Space Rocket History #196 – Apollo 10 – Lunar Module Out of Control

Posted on February 8, 2017 by spac9750

The abort system had two basic control modes, “attitude hold” and “automatic.” In automatic, the computer would take over the guidance and start looking for the command module, which was certainly not what the crew intended to do at that moment. While correcting for a minor yaw-rate-gyro disturbance, the astronauts accidentally switched the spacecraft to the automatic mode, resulting in frantic gyrations.

Apollo Lunar Module

CM viewed from LM after separation

LM Topsy-turvy during staging

Lunar Module Staging Video

Jan 25

Space Rocket History #194 – Apollo 10 – Acquisition of Signal & Lunar Orbit

Posted on January 25, 2017 by spac9750

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The six-minute retrograde maneuver seemed interminable, just as it had to Borman’s crew on Apollo 8, but the engine kept firing and the Apollo 10 crew’s confidence in it kept growing. When the engine finally shut down and they were sure that it had done its job, Stafford and Cernan had time to look at the lunar surface. They likened one area to a volcanic site in Arizona. Shortly, Stafford forced his attention back inside the cabin and told his crew-mates that he thought the best thing to say when they got back in radio contact with mission control was, “Houston, tell the earth we have arrived.”

Apollo 10 photographed Sistes 1, 2, & 3

Site 1 was on the eastern side of the Sea of Tranquility

Site 2 was on the southwestern part of the sea

Jan 18

Space Rocket History #193 – Apollo 10 – Coasting to the Moon & Loss of Signal

Posted on January 18, 2017 by spac9750

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Stafford, Cernan, and Young were the first Apollo astronauts to be free from illness during the mission, although Cernan experienced a slight vestibular disturbance. Like all their colleagues who had flown before, once they unbuckled from the couches they had a stuffy feeling in their heads. This lasted for 8 to 10 hours for Stafford and Young; Cernan gradually lost the sensation over the next two days.

Apollo 10’s View of Earth seen in MCC

Color TV from Apollo 10

The Patch for Apollo 10

Dec 21

Space Rocket History #190 – Apollo 10 – The Launch

Posted on December 21, 2016 by spac9750

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On May 18th 1969, a king, some congressmen, other distinguished guests, and a hundred thousand other watchers waited at scattered vantage points around the Cape area. At 49 minutes past noon, Rocco Petrone’s launch team sent Apollo 10 on its way to the United States’s second manned rendezvous with the moon.