DOCSLIB.ORG

Apollo Physicist Launches Noisy Dustup Over Old Moon Data

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Apollo Physicist Launches Noisy Dustup Over Old Moon Data NEWS&ANALYSIS LUNAR SCIENCE Lewis dismisses that idea. Electrical noise interference was the very fi rst thing the LEAM team considered when the unex- Apollo Physicist Launches Noisy pected results came in, he says. And the team corrected for the interference between Dustup Over Old Moon Data the lunar instruments found in the labora- tory. O’Brien “paints a picture of these heat- Whipping around the moon in the solar sys- dust is fl ying around to calibrate measure- ers cycling on and off and on and off, … but tem’s loneliest spaceship, Apollo 8 astronaut ments, says physicist Eberhard Grün of the that’s not the way it worked,” Lewis says. The James Lovell saw something in 1968 that he Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in heaters turned on only once, at sunset, he shouldn’t have: a gentle illumination, like a Heidelberg, Germany, and the University of says, and remained active through the night. sunrise or sunset on Earth, hovered where Colorado, Boulder. Dust creates practical One of the technicians responsible for the sun’s light cast its sharp shadow on the problems, too. Surveyor 3, a robotic lander building LEAM, Derek Perkins, also rejects moon’s surface. Yet the moon has no atmo- sent to the moon in 1967, showed signs of O’Brien’s analysis. In an e-mail Lewis for- sphere to catch the sun’s rays and create such serious dust abrasion when it was collected warded to Science, Perkins notes the results of a spectacle. 2 years later by Apollo 12 astronauts. Other astronauts and photos from Sur- Dust also darkened the moon explor- veyor moon landers confi rmed the horizon ers’ suits, heating them beyond the glow. So scientists hypothesized that lunar cooling systems’ capacity, and the dust was picking up enough of an electric particles’ sharp, glassy edges caused charge from cosmic rays or the solar wind to leaks in the suits. drive it tens of kilometers into the otherwise NASA designed the LEAM experi- vacant lunar sky and cause the light show. ment, installed near the Apollo 17 land- A particle monitoring instrument, the Lunar ing site in December 1972, to detect Ejecta and Meteorites (LEAM) experiment, a predicted continual rain of fast- on June 23, 2011 placed on the moon 4 years later seemed to moving microme- provide corroborating data. teorites and the fine But now a former Apollo physicist is lunar dust they kicked threatening to take the glow off this expla- up upon impact. Yet nation. Brian O’Brien, who helped design LEAM recorded the dust monitors for Apollo 11, 12, 14, and 15, most activity at lunar argues in a review published online recently sunrise or sunset. The types of events by Planetary and Space Science that much recorded were odd as well: They sat- Heater debate. The Apollo 17 LEAM instrument (foreground) www.sciencemag.org of the LEAM data were not detections of urated the instrument’s sensors and was thought to have detected fl oating dust that could explain charged lunar dust particles but instead lasted longer than they should have if the lunar horizon glow (inset), but that may have been inter- electrical interference generated by the caused by fast interplanetary particles. ference from heaters on nearby instruments (background). Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Pack- Lunar scientists later concluded age (ALSEP) instruments parked 7.5 meters that LEAM was seeing slow-moving a simulation using the backup LEAM instru- away from LEAM. charged dust particles close to the ground. ment in 1976. In that study, Perkins simulated That claim has roused other Apollo sci- Perhaps as sunlight struck the moon and fi ring slow-moving, highly charged particles, entists and engineers out of retirement. “I’m charged some dust particles but not neigh- similar to the lunar dust hypothesized to be Downloaded from amazed that Planetary and Space Science boring ones still in the shade, the difference responsible for the horizon glow, at the instru- accepted Brian’s paper,” says Lynn Lewis, the in electrical charges would drag lighter par- ment and found a detection response similar ALSEP systems manager and chair of a group ticles around the surface or even into the to that of the Apollo 17 experiment. trying to fi nd missing data from the package. sky, they hypothesized. If such particles also A conclusive answer to the LEAM debate The nostalgic dustup comes as NASA fl oated kilometers higher, then the LEAM may never come. The ALSEP data recovery prepares for the 2013 launch of the Lunar data might support the idea that the horizon group has located only a few months’ worth of Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer glow was lunar dust. LEAM raw data so far. “It’s sad that we don’t (LADEE), a lunar satellite whose instruments But in his new paper, O’Brien, who was have enough data in hand to really do the anal- could resolve whether such charged particles at Rice University in Houston, Texas, at ysis,” says physicist Mihály Horányi of the exist and how they move above the moon. the time of the Apollo missions, questions University of Colorado, Boulder. Horányi, Many of the participants will face off at next whether the LEAM data represent dust. For who, as an editor of the lunar dust special month’s 4th NASA Lunar Science Forum at example, he says that too many of the unex- issue of Planetary and Space Science, invited Ames Research Park in California. pected signals arrive in well-ordered bursts to O’Brien to submit his review, is the principal Lunar dust, and dust on other rocky be from slow-moving, charged dust. He also investigator on a dust detector set to fl y aboard planets and asteroids, is important to space points to reports of electrical interference in LADEE. That experiment should detect any exploration for several reasons. Research- prefl ight laboratory tests of the instrument. particles fl ying about 20 kilometers above the ers who count craters on airless, waterless Instead, O’Brien writes, the signals captured lunar surface. And if it works, lunar research- bodies or analyze the chemistry of their by LEAM occurred when ALSEP turned on ers may fi nally decipher what Lovell saw. rocky surfaces to try to estimate their age or off the electricity for the heaters it needed –LUCAS LAURSEN CREDITS: NASA and composition need to know how much to survive the lunar nights. Lucas Laursen is a writer in Zurich, Switzerland. www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 332 24 JUNE 2011 1493 Published by AAAS.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • UAD Instance Chart 04.06.15 11:14
    UAD Instance Chart 04.06.15 11:14 Search Site Hardware UAD-2 + Plug-Ins Store Blog Support About My.Uaudio Pressroom Contact Cart SUBSCRIBE TO THE Enter your email address Home > Support > UAD Support > UAD Compatibility > UAD Instance Chart UA NEWSLETTER UAD Instance Chart Online Support About This Chart The following table indicates DSP usage and instance counts for UAD Powered Plug-Ins. See bottom of page for more details about the chart. UAD Powered Plug-In DSP % SOLO DUO QUAD OCTO Contact Us Mono Stereo Mono Stereo Mono Stereo Mono Stereo Mono Stereo Phone Support 4K Buss Compressor 2.8% 3.4% 35 29 70 58 140 116 280 232 USA (toll free) 877-698-2834 4K Channel Strip * 7.4% 11.4% 17 11 34 22 68 44 136 88 International Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder 17.6% 29.0% 5 3 10 6 20 12 40 24 +1-831-440-1176 AMS RMX16 Digital Reverb 40.6% 41.1% 2 2 4 4 8 8 16 16 Germany, Austria, and Switzerland +31 (0) 20 800 4912 API 550A EQ 7.2% 11.7% 13 8 26 16 52 32 104 64 Fax +1-831-461-1550 API 560 EQ 9.2% 15.5% 10 6 20 12 40 24 80 48 Customer support is available from 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday, PST API Vision Channel Strip * 22.4% 29.7% 4 3 8 6 16 12 32 24 Contact Support Bermuda Triangle 14.3% 28.4% 7 3 14 6 28 12 56 24 Submit a Request bx_digital V2 EQ & De-Esser 3.4% 4.9% N/A 20 N/A 40 N/A 80 N/A 160 Press, Review, and Advertising Inquiries Amanda Whiting bx_digital V2 Mono EQ & De-Esser 3.4% 3.8% 29 20 58 40 116 80 232 160 +1-831-440-1176 bx_refinement 12.3% 11.9% 7 7 14 14 28 28 56 56 Mailing Address Universal Audio, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • PEANUTS and SPACE FOUNDATION Apollo and Beyond
