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“Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” 

The fortieth anniversary of the 1969 moon landing will identify once again that with sheer grit and determination, that what seems impossible to man, is indeed very possible ! It was not so much July 21st 1969 that caused us all to remember that unforgettable day, but perhaps rather the ten year quest by many who believed that they could. “Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin will always be remembered as the first human beings to walk on the Lunar surface, however Michael Collins was the very first Astronaut to ensure that they safely made it home”

A few years previous Russian Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first man to walk in space. His historic spacewalk  took him outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes on March 18 1965. Leonov was only connected to the craft by a five-foot tether, and nearly lost his life because at the end of his spacewalk his spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space so much that he could not re-enter the airlock. Probably it was only the training he would have been given by the many ground crew staff over a pro-longed period of time that enabled him to think quick, and to save his own life!

On the 21st of August 1965 Gordon Cooper flew as Command Pilot of Gemini 5 on an eight day mission with Pete Conrad. They achieved as Astronauts a new space endurance record by travelling a distance of 3,312,993 miles (5,331,745 km) in 190 hours and 56 minutes. This was particularly signficant as it proved that it was possible to endure a flight to the Moon and back. Whilst many were wondering when President Kennedy’s goal and prediction of getting a man on the surface of the Moon by the end of the sixties decade would become a reality, a vast array of people were preparing vital missions to ensure that it would.

Over a fifty year period we have been able to enjoy what was once the impossible dream with the likes of remarkable men and women putting their lives at high risk for the benefit of the advancement of many technologies. Men like Yuri Gagarin (first human in space), Alan Shepherd, first American to push further space travel, Valentina Tershkova, first Cosmonaut lady to experience space travel.  John Glenn (Mercury Missions) who flew the first U.S. orbital mission aboard Friendship 7 in February 1962. Apollo 10, and Gemini 6 and 9 Astronaut Tom Stafford who in December 1965 piloted Gemini 6 during the first rendezvous in space, and also helped in the development of techniques to prove rendezvous practicalities.

And what of the many people who lost their lives in this remarkable quest to the Lunar surface ?  Brave Astronauts such as Virgil Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee who all died together in tragic circumstances through a flash fire inside a  capsule being tested in 1967 for project  Apollo 1. Through this tragic event NASA learnt much concerning safety and precautions that would now be required even more so if the likes of Armstrong Collins and Aldrin were to make it to the Moon and back. Two other well known incidents around the Russian space programs ( Soyuz 1 and 11) happened in 1967 and 1971 causing the loss of lives of four Cosmonauts as they attempted re-entry on their return to Earth.

Perhaps then we should reflect on just how Astronauts of that era  would have felt at that tragic moment in time ? Whilst also remembering the brave men and women who died on future space travel missions such as the Space Shuttle. Their reliance on technical crews , back up crews and of course each other must give incredible security to their dreams, so when tragic technical incidents do happen, how much more brave are those who still choose to follow their Astronaut careers?

This leads me on to say that in stark reality I guess there were never ever only twelve men who walked on the surface of the Moon from 1969 to 1972, but rather thousands of men and women who took hold of “The Vision” with them also. One of the reasons I am writing this is that nearly every conversation I have concerning the validity of men walking on the Moon results in negative disbelief by the public that it never actually took place for real ? Whilst I admit that I have never ever spoken to a single Astronaut in my entire life to date, I have at the very least looked at over 50 years of evidence to realise these remarkable people gave us their very all, for some of them this would be their very lives ! 

Whether we choose to believe that Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin made it to the Moon or not ? and I do ! At the very least we must recognise a magnificent decade of unsurpassed achievements that still stretch peoples imaginations and visions today. Their legacy has inspired many many space travel success stories, including: Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), Skylab, Space Shuttle, MIR Space station, and Brian Binnie for Spaceship One.

Gary Royston Cole (May 2009)

 APOLLO MISSIONS 

 

 APOLLO 1

  

Dates: 27 th January 1967

Crew…Roger Chafee, Ed White and Virgil ‘Gus’ Grissom

Mission: Was to be the first test run for the Apollo missions. Tradegy struck after earlier complaints by the Astronauts when a flash fire caused utter devastation inside the capsule which unfortunately was being tested by all three Astronauts. Gus Grissom was apparently eamarked to command Apollo 11 the first Lunar landing. NASA had to re-think their  safety program , and was in due course re-structured into more of what we still see today.

APOLLO 7

 

Dates: October 11th -October 22nd 1968

Crew:     Walter Schirra Jr……………Commander , 
               R. Walter Cunningham…….Lunar Module Pilot
               Donn F. Eisele……………….Command Module Pilot

 Support crew

• Ronald E. Evans
• Edward G. Givens Jnr
• John L. Swigert, Jr
• William R. Pogue

Flight Directors

• Glynn Lunney (Lead)…
• Black Team Gene Kranz…
• White Team Gerry Griffin…Gold Team

  Pad 34 (8) Saturn-1B AS-205 () CSM-101 () 1st Block II CSM 1st Manned CSM mission 1st 3 man American crew 1st Live TV downlink

Mission Purpose : The mission purpose for the Apollo 7 engineering test flight since the tradegy of Apollo 1 was to demonstrate command and service module, or CSM, and crew performance;  and to demonstrate crew, space vehicle and mission support facilities performance during a crewed CSM mission; and demonstrate CSM rendezvous capability.

The Apollo vehicle and the CSM performed extremely well for almost 11 days which is actually longer than a journey to the moon and back. Though the crew complained about noisy fans in the environmental circuits the cabin remained comfortable despite the lack of overall space. The flight caused three of the five spacecraft windows to fog because of improperly cured sealant compound, a condition that could not be fixed until Apollo 9. The visibility attained from the spacecraft windows ranged from poor to good during the mission. Navigational sighting with a telescope and a sextant was at times difficult. Sometimes they had to wait several minutes for the frozen particles to disperse. Eisele reported that unless he could see at least 40 or 50 stars at a time he found it hard to decide what part of the sky he was looking toward. One of the most common questions asked about these missions is toilet procedures: It was reported that the crew had a total of only 12 defecations during a period of nearly 11 days. Urination was much easier, as the crew did not have to remove clothing, which must have proved difficult.There was a collection service for both the pressure suits and the in-flight coveralls. Both devices could be attached to the urine dump hose and emptied into space. Overall a successful mission with no serious complications, and various feedback on what could be improved.

