The Apollo Program:

"One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

Until Apollo, the Soviets had beaten the Americans in almost every major achievement in space flight. They had launched the first satellite into orbit, put the first man in to space, and they have performed the first space walk. In order to regain pride for it space program, President Kennedy decided to put the first man on the moon. And so, on the twenty-fifth of May 1961, President Kennedy committed America to putting a man on the lunar surface and returning him safely by the end of the decade.

Although Apollo did have two disasters, Apollo 1 and Apollo 13, the Apollo spacecraft was overall a great success. Six months before the end of the decade, Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the lunar surface with the quote "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." The Apollo spacecraft also achieved other accomplishments besides its missions to the moon. It participated in the first international space docking, the Apollo Soyuz test project, and it served as a ferry to the SkyLab space station.

Even before President Kennedy committed America to landing a man on the moon, NASA announced on the 29 of July 1960 that they would develop a three man spacecraft. Rockwell International was selected in November 1961, to develop the Apollo spacecraft. It was to be designed to be able to either fly alone, or to fly with a lunar module attached.

The Command & Service Modules

The central element of the Apollo spacecraft was the command module. This module was three meters high and almost 4 meters in diameter. This module contained the main compartments for the crew, and was the only component of Apollo that could return safely back to Earth. The forward section of the command module included: an airlock inside a tunnel used for entering the lunar module, a docking collar at the end of this total, two retrorockets for attitude control used during reentry, and parachutes for landing.

The main cabin was a pressurized compartment which served as a "Home" for the three astronauts. In this small cabin space of six cubic meters, there were lots of things crammed in. These included:

• Three couches for the astronauts
• Instrument panels
• Control devices attached to the arm rests
• Storage bays
• Navigation systems
• Food and personal Hygiene supplies
• Five windows (2 faced forward for docking and navigation, and 3 were for general observations)

The couches that the astronauts sat on were fire proof, and they rested on collapsible struts. These struts absorbed the shock produced when the module splashed down on reentry. In order to enter and leave the Apollo spacecraft on the ground, a single hatch was opposite the central couch. The bottom section of the command module contained ten reentry control jets with fuel tanks, and a heat shield that was designed to burn away and absorb the heat of reentry.

Behind the Command module was the Service module, which carried many of the systems needed by Apollo. This module was a cylinder 3.9 meters in diameter and 7.5 meters long. This module housed the main engine, its electrical generators, life support systems, 4 attitude control jets, and several radiators for temperature control.

The Lunar Module

In order to land on the moon, the Apollo spacecraft needed a lunar module. This lunar module was designed by Grumman Aircraft Co., and the first test models were produced in 1967. There were actually two versions of the lunar module, the original and the "J-series". The later version, the "J-series", was used in Apollo 15 through 17, and carried extra supplies so that it could remain on the surface twice as long. Another addition to the "J-series" was the addition of a lunar roving vehicle.

The lunar module was seven meters across. It had two parts: the upper assent stage, and the decent module. The upper assent stage carried the crew compartment, equipment areas, fuel tanks, and a rocket engine. Because the crew compartment was small, there was no room reserved for sleeping. Instead, the astronauts had to either curl up on the floor or use hammocks.

The decent module was hexagonal in shape, with alternating short and long sides. This module contained fuel and the main rocket engine. The main rocket engine was used for decelerating, shifting orbit, and hovering above the lunar surface while landing. Out of each short side a leg would be extended during landing. Each of these legs held a probe which triggered a light when it sensed ground. These probes were needed in order to tell when the module was on the ground, because visibility was very poor due to lunar dust kicked up by the rocket.

Apollo 1

Although it was such a successful spacecraft, Apollo got off on the wrong foot. On the January 26, 1967, during a routine countdown test, a fire quickly corrupted in the Apollo 1 capsule. A short circuit in the cabin's electronics started a small fire, which grew quickly and without warning in the pure oxygen atmosphere. This fire burned many plastics in the cabin, producing toxic fumes which suffocated the astronauts to death. The astronauts that were tragically killed were:

• Col. Virgil I. Grissom
• Lt. Col. Edward H.White II
• Navy Lt. Comdr. Roger B. Chaffee.

