CASE F! LE COPy NASA SP-238 Mission Report PREPARED BY MISSION EVALUATION TEAM NASA MANNED SPACECRAFTCENTER ii__'¸ _ ,,_ Scientific and Technical In/ormation O_ce 197I NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION Washington, D.C. For sale by the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia 22151 - Price $3.00 PREFACE On May 25, 1961, this nation made a commitment: to land men on the Moon before the end of the decade. On July 20, 1969, the commitment was met. American astronauts left the following message on the lunar sur- face: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." The achievement belongs to all mankind. _ut those that made it possible deserve our special thanks. First, there are three especially brave men -- Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins, and Buzz Aldrin. They were backed up by thousands of men and women in NASA, in other government agencies, in industry and in uni- versities, and in the Congress. All of them were dedicated to the cause of Apollo, and they proved that with skill and the desire to succeed -- above all, with dedication -- we as a nation can indeed meet the most difficult tasks we set for ourselves. George M. Low Acting Administrator National Aeronautics and Space Administration CONTENTS Secti on Page I. SUMMARY ................................. 1 2. INTRODUCTION .............................. 2 3. MISSION DESCRIPTION ........................... 2 4. PILOTS' REPORT . "............................ 15 Prelaunch Activities ......................... 15 Launch ................................ 15 Earth Orbit Coast and Translunar Injection .............. 15 Transposition and Docking ....................... 15 Translunar Coast ........................... 16 Lunar Orbit Insertion ......................... 17 Lunar Module Checkout ......................... 17 Descent Preparation .......................... 17 Undocking and Separation ....................... 19 Lunar Module Descent ......................... 19 Command Module Solo Activities .................... 20 Lunar Surface Operations ....................... 21 Launch Preparation .......................... 25 Ascent ................................ 26 Rendezvous .............................. 26 Command Module Docking ........................ 27 Transearth Injection ......................... 27 Transearth Coast ........................... 27 Entry ................................. 28 Recovery ............................... 28 ° LUNAR DESCENT AND ASCENT ........................ 29 Descent Trajectory Logic ....................... 29 Preparation for Powered Descent .................... 32 iii Secti on Page Powered Descent ............................ 34 Landing Dynamics ........................... 51 Postlanding Spacecraft Operations ................... 52 Ascent ................................ 55 Rendezvous .............................. 60 . COMMUNICATIONS ............................. 65 7. TRAJECTORY ............................... 70 Launch Phase ............................. 71 Earth Parking Orbit .......................... 71 Translunar Injection ......................... 71 Maneuver Analysis ........................... 72 Command Module Entry .......................... 79 Service Module Entry ......................... 79 Lunar Orbit Targeting ......................... 80 Lunar Orbit Navigation ........................ 81 , PERFORMANCEOF THE COMMANDAND SERVICE MODULES ............. 83 Structural and Mechanical Systems ................... 83 Electrical Power ........................... 85 Cryogenic Storage ........................... 86 Very-High-Frequency Ranging ...................... 86 Instrumentation ............................ 86 Guidance, Navigation, and Control ................... 87 Reaction Control ........................... 95 Service Propulsion .......................... 95 Environmental Control System ..................... 97 Crew Station ............................. 98 Consumables .............................. 98 iv Section Page 9. PERFORMANCE OF THE LUNAR MODULE ..................... I02 Structural and Mechanical Systems ................... I02 Thermal Control ............................ I02 Electrical Power ........................... I02 Communications Equipment ....................... I03 Instrumentation ............................ I03 Guidance and Control ......................... I04 Reaction Control ........................... ll4 Descent Propulsion ......................... If5 Ascent Propulsion ........................... ll9 Environmental Control System ..................... 120 Radar ................................. 120 Crew Station ............................. 121 Consumables .............................. 