STS-135 T-8 Days - STS-1 1981

Finally, in 1981, nearly six years after the last Apollo flight, the Shuttle was ready for it's maiden flight.  It launched exactly 20 years after the first manned space flight.   I was working in Florida for Stromberg Carlson, at the time, with Mike Shaffer.  We were building computer controlled telephone systems and following the development of the Shuttle.

The first launch was halted a few moments before ignition, when one of the five control computers disagreed with the others.  After launch, there were voting procedures to break the disagreement, but before launch, it was a scrubbed mission.  They found the bug the next day and the launch was rescheduled for the weekend.  The delay permitted us to take the boat and go watch the launch from the intercoastal waterway in Titusville.

Watch this YouTube for a great launch sequence of this first launch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSk_T_SAruI&feature=player_detailpage

Remember what I said about the orange external tanks?  Well they painted the first two white, before they figured out they could save important weight by leaving them unpainted. 

Mike and I identified with bugs related to redundant CPUs.  We were implementing the redundancy programs for Stromberg Carlson's PBX, which was the first stored program digitally switched PBX.  It used the Digital PDP LSI-11 CPU with 128K of memory.  The CPU board is shown here.  There is no memory on that board, just the CPU and bus driver chips.  The five large chips comprised the 16 bit CPU.  A real masterpiece of integration at the time.  The address space only supported 64K, but we engineered a paging memory that allowed us to increase the memory to 128K in order to fit all the software needed to control all the phone system features.  We loaded programs from a tape cartridge that took 5 minutes to load the 128K program. There was no Ethernet for computers in these days.  If they needed to communicate, like with our redundant processors, a peripheral was created that would transfer information between them 16 bits at a time, or a 9600 bit per second terminal line could be used to communicate over longer distances.  By comparison, this CPU was less than 1/10,000 as powerful as an iPhone.  The data link was 1/10,000 the speed of a current Ethernet connection.  Yet, we used it to control a 1200 phone PBX, with all the features.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-11

STS-135 T-9 Days - Designing the Shuttle

Multi Stage Shuttle Concepts

First a correction.  Yesterday, Mike pointed me to a website that said the Saturn V was ignited at T-8.9 seconds.  See http://gizmodo.com/5079556/happy-birthday-saturn-v-still-the-biggest-rocket-of-all for a great slow motion video of the rocket ignition and take off.

Single Stage Concept

It took a while to come up with the design for the Shuttle.  Most of the original plans were for the entire spacecraft to be reused.  Many of the models had the first stage look something like the Orbiter so it could be piloted back to Earth.  Another model was a single stage craft.  Finally after lots of analysis, they determined that to costs to build a piloted first stage were greater than the using an expendable fuel tank.  The final shuttle is able to reuse all of the parts except the external fuel tank.  Of the components, this was the simplest to build.  It is even orange because that is the primer color and it doesn't need to last beyond the time it takes to launch it.

Enterprise in Early Test Flight

  The first orbiter built was Enterprise, named after the Star Trek spaceship.  It was built to test the aerodynamics and landing abilities.  It was expected to be retrofitted for flight, after testing but the changes made to the subsequent orbiters were cost prohibitive to rebuild Enterprise.  Enterprise was tested by attaching it to the top of a 747 and then flying it up and letting it go to glide down.  See the video of the test flight in 1977.

Glide was a generous word.  One of the pilots said it was like gliding a brick.  None the less, the orbiters all were accurately glided back to earth.  For the video of the flight, see http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Space_Shuttle_Enterprise_747_separation.ogg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_design_process

STS-135 T-10 Days - Shuttle Program

Shuttle Liftof

As we move into the final ten days, it is time to talk about the Space Shuttle.  The Shuttle is comprised of 4 major components.  The Orbiter is the part that goes into space carrying the astronauts and the cargo.  It has three liquid fuel rocket engines that are reused on each flight.  The fuel for the engine comes from the huge orange External Fuel Tank, which is jettisoned and discarded into the ocean when the fuel is exhausted..  Mounted on each side of the External Tank are two Solid Rocket Boosters. which provide 83% of the thrust needed for liftoff.  After 2 minutes, they are burned out, get jettisoned, and are retrieved for reuse after splashing down in the Atlantic. The final component of the Shuttle is the orbiter add-on, that is carried in the Orbiter bay and varies among flights.  Atlantis will carry a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the space station on it's last flight.  It will be the final supply trip to the space station from the US.  The flexibility to carry and return cargo in the huge bay has been the hallmark of the shuttle program.

