2001: A Space Time Odyssey (Version 2)
- Thread starter SpaceGeek
- Start date
Joseph Karth was pro space flight, but not for a Manned Mars Mission, he end his congress career on January 3, 1977.
Walter Mondale, we deal with him in detail later
left William Proxmire, but there the Allen-Bradley Company, Miller Electric, Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation and Reliance Controls will have little word with him...
Walter Mondale, we deal with him in detail later
left William Proxmire, but there the Allen-Bradley Company, Miller Electric, Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation and Reliance Controls will have little word with him...
Last edited:
Post 31 The 1970 April Moon mission
Zond 13 and 14
The problems of Zond 12's landing made overwork of the LK necessary along with getting ready to launch for April 1970 to honor Vladimir Lenin's 100th Birthday.
In the mean time Apollo 12 made their precision landing in November 1969.
Beginning in January 1970 Lunokhod 4 landed on the lunar surface, driving untill it they found what it was looking for and switched on the radio beacon, after an unusually long search time.
Beginning in April was launch of an N1 Luna rocket with Zond-13 on board Georgi Grechko and Aleksey Guarev for Orbital mission and landing of the unmanned LK Backup.
After Lunar Surface Mapping they return to earth passing by Apollo 13 on way to the Moon
The next Luna rocket brought Zond-14 into the Moon's orbit with Vesily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov on board.
on 22 April 1970, Makorov landed 55 km away from Apollo 12 & Surveyor 3 Landing site confirmed by there ALSEP seismograph.
The Target was near Luna 5 crash site, a probe that failed to land in may 9, 1965.
Oleg Mekarov's first word on Moon were
After that he pulled the DALS out of the LK and deployed the Scientific equipment package near by. Then he collected samples of the Lunar soil and rocks.
Then he went for a pause inside the LK
Then on the second EVA, he used the help of the Lunokhod 4 to drive to the Luna 5 crash site,
Makorov study the man made crater, took samples of the probe's remains and lunar material in crater, helped by Lunokhod 4.
He made an excellent job by photographing the site and position were he took the samples
After 7 hours the LK worked perfect and start of the moon back into orbit to rendezvous with LOK
on command of Ground control activated Backup LK to test it’s systems, it work perfectly just like the previous one.
Aftermath
Thanks to excellent work of Oleg Mekarov, the scientists could analyze the contamination by Probe propellants of Lunar soil.
This gave valuable information how Lunar soil get saturated with organic materials by rocket engines exhaust or asteroid impact.
Also change in tactic on Soviet landing from now on the each Zond mission would land a cosmonaut.
The Soviet Government made diplomatic requests to NASA for research data of the Apollo 12 and Surveyor 3. What let to political turmoil in Washington D.C.
Allot of Anti communist were upset that NASA would help the "Evil Ones". To end this, President Nixon gave word of Command !
Reasoning that NASA is US government agency with free access to there research data, if the Soviet academy of sciences, gives free access to there research data.
The Soviets, they not only sent their research data and some Lunar sample, Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov even came to USA to gave a briefing on there mission at NASA.
This was the begining of "Lunar Diplomacy" between USA and Soviet Union beginning a short thaw period of Cold War known as Détente.
Apollo 13
On April 11, Apollo 13 was launched to moon with Lovell, Mattingly, Haise, despite a lack of interest with the US public and media.
The Saturn V showed a malfunction as on second stage one of J-2 engine shut down too early, suffering from pogo oscillations.
56 hours into the mission, Mattingly actived the stirring fans in Oxygen tank number 2 which then exploded.
The CSM main power system died in minutes, The Crew activated the LM and used it as a Lifeboat
from now on Apollo 13 mission became a struggle for the survival of three Astronauts, suddenly the world media show interest in Apollo 13 mission.
In a Heroic effort NASA manage to bring the Crew safe back to Earth, calling it "A successful failure"
Aftermath
Apollo 13 showed America that Space flight were not easy.
The cause of the explosion was pin point to damaged Teflon isolation tape on electrical wires of the stirring fan inside the oxygen tank.
The Oxygen tanks were redesigned and moved farther apart, also a third oxygen tank and a emergency battery were installed,
Also started a program to replace the lithium hydroxide canister from LM and CSM with molecular sieve beds for future mission.
This delayed Apollo 14 mission to January 1971.
Zond 13 and 14
The problems of Zond 12's landing made overwork of the LK necessary along with getting ready to launch for April 1970 to honor Vladimir Lenin's 100th Birthday.
In the mean time Apollo 12 made their precision landing in November 1969.
Beginning in January 1970 Lunokhod 4 landed on the lunar surface, driving untill it they found what it was looking for and switched on the radio beacon, after an unusually long search time.
Beginning in April was launch of an N1 Luna rocket with Zond-13 on board Georgi Grechko and Aleksey Guarev for Orbital mission and landing of the unmanned LK Backup.
After Lunar Surface Mapping they return to earth passing by Apollo 13 on way to the Moon
The next Luna rocket brought Zond-14 into the Moon's orbit with Vesily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov on board.
on 22 April 1970, Makorov landed 55 km away from Apollo 12 & Surveyor 3 Landing site confirmed by there ALSEP seismograph.
The Target was near Luna 5 crash site, a probe that failed to land in may 9, 1965.
Oleg Mekarov's first word on Moon were
After that he pulled the DALS out of the LK and deployed the Scientific equipment package near by. Then he collected samples of the Lunar soil and rocks.
Then he went for a pause inside the LK
Then on the second EVA, he used the help of the Lunokhod 4 to drive to the Luna 5 crash site,
Makorov study the man made crater, took samples of the probe's remains and lunar material in crater, helped by Lunokhod 4.
He made an excellent job by photographing the site and position were he took the samples
After 7 hours the LK worked perfect and start of the moon back into orbit to rendezvous with LOK
on command of Ground control activated Backup LK to test it’s systems, it work perfectly just like the previous one.
Aftermath
Thanks to excellent work of Oleg Mekarov, the scientists could analyze the contamination by Probe propellants of Lunar soil.
This gave valuable information how Lunar soil get saturated with organic materials by rocket engines exhaust or asteroid impact.
Also change in tactic on Soviet landing from now on the each Zond mission would land a cosmonaut.
The Soviet Government made diplomatic requests to NASA for research data of the Apollo 12 and Surveyor 3. What let to political turmoil in Washington D.C.
Allot of Anti communist were upset that NASA would help the "Evil Ones". To end this, President Nixon gave word of Command !
Reasoning that NASA is US government agency with free access to there research data, if the Soviet academy of sciences, gives free access to there research data.
The Soviets, they not only sent their research data and some Lunar sample, Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov even came to USA to gave a briefing on there mission at NASA.
This was the begining of "Lunar Diplomacy" between USA and Soviet Union beginning a short thaw period of Cold War known as Détente.
Apollo 13
On April 11, Apollo 13 was launched to moon with Lovell, Mattingly, Haise, despite a lack of interest with the US public and media.
The Saturn V showed a malfunction as on second stage one of J-2 engine shut down too early, suffering from pogo oscillations.
56 hours into the mission, Mattingly actived the stirring fans in Oxygen tank number 2 which then exploded.
The CSM main power system died in minutes, The Crew activated the LM and used it as a Lifeboat
from now on Apollo 13 mission became a struggle for the survival of three Astronauts, suddenly the world media show interest in Apollo 13 mission.
