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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 0051.PDF
FLIGHT International, 2 January 1969 38-39 For left, the TV and voice transmissions from Apollo 8 were generally considered to be the best yet received from space. Here Anders demonstrates trie effect of zero g on his toothbrush; the coble feeding the TV camera can be seen coiling away into the background, left, the first picture of the Moon to be trans mitted from Apollo 8 was from a height of 69 miles. Right, an astronaut being assisted into the dinghy from which he was winched up to the recovery helicopter spacecraft in an elliptical parking orbit. Tension mounted during this operation, and not only at Houston; Borman's heart beat rate rose from 78/min to 130/min. This burn had taken place behind the Moon, out of radio contact with Earth. But all was well and Apollo 8 re-emerged amid restrained jubilation at Houston. This historic moment was marked by a request from Mission Control, "Please verify your water-evaporator switch to auto . . ." the telemetry was continuing to do its job. At 1526BST and after two orbits, the service engine was again fired to place the spacecraft in a 69-mile circular orbit, a manoeuvre needing a velocity decrement of only 138ft/sec. So Apollo 8 began its ten circuits of the Moon, at a height of less than half the diameter of some of the craters, while the primary task of the flight was begun: the photography of the Moon and particularly of the sites which have been chosen for the first landing next year. Although busy with housekeeping, photography and navigation, the crew gave another TV transmission of the lunar surface. It was not to be expected that remarkable discoveries would by made by Apollo 8. After all, the Moon has been the centre of deep and lifelong study over the past 350 years and American and Russian unmanned spacecraft have photographed the Moon from low altitude and from the surface itself. Nevertheless the photographs (particularly in colour) will be of the greatest value in determining the nature and topography of the surface. Apart from the prosaic commentary on the Moon and the condition of the spacecraft the crew read with becoming humility the passage from the Bjble describing the Creation (this idea, one suspects, was due to Borman who, together with his other accomplishments, is a lay preacher). At 0710BST on Wednesday (Christmas Day) during orbit No 10, and while still behind the Moon, the service engine was fired for 3 min 46 sec to inject the capsule into an Earth- return path. An additional Msec burn was made to adjust the speed, and Apollo 8 was homeward bound. One of the notable aspects of the flight was the amity which appeared to continue throughout the mission. In contrast to the crew of Apollo 7, who complained about their medical harnesses, their too-sweet food, their sleep schedules, TV transmissions and — most bitterly — "trivial" experiments, the Apollo 8 astronauts recorded very few complaints. It is not clear whether this was due to a workload re-think since the last mission, or simply due to the differences in temperament between the two crews. Certainly the transmissions from Apollo 8 had a more restrained and detached presentation than the colourful, extrovert guided tours of Walter Schirra's crew. Two TV transmissions were made on the return flight. The first, on Christmas day, was devoted to a conducted tour of the spacecraft with a commentary on the equipment. The second, the final live broadcast from Apollo 8, showed the Earth. These transmissions continued to be characterised by the same high excellence of both sound and vision channels. Friday, December 27. was largely given over to preparing for the landing. A final mid-course correction was made at 1441'BST as the spacecraft continued to accelerate up to a maximum speed of 24,530 m.p.h. At 1631BST the service module was jettisoned, leaving only the conical command module. After rotating the vehicle to present the bluff ablative base to the direction of flight, Apollo 8 began to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere 80 miles above the surface at 1641BST. At first sight it appears paradoxical that Apollo 7, travelling in Earth orbit at 18,000 m.p.h., needed a retro-fire from the service engine to initiate re-entry, while Apollo 8. travelling nearly 50 per cent faster, did not. The reason is that the former was in a stable orbit, always outside the atmosphere, while the return path of Apollo 8 was directed into the atmosphere at a pitch angle of between 5i° and 1\". Well within the allowable 35 mile-wide entry corridor, the capsule penetrated to a height of 200,000ft, at which altitude the flight trajectory allowed the vehicle to climb 10,000ft to allow for heat dissipation (the maximum estimated temperature of the heat shield was about 5,000° F). The capsule then began to descend again, the speed continuing to fall until at 23,000ft when the pilot parachute was deployed, it was only 300 m.p.h. The three main parachutes opened at 10,000ft and the capsule made contact with sea at 165IBST. The splashdown area was in the Pacific, some 1,000 miles SW of Hawaii. The re-entry path had taken the capsule over Northern China, where the eighth recorded Chinese nuclear explosion had occured earlier that day, presumably in honour of Chair man Mao's 75th birthday the previous day. Splashdown two miles from carrier Like the launch, the splashdown was accomplished in dark ness, although the beacon on the spacecraft was seen as the vehicle descended by parachute, to splash down a mere 5,000 yards from the recovery aircraft carrier USS Yorktown. A helicopter was soon hovering overhead but it had been decided not to evacuate the astronauts until dawn (some 35 min later) to lessen the risk of flooding the spacecraft. In the event the sea was calm and the crew was content to remain aboard for first light. The astronauts were hoisted, one at a time, aboard a recovery helicopter and were flown back to the carrier, touching down at 1820BST. The capsule was later hoisted aboard Yorktown from where it will eventually return to the manufacturer for examination—the only survi ving evidence of the majestic rocket which soared slowly into space 147hr previously. So ended the active part of man's first interplanetary voyage a flight notable for its continued day-to-day interest, for its almost complete freedom from technical faults and, not least, for the quiet and restrained demeanour of the astro nauts and the Mission Control Centre, Houston. The future may bring missions to the planets, possibly even the nearer stars; but none will have that special, "very first" quality of Apollo 8. ,
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