Orbiter Approaching Space Station

As I continue the countdown, perhaps a word about the countdown is in order.  The most frequently heard portion starts at ten.  When growing up we used the 10, 9, 8... countdown to kick off many activities.  The countdown is linked to a very long checklist of items that must be performed in a specific order and with specific timing in order for the launch to occur.

Shuttle Final Countdown

The shuttle countdown begins at T-72 hours with the team called to their stations.  As the time ticks down, the shuttle is fueled, the astronauts board, all the equipment is checked, and everything else that has to be done. T-0 is liftoff.  With the shuttle, the main engines on the orbiter are ignited at T-6.6 seconds.  Huge bolts hold the shuttle to the pad as the engines build power in preparation for liftoff.  At T-0, the solid rocket booster on each side, are started and immediately provide the thrust needed to take off.  The bolts are exploded and off it goes. 

The Saturn V was ignited at T-3 seconds.  I remember watching TV videos taken at the bottom of the launch pad that showed the rockets firing and the latches holding it down as it built up power.  Then at the zero count, the latches pulled back and the rocket would start to lift.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shuttle_launch_countdown

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/count.html#T-06H00M

STS-135 T-11 days - Apollo Soyuz - July 1975

The National Air and Space Museum display of Apollo–Soyuz

The final Apollo flight would be in July of 1975.  We were on speaking terms with the Soviets.  A political era of "detente' was underway where the US and the USSR were trying to learn how to cooperate.  It was a huge step forward from the fear during the moon race.  These talks resulted in the first weapons treaties between us to limit the number of nuclear missiles, biological weapons and other weapons both sides were developing that had the capability to annihilate all life on the planet.

Soyuz spacecraft as seen from Apollo CM

In this project we developed a docking module that could adapt the incompatible docks for each spacecraft as well as to interface between the incompatible atmospheres in each spacecraft.  Working together to do this was unheard of.  It required trust that the two countries were struggling to comprehend.

It was several more decades before the cold war would be over, but these steps started to pave the way.  It would have been an unbelievable dream at the time to think that someday we would work in cooperation with the Soviets to build a space station or that we would be sending our astronauts to the space station on Soviet spacecraft.

Betamax tape

Also in 1975, the very first home video product came to market.  Sony's Betamax began a revolution.  For about $1000 in 1975 dollars, you could buy a device that could record a TV show and play it back.  This was a capability that had only been available in TV studios.  Although this was so expensive that only the very wealthy could afford it, the home video revolution was launched.  It would not be very many years before this was affordable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo-soyuz.jpg

STS-135 T-12 Days - Skylab 1973 - 1974

Skylab as Apollo approache

After the moon missions, NASA and the nation struggled to select the next challenge.  The Apollo/Saturn V was a powerful combination and held options for further exploration.  However, the huge budget that funded the moon program was past.  Using parts that had been built for Apollo, a few more missions were designed to expand our scientific knowledge and determine the limits of space travel.  NASA developed our first real space station from an upper stage of the Saturn V  They called it Skylab.  Then they used the Apollo SCM to ferry astronauts to and from Skylab in three missions spanning about 9 months in 1973 and early 1974.

In comparison to all prior spacecraft, Skylab was huge, check out the drawing.  The astronauts had room for many experiments and living facilities to work for extended periods.  The third mission lasted 84 days, may times longer than prior records.  During the Skylab flights we learned to make repairs on spacecraft already in flight,  It included many EVAs to perform experiments and make repairs.  The most critical repair was in the first mission to fix a stuck solar cell wing that failed to deploy.  Without it deployed, the Skylab would have been unable to conduct the subsequent missions.

Cut-away view of Skylab, docked with Apollo CSM

As much as Skylab was advancing our understanding of living in space.  It was expensive.  The space shuttle program was getting underway and it needed the funds.  The third and final Skylab mission concluded in February 1974.  There would be one final Apollo flight before the space shuttle.  Although Skylab had supplies to support astronauts for over a year, we could not afford the cost of that program.  We were ending an era in space and the next would be years away.

Our first space station had been a success, even if only for a brief time.

By the way, in 1972, about this time, the HP-35 became the first pocket sized scientific calculator.  It cost $400, then.  Although expensive, it spelled the end of the slide rule and became the standard that all engineers had to have.  Advances occurred so fast, that by 1975, the HP-35 was discontinued for more powerful models.  My first was the HP-55.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-55

STS-135 T-13, Apollo14-17 1972

We made 4 more trips with increasingly successful landings.  In December 1972, four years after Apollo 9 had made the first trip to the moon, we sent the last men to the moon. 