In a Heroic effort NASA manage to bring the Crew safe back to Earth, calling it "A successful failure"
Aftermath
Apollo 13 showed America that Space flight were not easy.
The cause of the explosion was pin point to damaged Teflon isolation tape on electrical wires of the stirring fan inside the oxygen tank.
The Oxygen tanks were redesigned and moved farther apart, also a third oxygen tank and a emergency battery were installed,
Also started a program to replace the lithium hydroxide canister from LM and CSM with molecular sieve beds for future mission.
This delayed Apollo 14 mission to January 1971.
Post 32: 1971 - Apollo 14 and Zond 15
The Apollo 13 accident had a profound impact on the Post moon landing Space Race. The accident highlighted the feeling that the American space program was struggling to compete with the Soviet Union and paradoxically increased support for the Manned Space Program by grabbing the public's attention and putting focus back on the Moon. The heroic rescue efforts of NASA and the daring of the astronauts returned a sense of romanticism, adventure and danger to Manned Spaceflight. Like the names Shepard, Glenn, White, Grissom, Caprpenter, Armstrong, Aldrin & Collins, the names Lovell, Mattingly & Haise would no doubt be remembered.
As the budget battles raged on in Congress, NASA worked hard to improve the safety of the Command Service Module (CSM) and return America to the Moon as quickly as possible.
Apollo 14 was the return of Alan Shepard to Space flight, after he lost his flight status do to Méniére's Disease in 1964. This would also be his last flight.
Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa launched on 31 January 1971 as the crew of Apollo 14.
Just as the previous H-Class mission it faced allot of problems, beginning with docking difficultly of CS Kitty Hawk with LM Antares, Rossa had to ram CSM nose into the docking system of LM on the sixth attempt.
During Lunar Descent the LM computer switch into ABORT mode, Mitchell with help of MIT manage reprogram the LM computer to believe ABORT had happen!
At the same time a bug caused malfunction of LM Radar altimeter, after cycling the Radar system breaker, they gained control over LM in 5500 meter altitude.
Because of this Shepard and Mitchell could not make a pinpoint landing at planned site on the Fra-Mauro Highlands.
In lunar orbit Roosa faced new problem, one of CM windows became opaque, the one with the camera for mapping the lunar surface.
Shepard first words on moon were
during his first EVA, after deploying the ALSEP package they went with "Moon wheelbarrow" for a moonwalk.
After 4 hours and 47 minutes the crew returned to LM and slept untill the next day.
At the end of a second EVA Shepard tried to play Golf, with a six iron head fixed on his lunar excavation tool and two golfballs. Shepard manage to kick one golf ball for around 300 yards.
In total for 42.28 kilograms on Lunars samples were collected in two EVA. 6 hours later LM Antares blast off into moon orbit.
during way from the moon the crew conduct Materials processing experiments, on February 9 landed Apollo 14 safe in pacific and they were the last to be quarantined.
on board of CSM Kitty Hawk had also several hundred tree seeds make trip to moon and back, the seeds were widely planted around the world as Moon Trees.
Aftermath
Apollo 14 return to business and Media attention were good for NASA public image, despite the problems the crew faced. Meanwhile at NASA the future was looking promising. The Agency had prepared one more H-Class mission (Apollo 15) and 4 J-Class missions for Apollo 16 to 19 while 4 more J-Class missions (Apollo 19 to 23) mission were under review as Saturn V production was reactivated. The following year in 1972, the Apollo Program extension was approved as the Space Shuttle, Space Station, Lunar Base, Reusable Nuclear Shuttle and Chemical Space Tug were approved for development Phase B (to be deployed by the late 1970s and 1980s).
One important On-board Experiment was for the Odyssey program: the Liquid Transfer Demonstrator to study the pumping of liquid between tanks in Microgravity. This gave needed data for Refueling Spacecraft in orbit.
on Soviet site...
Zond 15 with Lev Dyomin and Gennadi Sarafanov were launch to the Moon on 10 March 1971
This time to the north edge of Oceanus Procellarum at Luna 13 landing site.
The Soviet academy of sciences wanted geological data from several site of Oceanus Procellarum.
on 18 march, 1971 the LK landed near Lunokhod 5 right on target.
Gennadi Sarafanov first comment on landing site:
The LK had a new Features installed: A external TV color camera and Core sample drill, for taking 4 meter deep samples.
But Sarafanov tries were not lucky he hit in 3 meter depth a hard layer of magma, trying to drill true it, the drill ran out of it's operational life time of 60 minutes.
Second EVA went with Lunokhod 6 to Luna 13 landing site collection parts of probe to study the longtime exposure of Soviet hardware on Lunar Environment
On the end of this EVA Sarafanov make report in front of TV color camera about mission and make a surprise
he pulled a red sphere out LK and put on ground and kicked it like a football
Then he returned into the LK and took off after a seven hours surface mission, the Zond crew returned 3 days later safely to earth.
Aftermath
In comparison of Zond 12 & Zond 14 and Apollo 12, the Zond 15 samples show that Oceanus Procellarum is homogeneous mixture of incompatible elements (called by Americans) KREEP and low calcium pyroxene.
What increase the mystery how Oceanus Procellarum is formed, special after Zond 15 discovery, a finding that even NASA surprised.
the Lunar 13 parts exposed 5 years to Lunar Environment gave precious Data for Columbus Study on L3M and Lunar base hardware.
The Apollo 13 accident had a profound impact on the Post moon landing Space Race. The accident highlighted the feeling that the American space program was struggling to compete with the Soviet Union and paradoxically increased support for the Manned Space Program by grabbing the public's attention and putting focus back on the Moon. The heroic rescue efforts of NASA and the daring of the astronauts returned a sense of romanticism, adventure and danger to Manned Spaceflight. Like the names Shepard, Glenn, White, Grissom, Caprpenter, Armstrong, Aldrin & Collins, the names Lovell, Mattingly & Haise would no doubt be remembered.
As the budget battles raged on in Congress, NASA worked hard to improve the safety of the Command Service Module (CSM) and return America to the Moon as quickly as possible.
Apollo 14 was the return of Alan Shepard to Space flight, after he lost his flight status do to Méniére's Disease in 1964. This would also be his last flight.
Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa launched on 31 January 1971 as the crew of Apollo 14.
Just as the previous H-Class mission it faced allot of problems, beginning with docking difficultly of CS Kitty Hawk with LM Antares, Rossa had to ram CSM nose into the docking system of LM on the sixth attempt.
During Lunar Descent the LM computer switch into ABORT mode, Mitchell with help of MIT manage reprogram the LM computer to believe ABORT had happen!
At the same time a bug caused malfunction of LM Radar altimeter, after cycling the Radar system breaker, they gained control over LM in 5500 meter altitude.
Because of this Shepard and Mitchell could not make a pinpoint landing at planned site on the Fra-Mauro Highlands.
In lunar orbit Roosa faced new problem, one of CM windows became opaque, the one with the camera for mapping the lunar surface.
Shepard first words on moon were
,
during his first EVA, after deploying the ALSEP package they went with "Moon wheelbarrow" for a moonwalk.
After 4 hours and 47 minutes the crew returned to LM and slept untill the next day.
At the end of a second EVA Shepard tried to play Golf, with a six iron head fixed on his lunar excavation tool and two golfballs. Shepard manage to kick one golf ball for around 300 yards.