APOLLO 8

 

 Pad 39-A (3)  Saturn-V AS-503 (3)  High Bay 1  MLP 1  Firing Room 1 

 Dates: December 21st- December 27th 1968

Crew:    Frank Borman…………Commander 
             William A. Anders……Lunar.. Module Pilot
             James A. Lovell Jr…..Command Module Pilot

• Back Up Crew
• Neil Armstrong :   Commander
   
• Fred W. Haise Jr.  Lunar Module Pilot
  
• Edwin E. Aldrin Jr:Command Module Pilot

Flight Directors:

• Cliff Charlesworth (Green Team), launch and EVA
•  Glyn Lunnet(Black team)
•  Milton Windler (Maroon team)

Mission Purpose: The mission purpose for Apollo 8 included a coordinated performance of the crew, the command and service module, or CSM, and the support facilities. The mission had to demonstrate translunar injection;( this is a propulsive maneuver used to set a spacecraft on a trajectory which will arrive at the Moon). CSM navigation, communications and midcourse corrections; consumable assessment; and passive thermal control. The detailed test objectives were to refine the systems and procedures relating to future lunar operations. The first midcourse correction occured at about 10 hours, 55 minutes into the mission and provided a first check on the service propulsion system, or SPS, engine prior to committing spacecraft to lunar orbit insertion.

There was a loss of signal after 68 hours, 58 minutes, 45 seconds when Apollo 8 passed behind the moon. At that moment, NASA’s three astronauts became the first humans to see the moon’s far side, no doubt an amazing sight. During the 20-hour period in lunar orbit, the crew conducted a full, sleepless schedule of tasks including landmark and landing site tracking, vertical stereo photography, stereo navigation photography and sextant navigation.  This was a very full mission to  determine future landing places and procedures for Apollo 11. 10 Lunar orbits achieved and six telecasts were conducted during the mission: two during translunar coast, two during lunar orbit and two during trans-Earth coast. These (if you are old enough to remember) were telecast worldwide and in real time to all five continents. During a telecast on Christmas Eve, the crew read verses from the first chapter of Genesis and wished viewers, “Good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you — all of you on the good Earth.” All of the telecasts were of excellent quality and voice communications also were exceptionally good throughout the mission. An incredible achievement by all those involved in the pioneering work of comminication, without those early pioneers we may well have not got to the Moon at all. For re-entry the velocity was 24,696 mph, with heatshield temperatures reaching and incredible 5,000 degrees F. Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 10:51 a.m. EST Dec. 27. The splashdown was about 5,100 yards from the recovery ship USS Yorktown, 147 hours after launch and precisely on time, and incredible achievement considering considering the unchartered teritory the Astronauts had been in.

APOLLO 9

 

Pad 39-A (4)  Saturn-V AS-504 (4)  High Bay 3  MLP 2 Firing Room 2

 Dates: March 3rd-March 13th 1969

 Crew:      James A. McDivitt…………..Commander
                Russell L. Schweickart…….Lunar Module Pilot
                David R. Scott……………….Command Module Pilot

Back up Crew

• Charles Conrad
• Richard Gordon
• Alan Bean

Flight Directors

Gene KrantzWhite team

Gerry GriffinGold team

Pete Frank, Orange team

Mission Purpose:The main objective of Apollo 9 was an Earth-orbital engineering test of the first crewed lunar module, or LM. The main considerations included an overall checkout of launch vehicle and spacecraft systems, the crew, and procedures. This was done by performing an integrated series of flight tasks with the command module, or CM, the service module, or SM, the joined command and service module, or CSM, the LM and S-IVB stage while they were linked in launch or various docked configurations, and while they were flying separate orbital patterns. The LM had to be self sufficient and had to to be tested as a self sufficient spacecraft, which was able to perform active rendezvous and docking maneuvers  for the following Apollo 10 lunar-orbit mission.The flight plan’s top priority was the CSM and LM rendezvous and docking.

This was performed twice as part of the mission.  Other obejectives were the internal crew transfer from the docked CSM to the LM; special tests of the LM’s support systems; crew procedures; and tests of flight equipment and the extravehicular activity, or EVA, mobility unit. The crew also adapted the  LM to support a two-hour EVA, and simulated an LM crew rescue, which would be the only planned EVA from the LM before an actual lunar landing.A complex procedure vital to the success of any Moon landing involved the separation of the CSM from the SLA in Earth orbit and jettison of the SLA’s LM protective panels. Procedures included also  The S-IVB engine  being in a position to restart twice, placing the stage in an Earth-escape trajectory and into solar orbit. This would simulate a translunar injection (this is a propulsive maneuver used to set a spacecraft on a trajectory which will arrive at the Moon) of the stage for Apollo 10 and subsequent lunar missions. Other objectives included the multi-spectral photographic experiment for subsequent crewed spacecraft. The mission objectives were met in full and all the major spacecraft systems were successfully demonstrated. NASA were now left with one final mission (Apollo 10) before embarking on their goal of reaching the lunar surface by the end of the decade as Kennedy had predicted.

APOLLO 10

 

Pad 39-B (1)  Saturn-V AS-505 (5)  1st Launch LC-39B  High Bay 2  MLP 3  Firing Room 3 

Dates: May 18th -May 26th 1969

Crew:      Thomas Stafford……Commander
                Eugene Cernan……..Lunar Module Pilot
                John Young………….Command Module Pilot

Back up Crew

• Gordon Cooper
• Donn Eisele
• Edgar Mitchell

Flight Directors

Glynn Lunney..Black team

Gerry Griffin..Gold team

Milton Widler..Maroon team

Pete Frank ..Orange team

Mission Purpose:  The one before the big one! The Apollo 10 mission included  all aspects of an actual crewed lunar landing, except the landing except the landing itself. It was the  very first flight of a complete crewed Apollo spacecraft to operate around the moon. Objectives included  making a a scheduled eight-hour lunar orbit of the separated lunar module, or LM, and descent very close to the moons surface (nine miles) before ascending for rendezvous and docking with the command and service module, or CSM, in about a 70-mile circular lunar orbit. The crew had to gather important data to be gathered in this landing rehearsal, and also  spaceflight network tracking techniques as well as to check out LM programmed trajectories and radar, and lunar flight control systems.During this flight the LM flew over Landing Site 2 in the Sea of Tranquility.

To give you an idea of the complexities of this mission we know that  the LM landing radar was tested for altitude functioning, providing both “high gate” and “low gate” data. There followed a  a 7.5-second firing of the LM reaction control system, or RCS, thrusters, the descent engine fired in two bursts for 40.1 seconds — at 10 percent and at full throttle — placing the LM into an orbit of 13.7 by 219 miles. On the 14th revolution, it reached a pericynthion (armchair view of the world) of 12.7 miles and was “staged.” The descent stage jettisoned on a second attempt and an uncontrollable gyration of the ascent stage occurred. It was later attributed to an error in a flight-plan checklist, causing an incorrect switch position. There were a total of twelve television transmissions to Earth and NASA reported that all mission objectives were achieved. NASA was now ready to go for the moon in the next 2 months. It is worth mentioning at this point that since the Apollo 1 disaster every subsequent mission beween Apollo 7 and 11 was a success. NASA had proved that its stringent safety methods and technical ground crew were of a standard to achieve the ultimate goal. 

