New Orleans (LPH 11) - Naval Cruise Book

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Pre-launch activities for Apollo 14 actually began months and even years in advance when NASA and the U.S. government released contracts for the building of the rocket, space capsule, and LEM. But most important of the actual Cape Kennedy activities began six days before the day of lift off. During this period jan. 25-31, 1971 highly skilled Cape l l Kennedy technicians completed the work on the electri- cal circuitry and perfected the space vehicle ignition equipment. Once the mechanical buildup of space- components was accomplished the final phase of fueling the command, service and lunar landing modules was completed. The official Cape Kennedy countdown started 28 hours before the designated launch time 13:23 p.m. EST on Sunday jan. 31, 19711 and continued to the T minus nine hour mark when a built-in 'hold went into effect. The fueling of the Saturn V rocket began eight hours prior to blast off. The fueling of Saturn V required four hours and 27 minutes to complete. With four hours and 17 minutes prior to lift off, the Apollo 14 astronauts were awakened. They underwent a brief medical examination before arriving at the launch pad. Approximately two hours and 40 minutes before the launch, astronauts Shepard, Roosa and Mitchell climbed into the capsule. . .their home for the next nine days. Once inside, astronaut Alan Shepard proceeded to check out the Emergency Detection System with the launch team on the ground. This check took place at T minus one hour and 51 minutes. The launch was delayed some 40 minutes at the T minus eight minute mark due to adverse weather con- 'W ...Laughing ditions in the form of thunder storm activity around Cape Kennedy. Since lightning struck the Apollo 12 rocket in November 1969, NASA has ruled no lift offs will be attempted in adverse weather. So the NASA technicians waited for the bulk of the storm to pass before giving Apollo 14 a Go at 4:05 p.m. EST on Sunday january 31, 1971. At T minus five minutes the Apollo access arm, the last hold on the spacecraft, was retracted. With 3:06 left to blast off, the Firing Command began in automatic sequence. This automatic count con- tinued until lift off. With 8.9 seconds to lift-off, the actual ignition sequence started. When the big Saturn V rocket roared off the pad, at Kennedy Space Center Complex 39A amidst bellowing smoke and flames, it was on an azimuth of 72 degrees, or in a direction which, if not corrected, would take the spacecraft past the Moon if no further maneuvers were initiated. Downrange and after the 11 minute mark Go Ahead for Earth orbit, the astronauts tried docking and encountered some difficulties in the spacecraft's latching mechanism. The difficulties were later corrected and the mission was on. At approximately 30-and-one-half-hours Ground Elapsed Time CC-ETD the spacecraft changed course to produce the desired conditions for altitude, time and sun angle for lunar orbit. Lunar orbit was accomplished about 60 hours later. Once in lunar orbit, the astronauts began the primary mission objectives, not the landing but the all important photography of possible future Moon landing sites. '-

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the Project Apollo lunar mission. After the second stage drops away, the third ignites and burns for about two minutes to place itself and the spacecraft into the desired Earth orbit. At the proper time during this Earth parking orbit, the third stage is re-ignited to speed the Apollo spacecraft to escape velocity of 24,900 miles-per-hour. In this second sequence, the stage burns for about six minutes. The stage is 58 feet long and 21.7 feet in diameter. The instrument unit, located atop the third stage, between the stage and thepayload, contains guidance and control equipment for the launch vehicle. It is 3 feet long and 21.7 feet in diameter. Stage three has an operational life of four hours before all systems become inoperative and separation occurs. This was why Apollo 14's docking problem in Earth orbit was so very critical. The astronauts were battling a time element as well as mechanical problems. The final section of the 365 foot tall Saturn V Moon rocket is the Apollo spacecraft itself, which rests atop the instrument unit. The spacecraft contains three distinctly separate modules: the lunar module, service module and command module. LUNAR MODULE The lunar module was named Antares for the star on which the landing craft oriented itself as it headed down to the Fra Mauro region of the Moon. The module was essentially composed of two units, the ascent stage and the descent stage. The ascent stage measured approximately 12 feet high and 14 feet in diameter. The descent stage was about the same size as her sister