Project Apollo E-Book

Norman Ferguson

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 169

Beschreibung

That's one small step for man… The Moon has always fascinated humans, and thoughts on how to get there occupied minds for hundreds of years. During the space race, setting foot on the Moon was the ultimate goal and the Apollo missions to the Moon are amongst the most successful and well-remembered manned space flights that NASA ever accomplished. In Project Apollo Norman Ferguson reveals fascinating facts and figures, and recounts amazing stories about the astronauts and their spacecraft, and how they made the giant leap for mankind.

Leseprobe

Norman Ferguson has had a lifelong interest in spaceflight and aviation, and has been writing professionally for more than fifteen years. His previous books for The History Press include From Airbus to Zeppelin and The Little Book of Aviation. He has also written comedy for the BBC and Channel 4. He lives in Edinburgh.

Photographs courtesy of NASA

Illustrations by Jemma Cox

First published 2019

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

© Norman Ferguson, 2019

The right of Norman Ferguson to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7509 9175 9

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

Printed in Turkey by Imak

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

CONTENTS

Introduction

Author’s Note

1 The Moon

2 To the Moon

3 The Technology

4 The Astronauts

5 Life in Space

6 The Apollo Missions

7 After Apollo

Sources

Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION

The Moon has been a source of wonderment, speculation and worship for centuries.

Its powers were seen as wide and varied: it could influence the weather, affect fertility or a person’s luck. It was thought to change people’s characters at different phases, and superstitions abounded. Lunar gods and goddesses were worshipped and sites built to align to the Moon.

The Moon’s regular appearance in our night skies has inspired countless artists whose songs, poems, paintings, books and films reflect the mysterious, the romantic, the sinister or the comforting aspects of Luna.

Writers had speculated on what travellers would encounter when they reached Earth’s only Moon; in the twentieth century humankind would finally find out.

Norman Ferguson2019

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Measurements are in imperial with metric equivalents. Astronauts’ names are given as normally used rather than their formal full names or ranks.

Acronyms

AGC

Apollo Guidance Computer

AGS

Abort Guidance System

ALSEP

Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package

ASE

Active Seismic Experiment

BOOSTER

Booster Systems Engineer

CAPCOM

Capsule Communicator

CCIG

Cold Cathode Ion Gauge

CDR

Commander

CM

Command Module

CMP

Command Module Pilot

CONTROL

Control Officer

CPLEE

Charged Particle Lunar Environment Experiment

CRD

Cosmic Ray Detector Experiment

CSM

Command and Service Module

DOI

Descent Orbit Insertion

DSKY

Display and Keyboard Unit

EASEP

Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package

EECOM

Electrical, Environmental and Consumables Manager

EMU

Extra-Vehicular Mobility Unit

EVA

Extra-Vehicular Activity

FAO

Flight Activities Officer

FIDO

Flight Dynamics Officer

GNC

Guidance, Navigation and Control Systems Engineer

GUIDO

Guidance Officer

HFE

Heat Flow Experiment

IMU

Inertial Measurement Unit

INCO

Integrated Communications Officer

IU

Instrumentation Unit

KSC

Kennedy Space Center

LACE

Lunar Atmosphere Composition Experiment

LDD

Lunar Dust Detector

LEAM

Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites Experiment

LEC

Lunar Equipment Conveyor

LES

Launch Escape System

LLRV

Lunar Landing Research Vehicle

LLTV

Lunar Landing Training Vehicle

LM

Lunar Module

LMP

Lunar Module Pilot

LPM

Lunar Portable Magnetometer Experiment

LRRR

Lunar Ranging Retro-Reflector

LSG

Lunar Surface Gravimeter

LSM

Lunar Surface Magnetometer

LSPE

Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment

MESA

Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly

NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NETWORK

Network Controller

NPE

Neutron Probe Experiment

PGNCS

Primary Guidance, Navigation and Control System

PLSS

Portable Life Support System

PPK

Personal Preference Kit

PROCEDURES

Organisations and Procedures Officer

PSE

Passive Seismic Experiment

RETRO

Retrofire Officer

SCE

Signal Conditioning Equipment

SEP

Surface Electrical Properties Experiment

SIDE

Suprathermal Ion Detector Experiment

SIM

Scientific Instrument Module

SM

Service Module

SPS

Service Propulsion System

SURGEON

Flight Surgeon

SWC

Solar Wind Composition Experiment

SWS

Solar Wind Spectrometer

TELMU

Telemetry, Electrical and EVA Mobility Unit Officer

TGE

Portable Traverse Gravimeter Experiment

TLI

Trans-Lunar Injection

USAF

United States Air Force

VAB

Vehicle Assembly Building

The Moon, photographed on Apollo 11.

