FUCHT International, 16 January 1969
the count-down to LOI (lunar orbit injection) started on the
display on the Apollo instrument panel. And at LOI — 5sec,
the computer came up with its final "go-no go" query. Borman
punched the "proceed" key, the SPS burned for 4min 6.5sec
(within 0.5sec of the nominal value) and Apollo braked by
2,991 ft/see and went into lunar orbit.
The second, 9seo (dV 135ft/sec) burn which circularised the
orbit was also within lsec of nominal, and Apollo continued
its 10-orbit, 20hr lunar excursion. But 20min before each
successive loss of signal as Apollo 8 swung behind the western
limb of the Moon, the erasable memory of the on-board
computer was updated with instructions for a return to Earth,
and a T E I could have been carried out on any of the passes
over the far side.
Description of the Moon's surface
The astronauts' TV shows, their reading of Genesis, and
Anders' brisk familiarity with the lunar landscape have already
been reported. More important for the success of the landing
missions, Anders was able easily to identify landing site
II-P-2 in the Sea of Tranquillity (henceforth to be known as
N o 1 by NASA and illustrated in Flight last week).
Equally interesting was Anders' description of the rounded
edges of the terraced lunar craters (presumably due to meteoric
"weathering"), and his report that the mysterious straight rays
which radiate from craters and give the full Moon its wellknown appearance of a peeled orange, appeared mere surface
discolorations without height or depth. Neither were perhaps
epochal astronomical discoveries, but nevertheless points that
300 years of telescopic observation and half a decade of
automatic probes, soft landers and orbiters had failed to settle,
now cleared up in a split second by what the R A F used to
call "The Mkl Eyeball," whose day is perhaps not quite done.
TEI was a heart-stopping moment at Houston when it came.
But that seems a long time ago. Now one need merely report
that the burn was 3min 23.7sec—just 2sec short of nominal.
Only one of the three planned corrections had to be made
during trans-Earth coast, a 14sec 5ft/sec dV which put Apollo 8
as nearly as could be judged plumb in the centre of its 27 n.m.
re-entry corridor into the Earth's atmosphere for a splash
down barely three miles from their recovery carrier Yorktown
—not bad marksmanship from more than, 200,000 miles.
Indeed, perhaps the mission was a little too nominal at this
stage. The astronauts arrived so precisely at the very beginning
of their landing "window" that they had more than an hour
bobbing about in a 4ft sea waiting for daybreak and release
from their 12ft command module. The SPS had burned for a
total of just over 7min 41sec during the mission, just over
half the service life of 12imin guaranteed by its makers, and
performed all the manoeuvres needed on a landing mission.
The RCS system, having had to make only two out of seven
scheduled mid-course burns, was also reported to have fuel
reserves "well above nominal" just before the service module
was jettisoned for re-entry, and had maintained without difficulty all the re-alignments needed for burns, sightings, TV
transmissions and the (0.5 rev/hour) "barbecue" roll to even
out solar heating effects.
A s the hallmark of the near-perfect mission, George Low,
the Apollo Programme Manager, claimed that in Mission
Control they had to reach for the snag sheet so seldom they
almost forgot they had one. Among the "anomalies" now being
gravely studied at Houston are the fraying of Col Borman's
bootees, and a noisy cabin fan.
Something potentially more hazardous was the odd way in
which Borman reported sick. He was clearly quite ill, and
vomited twice, with symptoms alarmingly like Asian 'flu on
the first day of the mission. This was not reported until 5hr
later, and then only on the end of a " d u m p " of taped information not of immediate importance; so that there was a further
delay before Mission Control spotted it.
"A very bad way to report symptoms," said the astronauts'
doctor Charles Berry, tersely; and at one time it looked as if
the world's first space skipper was in for a rocket of Saturnian
dimensions on his return. But his self-diagnosis turned out
correct; if anything, it was only 24hr intestinal 'flu, and did
not spread to either of his companions. In view of the 100 per
cent plus success of Apollo 8 NASA is expected to forget
about it.
T h e one major problem was the fogging of three of the
command module's five windows—one, which NASA recognises, simply has to be resolved now. Any recurrence o n a
landing mission, where the two astronauts in the lunar module
will be relying on perfect forward vision and also on back up
tracking of their vehicle from the CM pilot remaining in orbit
above them could end at best in a £70 million abort and at
worst, in disaster.
North American Rockwell spacecraft experts are pretty
certain that it is caused by outgassing from the silicone insulation between the outer and inner window panes, and can be
cured by pre-heating in a vacuum. They plan to try this fix
on at least one of the windows on the Apollo 9 CM during
preparations for its February 28 launch, and since the LM does
not have the same insulation space, it is hoped it may also
escape this problem.
So all eyes are now on Apollo 9 (CSM 104, LM 3 and
Saturn 504). Although less hazardous and certainly less spectacular than 8, it will be in the words of Apollo Director Gen
Samuel Phillips, a "tough mission."
It will be the first test of the lunar module, which can
variously be regarded as a fourth-generation spacecraft, or the
first of an entirely new generation—incapable of re-entry, not
designed to operate in more than one-sixth of Earth gravity,
and really only susceptible to testing in its true environment of
space.
'
-
Plans for Apollos 10, 11, 12 and 13
Apollo 10, to follow in May/June (CSM 106, LM 4 and
Saturn 505) is the original circumlunar Mission F proposed
by NASA a year ago. It will now include a descent in the
LM to within 50,000ft of the lunar surface. But Gen Phillips
disposed of suggestions that Cdr Thomas Stafford might be
given a landing option. LM 4 is not configured for a landing
from an engineering point of view, however well its predecessor
'
performs in February. Nor is there any possibility of switching j
lunar modules, as the Apollo 10 vehicle is already being
stacked in the vehicle assembly building at Cape Kennedy.
The most that could be hoped for—"an extremely ambitious
option"—is that NASA could bypass Apollo 10 altogether and •
go straight to Apollo 11, Mission G, the landing. This would j
in any case mean a two-month delay.
.
So July is the earliest possible for a landing. Taking:a more
cautious view, with Apollo 12 and 13 also scheduled for launch
by the end of 1969, NASA has also the option of another
'
lunar "recce," or another Earth-orbit rehearsal, or both, and
still keep John F. Kennedy's "end of the decade" deadline, j
The July window is open from the 15th to the 22nd.
Apollo 8 planners cheated a little on the lunar lighting con- .
straint in allowing a consecutive seven-day launch plan;
although as it turned out the Sun was at the right elevation
over the first and most easterly of the five primary landing i
sites, near the southern "shore" of the Sea of Tranquillity.
For an actual landing there would be five, non-consecutive,
days out of the seven on which one site would be available.
If delayed, the mission would have to wait for sunrise to move i
across the Moon to illuminate in turn site N o 2, also in
Tranquillity; N o 3 in the Central Bay; and sites 4 and 5, close
together in the Ocean of Storms towards the western limb
of the Moon (a waning Moon cannot be used for a landing i
window, as the Sun would be in the astronaut's eyes).
On previous engineering form, there now seems no reason !
why Apollo 11 should not be in a " g o " condition at the
opening of the July window. July 18, 1969, would seem a
good bet for the day of the First Men on the Moon.
>
P.S. Meanwhile, back at the cosmodrome, what's occurring,
comrades?
Top space spokesmen Keldysh and Sedov are now virtually ,
conceding the Moon race to the Americans; a position they
have been gingerly edging towards ever since last summer.