ApolloHoax.net
Apollo Discussions => The Reality of Apollo => Topic started by: Glom on March 02, 2012, 02:35:00 PM
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I'll start off with an easy one.
Which astronauts went to the Moon twice?
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Cernan Lovell Young
I've always wondered why Stafford didn't get a moon landing mission?
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Cernan Lovell Young
Of course, none landed twice. Only Cernan and Young orbited on two missions; Lovell only orbited on one since Apollo 13 was a lunar fly-by.
I've always wondered why Stafford didn't get a moon landing mission?
Good question. Probably a personal choice. I think he's the highest-ranked military US astronaut, so perhaps military promotions meant more to him than additional flights. He certainly wasn't too old for a lunar flight; he's the same age as Pete Conrad and John Young, and while he's older than Gene Cernan and Dave Scott he's younger than Jim Lovell. Alan Shepard, 7 years older than Stafford and Young, was criticized for being too old for his lunar flight but Apollo 14 was an unusually strenuous lunar mission (long EVA hikes without a rover).
Stafford seems to have gone into NASA management as of 1971, presumably removing him from active flight consideration for the near term. But of all the US astronauts of that era he seems to have had the strongest personal interest in the Soviet manned space program, so that made him the natural to come out of retirement and command ASTP in 1975. I can't imagine the physical training for ASTP was anything like that for an Apollo lunar mission or even Skylab. I'm sure ASTP was mostly about learning the Russian language and an entirely different set of pilots, hardware, procedures, cultures and institutional politics. I bet he spent far more time on international travel than any other US astronaut of his time.
Still, considering his very quick and cool-headed reaction to the N2O4 emergency during the ASTP entry, he was as capable an Apollo commander as anyone. He quite likely saved his crew's lives by getting them onto emergency O2 under extremely difficult conditions. One (Brand) had already passed out, and without help he could well have died.
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Here's another one:
One of the FIDO flight controllers 'invented' the nickname "Captain REFSMMAT". What was his name? And what was the name of the 'enemy' of the Captain?
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I've always wondered why Stafford didn't get a moon landing mission?
I thought he was offered one but turned it down so he could concentrate on ASTP.
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Here's another one:
One of the FIDO flight controllers 'invented' the nickname "Captain REFSMMAT". What was his name? And what was the name of the 'enemy' of the Captain?
Google makes this too easy. All your answers in one link:
http://airspeedonline.blogspot.com/2006/05/steely-eyed-missile-man-capt-refsmmat.html
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I've always wondered why Stafford didn't get a moon landing mission?
I thought he was offered one but turned it down so he could concentrate on ASTP.
As unfathomable as turning down a all expenses paid trip to the moon is to me, Cernan also turned down an assignment as LMP, telling Slayton he would only go as mission commander. The gamble paid off for him giving him the greatest time on the surface among all astronauts and becoming the last man on the moon.
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Here's another one:
One of the FIDO flight controllers 'invented' the nickname "Captain REFSMMAT". What was his name? And what was the name of the 'enemy' of the Captain?
Google makes this too easy. All your answers in one link:
http://airspeedonline.blogspot.com/2006/05/steely-eyed-missile-man-capt-refsmmat.html
You're right. I wonder what is not being answered by any of the search engines...
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I've always wondered why Stafford didn't get a moon landing mission?
I thought he was offered one but turned it down so he could concentrate on ASTP.
As unfathomable as turning down a all expenses paid trip to the moon is to me, Cernan also turned down an assignment as LMP, telling Slayton he would only go as mission commander. The gamble paid off for him giving him the greatest time on the surface among all astronauts and becoming the last man on the moon.
But he did crash his helicopter into a lake, which taught him a little humility.
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Didn't that helicopter incident come close to getting him yanked from Apollo 17? I think McDivitt was especially keen on doing that.
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If it did, I don't know if Geno knew about it. He was interrogated by Deke, effectively was offered the chance to lie his way out of it, but he refused and confessed to pilot error. That was his account of it in his book. He actually said he thought the integrity was a big factor in him keeping him assignment.
I just remember it being played for laughs with his humiliation in front of Al Shepard and his fruit loops.
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...becoming the last man on the moon.