Lunar Rover - Apollo 15, 16, & 17

Starting with Apollo 15, the LEM engines were made more powerful, enabling it to carry the additional weight of the Lunar Rover, which was a go cart type of vehicle permitting the astronauts to travel further from the LEM.  Using the Lunar Rover, the astronauts of Apollo 17 traveled over 20 miles on the surface collecting 110 pounds of rocks and soil.  They stayed on the lunar surface for three days, running a long series of experiments.  Each of the EVAs on the surface lasted over seven hours, contrasted to the two and a half hour EVA of Apollo 11.  We had come a long way.

Last Trip to the Moon, Schmitt, Flag, & Earth

The race to the moon had solidified a country that had a true concern over the threat of the Soviet union.  As the moon program ended, I was in my freshman year at MIT.  MIT had been responsible for the guidance systems for the missions and many of the students ahead of me had worked in the labs.  I remember the dismantling of labs and facilities that had been used for the space program, and in fact still have parts that were salvaged from equipment used in the program.  We were moving on to a new era and new challenges.  I have not seen the prolonged dedication and focus to a national objective since.  The stunning magnitude of this accomplishment is profoundly memorable.

A plaque left on the ladder of the descent stage of the Apollo 17 LEM, Challenger reads:

Here man completed his first explorations of the Moon December 1972 A.D. May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind.

Next time you are looking up at the moon some evening, pause, look at it carefully, and consider what it took to make 9 manned trips to the moon and land 12 people to explore and return. Perhaps in your lifetime, people will travel to the moon again and this plaque will once again be seen and read by a new generation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program

STS-135 T-14, Apollo 13 - 1970, "Houston, we've had a problem."

Apollo 12 and Surveyor 3

Just four months after the first moon landing, Apollo 12 followed the path to the moon.  This time a few of the kinks were worked out.  They figured out that Apollo 11 landed so far off course due to a miscalculation in the angle of the decent burn.  With that corrected, Apollo 12 landed that was so accurately that they were able to walk to the Surveyor 3 probe that had landed years earlier and retrieve some parts to take back to analyze.  Remember, I told I would explain how the picture of Surveyor 3 was taken on the moon.  See the picture of the astronaut Conrad, Surveyor 3, and the LEM in the background.  So close a landing was unbelievably accurate.

Apollo 13 SM showing Damage

The third landing mission to the moon, Apollo 13, lived up to its unlucky number.  Two days into the trip to the moon, there was a bang, heard and felt by the crew.  Listen to the attached audio, of the well know, "Houston, we've had a problem."  The extent of the damage was not fully known, but after investigation, they determined that the command module had lost it's oxygen tank.  This had far reaching consequences.  The side effects were that the fuel cells could no longer create power, they could not remove the carbon dioxide from the cabin, the SCM rockets were inoperable, and in general the command module became useless.

The LEM was called to duty to save the astronauts.  Without it, the spaceship would have been doomed.  A contingency plan was put into action to have the spacecraft slingshot around the moon and back to Earth.  The command/service module was nearly useless.  The details depicted in the movie are very accurate.  Watch it.  The picture shows the CO2 scrubber they highlighted in the movie.

CO2 Scrubber Mod in the LEM

It was a hair raising few days.  It was horrible to think that the astronauts could easily be stranded.  We followed the news continuously for the three days it took to swing around the moon and carefully aim for the reentry and landing in the Pacific.  Through the ingenuity of thousands of people, the LEM was used for rocket propulsion, living quarters, and life support through the trip to the moon and back to Earth.  It was an incredibly lucky break and a masterminded adaption of the equipment to save the crew.

When the service module was jettisoned towards the end of the voyage, they were able to take the picture that showed the entire side blown off.  That was the first they saw of the severity of the damage.  It was truly miraculous that they survived.  Really, rent the movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13

STS-134, T-15 days - Apollo 11 1969 - Tranquillity Base

By now you know the mechanics of how we got to the moon and if you remember any history, that it was Apollo 11 that made the trip with the first landing.

First Step on the Moon

It was July of 1969.  The race to the moon was literally down to the wire.  The Soviets had a program to send an unmanned craft to the moon and return with samples.  By the time of Apollo 11's launch, the Soviets had failed twice and they launched their third Luna mission to get samples three days before the Apollo 11 launch.  It was a down to the wire race.  It was so close that the Soviets release their flight plans to NASA to insure there would be no chances of collisions.  The Luna crash landed and the race was ours to win.

