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2018 - Vol. 25 - No. 3 spacehistory101.com THE HISTORY OF SPACEFLIGHT QUARTERLY A HISTORY OF SOVIET/RUSSIAN MISSILE EARLY WARNING SATELLITES - PART II DEVICES TO CONTROL UNMANNED APOLLO FLIGHTS AN INTERVIEW WITH HAROLD B. FINGER: NUCLEAR INVESTIGATIONS REAL SPACE MODELING GEORGE ABBEY: THE ASTRONAUT MAKER Contents Volume 25 • Number 3 2018 www.spacehistory101.com FEATURES BOOK REVIEWS 71 Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic 3 A History of Soviet/Russian Missile Early Warning First Mission to Pluto Satellites—Part II Book by Alan Stern and David Grinspoon By Bart Hendrickx Review by Michael J. Neufeld 27 Devices to Control Unmanned Apollo Flights 72 Space Science and the Arab World: By Edgar Durbin Astronauts, Observatories and Nationalism in the Middle East ORAL HISTORY Edited by Jӧrg Matthias Determann Review by Christopher Gainor 39 An Interview with Harold B. Finger: Nuclear Investigations Interview by Kevin M. Rusnak FRONT COVER CAPTION An image from a September 1964 Aerojet report BIOGRAPHY / BOOK REVIEW showing the locations of test instruments overlaid on top of a graph showing the fast neutron and gamma 58 George Abbey: ray radiation flux around the NERVA nuclear rocket engine at power. The Astronaut Maker—How One Mysterious Engineer Ran Human Spaceflight for a Generation Please note that two words (GAGE and etimated) are Book by Michael Cassutt misspelled in the original image. Profile and review by Glen E. Swanson Credit: Aerojet ARCHIVES & MUSEUMS 66 Real Space Modeling By Keith J. Scala Images Courtesy: Heritage Auctions F EATURE DEVICES TO CONTROL UNMANNED APOLLO FLIGHTS By Edgar Durbin nauts for these tests, NASA devel- The third device controlled the oped three devices. Lunar Module (LM) during Apollos Introduction The first was needed for mis- 5, 9, and 10. Many components Several Apollo missions were sion AS-201, the only Apollo space- were developed for the Apollo pro- flown without crews to test space- craft launched on a Saturn rocket gram, including the spacecraft, craft hardware and software to avoid that did not carry a Primary launch vehicle, mission control, risk to astronauts. These missions Guidance, Navigation, and Control tracking network, and other ele- tested equipment and rehearsed System (PGNCS). ments. Table 1 lists Apollo launches maneuvers that would be performed The second was used on mis- using Saturn IB and Saturn V rock- under astronaut control during oper- sions AS-202 and Apollos 4 and 6. ets. Shaded area denotes missions ational flights. To replace the astro- These four missions tested carrying the control devices dis- Command Module (CM) reentry. cussed in this article. MISSION LAUNCH VEHICLE RESULT AS-201 26-Feb-66 Saturn IB - CSM Sub-orbital unmanned CM reentry, SM engine test Sub-orbital unmanned CM reentry, SM engine test with AS-202 25-Aug-66 Saturn IB - CSM Primary Guidance and Navigation System (PGNCS) AS-203 5-Jul-66 Saturn IB Earth orbit of S-IVB stage, S-IVB restart Apollo 1 27-Jan-67 Saturn IB - CSM Fire in CM on launch pad, killed crew First Saturn V flight, unmanned CSM Earth orbit, test of Apollo 4 9-Nov-67 Saturn V - CSM - LTA S-IVB restart, CM reentry Unmanned LM Earth orbit, test of descent and ascent Apollo 5 22-Jan-68 Saturn IB - LM engines S-IVB failed to restart, TLI demo aborted, unmanned Apollo 6 4-Apr-68 Saturn V - CSM - LTA CM reentry Apollo 7 11-Oct-68 Saturn IB - CSM Manned CM Earth orbit and reentry Apollo 8 21-Dec-68 Saturn V - CSM Manned CSM lunar orbit Manned CSM and LM Earth orbit, EVA, separation and Apollo 