Earth and Space News: Apollo 10 lunar orbits May 1969

Showing posts with label Apollo 10 lunar orbits May 1969. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

London Science Museum Displays Apollo 10 Command Module Charlie Brown

Summary: The United Kingdom’s London Science Museum displays Apollo 10 Command Module Charlie Brown as a loan from the Smithsonian Institution.

The United Kingdom’s London Science Museum displays Apollo 10 Command Module Charlie Brown in the museum’s Making the Modern World Gallery, located on Level 0 (ground floor).

Apollo 10 launched Sunday, May 18, 1969, from central Florida’s John F. Kennedy Space Center at 16:49:00 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (11:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). Liftoff marked the first mission launch at Launch Pad 39B.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Apollo 10 Press Kit, released Wednesday, May 7, 1969, had described the mission’s three astronauts as “recycled from the Apollo 7 backup crew” (page 3). Commander Thomas Patten Stafford (born Sept. 17, 1930), Command Module Pilot (CMP) John Watts Young (born Sept. 24, 1930) and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) also were veterans of NASA’s Gemini second human spaceflight program, Project Gemini (1961-1966).

North American Rockwell Corporation in Downey, California, was the contractor for the Apollo 10 Command and Service Module (CSM) 106. The cone-shaped command module (CM) measures a height of 11 feet 5 inches and a base diameter of 12 feet 10 inches, according to the Press Kit. The cylindrical-shaped service module (SM) had dimensions of 24 feet 7 inches in height and 12 feet 10 inches in diameter.

The Apollo 10 astronauts decided to give the call sign of Peanuts comic strip character Charlie Brown to the mission’s command module. Flight-dreaming beagle Snoopy, another Peanuts creation by American cartoonist Charles “Sparky” Monroe Schulz (Nov. 26, 1922-Feb. 12, 2000), was the namesake of the mission’s lunar module (LM).

Command and Service Module (CSM) 106 made 31 orbits of Earth’s moon between Wednesday, May 21, and Saturday, May 24. NASA’s Apollo 10 Mission Report, released August 1969, described Apollo 10 as “. . . an 8-day mission to qualify the combined spacecraft in the lunar environment” (3.0, page 3-1). The spacecraft’s lunar module executed four lunar orbits but, as a “dress rehearsal” for lunar landing mission Apollo 11, was excepted for “actual descent to the surface.”

Command Module Charlie Brown re-entered Earth’s atmosphere Monday, May 26, at 16:37:54 GMT/UTC (11:37 p.m. EST, 12:37 p.m. EDT; 191:48:54.5 GET). Splashdown occurred at 16:52:23 GMT/UTC (11:52 p.m. EST, 12:52 p.m. EDT; 192:03:23 GET).

The Apollo 10 astronauts boarded the recovery helicopter at 17:26 GMT/UTC (12:26 p.m. EST, 1:26 p.m. EDT; 192:37 GET) and recovery ship USS Princeton at 17:31 GMT/UTC (12:31 p.m. EST, 1:31 p.m. EDT; 192:42 GET). The USS Princeton retrieved Command Module Charlie Brown at 18:28 GMT/UTC (1:28 p.m. EST, 2:28 p.m. EDT; 193:39 GET).

The Princeton offloaded the command module on Saturday, May 31, at Pearl Harbor’s Ford Island in South O’ahu. Evaluation and deactivation procedures were conducted in Hawaii from May 31 to Tuesday, June 3. The command module arrived at North American Rockwell Wednesday, June 4, for postflight analysis.

The Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum website credits NASA with transferring accountability for “Command Module, Apollo 10” to the Smithsonian Institution in April 1970. The transfer occurred prior to the artifact’s shipment to Europe for exhibition in a United States Information Agency-sponsored tour that included France, the Netherlands and the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). The Apollo 10 command module was displayed in a 1972 exhibit, Research and Development USA, that traveled to Tbilisi, Moscow, Volgograd, Kazan, Donetsk and Leningrad, according to the U.S. Department of State’s 2009 to 2017 archived content website.

The Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum website lists London’s Science Museum as Command Module Charlie Brown’s “public display” location, since placement on loan in 1978. The Science Museum received the command module in January 1976, after the artifact’s tour of Western Europe. The museum’s website identifies “Apollo 10 command module, call sign ‘Charlie Brown’” as object number 1976-106. The Science Museum is located on Exhibition Road in West London’s South Kensington district.