It was a Sunday when they descended to the moon.  I was 15.  At the time, I worked evenings and weekends at a bowling alley keeping score for the bowling leagues.  Think caddy for bowling.  Around 1 pm, as I was getting ready to go to work, we watched the coverage, which was mostly listening to the capsule communications with graphics on the screen, as the LEM called Eagle departed the SCM called Columbia and descended towards the surface.  There was little news anchor chatter and just the radio communication between Eagle and NASA.  The anchors had already gone over what to expect so many times that everyone knew the steps.

Second Man on the Moon

As Eagle descended there was a constant stream of messages back and forth.  Some of it was very technical and hard to follow, but as they got close the calling out of the altitude was unmistakable.  When it finally stopped counting distance, it seemed like they had landed.  We were not sure though until Neil Armstrong radioed, " Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."  No one expected him to call it Tranquillity Base, but naming it that after the name of the crater, was thrilling.

They were supposed to sleep for a while.  I went to work.  Later that evening we heard that they decided to go ahead and walk on the moon, that evening.  It was a little after 7pm.  I don't remember if it was between leagues or if everyone just stopped to watch, but I was in the bar watching on TV when they left the LEM to climb down the ladder to the moon.  They had rigged up a camera on the outside of the LEM to film them climbing down.  It was broadcast live.  A few moments later we heard Armstrong declare, " "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" 

Quarantine after return

They walked on the moon for over two and a half hours deploying a number of experiments and collecting samples.  Three days and 47 pounds of moon rocks later, they returned to Earth.  The race to the moon won, and Kennedy's challenge met.  It was an incredible decade.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

STS 134, T-16 days - Apollo 9 / Apollo 10 , Testing the LEM

It was 1969.  The Jets beat the Colts in Super Bowl III.  Richard Nixon was inaugurated to succeed Johnson.  The Beatles gave their LAST public performance.  The last new episode of Star Trek was aired, having outlived the other "serious" space show, Lost in Space.  I Dream of Genie would go on for another season.  Color TV was phasing in and most shows were now in color.  Apollo 10 was the first mission to have a live color camera on board. 

Apollo 9 Earth LEM Test

March, the LEM is ready.  We have everything we need to land on the moon and 10 months to get there.  The mission for Apollo 9 was to prove out the functions of the LEM in Earth orbit.  In a ten day mission they removed the LEM from it's transport, expanded its legs, docked, took it for some rides and docked the LEM back with the SCM.  They even did a spacewalk to test the new self contained spacesuit they would use on the moon.  Unlike prior EVA spacesuits, this one carried the life support gear as a backpack instead of a tether to the spacecraft.  All systems were ready to go.

Apollo 10, Lunar LEM Test

By May, we were ready for the full dress rehearsal.  Apollo 10 would do everything the  landing mission would do, except land.  It was our second trip to the moon.  Going to the moon still seems incredible.  They followed the same flight path as Apollo 8.  But, when they got to lunar orbit, they had the LEM with them.  They took it for a test ride.  During the ride they descended to less than 9 mikes from the surface, about as high as a jetliner flies above Earth.  During the test ride, they surveyed the Sea of Tranquility, which was the planned landing site for the next mission.

Even astronauts don't always follow orders.  To prevent them from getting the idea to see if they could land, in spite of orders (think "Negative on flyby, Maverick, the pattern is full."), the LEM was not fueled with enough propellant to get off the moon if they had landed.

HP 9100 - first desktop computer

In my world, technology was advancing.  We got a "computer" at the high school.  The HP9100A could perform scientific functions, a breakthrough.  It had 16 memory locations and could run a program of up to 196 steps.  The size of a small suitcase with a display that could show three rows 10 digits, it was a marvel and only cost $5,000 at the time, about $32,000 inflation adjusted.  Slide rules were still the tool of mortals.  It had NO integrated circuits, it was built from individual transistors.  I got to use it because the teachers couldn't figure out how.  See the link to the brochure for a real trip to the past.  Apollo had been built without these super modern tools.

http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/HP/HP.9100A.1968.102646164.pdf

STS-135 T-17 Days - Apollo 7 October 1968/Apollo 8 December 1968, Going to the Moon

The Lunar Trajectories

On October 11, 1968, the first manned Apollo was launched.  It was designated Apollo 7.  The decade was almost over and we still had to get to the moon.  Apollo 7 tested the redesigned Apollo Command Module and all of the Service Module functions in an 11 day mission in Earth orbit.  The capsule performed well.

Just two months later, Apollo 8 was launched.  Apollo 8's mission was to go to the moon and back!  The LEM was not ready.  But we needed to test our ability to get to the moon and back.  The SCM was sent by itself.  The mission was to go to the moon, orbit the moon and then return.  Wow!  Think about this.  For most of you this is a history lesson rather than a reminiscence.  Next time you are looking at the moon, imagine a rocket taking someone there circling it for a while and then coming back.  It is still unbelievable.