 APOLLO 11 (The first landing on the Moon)
 

   

Pad 39-A (5)  Saturn-V AS-506 (6)  High Bay 1  MLP 1  Firing Room 1 

Dates: July 16th -July 24th 1969

Crew:    Neil Armstrong …………Commander

Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. …..Lunar Module Pilot

  

Michael Collins………..Command Module Pilot

 

Back Up Crew

• James Lovell
• William Anders
• Fred Haise

Flight Directors

• Cliff Charlesworth ..Green Team, launch and EVA 
•  Gene Krantz..White Team, lunar landing
•  Glynn Lunney..Black Team, lunar ascent

 Mission Purpose:  The primary objective of Apollo 11 was to perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.
The Astronauts  were to conduct scientific exploration by the lunar module, or LM, crew; deployment of a television camera to transmit signals to Earth; and deployment of a solar wind composition experiment, seismic experiment package and a Laser Ranging Retroreflector. Whilst on the Lunar surface the two astronauts (Armstrong and Aldrin) were to gather samples of lunar-surface materials for return to Earth. They also had to extensively photograph the lunar terrain, the deployed scientific equipment, the LM spacecraft, and each other, both with still and motion picture cameras. This mission was to be the last  of Apollo to fly a “free-return” trajectory, which would enable, if necessary, a ready abort of the mission when the combined command and service module/lunar module, or CSM/LM, prepared for insertion into lunar orbit.

BLAST OFF

The trajectory would occur by firing the service propulsion subsystem, (SPS), engine so as to merely circle behind the moon and emerge in a trans-Earth return trajectory.NASA describe their incredible journey like this:Two hours, 44 minutes and one-and-a-half revolutions after launch, the S-IVB stage reignited for a second burn of five minutes, 48 seconds, placing Apollo 11 into a translunar orbit. The command and service module, or CSM, Columbia separated from the stage, which included the spacecraft-lunar module adapter, or SLA, containing the lunar module, or LM, Eagle. After transposition and jettisoning of the SLA panels on the S-IVB stage, the CSM docked with the LM. The S-IVB stage separated and injected into heliocentric orbit four hours, 40 minutes into the flight.The first color TV transmission to Earth from Apollo 11 occurred during the translunar coast of the CSM/LM. Later, on July 17, a three-second burn of the SPS was made to perform the second of four scheduled midcourse corrections programmed for the flight. The launch had been so successful that the other three were not needed.On July 18, Armstrong and Aldrin put on their spacesuits and climbed through the docking tunnel from Columbia to Eagle to check out the LM, and to make the second TV transmission.

 DESCENT

On July 19, after Apollo 11 had flown behind the moon out of contact with Earth, came the first lunar orbit insertion maneuver. At about 75 hours, 50 minutes into the flight, a retrograde firing of the SPS for 357.5 seconds placed the spacecraft into an initial, elliptical-lunar orbit of 69 by 190 miles. Later, a second burn of the SPS for 17 seconds placed the docked vehicles into a lunar orbit of 62 by 70.5 miles, which was calculated to change the orbit of the CSM piloted by Collins. The change happened because of lunar-gravity perturbations to the nominal 69 miles required for subsequent LM rendezvous and docking after completion of the lunar landing. Before this second SPS firing, another TV transmission was made, this time from the surface of the moon.On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin entered the LM again, made a final check, and at 100 hours, 12 minutes into the flight, the Eagle undocked and separated from Columbia for visual inspection. At 101 hours, 36 minutes, when the LM was behind the moon on its 13th orbit, the LM descent engine fired for 30 seconds to provide retrograde thrust and commence descent orbit insertion, changing to an orbit of 9 by 67 miles, on a trajectory that was virtually identical to that flown by Apollo 10. At 102 hours, 33 minutes, after Columbia and Eagle had reappeared from behind the moon and when the LM was about 300 miles uprange, powered descent initiation was performed with the descent engine firing for 756.3 seconds. After eight minutes, the LM was at “high gate” about 26,000 feet above the surface and about five miles from the landing site.The descent engine continued to provide braking thrust until about 102 hours, 45 minutes into the mission. Partially piloted manually by Armstrong, the Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility in Site 2 at 0 degrees, 41 minutes, 15 seconds north latitude and 23 degrees, 26 minutes east longitude. This was about four miles downrange from the predicted touchdown point and occurred almost one-and-a-half minutes earlier than scheduled. It included a powered descent that ran a mere nominal 40 seconds longer than preflight planning due to translation maneuvers to avoid a crater during the final phase of landing.

LANDING

Attached to the descent stage was a commemorative plaque signed by President Richard M. Nixon and the three astronauts.The flight plan called for the first EVA to begin after a four-hour rest period, but it was advanced to begin as soon as possible. Nonetheless, it was almost four hours later that Armstrong emerged from the Eagle and deployed the TV camera for the transmission of the event to Earth.

 ONE SMALL STEP

At about 109 hours, 42 minutes after launch, Armstrong stepped onto the moon. About 20 minutes later, Aldrin followed him. The camera was then positioned on a tripod about 30 feet from the LM. Half an hour later, President Nixon spoke by telephone link with the astronauts.Commemorative medallions bearing the names of the three Apollo 1 astronauts who lost their lives in a launch pad fire, and two cosmonauts who also died in accidents, were left on the moon’s surface. A one-and-a-half inch silicon disk, containing micro miniaturized goodwill messages from 73 countries, and the names of congressional and NASA leaders, also stayed behind. During the EVA, in which they both ranged up to 300 feet from the Eagle, Aldrin deployed the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package, or EASEP, experiments, and Armstrong and Aldrin gathered and verbally reported on the lunar surface samples. After Aldrin had spent one hour, 33 minutes on the surface, he re-entered the LM, followed 41 minutes later by Armstrong. The entire EVA phase lasted more than two-and-a-half hours, ending at 111 hours, 39 minutes into the mission.Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21 hours, 36 minutes on the moon’s surface.

 RETURN TO EARTHAND SPLASHDOWN

After a rest period that included seven hours of sleep, the ascent stage engine fired at 124 hours, 22 minutes. It was shut down 435 seconds later when the Eagle reached an initial orbit of 11 by 55 miles above the moon, and when Columbia was on its 25th revolution. As the ascent stage reached apolune at 125 hours, 19 minutes, the reaction control system, or RCS, fired so as to nearly circularize the Eagle orbit at about 56 miles, some 13 miles below and slightly behind Columbia. Subsequent firings of the LM RCS changed the orbit to 57 by 72 miles. Docking with Columbia occurred on the CSM’s 27th revolution at 128 hours, three minutes into the mission. Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the CSM with Collins. Four hours later, the LM jettisoned and remained in lunar orbit.

APOLLO 12

  

Pad 39-A (6)  Saturn-V AS-507 ()  High Bay 3  MLP 2  Firing Room 2 

Dates: November 14th -November 24th 1969

Crew:            Charles Conrad Jr……..  Commander
                      Alan L. Bean……………..Lunar Module Pilot
                      Richard F. Gordon Jr..   Command Module Pilot

Back up Crew

• Dave Scott
• Al Worden
• James Irwin

Flight Directors

Gerry Griffin… Gold team

Pete Frank…….Orange team

Cliff Charlesworth…Green team

Milton Windler..Maroon team

Mission Purpose: The primary mission objectives of the second crewed lunar landing included an extensive series of lunar exploration tasks by the lunar module, or LM, crew, as well as the deployment of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP, which was to be left on the moon’s surface to gather seismic, scientific and engineering data throughout a long period of time. Further objectives included a selenological inspection; surveys and samplings in landing areas; development of techniques for precision-landing capabilities; to evaluate the human capability to work in the lunar environment for a prolonged period of time;  the deployment and retrieval of other scientific experiments; and photography of candidate exploration sites for future missions.