The takeaway for the London Science Museum’s public display of Apollo 10 Command Module Charlie Brown is that the artifact has been on loan to the South Kensingston museum from the Smithsonian Institution since January 1976.

London's Science Museum, located on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, exhibits Apollo 10 Command Module Charlie Brown as collection object number 1976-106, on "public display" loan from the Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum: Science Museum @sciencemuseumlondon, via Facebook May 18, 2014

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Apollo 10 Command Module Charlie Brown Pilot John Young displays drawing of the command module’s namesake, Peanuts character Charlie Brown; color reproduction from fourth telecast, made by Apollo 10 spacecraft’s color television camera, at a distance of approximately 112,000 nautical miles from Earth; NASA image S69-34075: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-S69-34075

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Godwin, Robert, comp. and ed. Apollo 10: The NASA Mission Reports. Second edition. Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 2000.

Holdsworth, Elizabeth. “Space Oddity: Of London and Apollo 10.” Londonist. Last updated Dec. 18, 2013.
Available @ https://londonist.com/2013/12/space-oddity-of-london-and-apollo-10

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Schmidt Crater During May 1969 Lunar Orbit.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 21, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/apollo-10-imaged-near-sides-schmidt.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Triesnecker Crater During Lunar Orbit.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 14, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/apollo-10-imaged-near-sides-triesnecker.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy Passed 47,400 Feet Above Apollo 11 Site.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 28, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/apollo-10s-lunar-module-snoopy-passed.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Jettisoned LM Snoopy Descent Stage Appeared Near Taruntius Crater.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 11, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/05/jettisoned-lm-snoopy-descent-stage.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Nick Howes and Faulkes Telescope Project Seek Lost Apollo 10 LM Snoopy.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/09/nick-howes-and-faulkes-telescope.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Nick Howes Considers Possible Orbits for Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/12/nick-howes-considers-possible-orbits_14.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Snoopy and Charlie Brown Are Hugging Each Other in Apollo 10 Docking.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 18, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/05/snoopy-and-charlie-brown-are-hugging.html

Masursky, Harold; G.W. Colton; and Farouk El-Baz. Apollo Over the Moon: A View From the Orbit. NASA SP-362. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1978.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-362/contents.htm<

McKinnon, Mika. “Snoopy the Astrobeagle, NASA’s Mascot for Safety.” Gizmodo > Animals. April 30, 2014.
Available @ https://gizmodo.com/snoopy-the-astrobeagle-nasas-mascot-for-safety-1570066950

Millard, Doug. “Celebrating 50 Years Since the Apollo Moon Missions.” Science Museum Blog. May 23, 2019.
Available @ https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/celebrating-50-years-since-the-apollo-moon-missions/

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 10 Mission (AS-505) Post Launch Mission Operation Report No. 1. Report No. M-932-69-10. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, May 26, 1969.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap10fj/pdf/a10-postlaunch-rep.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 10 Mission Report. MSC-00126. Houston TX: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Manned Spacecraft Center, August 1969.
Available @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a410/A10_MissionReport.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 10 Press Kit. Release no. 69-68. May 7, 1969. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1969.
Available @ https://www.history.nasa.gov/alsj/a410/A10_PressKit.pdf

Orloff, Richard W. “Apollo 10 The Fourth Mission: Testing the LM in Lunar Orbit.” Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference: 71-88. NASA History Series. NASA SP 4029. Washington DC: NASA Headquarters Office of Policy and Plans, 2000.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029.pdf

Science Museum @sciencemuseumlondon. “Apollo 10 launched into space on this day in 1969. We talked to astronaut Gene Cernan about his missions to the moon and seeing the Apollo 10 Command Module 'Charlie Brown' again http://ow.ly/wVuw5.” Facebook. May 18, 2014.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/sciencemuseumlondon/photos/a.112170034675/10152864390649676/

Science Museum, London. “Apollo 10 Command Module, Call Sign ‘Charlie Brown.’” Science Museum Group > Objects and Stories > Collection Online.
Available @ https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co40509/apollo-10-command-module-call-sign-charlie-brown-manned-spacecraft

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Command Module, Apollo 10.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Collections > Objects on Display.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/command-module-apollo-10