First Photo of Earth

Apollo 8 introduced us to many new terms in the reporting of the moon missions.  The news shows all educated all Americans about the physics and the mechanics of traveling to the moon.  After being blasted into Earth orbit came the Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) rocket burn.  This accelerated the rocket fast enough to nearly escape the Earth's gravitation.  We were told that  speed is called Earth's Escape Velocity. 

We were told we didn't need to reach escape velocity, because as we neared the moon we would enter the Lunar Sphere of Influence, where the moon's gravity was stronger than Earth's.  The spacecraft then sped up, like going down hill as the moon pulled it in.  When we reached the moon, the moon would pull the spacecraft around it in a curve.  This was when the critical Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) rocket burn would slow the SCM enough to stay in lunar orbit, instead of being flung off into space.  This burn was critical and occurred on the far side of the moon.  The moon blocked communication with the SCM during the burn and we had to wait till it came around the back side to see if it worked.  After 10 orbits, again on the far side of the moon, the Trans Earth Insertion (TEI) rocket burn started the Apollo home.

First Earthrise

After the TLI burn, the Apollo spacecraft was oriented towards Earth.  In Earth orbit, they were still so close that they only saw horizons, like in a plane.  Traveling to the moon, they were finally far enough away to take the first photo of the entire Earth.  It is a beautiful, fragile planet.  The atmosphere is so thin it cannot be seen.  Follow the photo link for a bigger version.  Once orbiting the moon, the first Earthrise photo was taken.  The muddy brown of the moon is a stark contrast to Earth.  These whole views of Earth were published everywhere, then, and we still frequently see these photos.  A few years later, we would be doing a joint mission with the Soviets, our other Earthlings.  These photos still symbolize a unified human race.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8

STS-135 T-18 Days - January 27, 1967, Apollo 1 - Fire!

Preparations were underway for the first manned Apollo flight.  There had been several unmanned flights.  All very successful.  Things were looking good.

Grissom, White, & Chaffee in Apollo 1

On January 27th, 1967 the three crewmembers for the first flight were doing a run through of the countdown.  It was a dress rehearsal for the launch that was scheduled for February 21st.  Shortly after sealing the capsule in the test, a fire was ignited in the cabin.  Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffe all died.

It was the first casualty of American astronauts in the space crafts.  It was a blow to the nation, the program, and everyone associated with the astronauts.

Plaque Placed on Memorial at Launch Pad 34

Apollo was grounded for twenty months afterwards, while the program was reviewed and problems corrected.  The direct cause of the fire was determined to be a spark that ignited an abundance of material, that in the pure oxygen environment of the capsule, made even items like Velco, highly combustible.  This was a reminder of how incredibly risky it was to sit in a small capsule at the top of a missile and then light it up.

The space program had been moving quickly and in retrospect, there had been signs that this could be a problem.  The astronauts had even raised concerns over this exact risk during prior preparations and spacecraft inspections.  Many changes were made to the spacecraft and their operation. The redesigned command module was scheduled for October 1968.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1

T-19 Days to STS-135 - Why is there a Lunar Module?

" Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." is a pretty daunting challenge.  Moving people and equipment in space requires lots of rocket power.  The more the equipment weighs, the more rocket power is required.  More rocket power, means more fuel, which is more weight.  A huge, vicious circle that resulted in the huge Saturn V and also the Lunar Module. 

LEM Diagram

The  LEM was created as an alternative to landing the command module on the moon.  A number of approaches had been considered.  One had been to separate the Command Module (CM) from the Service Module (SM) and land the command module.  Although adding another spacecraft to the equipment added weight, creating a separate landing craft meant a lighter module could be created to land on the moon.  That meant smaller rockets and less fuel to land.  It also meant a smaller module to take off from the moon, so less fuel there, too.  After analyzing the alternatives, the LEM approach was the winner.

LEM Controls in Capsule

Every pound counted.  The LEM would not be flying through any atmosphere, so a streamlined shape was not required.  The angular, irregular shape was the result of removing all the streamlining and just leaving what is necessary.  Since it wasn't returning to Earth, the heavy heat shield for reentry was not needed.  Pound by pound this approach won over the CM landing approach.  It could be counter intuitive, that we saved overall weight by adding the weight of the LEM. The paradox was repeated within the LEM, by equipping it with a second rocket for ascent rather than to reuse the landing engine.