Schmitt was the last man on the moon. Cernan was the man last on the moon.
Where was Eagle located when its RCS blast deflectors were installed?
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...becoming the last man on the moon.
Schmitt was the last man on the moon. Cernan was the man last on the moon.
Where was Eagle located when its RCS blast deflectors were installed?
I disagree. I would also say to a group of men in a room, " will the last man to leave turn off the lights, not the "man last to leave." Cernan also uses the phrase "Last Man on the Moon" as the title of his book.
The Eagle was tucked snugly inside the Saturn Five when the deflectors were installed. What I don't know for sure is whether it was in the VAB or on the pad. I suspect it was in the VAB.
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...becoming the last man on the moon.
Schmitt was the last man on the moon. Cernan was the man last on the moon.
I disagree. I would also say to a group of men in a room, " will the last man to leave turn off the lights, not the "man last to leave." Cernan also uses the phrase "Last Man on the Moon" as the title of his book.
The meaning, I think, depends on the context. For instance, if we're all sitting in a room waiting for a meeting to start and I ask "who was last in the room", I think we would all take that to mean "who was last to enter the room." On the other hand, if we're all standing around in the hallway after the meeting and I were to ask the same question, surely everyone would interpret that to mean "who was last to exit the room." Same question, different meaning depending on context. If my latter question was intended to mean something other than "who was last to exit the room", I would have to take care to establish the context so my meaning is clear. For instance, I might ask "who was last to arrive at the meeting this morning."
Extending this logic to the moon, one could say that while the astronauts were walking around on the surface, the last man on the moon was Schmitt because he was last to step outside. But now that they've left the moon, the last man on the moon was Cernan because he was last to leave the surface. In normal circumstances, I don't think Schmitt is a reasonable answer to the question "who was the last man on the moon." If the questioner's intent is to mean Schmitt rather than Cernan, I think the question must be phrased in a way that establishes the context, such as, "who was the last man to step outside the LM and make his first footprints on the moon."
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...becoming the last man on the moon.
Schmitt was the last man on the moon. Cernan was the man last on the moon.
I disagree. I would also say to a group of men in a room, " will the last man to leave turn off the lights, not the "man last to leave." Cernan also uses the phrase "Last Man on the Moon" as the title of his book.
The meaning, I think, depends on the context. For instance, if we're all sitting in a room waiting for a meeting to start and I ask "who was last in the room", I think we would all take that to mean "who was last to enter the room." On the other hand, if we're all standing around in the hallway after the meeting and I were to ask the same question, surely everyone would interpret that to mean "who was last to exit the room." Same question, different meaning depending on context. If my latter question was intended to mean something other than "who was last to exit the room", I would have to take care to establish the context so my meaning is clear. For instance, I might ask "who was last to arrive at the meeting this morning."
Extending this logic to the moon, one could say that while the astronauts were walking around on the surface, the last man on the moon was Schmitt because he was last to step outside. But now that they've left the moon, the last man on the moon was Cernan because he was last to leave the surface. In normal circumstances, I don't think Schmitt is a reasonable answer to the question "who was the last man on the moon." If the questioner's intent is to mean Schmitt rather than Cernan, I think the question must be phrased in a way that establishes the context, such as, "who was the last man to step outside the LM and make his first footprints on the moon."
Right. The word "last" refers to the most recent event to which it is relevant. That is the common American usage.
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...becoming the last man on the moon.
Schmitt was the last man on the moon. Cernan was the man last on the moon.
Aha, an interesting twist! Wasn't sure of your point when I first read it. Makes perfect sense now :)
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Well back to the quiz I guess.
So who can explain the Apollo mission numbering?
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Ah, easy. :) lol
The confusion arises because of the fact that there is Apollo1, then no officially designated Apollo 2 or 3. However, Apollo 1 stands as a special case, since it never flew and was named more to honour the astronauts who lost their lives. Apollo 4 was in fact the fourth flight of Apollo production hardware (two tests of the Apollo spacecraft and one of the restart capability of the S-IVB). So it is actually logical. Apollo 1 is the anomaly.