In total for 42.28 kilograms on Lunars samples were collected in two EVA. 6 hours later LM Antares blast off into moon orbit.
during way from the moon the crew conduct Materials processing experiments, on February 9 landed Apollo 14 safe in pacific and they were the last to be quarantined.
on board of CSM Kitty Hawk had also several hundred tree seeds make trip to moon and back, the seeds were widely planted around the world as Moon Trees.
Aftermath
Apollo 14 return to business and Media attention were good for NASA public image, despite the problems the crew faced. Meanwhile at NASA the future was looking promising. The Agency had prepared one more H-Class mission (Apollo 15) and 4 J-Class missions for Apollo 16 to 19 while 4 more J-Class missions (Apollo 19 to 23) mission were under review as Saturn V production was reactivated. The following year in 1972, the Apollo Program extension was approved as the Space Shuttle, Space Station, Lunar Base, Reusable Nuclear Shuttle and Chemical Space Tug were approved for development Phase B (to be deployed by the late 1970s and 1980s).
One important On-board Experiment was for the Odyssey program: the Liquid Transfer Demonstrator to study the pumping of liquid between tanks in Microgravity. This gave needed data for Refueling Spacecraft in orbit.
on Soviet site...
Zond 15 with Lev Dyomin and Gennadi Sarafanov were launch to the Moon on 10 March 1971
This time to the north edge of Oceanus Procellarum at Luna 13 landing site.
The Soviet academy of sciences wanted geological data from several site of Oceanus Procellarum.
on 18 march, 1971 the LK landed near Lunokhod 5 right on target.
Gennadi Sarafanov first comment on landing site:
The LK had a new Features installed: A external TV color camera and Core sample drill, for taking 4 meter deep samples.
But Sarafanov tries were not lucky he hit in 3 meter depth a hard layer of magma, trying to drill true it, the drill ran out of it's operational life time of 60 minutes.
Second EVA went with Lunokhod 6 to Luna 13 landing site collection parts of probe to study the longtime exposure of Soviet hardware on Lunar Environment
On the end of this EVA Sarafanov make report in front of TV color camera about mission and make a surprise
he pulled a red sphere out LK and put on ground and kicked it like a football
Then he returned into the LK and took off after a seven hours surface mission, the Zond crew returned 3 days later safely to earth.
Aftermath
In comparison of Zond 12 & Zond 14 and Apollo 12, the Zond 15 samples show that Oceanus Procellarum is homogeneous mixture of incompatible elements (called by Americans) KREEP and low calcium pyroxene.
What increase the mystery how Oceanus Procellarum is formed, special after Zond 15 discovery, a finding that even NASA surprised.
the Lunar 13 parts exposed 5 years to Lunar Environment gave precious Data for Columbus Study on L3M and Lunar base hardware.
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Post 32: Zond 16 and Apollo 15
Zond 16 and Apollo 15
In 1971 the Soviet Space Agency MoM had several Problems.
OKB-1 ran into it's full capacity, building per year, Two Luna, dozens Protons and Soyuz rockets for MoM and Military needs.
Next to that they built Spacecrafts like LOK-LK, Spying Satellites and were working on the advanced Soyuz 7K-SM, Therefore the Space Station program suffered under a lack of personnel and material.
MoM had to take measures, they order of OKB-52 to help to build the Station on OKB-1 plans, it had certain irony that OKB-52 had to build now the space station.
Their boss Vladimir Chelomei had proposed his Almaz, a military space station to MoM, what had refused the proposal, because Chelomei demand on development of the UR-500 rocket and TKS spacecraft for it.
Although the Boss of OKB-52 could be happy to do something for the Space race, He went to Military complaining about the status of Salut program and promoted Almaz.
Military-industrial Commission Chairman Ustinov was not amused at all, about Chelomei arrogant behavior and his talking shit about his colleagues.
MoM had enough of Chelomei escapade and threatened him to follow orders or otherwise OKB-52 would become subdivision of OKB-1 !
The Alita Study had serious setbacks by provoking a major nuclear disaster!
A test run of Experimental Thermal nuclear engine RD-0410 ended in meltdown and massive contaminations of Semipalatinsk test site and near by Irtysh River.
Responsible for Disaster was a engineer named Anatoly Stepanovich Dyatlov, the investigation report found him guilty for "criminal mismanagement of potentially dangerous device“
He was sentenced to ten years in prison.
MoM changed the Alita Study mission architecture in favor of Nuclear Electric Engines.
Next to that the Soviet authority notice that soviet citizens had lost interest in the Zond Missions.
Zond 16
The planned launch of Zond 16 with Yuri Artyukhin and Pavel Popovich was schedule for 31 may 1971.
This time the mission went to Mare Crisium on right edge of Moon
But the April landing of Lunokhod 7 ended in a crash on the lunar surface, delaying the Mission.
in May Lunokhod 7 touchdown on Mare Crisium and started to look for LK landing site.
June 22 the Lunar rocket was launch to Moon, Zond 16 arrived on 28 June.
Popovic landed on 29 June near where Lunokhod 7 landed a months ago.
On first EVA he deployed DALS and make Core sample drill ready then collect lunar samples.
Then he returned into LK for rest and snack.
On second EVA he use the Core sample drill and drilling 2 meter into soil getting 1.7 kg sample.
Then Popovic return with LK to Moon orbit, were Artyukhin was busy cartographing the Lunar surface
3 days later Zond 16 crew landed in Soviet union.
Aftermath
The Mare Crisium drill samples had a surprise for Soviets
In 1978 they discover It contain 0.1% water, something not expected, MoM send Samples to NASA who confirmed the findings.
Apollo 15
it Was last H-class Mission, although is was close to be cancelled by Mueller Administration,
Saved was it by increase funding by Capitol Hill after Soviet announcement of Two manned Lunar Mission per year.
Next to that Mueller could use Apollo 15 as „Fill-in“ until J-class mission were ready, do modification for CSM/LM from Apollo 16 on.
The target of Apollo 15 would be north west of the crater Censorinus at Mare Tranquillitates
in hope to not only to get sample from lunar highlands but also ejected material of this fresh impact crater
On July 26, Apollo 15 are launch with David Scott ,Alfred Worden and James Irwin on board.
3 days later the CSM Endeavor and LM Falcon enter Moon orbit.
The Moon landing was again problematic LM-9 Falcon radar gave wrong landing speed, so Falcon miss it’s target and landed to north east from it,
On first EVA they deployed the ALSEP and collect lunar samples near the LM.
after that the crew of Falcon make ready to sleep in LM
Next Day Scott and Irwin made second EVA, first setup the Flag of United States, then they went on walk with "Moon wheelbarrow"
in hope to find material ejected from crater Censorinus creation.
They more then lucky not only they found, „Immature“ lunar material untouched by solar wind and micrometeorite bombardment.
near them was a small dark crater of 20 meter ø with ejected dark material, they collect that to.
There last task was put “Moon wheelbarrow" away from LM, parking it,
Then they left several object in it: a small Bible, a plaque with name 9 Astronauts/Cosmonaut who died in service and "Fallen Astronaut" statuette by Paul Van Hoeydonck.
On august 1 the LM ascent module take off, with in total 44 kg of lunar sample.
Finally the Endeavor landed save in Pacific on 5 august 1971, despite one parachute (of three) failed.
Aftermath:
Apollo 15 was a success with record breaking data.