Unused LEM on Display at Smithsonian

The LEM was made as a two stage spacecraft.  The Descent stage housed a more powerful rocket to land on the moon.  It also contained the heavier landing gear, supplies, and the oxygen and other life support consumables required for the lunar visit.  The Descent module, at about 23,000 pounds, became the launch pad for the Ascent stage. This permitted the Ascent stage to be reduced to 10,300 pounds plus the men and the moon rocks they collected.  A much smaller rocket and fuel was required for the Ascent stage to get back to orbiting SCM.

Meanwhile, unmanned Apollo launches are wrapping up. The first manned Apollo is set for February 1967, we are getting ready to go to the moon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Module

T-20 days, 3 weeks to STS-135 - Apollo

Vertical Assembly Building

The challenges in getting to the moon were not limited to those in space.  Remember this huge 363 foot tall Saturn V rocket that was 100 times heavier than the Mercury rocket.  Well, it had to be built, set up at the launch pad, and then controlled.  Some of this capability was also pretty incredible.  Remember the escape rocket on the Mercury rocket?  The escape rocket for the Apollo spacecraft was more powerful than the rocket that launched the Mercury spacecrafts.

To meet these needs, a facility was constructed called Launch Complex 39.  It consisted of the buildings and launch pads needed for the Apollo rockets.  A huge building was required to assemble this huge rocket.  The Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) was constructed for this purpose.  It was the largest volume building in the world when it was built, and is still the fourth largest.  In the picture, the flag stars are 6 feet across and the stripes are 9 feet wide, think 13 lane highway going up the side the width of the flag.  The Saturn V was assembled vertically, then the doors would open and the combination rocket, launch platform, gantry, and transporter would roll out the 456 foot high doors with six feet to spare.  They claim the VAB is so big that clouds form in the upper areas on humid days.

Saturn V on MLP & crawler

The Saturn V was assembled on a huge launch platform. The gantry next to the rocket provided access to the various stages in the days leading up to launch, as well as access to the fuel tanks to fill the monster.  On launch day the astronauts rode an elevator in the gantry to the top to get into the space capsule.  Remember how big the rocket is, 363 feet tall.  The gantry and Mobile Launch Platform (MLP) were also gargantuan.

After assembly the crawler transporter would move under the MLB, carry it to the launch pad, and lower it onto pedestals at the pad.  It traveled 1 mile per hour and needed to keep the rocket perfectly upright, even as it went up a hill on the way to the pad.  It traveled on a 7 foot deep gravel road built to support the weight.

MLP & Crawler Transporter

After the Apollo program, all of this equipment was adapted to support the shuttle.  It was used for the last time to assemble Atlantis for the upcoming launch.  The MLB is currently sitting under Atlantis at the Complex 39.  It was slated to be used for Project Constellation which was to be the next manned space project.  Project Constellation has been canceled by Obama with no replacement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Space_Center_Launch_Complex_39

T-21 days - Surveyor - 1966 -1968

As the Gemini program was winding down, we were already going back to the moon, but without people.  With Ranger we were happy just to hit the moon and get pictures before it crashed.  Now we were getting really ambitious.  We were sending up an unmanned craft that was going to fly directly to the moon and land.  No Earth orbit first or lunar orbit at the end.  Just get there and land, then look around.  Remember, we still weren't sure it wouldn't be consumed by a cloud of moon dust.

Landing sites of Surveyors, Apollos, and Soviet Luna

As Surveyor was getting ready to launch and flying to the moon, I still remembered the Rangers that failed six times, before we had a win.  I was hoping for better this time around.  But this was ambitious. 

Soft landing on the moon couldn't be tried here, since the moon's gravity is one sixth that of earth.  We could test larger scale rockets and try automated rocket hovering, but rockets don't scale very predictably.  I was incredibly surprised when the first surveyor soft landed on the moon and sent back pictures from cameras of the ground and surroundings.  Look at the picture of it's own foot sitting on the moon. I remember seeing the foot picture in the newspapers.

Surveyor 1 picture of foot

All seven surveyors soft landed on the moon.  Surveyor 3 had a little problem landing, though.  The reflectivity of the moon rocks confused it's radar, so it landed and then took off again resulting in three landings before mission control shut it down.  In spite of this, it was still able to use a mechanical scoop to dig up rocks and analyze them.  There is a picture of Surveyor 3 on the moon.  Remember you need a photographer, to get a real picture, stay tuned for how this picture was taken.