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My understanding was that the three unmanned launches prior to Apollo were designated Apollo 201, 203 and 202, because that was the number of their space vehicle. Grissom's flight was officially called Apollo 204 in this vain. But that just wasn't sexy enough, so they unofficially adopted Apollo 1 as their name. After the accident, for some reason, NASA decided to sex up the naming switching to sequential numbering, which would have retro-name the already flown flights as Apollo 1, 2 and 3, with Apollo 4 being the unmanned test which under the old system would have been called Apollo 501. But the widows petitioned NASA to honour their late husbands' desire for their ill-fated mission to be known as Apollo 1 and NASA acceded. They officially posthumously renamed the mission Apollo 1 and due to the awkwardness with retronaming now, they just left it as is and only continued forward with Apollo 501 as Apollo 4.
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My understanding is that, having named 204 as Apollo 1, the two cancelled flights with crews assigned that were scheduled to follow Apollo 1 became Apollo 2 and Apollo 3. I've never seen an Apollo-era NASA source that gives these names to the pre-Apollo 1 unmanned missions.
"Apollo 1" was on the 204 crew patch prior to the accident.
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My understanding is that, having named 204 as Apollo 1, the two cancelled flights with crews assigned that were scheduled to follow Apollo 1 became Apollo 2 and Apollo 3. I've never seen an Apollo-era NASA source that gives these names to the pre-Apollo 1 unmanned missions.
"Apollo 1" was on the 204 crew patch prior to the accident.
I thought Apollo 1 was on the patch because Grissom and crew had taken the name unofficially much like Molly Brown. I thought it was only after the accident that it was officially recognised.
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That is the story in the official history web site.
The AS-204 mission was redesignated Apollo I in honor of the crew. (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollo204/)
And on this page
The mission, originally designated Apollo 204 but commonly referred to as Apollo 1, was officially assigned the name "Apollo 1" in honor of Grissom, White, and Chaffee. (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo1info.html)
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What did Deke stash aboard Apollo 8 for their Christmas dinner?
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What did Deke stash aboard Apollo 8 for their Christmas dinner?
3 miniatures of brandy and a turkey dinner. Lovell (the spoilsport ;D) refused to allow the alcohol to be opened.
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What did Deke stash aboard Apollo 8 for their Christmas dinner?
3 miniatures of brandy and a turkey dinner. Lovell (the spoilsport ;D) refused to allow the alcohol to be opened.
Why didn't Borman overrule him?
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Borman told them not to drink it. Lovell and Anders have each said they had no intention of drinking it.
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Why didn't Borman overrule him?
Doh!
I meant Borman (bangs head on desk)
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What do Al Shepard, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra and Pete Conrad all have in common?
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The only thing I can think of is that they all liked to drag race on the way to work . . . and they're all no longer with us, but I hope that wasn't it. :(
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What do Al Shepard, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra and Pete Conrad all have in common?
They commanded the first flights of the pre-shuttle programs.
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Cernan also turned down an assignment as LMP, telling Slayton he would only go as mission commander.
Which mission would that have been?
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What do Al Shepard, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra and Pete Conrad all have in common?
They commanded the first flights of the pre-shuttle programs.
*slaps forehead* I should have thought of that; being chosen to command the first manned voyage of anything is such an honour.
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What do Al Shepard, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra and Pete Conrad all have in common?
Um, they were all NASA astronauts, and they're all gone now?
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Conrad commanded the first Skylab.
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Cernan also turned down an assignment as LMP, telling Slayton he would only go as mission commander.
Which mission would that have been?
Looked up the reference in The Last Man on the Moon to refresh my memory. Cernan turned down a position of LMP on A16. Instead he was assigned as back up commander on A14, which put him in the rotation for commander of A17.
Check p229 and p238 for references.
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Looked up the reference in The Last Man on the Moon to refresh my memory. Cernan turned down a position of LMP on A16. Instead he was assigned as back up commander on A14, which put him in the rotation for commander of A17.
Check p229 and p238 for references.
Whew. That was a close call for him. If I were Cernan, I would have accepted the first landing flight I could get.
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Alright, here's a quiz.
What is the verb/noun in the DSKY on the Lunar Module that you must enter to get an updating mission elapsed timer?
