![]() ![]() Stafford, the commander, was 38 years old at the time of the mission. On November 13, 1968, NASA announced the crew members of Apollo 10. Crew and key Mission Control personnel Position Lieutenant General Sam Phillips, the Apollo Program Manager, listened to the arguments on both sides and decided that having a dress rehearsal was crucial. Kraft and others opposed this, feeling that new procedures would have to be developed for a rendezvous in lunar orbit and that NASA had incomplete information regarding the Moon's mass concentrations, which might throw off the spacecraft's trajectory. However, Director of Flight Operations Christopher C. NASA official George Mueller favored a landing attempt on Apollo 10 he was known for his aggressive approach to moving the Apollo program forward. Although the lunar module intended for Apollo 10 was too heavy to perform the lunar mission, the one intended for Apollo 11 could be substituted by delaying Apollo 10 a month from its May 1969 planned launch. Some with the agency advocated this, feeling it senseless to bring astronauts so close to the lunar surface, only to turn away. NASA considered skipping the "F" mission as well and attempting the first lunar landing on Apollo 10. Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal for the lunar landing, was to be the "F" mission. Apollo 8, flown to the Moon's orbit without an LM, was considered a "C-prime" mission, but its success gave NASA the confidence to skip the "E" mission, which would have tested the full Apollo spacecraft in medium or high Earth orbit. The first crewed orbital test of the Lunar Module (LM) was accomplished on Apollo 9, the "D" mission. The early uncrewed flights were considered "A" or "B" missions, while Apollo 7, the crewed-flight test of the Command and Service Module (CSM), was the "C" mission. Framework Background įor a fuller overview of this subject, see Apollo program.īy 1967, NASA had devised a list of mission types, designated by letters, that needed to be flown before a landing attempt, which would be the "G" mission. Peanuts creator Charles Schulz also drew mission-related artwork for NASA. The mission's call signs were the names of the Peanuts characters Charlie Brown for the CSM and Snoopy for the LM, who became Apollo 10's semi-official mascots. Additionally, Apollo 10 set the record for the highest speed attained by a crewed vehicle: 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph) on May 26, 1969, during the return from the Moon. Apollo 10 spent 61 hours and 37 minutes orbiting the Moon, for about eight hours of which Stafford and Cernan flew the LM apart from Young in the CSM, and about eight days total in space. Stafford and Cernan observed and photographed Apollo 11's planned landing site in the Sea of Tranquility. However, the mission accomplished its major objectives. The crew encountered some problems during the flight: pogo oscillations during the launch phase and a brief, uncontrolled tumble of the LM ascent stage in lunar orbit during its solo flight. While NASA had considered attempting the first crewed lunar landing on Apollo 10, mission planners ultimately decided that it would be prudent to have a practice flight to hone the procedures and techniques. Then they rejoined Young in the CSM and, after the CSM completed its 31st orbit of the Moon, they returned safely to Earth. It was designated an "F" mission, intended to test all spacecraft components and procedures short of actual descent and landing.Īfter the spacecraft reached lunar orbit, astronaut John Young remained in the Command and Service Module (CSM) while astronauts Thomas Stafford and Gene Cernan flew the Apollo Lunar Module (LM) to within 14.4 kilometers (7.8 nmi) of the lunar surface, the point at which powered descent for landing would begin on a landing mission. NASA, the mission's operator, described it as a "dress rehearsal" for the first Moon landing ( Apollo 11, two months later ).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |