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Mission Briefing: Before You Board

You don’t need to arrive knowing Kubernetes. Bring enough terminal familiarity to navigate files and run a command, and the idea that a browser sends a request to a server. We’ll unpack containers, YAML, DNS, storage, and signals when Apollo Airlines gives us a reason to use them.

Each mission begins with a problem: perhaps a booking service disappears, a database loses its data, or a passenger’s request takes too long. Read how the pieces work, then pause and predict what would happen if one of them changed. The labs give you a place to try that prediction. You can also keep reading and come back to the experiments later.

The lab is a chance to compare your prediction with a running system. The story and explanation are there whether or not you run it. (Diagram OR-01.)

📁 The Two Repositories: Textbook vs. Application Code​

To follow this course effectively, understand that two repositories exist:

  1. apollo11-docs (The Textbook): The documentation site you are reading right now. It teaches the concepts, mental models, failure boundaries, and guides the experiments.
  2. Apollo11 (The Application Code & Labs): The GitHub repository containing the complete Apollo Airlines source code, Dockerfiles, Kubernetes manifests, and automated verification scripts.
Hands-On Lab Setup

If you choose the hands-on route, clone the companion Apollo11 repository into your workspace before starting the labs:

git clone https://github.com/darshan-raul/Apollo11.git
cd Apollo11
git checkout 7b693c9bae0a789dc9db8e0628c478fd0dd53e88

Every hands-on lab in this course runs from inside that Apollo11 repository, navigating into stage directories such as stages/launchpad/, stages/ignition/, and stages/stage1/.

Next, read how this course works. It defines the page types, the reading-only and hands-on routes, and what counts as completing a stage. When you are ready for experiments, workstation requirements and tools are detailed in Prepare your launchpad.