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Looked up the reference in The Last Man on the Moon to refresh my memory. Cernan turned down a position of LMP on A16. Instead he was assigned as back up commander on A14, which put him in the rotation for commander of A17.
Check p229 and p238 for references.
Whew. That was a close call for him. If I were Cernan, I would have accepted the first landing flight I could get.
Slayton was incredulous that anyone would turn down the opportunity to walk on the moon. Yet it was the second decline he had received.
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Looked up the reference in The Last Man on the Moon to refresh my memory. Cernan turned down a position of LMP on A16. Instead he was assigned as back up commander on A14, which put him in the rotation for commander of A17.
Check p229 and p238 for references.
Whew. That was a close call for him. If I were Cernan, I would have accepted the first landing flight I could get.
Slayton was incredulous that anyone would turn down the opportunity to walk on the moon. Yet it was the second decline he had received.
Was the first decline Michael Collins?
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Looked up the reference in The Last Man on the Moon to refresh my memory. Cernan turned down a position of LMP on A16. Instead he was assigned as back up commander on A14, which put him in the rotation for commander of A17.
Check p229 and p238 for references.
Whew. That was a close call for him. If I were Cernan, I would have accepted the first landing flight I could get.
Slayton was incredulous that anyone would turn down the opportunity to walk on the moon. Yet it was the second decline he had received.
Was the first decline Michael Collins?
I believe it was Borman, who turned down command of the first Moon landing.
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Looked up the reference in The Last Man on the Moon to refresh my memory. Cernan turned down a position of LMP on A16. Instead he was assigned as back up commander on A14, which put him in the rotation for commander of A17.
Check p229 and p238 for references.
Whew. That was a close call for him. If I were Cernan, I would have accepted the first landing flight I could get.
Slayton was incredulous that anyone would turn down the opportunity to walk on the moon. Yet it was the second decline he had received.
Was the first decline Michael Collins?
I believe it was Borman, who turned down command of the first Moon landing.
Was it the prime position? I though the was offered the backup position, as he was due for that commanding Apollo 8 three missions prior. He would then get Apollo 14 and a moonwalk. He turned it down because he wasn't interested in being a geologist and if he didn't want to be a geologist, there was little point investing the time in being a backup commander.
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According to Aldrin's Magnificent Desolation, Borman DID turn down the first landing flight, but I can't remember why...
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According to Chaikin, McDivitt turned it down, too.
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According to Chaikin, McDivitt turned it down, too.
I saw Jim McDivitt at Autographica in the UK several years ago, and he confirmed that he did turn down a trip to the moon. He said the only position that Deke could offer him was LMP of A14 - which he refused because (a)he couldn't command the mission, as Shepard was the commander and (b) he said that Shepard was "lazy and inexperienced", "was used to being carried by others" and "did the minimum amount of work required to do anything". Basically, McDivvit went off on a rant about Shepard that was not complimentary at all. He also said that had Shepard being on A13, his incompetence and inexperience would have killed everyone on board.
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Was the first decline Michael Collins?
Possibly - it was mentioned in "Carrying the fire" that Deke offered Mike the command of Apollo 17 if the Apollo 11 mission failed, Mike considered this but ultimately turned it down because of the effect his job was having on his family life.
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Was the first decline Michael Collins?
Possibly - it was mentioned in "Carrying the fire" that Deke offered Mike the command of Apollo 17 if the Apollo 11 mission failed, Mike considered this but ultimately turned it down because of the effect his job was having on his family life.
The Administrator told the 11 crew not to take any chances and to abort at the slightest problem and he would put them on the next mission back. He also told the 12 crew this. He did not, however, tell the 13 crew this.
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According to Chaikin, McDivitt turned it down, too.
I saw Jim McDivitt at Autographica in the UK several years ago, and he confirmed that he did turn down a trip to the moon. He said the only position that Deke could offer him was LMP of A14 - which he refused because (a)he couldn't command the mission, as Shepard was the commander and (b) he said that Shepard was "lazy and inexperienced", "was used to being carried by others" and "did the minimum amount of work required to do anything". Basically, McDivvit went off on a rant about Shepard that was not complimentary at all. He also said that had Shepard being on A13, his incompetence and inexperience would have killed everyone on board.