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo 10 (AS-505).” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Missions > Apollo 10.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/orbital-missions/apollo10.cfm

Stanley, Will. “The Last Man on the Moon.” Science Museum Blog. Sept. 24, 2013.
Available @ https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/the-last-man-on-the-moon/

U.S. Department of State. “Chronology: American Exhibits to the U.S.S.R.: 1972 Research and Development USA.” U.S. Department of State > Under Secretary for Political Affairs > Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs > Countries and Other Areas > Russia.
Available @ https://2009-2017.state.gov/p/eur/ci/rs/c26473.htm

Williams, David R.; and E. (Edwin) Bell II, cur. “Apollo 10.” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center > NMC (NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive Master Catalog) > Spacecraft. Version 5.1.0, July 10, 2019.
Available @ https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1969-043A

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy Passed 47,400 Feet Above Apollo 11 Site

Summary: Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy passed 47,400 feet above Apollo 11 site 2, the site that edged out four contenders for the first human moon landing site.

On Thursday, May 22, 1969, Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy passed 47,400 feet above Apollo 11 site 2, favored as the prime landing site in July 1969 for the first human visitors to Earth’s moon.

Apollo 10 launched Sunday, May 18, 1969, at 16:49:00 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (11:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Kennedy Space Center in central Florida. NASA’s Apollo 10 Press Kit, released Wednesday, May 7, 1969, described the mission as a “dress rehearsal” for Apollo 11 and noted: “Two Apollo 10 astronauts will descend to within eight nautical miles of the Moon’s surface, the closest man has ever been to another celestial body” (page 1).

NASA’s Press Kit also explained: “All aspects of Apollo 10 will duplicate conditions of the lunar landing mission as closely as possible -- Sun angles at Apollo Site 2, the out-and-back flight path to the Moon, and the time line of mission events. Apollo 10 differs from Apollo 11 in that no landing will be made on the Moon’s surface” (page 2).

NASA designated Thomas Patten Stafford (born Sept. 17, 1930) as commander of the Apollo 10 mission. John Watts Young (born Sept. 24, 1930) and Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) crewed as command module pilot (CMP) and lunar module pilot (LMP), respectively.

The Apollo 10 spacecraft’s insertion into lunar orbit began with the service propulsion engine’s firing Wednesday, May 21, 1969, at 20:44:54 GMT/UTC (3:44 p.m. EST, 4:44 p.m. EDT), 75 hours 55 minutes 54.0 seconds (075:55:54.0 Ground Elapsed Time GET) after liftoff. At 095:02 GET (Thursday, May 22, at 15:51 UTC; 10:51 a.m. EST, 11:51 a.m. EDT), Commander Stafford and LMP Cernan entered Snoopy to activate the lunar module’s systems. The lunar module undocked from Command and Service Module (CSM) Charlie Brown at 098:11:57 GET (19:00:57 UTC; 2 p.m. EST; 3 p.m. EDT).

NASA’s Apollo 10 Press Kit stated that, among the lunar module’s objectives: “Some 800 seconds of landing radar altitude-measuring data will be gathered as the LM makes two sweeps eight nautical miles above Apollo Landing Site 2” (page 8).

Beginning at 099:46:01.6 GET (20:35:01 UTC; 3:35 p.m. EST, 4:35 p.m. EDT), the lunar module descent propulsion system (DPS) was fired for 27.4 seconds to achieve the lunar module’s descent orbit insertion (DOI) of 60.9 by 8.5 nautical miles. The lunar module made its closest approach to the lunar surface at 100:41:43 GET (21:30:43 UTC; 4:30 p.m. EST, 5:30 p.m. EDT). The low-level pass occurred about 15 degrees prior to Apollo 11 landing site 2, on the southwestern edge of Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility). The lunar module logged a pericynthion altitude of 47,400 feet (7.8 nautical miles) above the moon’s surface, according to freelance space writer Richard W. Orloff’s NASA-published history, Apollo by the Numbers (2000: page 76).

NASA’s Apollo 10 Post Launch Mission Operation Report, released May 26, 1969, detailed the accomplishments of the low-level pass: “Numerous photographs of the lunar surface were taken. Some camera malfunctions were reported and although some communications difficulties were experienced, the crew provided a continuous commentary of their observations. The LM landing radar test was executed during the low altitude pass over the surface” (page 4).

