Contents
List of illustrations...... xi Author's preface...... xvii Acknowledgements ...... xxi Foreword ...... xxiii
1 Apollo:an extraordinary adventure ...... 1 The meaning of Apollo...... 1 Dreaming of the Moon...... 5 The Apollo spaceship ...... 7 Which way? ...... 8 Lunar orbit rendezvous ...... 10 Equipment ...... 12 Swords to ploughshares: von Braun's rockets ...... 17
2 The Apollo flights:a brief history ...... 25 An alphabet of missions ...... 25 Failure of imagination ...... 26 Back in the saddle: Apollo 4...... 28 The lunar module flies: Apollo 5 ...... 29 The Saturn balks: Apollo 6...... 29 Testing Block II: Apollo 7 ...... 31 Gutsy decisions: Apollo 8 ...... 32 A complete system test: Apollo 9 ...... 34 A dress rehearsal: Apollo 10...... 36 Task accomplished: Apollo 11 ...... 37 Lightning strikes: Apollo 12 ...... 40 The successful failure: Apollo 13...... 41 Try again: Apollo 14 ...... 43 Exploration at its greatest: Apollo 15 ...... 44 New knowledge: Apollo 16...... 47 The last hurrah: Apollo 17 ...... 48 Goodbye Apollo...... 50 viii Contents
3 Launch:a fiery departure ...... 53 Preparations for launch ...... 53 Lift-off ...... 63 Getting through the atmosphere ...... 69 Second stage...... 76 Third stage ...... 87
4 Earth orbit and TLI ...... 89 Settling into orbit ...... 89 Around the world in 90 minutes ...... 90 Coasting around Earth ...... 95 The route to the Moon...... 103
5 Retrieving the lander ...... 111 Leaving Earth...... 111 Transposition, docking and extraction ...... 113 ``No latch, Houston'' ...... 119 The fate of the S-IVB ...... 123
6 Navigating to the Moon...... 129 Crossing cislunar space...... 129 Ground-based tracking ...... 134 Navigation from the spacecraft...... 136 The guidance and navigation system...... 140
7 Coasting to the Moon ...... 153 Three men in a submarine ...... 153 Sustaining life...... 155 The personal bit ...... 158 Cool air ...... 170 PTC: spacecraft on a spit ...... 175 Stirring the tanks: genesis of a failure ...... 176 Communications...... 178 Telly from the Moon ...... 181 Checking the lunar module...... 185
8 Entering lunar orbit:the LOI manoeuvre ...... 189 The service module...... 189 How not to crash into the Moon ...... 193 Lunar encounter...... 194 The LOI PAD: it isn't magic ...... 197 The black void ...... 204 Luna close up: burning LOI ...... 207 Contents ix
9 Preparations for landing ...... 211 Overjoyed...... 211 The second arrival burn ...... 212 How not to crash into the Moon ...... 213 The joys of lunar orbit ...... 214 In the descent orbit ...... 218 Entering the lunar module ...... 221 Continuing preparations ...... 229 Undocking ...... 231
10 Next stop:the Moon ...... 241 ``Go for the Pro'': the landing begins ...... 241 Slowing down: P63 ...... 244 ``Hey, there it is!'': pitchover and P64 ...... 249 ``Picking up some dust'': P66 ...... 254
11 Orbital sojourn:looking at the Moon ...... 259 Luna cognita ...... 259 Unmanned probes ...... 263 Apollo reaches the Moon ...... 265 Science station in lunar orbit ...... 269
12 Rendezvous and docking ...... 283 Orbital mechanics...... 284 We have lift-off. . . from the Moon! ...... 287 Rendezvous techniques ...... 293 Braking and station-keeping ...... 299 A long day ...... 305 The role of mission control...... 310 Epitaph for the lunar module ...... 314
13 Heading for home ...... 315 Mission accomplished. . . nearly ...... 315 Trans-Earth injection ...... 315 Subsatellite ...... 317 The TEI PAD: a worked example ...... 320 Counting down to the burn ...... 323 The long fall to Earth...... 329 A walk outside: EVA ...... 339
14 Re-entry ...... 347 A fiery return ...... 347 In we come: entry from start to finish ...... 350 The entry PAD: a worked example...... 351 Entry REFSMMAT ...... 355 x Contents
Final four hours ...... 356 Last hour ...... 360 Human shooting star: P63 ...... 364 Ensuring capture: P64...... 366 Aiming for the ships: P67 ...... 369 Splashdown ...... 374
Epilogue ...... 381 Glossary ...... 383 Further reading ...... 389 Index...... 393