Science Training History of the Apollo Astronauts William C
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NASA/SP-2015-626 Science Training History of the Apollo Astronauts William C. Phinney National Aeronautics and Space Administration Apollo 17 crewmembers Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt conducting a practice EVA in the southern Nevada Volcanic Field near Tonopah, NV (NASA Photograph AS17-S72-48930). ii NASA/SP-2015-626 Science Training History of the Apollo Astronauts William C. Phinney National Aeronautics and Space Administration Cover photographs: From top: Apollo 13 Commander (CDR) James Lovell, left, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Fred Haise during a geologic training trip to Kilbourne Hole, NM, November 1969 (NASA Photography S69- 25199); (Center) Apollo 16 LMP Charles Duke (left) and CDR John W. Young (right) during a practice EVA at Sudbury Crater, Ontario, Canada, July 1971 (NASA Photograph AS16-S71-39840); Apollo 17 LMP Harrison Schmitt (left) and CDR Eugene Cernan (right) during a practive EVA at Lunar Crater Volcanic Field, Tonopah, Nevada, September 1972 (NASA Photograph AS17-S72-48895); Apollo 15 CDR David Scott (left) and James Irwin (right) during practice geologic EVA training at the Rio Grande Gorge, Taos, NM, March 1971 (NASA Photograph AS15-S71-23773) iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I retired from NASA several of my coworkers, particularly Dave McKay and Everett Gibson, suggested that, given my past role as the coordinator for the science training of the Apollo astronauts, I should put together a history of what was involved in that training. Because it had been nearly twenty-five years since the end of Apollo they pointed out that many of the persons involved in that training might not be around when advice might be sought for future missions of this type. The difficult lessons learned during that training should be made available in print for the benefit of any similar programs in the future. With financial aid from NASA the work got underway with interviews, collection of files & photos, visits to archives, and assembly of notes from individuals who were involved. Thanks are due to: Mike McEwen, Dave McKay, Gordie Swann, Bill Muehlberger, Gene Shoemaker, Jack Sevier, Jim Head, Farouk El-Baz, Gerry Schaber, Jack Schmitt, John Young, and John Dietrich for taking the time to discuss with me their roles in and assessments of the training as well as providing copies of documents and photos that were crucial to the accuracy of the history; Ray Zedekar for providing the detailed daily schedules of the various Apollo crews; Paul Lowman for providing several documents regarding early astronaut training; and Gary Lofgren, Fred Horz, and Don Morrison for providing copies of the detailed schedules that they kept as science trainers for the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 crews respectively. Special thanks go to Uel Clanton who allowed me to spend a few days with him at his home going through his extensive collections of recordings and documents as well as his personal recollections of the early training. Two other persons who deserve special thanks are Jodie Swann who led me through the maze of USGS documents to glean the useful ones and Pat Patnesky, the official NASA photographer throughout the training, who helped select a few photos from the thousands that he had taken. Thanks are also due to the helpful staffs during my visits to the National Archives Pacific Region at Laguna Niguel, California and The University of New Mexico Libraries at Albuquerque. Their aid in finding the proper boxes in their storage areas and copying and mailing to me the selected documents was invaluable. And finally the persistence of Dean Eppler in getting the completed history out of limbo and off to publication is greatly appreciated. v Table of Contents Section I: GENERAL OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................. 1 1. Background and Rationale ............................................................................................................................... 1 2. Recommendations ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Section II: EARLY GENERAL TRAINING ............................................................................................................. 11 1. Introduction (Setting the Stage) ...................................................................................................................... 11 2. Early attempts at science in space on manned flights ..................................................................................... 16 3. The influence of Apollo commences .............................................................................................................. 21 4. Apparent conflicts .......................................................................................................................................... 31 5. Facilities ......................................................................................................................................................... 34 6. Flagstaff simulations, time-motion studies, tools, etc. ................................................................................... 41 7. Setting up the training by USGS and MSC .................................................................................................... 48 8. The training itself ........................................................................................................................................... 54 9. Departure of USGS Group from Houston ...................................................................................................... 58 10. Continuation of the training after USGS departure ...................................................................................... 61 11. Reactions of astronauts to training ............................................................................................................... 69 Section III: MISSION-ORIENTED TRAINING ....................................................................................................... 71 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 71 2. Groups involved in science training ............................................................................................................... 71 3. Interfacing with advisory committees ............................................................................................................ 78 4. Integration of groups and disciplines in traverse planning ............................................................................. 89 5. Rationale for content and types of training ..................................................................................................... 93 6. Field training for surface-science procedures ................................................................................................. 98 7. Command Module training for orbital science ............................................................................................. 133 8. Simulations based on lunar traverses ............................................................................................................ 149 9. Evolution of organizations, procedures, and tools ........................................................................................ 150 Section IV: SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................................... 168 1. Background of the problems......................................................................................................................... 168 2. Overcoming the problems ............................................................................................................................ 169 3. Successes and disappointments in the training ............................................................................................. 171 4. Recommendations for future training efforts of this nature .......................................................................... 176 Section V: APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................ 179 APPENDIX A: TRAINING SCHEDULES: EARLY TRAINING ..................................................................... 179 APPENDIX B: OUTLINE OF COURSE CONTENT: ....................................................................................... 198 APPENDIX C: BOOKS AND SUPPLIES FOR GEOLOGY TRAINING OF ASTRONAUTS, 1964 .............. 214 APPENDIX D: EVALUATION FORM FOR FIRST SET OF GEOLOGY TRAINING ................................... 216 vi APPENDIX E: GEOLOGY FIELD EXERCISES: EARLY TRAINING ........................................................... 219 APPENDIX F: ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTS FOR SCIENCE TRAINING AT MSC: 1963-1970 ............... 226 APPENDIX G: SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS ON THE APOLLO MISSIONS ................................................... 230 APPENDIX I: GEOLOGY FIELD EXERCISES FOR APOLLO MISSIONS .................................................... 232 APPENDIX J: APOLLO 14 SCIENCE TRAINING SCHEDULE ...................................................................... 256 APPENDIX K: APOLLO 15 SCIENCE TRAINING SCHEDULE ..................................................................... 258 APPENDIX L: INFORMAL NAMES