versions of these parachutes. Developed by Northrop-Ventura, these parachutes were deployed at 10,000 feet to reduce the speed of the falling spacecraft from 175 miles per hour to 22 mph upon impact with the water. The main parachute initially opens in a balloon-like (reefed) state, before line cutters allow the canopy to disreef in 2 stages to full inflation. The Apollo version has a diameter of 83.5ft, Gemini diameter is 84.2ft, Mercury is 63ft. The upcoming Constellation/Orion spacecraft is planned to use a 116ft diameter version. This model comes with simple red and white mapped materials which can be changed to other colours should users wish to use this as a general purpose parachute for civilian or military model applications. The LightWave version of this model has preset morph targets for parachute deployment. Please download the attached video preview file to see this in action. For customers using other 3D applications, they can download the free LightWave Discovery version to view the LightWave Scene morph setup and apply it to their preferred 3D package. Modeled with Lightwave 9.0 | 
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