Not only they found „Immature“ lunar material but also gave the dark material a surprise: Carbonaceous chonddite
The dark crater was formed by chondritic meteorite. it was first evidence of such impact on Moon
Sadly had Apollo 15 a bitter aftertaste, the Crew had made deal with German stamp dealer and smuggle unauthorized commemorative postal covers onboard of CSM
the crew made this to offer Trust fund for there children education.
Next to that also unauthorized was bringing the “Fallen Astronaut" statuette to Moon and Two watches by manufacture to test them in Microgravity.
The Investigation by US Senate and NASA show that only NASA regulation were violated.
The Crew of Apollo 15 were guilty misbehavior and were remove from Flight plan, also were rule exalted what astronaut can carry on personal items into Apollo spacecraft
On August 12, Caspar Weinberger responsible for US budget, try last effort at Nixon on the subject of NASA budget reduction.
But Nixon refused Weinberger proposition, sending his memo back with this note in red
While the Saturn V and IB production-line are unwrapped and make ready for a second production run
At NASA they prepared the J-Class missions for Apollo 16 to 18 and Apollo 19 to 23 mission were under review and Skylab is rush to completions.
In same time start final battle about NASA Odyssey program in Capitol Hill, while China start to increase there space activity since they launch there first satellite two years ago.
Zond 16 and Apollo 15
In 1971 the Soviet Space Agency MoM had several Problems.
OKB-1 ran into it's full capacity, building per year, Two Luna, dozens Protons and Soyuz rockets for MoM and Military needs.
Next to that they built Spacecrafts like LOK-LK, Spying Satellites and were working on the advanced Soyuz 7K-SM, Therefore the Space Station program suffered under a lack of personnel and material.
MoM had to take measures, they order of OKB-52 to help to build the Station on OKB-1 plans, it had certain irony that OKB-52 had to build now the space station.
Their boss Vladimir Chelomei had proposed his Almaz, a military space station to MoM, what had refused the proposal, because Chelomei demand on development of the UR-500 rocket and TKS spacecraft for it.
Although the Boss of OKB-52 could be happy to do something for the Space race, He went to Military complaining about the status of Salut program and promoted Almaz.
Military-industrial Commission Chairman Ustinov was not amused at all, about Chelomei arrogant behavior and his talking shit about his colleagues.
MoM had enough of Chelomei escapade and threatened him to follow orders or otherwise OKB-52 would become subdivision of OKB-1 !
The Alita Study had serious setbacks by provoking a major nuclear disaster!
A test run of Experimental Thermal nuclear engine RD-0410 ended in meltdown and massive contaminations of Semipalatinsk test site and near by Irtysh River.
Responsible for Disaster was a engineer named Anatoly Stepanovich Dyatlov, the investigation report found him guilty for "criminal mismanagement of potentially dangerous device“
He was sentenced to ten years in prison.
MoM changed the Alita Study mission architecture in favor of Nuclear Electric Engines.
Next to that the Soviet authority notice that soviet citizens had lost interest in the Zond Missions.
Zond 16
The planned launch of Zond 16 with Yuri Artyukhin and Pavel Popovich was schedule for 31 may 1971.
This time the mission went to Mare Crisium on right edge of Moon
But the April landing of Lunokhod 7 ended in a crash on the lunar surface, delaying the Mission.
in May Lunokhod 7 touchdown on Mare Crisium and started to look for LK landing site.
June 22 the Lunar rocket was launch to Moon, Zond 16 arrived on 28 June.
Popovic landed on 29 June near where Lunokhod 7 landed a months ago.
On first EVA he deployed DALS and make Core sample drill ready then collect lunar samples.
Then he returned into LK for rest and snack.
On second EVA he use the Core sample drill and drilling 2 meter into soil getting 1.7 kg sample.
Then Popovic return with LK to Moon orbit, were Artyukhin was busy cartographing the Lunar surface
3 days later Zond 16 crew landed in Soviet union.
Aftermath
The Mare Crisium drill samples had a surprise for Soviets
In 1978 they discover It contain 0.1% water, something not expected, MoM send Samples to NASA who confirmed the findings.
Apollo 15
it Was last H-class Mission, although is was close to be cancelled by Mueller Administration,
Saved was it by increase funding by Capitol Hill after Soviet announcement of Two manned Lunar Mission per year.
Next to that Mueller could use Apollo 15 as „Fill-in“ until J-class mission were ready, do modification for CSM/LM from Apollo 16 on.
The target of Apollo 15 would be north west of the crater Censorinus at Mare Tranquillitates
in hope to not only to get sample from lunar highlands but also ejected material of this fresh impact crater
On July 26, Apollo 15 are launch with David Scott ,Alfred Worden and James Irwin on board.
3 days later the CSM Endeavor and LM Falcon enter Moon orbit.
The Moon landing was again problematic LM-9 Falcon radar gave wrong landing speed, so Falcon miss it’s target and landed to north east from it,
On first EVA they deployed the ALSEP and collect lunar samples near the LM.
after that the crew of Falcon make ready to sleep in LM
Next Day Scott and Irwin made second EVA, first setup the Flag of United States, then they went on walk with "Moon wheelbarrow"
in hope to find material ejected from crater Censorinus creation.
They more then lucky not only they found, „Immature“ lunar material untouched by solar wind and micrometeorite bombardment.
near them was a small dark crater of 20 meter ø with ejected dark material, they collect that to.
There last task was put “Moon wheelbarrow" away from LM, parking it,
Then they left several object in it: a small Bible, a plaque with name 9 Astronauts/Cosmonaut who died in service and "Fallen Astronaut" statuette by Paul Van Hoeydonck.
On august 1 the LM ascent module take off, with in total 44 kg of lunar sample.
Finally the Endeavor landed save in Pacific on 5 august 1971, despite one parachute (of three) failed.
Aftermath:
Apollo 15 was a success with record breaking data.
Not only they found „Immature“ lunar material but also gave the dark material a surprise: Carbonaceous chonddite
The dark crater was formed by chondritic meteorite. it was first evidence of such impact on Moon
Sadly had Apollo 15 a bitter aftertaste, the Crew had made deal with German stamp dealer and smuggle unauthorized commemorative postal covers onboard of CSM
the crew made this to offer Trust fund for there children education.
Next to that also unauthorized was bringing the “Fallen Astronaut" statuette to Moon and Two watches by manufacture to test them in Microgravity.
The Investigation by US Senate and NASA show that only NASA regulation were violated.
The Crew of Apollo 15 were guilty misbehavior and were remove from Flight plan, also were rule exalted what astronaut can carry on personal items into Apollo spacecraft
On August 12, Caspar Weinberger responsible for US budget, try last effort at Nixon on the subject of NASA budget reduction.
But Nixon refused Weinberger proposition, sending his memo back with this note in red
While the Saturn V and IB production-line are unwrapped and make ready for a second production run
At NASA they prepared the J-Class missions for Apollo 16 to 18 and Apollo 19 to 23 mission were under review and Skylab is rush to completions.
In same time start final battle about NASA Odyssey program in Capitol Hill, while China start to increase there space activity since they launch there first satellite two years ago.
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It's Back! great to see it again
Sorry for delay
SpaceGeek was busy and i made research on some open question on NASA
Thanks of Archibald excellent TL "Explorers" i got more info on the Matter
Its back , so good The Apollo 15 brought great discoveries , i do wonder what future missions will end up finding on the moon .
