trying to find a list of faults with missions

[drewid]

I know someone did a list of the various mechanical (and other) problems that developed on the missions and had to be flown around. I can't find it though.

[Bob B.]

I could use that information as well for this project that I'm currently working on. I want to include a slide pointing out that there were problems along the way and not everything went perfectly.

[theteacher]

Jan 18, 2011 16:53:18 GMT -4 Bob B. said:

I could use that information as well for this project that I'm currently working on. I want to include a slide pointing out that there were problems along the way and not everything went perfectly.

I think that is a very important point to stress regarding the scope of your project. HBs repeatedly claim that the missions were flawless, which in itself is supposed to be suspicious.

It's kind of parallel to the claims about the photos. They are claimed to be so perfect, but in fact the majority of them are bad or redundant or just uninteresting to the average person. That's worth pointing out too I think.

[Bob B.]

Some of the problems I can think off the top of my head were:

• Apollo 11 – Computer program alarm; broken ascent engine circuit breaker.
• Apollo 12 – Lightning strike; TV camera tube burned out.
• Apollo 13 – Too many to list.
• Apollo 14 – Stubborn docking probe latch; faulty LM abort switch.
• Apollo 15 – Faulty front steering on LRV; core drilling problems.
• Apollo 16 – Faulty SPS gimbal; heat flow experiment cable pulled loose.
• Apollo 17 – Damaged LRV fender.

[laurel]

Apollo 17's launch was delayed because of a problem with the Saturn V, does that count?

[PhantomWolf]

This is the list that I can think off off the top of my head, there are likely ones I have missed, or haven't come across yet..


Apollo 7

• Crew got colds/space sickness
  
• SLA Panel failed to unfold properly after CSM undocking
  

Apollo 8

• Lovell got the flu
  

Apollo 9

• Rusty got spacesick resulting in a cut back EVA
  
• LM engine stuttered at 20% thrust
  

Apollo 10

• LM was docked twisted with fears of the docking mechanism shearing off when undocked
  
• Radar tracking of CSM caused the AGC to try and fly the LM
  through the moon on Abort leading to near gimble-lock
  

Apollo 11

• 1201 and 1202 alarms on landing
  
• Boulder field lead to landing long and low fuel landing
  
• Fuel line froze leading to pressure build up after landing
  
• Broken engine arm curcuit breaker
  

Apollo 12

• Struck by Lightening twice on launch
  
• Burned out TV Camera
  
• RTG expanded due to heat and jammed in canister
  
• Both Hassleblads' triggers broke, one was unfixable
  
• Lost the Hassleblad Timer
  
• Bean forgot to remove DAC from its bracket on landing and was hit by it, knocking him out.
  

Apollo 13

• Fred Haise exposed to Measles
  
• Centre engine on second stage shut down due to pojo
  
• Oxygen Tank 2 Sensor burned out setting itself to a false high off the scale reading
  
• Oxygen Tank 2 exploded crippling CSM
  
• LM's spare LiOH canisters in MESA so CO₂ levels rose to dangerous levels
  
• Blocking out Sunlight caused LM to cool too much
  
• Swigart got kidney infection due to lack of drinking water
  
• Shallow entry caused long radio black out on reentry.
  

Apollo 14

• LM docking failure, took 6 attempts to get it to lock
  
• Loose ball of solder in computer panel shorted out abort button
  

Apollo 15

• LRV steering issues
  
• Fender broken on LRV
  
• LRV camera mount lost vertical movement ability
  
• Final undocking of LM delayed due to Scott's glove having moon dust in it and refusing to lock. New regulations required spacesuits for undocking after the Soyuz 11 accident
  
• RCS system on CM burnt though one parachutte's lines
  

Apollo 16

• Oscillation problem with the CSM secondary gyroscopes delayed landing
  
• Broken Core Temp experiment line
  
• Broken LRV fender
  

Apollo 17

• One of four docking clamps failed to lock into place having to be done manually
  

[chew]

I thought Mattingly was exposed to the Measles and had to be replaced by Swigert?

[LunarOrbit]

Jan 18, 2011 20:42:02 GMT -4 PhantomWolf said:

Apollo 8

• Lovell got the flu
  

I think it was Borman that got sick.

