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Aviation History
1968
1968 - 2674.PDF
822 FLIGHT International, 21 November Meanwhile, back at the ranch ... the command module of Apollo 7 on its way, via the US aircraft carrier "Essex," back to the manufacturers, North American Rockwell, in California. The condition of the capsule was described as excellent Spaceflight tical thrust of five-sixths of the weight of the vehicle, thus simulating the effect of the lunar gravitational field. Lift rockets propel the craft, while 16 smaller rockets in clusters provide attitude control. The vehicle carries enough fuel for 8min operation of the turbine engine and 80sec of lift rockets. The mishap occurred during the hover, almost 30ft from the ground. Owing to a loss of thrust from the lift rockets, the vehicle began to sink, but commenced to climb again when the pilot moved the controls to a setting applicable to Earth operations. Then, apparently because he was warned too late of a critical fuel state for the attitude control system, he lost control of the vehicle. The pilot ejected at about 200ft, when the craft was beginning to nose up and roll over. The source of the trouble was found to be a loss of helium pressure through the hydrogen peroxide tanks and the lift- rocket system (high-pressure helium is used to force the peroxide propellant from the tanks to the lift rockets and small thrusters used for altitude control. Normally the LLRV can be flown and landed safely with its gimbal-mounted turbine engine and attitude control system even after the propellant supply to the lift rockets is depleted, but this calls for quick pilot action as soon as the low-fuel warning light appears. In this instance helium had begun to escape from the system at an early stage and gave the pilot little or no time to correct the situation. The board attributed the accident to a design deficiency, namely that the helium pressurisation system was not protected against loss through the lift-rocket system. programme to meet the flight readiness schedule date next March for the first Moon-rated unit. Apollo 10 is at present scheduled for April/May 1969. This will be a full Apollo practice flight in a higher orbit than the previous flight. According to Gen Samuel Phillips, Apollo Programme Director, it is conceivable (although not likely) that Apollo 10 could be the Moon-landing flight. Apollo 11 is the Moon-landing flight as at present envisaged, assuming that all previous flights are essentially satisfactory. The main objective of this flight is the collection of samples of lunar soil. The mission is scheduled for next autumn. Apollo 12 is a contingency or back-up mission and will undertake the Moon-landing flight if Apollo 11 is unsuccessful. The first flight-rated ALSEP (Apollo lunar surface experi- ments package) has already been delivered to NASA. Built by Bendix, ALSEP is a 2801b package containing a number of automatic experiments which will be carried in the LM and deposited on the surface by the astronauts. Originally scheduled for the first Moon landing, ALSEP will now be carried on a later flight. It is understood that the reason for the postponement is the anticipated difficulty which astronauts may have in deploying the package, notwithstanding the reduction in weight to 471b as a result of the Moon's gravita- tional field. This concern stems from the frequent inabilities (as demonstrated during the Gemini flights) of astronauts to perform relatively simple tasks in space for which they had practised intensively beforehand. LLRV ACCIDENT: NO APOLLO REPERCUSSIONS The board of enquiry appointed by NASA to investigate the cause of the accident on May 6 to the LLRV (lunar landing research vehicle) has found that the primary cause of the crash was a loss of attitude control. The pilot, astronaut Neil Armstrong, was flying the LLRV at Ellington AFB, Texas, when he encountered difficulties during a simulated lunar landing approach. He ejected and landed by parachute, sustaining superficial injuries. The design of the LLRV is closely associated with that of the Apollo lunar module which will land two astronauts on the surface of the Moon, and the loss of the vehicle caused concern that elements of the module might need time-consum- ing modifications or redesign. Two boards of enquiry were established, the first to determine the cause of the accident, the second to assess impact on the lunar landing pro- gramme. This latter board found "no significant problems as a result of the LLRV accident" and recommended no changes in the LM. The LLRV has a conventional jet engine to provide a ver- MANNED FLIGHT ROUND-UP The recent flights of the three-man Apollo 7 and the singly manned Soyuz 3 have once again focussed interest on manned spaceflight. The table below is a complete list of all manned flights known to have taken place at the time of writing. Flight designation and spacecraft MR-3, Freedom 7 MR-4, Liberty Bell 7 MA-6, Friendship 7 MA-7, Aurora 7 MA-8, Sigma 7 MA-9, Faith 7 GT-3, Gemini 3 GT-4, Gemini 4 GT-S, Gemini 5 GT-7, Gemini 7 GT-6, Gemini 6 GT-8, Gemini 8 GT-9, Gemini 9 GT-IO, Gemini 10 GT-II, Gemini II GT-12, Gemini 12 Apollo 7 AMERICA Launch and landing dates May 5, 1961 July 21, 1961 February 20, 1962 May 24, 1962 October 3, 1962 May 15-16, 1963 March 23, 1965 June 3-7, 1965 August 21-29, December 4-18, 1965 December 15-16, 1965 March 16, 1966 June 3-6, 1966 July 18-21, 1966 September 12-15, 1966November 11-14, 1966 October 11-22, 1968 Crew Shepard Grissom Glenn Carpenter Schirra Cooper Grissom Young McDivittWhite Cooper Conrad Borman Lovell Schirra Stafford Armstrong Scott StaffordCernan Young Collins Conrad GordonLovell Aldrin Schirra CunninghamEisele No. of orbits sub-orbital, 302 milessub-orbital, T3 6 223 63 120 206 17 7 44 43 44 59 163 Duration of flight (hr* min.) 0.15 0.16 4.55 4.56 9.13 34.20 4.53 97.56 190.56 330.35 25.51 10.42 72.21 70.47 71.17 94.37 260.9 RUSSIA Flight designation and spacecraft Vostok 1 Vostok 2 Vostok 3 Vostok 4 Vostok 5 Vostok 6 Voshkod 1 Voshkod 2 Soyuz 1 Soyuz 3 Launch and landing dates April 12, 1961 Augu»t6-7, 1961 August 11-15, 1962 August 12-15, 1962 June 14-19, 1963 June 16-19, 1963 October 12-13, 1964 March 18-19, 1965 April 23-24, 1967 October 26-30, 1968 Crew Gagarin Titov Nikolayev Popovich Bykovsky Tereshkova Feoktistov Komarov Yegorov Belyayev Leenov Komarov (Killed on Landing) Beregovoi No. of orbits 1 17 64 48 81 48 16 17 18 64 Duration of Right (hr. min) 1.48 25.18 94.22 70.57 119.06 70.5024.17 26.02 26.45 94.51
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