Is that why they couldn't find Cone Crater?
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Geez. Jim McDivitt trash talk, much?
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Slayton was incredulous that anyone would turn down the opportunity to walk on the moon. Yet it was the second decline he had received.
Several astronauts, like Michael Collins, turned it down simply because they wanted to retire. He had already flown in space twice and I guess he felt that was enough. He wasn't willing to commit several more years of his life to the intense preparation for any other space mission, even one that would have taken him to the lunar surface.
I think the number of astronauts who turned down a lunar flight without retiring (e.g., rejecting an offer of LMP on one flight to be in position to command a later one) is a much smaller number.
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According to Chaikin, McDivitt turned it down, too.
I saw Jim McDivitt at Autographica in the UK several years ago, and he confirmed that he did turn down a trip to the moon. He said the only position that Deke could offer him was LMP of A14 - which he refused because (a)he couldn't command the mission, as Shepard was the commander and (b) he said that Shepard was "lazy and inexperienced", "was used to being carried by others" and "did the minimum amount of work required to do anything". Basically, McDivvit went off on a rant about Shepard that was not complimentary at all. He also said that had Shepard being on A13, his incompetence and inexperience would have killed everyone on board.
Al Worden mentioned in his book about Shepard missing a lot of time conducting personal business when he was Chief of the Astronaut Office.
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Wow. I guess Shepard must have been simply untouchable as the first American (momentarily) in space.
What really got me was the story (from Guenther Wendt?) about Shepard's "joke" on someone at Cape Canaveral. He lent his car to this person who was desperate for a ride somewhere, then called the guard gate to report it stolen. He thought it funny, I thought it shockingly cruel.
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Wow. I guess Shepard must have been simply untouchable as the first American (momentarily) in space.
What really got me was the story (from Guenther Wendt?) about Shepard's "joke" on someone at Cape Canaveral. He lent his car to this person who was desperate for a ride somewhere, then called the guard gate to report it stolen. He thought it funny, I thought it shockingly cruel.
Was that person insured to drive his car?
Cernan did play a cruel joke back on Shepard by putting a dead rattlesnake under his desk. Makes me shudder, especially after seeing True Grit.
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Was that person insured to drive his car?
Once you obtain permission to drive the car, you are covered by the owners insurance. Also, my recollection is that mandatory insurance in Texas did not start until the latter half of the 70's.
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Were there widespread complaints about Shepard's performance on 14? I remember seeing some, particularly their not finding Cone Crater when they were almost on top of it, from people who thought he was too old for the physical demands of a lunar EVA.
I thought that was a little unfair given how much they tried to do without a rover. The rover was introduced precisely because the lower lunar gravity didn't come close to making up for all the sheer effort required to cover significant distances on foot, flexing a pressure suit.
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What I have read left me with the impression that Shepard was more from the "seat of the pants" old school of piloting. As opposed to new school cool and controlled engineer/piloting of some other astronauts. He was well served to have the more new school Ed Mitchel as the LMP. But ultimately, he did his job and his crew got home.
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He was well served to have the more new school Ed Mitchel as the LMP.
Ed Mitchell is my LEAST favorite Apollo astronaut. I think he's a nut-job. I was reading Gene Kranz's excellent book and thinking -- about Mitchell -- how in the hell did this guy pass the psychological evaluations to become an astronaut?
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Here's another one:
One of the FIDO flight controllers 'invented' the nickname "Captain REFSMMAT". What was his name? And what was the name of the 'enemy' of the Captain?
Ah-ha! I know this.
John Llewyen (not sure if that's how to spell it) came up with REFSMMAT. I don't know the name of his enemy, though.
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He was well served to have the more new school Ed Mitchel as the LMP.
Ed Mitchell is my LEAST favorite Apollo astronaut. I think he's a nut-job. I was reading Gene Kranz's excellent book and thinking -- about Mitchell -- how in the hell did this guy pass the psychological evaluations to become an astronaut?
Because he, like most of us, was able to separate his speculative thinking from his practical work. While Michell's beliefs would have been a PR embarrassment for NASA, they apparently didn't interfere with his technical skills. Whatever else he may have been, he did have a tremendous understanding of the LM that could serve to offset Shepard's technical deficits. I think of this in contrast to A17, with scientist/astronaut Schmitt as the LMP, a man who had far less knowledge of engineering.