Beginning at 100:58:25.93 GET (21:47:25 UTC; 4:47 EST, 5:47 p.m. EDT), a 39.9-second phasing maneuver burn of the lunar module’s descent propulsion system (DPS) set a lead angle equivalent of a lunar landing’s powered ascent cutoff. The ignition placed Snoopy into an elliptical orbit of 190.1 by 12.1 nautical miles. The burn cut off at 100:59:05.88 GET (21:48:05 UTC; 4:48 p.m. EST, 5:48 p.m. EDT). According to NASA’s Apollo 10 Mission Report, the maneuver achieved the lunar module’s apocynthion altitude, farthest distance from the lunar surface, in a phasing orbit of about 8 by 194 nautical miles (1-1).

The three Apollo 10 astronauts splashed down at 192:03:23 GET (Tuesday, May 26, at 16:52:23 GMT; 11:52 p.m. EST, 12:52 p.m. EDT) in the central South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the U.S. Territory of American Samoa. From liftoff to splashdown, the astronauts had traveled an estimated distance of 721,250 nautical miles, according to Orloff’s Apollo by the Numbers (page 78).

NASA’s Apollo 10 Post Launch Mission Operation Report No. 1 gave the astronauts a stellar assessment. The report stated: “Flight crew performance was outstanding. All three crew members remained in excellent health throughout the mission. Their prevailing good spirits were continually evident as they took time from their busy schedule to share their voyage with the world via 19 color television transmissions totalling almost six hours” (page 7).

The takeaway for Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy’s pass 47,400 feet above Apollo 11 site 2 is that the mission performed outstandingly as a “dress rehearsal” for NASA’s planned landing of two Apollo 11 astronauts on the lunar surface in July 1969.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

North American Rockwell Corporation artist’s concept depicts Apollo 10 Lunar Module’s (center left) descent to 50,000 feet for a close look at Apollo 11 site 2, located in the east central lunar near side’s southwestern Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility), while the Command and Service Module (right) remains in lunar orbit; NASA image S69-30520: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-S69-30520

TRW Incorporated artist’s concept depicts the 42-second Apollo 10 Lunar Module descent engine’s firing that propels Snoopy back into higher lunar orbit for rendezvous and docking with Command and Service Module Charlie Brown; NASA ID S69-33765: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-S69-33765

For further information:

Cernan, Eugene; and Don Davis. The Last Man on the Moon: Eugene Cernan and America’s Race in Space. New York NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Dunbar, Brian; and Robert Garner, ed. “Map of Past Lunar Landing Sites.” NASA > Missions > LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter > News and Media Resources. May 13, 2009.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/moonimg_07.html

Godwin, Robert, comp. and ed. Apollo 10: The NASA Mission Reports. Second edition. Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 2000.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. “11.3 Photographic Results.” Apollo 10 Mission Report: 11.3-11.5. MSC-00126. Houston TX: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Manned Spacecraft Center, August 1969.
Available @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a410/A10_MissionReport.pdf

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

Stafford, Thomas P.; and Michael Cassutt. We Have Capture: Tom Stafford and the Space Race. Washington DC: Smithsonian Books, 2002.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Schmidt Crater During May 1969 Lunar Orbit

Summary: Apollo 10 imaged the near side’s Schmidt Crater during lunar orbits conducted in May 1969 as a dress rehearsal for lunar-landing mission Apollo 11.

Apollo 10 imaged the near side’s Schmidt Crater during the mission’s lunar orbits, which took place in May 1969 as a dress rehearsal for Apollo 11, the first spaceflight to land humans on Earth’s moon.

Lunar impact crater Schmidt occupies the lunar near side’s northeastern hemisphere. Schmidt is found near the southwestern edge of Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility).

The small crater is located northwest of Statio Tranquillitatis (Tranquility Base), the site where Apollo 11 Commander Neil Alden Armstrong (Aug. 5, 1930-Aug. 25, 2012) and Lunar Module Eagle Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Eugene Aldrin Jr. (born Jan. 20, 1930) became, on July 20, 1969, the first two human moonwalkers. Statio Tranquillitatis is centered at 0.67 degrees south latitude and 23.47 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Schmidt’s center latitude and longitude register at 0.96 degrees south and 18.78 degrees east, respectively.

Schmidt’s northernmost latitude reaches 1.14 degrees north. Its southernmost latitude extends to 0.77 degrees north.