Structure

The Moon’s structure is similar to Earth’s in that it has an outer crust, a mantle and a core. The Moon’s crust on the near side is around 43 miles (70km) thick, with the far side’s double that.

Geological Features

The Moon certainly does not possess a smooth and polished surface, but one rough and uneven, and, just like the face of the Earth itself, is everywhere full of vast protuberances, deep chasms, and sinuosities.

Galileo, Siderius Nuncius (1610)

The terms to describe lunar features and the names of specific ones have been the subject of much discussion. Some names are officially recognised by the International Astronomical Union, founded in 1919, while others are unofficial.

Latin Term

Common Name

Examples

Notes

Mare (plural maria)

Sea

Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains)

The lunar surface’s dark flat areas, so named because early observers thought they were actual seas. Formed from volcanic lava, they cover 16 per cent of the lunar surface.

Oceanus

Sea

Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms)

Due to its status as the largest mare, the Ocean of Storms was given the distinction of being named an ocean. It is 1,600 miles (2,575km) across.

-

Basin

Orientale Basin

Large impact craters, over 186 miles (300km) wide, which contain concentric peak rings, sometimes up to six in number. All maria sit within basins.

Palus

Marsh

Palus Somnii (Marsh of Sleep)

A small plain.

Sinus

Bay

Sinus Iridum (Bay of Rainbows)

A small plain, often part of large mare.

Lacus

Lake

Lacus Timoris (Lake of Fear)

A small plain.

Terra

Highland region

Terra Vitæ (Land of Liveliness)

Brighter than the maria, the Moon’s highlands make up 84 per cent of the lunar surface. The term Terra is no longer officially used.

Mons

Mountain

Mons Huygens (Mount Huygens)

Found in the lunar highlands, mountains on the Moon were formed by impacts, unlike their counterparts on Earth, which are volcanic or tectonic in origin. Mons Huygens is the highest lunar mountain, reaching a height of over 18,000ft (5,486m).

Montes

Range of mountains

Montes Apenninus (Apennine Mountains)

The Montes Apenninus range runs for over 400 miles (644km) and includes 3,000 peaks.

-

Domes

Valentine Dome

Domes are rounded, gently rising features that sometimes have summit craters. They can reach 600ft (183m) in height.

Rupes

Escarpment

Rupes Recta

These are faults in the surface or edges of craters. Rupes Recta is also known as the ‘Straight Wall’.

Vallis

Valley

Vallis Schrödinger

Normally named after nearby craters.

Rima

Rille

Rima Hadley

Long and narrow depressions or channels. Some are thought to be caused by collapsed lava flows.

Promontorium

Cape

Promontorium Heraclides

These jut out into maria.

Dorsum

Ridge

Dorsum Bucher

Formed when the lava cooled and produced wrinkles. Also called veins.

Catena

Chain of craters

Catena Davy

Thought to be formed from broken-up comets.

-

Crater

Tycho

Circular depressions caused by impacts, varying enormously in size.

-

Albedo feature

Reiner Gamma

A comparatively bright lunar feature. Reiner Gamma is the only albedo feature officially identified on the near side.

Surface Composition

The Moon is covered with a layer of dust called the regolith, formed by meteorite impacts over millions of years. It can be up to 49ft (15m) deep. Amongst the rock types, igneous basalts make up most of the material found in the maria, and lighter toned anorthosites are found in the lunar highlands. Breccias were formed by rocks being fused together through meteoroid impacts.

Gardening

American scientist Harold Urey described how continual impacts erode and turn over the lunar surface as ‘gardening’.

Water

Water’s presence on the Moon was confirmed in 2009 when a Centaur booster was deliberately impacted in Cabeus crater and the ensuing ejecta analysed. The water, in ice form, is thought to be from a comet’s impact.

Colour

Depending on different lighting conditions, astronauts observed variations in surface colour. Shades of yellow, brown, grey, white, tan and black were all seen.

Man in the Moon

There liveth none under the sunne,

that knows what to make of the man in the Moone.

John Lyly, Endymion (1591)

For centuries some have seen the appearance of a human face in the lunar features:

Right eye:

Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains)

Left eye:

Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity) and Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility)

Nose:

Mare Vaporum (Sea of Vapours) and Mare Insularum (Sea of Islands)

Mouth:

Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds) and Mare Cognitum (Sea That Has Become Known)

Other figures believed to be visible in the Moon include: a rabbit, a hare, a man carrying sticks (sent as punishment for collecting them on a Sabbath), a woman weaving a pot, a crab, a toad, a lion, a fox, Judas Iscariot, and a hunchback sitting under a tree.

Crater Names

There are many thousands of craters and their names have accumulated over centuries. They can be named after notable scientists or polar explorers, as long as they are deceased. However, others have been rewarded: the Apollo 11 crew had craters in the Sea of Tranquility named in their honour.

