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An Educational Services Publication of the
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National Aeronautics Space Administration
Vol. III, No. 1
50
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(PAGE S I
NEXT STOP, THE MOON-Two astronauts transfer Into LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) to descend for exploration of the moon.
Page 2 NASA FACTS Vol. III, No. 1
PROJECT APOLLO (2) Earth Orbit Rendezvous (EOR), launching
Project Apollo is Step 3 of NASA's manned two payloads from the earth and joining them
space flight ,lunar landing program. Its goal: in earth orbit into a single spacecraft capable
to put men on the moon and return them safely of the moon journey. LOR was selected: it calls
to earth by the end of this decade. for launch of one spacecraft from earth to lunar
In Step 1, Project Mercury paved the ~ay by orbit, and detachment of a Lunar Excursion
developing one man space vehicles and tech- Module to land on the moon and then return
niques for their use. Step 2 is Project Gemini, to the moon-orbiting vehicle. This reduced
using two-man spacecraft, for longer orbital mis- sharply the requirement for thrust capability as
sions and for developing the technique of ren- compared with landing the entire spacecraft as-
dezvous and docking, during which two space sembly on the lunar surfac.e , as in the direct and
vehicles are maneuvered close together and EOR methods.
joined or "docked." In fact, LOR reduced the total weight require-
The technique of orbital rendezvous-in orbit ment for the lunar bound spacecraft, leaving
around the moon-will be a key maneuver in earth, to about 45 tons, as compared with 100
Project Apollo to achieve lunar landings. tons for an EOR vehicle. Also, instead of two
big boosters for EOR, the LOR method requires
only one. Not only fuel but time will be saved,
PROJECT APOLLO'S GOAL
also a great deal of expensive hardware.
Major elements in basic planning for Project These factors made LOR the best choice.
Apollo included: Apollo hardware-launch vehicles, spacecraft,
• Design and construction of a blunt-cone and their instrumentation-is under development
spacecraft different from the bell shaped Mercury today.
and Gemini vehicles. Astronauts meanwhile are in training for the
• Development of a powerful launch vehicle, lunar touchdown goal. Barring unforeseen set-
the Saturn V, with 7.5 million pounds booster backs, Project Apollo will fulfill the late President
thrust, equal to that of 21 Atlas boosters. Kennedy ' s ti metable (in his message to Con-
(Atlas was the launch vehicle for Mercury gress in May 1961) and meet the man-on-the-
manned flights.) moon goal he gave America-"within this
• The Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) flight plan decade."
for the moon landing mission.
LOR was chosen after careful review of three APOLLO SPACECRAFT
possible methods, the other two being (1. ) direct The Apollo spacecraft is to be 84 feet tall
flight from earth surface to moon surface and and weigh about 45 tons. It is divided into
PROJECT APOllO
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LUNAR LANDING ' FLIGHT TECHNIQUES
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NASA FACTS Vol. III, No. 1 Page 3
APOLLO
SPACECRAFT
COMMAND MODULE
SERVICE MODULE
(LEM)
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units-inertial guidance platform, and flight pat- interwoven with a fine network of water-circulat-
tern computer. A third unit will be an optical ing tubes to carry away body heat. Over the
space sextant with which the astronauts will take entire space suit is worn a "thermal garment, "
sighting'S of the earth, moon, and reference stars or a white monk-like coverall with hood, pro-
I
to check out their position before each maneuver tecting the astronaut from the airless moon's
] with their rocket engines, during any leg of the blistering sunshine. Finally, a "meteoroid
~ round trip. cape" on his back will fend off micrometeoroid
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II dust which may rain down on the moon at high
I speed. Bigger bullet-like meteoroids that would
I ASTRONAUT WARDROBE penetrate the cape are calculated to be rare.
