Remembrances of Apollo. Dr. Ralph P. Pass

Transcription

1 Remembrances of Apollo Dr. Ralph P. Pass 1

2 Project Apollo s Birth July 1960 Planning for follow-on to Mercury, including a circumlunar mission Abe Silverstein suggested the name Apollo God of Archery, Prophecy, Poetry, Music, and the Sun Apollo was announced on July 28,

3 Apollo s Ancestors Project Mercury One person capsule In development when Apollo Announced Project Gemini Two person capsule the size of the front seat of a Volkswagen Beetle Planned as a stop gap between Mercury and Apollo 3

4 4

5 Apollo s Mission Changed on 25 May

6 How to do it? 6

7 The Champion for Lunar Orbit Rendezvous John Houbolt 7

8 Launch Vehicle Evolution 8

9 Three Types of Launch Vehicle Saturn I Initial testing Saturn IB Initial manned mission and checkout of spacecraft in Earth Orbit Saturn V The Moon Rocket 9

10 Early Missions Used Saturn I rockets Naming: AS-NMM N is the launch Vehicle (1 = Saturn I, 2 = Saturn IB, 5 = Saturn V) MM is the mission, starting at 01, then 02, 10 Saturn I launches 10

11 Launch Facts No launch failures Four Saturn IB launches before first manned flight Two Saturn V launches before first manned Flight 11

12 Manned Capsules 12

13 Building on Success A - Unmanned Saturn V and Command/Service Module (CSM) development B - Unmanned Lunar Module (LM) development C - Manned CSM evaluation in low Earth orbit D - Manned CSM and LM development in low Earth orbit E - Manned CSM and LM operations, a simulated lunar mission in an elliptical medium Earth orbit C Prime - lunar orbital mission using just the CSM F - Manned CSM and LM operations in lunar orbit G - First manned lunar landing H - precision landings with up to two-day stays on the Moon, with two lunar Extra-Vehicular Activities I - long duration CSM lunar orbital surveys using a Scientific Instrument Module J - longer three-day stays using an Extended LM, with three LEVAs and a Lunar Roving Vehicle 13

14 Manned Apollo Missions Apollo N 1 was to be the first manned flight 7 was the first manned flight 8 was the first manned Saturn V flight and the first flight to the moon, Christmas was the first landing mission 17 was the last landing mission 14

15 Apollo 7 15

16 Apollo 7 Checkout of Command and Service Module (CSM) High Winds from the wrong direction nearly postponed the mission Singularly uneventful except for a headcold 16

17 Apollo 8 First manned Saturn V launch Was to be the checkout of the LM in earth orbit, but the LM was late Crews for 8 and 9 swapped (as did their backup crews) SM for this mission was swapped with the SM for Apollo 13 17

18 Apollo 8 Was to be earth orbit mission, AS-503 Replanned to allow for high altitude mission, AS-503B Replanned to allow for Lunar Mission, AS-503C 18

19 Free Return Orbit 19

20 Apollo 8 20

21 Apollo 8 ` 21

22 Apollo 8 The Picture 22

23 Apollo 8 Only minor problems, but Borman was sick after launch Put a verbal message into the playback stream, delayed playback, delayed review Flight Surgeon pulled the voice link to the spacecraft to talk to Borman (preserving medical privacy) 23

24 Apollo 9 Saturn V Launch to Earth orbit Checkout LM Drop out of launch vehicle computer data One crewman suffered motion sickness which threatened completion of all objectives 24

25 Apollo 9 25

26 Apollo 10 Second trip to moon Checkout LM in lunar orbit Checkout landing abort To prevent a landing, not all descent stage fuel was loaded 26

27 Apollo 10 27

28 Apollo 10 During LM checkout a sudden jerk in the motion of the LM caused Gene Cernan to say a few choice words on the voice link Later he apologized but did say strenuous events sometimes are a cause for strong language 28

29 Apollo 11 First lunar landing Long on landing, into a rock field Required more fuel to adjust landing spot 29

30 Apollo 11 The crew was the backup for Borman, Lovell, Anders When Apollo 8 and 9 swapped, this crew became the first landing mission Computer overload warning problem almost caused an Lunar landing abort decision 30

31 Apollo 11 31

32 Apollo 11 32

33 Apollo 11 33

34 Apollo 11 34

35 Apollo 12 Took off in a thunderstorm and was struck by lightning The command module did not know where it was for a while 35

36 Apollo 12 Goal was a precision landing near a Surveyor spacecraft It landed exactly where it was to land 36

37 Apollo 12 37

38 Apollo 13 There is 'superstition' among astronauts that each mission has a problem During the second stage burn, one of the five engines shutdown. Software on the launch vehicle handled this and got the spacecraft into earth orbit. The feeling was that the 'problem' for the mission was over. 38

39 Apollo 13 A successful failure Oxygen tank failure in the SM Use of LM as a lifeboat (Survival Craft) Its SM was originally on the Apollo 8 mission Required creativity and luck to get the astronauts home 39

40 Apollo 13 Early missions were free return missions (if nothing happens the spacecraft would look around the moon in a figure 8 and back to Earth for landing) The problem happened just after Apollo 13 got off its free return trajectory 40

41 Apollo 13 41

42 Apollo 13 One key to success was a change made after the Apollo 1 fire 42

43 Apollo 14 Only astronaut from original seven to land on the moon (Shepard) Problems with an abort sensor and the altitude radar The golf swing (six iron) First carting tool (rickshaw) Went to Apollo 13 s landing site 43

44 Apollo 14 44

45 Apollo 15 Hadley Rille Near Mountains First powered lunar surface vehicle EVA 200,000 miles from Earth to get film from SM 'Genesis' Rock, 4.1 BYR old Confirmation of Galileo s results 45

46 46

47 Apollo 15 47

48 48

49 Apollo 16 49

50 Apollo 16 50

51 Apollo 17 First and only geologist go to the moon (Harrison Schmidt) Orange soil Only night Apollo launch 51

52 Apollo 17 52

53 Apollo 17 53

54 Apollo 17 54

55 Apollo 17 55

56 What did we learn? Craters are impact and not volcanic Understand chemistry of the Moon (and it is different than that of the Earth) Found the Genesis Rock Data to create a theory for how the Moon was created (and how the Earth became so dense) 56

57 Apollo, the Epilogue Skylab and three manned missions Apollo-Soyuz, the first international linkup in space 57

58 The Apollo Controversy Did we really land on the moon? 58

59 The Apollo Controversy Did we really land on the moon? Yes! 59

60 60

61 LRO Images 61

62 LRO Images 62

63 LRO Images b 63