    Reproducible Master PEANUTS and SPACE FOUNDATION Apollo and Beyond GRADE 4 – 5 OBJECTIVES PAGE 1 Students will: ö Read Snoopy, First Beagle on the Moon! and Shoot for the Moon, Snoopy! ö Learn facts about the Apollo Moon missions. ö Use this information to complete a fill-in-the-blank fact worksheet. ö Create mission objectives for a brand new mission to the moon. SUGGESTED GRADE LEVELS 4 – 5 SUBJECT AREAS Space Science, History TIMELINE 30 – 45 minutes NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS ö 5-ESS1 ESS1.B Earth and the Solar System ö 3-5-ETS1 ETS1.B Developing Possible Solutions 21st CENTURY ESSENTIAL SKILLS Collaboration and Teamwork, Communication, Information Literacy, Flexibility, Leadership, Initiative, Organizing Concepts, Obtaining/Evaluating/Communicating Ideas BACKGROUND ö According to NASA.gov, NASA has proudly shared an association with Charles M. Schulz and his American icon Snoopy since Apollo missions began in the 1960s. Schulz created comic strips depicting Snoopy on the Moon, capturing public excitement about America’s achievements in space. In May 1969, Apollo 10 astronauts traveled to the Moon for a final trial run before the lunar landings took place on later missions. Because that mission required the lunar module to skim within 50,000 feet of the Moon’s surface and “snoop around” to determine the landing site for Apollo 11, the crew named the lunar module Snoopy. The command module was named Charlie Brown, after Snoopy’s loyal owner. These books are a united effort between Peanuts Worldwide, NASA and Simon & Schuster to generate interest in space among today’s younger children.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Reading Athenaios' Epigraphical Hymn to Apollo: Critical Edition And
    Reading Athenaios’ Epigraphical Hymn to Apollo: Critical Edition and Commentaries DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Corey M. Hackworth Graduate Program in Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Fritz Graf, Advisor Benjamin Acosta-Hughes Carolina López-Ruiz 1 Copyright by Corey M. Hackworth 2015 2 Abstract This dissertation is a study of the Epigraphical Hymn to Apollo that was found at Delphi in 1893, and since attributed to Athenaios. It is believed to have been performed as part of the Athenian Pythaïdes festival in the year 128/7 BCE. After a brief introduction to the hymn, I provide a survey and history of the most important editions of the text. I offer a new critical edition equipped with a detailed apparatus. This is followed by an extended epigraphical commentary which aims to describe the history of, and arguments for and and against, readings of the text as well as proposed supplements and restorations. The guiding principle of this edition is a conservative one—to indicate where there is uncertainty, and to avoid relying on other, similar, texts as a resource for textual restoration. A commentary follows, which traces word usage and history, in an attempt to explore how an audience might have responded to the various choices of vocabulary employed throughout the text. Emphasis is placed on Athenaios’ predilection to utilize new words, as well as words that are non-traditional for Apolline narrative. The commentary considers what role prior word usage (texts) may have played as intertexts, or sources of poetic resonance in the ears of an audience.
    [Show full text]
  • Project: Apollo 8
    v ._. I / I NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION TELS WO 2-4155 NEWS WASHINGTON,D.C.20546 • WO 3-6925 FOR RELEASE: SUNDAY December 15, 1968 RELEASE NO: 68.208 P PROJECT: APOLLO 8 R E contents GENERAL RELEASE----------~-------~·~-~-~--~~----~----~-~--~-l-lO MISSION OBJECTIVES------------------------------------------11 SEQUENCE OF EVENTS-------------~-------------~----~----~--~~12-14 5 Launch W1ndow~~-~----~--~-~--~-------~-----~---------w--~-14 MISSION DESCRIPTION-----------------------------------------15-19 FLIGHT PLAN--~---~-----·------------~------~----~---~----~--20-23 ALTERNATE MISSIONS---------------------------------~--------24-26 5 ABORT MODES-----~--------------~--~--~------------~---~~--~-27~29 PHOTOGRAPHIC TASKS------------------------------------------30-32 SPACECRAFT STRUCTURE SYSTEMS--------------------------------33-37 SATURN V LAUNCH VEHICLE-------------------------------------38-50 APOLLO 8 LAUNCH OPERATIONS----------------------------------51.64 MISSION CONTROL CENTER--------------------------------------65-66 MANNED SPACE FLIGHT NETWORK---------------------------------67-71 APOLLO 8 RECOVERY-------------------------------------------72-73 APOLLO 8 CREW-------------~--~--~~-~~---~---~~~-------------74-86 K LUNAR DESCRIPTION-------------------------------------------87-88 APOLLO PROGRAM MANAGEMENT/CONTRACTORS---~-------------------39-94 I APOLLO 8 GLOSSARY-------- -----------------------------------95-101 T -0- 12/6/68 NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION WO 2-4155 NEWS WASHINGTON, D.C. 20546 TELS.