Fifty craters are:

Alan

Alexander

Aloha

Amundsen

Anderson

Apollo

Archimedes

Babbage

Beer

Bliss

Bunsen

Byrd

Cassini

Chaucer

Curie

Cyrano

Darwin

Einstein

Freud

Geiger

Goddard

Grissom

H G Wells

Halley

Hippocrates

Hubble

Huxley

Ian

Icarus

Isabel

Ivan

Joy

Marco Polo

Marconi

Mary

Newton

Norman

Parkhurst

Robert

Schrödinger

Shackleton

Susan

Tereshkova

Titov

Tycho

Van de Graaff

Verne

von Braun

Wallace

Zhukovskiy

186 Miles

The largest crater is Bailly: its diameter is 186 miles (300km).

Impact Basins

The largest impact basin on the Moon’s visible area is Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) with a diameter of 731 miles (1,160km). On the far side South Pole-Aitken Basin has a diameter of 1,550 miles (2,500km) and a depth of more than 5 miles (8km).

Zap Pits

Zap pits are small craters formed by micrometeorites.

Aristarchus

Aristarchus is the brightest crater. Although only 25 miles (40km) in diameter, it is easily seen with the naked eye due to its relative brightness in Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms).

Moonquakes

Unlike Earth, the Moon does not have tectonic plate movement. However, it is seismically active and moonquakes were detected by seismometers left behind by the Apollo missions.

Mascons

Spacecraft orbiting the Moon had variations in their orbits, put down to ‘mascons’, i.e. ‘mass concentrations’. Mascons are believed to have been caused by large impacts bringing deeper and denser material closer to the surface. When it was thought mascons would lower Apollo 15’s orbit to just 33,000ft (10km) above the lunar surface, corrective action was taken.

Magnetic

The Moon does not have a significant magnetic field but evidence it once did (around 3 billion years ago) was found in returned rocks. The lack of a north or south pole made navigation harder on the surface as compasses were inoperable.

Perigee and Apogee

The Moon’s orbit around the Earth is not perfectly circular. Its furthest point is apogee and the nearest point of the oval-shaped orbit is perigee.

Distance from Earth

Position

252,900 miles (407,004km)

Apogee

221,800 miles (356,952km)

Perigee

Orbits around the Moon use the terms apolune and perilune.

Super Moon

The term ‘Super Moon’ describes a full Moon seen at perigee. It appears 14 per cent larger and 30 per cent brighter than when seen at apogee. A full Moon at apogee is called a Micro Moon.

59 Per Cent

Due to ‘tidal locking’, the Moon always presents the same face to Earth. 59 per cent of its surface can be seen from Earth, due to ‘libration’ – the Moon’s oscillation caused by its elliptical orbit.

The Dark Side

The Moon has no ‘dark side’ but as almost half is never seen from Earth the concept of a ‘far’ or ‘dark’ side arose. It was first observed when Luna 3 took photographs in 1959. The first humans to see it directly were the crew of Apollo 8.

Lunar Months

The two most commonly used periods of describing how long it takes for the Moon to orbit Earth are:

Sidereal

The lunar orbital period with respect to the stars is 27.32166 days (27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 12 seconds).

Synodic

The mean length of the synodic month, also known as a lunation, is 29.53059 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3 seconds) and is the period between one new Moon and the next. A synodic month is longer than the sidereal as the Earth itself has moved its position relative to the Sun and it takes a few days for the Moon to ‘catch up’ to regain its alignment with the Sun.

Metonic Cycle

The Metonic Cycle is a period of 19 years, or 235 lunations, after which the Moon returns to exactly the same place in the sky, and its phases begin again to take place on the same day of the year.

Blue Moon

A ‘Blue Moon’ is the second full Moon in a calendar month or the third full Moon in an astronomical season (using equinoxes and solstices rather than calendar months) that has four full Moons.

Tides

The Moon’s gravitational pull causes the water on Earth to bulge, producing two tides a day. When the Sun, Moon and Earth line up, at new and full Moons, spring tides are the result – either higher than the normal high or lower than the normal low tides. They are so named not because of the season but from them ‘springing out’ and then back with increased strength. Neap tides, which occur when the Sun and Moon are at right angles to each other at quarter Moons, see high and low tides experience their smallest differences.

Land Tides

The Moon also affects land and Earth’s crust is raised, up to 12in (30cm). The crust sits on top of molten rock and this allows movement, although it is imperceptible to anyone standing on the affected area at the time.

Phases

New Moon

The new Moon is not seen from Earth as it is aligned with the Sun.

Waxing Crescent

Waxing is when the sunlit part of the Moon is seen, increasing each evening. Earthshine – sunlight reflecting off the Earth – illuminates the rest of the Moon.

First Quarter

Half is illuminated. The edge of the illuminated section against the unlit area is called the Terminator.

