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Post by ajv on Aug 1, 2007 1:16:43 GMT -4
There were a number of pre-planned return to Earth points and the crew were sent pre-advisory data to allow a return in the case of an emergency and a loss of communications. The A15 flight journal has some examples. See page 2-15 of the Apollo 15 flight plan. The first was TLI+90 using the SPS timed for 004:19:57ish for a delta-v of 1.506 km/s. LO+8 (timed for 008:00:00) had a delta-v of 1.852 km/s using the SPS in Program 37.
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Post by ajv on May 29, 2007 1:58:16 GMT -4
I think on a wheel spacecraft the luxury of having a real shower and a real flushing toilet would add to the psychological endurment of being in space.
Yeah, but they play Strauss waltzes all they time on the muzak!
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Post by ajv on Nov 30, 2006 1:12:05 GMT -4
MBC? MDC - Main Display Console. It's the large panel in the CM.
BTW: I have Duke's next line as: can't quite tell what program, er, it looks like we're in P00.
The technical Air-To-Ground transcript (as11_tec.pdf) has a few (but not all) of those errors fixed. You might want to compare what you have against that.
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Post by ajv on Sept 7, 2006 20:32:05 GMT -4
The Apollo 15 Flight Journal has some information on PTC. the longitudinal axis of the spacecraft is brought perpendicular to the ecliptic which guarantees that the Sun (which is always in the plane of the ecliptic) will strike the spacecraft side on as it rotates. For the first PTC on A15, the stack was oriented to a pitch of 090, yaw 000 with respect to the "PTC Orientation REFSMMAT". For the first PTC on Apollo 8 it's more complicated. The flight plan gives pitch 331, yaw 331. This was changed by Collins (at 005:39:18) to pitch 242, yaw 020. However, the Flight Journal authors believe at this point the orientation was respect to the launch pad REFSMMAT. From the A8FJ: While compiling the Apollo 8 journal, it has been striking to compare the documentation associated with the mission with Apollo 15, the journal we worked on prior to this. Throughout Apollo 15, the spacecraft's orientation reference, the REFSMMAT, was always explicit, and was changed regularly as the mission progressed. On Apollo 8, these procedures are much more primitive, presumably because of the unknowns and the mission's pioneering nature. Apart from launch, this author (Woods) has seen no definition of the reference they are using for their guidance platform.
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Post by ajv on Aug 7, 2006 7:14:23 GMT -4
They're back in Challenger?The Apollo 17 Lunar Module was named Challenger and at 149:12:03 the crew are back inside after their second EVA. Moon rocks in their pockets........which pockets?Cernan doesn't specify which pocket but I would guess it was probably the large utility pocket on his thigh (see figure 2-1 from the EMU Handbook). Here's a close up photo of the utility pocket on Schmitt's suit. Cernan might also have used one of his shoulder pockets. Here's another photo of Schmitt's suit. Armstrong's suit had a strap on thigh pocket which was used to store the Lunar surface contingency sample. By the way, here's a helpful suggestion from Joe Allen, EVA CapCom on Apollo 15 after that crew was back inside their LM ( Falcon). 127:13:48 Allen: Hadley Base, this is Houston. If you have loose rocks in the cabin and need containers for them, we're suggesting cover bag number 2, or cover bag number 4.
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Post by ajv on Aug 5, 2006 7:34:07 GMT -4
They did not handle lunar material with their bare hands. Rubbish. Here's an example from Apollo 17 at 149:12:03 when they're back in Challenger, gloves off, after EVA 2.
Cernan: Okay, this is Geno. I just dug a rock out of my pocket. No one back there probably remembers, but when we were at Shorty, fumbling around, trying to get everything done, I said there was a piece of very shiny, black, glass-like-looking material that reminded me of obsidian. Well, it's not. It looks like a very fine-grained, gray rock. But, it's a fractured piece; and I've picked up fractures of about three or four vesicle faces on it. The vesicle faces are very shiny and that's what reflected and caught my eye. I think the unique part about it is ... Jack may want to say something else about it ... the unique part about it is that I picked it up (at) Shorty. Undocumented, halfway between the Rover and where we were sampling that orange stuff. And it will be in bag 12 Echo. [...] we will put that rock in that sample bag and put in SCB-8.
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Post by ajv on Mar 15, 2006 3:49:17 GMT -4
How will I recognise you? I'll be the one ranting that Apollo was a hoax!
Er, black tee-shirt, black baseball cap.