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Victor Vector was Captain Refsmmat's enemy. I can't help thinking of the movie Airplane! right now... :D
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/quotes?qt=qt0484135
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Because he, like most of us, was able to separate his speculative thinking from his practical work. While Michell's beliefs would have been a PR embarrassment for NASA, they apparently didn't interfere with his technical skills. Whatever else he may have been, he did have a tremendous understanding of the LM that could serve to offset Shepard's technical deficits. I think of this in contrast to A17, with scientist/astronaut Schmitt as the LMP, a man who had far less knowledge of engineering.
During the abort scare through PD on Apollo 14, Ed Mitchell almost reacted off of his "psychic powers". Not someone I want to be flying with.
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Here's one. C.C. Williams was able to turn the tables on Wally Schirra with his constant findings of "FLR"'s. What was he referring to?
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Wow. I guess Shepard must have been simply untouchable as the first American (momentarily) in space.
What really got me was the story (from Guenther Wendt?) about Shepard's "joke" on someone at Cape Canaveral. He lent his car to this person who was desperate for a ride somewhere, then called the guard gate to report it stolen. He thought it funny, I thought it shockingly cruel.
Gus Grissom did something similar to Al during the Mercury program, which was mentioned in his biography. Namely, the Mercury 7 were staying in the same hotel and Gus was speeding late at night on his way back to the hotel and got followed by a cop, and upon realising this Gus parked his car outside Al's room and ran back to his own room. The cop who followed him back to the hotel checked all the cars for signs of recent use (i.e. engine warmth) and when he found the hot car outside Al's room, banged on the door and when Al answered it he arrested him for speeding.
This is the book I got it from:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gus-Grissom-Astronaut-Indiana-Biography/dp/0871951762/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339885138&sr=8-1 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gus-Grissom-Astronaut-Indiana-Biography/dp/0871951762/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339885138&sr=8-1)
A rather nice, if somewhat short book, in which Gus comes across as a really nice guy.
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Vincent, I think you're being overly hard on Ed Mitchell. Yeah, his psychic stuff was just plain embarrassing but I can't say he didn't do his job well as LMP. And that's what counted.
Astronauts were selected for their capability to do what astronauts do. They were not selected because they were the people you'd like to be buddies with, marry your daughter, or (most famously) be really good public speakers.
Some were downright misanthropic, or guys you'd shoot on sight if they came within hundred yards of your daughter, or were absolutely terrible public speakers. Those traits weren't relevant to the job description.
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Ed Mitchell is my LEAST favorite Apollo astronaut. I think he's a nut-job.
At an Autographica in London in October 2011 I saw Ed Mitchell in a 30 minute talk and he came across as distinctly odd, but likeable with it, a kind of dotty old grandpa that your parents tell you not to take too seriously.
He talked about his investigations into UFOs (they visited earth, but he hasn't seen one), psychic powers (they exist) and how he his kidney cancer was healed by teenage remote healer from Vancouver.
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Astronauts were selected for their capability to do what astronauts do.
Deke's philosophy in a nutshell.
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Who smuggled the first food aboard a space flight and what was it?
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John Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich onto Gemini 3, but it was Wally Schirra's idea.
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Which Apollo astronaut flew in a LM on two separate occasions?
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Which Apollo astronaut flew in a LM on two separate occasions?
That one's easy. Gene Cernan.
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And if you are a U.S. Netflix subscriber http://www.apollohoax.net/forum/index.php?topic=37.msg3381#new (http://www.apollohoax.net/forum/index.php?topic=37.msg3381#new)
And remember there is no stopping in the red zone.
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What do Apollo 10 and 11 have in common?
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What do Apollo 10 and 11 have in common?
None of the crew members were rookies.
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None of the crew members were rookies.
That's right.
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Gene Kranz chose one of Apollo 17's wake-up calls. What song was it?
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Gene Kranz chose one of Apollo 17's wake-up calls. What song was it?
The Carpenters, We've Only Just Begun.
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The LRV was powered by four small electric motors in each wheel. The motors each produced how many HP?