Following this disaster, an investigation found that the Apollo spacecraft had many design and quality control problems. After discovering this, a major overhaul of the entire program was ordered. The program's redesign delayed the first flight of Apollo by over a year and a half. The testing program of Apollo was restructured to be much more cautious, and many flights of Apollo were canceled. However, in October of 1967, NASA was again ready to send men into space.

Apollo 11

After Apollo 1's disaster and years of extensive testing, NASA was finally ready to attempt a moon landing. On the twentieth of July, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin touched down on the lunar surface in the lunar module "Eagle". After landing on the sea of tranquility, Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon while saying the famous quote "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind". During this mission, while Michael Collins orbited above in the command module "Columbia", Armstrong and Aldrin made only one moon walk. During this moon walk, they set up an American flag, three scientific experiments, and collected samples of rock and lunar dust. Also set up was a small plaque commemorating their historic landing. Then, on the 24 of July, they landed safely back on Earth.

Did You Know?

• Apollo 11 was almost another disaster, when the computer overloaded during landing. Fortunately, Neil Armstrong manually landed Eagle safely.
• As they left the lunar surface, the blast produced by the rockets knocked over the American flag.

 

Apollo 13

Apollo 1 was not the only disaster in the Apollo program. Another crisis arose during Apollo 13, when an oxygen tank exploded and badly damaged the ship. Launched on the 11th of April, 1970, Apollo 13 was planned to land near the Fra Mauro crater. Due to this disaster, however, this landing was canceled.

• It all started on the 13th of April, during a routine procedure of stirring the oxygen tanks.
• This operation caused an electrical arc to set fire to some Teflon insulation.
• This fire heated the oxygen tank, and the liquid oxygen began boiling.
• As the oxygen heated up, pressure began to build up and soon ruptured the oxygen tank.
• This rupture caused a explosion, which caused extensive damage.
• This explosion also damaged the other oxygen tank, and soon all of Apollo this oxygen was lost to space.

In order to survive, the crew moved to the lunar module and used it life support system. They also had to use its main engine to shift orbit back to Earth from the moon. Likely, however, the lunar module provided enough support for the astronauts to survive, and they landed safely in the Pacific Ocean on the 17th of April.

The Apollo-Soyuz test project

Besides the first moon landing, one of the most important achievements by Apollo was its participation in the first international manned space mission. In this mission, which was agreed in May 1972 to take place in July 1975, a American Apollo spacecraft would dock with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft. However, there were many difficulties in planning this international mission. For example, what language would they use? Also, both America and the Soviets had to agree on a docking system, standard radio frequencies, and an atmospheric environment.

Some of these differences were overcome by a special docking module that was carried by Apollo, which both spacecraft would dock to. This docking module contained an air lock, which allowed astronauts and cosmonauts to move between Apollo's one-third atmosphere, pure oxygen environment to Soyuz's one atmosphere oxygen-nitrogen mixture. As for the language that the astronauts and cosmonauts would speak, both would speak in each other's language. For example, the Soviet cosmonauts would speak English, and listen while the American astronauts spoke in Russian.

The American commander was Tom Stafford, who flew on Gemini 6 and 9, and on Apollo 10. For the other two astronauts on the Apollo spacecraft, Vance Brand and Donald K. Slayton, this would be their first flight. Slayton was one of the original Mercury astronauts, but never flew because of a minor heart irregularity. The Soviet crew included Alexei Leonov, the first man to walk in space, and Valeri Kubasov, veteran of the Soyuz 6 mission.

Before the mission, both crews met several times in each other's country. They met in order to become totally familiar with each other's equipment and procedures, and to learn to work together. Then, on December 1974, the Soviet Soyuz 16 made a "dress rehearsal", testing many aspects of the mission.

Both Soyuz 19 and Apollo launched on the 15th of July 1975. Docking occurred on the 17th, and both spacecraft separated on the 19th. After this mission completed successfully, Soyuz 19 landed on the 21st. However, Apollo stayed up another three days to carry out several science experiments. Again, disaster almost struck during landing when fuel that was dumped leaked toxic vapors into the cabin of Apollo. Although none of the astronauts suffered any permanent damage, Vance Brand lost consciousness for a short time.

Besides carrying out the first international docking, the Apollo-Soyuz test project signaled the last flight of an Apollo spacecraft, a Saturn rocket, or any American flight for the next six years.

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