The circular crater registers its easternmost longitude at 18.96 degrees east. Its westernmost longitude occurs at 18.6 degrees east.

The bowl-shaped crater’s diameter measures 11.13 kilometers. Schmidt has a depth of 2.3 kilometers, according to American amateur astronomer Kurt Fisher’s crater database. Fisher’s source Welsh astronomer David William G. Arthur’s 1974 depth determinations for more than 1,900 small lunar craters from measured shadow lengths on Lunar Orbiter IV long-focus pictures.

The crater honors three scientists: Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt, Bernhard Voldemar Schmidt and Otto Yulyevich Schmidt. The IAU gave official approval to the crater’s name in 1935.

German astronomer and selenographer Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt (Oct. 25, 1825-Feb. 7, 1884) served as the second permanent director of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA; Greek: Εθνικό Αστεροσκοπείο Αθηνών) from Dec. 16, 1858, until his death. His Chaptre der Gebirge des Mondes (Topographical Chart of the Moon), published in Berlin, Germany, in 1878, presented detailed drawings of the visible lunar surface.

German-Estonian optician Bernhard Voldemar Schmidt (April 11, 1879-Dec. 1, 1935) is credited with inventing the Schmidtspiegel, known as the Schmidt camera or Schmidt telescope, in 1930. His astrophotographic telescope gives wide fields of view with limited distortions. Schmidt’s revolutionary invention combines reflection and refraction in a catadioptric optical system via curved mirrors for reflection (catoptrics) and convex lenses for refraction (dioptrics).

Soviet astronomer, mathematician and Arctic explorer Otto Yulyevich Schmidt (Sept. 30, 1891-Sept. 7, 1956) theorized the formation of Earth from a cloud of dust and gas particles gravitationally captured by the sun and considered other astronomical problems, such as the orbits of double stars. He presented his origin hypothesis for Earth in his 1949 publication, Четыре лекции о теории происхождения Земли (Four Lectures on the Theory of the Origin of the Earth).

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Apollo 10 Press Kit, released May 7, 1969, described Apollo 10 as a “dress rehearsal for the first manned lunar landing” (page 1). The Apollo 10 Press Kit explained the Apollo 10 mission objectives: “Although Apollo 10 will pass no closer than eight nautical miles from the lunar surface, all other aspects of the mission will be similar to the first lunar landing mission, Apollo 11, now scheduled for July” (page 8).

The Apollo 10 Press Kit noted that, in addition to the absence of a lunar landing, the mission would differ from the Apollo 11 lunar-landing mission in an element of its timeline. The Press Kit explained that, after Lunar Module Snoopy’s rendezvous with Command Module Charlie Brown, an “extra day” would be added to the Apollo 10 mission’s lunar orbit schedule.

Apollo 10 launched Sunday, May 18, 1969, at 16:49:00 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (11:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) from the Kennedy Space Center’s Complex 39, Pad B, in central Florida. The mission’s crew comprised Commander Thomas Patten Stafford (born Sept. 17, 1930), Command Module Pilot (CMP) John Watts Young (born Sept. 24, 1930) and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934).

Photographic tasks numbered among the Apollo 10 astronauts’ scheduled activities. The Apollo 10 Press Kit stated: “Still and motion pictures will be made of most spacecraft maneuvers as well as of the lunar surface and of crew activities in the Apollo 10 cabin” (page 34). The astronauts fulfilled their photographic tasks with two 70mm Hasselblad still cameras and two Maurer data acquisition cameras.

The takeaway for Apollo 10’s image of the near side’s Schmidt Crater during the mission’s May 1969 lunar orbits is that the crater is located on the southwestern edge of Mare Tranquillitatis, at a center-to-center distance of 0.29 south and 4-plus degrees east of Statio Tranquillitatis (Tranquility Base), Apollo 11’s July 1969 landing site.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Photo obtained by the Apollo 10 mission in May 1969 captured Schmidt Crater’s east side in shadow; NASA image AS10-34-5162: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as10-34-5162

Apollo 11’s Tranquility Base (Statio Tranquillitatis) lies the lunar near side’s southwestern Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility), southeast of Schmidt Crater; NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s capture of Apollo 11’s landing site; NASA ID PIA12925; image addition date 2009-11-09; image credit NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12925; Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-PIA12925