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I The Apollo crewmen will have a changeable An important added unit of the Apollo space
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I wardrobe for wear at different times. On the suit system will be the strap-on backpack for
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outward bound trip, two of the men (in rotation lunar exploration, including 4-hour oxygen
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I with the third) will relax in "constant wear gar- supply, two-way radio, heat-dumping radiator,
1
and dosimeter (radiation gauge). Partial radia-
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ments," a cross between ski pants and long
underwear. tion protection is built into the space suit fabric.
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The third man will be in the Apollo space
suit featuring "accordion" joints (bellows prin-
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ciple) for flexible ease in walking, bending, or
moving his limbs, and a helmet with a pivoted
J visor for quick closing and sealing.
~
~ The same space suit will be worn by the two
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lEM astronauts who step forth on the moon.
But underneath will be a special undergarment Apollo pressure suit being tested.
D
Astronauts demonstrate prototype thermal over garments designed to pratect men an moon from direct rays of sun and radiated heat.
Page 6 NASA FACTS Vol. III, No. 1
COMMAND MODULE
SERVICE MODULE
LUNAR EXCURSION MODULE
INSTRUMENT UNIT __ M_ _
S IV-B STAGE
J-2 ENGINE
ES
COMMAND MODULE
S II STAGE
ESCAPE SYSTEM (ES) SERVICE MODULE
BOILERPLATE - LUNAR EXCURSION
COMMAND MODULE MODULE
J-2 ENGINE _ - ' _LC
SERVICE MODULE INSTRUMENT UNIT
INSTRUMENT UNIT
S IV B STAGE
SIB STAGE
HI ENGIN E ..... -'1. . ._,,'1- HIE N GIN E'-!r; ' .rI. "';.J FI ENGINE
SATURN I SATURN 18
LAUNC H ESCAPE
SYSTEM
COMMAND MODULE
LOX TANK
S- I V B
J-2 ENG I NE ( 1) STAGE
FUE L TANK
365'
LOX TANK
S-II
STAGE
LOX TANK
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FU EL TANK S- IC
" STAGE
SATURN V.
Saturn V will be a vehicle of gigantic size and Apollo plus escape tower, will stand 365 feet
power. The first stage, the S-I C, will have a high at the launch pad and weigh 6 million
diameter of 33 feet and will be powered by a pounds fueled before a moon fl ight.
cluster of five F-I engines, each developing The mightly Saturn V launch vehicle will be
thrust equal to the Saturn I's 1.5 million pounds, able to shove 140 tons (280,000 pounds) into
for a total of 7.5 million pounds. An S-II sec- earth orbit at a speed of 5 miles per second
ond stage clustering five J-2 engines will furnish (mps), and hurl 47.5 tons of escape velocity pay-
1 million pounds of thrust. On top will be a load a'way from earth at 7 mps . This means
third stage S-IV B, identical with the Saturn IB's that both the Apollo spacecraft and third stage
second stage. go into parking orbit, after which the S-IV B
Standing about 281 feet high, this immense re-ignites and adds speed of 2 mps to hurl the
three stage booster, topped by the three module spacecraft on its way.
- ......... --'~'--'~~'-"-'~.~- ..... ~~~ ~~ - -~------~--,
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Page 8 NASA fACTS Vol. III, No. 1 I
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CIOEING COMPANY)
Space flight slmulatar, with Image of the moon on left, used for determining what man can and cannot do In controlling spacecraft
during actual missions.
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Page 10 NASA FACTS Vol. III, No. 1 II
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1/
ditions near to those he will meet on the When the returning Apollo speeds toward
moon. earth at 25,000 mph, the chain of land and ship
• "Space Suit Workouts," during which tracking stations will gear in to monitor the vital
astronauts wear experimental Apollo pressure reentry and recovery operation.