9 3-Mar-69 Saturn V - CSM - LM rendezvous Apollo 10 18-May-69 Saturn V - CSM - LM Manned lunar orbit and partial lunar descent Apollo 11 16-Jul-69 Saturn V - CSM - LM Manned lunar landing, EVA (Extravehicular Activity) Apollo 12 14-Nov-69 Saturn V - CSM - LM Precision manned lunar landing near Surveyor 3, EVA SM oxygen tank explosion aborted mission, shortened Apollo 13 11-Apr-70 Saturn V - CSM - LM to translunar return Apollo 14 31-Jan-71 Saturn V - CSM - LM Manned lunar landing, EVA Manned lunar landing, exploration in Lunar Roving Apollo 15 26-Jul-71 Saturn V - CSM - LM Vehicle (LRV), lunar subsatellite launch, EVA Manned lunar landing, exploration in LRV, lunar sub- Apollo 16 16-Apr-72 Saturn V - CSM - LM satellite launch, EVA Apollo 17 7-Dec-72 Saturn V - CSM - LM Manned lunar landing, exploration in LRV, EVA Table 1. Saturn IB and V launches in the Apollo program. The launch vehicles for the missions discussed in this article are shown in Figure 1. Q U E S T 25:3 2018 27 www.spacehistory101.com Figure 2. Command Service Figure 1. Launch vehicles for missions Module (CSM).3 discussed in this article.1 Mission Vehicles and Service Module (CSM). Three of the four Reaction The Launch Escape System (LES) at the top of the Control System (RCS) clusters of rockets attached to the vehicles carrying a CM could pull the astronauts away SM that determined CSM attitude can be seen. The bell- from a malfunctioning Saturn early in the launch. The shaped nozzle of the Service Propulsion System (SPS) LES was jettisoned soon after the first stage had shut rocket engine is at the bottom of the figure. High-pres- down and the second stage ignited. The Spacecraft sure helium forced SPS propellants2 out of their tanks Lunar Module Adapter (SLA) was designed to house the into the combustion chamber. However, in the weight- LM, but was empty on AS-201 and AS-202. Apollos 4 less condition of orbital and coasting flight, liquids can and 6 carried LM Test Articles (LTA), test vehicles that drift away from the outlets leading to the combustion did not leave the SLA. Apollos 5, 9, and 10 carried LMs chamber. To prevent helium from entering the combus- that maneuvered after separation from the SLA and the tion chamber, it was necessary to settle the fuels by CM. The Instrument Unit (IU) contained the navigation, “ullage” burns of the RCS to force the liquids to the out- guidance, control, and communications systems that lets before opening the fuel valves. controlled the mission up to separation of the spacecraft The CM appears in Figure 3. The pitch, roll, and from the S-IVB. yaw RCS engines gave full control of CM attitude after Figure 2 shows the combined Command Module separation from the Service Module. Q U E S T 25:3 2018 28 www.spacehistory101.com First Device: Automated Control System Apollo-Saturn 201 (AS-201) had many objectives. The Apollo Program Flight Summary Report list of AS-201’s goals cov- ers three-and-a-half pages.5 It was the first— Saturn IB flight; Mission controlled by the Mission Control Center (MCC) in the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston; Flight of the Block I Command Module (CM) and Service Module (SM); Start and restart of the Service Propulsion System (SPS), the main rocket carried by the SM; Recovery of the CM after reentry Figure 3. Command Module (CM).4 through the atmosphere. The non-orbital flight lasted 37 minutes, starting at Cape Figure 4. Trajectory and Kennedy and ending with splashdown of events of AS-201.12 the CM in the Atlantic 8,476 km away. See Figure 4. (The legend for Figure 4 and the list of major events are given in Table 2.) The Saturn IB vehicle had two pow- ered stages: the S-IB first stage and the S- IVB second stage. The S-IB lifted the mis- LABEL EVENT TIME (sec) VEHICLE sion to 58.9 km altitude 62.0 km downrange in 2.44 1 Launch 0.0 S-IB minutes.6 It separated from the S-IVB, which fired its Start pitch and roll 11.20 S-IB single gimbaled J-1 engine for 7.56 minutes7 and shut Roll stop 20.55 S-IB Pitch stop 134.39 S-IB down at 250.5 km altitude 1592.3 km downrange. 