For further information:

Arthur, D.W.G. (David William). “Lunar Crater Depths From Orbiter IV Long-Focus Photographs.” Icarus, vol. 23, issue 1 (September 1974): 116-133.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1974Icar...23..116A

Baldwin, Ralph B. “Lunar Crater Counts.” The Astronomical Journal, vol. 69, no. 5 (June 1964): 377-392.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/AJ.../0069//0000392.000.html

Cernan, Eugene; and Don Davis. The Last Man on the Moon: Eugene Cernan and America’s Race in Space. New York NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Fisher, Kurt. “Table 1 -- Digitized Apollo Era Lunar Crater Depth and Other Feature Measurements.” Kurt Fisher website.
Available @ http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/astronote/plan/craterdepth/html/CraterDepthFeatureName.html

Godwin, Robert, comp. and ed. Apollo 10: The NASA Mission Reports. Second edition. Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 2000.

International Astronomical Union. “Schmidt.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5374

International Astronomical Union. “Statio Tranquillitatis.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 25, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5684

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Marriner, Derdriu. "Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Triesnecker Crater During Lunar Orbit." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 14, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/apollo-10-imaged-near-sides-triesnecker.html

O'Connor, J.J. (John Joseph); and E.F. (Edmund Frederick) Robertson. "Otto Yulyevich Schmidt." MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive University of St. Andrews School of Mathematics and Statistics > Biographies Index. July 2011.
Available @ http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Schmidt_Otto.html

Schmidt, J.F. (Johann Friedrich) Julius Schmidt. Charte des Gebirge des Mondes Nach Eigenen Beobachtungen in den Jahren 1840-1874. Berlin, Germany: In commission bei Dietrich Reimer, 1878.
Available via Library of Congress @ https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3195sm.gct00294/

Schmidt, Otto Yulyevich. A Theory of Earth's Origins: Four Lectures. Translated from the Russian by George H. Hanna. Third edition. Moscow, Russia: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1958.

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo 10: Facts.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Missions > Apollo 10.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/orbital-missions/apollo10-facts.cfm

Stafford, Thomas P.; and Michael Cassutt. We Have Capture: Tom Stafford and the Space Race. Washington DC: Smithsonian Books, 2002.

Stratton, F.J.M. (Frederick John Marrian), ed. Vth General Assembly -- Transactions of the IAU Vol. V Proceedings of the 5th General Assembly Paris, France, July 10-17, 1935. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, Jan. 1, 1936.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

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Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Triesnecker Crater During Lunar Orbit

Summary: Apollo 10 imaged the near side’s Triesnecker Crater during one of 31 lunar orbits performed by Apollo Command Module Charlie Brown in May 1969.

Apollo 10 imaged the near side’s Triesnecker Crater during one of the 31 lunar orbits logged by the mission’s command module, Charlie Brown, in May 1969.

Triesnecker Crater occupies the lunar near side’s central, equatorial northern hemisphere. Its distinctive location hugs, to the east, the generally north-south oriented, 200 kilometer-long, channel-like system of rilles (German: “grooves”) known as Rimae Triesnecker.

The prominent impact crater is positioned in northeastern Sinus Medii (Latin: “Bay of the Center”). The moon’s equator and prime meridian (zero degrees longitude) intersect in Sinus Medii.

Triesnecker Crater’s western wall bulges noticeably. A central peak in the rough interior marks the crater’s midpoint.

Triesnecker Crater is centered at 4.18 degrees north latitude, 3.6 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Triesnecker’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes reach 4.59 degrees north and 3.77 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes extended to 4.01 degrees east and 3.19 degrees east, respectively. The crater’s diameter spans 24.97 kilometers.

Triesnecker Crater honors Austrian Jesuit astronomer Franz de Paula Triesnecker (April 2, 1745-Jan. 29, 1817). The IAU officially approved the crater’s name in 1935.

Triesnecker Crater parents six named satellites. The IAU officially approved the satellites’ letter designations in 2006.

The largest satellite, Triesnecker D, with a diameter of 5.85 kilometers, lies southeast of its parent crater. F and G, with respective diameters of 3.24 kilometers and 3.52 kilometers, are sited between D and their parent.

E, with a diameter of 4.24 kilometers, is found to the northwest of its parent. Triesnecker E is positioned between its parent and Ukert, a somewhat triangular-shaped impact crater in a rugged strip north of Sinus Medii.

