Apollo 12 - On the Ocean of Storms

Transcription

1 Apollo 12 - On the Ocean of Storms

2

3 David M. Harland Apollo 12 - On the Ocean of Storms

4 David M. Harland Space Historian Kelvinbridge Glasgow UK SPRINGER-PRAXIS BOOKS IN SPACE EXPLORATION SUBJECT ADVISORY EDITOR: John Mason, M.B.E., B.Sc, M.Sc, Ph.D. ISBN ISBN DOI / Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2011 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA) except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Cover design: Jim Wilkie Typesetting: BookEns, Royston, Herts., UK Printed on acid-free paper Springer is a part of Springer Science+Business Media (

5 Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Acronyms vii xv xvii The Apollo program 5 How Pete missed being 'First Man' 10 Call signs and patch 12 Lunar surface experiments 15 Landing site selection 17 Preparing the space vehicle 30 Crew training Moonbound 79 Countdown 79 Launch day 80 An electrifying ascent 103 Parking orbit 119 Translunar injection 127 Retrieving Intrepid 130 Checking Intrepid 144 Hybrid manoeuvre 155 Intrepid again 161 Into lunar orbit 166 Pinpoint landing 186

6 vi Contents 3. A visit to the Snowman 227 Where are we? 227 EVA preparations 233 First moonwalk 237 Sleeping over 316 Second moonwalk 332 Idle time The voyage home 403 Rendezvous 403 Discarding Intrepid 421 Orbital photography 428 Leaving orbit 437 Science questions 443 Press conference 453 The final leg 463 After splashdown 476 The first 'rock fest' 497 Future prospects 510 Glossary 513 Index 517

7 Illustrations Chapter 1 George Low, Sam Phillips, Joseph Shea and Chris Kraft 9 Pete Conrad and Al Bean 13 Mission patch 14 Clifton C. Williams 14 Surveyors and the 'Apollo zone' of the Moon 19 Target in the Ocean of Storms 20 Detail of previous illustration 21 Detail of previous illustration 22 The crater in which Surveyor 3 landed 23 ALS-7 target ellipse 24 Crescent and Snowman 25 Simulator views of approaching the target 26 Contour map of Surveyor crater 27 ALS-5 target ellipse 28 Moonwalk planning 29 S-IC stage arrives 36 Hoisting the S-IC 37 S-II stage arrives 38 Hoisting the S-II 39 S-IVB stage arrives 40 Stacked S-IC and S-II stages 41 Details of the command and service modules 43 Command module in Downey 44 Preparing the CSM at the Kennedy Space Center 45 CSM complete 46 Details of the lunar module 47 LM stages arrive at the Kennedy Space Center 48 Checking the LM ascent stage 49

8 viii Illustrations The descent stage Preparing the LM Details of the launch vehicle adapter Installing the LM in the adapter Spacecraft ready for stacking Completing the space vehicle stack Rollout seen from the roof of the VAB Rollout seen from beside the crawler Apollo 12 on the pad Launch Control Center KSC 'train wreck' Apollo 12 crew Simulator training One-sixth gravity training Field training with the hand-tool carrier MESA training ALSEP extraction training Hand-tool carrier training Lunar equipment conveyor training Rock sampling training Surveyor activities training Post-splashdown training Science planning October press conference Al Bean shows off the ALSEP Pete Conrad flying the LLTV Chapter 2 Rolling away the mobile service structure Breakfast on launch day Suiting up Walking out to the transfer van Arriving at the pad Al Worden, Guenter Wendt, Jack King and Walter Kapryan Spacecraft ingress Richard Nixon arrives at the Kennedy Space Center Frank Borman and Thomas Paine Skip Chauvin and Paul Donnelly Jim McDivitt Firing Room during the countdown Spiro Agnew in the Launch Control Center Liftoff in the rain Liftoff (continued) Apollo 12 is launched into a dark sky

9 Illustrations Gerry Griffin and Gerry Carr SCE switch Firing Room during the ascent Acceleration loading during the ascent to orbit Ground track to orbital insertion How the vehicle generated lightning Lightning striking the pad after liftoff George Mueller after launch Chris Kraft confers with Gerry Griffin Acceleration loading during translunar injection Flight plan for immediately after injection Post-injection S-IVB sequencing Overview of the Apollo 12 trajectory A view of the S-IVB in space Apollo probe and drogue docking mechanism Earth shortly after translunar injection Ground track for the early translunar coast Pete Frank Clifford Charlesworth Don Lind and Paul Weitz Hybrid manoeuvre Glynn Lunney Window contamination Rules for a failed lunar orbit insertion Flight plan for revolution 1 in lunar orbit How the S-IVB missed its slingshot Flight plan for revolution 2 Flight plan for revolution 3 Ground track in lunar orbit Optical tracking of lunar landmark H-l Details of the liquid-cooled garment Tracking of landmark 193 Yankee Clipper after undocking Flight plan for undocking and separation Intrepid after undocking Landing point designator scale Descent orbit insertion to lunar landing Earthrise Target redesignation sequence Propellant sloshing Lunar module velocity plot ix Ill Chapter 3 Ed Gibson and Jack Schmitt 228