Actually this is Original envision H-class mission for Apollo 15
before it was cancelled by Thomas O. Pain by a J-class mission for Budget reason and lack of Saturn V.
in ASTO with two Soviet Zond mission to moon a year, Capitol Hill trow money for restart the Saturn Production and more Advance Apollo.
George E. Mueller can run the original Apollo Mission plan and has option for four additional Apollo missions
so this H-class mission goes to the crater Censorinus at Mare Tranquillitates.
Not the Hadley landing site at Mare Imbrium, so they find not the "Genesis Rock"
Maybe has the crew of Apollo 19 same luck in Hadley in autumn 1973.
before it was cancelled by Thomas O. Pain by a J-class mission for Budget reason and lack of Saturn V.
in ASTO with two Soviet Zond mission to moon a year, Capitol Hill trow money for restart the Saturn Production and more Advance Apollo.
George E. Mueller can run the original Apollo Mission plan and has option for four additional Apollo missions
so this H-class mission goes to the crater Censorinus at Mare Tranquillitates.
Not the Hadley landing site at Mare Imbrium, so they find not the "Genesis Rock"
Maybe has the crew of Apollo 19 same luck in Hadley in autumn 1973.
Post 33: Khrushchev’s Death and Kosygin take Power
On September 11, 1971 came sad news that Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev had died do to a hearth attack in Moscow Hospital.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee had be hospitalize since 1968 do to a hearth condition.
He was given a State funeral and interment in the Kremlin Wall.
The eulogy praised him as man who brought the Soviet Union out darkness of Stalin terror into modern Socialism and started the conquest of Space.
His Successor was already decided by Khrushchev as he went to the hospital, Alexei Kosygin who was his representative in Politburo during this time.
Also starting the succession in Politburo, one of the newbies was Yuri Andropov, head of the KGB. He was a "hardliner reformist".
Andropov used the KGB to hunt down corruption inside the Communist Party and Industry, supporting Kosygin in process.
The third economic reform finally showed the success hope for, the people grumbled for more nylon and Washing machine were satisfied.
The waiting list for cars, homes and also the waiting line in shops started to decline.
Except the waiting lines in front of postal and telephone stations for a Videophone call, the new hype in Soviet Union, began to grow.
Very favorable for those seeing relatives living on other site of the Union.
The first offspring of cybernetic Revolution in USSR, the bureaucracy, Military and Space programs started to benefits from first "electronic computing machines“ (Russian abbr. EVM) made in to the USSR.
First generation soviet Videophone
But there were people who was deeply uncontent with the situation: the Hardliner communist and Stalinists in Communist Party.
They consider Khrushchev legacy as revisionism and a wrong step for a now doomed USSR.
But they had kept a low profile, Yuri Andropov was watching over them, in case they made one fatal mistake.
The Collaboration between Yuri Andropov and Alexei Kosygin went well until end of 1979.
As the Afghan communist Government demand Soviet military help for there Civil war
General secretary Kosygin refused the use of Red Army there, not wanting a "Soviet Vietnam“
On other side Yuri Andropov wanted full scale intrusion to secure the southern border of the USSR against radical islam in Afghanistan and Iran.
This let to Dispute between the two and to a schism under the Reformers giving the hardliners again momentum.
On September 11, 1971 came sad news that Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev had died do to a hearth attack in Moscow Hospital.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee had be hospitalize since 1968 do to a hearth condition.
He was given a State funeral and interment in the Kremlin Wall.
The eulogy praised him as man who brought the Soviet Union out darkness of Stalin terror into modern Socialism and started the conquest of Space.
His Successor was already decided by Khrushchev as he went to the hospital, Alexei Kosygin who was his representative in Politburo during this time.
Also starting the succession in Politburo, one of the newbies was Yuri Andropov, head of the KGB. He was a "hardliner reformist".
Andropov used the KGB to hunt down corruption inside the Communist Party and Industry, supporting Kosygin in process.
The third economic reform finally showed the success hope for, the people grumbled for more nylon and Washing machine were satisfied.
The waiting list for cars, homes and also the waiting line in shops started to decline.
Except the waiting lines in front of postal and telephone stations for a Videophone call, the new hype in Soviet Union, began to grow.
Very favorable for those seeing relatives living on other site of the Union.
The first offspring of cybernetic Revolution in USSR, the bureaucracy, Military and Space programs started to benefits from first "electronic computing machines“ (Russian abbr. EVM) made in to the USSR.
First generation soviet Videophone
But there were people who was deeply uncontent with the situation: the Hardliner communist and Stalinists in Communist Party.
They consider Khrushchev legacy as revisionism and a wrong step for a now doomed USSR.
But they had kept a low profile, Yuri Andropov was watching over them, in case they made one fatal mistake.
The Collaboration between Yuri Andropov and Alexei Kosygin went well until end of 1979.
As the Afghan communist Government demand Soviet military help for there Civil war
General secretary Kosygin refused the use of Red Army there, not wanting a "Soviet Vietnam“
On other side Yuri Andropov wanted full scale intrusion to secure the southern border of the USSR against radical islam in Afghanistan and Iran.
This let to Dispute between the two and to a schism under the Reformers giving the hardliners again momentum.
USA
1972: Production starts for the new Saturn Rockets
McDonnell/Douglas complete the First S-IVC for Saturn IC and Saturn VB
It’s a S-IVB stage modified for new J-2S engine (S for Simplified) which led to a reduction of Stage mass, higher ISP and options for restarting the Stage several time.
Scheduled to be launched first on the Saturn IB first stage left over from the first production run.
The second Saturn IC launch will feature a Centaur as third stage and Burner II as four stage, it will bring German Helios A probe near the sun in December 1974
The Saturn VB, consisting of an standard S-IC and S-IIB (with five J-2S) and S-IVC is scheduled to be launch unmanned in spring 1974 follow by first manned flight with Apollo 20 in winter 1974.
Now NASA was readying with J-Class missions: a new generation of LM that stay 72 hours on Lunar surface, equipped with a Rover
The CSM has now a scientific equipment bay to scann the Lunar surface for geological feature. The improved Spacesuit A7LB will be introduced for the next four Apollo J-class and Skylab three missions.
Apollo 16
The legendary John Young, Charles Duke and John Swigert blasted off on Saturn V on 16 April 1972.
A bad surprise happened after day two as the guidance system needed a realigning after some errors.
On 21 April the LM Orion landed in Descartes Highlands, they first performed an EVA was to take panorama pictures with 500 mm Telephoto lens from LM open top hatch.
After a good sleep and breakfast, Young and Duke went for the second EVA, Young first words on surface:
They deployed the Rover and installed the Far Ultraviolets Camera/Spectrograph. On a short test drive the rover showed some problem.
After installing the ALSEP, the heat flow experiment was damaged as Young's foot caught a cable snapping it off, then they went drive to Plume crater and to there surprise the Rover worked perfectly now.
Young drove the rover, while Duke filmed it on 16 mm camera
After 7 hours and 11 minute the crew returned to the LM
The Second EVA became for the Geologist a disappointment. The Descartes Highlands was not volcanic site, but instead formed by huge impact on lunar surface.
Young and Duke managed to get a core sample from 3 meter depth. Duke had some problem to get up after he fell on lunar surface.
After 7 hours and 6 minute they returned to the LM.