121 lO. PERFORMANCE OF THE EXTRAVEHICULAR MOBILITY UNIT ............. 125 II. THE LUNAR SURFACE ............................ 128 Lunar Geology Experiment ....................... 130 Lunar Soil Mechanics Experiment .................... 144 Examination of Lunar Samples ..................... 147 Passive Seismic Experiment ...................... 148 Laser Ranging Retroreflector Experiment ................ 154 Solar Wind Composition Experiment ................... 154 Photography .............................. 155 12. BIOMEDICAL EVALUATION .......................... 158 Bioinstrumentation and Physiological Data ............... 158 Medical Observations ........................ 160 Extravehicular Activity ...................... 162 Physical Examinations ........................ 164 Lunar Contamination and Quarantine .................. 164 Section Page 13. MISSION SUPPORT PERFORMANCE ....................... 168 Flight Control ............................ 168 Manned Space Flight Network Performance ................ 168 Recovery Operations .......................... 169 14. ASSESSMENT OF MISSION OBJECTIVES .................... 174 Location of the Landed Lunar Module .................. 175 Lunar Field Geology .......................... 176 15. LAUNCH VEHICLE SUMMARY ......................... 177 16. ANOMALY SUMMARY ............................. 178 Command and Service Modules ...................... 178 Lunar Module ............................. 187 Government-Furnished Equipment .................... 200 17. CONCLUSIONS ............................... 201 REFERENCES ............................... 202 APPENDIX A--APOLLO SPACECRAFT FLIGHT HISTORY ............. 203 APPENDIX B --VEHICLE DESCRIPTIONS ................... 205 APPENDIX C --GLOSSARY ......................... 216 vi SYMBOLSANDABBREVIATIONS A ampere ac alternating current AGS abort guidance system A-h ampere-hour ALDS Apollo launch data system APS ascent propulsion system arc sec arc second ARIA Apollo range instrumentation aircraft ASHUR Apollo Spacecraft Hardware Utilization Requests BDA Bermuda Btu British thermal unit CAPCOM capsule communicator CATS command and telemetry system c.d.t. central daylight time cm centimeter CM command module CMC command module computer CRO Carnarvon, Australia CSM command and service modules CYI Canary Islands D down dB decibel dc direct current deg degree DPS descent propulsion system D/T delayed time E east e.s.t. eastern standard time vii FM frequency modulation ft/sec feet per second g gravity of earth g.e.t. ground elapsed time G&N guidance and navigation GDS Goldstone, California G.m.t. Greenwich mean time HAW Hawaii hr hour HSK Honeysuckle, Australia Hz hertz I inertia in-lb inch-pound kpps kilopulses per second kwh kilowatt-hour Ib/hr pounds per hour I b/ft 2 pounds per square foot LGC lunar module guidance computer LM lunar module M mega- MAD Madrid, Spain mERU milli-earth rate unit mg milligram MILA Merritt Island Launch Area, Florida mi n minute mm millimeter msec millisecond MSFN Manned Space Flight Network N north viii NA not available P pressure(transducerlocation) PAM pulse amplitudemodulation PCM pulse codemodulation PGNCS primary guidance,navigation, andcontrol system PM phasemodulation ppm parts per million psf poundsper squarefoot psi poundsper squareinch q dynamicpressure RCS reaction control system RED Redstonetracking ship REFSMMAT reference stable membermatrix S south S-IC, S-II, first, second,and third stages of SaturnV launch vehicle S-IVB SM service module T temperature(transducer location) TV television TAN Tananarive TCA thrust chamberassembly U.S. United States V volt VAN Vanguardtracking ship vhf very high frequency VOX voice-operatedtransmitter W west Wh watt-hour X, Y, Z spacecraft axes °C degreesCentigrade ix oF degrees Fahrenheit C_ angle of attack micro- I. SUMMARY Thepurposeof the Apollo II missionwasto land menon the lunar surface andto return themsafely to earth. Themembersof the crewwereNeil A. Armstrong,Commander; Michael Collins, CommandModulePilot; andEdwinE. Aldrin, Jr., LunarModulePilot. Thespacevehicle waslaunchedfrom KennedySpaceCenter, Florida, at 8:32:00 a.m. e.s.t., July 16, 1969. Theactivities during earth orbit checkout, translunar injection, transposition anddocking, spacecraft ejection, andtranslunar coast weresimilar to those of the previousmission, a lunar orbit rendezvousflight. Only onemidcourse correction, performedat approximately27 hoursg.e.t., wasreauired during translunar coast. Thespacecraft wasinserted into lunar orbit at approximately76 hoursg.e.t., and the circularization maneuverwasperformedtwo revolutions later. Initial checkoutof the lunar modulesystemswassatisfactory, and after a plannedrest period, the Commander andLunarModulePilot enteredthe lunar moduleto prepare for descent. Thetwo