unit, measuring about 10 and one-half feet high and 14 feet in diameter. Both stages were encased in a shield of mylar and aluminum alloy for protection against heat and micrometeoroids. Each stage served a distinct purpose during the Apollo 14 lunar landing. The descent stage was equipped with special landing gear called struts, which were mounted' in dish-like footpads, and filled with a honeycomb of crush- able aluminum providing for a soft landing. A 68-inch sensing probe was also attached to the end of each strut. The probes told the astronauts to shut down their descent engine upon contact with the Moon's surface. After the astronauts had touched down on the Moon, the descent stage served only as a launching pad for the later scheduled blastoff. The job of the ascent stage was to carry Astronauts Shepard and Mitchell off the Moon and back to the command module. It was equipped with a drogue used to align the lunar module with the command module in docking. The ascent stage also contained a tunnel, 32 inches in diameter, which allowed the astronauts to crawl from the ascent stage into the command module. The tunnel could only be reached by opening a hatch in the lunar module, which could not be opened unless equal pressure was present on both sides. Consequently, a per- fectly tight seal had to be made in the docking process or the astronauts would have been unable to pass through the adjoining tunnel. Should difficulty arise in the dock- ing procedure, which would not allow passage between the two modules through the tunnel, alternative methods would be utilized. ln such an emergency, the astronauts could leave Antares through a hatch, walk through space, and then enter Kitty Hawk through its hatch. After the successful docking of the ascent stage with the command module, Antares was sent hurtling back to the Moon's surface. Its impact was recorded and analyzed by NASA in Houston as part ofa seismological experiment. Scientists hope this will help them learn more about the Moon's crust and the Moon's origin. SERVICE MODULE The service module is, as the name implies, a unit which serves the command module. Its main function is to provide the necessary power to propel and maneuver the command module in its flight to and from the Moon. lt is equipped with a restartable main propulsion engine, which can be used to make mid-course corrections during flight, deboost the vehicle into Moon orbit and then boost it out of Moon orbit and back to Earth. It is also fitted with attitude control rockets, which permit the craft to roll, pitch and yaw, as well as edge upward, downward and sideways during flight. These rockets serve the same purpose as horizontal stabilizers, ailerons and the rudder on conventional airplanes. Both the rockets and main propulsion engine burn hypergolic or self-igniting fuels. When a pair of oxi- dizers and propellant liquids are mixed together, they ignite spontaneously. Thus, the process is totally a chemi- cal reaction and no spark plugs or other electric ignlters are needed to start the engine or rockets. Three compact hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells, together with tanks of supercooled hydrogen and oxygen, supply the craft's total electrical power. These remain functional until the last five hours or so when the service module is cast away from the command module upon returning to Earth. The actual separation occurs when an electrical signal fires explosive bolts holding the two modules together. Another job of these fuel cells is the manufacturing of part of the astronaut's drinking water. lt is actually a byproduct of the chemical reaction that makes their electricity. The service module is also equipped with space radi- ators. These radiators are much different than the radiators used in cars, yet still serve the same purpose. The radiators are actually outside walls of the craft, lined with tiny tubes through which liquid ethylene glycol is pumped. This liquid carries heat generated by human, mechanical and electrical systems from the interior of the two modules to their exterior surfaces. Also contained in the service module is a dish-shaped antenna. It folds out and automatically aims itself to Earth, allowing communication between the astronauts and NASA. COMMAND MODULE The command module of Apollo 14 was called Kitty Hawk because as the astronauts put it: That's where it all started. Kitty Hawk is a community in North Caro- lina where the American aviation pioneers, the Wright brothers, first demonstrated powered flight by man early in this century. The module, piloted by Astronaut Roosa, contained the necessary life support systems for the three astro- nauts and was the only unit of the entire spacecraft which returned to Earth. The command module is 13 feet in diameter and weighs 11,000 pounds.