    [Show full text]
  • Apollo 13--200,000Miles from Earth
    Apollo13"Houston,we'vegota ­ problem." ­ EP-76,ProducedbytheO fficeofPublicA ffairs ­ NationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministration ­ W ashington,D.C.20546 ­ U.S.GOVERNM ENT PRINTING OFFICE,1970384-459 ­ NOTE:Nolongerinprint. ­ .pdf version by Jerry Woodfill of the Automation, Robotics, and Simulation Division, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas 77058 . James A. Lovell, Jr., Commander... Fred W. Haise, Jr., Lunar Module Pilot... John L. Swigeft, Jr., Command Module Pilot. SPACECRAFT--Hey, we've got a problem here. Thus, calmly, Command Module Pilot JackSwigert gave the first intimation of serious trouble for Apollo 13--200,000miles from Earth. CAPSULECOMMUNICATOR--ThisisHouston;say again, please. SC--Houston, we've hada problem. We've hada MainBbusundervolt. By "undervolt"Swigert meant a drop in power in one of the Command/Service Module's two main electrical circuits. His report to the ground began the most grippingepisode in man's venture into space. One newspaper reporter called it the most public emergency and the most dramatic rescue in the history of exploration. SC--Andwe hada pretty large bang associatedwith the cautionandwarning here. Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise was now on the voice channel from the spacecraft to the Mission Control Center at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Manned Spacecraft Center in Texas. Commander Jim Lovell would shortly be heard, then again Swigert--the backup crewman who had been thrust onto the first team only two days before launch when doctors feared that Tom Mattingly of the primary crew might come down with German measles. Equally cool, the men in Mission Control acknowledged the report and began the emergency procedures that grew into an effort by hundreds of ground controllers and thousands of technicians and scientists in NaSA contractor plants and On university campuses to solve the most complexand urgent problem yet encountered in space flight.
    [Show full text]
  • Apollo 8 Artifacts Tell the Story of Exploration
    Media Advisory CONTACT: Elizabeth Page (512) 936-4607 [email protected] Helmet worn by Apollo 8 Command Module Pilot James A. Lovell, Jr. On loan from the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Apollo 8 artifacts tell the story of exploration Smithsonian registrar to install items used on famous 1968 mission Items used by astronauts aboard the Apollo 8 mission will be installed June 3 at the Bullock Texas State History Museum as part of "The 1968 Exhibit," opening Saturday, June 7, 2014. A registrar from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum will be in Austin Tuesday to oversee installation of the artifacts on loan as part of the traveling exhibit organized by the Minnesota History Center in partnership with the Atlanta History Center, the Chicago History Museum and the Oakland Museum of California, which is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. "The 1968 Exhibit" will be hosted by the Bullock Museum in Austin from June 7 through September 1, 2014, in the Herzstein Hall. The artifacts are on loan from the National Air and Space Museum. **Installation Event What: Installation of 1968 Apollo 8 artifacts, including a full-scale replica of the Apollo 8 command module , a helmet worn by Command Module Pilot James A. Lovell, Jr.; a flight checklist used by Apollo 8 Lunar Module Pilot William A. Anders; and a chronograph, or watch, worn by Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman. Who: Erik Satrum, Head Registrar, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. When: 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 3, 2014 Where: Bullock Texas State History Museum - Herzstein Hall - 1st floor 1800 N.
    [Show full text]
  • THE EARLY APOLLO PROGRAM Project Apollo Was an American Space Project Which Landed People on the Moon and Brought Them Safely Back to Earth
    AIAA AEROSPACE M ICRO-LESSON Easily digestible Aerospace Principles revealed for K-12 Students and Educators. These lessons will be sent on a bi-weekly basis and allow grade-level focused learning. - AIAA STEM K-12 Committee. THE EARLY APOLLO PROGRAM Project Apollo was an American space project which landed people on the Moon and brought them safely back to Earth. Most people know about Apollo 1, in which three astronauts lost their lives in a fire during a countdown rehearsal, and about Apollo 8, which flew to the Moon, orbited around it, and returned to Earth. Just about everybody knows about Apollo 11, which first landed astronauts on the Moon. But what happened in between these missions? This lesson explores the lesser-known but still essential building blocks of the later missions’ success. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS): ● Discipline: Engineering Design ● Crosscutting Concept: Systems and System Models ● Science & Engineering Practice: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions GRADES K-2 K-2-ETS1-1. Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool. NASA engineers knew that Apollo astronauts would need special training to succeed in their missions to the moon, but how could they train under conditions similar to those the crew would encounter? One answer was to send them to places with barren areas and volcanic features that were like what they expected to find on the lunar surface. The astronauts received geology training as well as practicing maneuvers in their spacesuits and driving a replica of the GRADES K-2 (CONTINUED) lunar rover vehicle.