The next day they drove to the Cinco Craters and Stone Mountain according to Duke a "Spectacular View". On return to the LM they made a Stop a ALSEP to drill a double core sample.
The next Day EVA-4 was short with 5 hours and 40 minutes, going to the North Ray crater the largest visit by humans on the Moon, braking the speed record on moon with 17.1 km/h.
Duke left a photograph of his family and a USAF commemorative medallion on Moon, then he drove the Rover away from the LM, parked it, turned rover S-band antenna to Earth and the TV camera to the LM.
They took off with 95.71 kg of lunar samples back to lunar orbit.
After the LM's Docking and prior to leaving Moon orbit, the CSM released a sub satellite PFS-1.
Instead of a stable orbit the PFS-1 behaved strange, its orbit collapsed and after 35 days crashed on the Moon.
The JLP analyzed the data and came to surprise that most Lunar orbit are not stable on long term.
bad news for the future lunar orbit station.
On the way back to Earth the crew made EVAs to recover the Film canister from scientific equipment bay.
After 265 hours and 37 minute mission, the capsule Casper landed near the USS Ticonderoga.
Aftermath:
The first J-class mission was triumphal for Apollo program,
Record breaking: 72 hour stay, in EVA for 20 hours, longest distant travel on moon 26.7 km and 95.71 kg of Lunar samples
In contrast the Soviet L3-Mission looked really puny.
USSR
OKB-1 started the year with an unmanned 60 days orbital Test of new version of Soyuz spacecraft adapted for Salyut program.
The 7K-7 version featured a Docking tunnel so two men crew could enter the Space station without spacewalk in Spacesuits, still practiced on Zond missions in Lunar orbit.
On landing, the 29 April happened something bad, after the orbital section was separated from Return module, this lost pressure fast.
Inspection on Return Module indicate that 12 explosive bolt detonate synchronous, instead of one after the other, ripping a seal open during separation of Orbital Module.
Therefore an opening of a valve letout escaping Cabin air at an altitude of 168 km.
This was bad for already delay program, at OKB-52 there also problems with the construction of Salyut
Their engineers start to Modified the construction to leave out unnecessary parts and systems like a second docking system, also now installing Soyuz four solar panels for power supply.
The originally planned features would be installed in later version of Salut, during the second half of the ninth five-Year Plan (1971-1976)
Zond 17
On May 13, 1972 launched the Luna rocket with Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov.
Their target was Mare Fecunditatis where Lunokhod 8 was waiting for LK
This time the moon rover was busy in last two month, for the first time it collected samples during its travels providing data over longer distance over Mare Fecunditatis.
On May 19 the LK touched down on target.
After landing Zholobov installed DALS, he collected samples containers from Lunokhod 8 and took the core samples drill and return to orbit.
But during Spacewalk from LK to LOK happen this:
Zholobov exhausted from his Lunar trip, had not properly secured the Sample container on his spacesuit.
Do to movements towards LOK the container detached and moved into it's own lunar orbit.
So "The Empty handed Mission“ returned 72 hours later on earth
Aftermath
While the Americans set record after record on the Moon, L3M was not ready to Launch until in 4 years…
Despite this, "The Empty handed Moon Mission“ provided a fit of laughter for the Soviets.
Rest of World
The 1972 Summer Olympic in Munich were overshadow by the Black September terroristic act.
Lucky the Bavarian special forces ambushed the terrorists as they tried to escape on Fürstenfeldbruck Air force base with Being 727
Killing seven terrorists, two were captured alive, wounding several of the nine hostage in process,
The Munich Miracle was possible by the groundwork the German police had with there terrorist in last 4 years.
1972: Production starts for the new Saturn Rockets
McDonnell/Douglas complete the First S-IVC for Saturn IC and Saturn VB
It’s a S-IVB stage modified for new J-2S engine (S for Simplified) which led to a reduction of Stage mass, higher ISP and options for restarting the Stage several time.
Scheduled to be launched first on the Saturn IB first stage left over from the first production run.
The second Saturn IC launch will feature a Centaur as third stage and Burner II as four stage, it will bring German Helios A probe near the sun in December 1974
The Saturn VB, consisting of an standard S-IC and S-IIB (with five J-2S) and S-IVC is scheduled to be launch unmanned in spring 1974 follow by first manned flight with Apollo 20 in winter 1974.
Now NASA was readying with J-Class missions: a new generation of LM that stay 72 hours on Lunar surface, equipped with a Rover
The CSM has now a scientific equipment bay to scann the Lunar surface for geological feature. The improved Spacesuit A7LB will be introduced for the next four Apollo J-class and Skylab three missions.
Apollo 16
The legendary John Young, Charles Duke and John Swigert blasted off on Saturn V on 16 April 1972.
A bad surprise happened after day two as the guidance system needed a realigning after some errors.
On 21 April the LM Orion landed in Descartes Highlands, they first performed an EVA was to take panorama pictures with 500 mm Telephoto lens from LM open top hatch.
After a good sleep and breakfast, Young and Duke went for the second EVA, Young first words on surface:
They deployed the Rover and installed the Far Ultraviolets Camera/Spectrograph. On a short test drive the rover showed some problem.
After installing the ALSEP, the heat flow experiment was damaged as Young's foot caught a cable snapping it off, then they went drive to Plume crater and to there surprise the Rover worked perfectly now.
Young drove the rover, while Duke filmed it on 16 mm camera
After 7 hours and 11 minute the crew returned to the LM
The Second EVA became for the Geologist a disappointment. The Descartes Highlands was not volcanic site, but instead formed by huge impact on lunar surface.
Young and Duke managed to get a core sample from 3 meter depth. Duke had some problem to get up after he fell on lunar surface.
After 7 hours and 6 minute they returned to the LM.
The next day they drove to the Cinco Craters and Stone Mountain according to Duke a "Spectacular View". On return to the LM they made a Stop a ALSEP to drill a double core sample.
The next Day EVA-4 was short with 5 hours and 40 minutes, going to the North Ray crater the largest visit by humans on the Moon, braking the speed record on moon with 17.1 km/h.
Duke left a photograph of his family and a USAF commemorative medallion on Moon, then he drove the Rover away from the LM, parked it, turned rover S-band antenna to Earth and the TV camera to the LM.
They took off with 95.71 kg of lunar samples back to lunar orbit.
After the LM's Docking and prior to leaving Moon orbit, the CSM released a sub satellite PFS-1.
Instead of a stable orbit the PFS-1 behaved strange, its orbit collapsed and after 35 days crashed on the Moon.
The JLP analyzed the data and came to surprise that most Lunar orbit are not stable on long term.
bad news for the future lunar orbit station.
On the way back to Earth the crew made EVAs to recover the Film canister from scientific equipment bay.
After 265 hours and 37 minute mission, the capsule Casper landed near the USS Ticonderoga.
Aftermath:
The first J-class mission was triumphal for Apollo program,
Record breaking: 72 hour stay, in EVA for 20 hours, longest distant travel on moon 26.7 km and 95.71 kg of Lunar samples
In contrast the Soviet L3-Mission looked really puny.
USSR
OKB-1 started the year with an unmanned 60 days orbital Test of new version of Soyuz spacecraft adapted for Salyut program.
The 7K-7 version featured a Docking tunnel so two men crew could enter the Space station without spacewalk in Spacesuits, still practiced on Zond missions in Lunar orbit.