Waxing Gibbous

More than half full, comes from the Latin word gibbus meaning a rounded hump.

Full Moon

The whole disc can be seen, fully illuminated by sunlight.

Waning Gibbous

The amount of the illuminated Moon seen is reduced.

Last Quarter

The opposite half of First Quarter is illuminated.

Waning Crescent

The amount clearly visible reduces until only a thin crescent is seen before sunrise.

Eclipses

Solar Eclipse

Solar eclipses occur when the new Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth. It is a fortunate coincidence that the Moon and Sun seen from Earth are similar in apparent sizes: the Sun is 400 times bigger than the Moon but is 400 times farther away.

As the Moon begins to move away from totality (when no sunlight is seen), due to the rugged nature of the Moon’s topography the Sun’s light begins to appear in small areas first, causing a phenomenon called ‘Baily’s Beads’ after the astronomer who described them in 1836. The final ‘bead’ is known as the Diamond Ring.

The last total solar eclipse to be seen in the UK was in August 1999 and the next is in 2090.

Lunar Eclipse

Lunar eclipses occur when the Moon passes into the Earth’s shadow, causing it to take on a red hue. They are more common than their solar counterparts.

Annular Eclipse

An annular eclipse is when the Moon is further away from Earth than for a total eclipse. As it does not cover the whole of the Moon, it creates an effect called the ‘ring of fire’.

Partial Eclipse

Only part of the Sun is obscured.

The Moon Illusion

When near to the Earth’s horizon the Moon appears to be larger than its actual size. This phenomenon was discussed by notable figures such as Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci and René Descartes and many theories have been proposed, but a conclusive explanation has yet to be agreed.

Mapping the Moon

Scientific mapping began in the seventeenth century with the advent of the telescope. Several maps were subsequently produced, including Johannes Hevelius’s in Selenographia of 1647, and in 1651 Giovanni Riccioli defined a nomenclature system still used, with features such as Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility). Maps continued to be improved through subsequent years, but in the twentieth century photography took over and the use of robotic probes in the 1960s resulted in the end of Earth-based observation maps.

First Photograph

The first-ever photograph of the Moon was taken in 1840 by John Draper. Draper was a member of staff at the New York University and took the photograph on its roof. His son Henry took the first 3D images of the Moon in 1863.

‘Picture of the Century’

In November 1966, Lunar Orbiter 2 took a photograph looking obliquely across Copernicus crater from an altitude of 28.4 miles (45.7km). It was the first to show real detail of the lunar topography and was described as the ‘Picture of the Century’ by Life magazine.

Picture of the Century.

Lunar Facts and Figures

1/6

Lunar gravity is one-sixth that of Earth’s.

1.5

The Moon moves away from the Earth 1.5in (3.8cm) each year.

115

The maximum surface temperature is 115°C (239°F); the minimum is –179°C (–290°F).

1,651

During the total eclipse of 21 August 2017, the Moon’s shadow moved across the USA at an average speed of 1,651mph (2,657km/h).

2,159

The Moon’s diameter is 2,159 miles (3,475km).

2,286

The Moon orbits the Earth at 2,286mph (3,679km/h).

35,387

The highest point on the Moon is 35,387ft (10,786m), situated close to the Engel’gardt crater on the far side. It is over 6,000ft (1,828m) higher than Mount Everest.

1,499,070

The Moon travels 1,499,070 miles (2,412,519km) in each orbit around the Earth.

This foolish idea of shooting at the Moon is an example of the absurd length to which vicious specialisation will carry scientists working in thought-tight compartments.

Professor A.W. Bickerton, in 1926

Thoughts of space travel go back hundreds of years but it wasn’t until the twentieth century that scientific theories and technology were sufficiently advanced to provide the means.

In Russia, a teacher called Konstantin Tsiolkovsky wrote about how multi-stage, liquid-fuelled rockets could leave Earth orbit and be steered in the vacuum of space. In Germany, Hermann Oberth independently developed the concepts of staged rockets and liquid fuel, while in America Robert Goddard was responsible for several advances including using gyroscopes for control and mounting rocket engines on gimbals for steering. In 1926 he successfully launched the first liquid-fuelled rocket.

The Space Race

The Space Race began in October 1957 with the launch of Sputnik – the world’s first satellite – by the USSR. The USA had no coherent space programme and navy, air force and army all vied for their opportunity. A new organisation was created in 1958 to manage the space programme: NASA – the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A civilian-led organisation, it was tasked with putting a man into space as part of Project Mercury. However, it was not to win this particular race as in April 1961 the USSR sent Yuri Gagarin into orbit – another in a line of space firsts by the Soviets.

Six Mercury missions were flown, from the 15-minute sub-orbital lob of Alan Shepard only weeks after Gagarin’s flight to the 34-hour-long endurance flight by Gordon Cooper.