Questions tagged [apollo-program]
NASA's Apollo program was a 17-mission program that focused on landing a human on the lunar surface. The program was the third human spaceflight by NASA, after Mercury and Gemini.
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Importance of moon phases for Apollo missions
I looked up that Apollo 11 landed at half moon and that Apollo 8 circled the moon at new moon.
How important where the moon phases for the Apollo flights?
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Where in orbit was Michael Collins when the LM landed?
In the NPR podcast On Apollo 11 Anniversary, A Former Crew Member Reflects On The Lunar Trip Scott Simon interviews Michael Collins. Near the beginning is this exchange:
SIMON: We asked the man who ...
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Why didn't NASA launch communications relay satellites for the Apollo missions?
The Apollo missions were in communications blackout when the spacecraft's orbit took it to the far side of the Moon. During the missions, the craft had to perform maneuvers such as the lunar orbit ...
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What do the highlighted patterns in the Apollo Flight Plan mean?
The Apollo Flight Plan has distinctive patterns of markings (variously solid, broken, etc,) as well as other indicators (circular markings and the lines with labels such as CRO, MSFN, etc.).
What do ...
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Who was the first person in space to “be on TV”?
The Apollo missions had video cameras and transmitted live images to Earth, but I am not sure if there were any video transmission prior to the Apollo 11.
Question: Who was the first person in space ...
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Help understanding this Apollo 11 docking probe image, what are we looking at, and from where?
The New York Times mix media "article" Apollo 11
As They Shot It shows original photographic images taken by the astronauts and related quotes by them.
In one section the text says:
Inspecting the ...
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Why is there no video of the first steps of Apollo 16 and 17?
In doing research in to the first words said on the surface of the various Apollo astronauts, I found there was no video of Apollo 16 and 17, at least until they had been on the surface for a while. ...
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How much could “sublimator operation” have possibly contributed to Apollo 11's “sizable downrange miss”?
This answer to the question Apollo-11 delta-v “due to residual pressure in the docking tunnel pushing the spacecraft apart” detected as it happened? Was it corrected? quotes from the Apollo 11 Mission ...
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What are “uncoupled attitude maneuvers” and why do them?
This answer to the question Apollo-11 delta-v “due to residual pressure in the docking tunnel pushing the spacecraft apart” detected as it happened? Was it corrected? quotes the following passage from ...
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Apollo-11 delta-v “due to residual pressure in the docking tunnel pushing the spacecraft apart” detected as it happened? Was it corrected?
This answer to How far off did Apollo 11 land? mentions that:
Eagle was already 3 miles downrange from the expected position at the start of descent, due to residual pressure in the docking ...
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Was any hole in the upper layers of the Apollo suits found caused by a micrometeorite impact?
What about the micrometeorite protection layers of the Apollo suits used for lunar EVA? Was any hole found after landing on Earth?
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Reason of Apollo 17 Launch delay?
Apollo missions mostly launched very short after launch window opening.
Table made using Apollo by the numbers.
Only Apollo 17 had a long launch delay of 2 hours 40 minutes, Apollo 14 of 40 minutes. ...
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Did anyone predict no return to the Moon for 50 years?
Back in the Apollo days, did anyone predict that there would be no return (of humans) to the Moon for 50 years?
I remember some scepticism about the scientific, economic or military value of such ...
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Are any Apollo Launch Mission Rule Documents available for downloading?
Apollo Flight Mission Rule Documents (from JSC) are easy to find on the internet, but the Launch Mission Rule Documents (from KSC) - not so much.
I found a couple paper copies for sale, but that's ...
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How long were the Apollo astronauts allowed to breathe 100% oxygen at 1 atmosphere continuously?
This answer explains that from the time they suited up "in the Suit Lab before launch" until the time the capsule started depressurizing during ascent, the Apollo astronauts were breathing 100% oxygen ...
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Was the command/service module visible from the lunar surface?
While on the moon, either outside or inside the lunar module, could the astronauts see the command/service module in orbit?
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Did Australian ground stations cover other Apollo missions' first steps?