The astronauts also were to retrieve portions of the Surveyor III spacecraft, which had soft-landed on the moon on  April 20, 1967, this happened to be a short distance from the selected landing site of Apollo 12.The flight plan for Apollo 12 was similar to that of Apollo 11, except Apollo 12 was to fly a higher inclination to the lunar equator and leave the free-return trajectory after the second translunar midcourse correction. This first non-free return was designed to allow a daylight launch and a translunar injection above the Pacific Ocean.. Conrad opened Intrepid’s hatch at 115 hours, 10 minutes into the mission to begin the first lunar EVA for the Apollo 12 crew. Conrad spent three hours, 39 minutes outside Intrepid, and Bean logged two hours, 58 minutes on the lurain. Conrad collected lunar surface samples and deployed both the S-band communication antenna and the solar wind experiment. Bean meanwhile was assigned to mount the TV camera on a tripod. Unfirtunately it was inadvertently pointed into the sun and failed to operate function.Throughout this first EVA, Conrad and Bean also took photographs of the experiment equipment, the spacecraft, the lurain and of themselves. Before entering the Intrepid, Bean also took a 16-inch-deep core sample of the lunar surface and was followed back into the LM by Conrad. The first EVA ended at 119 hours, five minutes into the mission.

The crew proceeded to eat recharge their backpacks, preparing for the second EVA the following day. They slept for only an estimated five hours.On Nov. 20th the crew began the second EVA. Conrad left the Intrepid some 131 hours, 28 minutes into the mission. The second EVA included the collecting  70 pounds of rock and dirt samples, the retrieval of 10 to 15 pounds of randomly selected selenological samples. The crew retrieved the TV camera and stored it in the LM for return to Earth. The most important part of this second EVA was a 5,200-foot traverse of the lurain, ranging up to 1,300 feet from Intrepid. Walking northwest to the site of the ALSEP deployment,. NASA reports that Conrad and Bean then turned south to perform a selenological rock survey. They walked around the rim of  Head Crater, walked further south past Bench Crater, west around Sharp Crater, and back east past Bench Crater again, south of Halo Crater. Their journey then took them northeast, entering a 650-foot-wide Surveyor Crater which is where they had to retrieve parts of Surveyor III, which was perched some 150 feet from the edge at the southern quadrant.During the exploration, the astronauts communicated with geologists in Houston, who provided advice about which samples to retrieve. Surveyor was extensively photographed before parts were retrieved.

The 17-pound TV camera was severed from its mount so that extensive studies could be performed on Earth of its gears, motors, optics, metals and lubricants. This was to determine the long-term effects of exposure to the elements. Similarly, the Surveyor’s motorized scoop, and pieces of TV cable, aluminum tubing and glass were gathered. Scientists on Earth were particularly interested in the cable because biological organisms had been trapped within it, and they wanted to know if any had survived.They returned to the spacecraft at 134 hours, 49 minutes into the mission. Approximately six hours later on the same day, after a total of 31.6 hours on the moon, the LM ascent stage fired for about seven minutes, putting Intrepid into an initial orbit of 10 by 54 miles for rendezvous and docking with the Yankee Clipper and Richard Gordon. About three and a half hours later, the rendezvous and docking maneuvers were televised to Earth by Gordon. A heavy schedule of photographing future landing sites on the lunar surface occurred from the CSM. The crew then headed for home.

APOLLO 13

   

Pad 39-A (7)  Saturn-V AS-508 ()  High Bay 1  MLP 3  Firing Room 1

Dates: April 11th- April 17th 1970

Crew:            James A. Lovell Jr……..Commander
                      Fred W. Haise Jr………..Lunar Module Pilot
                      John L. Swigert Jr……..Command Module Pilot

Back Up Crew

• John Young
• Jack Swigert
• Charles Duke

Flight Directors

Gene Kranyz…..White Team

Glyn Lunney…..Black Team

Milt Windle…….Maroon Team

Gerry Griffin….Gold Team

Mission Purpose:  This mission was almost as famous as Apollo11, famed for the most successful failure in as mission control safely brought their men back home after an explosion on board .Apollo 13 was supposed to land in the Fra Mauro area. The Fra Mauro site was reassigned to Apollo 14 in event of this. Swigert had already been replaced by Mattingley who was thought to have the measles, and who was later assigned to Apollo 16 and Space shuttle missions.At 5 1/2 minutes after liftoff, John Swigert, Fred Haise and James Lovell felt a little vibration. Then the center engine of the S-II stage shut down two minutes early. This caused the remaining four engines to burn 34 seconds longer than planned, and the S-IVB third stage had to burn nine seconds longer to put Apollo 13 in orbit. Ground tests before the  launch revealed the possibility of a poorly insulated supercritical helium tank in the lunar module, , so the flight plan was modified to enter the LM three hours early in order to obtain an onboard readout of helium tank pressure. The No. 2 oxygen tank, serial number 10024X-TA0009, had been previously installed in the service module of Apollo 10, but was removed for modification and damaged in the process. Events lead to the tank being fixed, tested at the factory and installed in the Apollo 13 service module and tested again during the Countdown Demonstration Test at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center .

The tanks normally are emptied to about half full. No. 1 behaved all right, but No. 2 dropped to only 92 percent of capacity. Gaseous oxygen at 80 pounds per square inch was applied through the vent line to expel the liquid oxygen, but to no avail. An interim discrepancy report was written, and on March 27, two weeks before launch, detanking operations resumed. No. 1 again emptied normally, but No. 2 did not. After a conference with contractor and NASA personnel, the test director decided to “boil off” the remaining oxygen in No. 2 by using the electrical heater within the tank. . Due to an oversight in replacing an underrated component during a design modification, this turned out to severely damage the internal heating elements of the tank.  On board Apollo 13 the TV broadcast showing how comfortably they lived and worked in weightlessness,

Lovell commented, ”This is the crew of Apollo 13 wishing everybody there a nice evening, and we’re just about ready to close out our inspection of Aquarius and get back for a pleasant evening in Odyssey. Good night.” A good night never happened as nine minutes later, oxygen tank No. 2 blew up, causing the No. 1 tank to also fail. The command module’s normal supply of electricity, light and water was lost, and they were about 200,000 miles from Earth. At 9:08 p.m. April 13. Swigert saw a warning light that accompanied the bang and said the infamous, “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” Next, the warning lights indicated the loss of two of three fuel cells, which were the spacecraft’s prime source of electricity. With warning lights blinking, one oxygen tank appeared to be completely empty and there were indications that the oxygen in the second tank was rapidly depleting.Thirteen minutes after the explosion, Lovell just happened to look out of the left-hand window and saw the final evidence pointing toward potential catastrophe.