Surveyor 3 on the moon

As the Surveyor program was winding down in late 1968, the first unmanned test launches had  started for the Apollo program in 1966.  We had to test the reentry vehicle, the boosters, the Saturn V, and all the other parts.  One critical rocket was the Saturn third stage that had to fire for a little bit to get to earth orbit, then re-fire later to head to the moon.  Restarting a rocket was a new capability and needed critical testing.  Also during this time the LEM rockets were being tested in unmanned flights in earth orbit.  We were getting ready to go, and we had less than two years to go.

As I have been writing these, I have been putting a link at the end of each article.  These can be a starting point to seeing more of what was behind all of this.  I am sharing the highlights, but I am also learning incredible other information that I don't have room to share.  Check some of it out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveyor_Program

STS-135 T-22 Days - Gemini Program is Conquers Challenges

The tenth and final Gemini voyage was in November of 1966.  The two and a half years had seen a lot of progress and now it was time to make the final adjustments to the Apollo spacecrafts and prepare for the moon.  Like I said before, there were some exciting and cool accomplishments in the Gemini program.  The space walk picture, yesterday was amazing, floating out there in space with a small hand held jet to use to move around.

Gemini VI & VII Rendevous

Gemini VI and VII achieved an amazing rendezvous of two separate Gemini's.  They were able to fly together for five hours and got to within 1 foot of each other.  It was amazing to think we could have two spacecraft in orbit at the same time and that they could actually meet up with each other.  Gemini VII launched before Gemini VI and landed after.  It had been in space for almost 14 days and had made 206 orbits of the earth when it landed. What a difference from the failed attempt to meet up with the booster for Gemini III. 

Gemini VI/VII was also the first time to see a real picture of a space capsule in orbit, rather than an artists rendition.  You know the photographer has to be somewhere...  By the way, the first ever picture of a shuttle docked to the space station was taken a couple of weeks ago by a Russian spacecraft that was departing the space station while Endeavor was there on its final mission.  Stay tuned for that photo in a later segment. 

Gemini XII & Agena Docking Module

The other photo, yesterday was of the Gemini XII approaching the docking adapter of the Agena docking module.  The nose of the Gemini connected to a set of latches at the end of the Agena to connect the two together.  This had been practiced in many ways over the Gemini flights and we were now confident we could accomplish this for the Apollo moon missions.

Gemini VI & VII Rendevous / Gemini XII & Agena Docking Module/ Gemini XI Splashdown

Gemini XI Splashdown

Technology was advancing in other areas, too.  When Gemini VI landed, it was the first accurate landing, which was within 11 miles of target.  It was also the first to be televised live by a transportable satellite earth station.  Satellite TV broadcasts were starting to happen more frequently.  Gemini IX set the record, landing  less than 800 yards from target.  Close enough for pictures of the Gemini and its parachute as it hit the water.

Time to go to the moon, but first we needed to do more research on landing technology and landing sites.  This led to the Surveyor program of unmanned lunar landing craft that was already underway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_7

T-23 Days to STS-135 - 1965

In 1965, we were in the middle of the Gemini launches, Apollo was being developed and starting unmanned test flights.  The Soviets were still ahead.  They had sent larger crews into space, performed longer missions and were even soft landing a spacecraft, called Luna, on the moon.  We were frantically trying to catch up and we still had time.  Outside of the space race, other history was being made.

Soldiers in Vietnam

When Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon Johnson took over.  Some people remember him best for escalating the Vietnam war.  In March, the first combat troops were deployed, and it sure did escalate from there.  In our current war, the soldiers all sign up to join the military.  There were not enough willing soldiers in 1965 and a draft was instituted.  When we (boys) turned 18 we were required to register for the draft.  Each year, a birthday lottery was held and you found out your order to be picked and sent to Vietnam.  Over 60,000 US soldiers were killed or went missing in the war.  It was a scary time.  My draft number was 237.  I remember registering at Cambridge City Hall, in 1971.   I would not be drafted.  I was safe.

Early Bird Satellite

 In 1965 the US launched our first geostationary satellite.  Intelsat I, nicknamed Early Bird, was to provide communications between the US and Europe.  A geostationary satellite orbits the earth at a high altitude where it orbits the earth once a day.  Remember, higher is slower.  It was placed in orbit around the equator, so it would seem like it stays in one spot.  Today, that is the norm for most communications satellites.  Before this, the satellites moved across the sky quickly.  Antennas had to move and track it as it went and you had to wait for one to be in view of both sides of the conversation.  We could finally communicate over the ocean.  It would still be may years for enough capacity for affordable phone calls outside the US.

