SP-287 What Made Apollo a
Success?
[iii] CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION. By George M. Low.
2. DESIGN PRINCIPLES STRESSING
SIMPLICITY. By Kenneth S.
Kleinknecht.
3. TESTING TO ENSURE MISSION
SUCCESS. By Scott H.
Simpkinson.
4. APOLLO CREW PROCEDURES, SIMULATION,
AND FLIGHT PLANNING. By Warren J.
North and C. H. Woodling.
5. FLIGHT CONTROL IN THE APOLLO
PROGRAM. By Eugene F. Kranz and James
Otis Covington.
6. ACTION ON MISSION EVALUATION AND
FLIGHT ANOMALIES. By Donald D.
Arabian.
7. TECHNIQUES OF CONTROLLING THE
TRAJECTORY. By Howard W. Tindall,
Jr.
8. FLEXIBLE YET DISCIPLINED MISSION
PLANNING. By C. C. Kraft, Jr., J. P.
Mayer, C. R. Huss, and R. P. Parten.
TABLES
- 1-I. DEVELOPMENT AND QUALIFICATION
TESTS.
- 1-II. HISTORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACCEPTANCE
TEST FAILURES.
- 1-III. APOLLO FLIGHT ANOMALIES.
- 3-I. LUNAR MODULE ACCEPTANCE VIBRATION
TEST IN 1967.
- 3-II. COMMAND AND SERVICE MODULE
ACCEPTANCE VIBRATION TEST IN 1967.
- 3-III. CRITERIA FOR LUNAR MODULE
QUALIFICATION AND ACCEPTANCE THERMAL TESTING IN 1967.
- 7-I. MANDATORY GUIDANCE, NAVIGATION, AND
CONTROL SYSTEMS.
- (a) Lunar module systems.
- (b) Command and service module
systems.
- 8-I. APOLLO SPACECRAFT FLIGHT
HISTORY.
FIGURES
- 1-1. Vibration test level for acceptance
.
- 1-2. Thermal test level for
acceptance.
- 1-3. Results of vibration acceptance tests
for 11 447 tests of 166 different components
- 1-4. Results of thermal acceptance tests
for 3685 tests of 127 different components.
- 1-5. Apollo 10 fuel-cell temperature
oscillations as they originally appeared in flight.
- 1-6. Disturbance of Apollo 10 fuel-cell
temperature as it was identified in the laboratory.
- 1-7. Buildup of Apollo mission
capability.
- 2-1. Mission Control Center, Houston,
Texas
- 2-2. Service propulsion engine propellant
valve and injector .
- 2-3. Command module hatch.
- 3-1. Revised Apollo acceptance vibration
test guidelines.
- 3-2. Revised Apollo acceptance thermal
test guidelines.
- 3-3. Results of acceptance vibration tests
for 11 447 tests of 166 different components.
- 3-4. Results of acceptance thermal tests
for 3685 tests of 127 different components.
- 3-5. Installation of the acceptance-tested
crew equipment in the Apollo command module at the NASA Manned
Spacecraft Center.
- 4-1. Astronaut trains underwater in
simulated zero-g condition in water-immersion facility. Astronaut
wears weights on shoulders, wrists, and ankles. Total ballast is
about 180 pounds.
- 4-2. Lunar landing training vehicle trains
crews for last 500 feet of altitude in critical moon landing
phase.
- 4-3. Lunar module mockup installed in
KC-135 aircraft. Support structure takes loads imposed in 2-1/2g
pullup, after which zero g is achieved for 20 to 30 seconds on a
parabolic flight path.
- 4-4. Familiarization run on the mobile
partial-gravity simulator used for lunar walk
indoctrination.
- 4-5. Apollo 12 landing and ascent model of
Surveyor and Snowman craters as seen from 1800 feet.
- 4-6. Command module procedures simulator
and lunar module procedures simulator.
- 4-7. Translation and docking trainer
simulates lunar module active docking over last 100 feet of
separation distance.
- 4-8. Dynamics crew procedures
simulator.
- 4-9. Simulated command module crew station
for the dynamics crew procedures simulator.
- 4-10. Lunar module mission simulator with
crew station and Farrand optical systems for three windows.
- 4-11. Visual optics and instructor station
for command module mission simulator.
- 4-12. Apollo 12 landing and ascent visual
simulation system.
- 5-1. Electrical power display when Apollo
12 was at an altitude of 6000 feet.
- 5-2. Mission-development time line.
- 5-3. Mission Operations Control Room
divisions.
- 5-4. Partial sample of CSM systems
schematic.
- 5-5. Sample of flight mission
rules.
- 5-6. Sample of Flight Control Operations
Handbook.
- 5-7. Sample of Flight Controller Console
Handbook.
- 5-8. Sample of programed-instruction
text.
- 5-9. Logic of flight control
decisions.
- 6-1. Mission evaluation room with team
leaders' table in the foreground and discussion of a system
problem in the background .
- 6-2. Long-range photography of adapter
failure during the Apollo 6 mission.
- 7-1. Steps the ground-based flight
controllers take if certain guidance and control values exceed
premission limits for the LM during LM descent to the lunar
surface.
- 8-1. Iterative mission-planning
process.
- 8-2. Apollo mission design
instrumentation.