2 S-IB cutoff 146.9 S-IB (The step in the trajectory during the early part of the S-IB/S-IVB separation 147.76 S-IVB S-IVB firing was due to the difference between the S-IVB ignition 149.35 S-IVB LES tower jettison 172.64 S-IVB thrust of the S-IB and the S-IVB. At the end of the S- 3 S-IVB cutoff 602.9 S-IVB IB flight the acceleration due to the eight H-1 engines S-IVB pitch down start 613.95 S-IVB of the S-IB (thrust/mass) was 41.6 m/sec2, whereas at 4 S-IVB pitch down end 728.3 S-IVB 5 S-IVB/CSM separate 844.9 S-IVB S-IVB ignition its single J-1 engine produced RCS +X translation 1 on 846.7 CSM thrust/mass of only 7.25 m/sec2)8 As the S-IVB/CSM RCS +X translation 1 off 864.6 CSM vehicle continued to coast, the Instrument Unit con- 6 CSM apogee 1020.0 CSM 9 RCS +X translation 2 on 1181.2 CSM trolled a pitch down of 109.15 degrees to put the 7 SPS burn 1 start 1211.2 CSM CSM in the attitude at which the Service Module RCS +X translation 2 off 1212.2 CSM would later fire its Service Propulsion System 8 SPS burn 1 end 1395.2 CSM 10 RCS +X translation 3 on 1395.7 CSM (SPS). The CSM separated from the S IVB and 9 SPS burn 2 start 1410.7 CSM fired the RCS for 18 sec in the +X direction (toward RCS +X translation 3 off 1420.7 CSM the pointed end of the CM) to increase their separa- 10 SPS burn 2 end 1420.7 CSM 11 C/SM separate 1455.0 CSM tion.
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  • PROJECT APOLLO the Tough Decisions

    PROJECT APOLLO the Tough Decisions

    NASA SP-2007-4537 Robert C. Seamans, Jr. PROJECT APOLLO The Tough Decisions Monographs in Aerospace History Number 37 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of External Relations History Division Washington. DC 2007 Table of Contents iv List of Figures vii Acknowledgments ix Foreword 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 5 Chapter 2: Eisenhower’s Legacy 11 Chapter 3: The Kennedy Challenge 57 Chapter 4: Johnson’s Solid Support 83 Chapter 5: NASA Management 107 Chapter 6: The Grand Finale 117 Chapter 7: The Aftermath 127 Appendix 1 131 Appendix 2 139 Appendix 3 143 About the Author 145 Acronyms and Abbreviations 149 NASA Monographs in Aerospace History Series 151 Index iii List of Figures Page 13 Figure 1 Results of a study commissioned on 6 January 1961 and chaired by George Low. These findings were available on 7 February 1961. Page 14 Figure 2 NASA Management Triad in the office of James E. Webb (center). He and Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr. (right), listen as Dr. Hugh Dryden (left) has the floor. (NASA Image Number 66-H-93) Page 15 Figure 3 Sergey P. Korolev, founder of the Soviet space program, shown here in July 1954 with a dog that had just returned to Earth after a lob to an altitude of 100 kilometers on an R-1d rocket. Page 21 Figure 4 President John F. Kennedy congratulates astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr., the first American in space, on his historic 5 May 1961 ride in the Freedom 7 spacecraft and presents him with the NASA Distinguished Service Award. (NASA Image Number 1961ADM-13) Page 22 Figure 5 Formation of USSR and U.S.