[Bob B.]

Jan 18, 2011 21:43:47 GMT -4 chew said:

I thought Mattingly was exposed to the Measles and had to be replaced by Swigert?

It was Mattingly.

Also, it was Haise who got the kidney infection, not Swigart.

[Bob B.]

We could also add the irregular heart rhythms of Scott and Irwin during Apollo 15.

PW, I see you list LRV fender problem for both Apollo 15 and 16. They may have had fender problems too that I'm unaware of, but the fender problem that is most well know - where it was torn off and had to be repaired with duct tape - I'm pretty sure happened on Apollo 17.

[laurel]

Yes, it was Apollo 17. Gene Cernan had a hammer in his pocket and he was near the LRV and turned around too quickly and ripped a fender right off. And they tried to tape it back on and it didn't stay on, so they built a new one out of unneeded traverse maps and duct tape. John Young helped come up with the idea. Cernan brought the fender back to Earth. I read all this in the ALSJ; I like stories about this kind of low-tech ingenuity for some reason.

Regarding crew sickness on Apollo 8, I think that Borman was the one who had the worst symptoms, but Lost Moon does mention that Lovell also suffered from nausea early in the flight.

[PhantomWolf]

hey I did say "off the top of my head", I'm not Jay

yes, it was 16 and 17 that lost a fender (same one ironically)

The LRVs did experience some minor problems. The rear fender extension on the Apollo 16 LRV was lost during the mission's second EVA (extra-vehicular activity) at station 8 when Young bumped into it while going to assist Duke. The dust thrown up from the wheel covered the crew, the console and the communications equipment. High battery temperatures and resulting high power consumption ensued. No repair attempt was mentioned. The fender extension on the Apollo 17 LRV broke when accidentally bumped by Eugene Cernan with a hammer handle. The crew taped the extension back in place, but due to the dusty surfaces, the tape did not adhere and the extension was lost after about one hour of driving, causing the astronauts to be covered with dust. For the second EVA, a replacement "fender" was made with some EVA maps, duct tape, and a pair of clamps from inside the Lunar Module - nominally intended for the moveable overhead light. This repair was later undone so that the clamps could be brought back inside for launch. The maps were brought back and are now on display at the National Air and Space Museum. The abrasion from the dust is evident on some portions of the makeshift fender.

Forgot the dehydration issue when one of them lost their drinking tube (one of 16's crew?)
Also on 15 the secondary valves on the SPS jammed in the open position which could have lead to an accidental firing if the primary ones had failed or been accidently opened.

[Bob B.]

Jan 18, 2011 23:52:55 GMT -4 PhantomWolf said:

Forgot the dehydration issue when one of them lost their drinking tube (one of 16's crew?)

I think that was Jim Irwin during one of the Apollo 15 EVAs.

Jan 18, 2011 22:44:34 GMT -4 laurel said:

Regarding crew sickness on Apollo 8, I think that Borman was the one who had the worst symptoms, but Lost Moon does mention that Lovell also suffered from nausea early in the flight.

It’s not really known what caused Borman’s illness. Borman believed it was a 24-hour flu bug, while the flight surgeons thought it was either that or possibly a reaction to a sleeping pill. Most people now believe he suffered from a particularly bad case of space adaptation syndrome, which occurs while an astronaut’s vestibular system adapts to weightlessness. This is pretty common as a large percentage of astronauts suffer from it. It’s the same thing that caused Rusty Schweickart’s sickness during Apollo 9. Borman didn’t suffer from it during his Gemini mission because the Gemini capsules were too small to allow the astronauts to move freely around. It wasn’t until Apollo that it became a problem. It’s likely that Lovell’s nausea was the same thing, only a milder case of it.

[chew]

Apollo 13

An error in a checklist caused a delay in starting the first PTC.

The LM S-band system used the same frequency as the S-IVB transponder which interfered with establishing comms with the LM (the LM was to be powered up after the S-IVB crashed into the Moon).

Exiting re-entry black-out 90 seconds past the expected time because the trajectory kept inexplicably shallowing.

[ajv]

All three rovers lost fender extensions. There's a short report on ALSJ - LRV Fender Extensions.pdf.