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The astronauts also carried out experiments during this period to determine lunar gravity pull, the Moon's electromagnetic properties and an Apollo Window Meteroid Test to determine the effect of space particles on surfaces. Shortly after the spacecraft went into lunar orbit, the astronauts began photographing the Southern Highland, north of the crater Descartes, which is one of the several sites under consideration for future long-stay Moon missions. The Descartes area is scientifically interesting from the standpoint of determining the age and composition of the highland surface material as well as estimating volcanism time spans and compositional trends. Luriar surface touchdown was scheduled for 4:16 a.m. EST February 5,1971. The next major phase of the Apollo 14 mission was the lunar landing descent phase, which involved the undock- ing and separating the LEM Antares from the Command Module Kitty Hawk. The site where the astronauts landed was designated the Fra Mauro formation, and offered a widespread geo- logical area covering large portions of the lunar surface around Mare lmbrium, commonly referred to as the Sea of Rains. The Apollo 14 Moon landing site of Fra -Mauro was the same as selected for the aborted Apollo 13 mission. But the site was not re-selected for that reason or overnight. The Fra Mauro area became interesting to the space scientists when seisometers relayed back to Earth signals of monthly Moonquakes believed to have origi- nated in the Fra Mauro crater area as the Moon passed through its perigee. These Moonquakes were felt 110 miles to the west at Surveyor crater where the seismometers left by the Apollo 12 astronauts measured the quakes' intensity. The exact Apollo 14 landing site was about 30 miles north of the Fra Mauro crater, having the coordinates of three degrees 40' and 19 south latitude by 17 degrees 27' and 46 west longitude. The 700-mile wide Mare lmbrium is the largest recog- nizable impact structure on the Moon, and is thought to have been formed by the major impact of a huge mass colliding with the Moon during the period when the Earth and planets were forming. The Fra Mauro forma- tion is believed to be made up of the refuse thrown out from that impact. The area is characterized by ridges a few hundred feet high which radiate from the lmbrium basin separated by valleys. The initial refuse thrown out by the collision or ejecta blanket is now buried by younger rubble and lunar soil churned up by recent meteorite impacts and possibly Moonquakes. . For this reason, the Fra Mauro site is believed to be where the age of the Moon may be found. That is primarily why the 96 pounds of Moon rocks picked up by Astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell are so important. Fra Mauro debris may have come from as deep as a 100 miles below the original lunar crust, and the Apollo 14 mission lunar samples should indicate when the lmbrium basin was formed and help to establish the age and physical-chemical nature of the pre-impact material from deep in the Moon's crust. lt is theorized that the Fra Mauro rocks will predate the Apollo 11 f4.6 billion yearsj and the Apollo 12 samples f3.5 billion yearsj and add yet another batch of statistical data that will make the Apollo 14 Moon mission that much more meaningful. During the first EVA or Moon walk, which came approximately five hours ,after landing on the lunar sur- face, Astronauts Alan Shepardiand Edgar Mitchell spent most of their time setting up experimental projects, which would remain on the Moon to transmit scientific data back to Earth for the Manned Space Flight Network on a long-term physical and experimental properties basis. This information will be correlated with known Earth information for further knowledge on the origins of Earth and the Moon. j During the time Astronauts Mitchell and Shepard' were roaming the lunar surface they gathered some 96 pounds of Moon rocks and took numerous photographs of surface formations. Meanwhile, high in the command module, 60 miles up, Stuart Roosa conducted many radio signal transmission experiments and photographed the lunar surface from his low angle. Approximately 33-M hours after setting down on the Moon's surface Shepard and Mitchell climbed back into their LEM and ascended into lunar orbit and successfully docked with the command module, manned by Roosa. After the docking, the LEM was sent into a deorbit and deliberately crashed on the lunar surface, where its impact was measured and transmitted back to Earth by the ALSEP instruments. A few 'hours later-, the -astronauts made their transearth injection and turned their command module Kitty Hawk homeward.