May 18 1969
From The Space Library
May 18-26: NASA'S Apollo 10 (AS-505), first lunar orbital mission with complete Apollo spacecraft, was successfully launched from KSC Launch Complex 39, Pad B, at 12:49 pm EDT by Saturn V booster. Flight carried three-man crew and CSM -106 and LM -4. Primary objectives were to demonstrate crew, space vehicle, and mission support facilities during manned lunar mission with [{Command Service Module|CSM]] and LM and to evaluate LM performance in cislunar and lunar environment.
Launch events occurred as planned and spacecraft-carrying Astronauts Thomas P. Stafford (commander), John W. Young (CM pilot), and Eugene A. Cernan pilot)-entered initial parking orbit with 118.1-mi (189.9-km) apogee and 114.6-mi (184.4-km) perigee. Checkout followed lunar trajectory insertion; then CSM, code-named Charlie Brown, separated from Saturn V 3rd stage (S-IVB ) and LM, code-named Snoopy. Crew successfully transposed CSM and docked with LM. Excellent quality color TV coverage of docking sequences was transmitted to Goldstone tracking station and seen on worldwide commercial TV. Crew extracted LM from S-IVB and conducted 1st SPS burn. All launch vehicle safing activities were performed as scheduled and successful propellant dump provided impulse to S-IVB for slingshot maneuver to earth-escape velocity.
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On second day, first midcourse maneuver was not required. Crew conducted midcourse maneuver number two, which was so accurate that third and fourth maneuvers were canceled. Five color TV transmissions totaling 72 min and showing excellent views of receding earth and spacecraft were made during translunar coast. Spacecraft entered moon's sphere of influence on fourth day, May 21, at 61:50 GET. Crew conducted first lunar orbit insertion maneuver with 356-sec SPS burn to reduce speed to 5,474 fps and place spacecraft in initial lunar orbit with 196.1-mi (315.5-km) apolune and 68.6-mi (110.4-km) perilune. Second LOI maneuver, 13.9-sec SPS burn, circularized orbit with 70.8-mi (113.9-km) apolune and 67.8-mi (109.1-km) perilune. Crew tracked lunar landmarks and transmitted 29-min color TV of lunar surface. Cernan transferred to LM at 81:55 GET for two hours of housekeeping activities and communications test.
On fifth day Stafford and Cernan entered LM and checked out all systems before firing SM reaction control system thrusters to separate CSM and LM about 30 ft and again for 23-mi separation. LM descent propulsion system burn propelled LM to within 9.6 mi of lunar surface over landing site No. 2. Crew had no difficulty identifying landmarks and Stafford said, "It looks like all you have to do is put your tail wheel down and we're there. .. The craters [around No. 2 landing site] look flat and smooth at the bottom. It should be real easy" for Apollo 11 landing. LM crew took numerous photos of lunar surface and provided continuous commentary on their observations after cameras malfunctioned. Astronauts described volcanoes and light-colored craters that glowed as if lit by radioactive substance.
Crew conducted LM radar test during low-altitude pass which indicated 47,000-ft pericynthian (lowest point in orbit). DPS phasing burn raised apocynthian (orbital high point) to 218.6 mi (351a km) . LM descent stage was jettisoned and RCS separation maneuver and staging were accomplished. Anomaly in automatic abort guidance system caused LM ascent stage to undergo extreme gyrations. By taking over manual control, Stafford reestablished proper attitude. APS insertion maneuver burn at pericynthian established equivalent of standard LM insertion orbit of lunar landing mission (51.8 by 12.9 mi), where LM coasted for one hour. Concentric sequence initiation at apocynthian, constant-delta-height maneuver, and terminal maneuver were con- ducted. LM successfully docked with at 106:33 GET, after eight-hour separation; and LM crew returned to CSM.
On sixth day LM ascent stage was jettisoned; its batteries burned to depletion and it entered solar orbit. Crew made 18 landmark sightings and took extensive stereo and oblique photos of moon. Two scheduled TV periods were deleted because of crew fatigue and crew rested and prepared for return to earth. SPS burn at 137:36 GET injected into transearth trajectory after 61.5 hrs (31 orbits) in lunar orbit. Maneuver was so accurate that two other scheduled midcourse maneuvers were not necessary. During return to earth astronauts made star-lunar landmark sightings, live color TV transmissions, star-earth horizon navigation sightings, and S-band high-gain antenna reflectivity test. Pictures of moon from receding spacecraft were spectacular. Scheduled 10- and 29-min color TV broadcasts of earth, moon, and spacecraft interior were later followed by unscheduled TV transmission, which provided beautiful pictures of earth and brought total color TV broadcasts to 19 transmissions totaling almost six hours.
On eighth day crew prepared for reentry and SM separated from CM on schedule. Parachute deployment and other reentry events occurred as planned. Apollo 10 splashed down in Pacific at 12:52 pm EDT May 26, 3.4 mi from recovery ship U.S.S. Princeton 192 hrs 3 min after launch and precisely on time. Crew was picked up and reached recovery ship at 1:31 pm EDT.