garments to practice walking, bending, open-
ing of visor, and the like. LUNAR LANDING FLIGHT I
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MOON FLIGHT TRACKING SYSTEM
Sometime around the end of this decade,
America will send astronauts to the moon. At
II
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A network of tracking stations was established countdown time zero, the 365-foot Apollo Saturn
around the world for Project Mercury and aug- V vehicle will lift off the pad. The first and sec- !I
mented for Gemini. Ground stations and ships ond stages will burn all their propellants but the
are included. third stage will burn only enough to place itself
All these stations will follow the Apollo space- and the three module Apollo spacecraft in " park-
craft at the beginning and end of the lunar mis- ing" orbit about 100 miles high.
sion, during the first launch into earth orbit, and A little later, when the lunar "launch window"
during the final reentry after the moon trip is (best period of time for takeoff) is open, accord-
finished. ing to earth computers, the third stage will refire,
add speed, and escape from the earth.
As soon as the spacecraft leaves earth orbit
Now on their way to the moon, the three man
beyond their range, tracking will switch to sta-
crew reorient the segments of their spacecraft
tions located at Goldstone, California, Madrid,
and discard the third stage of the launch vehicle.
Spain, and Carnarvon, Australia. These sta-
A mid-course correction may be made if their
tions are situated about 120 0 apart (going east
lunar trajectory (line of flight) is other than the
and west), so that as the rotating earth cuts off
one desired. This correction is made with the
one station's direct line contact with a deep /
Service Module's 22,000-pound-thrust rocket I
space vehicle, the next station rises above the
engine. About 21/4 days after launch, the
horizon and takes over.
earth's gravitation slows the spacecraft down
An unbroken day and night surveillance of gradually, from 24,300 mph to 6,300 mph.
the Apollo spacecraft can then be kept by.those Some 64 hours after leaving earth, the space-
stations. The huge 85 foot dish antennas and craft nears the moon and the astronauts apply
sensitive equipment are similar in appearance to' Service Module propulsion system retro power
those which have received faint signals from for about 6 minutes to slow down to 3,600 mph,
millions of miles away in space (Mariner to allowing the craft to swing into a lunar orbit
Venus and others.) about 83 miles high. For the lunar landing, two
I" =~~~ ~ --------~,~-------
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I NASA FACTS Vol. III, No. 1 Page 11
I men will crawl into the LEM, which later detaches
from the CSM mother ship.
After about 68 hours of mission time, LEM
separates from the CSM, with a difference in
velocity of about 3 mph, and moves away 735
t eet. The descent engine puts LEM into a trans-
fer orbit and a velocity of 3,500 mph is achieved.
The LEM then coasts until an altitude of about
49,500 feet is reached and powered descent be-
gins. Powered descent continues to the hover
altitude of 200 feet when either a manual or
automatic hover-to-touchdown procedure is initi-
ated. In either method, the engine is cot
off at a LEM altitude of about 15 feet giving the
LEM a lunar impact speed of about 3 mph.
The sturdy vehicle drops to the lunar surface
with a jar scarcely felt by the astronauts. Artist's renderi ng showing powered Lunar Excursion Module
Two United States citizens stand on the moon! ascent from surface of the moon.
SERVICE MODULE
~ 'OlATlOHTO
UUIO STAGE JETTISON -c._'C::J!EI'''R'''TION
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;:::'\ TAil FORWARD
~ 'OSITION
tURN ",IOUNO
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FROM EAITH OUIT ,
THIRO STAGE PlOI'ILS
SPACECRAFT INTO
REno fill SlOWS
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LUNAR ltAJEClOlY
",'OllO S'ACECUf1 COMM AND MODU LI \
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MOON
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COMMAND AND SlIlVICE
MOOULES STAY IN oltln
OlCGUE 'ARACHUtE
OEPlOY l
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UlmON
LUNAR DEPARTURE /
A!'OllO TURNS AROUNO
ANO HEAOS fOR IA~
NASA FACTS format is designed for bulletin-board display NASA FACTS is an educational publication of NASA's Edu-
uncut, or for 8 x tOy, looseleaf notebook insertion when cational Programs and Services Office. It will be mailed to
cut along dotted lines and folded along solid lines. For addressees who request it from: NASA, Educational Publica-
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