command module 
noun
The detachable control compartment of a manned spacecraft.All three stages of the rocket booster plus the command module and the lunar module on top - had less computing capacity combined than today's typical cell phone....
- Only the command module - the very tip of the original Crew Launch Vehicle - will return to Earth beneath a canopy of parachutes.
- On April 13, 1970, three days out from Earth, an oxygen tank exploded in the service module of the spacecraft, disabling the Apollo command module.