It is quite well-publicized that the TV broadcast of Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon were received by the Honeysuckle Creek tracking station in Australia, because that was the side of the ...
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Apollo suit atmosphere before launch?
What was the pressure and oxygen concentration used in Apollo space suits on Earth before launch and after closing the suit with helmet and gloves during the transfer of the astronauts to the launch ...
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What was the temperature of the Apollo 11 moon landing zone?
It's soon 50 years from the Apollo 11 moon landing, so in honor of that event, I decided to post a question here.
I understand that moon has due to its long day and long night and also due to the ...
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Was all the fuel expended in each stage of a Saturn V launch?
Particularly the first and second stages into earth orbit - were the stages run dry before separation? On first thoughts, It would seem to be safer to do so, but I realised the engines required liquid ...
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How were Apollo spacesuits cooled during simulations/rehearsals on Earth?
The answer and comments to How have space suits dissipated the heat removed from astronauts? explain that the Apollo space suits used the sublimation of ice into the vacuum of space to constantly ...
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Was lunar module “pilot” Harrison Schmitt legally a “pilot” at the time?
Geologist Harrison Schmitt was Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 17 and the last person to arrive on the moon. He was the only real scientist to walk on the moon.
Schmitt had all of the training that ...
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Why does the Apollo reentry trajectory show a few climbs?
In this answer the following graph is displayed:
It shows two slight increases in altitude (after 1st peak g and at the end of the blackout). For me, it looks like zoom climbs (trading kinetic ...
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What USSR-US cooperation was proposed for a Moon mission?
President Kennedy apparently proposed working with the USSR on reaching the moon more than once. There is speculation that had he lived it may have happened, with the Soviets coming around to the idea....
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Were Apollo astronauts charged for their berths during their missions?
In a recent article in The Guardian I ran into the following statement about the Apollo astronauts:
On their way to and from the moon, each earned $8 a day, minus a fee for a bed on their Apollo ...
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Why are there double shadows in this Apollo 14 magazine?
In magazine AS14/KK there are clear double LEM shadows present where only one should be. I can't find any evidence of double exposure. How did this happen? I've even found 2 shadows that overlap and ...
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What Soviet signals (if any) attempted to scramble communication and sabotage Apollo missions?
The NPR.org news item and audio podcast JoAnn Morgan: The Only Woman In The Firing Room During Apollo 11 features an excellent interview with JoAnn Morgan and other KSC personal.
It's a short but ...
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How exactly does this Apollo astronaut's tool work? What was it called?
The BBC News article Apollo in 50 numbers: Weights and Measures shows the following photo with the caption:
The astronauts brought back more than 360kg (790lb) of Moon rocks for study on Earth (...
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How did sloshing prevent the Apollo Service Module from moving safely away from the Command Module and how was this fixed?
The Insider.com article 'We could have lost the Apollo 11 crew:' A once-classified anomaly nearly killed NASA's first moon astronauts, a new book reveals describes a problem during reentry of several ...
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Why were the canards on the Apollo LES retained even after being proven unnecessary?
In the event of a Mode IB abort during an Apollo launch (an abort initiated between 3 and 30.5 km altitude), a pair of canards would be deployed from the tip of the spacecraft's LES in order to force ...
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What happened to the Apollo 1 rocket?
On January 27, 1967, a tragic fire killed the crew of Apollo 1 and destroyed the Command Module. I've read detailed reports about the engineering team that disassembled the Command Module. I haven't ...
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Apollo Mission Control Room 2, how do these decimal number displays work?
In a recent question there was a link to this arsTECHNICA page.
One of the pictures of digital clock displays:
How do these decimal number displays work? I guess there are assembleys of a mask with ...
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Apollo Mission Operations Control Room 2 display, what do these numbers indicate?
There are some really beautiful photos in Ars Technica's NASA’s restored Apollo Mission Control is a slice of ’60s life, frozen in amber
See also NYTimes' NASA Reopens Apollo Mission Control Room ...
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Where can I find Captain REFSMMAT?