“We are venting something out into the… into space,” he reported to Houston. Capcom Jack Lousma replied, “Roger, we copy you venting.” Lovell said, “It’s a gas of some sort.” It was oxygen gas escaping at a high rate from the second, and last, oxygen tank. It is reported that the first thing the crew did, even before discovering the oxygen leak, was try to close the hatch between the CM and the LM. The pressure in the No. 1 oxygen tank continued to drift downward; passing 300 pounds per square inch, then headed toward 200 pounds per square inch. When the pressure reached 200 pounds per square inch, the crew and ground controllers knew they would lose all oxygen, which meant that the last fuel cell also would die.Ground controllers in Houston faced a formidable task.

Completely new procedures had to be written and tested in the simulator before being passed up to the crew. The navigation problem had to be solved; essentially how, when and in what attitude to burn the LM descent engine to provide a quick return home. With only 15 minutes of power left in the CM, Lousma told the crew to make their way into the LM. Haise and Lovell quickly floated through the tunnel, leaving Swigert to perform the last chores in the command module. The first concern was to determine if there were enough consumables to get home. Power also was a major concern and  Ground controllers carefully worked out a procedure where the CM batteries were charged with LM power. All noncritical systems were turned off and energy consumption was reduced to 1/5, which resulted in having 20 percent of LM electrical power left when Aquarius was jettisoned. There was one electrical close call during the mission. One of the CM batteries vented with such force that it momentarily dropped off the line. Had the battery failed, there would have been insufficient power to return the ship to Earth.Water was the main consumable concern. It was estimated that the crew would run out of water about five hours before Earth re-entry, which was calculated at around 151 hours. However, data from Apollo 11, which had not sent its LM ascent stage crashing into the moon as in subsequent missions, showed that its mechanisms could survive seven or eight hours in space without water cooling. The crew conserved water. They cut down to six ounces each per day, 1/5 of normal intake, and used fruit juices; they ate hot dogs and other wet-pack foods when they ate at all. The crew became dehydrated throughout the flight and set a record that stood up throughout Apollo: Lovell lost 14 pounds and the crew lost a total of 31.5 pounds, nearly 50 percent more than any other crew. Those stringent measures resulted in the crew finishing with 28.2 pounds of water, about 9 percent of the total. One of the big questions was, “How to get back safely to Earth?”  They had to get back on a free-return course. The ground computed a 35-second burn and fired it five hours after the explosion.

As they approached the moon, another burn was computed; this time a long five-minute burn to speed up the return home. It took place two hours after rounding the far side of the moon.The command module navigational platform alignment was transferred to the LM, but verifying alignment was difficult. Ordinarily the alignment procedure uses an onboard sextant device, called the Alignment Optical Telescope, or AOT, to find a suitable navigation star.

Then with the help of an onboard computer, it verifies the guidance platform’s alignment. However, due to the explosion, a swarm of debris from the ruptured service module made it impossible to sight real stars. An alternate procedure was developed to use the sun as an alignment star. Lovell rotated the spacecraft to the attitude Houston had requested and when he looked through the AOT, the sun was just where it was expected. The alignment with the sun proved to be less than 1/2 a degree off. The ground and crew then knew they could do the five-minute P.C. + 2 burn with assurance, cutting the total time of their voyage to about 142 hours. At 73 hours, 46 minutes into the mission.Flight Director Gerald Griffin, a man not easily shaken, recalled: “Some years later I went back to the log and looked up that mission. My writing was almost illegible, I was so damned nervous. And I remember the exhilaration running through me: My God, that’s the last hurdle — if we can do that, I know we can make it. It was funny because only the people involved knew how important it was to have that platform properly aligned.” Yet Griffin barely mentioned the alignment in his change-of-shift briefing — “That check turned out real well” is all he said an hour after his penmanship failed him.The trip was marked by discomfort beyond the lack of food and water. Sleep was almost impossible because of the cold. When the electrical systems were turned off, the spacecraft lost an important source of heat. The temperature dropped to 38 degrees Fahrenheit and condensation formed on all the walls.The most remarkable achievement of mission control was quickly developing procedures for powering up the CM after its long, cold sleep.

Flight controllers wrote the documents for this innovation in three days, instead of the usual three months. The command module was cold and clammy at the start of power-up.

The walls, ceiling, floor, wire harnesses and panels were all covered with droplets of water. It was suspected conditions were the same behind the panels. The chances of short circuits caused apprehension, but thanks to the safeguards built into the command module after the disastrous Apollo 1 fire in January 1967, no arcing took place. Lovell recalled the descent to Earth, “The droplets furnished one sensation as we decelerated in the atmosphere: it rained inside the CM.”Four hours before landing, the crew shed the service module; mission control had insisted on retaining it until then because everyone feared what the cold of space might do to the un-sheltered CM heat shield. Photos of the service module showed one whole panel missing and wreckage hanging out, it was a mess as it drifted away. Three hours later, the crew left the lunar module Aquarius and then splashed down gently in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa. (Main Data Source /Nasa website)

APOLLO 14

  

Pad 39-A (8)  Saturn-V AS-509 High Bay 3  MLP 2  Firing Room 2 

Dates: January 31st- February 9th 1971

Crew:      Alan B. Shepard Jr. ……..Commander 
                Edgar D. Mitchell …………Lunar Module Pilot
                Stuart A. Roosa ……………Command Module Pilot

Back Up Crew

• Eugene Cernan
• Joe Engle
• Ron Evans

Flight Directors

• Pete Frank…..Orange team
• Glyn Lunney..Black Team
• Milton Windler…Maroon Team
• Gerry Griffin….Gold Team

Mission Purpose: The crews mission was to explore the  Fra Mauro region centered around deployment of the Apollo Lunar Surface Scientific Experiments Package, or ALSEP; lunar field geology investigations. There was to be a collection of surface material samples for return to Earth; deployment of other scientific instruments not part of ALSEP; orbital science involving high-resolution photography of candidate future landing sites.Other projects were the  photography of deep-space phenomena, such as zodiacal light and gegenschein; communications tests using S-band and VHF signals to determine reflective properties of the lunar surface, engineering and operational evaluation of hardware and techniques; tests to determine variations in S-band signals; and photography of surface details from 60 nautical miles in altitude. After a communications systems delay about one hour later than scheduled  Commander Alan Shepard set foot on the lunar surface at 114 hours, 31 minutes GET.