On landing, the 29 April happened something bad, after the orbital section was separated from Return module, this lost pressure fast.
Inspection on Return Module indicate that 12 explosive bolt detonate synchronous, instead of one after the other, ripping a seal open during separation of Orbital Module.
Therefore an opening of a valve letout escaping Cabin air at an altitude of 168 km.
This was bad for already delay program, at OKB-52 there also problems with the construction of Salyut
Their engineers start to Modified the construction to leave out unnecessary parts and systems like a second docking system, also now installing Soyuz four solar panels for power supply.
The originally planned features would be installed in later version of Salut, during the second half of the ninth five-Year Plan (1971-1976)
Zond 17
On May 13, 1972 launched the Luna rocket with Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov.
Their target was Mare Fecunditatis where Lunokhod 8 was waiting for LK
This time the moon rover was busy in last two month, for the first time it collected samples during its travels providing data over longer distance over Mare Fecunditatis.
On May 19 the LK touched down on target.
After landing Zholobov installed DALS, he collected samples containers from Lunokhod 8 and took the core samples drill and return to orbit.
But during Spacewalk from LK to LOK happen this:
Zholobov exhausted from his Lunar trip, had not properly secured the Sample container on his spacesuit.
Do to movements towards LOK the container detached and moved into it's own lunar orbit.
So "The Empty handed Mission“ returned 72 hours later on earth
Aftermath
For MoM it was clear that L3 was a minimal program, that was not practical for Lunar exploration.
While the Americans set record after record on the Moon, L3M was not ready to Launch until in 4 years…
Despite this, "The Empty handed Moon Mission“ provided a fit of laughter for the Soviets.
Rest of World
The 1972 Summer Olympic in Munich were overshadow by the Black September terroristic act.
Lucky the Bavarian special forces ambushed the terrorists as they tried to escape on Fürstenfeldbruck Air force base with Being 727
Killing seven terrorists, two were captured alive, wounding several of the nine hostage in process,
The Munich Miracle was possible by the groundwork the German police had with there terrorist in last 4 years.
I updated the Wiki Page of this TL
Next to Key dates
it feature (incomplete) list of Saturn V and other Americans Launch vehicle
Soviet rockets follow later
Next to Key dates
it feature (incomplete) list of Saturn V and other Americans Launch vehicle
Soviet rockets follow later
Nixon goes to china in december 1972 with Lin Biao
Skylab
In October 1972 Kennedy Space Center gave a spectacular show: Two Saturn Vs rolled out VAB toward Launch Pad 39
One was Apollo 17, scheduled to launch on December 7th.
The Other was Skylab, America's (and the world's) first space station scheduled for Launch on November 23rd.
Skylab began in 1965 as the Apollo Application Program in MSFC under George E. Mueller
The first goal was launch a 3 man Space Station build from S-IVB stage called "The Orbital Workshop“ or OWS.
In 1968 with the termination of MOL program at the USAF, part of their Astronauts were transferred to NASA, several were assigned to the Skylab program.
Also the name was changed from "the Orbital Workshop“ into Skylab.
In 1970 McDonnell Douglas started to build in California, two space stations, Skylab A and B (B for backup).
Finally, in 1972 Skylab A arrived in late August at KSC for preparation to Launch.
While in Johnson Space center the second Mission Control Center was activated for Skylab, so the Apollo 17 Mission could go synchronous.
On November 23 the Saturn V took off from Pad 39-B, but 63 seconds later the Micrometeoroid shield detach and was ripped off the station
Skylab arrived in orbit and deployed the Apollo Telescope Mount and its Solar cells, while the main solar cells did respond on orders from ground control.
Also rise the temperature in Station released toxic fumes from material in the station.
This was a new Disaster for NASA, what to do ?
George E. Mueller was clear that the future of NASA was at stake, so he made a decision: the first Skylab crew must repair the station.
This delayed the launch for 10 days to prepare the Repair procedure.
In the mean time ground control had vented the Atmosphere of the station, purging it with pure Nitrogen four time, before restore the Nitrogen/Oxygen atmosphere.
Skylab-2
So on December 2, Skylab-2 was launch from Pad 34 on Board: Charles "Pete“ Conrad, Jr., Joseph P. Kerwin and Paul J. Weitz.
As they arrived 6 hours later at Skylab they saw the full scale of the problem,
The Micrometeoroid shield had also ripped off a solar cell of the station, the other was jammed by the debris of the shield.
The first EVA attempted to deblock the Solar Cells ending in failure as Skylab lost of most RCS fuel.
After docking the crew enter the station in spacesuits despite the high temperatures and being underpowered, Skylab was fine.
They used the Science Airlock to deploye a parasol, working as sunshade, with temperatures successfully dropping to an acceptable level.
On December 7th, Apollo 17 was launched and for the first time there were 6 American astronauts were in space .
On December 17th, with the second EVA Conrad and Kerwin managed to Open the solar wing on Skylab, providing electrical power for next two missions.
On December 24th, The Crew celebrated Christmas in Orbit, the first time since Apollo 8's historic mission that an Astronaut had spent Christmas in Space.
Then on December 30th, the Crew left Skylab and returned safely to Earth after a mission of 28 days.
Meanwhile Skylab was put into Hibernation for next Crew arriving in February.
Apollo 17
On December 7, a Saturn V manned with Eugene Cerman, Ronald Evans and Joe Engle, blasted off from pad 39-A.
500,000 people watching the spectacle of a Saturn V night launch, from over 200 km you could see the light of the five F-1 engine gleaming in the Sky.
During the transfer to moon the crew experienced light flashes in the spacecraft, cosmic radiation from Sun hitting the eyes of the astronauts.
On board were five pocket mice with radiation monitors implanted, to study the phenomenon, increasing with Solar activity.
Also reported by Cerman was a blinking object that follow the CSM/LM on large distance, later it was revealed to be radar, one of adapter panels was drifting parallel to CSM/LM
3 day later the CSM America and LM Challenger entered lunar orbit. The LM Challenger touched down in Taurus-Littrow right on target on December 11.
During the first EVA Cerman took panorama pictures of the landing side from the top of the LM hatch.
After a good night of rest the Crew started the Second EVA , Cerman's first words on moon were:
Quote:
"Joe [Engle] I'm out here oh my Golly! Unbelievable! Unbelievable; but is it bright in the Sun."
They offloading the rover and they deployed the ALSEP package and put US flags on the lunar surface.
A problem Cerman and Engle had on all EVAs was the moon dust, it stuck on suit, on the rover, even got inside there LM which Cerman and Engle described as the smell of spent gunpowder.
But they had their fun, during the EVA Engle and Cerman even start singing during this EVA.
On the third EVA Cerman and Engle collected 66 kilograms of Lunar samples.
The fourth EVA Engle made a big discovery near a bolder, a small unusual rock "The Genesis rock““
it came from lower crust of moon, being one of the oldest stones found on moon and showed traces of original lunar magnetic field !
On end of the EVA they parked the Lunar rover at a safe distance to film the accent of LM .
With the surface stay of 3 days and 3 hours it was a new record not to mention the EVA of seven hours 15 minute and the 110.4 kg of lunar samples.
During the time in lunar orbit, the CSM America scanned the Surface with spectrographs for the geological Lunar Map.
After dedocking the LM, the Crew released the PFS-2 subsatellite, this time the PFS-2 remain stable in it's orbit.