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Post by ajv on Mar 15, 2006 0:43:31 GMT -4
I'll be going to the Canberra talk. I'm going to the Canberra talk too.
See you there.
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Post by ajv on Nov 30, 2005 15:23:10 GMT -4
The Mission Transcripts section of the JSC history portal has PDFs of the original transcripts for the Mercury through Apollo missions. For the Apollo missions they generally have the PAO transcription, the technical Air-to-Ground voice transcription and also the transcriptions of the on-board recordings from the DSE(A). The PDFs are BIG though (20-60 meg) and not as easy to read as the ALSJs.
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Post by ajv on Oct 21, 2005 0:30:21 GMT -4
In The Truth Behind the Moon Landings documentary, the location of the EVA camera shutter release is shown as the large button on the lower front of the unit and there is discussion about the ability of a gloved astronaut to operate the shutter. There are some Apollo 11 training photographs (e.g. S69-31108) showing the Aldrin using the camera. However, other Apollo 11 training photographs (e.g. KSC-69PC-362 - July 1969, S69-38508) show Aldrin using a camera with a handle attached to the camera assembly. Did the Apollo 11 EVA camera have the handle? The Technical Debrief suggests it did. Aldrin says: There is no doubt that having the mount frees you to operate with both hands on other tasks. The handle is adequate to perform the job of pointing the camera. Obviously there are no Apollo 11 EVA images of the Hasselblad itself. The sketch on page 10 the Apollo 11 press kit does not show a handle and a 16mm frame AP11FR07 is inconclusive. The low quality web movies of the EVA do not show enough detail but I can imagine that I see the handle or its shadow in the 16mm material. My SpacecraftFilms Apollo 11 DVD is on loan at the moment so I can't check if you can see a handle in the better quality TV or 16mm footage. There is a photograph of the Apollo 11 camera equipment on the LPI site with a handle but that could just be sloppiness by the web author because they use the same image (with different names) on all of their mission pages. In the Apollo 12 ALSJ, at 116:10:25, Eric Jones talks about a trigger on the handle: The checklist calls for Al to mount one of the 70 mm cameras on the bracket on the front of his chest-mounted RCU. This will leave his hands free for other tasks. When he needs to take a picture, all he needs to do is squeeze a trigger on the handle which is also attached to the bracket. On the LPI Apollo 12 Camera Equipment page, it says The operating sequence was initiated by squeezing a trigger mounted on the camera handle. [...] The cameras were bracket-mounted on the front of the LM astronauts' EVA suits. Consider 70-HC-74 and the Aldrin training photograph above. There seems to be a mechanical link between the trigger and the button on the Hasselblad unit. It is also visible in the Apollo 12 EVA AS12-49-7281 ( HR). So, did the Apollo 11 EVA camera have the shutter release trigger on a handle rather than directly on the Hasselblad itself as the documentary suggests?
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Post by ajv on Oct 6, 2005 1:41:27 GMT -4
There's info on Jodrell Bank's tracking of Luna 15 here. The BBC Planets DVD [amazon] has some interviews with the Soviet scientists who were involved and they talk about their disappointment at the loss of the probe and their mixed emotions about the Apollo landing. There is also an interview with a Jodrell Bank scientist about their tracking efforts.
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Post by ajv on Dec 9, 2007 17:08:33 GMT -4
The Saturn 1B used a cluster of five H-1s Eight.
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Post by ajv on Oct 22, 2007 17:06:32 GMT -4
Real shame i cant get them direct from the spacecraft films site but it does not mail to the UK. Their FAQ says they have shipped to the UK. I've had stuff sent to NZ in the past.
But I order through amazon.com now because I can combine the order with other purchases (books etc.).
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Post by ajv on Sept 3, 2007 21:24:18 GMT -4
I can actually hope that someone will get that reference. Sure did. But it was actually Dr. Samuel Gall!
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Post by ajv on Jun 19, 2007 17:00:51 GMT -4
One of the web sites I visit frequently is Pepys' Diary, a daily blog of the diary entries of Samuel Pepys who lived in London in the 1660s. He currently (June 18 1664) works at the Navy office. He visits lots of people and hears lots news and gossip. On 13 July 1660 he wrote ... the King and Dukes there with Madame Palmer, a pretty woman that they have a fancy to, to make her husband a cuckold Barbara Palmer became one of Charles II's mistresses and Charles' kid (an ancestor of Diana) was born "last year".
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