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The LRV was powered by four small electric motors in each wheel. The motors each produced how many HP?
0.1
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From The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_lrv.htm)
Each wheel had its own electric drive, a DC series wound 0.25 hp motor capable of 10,000 rpm, attached to the wheel via an 80:1 harmonic drive, and a mechanical brake unit.
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What special items were taken aboard Apollo 14 because of CMP Roosa's pre Air Force employment.
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What special items were taken aboard Apollo 14 because of CMP Roosa's pre Air Force employment.
A variety of tree seeds (to be planted later and grow into "Moon Trees"). Roosa was a smoke jumper for the Forest Service.
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Is this the tree in question?
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Corrected link
The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_lrv.html)
Is this the tree in question?
Don't know for sure about that tree, but here is the NASA page. It has the known locations of the trees.
The Moon Trees (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html)
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Each wheel had its own electric drive, a DC series wound 0.25 hp motor
That may not sound like much, but most of the power required to keep a car going at freeway speed on the earth is in overcoming aerodynamic drag -- of which there is none on the moon. Most of the rest goes to rolling resistance, which with everything else constant, increases linearly with the weight of the vehicle -- which is of course only 1/6 what it would be on the earth.
On the other hand, the lunar surface isn't exactly a high performance roadway.
So, I wonder -- assume we did have paved roads on the moon. How much power would it take to drive a typical earth automobile at typical freeway speeds on level lunar ground?
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How many $ per pound of weight saved did NASA pay Grumman in order to reduce the mass of the LM? And what were the weight loss programs called?
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I just worked out my own answer for the mileage of an electric car on the moon.
I drive a Nissan Leaf. Using a spreadsheet I just wrote, and plugging in the best numbers I could find for the Leaf's usable battery capacity, drag, efficiency and overhead power, it gives me an estimated range-per-charge at 65 mph of 77 miles. The actual figure varies due to many factors, but this is pretty close.
Simply setting air density to 0 and the gravity to 1.622 m/s2 increases the range per charge at 65 mph to 888 miles. Not bad at all...
On earth, in air, range drops substantially at higher speed because aerodynamic drag force increases with the square of the velocity. Rolling resistance is constant with velocity, but varies directly with vehicle weight. So on the moon, aerodynamic drag goes away and rolling resistance drops to 1/6 of its earth value. Range actually increases with speed because the car's own overhead consumes more energy when the car is driven for a longer time.
This does assume paved roads...
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I just worked out my own answer for the mileage of an electric car on the moon.
I drive a Nissan Leaf. Using a spreadsheet I just wrote, and plugging in the best numbers I could find for the Leaf's usable battery capacity, drag, efficiency and overhead power, it gives me an estimated range-per-charge at 65 mph of 77 miles. The actual figure varies due to many factors, but this is pretty close.
Simply setting air density to 0 and the gravity to 1.622 m/s2 increases the range per charge at 65 mph to 888 miles. Not bad at all...
On earth, in air, range drops substantially at higher speed because aerodynamic drag force increases with the square of the velocity. Rolling resistance is constant with velocity, but varies directly with vehicle weight. So on the moon, aerodynamic drag goes away and rolling resistance drops to 1/6 of its earth value. Range actually increases with speed because the car's own overhead consumes more energy when the car is driven for a longer time.
This does assume paved roads...
What about modifications to allow your car to operate in a vacuum? How are you going to cool it?
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You mean a Leaf isn't cool enough, just on its own?
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Like most modern electric cars, the Leaf uses liquid cooling for the motor and electronics, dumping heat into a radiator with a fan. So yeah, it would require modification to work in a vacuum. The radiator designed to dump heat into the air would have to be replaced with a radiator designed to work by pure radiation, and it might have to operate at a higher temperature to be of a practical size. In extreme cases it might have to use a sublimator, but that would be highly undesirable because of its water consumption.
Of course, the fact that power consumption is so low because of the lack of atmospheric drag and the greatly reduced rolling resistance means less waste heat to get rid of in the first place. At 65 mph the rolling resistance that remains is 935 W, which is dissipated in the tires. I don't know if they would need active cooling, but the motor (90% efficiency) would lose only 104W and the electronics about 160W. I should probably take out the HVAC since the passengers will probably carry their own.