One of the longer NASA acronyms is REFSMMAT (REFerence to a Stable Member MATrix)
Ed Pavelka was one of the flight controllers who occupied the FIDO console at mission control. As a way to cement ...
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Was “I have the farts, again” broadcast from the Moon to the whole world?
The BBC News article Apollo in 50 numbers: Medicine and health says:
When Apollo 16 commander John Young walked on the Moon, he shared his feelings on the new diet with his companion Charlie Duke. ...
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Is this the golf ball that Alan Shepard hit on the Moon?
The BBC News article The Five Greatest Space Hacks of All Time shows a photo of Alan Shepard on the Moon swinging an improvised golf club.
Is the spot in the upper right corner of the photo a golf ...
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What do astronauts eat for pre-flight breakfast?
I’m currently reading W. David Wood’s rather excellent “How Apollo Flew To The Moon” which details the technological development and execution in reaching the moon with the Apollo program.
Part of ...
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Why was the Saturn V considered to be human-rated after Apollo 6?
Apollo 6 (AS-502) was the second flight of the Saturn V (the first having been Apollo 4/AS-501, five months earlier), the last flight of a Block I CSM,1 and the last unmanned Apollo mission (if one ...
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Why was Apollo 17 considered to have “achieved a very successful geological survey”?
They listed out all the apollo missions, with blurbs about what the outcomes were, for example here's 15, 16 and 17:
15 - Landed on moon and deployed lunar rover.
16 - Landed on moon and deployed ...
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Could the Lunar Rover jump start the Lunar Module in an emergency?
In Scott Manley's video Why Lunar Landers Had Jumper Cables For Emergencies he describes the "LOSS OF ED [Explosive Device] SUB-SYSTEM" procedure, which includes the use of a jumper cable called the "...
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How do flags behave on the Moon?
I have seen many theories and question/answers on this site touching upon this subject but no focused question. So I would like to ask this as a two part question.
Is what we saw in the Lunar ...
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Will the real Snoopy please stand up?${}^†$ Has the candidate object for Apollo 10 lunar module been publicly identified?
This tweet seems to suggest that the details will be released only after a mission is planned and funder, or at least $50 million is put in escrow, or a bitcoin wallet is offered, but I am not sure I ...
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Was planting UN flag on Moon ever discussed?
In the planning of the US missions to the moon was planting the UN flag ever discussed? It just seems to me that would have been a great public relations move.
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Is deformation of the impact attenuation system visible on the surviving Apollo command modules?
As pointed out in this question, the Apollo command module had crushable ribs along one edge of the base of the cone, and crushable struts that suspended the crew couches inside the vehicle. I've ...
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Apollo SM RCS specific impulse?
What is the specific impulse of the RCS thrusters on the Apollo Service Module? This document cites 281 seconds for the LM's RCS thrusters, but I cannot find similar specs for the SM.
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Which Apollo-era contractors are still building aerospace components today?
This list of major Apollo manufacturers is from Chariots for Apollo. Which of them still make aerospace (spacecraft or aircraft) components today?
AC Delco: inertial measuring unit, gyroscopes
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How was Apollo supposed to rendezvous in the case of a lunar abort?
If the LEM had to abort at the point of landing on the moon, the CM/SM would be about 1000 miles ahead of it when the LEM reached the same orbit. How could the 2 craft achieve rendezvous ?
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Apollo 15 State Vector recreation
I am trying to get the state vectors for Apollo 15 before, during, and after critical manoevers [sp]. IE TLI, LOI1, LOI2, lunar launch, preocking, postdocking, and TEI.
I am a totally newbie at all ...
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What is that hissing and buzzing background noise on some of NASA Apollo audio recordings?
As example: https://archive.org/details/Apollo10/10-030702_4-OF-6.wav
Buzzing, sometimes pulsating and rather loud background sound, very annoying. Reminds me of old time dial-up modem or something ...
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Human-rating the Saturn V using modern standards
Would a complete Apollo-Saturn stack (like e.g. AS-506) be human-rated according to the latest human-rating process (NPR 8705.2C) of NASA?
If not, what are the biggest show-stoppers?
This question ...
