Aug 12 1969
From The Space Library
Click here to listen to the Apollo 11 Post Flight Press Conference
August 12-18: NASA's 951-lb Ats V (ATS-E) Applications Technology Satellite was launched from Ent at 7:01 am EDT by Atlas (SLV-3C) -Centaur booster on mission to conduct carefully instrumented gravity gradient-orientation experiment for basic design information on stabilization and control of long-lived spacecraft in synchronous orbit and to obtain useful data from onboard experiments during first 30 days in orbit. Spacecraft successfully entered elliptical transfer orbit with 26,737.2-mi (43,020.2-km) apogee, 5,297.0-mi (8,522.9-km) perigee, 686.5-min period, and 17.9° inclination. Because of anomaly which required excessive fuel to maintain stable spin condition, apogee-kick motor was fired on first apogee instead of second and spacecraft had to be biased so it would drift from position over India to intended station over area west of Ecuador. Maneuver successfully placed Ats V into near-synchronous orbit with 22,927-mi (36,889.5-km) apogee, 22,221-mi (35,753.6-km) perigee, 1,464.0-min period, 2.7° inclination, and 6.9° per day westward drift. Active nutation control was overpowered by unidentified force that caused spacecraft to go into flat spin, preventing ejection of motor case without possibility of damage to spacecraft. Controllers were investigating alternatives-stopping spacecraft spin, restoring spacecraft to normal spin mode, or minimizing ejection hazard-which could be executed Aug. 25 when spacecraft became visible to Rosman, N.C. ground station. Spacecraft was not in danger thermally or electronically and was expected to become stable and operational after successful ejection of kick motor. Ats V was fifth in series of seven ATS satellites designed to investigate and flight-test technological developments common to number of satellite applications and useful to satellites operating in stationary orbits, conduct carefully instrumented gravity-gradient experiments for basic design information, and flight-test experiments peculiar to orbits of various missions. Ats I (launched Dec. 6, 1966) had exceeded test objectives and was still operating satisfactorily. Ats II (launched April 5, 1967), though judged a failure because of eccentric orbit, had transmitted some useful data before being turned off Oct. 23, 1967. Ats III (launched Nov. 5, 1967) had operated successfully and transmitted color photos of earth. Ats IV (launched Aug. 10, 1968) had remained in parking orbit when Centaur failed to complete second burn and had reentered Oct. 17, 1968. ATS program was managed by GSFC under OSSA direction. (NASA Proj Off)
August 12: Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. and Michael Collins held their first postflight press conference at MSC, narrating 45-min film of mission and answering questions. On meaning of lunar landing, Collins said it was "technical triumph for this country to have said what it was going to do a number of years ago, and then by golly do it. Just like we said we were going to do. Not just .. . purely technical, but also a triumph of the nation's overall determination, will, economy, attention to detail, and a thousand and one other factors that went into it." To Aldrin mission meant "that many other problems perhaps can be solved in the same way by taking a commitment to solve them in long time fashion. I think that we were timely in accepting this mission of going to the moon. It might be timely at this point to think in many other areas of other missions that could be accomplished." Armstrong said moon landing heralded "beginning of a new age." He said moon was "stark and strangely different place, but it looked friendly . . . and proved to be friendly." Astronauts had much less trouble than expected on lunar surface. Primary difficulty was that "there was just far too little time to do the variety of things that we would have liked to have done. . . . We had the problem of the 5 year old boy in a candy store. There are just too many interesting things to do." Armstrong said that during landing they "were concerned about running low on fuel on range extension we did to avoid the boulder field and craters. We used a significant percentage of our fuel margins and we were quite close to our legal limit." On possibility of abort during period they were receiving alarm signals, Aldrin said procedure in preparation simulations had been always to "keep going as long as we could. . . . The computer was continuing to issue guidance . . . and it was continuing to fly the vehicle down in the same way that it was programmed to do. The only thing that was missing . . . is that we did not have some of the displays . . . and we had to make several entries . . . to clear up that area." Armstrong added, "We would have continued the landing so long as the trajectory seemed safe. And landing is possible under these conditions, although with considerably less confidence than you have when you have the information from the ground and the computer in its normal manner available to you." (Transcript)
Leningrad astronomer Nikolay A. Kozyrev called for lunar laboratories over, under, and on moon's surface. Soviet and American space exploration had made scientists "more confident that this is not a dead accumulation of rocks but a space body with a very interesting history whose life also continues today." Lunar research goals were establishment of astronomical instruments on stable platforms in lunar orbit, permanent scientific laboratory on moon, spacecraft launching centers on moon for planetary exploration, and laboratory stations under lunar surface or in natural caves, "to give reliable protection from dangerous radiation and meteorite hits." (UPI, NYT, 8/13/69, 11)
MSFC announced award of $15,455,800 contract modification to Boeing Co. for continued Saturn V systems engineering and integration. Contract covered work from June 1967 through June 1970 and continued effort through 10 Saturn V boosters. (MSFC Release 69-177)
New Jersey State Div. of Clean Air and Water requested order from Superior Court, Newark, asking seven airlines to stop polluting air with jet engine exhaust at Newark Airport. Suit called for modification of existing jet engines with air-pollution-control devices or for switching to new smokeless engines and asked imposition of $2,500 fine. In Washington, Air Transport Assn. spokesman said that "it would be hard to make a case for massive retrofit with the absence of a major health hazard." He said studies had shown that jet engine pollution was only one percent of total problem and was case of "visibility" and "esthetics" rather than health danger. United Airlines spokesman said November 1968 engine modifications to three of airline's Boeing 727s had sharply decreased pollution. (Sullivan, NYT, 8/13/69, 1)
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin editorial: "The public ceremonies honoring the astronauts underscore identity in a larger and much more responsible sense-a feeling of community, rooted in a family and expanding to embrace the nation, perhaps ultimately the world. There are other words for it-awareness of a common purpose, a sense of decency both public and private, a common standard of behavior and a common sense of service and loyalty to country. This is what made Apollo succeed, and this is what the nation is recognizing as the celebration begins today." (P Bull, 8/12/69)
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