    [Show full text]
  • Deep Space Navigation: the Apollo VIII Mission
    F EATURE Deep Space Navigation: The Apollo VIII Mission by Paul Ceruzzi things. I remember that one of the Missile Division. For a mission like things that I was concerned with at the Apollo, inertial navigation had several In December 1968 the Apollo VIII time was whether our navigation was challenges. The first is that gyroscopes, mission took three astronauts from the sufficiently accurate, that we could, in which are at the heart of an inertial sys- Earth to an orbit around the Moon and fact, devise a trajectory that would get tem, tend to drift and give erroneous read- back again, safely. It was the first mission us around the Moon at the right dis- ings. The second is that the system needs to carry human beings far enough away tance without, say, hitting the Moon to account for the acceleration of gravity, from the Earth to be influenced primarily on the back side or something like which cannot be distinguished from the by the gravitational field of another heav- that, and if we lost communication accelerations due to a rocket’s thrust or enly body. That mission also marked a with Earth, for whatever reason, could any other accelerating force. number of other famous milestones: the we navigate by ourselves using celes- The drift problem, though serious, first human crew lofted by the Saturn V tial navigation. We thought we could, was manageable for intercontinental bal- booster, the Christmas Eve reading from but these were undemonstrated listic missiles (ICBM), whose rocket the Bible book of Genesis, and the skills.1 motors burn only for a few minutes.
    [Show full text]
  • The Apollo 8 Genesis Reading and Religion in the Space Age’
    Kendrick Oliver, ‘The Apollo 8 Genesis reading and religion in the space age’ ‘We are now approaching lunar sunrise and, for all the people back on earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.’ And with that, the astronauts began to read the first ten verses of Genesis, the biblical account of God’s creation of the cosmos.1 The reading was broadcast live to an international audience of unprecedented size, and it was received for the most part with hosannas of public praise. There was only one notable dissent, from Madalyn Murray O’Hair, an atheist who had been one of the successful plaintiffs in the 1963 Supreme Court case which had resulted in a ban on organized prayer and bible reading in American public schools. As Apollo 8 made its return to the vicinity of earth, O’Hair told a Houston radio station that its astronauts, in reading from the Bible, had been ‘slandering other religions, slandering those persons who do not accept religion’. She announced an intention to start a mail campaign in protest against the reading of prayers and scriptures from space.2 In August 1969, after the flight of Apollo 11 and Buzz Aldrin’s celebration of communion on the moon, O’Hair filed a civil suit against NASA complaining that the actions of the Apollo 8 and 11 astronauts amounted to an establishment of religion. She sought a court order enjoining the agency from directing or permitting further religious activities in space.3 Reports of O’Hair’s intention to campaign against the Apollo 8 Genesis reading provoked a massive and sustained counter-mobilization, which received additional impetus with her filing of the suit in August, and which also endured well past the dismissal of the case in December 1969 and the final exhaustion of appellate options in March 1971.
    [Show full text]
  • Apollo Navigation, Guidance, and Control Systems a Progress Report
    Date&$+& 7 INSTRUMENTATION LABORATORY Presented at the National Space Meeting of the Institute of Navigation, April 22-24, 1969, Houston, Texas. E-2411 APOLLO NAVIGATION, GUIDANCE, AND CONTROL SYSTEMS A PROGRESS REPORT David G. Hoag APRIL 1969 CAMBRIDGE 39, MASSACHUSETTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT This report was prepared under DSR Project 55-23870, sponsored by the Manned Spacecraft Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administr.ation through Contract NAS 9-4065 with the Instrumentation Laboratory of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The publication of this report does not constitute approval by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the findings or the con- clusions contained therein. It is published only for the exchange and stimulation of ideas. E-2411 APOLLO NAVIGATION, GUIDANCE, AND CONTROL SYSTEMS A PROGRESS REPORT ABSTRACT The status of certain aspects of the Apollo navigation, guidance, and control systems in the command module and lunar module are examined on the basis of experience with the first eight development flights . Covered in this paper are facets of the inertial, optical, and computer hardware operation. The application of these hardware subsystems to the digital autopilots, rendezvous navigation, midcourse navigation, and entry are examined. The systems are judged to be fully ready to help a crew of astronauts land on the moon. by David G. Hoag April 1969 TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Title .-Page l-NTRODUCTION . , . , . 1 NAVIGATION, GUIDANCE, AND CONTROL FUNCTIONS . , 1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION. Command Module System . LUNAR MODULE SYSTEM. * * * * * * * * -. *. - . * .4 FLIGHT EXPERIENCE . * ., . .6 THE INERTIAL MEASUREMENT UN‘IT..:. .6 Gyro or Accelerometer Failure Prediction .......... 6 Accelerator Performance. ............. ; ...8 Gyro Performance ...................