A Crossbar Switch

In fact, in 1965, we were nearing the completion of the Direct Distance Dialing (DDD) network that permitted people to dial their own long distance calls in the US.  Before that, you had to call an operator to make a call outside of your local area.  Telephone systems were all controlled by relays.  The workhorse of DDD was the #4 Crossbar.  It used a switching matrix that could switch 20 inputs to 10 different outputs in a space about 3' by 2'.  Wow really dense.   These were the phone systems I first learned how to make and fix.  There was no electronic or computer control of the phone network.  By the end of the year the fourth (yes, ever) transatlantic cable was completed.  It could handle 138 simultaneous phone calls.  Yes, right, no zeros, K or M after that number.  After this cable, total trans-Atlantic capacity was 315 calls, all cables combined.  Satellite communication was going to be a huge leap.

And we are building rockets to go to the moon.  The space program technology advances are not a myth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War

STS-135 T-24 days - Gemini Flights Prove Orbital Mechanics are Hard

The Gemini program consisted of ten manned flights in two and a half years.  Sending men into space was becoming pretty standard.  At the time, I didn't realize how Gemini was testing all the capabilities needed to get to the moon.  I just thought they were doing lots of cool things.  The first flight, Gemini III, was the first time two Americans flew in a spacecraft. On Gemini IV, Astronaut Ed White made the first US spacewalk.  And, the cool stuff kept happening.

Ed White performing the first American EVA

But it wasn't all about doing cool things.  On Gemini III, they also used thrusters to change the orbit of the spacecraft.   Gemini IV used the thrusters to try to rendezvous with the booster rocket that had launched them.  But orbital mechanics held some surprises.  When they used the retro rocket to try to slow down, it actually caused them to drop closer to Earth.  Being closer to Earth, the Gemini capsule sped up because of the gravitational forces.  If you have ever played one of those toys where you drop a marble or coin into a cone like platter, it rolls slowly around and moves to the center and as it gets to the center it goes faster and faster...  That was the experience.  Slow it down and it goes lower then speeds up.  Orbital mechanics was interesting.  We would need more practice

During Gemini, there were lots of problems.  None of them resulted in casualties, but there were tense moments.  Gemini IV's space walk, called an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA), tested the spacesuit flexibility to prepare for the walk on the moon.  When they went to open the hatch, it wouldn't open,  The astronauts worked on it for a while and finally got it open.  During the EVA, the question looming was, will they be able to get the hatch to close so they can return to earth.  They did.

Gemini 8 about to dock with the Agena

 Gemini V was the first to use a fuel cell. Yes, like people are trying to use for electric cars.  They were developed for the space program to generate power and water for the long trip to the moon and back.  It enabled them to stay in orbit for 8 days, the time needed to get to the moon and back!

Rendezvousing was hard.  We needed practice.  When Gemini 8 finally was able to rendezvous with a test docking vehicle. the two spacecraft went out of control and started rolling.  Later they determined it was due a stuck thruster on the Gemini.  Neil Armstrong barely got the two undocked and quickly did and emergency reentry to save the spacecraft.  Ugh, close call.  We need even more practice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_4

T-25 - Gemini 1965-1966

Whew, yesterday's mail was a lot of information.  It was a lot to do in less than a decade.  Much of the technology and techniques had to be invented and tested, not to mention, learning how to keep people alive while doing it.  The Gemini program took advantage of existing military launch vehicles, with a new space capsule to test these solutions.  We needed experience and testing a little at a time to reduce the risks, remember Ranger.  Gemini will develop these capabilities:

Gemini-Titan Launch

1) When we got to the moon, we wanted to get out and back into the LEM  We had to build and test that a hatch cold be built that people could operate that would stand up to the pressure and forces of space travel.

2) Of course, we wanted to walk on the moon.  That meant we had to build and test space suits that were strong enough to keep the astronaut alive but flexible enough for them to walk and perform tasks.

3) The SM and LEM had to dock twice.  Once when taking it out of the storage bay, and again when it returned from the moon.  We needed to learn how to do this and develop the docking hatches to make it work.  Fail to dock and you leave astronauts at the moon.

4) When the LEM took off from the moon, it had to be able to rendezvous with the SCM in lunar orbit.  The timing and techniques for this were precise.  Even for STS-135, in a few weeks, there is a 10 minute launch window for when it can be launched and still rendezvous with the space station.  Miss it and wait over 24 hours for the next chance.

Gemini Capsule had the life support as a separate module

The Gemini capsule, in the picture, also implemented the separate command and service module components that would be used for Apollo.  This provided for the extra room needed for power and life sustaining systems for the longer missions without having to make the pressure capsule many times bigger.  We needed to keep people functioning for 8 days to get to the moon and back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_program