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Aviation History
1968
1968 - 2673.PDF
fLIGHT International, 21 November 1968 821 Spaceflight APOLLO 8 TO ORBIT MOON NASA announced on November 12 that the Apollo 8 mission will be a Moon-orbiting flight, the launch to take place on December 21. The decision was made by the Acting Admini- strator, Dr Thomas O. Paine, after an exhaustive analysis of the data reutrned from the outstandingly successful Apollo 7 flight. This decision was made in consultation with Dr George Mueller, Associate Administrator for Manned Spaceflight, and Dr Homer E. Newell, Associate Administrator; President Johnson and the President-elect Mr Nixon were advised shortly after the decision was reached on November 11. Gen Samuel E. Phillips, Apollo Programme Director, said later that a successful Apollo 8 flight would gain about three months in the lunar-landing timetable by eliminating the need for an additional Earth-orbiting flight of large radius, thereby bringing forward the Moon-landing mission to next summer or autumn. The purpose of the flight will be twofold: to continue evalua- tion of the Apollo / Saturn V combination (Apollo 8 will be the first manned flight for the Saturn V launcher) and to photograph selected landing sites on the Moon. Colour and stereo pictures will be returned to assist with further studies of these sites. The timescale for Apollo 8 is very tight indeed. The light- ing conditions on the Moon govern the launch date and one of the pacing factors in scheduling the flight is the completion of the necessary computer programmes at the mission control centre at Houston. These will include the establishment of the flight trajectory, computer simulation of the command and service module operations, and commissioning the world-wide tracking network. The following flight plan has been defined: —Lift-off of Apollo 8 from Cape Kennedy at 1245GMT, December 21 and injection into 112-mile Earth orbit for two or three revolutions to check systems. If satisfactory, clearance will be given for the 69hr transfer flight, arriving in the vicinity of the Moon on December 24. The service module engine will be fired to place the Apollo spacecraft into elliptical orbit varying between 195 and 69 miles above the surface. Two such orbits are planned, after which the orbit will then be changed to 69 miles circular for the remaining eight revolutions; the ten orbits will occupy about 20hr. The service module engine will then be fired to place Apollo 8 into a 58hr return trajectory instead of the normal 72hr path. Splashdown after a constant 4g re-entry will take The Saturn V rocket which will (America hopes) carry the first men around the Moon on December 24-25, seen on its way to the launch pad. Although Apollo 8 will be the first man-carrying mission for this vehicle, previous development firings leave NASA confident about its reliability. The rocket is 365ft tall and weighs nearly 3,000 tons at lift-off place in the Pacific south of Hawaii, at 1645GMT on Decem- ber 27. If, after arriving at the Moon, circumstances render an orbital flight inadvisable, Apollo 8 will merely coast past the hidden side and return to Earth without firing the engine. Tentative schedules for the remainder of the Apollo flights are now beginning to harden following the success of the Apollo 7 mission. They are as follows: — Apollo 9 will be an Earth-orbital mission in February 1969 to test the complete Apollo spacecraft, including the LM. The crew will be James McDivitt (commander), David Scott (com- mand module) and Russell Schweickart (lunar module). After initial structural problems, development of the LM is going ahead satisfactorily and there is even a little slack in the The Apollo 8 trajectory (not to scale). As with later Apollo flights, each stage is begun only after successful completion of the previous stage; there is no commit- ment at any time (except at one point in the actual landing manoeuvre in later fights) to rely on the operation of the vehicle more than one stage ahead. Abbreviations: CM, com- mand module, CSM, com- mand and service module 100 NM EARTH PARKING ORBIT CM WATER RECOVERY (PACIFIC S-IVB RESTART DURING 2nd OR 3rd ORBIT (PACIFIC) S-IVB 2nd BURN CUTOFF TRANSLUNAR INJECTION (TLI) FREE RFTURN TRAJECTORY OF TWO NOT SHOWN) CSM BRAKES INTO LUNAR ORBIT OR REMAINS ON FREE RETURN TRAJFCTORY CSM SEPARATION "S-IVB RESIDUAL PROPELLANT RETROGRADE DUMP
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