Remembrances of Apollo Dr. Ralph P. Pass 1
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, 1960 2
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
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Apollo s Mission Changed on 25 May 1961 5
How to do it? 6
The Champion for Lunar Orbit Rendezvous John Houbolt 7
Launch Vehicle Evolution 8
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
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
Launch Facts No launch failures Four Saturn IB launches before first manned flight Two Saturn V launches before first manned Flight 11
Manned Capsules 12
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
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 1968 11 was the first landing mission 17 was the last landing mission 14
Apollo 7 15
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
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
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
Free Return Orbit 19
Apollo 8 20
Apollo 8 ` 21
Apollo 8 The Picture 22
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
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
Apollo 9 25
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
Apollo 10 27
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
Apollo 11 First lunar landing Long on landing, into a rock field Required more fuel to adjust landing spot 29
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
Apollo 11 31
Apollo 11 32
Apollo 11 33
Apollo 11 34
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
Apollo 12 Goal was a precision landing near a Surveyor spacecraft It landed exactly where it was to land 36
Apollo 12 37
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
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
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
Apollo 13 41
Apollo 13 One key to success was a change made after the Apollo 1 fire 42
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
Apollo 14 44
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
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Apollo 15 47
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Apollo 16 49
Apollo 16 50
Apollo 17 First and only geologist go to the moon (Harrison Schmidt) Orange soil Only night Apollo launch 51
Apollo 17 52
Apollo 17 53
Apollo 17 54
Apollo 17 55
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
Apollo, the Epilogue Skylab and three manned missions Apollo-Soyuz, the first international linkup in space 57
The Apollo Controversy Did we really land on the moon? 58
The Apollo Controversy Did we really land on the moon? Yes! 59
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LRO Images 61
LRO Images 62
LRO Images b 63