The first of the two EVA periods included ALSEP deployment and lasted four hours, 49 minutes. The second EVA on Feb. 6 began  4:15 a.m. EST. During this EVA, Shepard and Edgar Mitchell moved more than half a mile from their LM and conducted selenological investigations, collecting samples and attempting to reach the rim of Cone crater, approximately 300 feet above the landing site. NASA personnel monitoring the EVA estimate that the two astronauts were within 50 to 75 meters of the crater rim when they were advised by mission control to collect samples at that spot and begin their traverse back to the LM. Shepard set a new distance-traveled record on the lunar surface of approximately 9,000 feet. The astronauts collected 94 pounds of rocks and soil for return to Earth. with these sample earmarked to go to 187 scientific teams in the United States, as well as 14 other countries for study and analysis.
Orbital science activities were also conducted by Stuart Roosa during the lunar surface activities period.

APOLLO 15

    

 Pad 39 (9)  Saturn-V AS-510 ()  High Bay 3  MLP 3  Firing Room 1 

Dates: July 26th-August 7th 1971

Crew:          David R. Scott……….Commander
                    James B. Irwin………Lunar Module Pilot
                    Alfred M. Worden…..Command Module Pilot
 

Back Up Crew

• Richard Gordon
• Vance Brand
• Harrison Schmitt

Flight Directors

Gerry Griffin…..Gold team

Milton Windler..Maroon team

Glynn Lunnet….Black team

Gene Krantz……White team

Mission Purpose: Apollo 15 was the first of the Apollo “J” missions capable of a longer stay time on the moon and greater surface mobility.  Four primary objectives in the general categories of lunar surface science, lunar orbital science and engineering-operational. Crew objectives were to explore the Hadley-Apennine region, set up and activate lunar surface scientific experiments, make engineering evaluations of new Apollo equipment, and conduct lunar orbital experiments and photographic tasks.This Exploration saw the addition of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, or LRV. Setup of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP, was the third in a trio of operating ALSEPs (on Apollos 12, 14 and 15). The orbital science experiments conducted were an array of instruments and cameras in the scientific instrument module, or SIM, bay. Engineering and operational objectives included evaluation of modifications to the lunar module, or LM, made for carrying a heavier payload and for a lunar stay time of almost three days.

There were changes to the Apollo spacesuit and to the portable life support system, , and evaluation and performance of the Lunar Roving Vehicle and the other new J-mission equipment that went with it — lunar communications relay unit, or LCRU, and the ground-controlled television assembly, or GCTA.Another major mission objective involved the launching of a Particles and Fields, or P&F, subsatellite into lunar orbit by the command and service module, or CSM, shortly before beginning the return-to-Earth portion of the mission. The subsatellite was designed to investigate the moon’s mass and gravitational variations, particle composition of space near the moon and the interaction of the moon’s magnetic field with that of Earth. David Scott and James Irwin flew their LM to a perfect landing at 6:16 p.m. EDT July 30, at Hadley Rille about 1,500 feet north and east of the targeted landing point near a crater named Salyut. Landing approach over the Apennine Range — one of the highest on the moon — was at an angle of 26 degrees, the steepest approach yet used in Apollo missions.During the three periods of extravehicular activity, or EVA, on July 31, and Aug. 1 and 2, Scott and Irwin completed a record 18 hours, 37 minutes of exploration, traveled 17.5 miles in the first car that humans have ever driven on the moon. They collected more than 170 pounds of lunar samples, set up the ALSEP array, obtained a core sample from about 10 feet beneath the lunar surface, and provided extensive oral descriptions and photographic documentation of geologic features in the vicinity of the landing site during the three days (66 hours, 55 minutes) on the lunar surface.On Aug. 2, LM Falcon blasted off and for the first time, the lunar liftoff was seen on Earth via the LRV television camera. The two spacecraft docked as Endeavor began its 50th lunar orbit. Alfred Worden became the first human to carry out a deep space EVA. He exited the CM, climbed toward the rear of the SM and retrieved film cassettes from the SIM bay cameras and returned to the CM.

The walk was completed in 18 minutes (one hour had been scheduled in the flight plan).Apollo 15 set several new records for crewed spaceflight these included: heaviest payload in a lunar orbit of approximately 107,000 pounds, maximum radial distance traveled on the lunar surface away from the spacecraft of about 17.5 miles (previous high was 2.1 miles on Apollo 14),most lunar surface EVAs (three) and longest total of duration for lunar surface EVAs (18 hours, 37 minutes — almost the total time spent in lunar orbit by Apollo 8),longest time in lunar orbit (about 145 hours; only two hours less than the entire Apollo 8 mission),longest crewed lunar mission (295 hours), longest Apollo mission (295 hours — previous high was 244 hours, 36 minutes on Apollo 12), the first satellite placed in lunar orbit by a crewed spacecraft,  first deep space and operational EVA.

APOLLO 16  

     

 Pad 39-A (10)  Saturn-V AS-511 ()  High Bay 3  MLP 3  Firing Room 1 

Dates :April 16th-April 27th 1972

Crew:      John W. Young ……………Commander 
                Charles M. Duke Jr………Lunar Module Pilot
               Thomas K. Mattingly II… .Command Module Pilot

Back Up Crew

• Fred Haise
• Stuart Roosa
• Edgar Mitchell

Flight Directors: Gene Krantz

Mission Purpose: There were three primary objectives were: to inspect, survey, and sample materials and surface features at a selected landing site in the Descartes region; to emplace and activate surface experiments; and lastly to conduct in-flight experiments and photographic tasks from lunar orbit. Additional objectives included performance of experiments requiring zero gravity and engineering evaluation of spacecraft and equipment. Apollo 16 blasted  off at 12:54 p.m. EST April 16, 1972, from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There were initially two significant command and service module problems – one en route to the moon and one in lunar orbit – contributed to a delay in landing and a subsequent early termination of the mission by one day.

The Lunar module carrying John Young and Charles Duke touched down at Descartes about 276 meters northwest of planned point  about 9:24 p.m. EST April 20, about five hours, 43 minutes late. During 71 hours, two minutes surface stay, astronauts explored region on three EVAs totaling 20 hours, 14 minutes. The first EVA included the tried and tested Lunar Roving Vehicle setup and ALSEP deployment. Heat flow experiment was lost when Young tripped on electronics cable, breaking it. The Rover traverse took astronauts out west to Flag Crater where they collected samples and photographed the area. Return drive was south of outbound track to Spook Crater where Young and Duke took their first measurement with the lunar portable magnetometer, they proceeded to gather samples, and took both panoramic and 500 mm telephotography. Just before returning to the lunar module, they deployed the solar wind composition experiment at the ALSEP site. EVA duration was about seven hours, 11 minutes with 2.5 miles driven in the rover.Their second EVA began with drive south to Stone Mountain, where surface and core samples were collected at two stations in the area of Cinco Craters, along with a trench sample, penetrometer measurements and photography. Journeying  west, then north with stops at five additional stations for similar work. Crew returned to lunar module and ended second EVA after seven hours, 23 minutes and 6.9 miles on the rover.