On return to earth, Ronald Evans made an EVA to collect the films from the SIM bay.
Apollo 17's crew manage to take a picture of the whole earth, "The Blue Marble" that become the most iconic picture of the 20 century.
Then the CM America splashed down save near USS Ticondergoa in pacific ocean on December 19th.
Aftermath:
Skylab 2 and Apollo 17 were successes for NASA, not only did they beat the Soviets in the space race with, dual mission of 6 astronauts, the biggest space station with 70 tons, it’s repair and a record 28 day stay of astronaut in space,
Apollo 17 again broke records on the Moon while Skylab-2 brought home 392 hours of experimental data on medicine, solar and Earth science.
While the Soviets had "The Empty handed Mission“ of Zond 17, it’s repeat with Zond 18 and delays in their Salyut projects.
This impress Capitol Hill, finally NASA had done it's job and had secured America's in the lead in Space Race for the moment
Skylab
In October 1972 Kennedy Space Center gave a spectacular show: Two Saturn Vs rolled out VAB toward Launch Pad 39
One was Apollo 17, scheduled to launch on December 7th.
The Other was Skylab, America's (and the world's) first space station scheduled for Launch on November 23rd.
Skylab began in 1965 as the Apollo Application Program in MSFC under George E. Mueller
The first goal was launch a 3 man Space Station build from S-IVB stage called "The Orbital Workshop“ or OWS.
In 1968 with the termination of MOL program at the USAF, part of their Astronauts were transferred to NASA, several were assigned to the Skylab program.
Also the name was changed from "the Orbital Workshop“ into Skylab.
In 1970 McDonnell Douglas started to build in California, two space stations, Skylab A and B (B for backup).
Finally, in 1972 Skylab A arrived in late August at KSC for preparation to Launch.
While in Johnson Space center the second Mission Control Center was activated for Skylab, so the Apollo 17 Mission could go synchronous.
On November 23 the Saturn V took off from Pad 39-B, but 63 seconds later the Micrometeoroid shield detach and was ripped off the station
Skylab arrived in orbit and deployed the Apollo Telescope Mount and its Solar cells, while the main solar cells did respond on orders from ground control.
Also rise the temperature in Station released toxic fumes from material in the station.
This was a new Disaster for NASA, what to do ?
George E. Mueller was clear that the future of NASA was at stake, so he made a decision: the first Skylab crew must repair the station.
This delayed the launch for 10 days to prepare the Repair procedure.
In the mean time ground control had vented the Atmosphere of the station, purging it with pure Nitrogen four time, before restore the Nitrogen/Oxygen atmosphere.
Skylab-2
So on December 2, Skylab-2 was launch from Pad 34 on Board: Charles "Pete“ Conrad, Jr., Joseph P. Kerwin and Paul J. Weitz.
As they arrived 6 hours later at Skylab they saw the full scale of the problem,
The Micrometeoroid shield had also ripped off a solar cell of the station, the other was jammed by the debris of the shield.
The first EVA attempted to deblock the Solar Cells ending in failure as Skylab lost of most RCS fuel.
After docking the crew enter the station in spacesuits despite the high temperatures and being underpowered, Skylab was fine.
They used the Science Airlock to deploye a parasol, working as sunshade, with temperatures successfully dropping to an acceptable level.
On December 7th, Apollo 17 was launched and for the first time there were 6 American astronauts were in space .
On December 17th, with the second EVA Conrad and Kerwin managed to Open the solar wing on Skylab, providing electrical power for next two missions.
On December 24th, The Crew celebrated Christmas in Orbit, the first time since Apollo 8's historic mission that an Astronaut had spent Christmas in Space.
Then on December 30th, the Crew left Skylab and returned safely to Earth after a mission of 28 days.
Meanwhile Skylab was put into Hibernation for next Crew arriving in February.
Apollo 17
On December 7, a Saturn V manned with Eugene Cerman, Ronald Evans and Joe Engle, blasted off from pad 39-A.
500,000 people watching the spectacle of a Saturn V night launch, from over 200 km you could see the light of the five F-1 engine gleaming in the Sky.
During the transfer to moon the crew experienced light flashes in the spacecraft, cosmic radiation from Sun hitting the eyes of the astronauts.
On board were five pocket mice with radiation monitors implanted, to study the phenomenon, increasing with Solar activity.
Also reported by Cerman was a blinking object that follow the CSM/LM on large distance, later it was revealed to be radar, one of adapter panels was drifting parallel to CSM/LM
3 day later the CSM America and LM Challenger entered lunar orbit. The LM Challenger touched down in Taurus-Littrow right on target on December 11.
During the first EVA Cerman took panorama pictures of the landing side from the top of the LM hatch.
After a good night of rest the Crew started the Second EVA , Cerman's first words on moon were:
Quote:
"Joe [Engle] I'm out here oh my Golly! Unbelievable! Unbelievable; but is it bright in the Sun."
They offloading the rover and they deployed the ALSEP package and put US flags on the lunar surface.
A problem Cerman and Engle had on all EVAs was the moon dust, it stuck on suit, on the rover, even got inside there LM which Cerman and Engle described as the smell of spent gunpowder.
But they had their fun, during the EVA Engle and Cerman even start singing during this EVA.
On the third EVA Cerman and Engle collected 66 kilograms of Lunar samples.
The fourth EVA Engle made a big discovery near a bolder, a small unusual rock "The Genesis rock““
it came from lower crust of moon, being one of the oldest stones found on moon and showed traces of original lunar magnetic field !
On end of the EVA they parked the Lunar rover at a safe distance to film the accent of LM .
With the surface stay of 3 days and 3 hours it was a new record not to mention the EVA of seven hours 15 minute and the 110.4 kg of lunar samples.
During the time in lunar orbit, the CSM America scanned the Surface with spectrographs for the geological Lunar Map.
After dedocking the LM, the Crew released the PFS-2 subsatellite, this time the PFS-2 remain stable in it's orbit.
On return to earth, Ronald Evans made an EVA to collect the films from the SIM bay.
Apollo 17's crew manage to take a picture of the whole earth, "The Blue Marble" that become the most iconic picture of the 20 century.
Then the CM America splashed down save near USS Ticondergoa in pacific ocean on December 19th.
Aftermath:
Skylab 2 and Apollo 17 were successes for NASA, not only did they beat the Soviets in the space race with, dual mission of 6 astronauts, the biggest space station with 70 tons, it’s repair and a record 28 day stay of astronaut in space,
Apollo 17 again broke records on the Moon while Skylab-2 brought home 392 hours of experimental data on medicine, solar and Earth science.
While the Soviets had "The Empty handed Mission“ of Zond 17, it’s repeat with Zond 18 and delays in their Salyut projects.
This impress Capitol Hill, finally NASA had done it's job and had secured America's in the lead in Space Race for the moment
I am enjoying the TL but I have not been on AH as much as I used to so only just catching up with stuff on AH today.
Thanks guy !
I have question for next post
Who was successor of Mikhail Kuzmich Yangel at OKB-586 in October 1971 ?
I have question for next post
Who was successor of Mikhail Kuzmich Yangel at OKB-586 in October 1971 ?
You DO realize that's a "trick question" right? It's YOUR timeline so you can actually make it whomever you want
Sure, go with the "easy" answer... Do some work why don't you, make it Donald Trump instead
I know, no ASB,,, ::::sigh:::
Randy