10 x Illustrations Al Chidester Extravehicular mobility unit Pete Conrad exits LM plaque Contingency sampling tool Al Bean at the porch Al Bean descends the ladder Solar wind collector How the television camera was damaged Pete Conrad with the Stars & Stripes Looking down-sun into the zero-phase glare The flag, solar wind collector and television camera Al Bean at the MESA A view of Intrepid from the rim of Surveyor crater Sextant view of the Snowman Pete Conrad using a lanyard at the SEQ bay Detail of the two ALSEP subassemblies Central station subassembly RTG subassembly Offloaded central station subassembly Al Bean with the RTG subassembly Al Bean hinges down the RTG fuel cask RTG cask details Al Bean inserts the dome release tool Al Bean attempts to open the cask Al Bean installs the carrying bar Al Bean carrying the ALSEP Solar wind spectrometer Passive seismometer Central station Pete Conrad working on the ALSEP Lunar surface magnetometer Al Bean and the magnetometer Pete Conrad at the central station The completed central station A general view of the ALSEP site Suprathermal ion detector and cold-cathode ion gauge Al Bean with the SIDE and CCIG Layout of the ALSEP Small mound Large mound A view across the '1,000-foot' crater Pete Conrad at the MESA Core sampling near Intrepid Post-ingress window view

11 Illustrations Hammocks Magnetometer results Wakeup window view Head crater Sampling near Head Trenching light-toned subsurface Triple crater view Filleted boulder near Bench crater Bench crater Sampling near Bench Looking back to Intrepid from near Sharp crater Sharp crater Al Bean at Sharp Trenching the rim of Sharp Coring the floor of the trench Al Bean in the vicinity of Halo crater Pete Conrad with Intrepid in the background Coring in the vicinity of Halo crater Double-length core sample analysis Hasselblad camera mount Pete Conrad sampling Contour map of Surveyor crater Surveyor 3 with Intrepid in the background Approaching Surveyor 3 Surveyor 3 on the slope Nearer Surveyor 3 Surveyor 3's bouncy landing Pete Conrad alongside Surveyor 3 Al Bean and Surveyor 3 Formal objectives for the visit to Surveyor 3 Block crater viewed by Surveyor 3 The same view with Surveyor 3 in the foreground Intrepid and Surveyor 3 seen from Block crater Returning to Intrepid Closeup stereoscopic views of the lunar surface Inferred routes of the moonwalks The Apollo 12 site viewed from orbit 40 years later xi Chapter 4 Seismometer detects hot-fire thruster testing Rendezvous sequence Flight plan for rendezvous MOCR scene shortly prior to docking Post-docking flight plan

12 xii Illustrations Flight plan for jettisoning the ascent stage 425 Seismometer record of LM impact 426 Post-TEI view of the Moon 411 In-flight press conference 456 Solar eclipse 466 An earlier eclipse seen by Surveyor Disposition of the naval recovery force 474 On main parachutes 475 Spacecraft apex-down 479 Dropping swimmers 480 Attaching the flotation collar 481 Egress into rafts 482 Astronauts in a raft 483 Hoisting Al Bean into the Recovery helicopter 484 Entering the Mobile Quarantine Facility 485 At the MQF window 486 Recovering the spacecraft 487 Family welcome home 490 Rocks in a sample return container 491 Pete Conrad inspects rocks 492 Surveyor 3's television camera 493 The scoop from Surveyor Apollo 12 crew at KSC 495 Pete Conrad speaking 496 Harold Urey, Gene Shoemaker and Gerard Kuiper 498 A cross-section of the Apollo 12 landing site 499 Where the samples were collected 501 Rock

13 Author's preface In July 1969 Apollo 11 successfully achieved the first manned lunar landing. A few months later Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Al Bean set off to attempt an even more challenging mission. Free of the 'burden of history', these three close friends were determined to have fun. This is the story of their mission. In addition to the official documents issued prior to and after the mission, I have drawn on the flight transcript and debriefing to recreate the drama. I have edited quotations for clarity, for brevity, and to eliminate the intermingling of spontaneous conversation, but have endeavoured to preserve the sense of the moment. Apollo 12 dramatically showed how conservative Apollo 11 had been. Of course, the rationale for selecting a bland target for the first landing was fully justified, but just imagine if Neil Armstrong had set Eagle down amongst a cluster of craters and he and Buzz Aldrin had walked over to an earlier unmanned lander and snipped off its camera! With its 31.5 hours on the lunar surface, double moonwalk, deployment of geophysical instruments and geological traverse, Apollo 12 undertook what many people had hoped would be attempted by the first landing crew. It set the scene for a program of scientific lunar exploration. Apollo 12 - On the Ocean of Storms supplements my earlier The First Men on the Moon - The Story of Apollo 11 in a series of books devoted to the lunar missions. David M. Harland Kelvinbridge, Glasgow August 2010