H and J are located southwest of Triesnecker Crater. Their diameters measure 2.55 kilometers and 2.92 kilometers, respectively.

The Apollo 10 mission launched Sunday, May 18, 1969, at 16:49:00 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (11:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) as the Apollo space program’s fourth crewed mission. Apollo 10 numbered as the second Apollo mission, after Apollo 8’s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1968 lunar orbits, to orbit the moon.

The firing of the service module’s propulsion engine began Wednesday, May 21, at 20:44:54 UTC (3:44 p.m. EST, 4:44 p.m. EDT), 75 hours 55 minutes 54 seconds (075:55:54.0 Ground Elapsed Time GET) after liftoff. The firing, at an altitude of 95.1 nautical miles above the lunar surface, aimed for the spacecraft’s insertion into an elliptical lunar orbit of 170.0 by 60.2 nautical miles. Lunar orbit insertion ignition lasted 356.1 seconds, with cutoff at 076:01:50.1 GET (Wednesday, May 21 at 20:50:50 UTC; 3:50 p.m. EST, 4:50 p.m. EDT), at an altitude of 61.2 nautical miles above the lunar surface. A 13.9-second maneuver, begun at 080:25:08.1 GET (Thursday, May 22, at 01:14:08 GMT/UTC; Wednesday, May 21, at 8:14 p.m. EST, 9:14 p.m. EDT), circularized the spacecraft's orbit at 61.0 by 59.2 nautical miles.

Apollo 10 was designed as a dress rehearsal for Apollo 11 (Tuesday, July 16, to Wednesday, July 24, 1969), with the exception of an actual lunar landing. As such, Apollo Lunar Module Snoopy undocked from the command module at 098:11:57 GET (Thursday, May 22, 1969, at 19:00:57 GMT/UTC; 2 p.m. EST; 3 p.m. EDT). Commander Stafford and LMP Cernan flew Snoopy to a descent orbit of 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 kilometers) above the lunar surface. After four lunar orbits, the lunar module re-docked at 106:22:02 GET (Friday, May 23, at 03:11:02 GMT/UTC; Thursday, May 22, at 10:11 p.m. EST, 11:11 p.m. EDT).

All three Apollo 10 astronauts were veterans of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Project Gemini. As the Apollo program’s predecessor, Project Gemini began in 1961 and concluded in 1966.

The Apollo 10 mission marked the third spaceflight for Mission Commander Thomas Patten Stafford (born Sept. 17, 1930) and Command Module Charlie Brown Pilot John Watts Young (born Sept. 24, 1930). Commander Stafford had flown as pilot on Gemini VI (Wednesday, Dec. 15, to Thursday, Dec. 16, 1965) and as command pilot on Gemini IX (Friday, June 3, to Monday, June 6, 1966). CMP Young had flown as pilot on Gemini III (Tuesday, March 23, 1965) and as command pilot on Gemini X (Monday, July 18, to Thursday, July 21, 1966).

Lunar Module Snoopy Pilot Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) claimed his second spaceflight aboard Apollo 10 and his second spaceflight with Thomas Stafford. Cernan’s first spaceflight had taken place, as pilot, aboard Gemini IX.

The mission’s activities included taking photographs of the lunar surface. Photographs were taken from the command module as well as from the lunar module.

The takeaway for Apollo 10’s image of the near side’s Triesnecker Crater during one of the mission’s 31 lunar orbits is that the black-and-white photograph, taken in May 1969, clearly captures the crater’s distinctive bulge and the adjacent, intersecting channel-like system of Rimae Triesnecker.

Triesnecker Crater with labeled satellite craters; image obtained with Meade LX200 14-inch telescope and Lumenera Skynyx 2-1 camera by David Campbell, principal technical officer, University of Hertfordshire’s Bayfordbury Observatory, East of England region; Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012: David Campbell (12dstring), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Oblique, northwest-looking view shows Triesnecker Crater (lower center), with intersecting Triesnecker Rilles (right); May 1969 photograph taken from Apollo 10 spacecraft, at a distance of about 135 kilometers (85 statute miles) from Triesnecker Crater; NASA ID AS10-32-4819: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as10-32-4819.html

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Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/13523

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Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/13524

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Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/13525

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Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/13526

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Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/13527

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Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/13528

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