Real-time flight planners deleted four stops from the third and final EVA because of time constraint in meeting ascent schedule. Young and Duke drove north to North Ray Crater where “House Rock,” inside the crater rim, was sampled. Returning south, the crew stopped at “Shadow Rock” for additional sampling, photography and LPM measurement. Final stop near the LM added samples and core tubes to the collection. Last LPM readings were taken at the rover parking site along with final rock samples. Further procedures were completed ending with the Rover covering a  distance of 7.1 miles. When you equate this to the position of the Lunar module and unknown terrain this was quite a distance and I guess would have taken much confidence with bravado. Something we could easily take for granted on safe old Earth.Lets not forget Thomas Mattingly orbiting the moon with cameras and SIM bay instruments operating during the surface stay of Young and Duke. The third man was always placed in literally the loneliest region one could reach. His calm and collective was vital to getting the whole crew back home safely. Lunar liftoff came on time at 8:26 p.m. EST April 23, in view of the rover television camera. After normal rendezvous and docking, and transfer of crew samples and equipment, the lunar module was jettisoned. Total mission time was 265 hours, 51 minutes, five seconds and during that time Young and Duke collected 209 pounds of samples and drove the rover 16.6 miles. 

APOLLO 17

  

 Pad 39 (11)  Saturn-V AS-512 ()  High Bay 3  MLP 3  Firing Room 1 

 Dates: December 7th-December 19th 1972

Crew:                  Eugene A. Cernan ………..Commander
                           Harrison H. Schmitt ……….Lunar Module Pilot
                           Ronald E. Evans …………..Command Module Pilot

Back Up Crew

• John Young
• Stuart Roosa
• Charles Duke

Flight Directors : Eugene Krantz

Mission Purpose: This was to be the last flight to the lunaR surface, and NASA describe the mission as follows:The lunar landing site was the Taurus-Littrow highlands and valley area. This site was picked for Apollo 17 as a location where rocks both older and younger than those previously returned from other Apollo missions, as well as from Luna 16 and 20 missions, might be found. The mission was the final in a series of three J-type missions planned for the Apollo Program. These J-type missions can be distinguished from previous G- and H-series missions by extended hardware capability, larger scientific payload capacity and by the use of the battery-powered Lunar Roving Vehicle, or LRV. Scientific objectives of the Apollo 17 mission included, geological surveying and sampling of materials and surface features in a preselected area of the Taurus-Littrow region; deploying and activating surface experiments; and conducting in-flight experiments and photographic tasks during lunar orbit and transearth coast. These objectives included deployed experiments, such as the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP, with a heat flow experiment; lunar seismic profiling, or LSP; lunar surface gravimeter, or LSG; lunar atmospheric composition experiment, or LACE; and lunar ejecta and meteorites, or LEAM.

The mission also included lunar sampling and lunar orbital experiments. Biomedical experiments included the Biostack II experiment and the BIOCORE experiment. At 9:15:29 a.m. GMT Dec. 7, 1972, the command and service module, or CSM, was separated from the S-IVB. Approximately 15 min later, the CSM docked with the lunar module, or LM. After CSM/LM extraction from the S-IVB, the S-IVB was targeted for lunar impact, which occurred Dec. 10, at 8:32:43 p.m. The impact location was approximately 84 nautical miles northwest of the planned target point and the event was recorded by the passive seismic experiments deployed on the Apollos 12, 14, 15 and 16 missions.Only one of the four planned midcourse corrections was required during translunar coast. A midcourse correction made at 5:03 p.m. Dec. 8, was a 1.6 second service propulsion system burn resulting in a 10>:5 feet/second velocity change. Lunar orbit insertion was accomplished at 7:47:23 p.m. Dec. 10, placing the spacecraft into a lunar orbit of 170 by 52.6 nautical miles.

Approximately four hours, 20 minutes later, the orbit was reduced to 59 by 15 nautical miles. The spacecraft remained in this low orbit for more than 18 hours, during which time the CSM/LM undocking and separation were performed. The CSM circularization maneuver was performed at 6:50:29 p.m. Dec. 11, which placed the CSM into an orbit of 70.3 by 54.3 nautical miles. At 2:35 p.m. Dec. 11, the commander and lunar module pilot entered the LM to prepare for descent to the lunar surface. At 6:55:42 p.m. Dec. 11, the LM was placed into an orbit with a perilune altitude of 6.2 nautical miles. Approximately 47 minutes later, the powered descent to the lunar surface began. Landing occurred at 7:54:57 p.m. Dec. 11, at lunar latitude 20 degrees, 10 minutes north, and longitude 30 degrees 46 minutes east. Apollo 17 was the last lunar landing mission.

Three extravehicular activities, or EVAs, lasted a total of 22 hours, four minutes on the lunar surface. EVA No. 1 began at 11:54:49 p.m. Dec. 11, with Eugene Cernan egressing at 12:01 a.m. Dec. 12. The first EVA was seven hours, 12 minutes long and was completed at 7:06:42 a.m. Dec. 12. The second EVA began at 11:28:06 p.m. Dec. 12, and lasted seven hours, 37 minutes, ending at at 7:05:02 a.m. Dec. 13. The final EVA began at 10:25:48 p.m. Dec. 13, and ended at 5:40:56 a.m. Dec. 14.The LM ascent stage lifted off the moon at 10:54:37 p.m. Dec. 14. After a vernier adjustment maneuver, the ascent stage was inserted into a 48.5 by 9.4 nautical mile orbit. The LM terminal phase initiation burn was made at 11:48:58 p.m. Dec. 14. This 3.2 second maneuver raised the ascent stage orbit to 64.7 by 48.5 nautical miles. The CSM and LM docked at 1:10:15 a.m. The LM ascent stage was jettisoned at 4:51:31 a.m. Dec. 15. Deorbit firing of the ascent stage was initiated at 6:31:14 a.m. Dec. 15, and lunar impact occurred 19 minutes, seven seconds later approximately 0.7 nautical miles from the planned target at latitude 19 degrees, 56 minutes north, and longitude 30 degrees, 32 minutes east. The ascent stage impact was recorded by the four Apollo 17 geophones, and by each ALSEP at Apollos 12, 14, 15 and 16 landing sites.Ronald Evans performed a transearth EVA at 8:27:40 p.m. Dec. 17, that lasted one hour, six minutes, during which time the Command Module Pilot Stuart A. Roosa retrieved the lunar sounder film, as well as the panoramic and mapping camera film cassettes.

Apollo 17 hosted the first scientist-astronaut to land on moon: Harrison Schmitt. The sixth automated research station was set up. The lunar rover vehicle traversed a total of 30.5 kilometers. Lunar surface-stay time was 75 hours, and lunar orbit time 17 hours. Astronauts gathered 110.4 kilograms, or 243 pounds, of material. (Source.NASA website)

Ground Crew Men of Substance.

 Eugene Krantz Werner Von BraunDeke Slayton

With every Goal, and very mission there has to be key people who make it happen. This section is a tribute to the many hundreds of people who , saw, believed, desihned, built and oversaw the development of the Lunar Mission. Without these people there would be no eternal lunar footprints left on the Lunar surface by the Apollo twelve Astronaut Moonwakers. It is fact that these men and women entralled and motivated a Nations to believe in Space exploration.  Though there be many more I could write about I have selected just a few to give you a flavour of this unique part of NASA’s Moon program.