    [Show full text]
  • Alactic Observer Gjohn J
    alactic Observer GJohn J. McCarthy Observatory Volume 4, No. 12 December 2011 The Dark Force Dark matter is thought to make up 83 percent of the mass of the universe—but by its nature cannot be seen. However, science can infer the presence of this elusive force by measuring the gravitational warping of light between cluster galaxies and their distant neighbors. The image here, from the Hubble Space Telescope, is of Abell 1689, a super cluster 2.2 billion light years away. The presumed effect of dark matter is represented by blue overlay. For more information on dark matter and dark energy, come to McCarthy Observatory's Second Saturday Stars on December 10. Source: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/Yale/CNRS The John J. McCarthy Observatory Galactic Observvvererer New Milford High School Editorial Committee 388 Danbury Road Managing Editor New Milford, CT 06776 Bill Cloutier Phone/Voice: (860) 210-4117 Production & Design Phone/Fax: (860) 354-1595 Allan Ostergren www.mccarthyobservatory.org Website Development John Gebauer JJMO Staff Josh Reynolds It is through their efforts that the McCarthy Observatory has Technical Support established itself as a significant educational and recreational Bob Lambert resource within the western Connecticut community. Dr. Parker Moreland Steve Barone Allan Ostergren Colin Campbell Cecilia Page Dennis Cartolano Bruno Ranchy Mike Chiarella Josh Reynolds Route Jeff Chodak Barbara Richards Bill Cloutier Monty Robson Charles Copple Don Ross Randy Fender Ned Sheehey John Gebauer Gene Schilling Elaine Green Diana Shervinskie Tina Hartzell Katie Shusdock Tom Heydenburg Jon Wallace Phil Imbrogno Bob Willaum Bob Lambert Paul Woodell Dr. Parker Moreland Amy Ziffer In This Issue THE YEAR OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM ...................................
    [Show full text]
  • NEWSLETTER Apollo 13
    P LANETARY S CIENCE I NSTITUTE NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2010 Vol. 11, No. 2 Est. 1972 www.psi.edu Apollo 13: Forty Years Later Don Davis recalls his role in the mission By April 1970, even the Apollo program was getting a bit humdrum for many of us who had been involved in NASA’s space program for years. Hard to believe, but going to the moon was just routine follow- ing the stunning successes of the previous 16 months:C. Holmberg Apollo 8, breaking the bonds of Earth gravity with the first human C. Holmberg spaceflight, sending astronauts to orbit the moon at Christmastime, 1968; Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal mission; Apollo 11, the first lunar landing, thereby meeting Presi- dent Kennedy’s 1961 challenge to the na- tion to put a man on the moon; and Apollo In 1970, Don Davis (center) working at mission control along- 12, struck by a tremendous bolt of light- side Poppy Northcutt, a member of the software team through- Everyone needed a badge to out the project. During Apollo 11, a Paris Match reporter ning at lift-off yet still completed a suc- get into mission control. featured her in an article, dubbing her the “Venus of Apollo.” cessful mission. So, everything was going smoothly in the program, and the big worry within the project was the American public’s growing disenchantment with space as Vietnam con- tinued to splinter the country. However, there were seven more missions planned (Apollo 20 was can- celed in January, 1970), so NASA continued on, expanding the capabili- ties of the astronauts on the moon with more stay time, a buggy to drive, and a host of other improvements that led to a scientific treasure trove.
    [Show full text]