14 To Eric M. Jones without whose generous assistance this book could not have been written.

15 Acknowledgements I must thank, in no particular order, Mike Gentry, Glen Swanson, Marc Rayman, W.D. Woods, Philip J. Stooke, Roland Suhr, Ken MacTaggart, Frank O'Brien, Dave Scott, Eric Jones, Alan Bean, Hamish Lindsay, Lennie Waugh, Richard Orloff, Ken Glover, Ulrich Lotzmann, Ed Hengeveld, Kipp Teague, J.L. Pickering, Frederic Artner, Sy Liebergot, Andrew Chaikin, Mark Gray, Chris Gamble and contributors to the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal not already mentioned. And, of course, Clive Horwood of Praxis.

16

17 Acronyms 8-ball AC AGC AGS ALS ALSCC ALSEP AOT APS ASA Capcom CCGE CCIG CDR CM CMC CMP COAS CSM DAP db DC DOI DPS DSN EASEP ECS EECOM ELS EMS EMU see FDAI alternating current Apollo Guidance Computer Abort Guidance System Apollo Landing Site Apollo Lunar Surface Closeup Camera Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package Alignment Optical Telescope Ascent Propulsion System Abort Sensor Assembly Capsule communicator in the MOCR Cold-Cathode Gauge Experiment (a.k.a CCIG) Cold-Cathode Ion Gauge Commander Command Module CM Computer CM Pilot Crew Optical Alignment Sight Command and Service Modules Digital Autopilot decibel direct current Descent Orbit Insertion Descent Propulsion System Deep Space Network Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package Environmental Control System Electrical, Environmental and Communications Earth Landing System Entry Monitor System EVA Mobility Unit

18 xviii Acronyms ETB EVA F-l FDAI GET GDC GNC Hasselblad HF HTC IFR IMU IU 3-2 KSC LCC LCG LEC LGC LLTV LM LMP LOI LPD LRL LSM LUT Maurer MCC MESA MLP MOCR MQF MSC MSFN MSS NASA Omega OPS Orb Rate ORDEAL PAD PDI PGA PGNS Equipment Transfer Bag Extravehicular Activity kerosene-burning engine of the S-IC Flight Director Attitude Indicator (a.k.a the 8-ball) Ground Elapsed Time Gyro Display Coupler Guidance, Navigation and Control a 70-mm still camera High Frequency radio Hand Tool Carrier Instrument Flight Rules Inertial Measurement Unit Instrument Unit of the Saturn launch vehicle family hydrogen-burning engine of the S-II and S-IVB Kennedy Space Center Launch Control Center Liquid-Cooled Garment Lunar Equipment Conveyor LM Guidance Computer Lunar Landing Training Vehicle Lunar Module LM Pilot Lunar Orbit Insertion Landing Point Designator Lunar Receiving Laboratory Lunar Surface Magnetometer Launch Umbilical Tower a 16-mm movie camera Midcourse Correction Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly Mobile Launch Platform Mission Operations Control Room Mobile Quarantine Facility Manned Spacecraft Center Manned Space Flight Network Mobile Service Structure National Aeronautics and Space Administration a chronometer Oxygen Purge System Orbital Rate Orbital Rate Drive Earth and Lunar Pre-advisory Data Powered Descent Initiation Pressure Garment Assembly Primary Guidance and Navigation System

19 Acronyms xix PLSS PSE psi PTC PTT RCS RCU REFSMMAT rock box RTG S-band S-IB S-IC S-II S-IVB SCE SCS SEQ SIDE SLA SM SPS SRC SWC sws TEI TLI VAB VAC V DC VHF Vox Portable Life Support System Passive Seismic Experiment pounds per square inch Passive Thermal Control Push To Talk Reaction Control System Remote Control Unit Reference to Stable Member Matrix see SRC Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator A high capacity radio link First stage of the Saturn IB launch vehicle First stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle Second stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle Second stage of the Saturn IB or third stage of the Saturn V Signal Conditioning Equipment Stabilisation and Control System Scientific Equipment Suprathermal Ion Detector Experiment Spacecraft/LM Adapter Service Module Service Propulsion System Sample Return Container Solar Wind Collector Solar Wind Spectrometer Transearth Injection Translunar Injection Vehicle Assembly Building Volts AC Volts DC Very High Frequency radio Voice activated transmission

20