Eugene Krantz 

Eugene Krantz is a very well known Mission Controller particularly made famous through the film documentary Apollo 13 as its Flight Director.Krantz after completing  research tests at Holloman as an employee for the airline McDonnell-Douglas joined the NASA Space Task and woked on an assignment headed by  by flight director Christopher Kraft, as a Mission control procedures officer for the unmanned MR 1 test . He gained much experience as when he was put in charge of integrating Mercury Control with the Launch Control Team at ,which was based at Cape Canaveral Florida.He had to write up the “Go/NoGo” procedures which were used to  allow missions to continue as planned or aborted . He continued in this role for all unmanned and manned Mercury flights, which saw development of  MR 3 andMA 6 flights, these were the ground breaking missions which put the first Americans into space and orbit respectively.With success with these projects he was promoted to Assistant Flight Director to Flight Director Kraft for the MA 7 flight of which saw Scott Carpenter (Aurora 7) in October, 1962. He persued these mission with two  further Mercury flights and the first three Gemini flights, so by this time he was possibly the most experienced and confident back up office staff with NASA.. The later  Gemini flights saw him promoted to the Flight Director level and served his first shift, the so-called “operations shift,” for the Gemini 4 mission in 1965,  overseraring the first U.S EVA and four-day flight. After Gemini, he served as a Flight Director on  what was known as odd-numbered Apollo missions, including Apollos 7 and 9.His crowning moment I guess was the Flight Director for the first Moon landing of Apollo 11,controlling the actual moment when the Lunar Module Eagle landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Much loved by his staff, and extremely well respected World-Wide for his confidence, controlled nerves of steel which Atronauts relied on, saw him give a long and varied career with NASA. He and of course the  team of the Apollo 13 mission received the Presedential Medal of Freedom  for their heroic roles.Krantz worked as Flight Director up to Apollo 17 the last Lunar landing, the end of the Apollo missions, and subsequently was promoted to Deputy Director of NASA Mission Operations in 1974, and finally becoming Director in 1983. He retired from NASA in 1994 after many successful  Shuttle  flights in 1993. His interests include weiting , and he wrote a well kknown book Failure Is Not An Option, which was adapted for TV in 2004. it is not to surprising that aviation remains his passion , and he continues to fly an aerobatic aircraft. Perhaps we should think of hime as the shadow footprint on the Moon, the faithful voice of inspriration for every Astronaut he worked with. 

Verner Von Braun:

Von Braun was probably the most influential and most brilliant rocket scientist America has ever worked with. After a career working on early rocketry in wartime Germany he was controversially  approved to work in the USA. He worked on the Hermes project which refurbed, assembled and launched some V2 rockets that had come from Germany, studying the use of rockets for military use. 1950 to 1956 saw von Braun  in charge of the Army’s rocket development team at the well known Redstone base. As director of the Development Operations Division of the Army Ballistic Missile von Braun leading his team developed Jupiter C modified which  launched the West’s first satellite Explorer 1 in 1958. This event was very significant as it was the birthing of America’s space program. There were years of frustration as the Soviet Union went successfully forward with the legendary Sputnik Satellite program

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However in 1950 there was a newspaper headline stating the following “Dr. von Braun Says Rocket Flights Possible to Moon”) , and in 1952, von Braun first published his concept of a manned space station in a magazine called Colliers weekly. With that and other articles he was subtedly paving the conception of space travel in the public arena. Some of his early ideas would actually come into play , particularly with the Space Station concept. Not content with Lunar travel he was already working out travel to Mars, as he had already written a Sci Fi novel on human space travel to mars set in 1980. A very active mind even saw him working in Disney films as a techinical adviser in their space films. With the cold war going on Von Braun was already working out space missile projects even then , what we would call the 1980’s and 90’s Star military projects. America was reaching the end of the 1950’s and the space race was hotting up, Von Braun was transferred to NASA .His condition was only if the work on the famous rocket would go ahead. Thank goodness he  made that plea, had he not, we may well have lost the space race to the Lunar landing to the Russians. Von Braun became director of  Saturn project which was initially to carry payloads into and beyond Earths orbit.From these early days, the Apollo program was birthed, and he saw the reality of men walking on the surface of the Moon. Saturn took Apollo 7 -17 into space, and deposited 12 men on the Moon and brought them back safely. Von Braun still wished to see Mars conquered, but it was not now to be his remit, retireing from NASA IN 1972, and died in 1977 after leaving his own unique footprint on the surface of the Moon.

Deke Slayton: When I think of Slaytons role in space exploration I would think of the word determination. He was an Astronaut, and Astronauts friend. His career began when he joined the Air Force in 1943 becoming a B-25 Pilot serving with 56 combat missions. He later served as an instructer which would serve him well in years to come with his leadership skills.Amongst jobs he was a technical inspector and fighter pilot, later joining the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. He was a test pilot there from January 1956 until April 1959 and participated in the testing of fighter aircraft built for the United States Air Force and some foreign countries. His NASA experience saw him named as one of the original infamous mercury Astronauts in 1959. Very unfortunately for him after being selected to pilot Atlas 7 mission a heart condition forced him to forgoe hhis flying career with NASA.

Highly respected it was a natural choice for Deke Slayton to became Coordinator of Astronaut Activities in September 1962 and was responsible for the operation of the astronaut office. In November 1963, he resigned his commission as an Air Force Major to assume the role of Director of Flight Crew Operations. Slayton had large responsibilities for directing the activities of the astronaut office, the aircraft operations office, the flight crew integration division, the crew training and simulation division, and the crew procedures division. The good news was that Slayton was restored to full flight status and certified eligible for manned space flights in March 1972. A well deserved choice for we see that his first space flight as Apollo docking module pilot of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission, July 15-24, 1975—a joint space flight culminating in the first historical meeting in space between American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts.

     

1975 -1977, Slayton served as Manager for Approach and Landing Test Project.  This meant that he directed the Space Shuttle approach and landing test project through a series of critical orbiter flight tests that allowed in-flight test and checkout of flight controls and orbiter subsystems . An extremely critical series of tests for a project that is still going strong until and wil remain so until its scheduled retirement at end of 2010. He retired in 1982, and went to work in the commercial world, sadly dying in 1993.

APOLLO 1GRISSOM CHAFFEE WHITE APOLLO7SCHIRRA EISELE CUNNINGHAM APOLLO8BORMAN LOVELL ANDERS APOLLO9MCDIVITT SCOTT SCHWEICKART APOLLO10STAFFORD YOUNG CERNAN APOLLO11ARMSTRONG ALDRIN COLLINS APOLLO12CONRAD GORDON BEAN APOLLO13SWIGERT LOVELL HAISE APOLLO14SHEPHERD ROOSA MITCHELL APOLLO15SCOTT WORDEN IRWIN APOLLO16YOUNG MATTINGLEY DUKEAPOLLO17 CERNAN ANDERS SCHMITT