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With the electronics overhead reduced to 160W (apparently more accurate than 250W) and the HVAC load reduced to 0 W, the Leaf's range on the moon increases to 1,138 miles. Not bad...
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Note that the 4 motors on the actual Apollo LRV were each rated at 1/4 HP. A full HP is 746 W and the Leaf has only 935 W of rolling resistance at 65 mph, so given the LRV's lower mass it quite likely could have made it to 65 mph on a level paved road on the moon. Extra power or lower speed would be needed to climb hills.
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The Apollo LRV had a "curb weight" (mass) of 210 kg and could carry a payload of 490 kg. The batteries were rated at 121 amp-hour at 36V; that's 4.356 kWh. I can't find the rolling resistance coefficient for the tires.
I wonder if it would be possible to show that attaining the demonstrated lunar performance of the LRV on the earth would have exceeded the known battery technology, thus providing additional evidence that the lunar missions were real. Of course, those who deny them wouldn't accept such an esoteric argument anyway.
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ON the moon your Leaf be even more like the LRV than I thought because the LRV also had a passive heat radiator. Brushing the dirt off at every stop would get very tiring, so I am volunteering to do it for you. When do we leave?
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As I recall, the thermal problems with the LRV were primarily (or entirely) with the batteries. They got warm during driving, and the covers that kept dust off them got dirty themselves and either absorbed more sunlight or would not radiate heat as efficiently as expected. They had to be opened when the LRV was parked to let the batteries cool off directly to space.
A lot of the thermal problems on the lunar surface involved overheating due to dust accumulation. It seems to be a real problem.
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Let's see. A perfect thermal radiator, i.e, one with an alpha (visible/near IR absorptivity) of 0 and an epsilon (emissivity in far IR) of 1 would radiate 617 W/m^2 at 50C into a dark sky at 0 K. 50C is a reasonable temperature for electronics and electrical equipment, though probably not for batteries. If the temperature had to be only 20C, then it could radiate 418 W/m^2. That's not too bad for a lunar rover, especially as drag would not be an issue. But it does show why a radiator would be impractical on a PLSS that has to produce chilled water at below body temperature.
The sun wouldn't be a problem for our radiator because it's so small that its far-IR flux is negligible compared to its visible/near IR flux that our radiator would perfectly reflect. The warm lunar surface would be a problem, so the radiator should face straight up.
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How many $ per pound of weight saved did NASA pay Grumman in order to reduce the mass of the LM? And what were the weight loss programs called?
The weight loss program was called "Operation scrape" and I think they offered either $1000 or $10000 per lb saved.
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What do Jim McDivvit, Neil Armstrong and Frank Borman have in common?
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What do Jim McDivvit, Neil Armstrong and Frank Borman have in common?
They were the only three of the new nine to be in command of their first mission.
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The weight loss program was called "Operation scrape"
Correct. But there also was a major study to review the design and to challenge the subcontractors to reduce the weight further. What was that called?
and I think they offered either $1000 or $10000 per lb saved.
Nope. ;)
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Saving weight was obviously very important in the LM. But there's an obvious threat to safety or at least reliability if you go too far. E.g,. you could save a lot of weight by removing redundant hardware.
In these programs, who ruled on the safety of each proposed weight-saving measure?
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What did John Young dub the group that consisted of 19 astronauts?
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What did John Young dub the group that consisted of 19 astronauts?
The original 19.
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What did John Young dub the group that consisted of 19 astronauts?
The original 19.
LOL. When I first read that in Carrying the Fire I was laughing aloud in class.
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LOL. When I first read that in Carrying the Fire I was laughing aloud in class.
But did you believe any of it?
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But did you believe any of it?
Of course I did. Michael Collins is a personal role model to me.
In short, that guy is a boss. I believe he did everything he said he did. I believe his Gemini 10 spacewalk and entire mission happened the way he said it did. I believe he flew to the moon and ran several orbits at ~100 kilometers. If I am disappointed in Collins for one thing it's that he didn't stay in the program long enough for a landing mission. He deserved a moon walk for all the work he put into Apollo 11.
(Edited to add a tiny bit about Collins)