All primary Apollo 10 mission objectives and detailed test objectives were achieved. All launch vehicle and spacecraft systems performed according to plan, with only minor discrepancies, which were corrected. Flight crew performance was outstanding; all three crew members remained in excellent health and their prevailing good spirits were continually evident. Accomplishments included evaluation of LM steer-able antenna at lunar distances; demonstration of lunar landing mission profile; low-level evaluation of lunar visibility; inflight demonstration of profile, color TV camera; testing of landing radar in near-lunar environment; and manned navigational, visual, and photographic evaluation of lunar landing sites 2 and 3, and in addition other possible landing sites in highland areas. Apollo 10 was seventh Apollo mission to date, fourth manned Apollo mission, largest payload ever placed in earth and lunar orbits, and first demonstration of lunar orbit rendezvous. Mission acquired major quantities of photographic training materials for Apollo 11 and subsequent missions and numerous visual observations and photos of scientific significance. First manned Apollo mission, Apollo 7 (Oct; 11-22, 1968) , had achieved all primary objectives and had verified operation of spacecraft for lunar-mission duration. First manned lunar orbital mission, Apollo 8 (Dec. 21-27, 1968) , had proved capability of Apollo spacecraft and hardware to operate out to lunar distances and return through earth's atmosphere at lunar velocity. Apollo 9 (March 3-13, 1969) had proved capability of manned LM to operate in space. Apollo Program was directed by NASA Office of Manned Space Flight; MSC was responsible for Apollo spacecraft development, MSFC for Saturn V launch vehicle, and KSC for launch operations. Tracking and data acquisition was managed by GSFC under overall direction of NASA Office of Tracking and Data Acquisition. (NASA Proj Off; NASA Release 69-68; W Post, 5/19-27/69, Al; Sehlstedt, B Sun, 5/19-27/69, Al; W Star, 5/19-27/69)
May 18: On NBC TV program "Meet the Press" NASA Administrator, Dr. Thomas O. Paine, said there was possibility U.S.S.R. would land men and instruments on all planets before U.S. "The Russians have publicly taken the position that they are extremely interested in landing on the planets, and . one of the popular songs in the Soviet Union right now is a song about little apple trees growing on Mars." NASA felt with Apollo lunar landing "we are really taking a lead in the ability to operate on all other bodies. . . . the technology we are developing is a kind . . . that would be required." If July lunar landing succeeded, "we will have enough hardware for nine additional flights to begin the exploration of the lunar surface. In parallel with that, we see activities in earth orbit which will be the precursors to the eventual emplacement of a large permanent space station, a laboratory in the sky." NASA expected to find "surprising amount" to study on moon. "In fact, we have already radically changed our views of the moon just with the activities we have carried out in preparation for the Apollo landing. For example .. . men are beginning to seriously question whether there may have been water at one time on the surface of the moon. Indeed, whether the large mare areas, the smooth areas . . . may even have been the beds of ancient seas. As we get more and more familiar with the moon we realize how little we know about it. It will take those ten flights and many other trips to the moon before man really begins to understand his twin planet." Dr. Paine said USAF's MOL and NASA orbiting workshop were "two very different projects." NASA's was "longer range program aimed at a very substantial facility which would be really a university campus type of research station in orbit." MOL was "program that is well advanced, and is designed to find out the military applications of space." (Transcript)
On ABC radio-TV program "Issues and Answers," Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird said he did not favor increased military participation in U.S. space program. "We've had very good cooperation between the military and our civilian programs and I think that's the way it should continue." (B Sun, 5/19/69, Al)
Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl had rejected NASA request to install communications equipment aboard his papyrus boat for July hookup between Apollo 11 and Heyerdahl's voyage into the past, his navigator, Norman Baker, said. Also rejected, Baker said, was request to install satellite-controlled navigation system on replica of 4,700-yr-old vessel in which Heyerdahl hoped to reach Mexico from Morocco in four months, to reinforce theory that Egyptian adventurers reached Americas more than 2,500 yrs before Christ. Heyerdahl felt craft could not safely carry 400-lb communications equipment load. He had refused satellite navigation system because Egyptians had managed without navigational aids. (AP, W Post, 5/19/69, A15)
Tass quoted unidentified Soviet space scientist, described as chief designer of automatic interplanetary stations, as saying U.S.S.R. favored manned space flight, but only in earth orbit "so far." It would continue probing planets with automatic apparatus. (Reuters, B Sun, 5/19/69, Al)
Soviet Embassy Second Secretary Oleg M. Sokolov said in Washington, D.C." that U.S.S.R. definitely would display supersonic Tu-144 airliner at 28th Paris Air Show, May 29-June 8. He said aircraft would beat Anglo-French Concorde into operation and plans were under way to set up worldwide logistics support for Tu-144. DOT officials said West would be watching closely to see whether U.S.S.R. could fulfill pledge and, if so, would take good look at Tu-144, which could hurt commercial market for SST if it had worldwide logistics backup. (Bentley, B Sun, 5/19/69, A5)
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