DOES THE COMMAND MODULE return to earth with LEM or does it drop it on the moons orbit?
The command module returns to Earth without the LEM. The LEM is discarded in lunar orbit, before trans-earth injection. This fact became significant during analysis of the Apollo 13 mission. If the close call occurred during the inbound trip, rather than the outbound trip, the LEM wouldn’t have been available to be used as a lifeboat, and the crew would have perished.
