Apollo 7 - October 11-22, 1968 - Commander (CDR) Wally Schirra, Command Module Pilot (CMP) Donn Eisele, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Walt Cunningham made the first flight of the Apollo Command & Service Modules (CSM) in earth orbit.
Apollo 8 - December 21-27, 1968 - CDR Frank Borman, CMP Jim Lovell, and LMP Bill Anders made man's first flight away from the confines of earth orbit; nobody will ever forget their Christmas Eve broadcast from lunar orbit.
Apollo 9 - March 3-13, 1969 - CDR Jim McDivitt, CMP Dave Scott, and LMP Rusty Schweickart completed the first critical flight test of the Lunar Module, callsign Spider, in earth orbit.
Apollo 10 - May 18-26, 1969 - CDR Tom Stafford, CMP John Young, and LMP Gene Cernan returned America to lunar orbit and completed the dress rehearsal for a lunar landing - descending to about 50,000 feet above the surface in LM Snoopy as CSM Charlie Brown remained in lunar orbit.
After these successes the next flight, Apollo 11, was given clearance to attempt the first lunar landing. Launch was targeted for July 16, 1969.
The Apollo 11 crew is:
CDR Neil Armstrong
CMP Michael Collins
LMP Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin
Their Finest Hour will be honoring the flight of Apollo 11 (and this time, I mean it! ;-) ). My blog postings will typically be as if the events were happening in the present.
In his wonderful memoir Carrying the Fire, Apollo 11 CMP Michael Collins listed eleven key mission points on which the success or failure of the flight would hinge (pp. 339-341):
1. Launch Obviously a hazardous time, with gigantic engines, explosive fuels, high temperatures and velocities, terrific wind blasts, and stringent guidance requirements combining to make a very tense eleven minutes from lift-off to earth orbit.
2. TLI Translunar injection, wherein the third-stage Saturn engine was reignited, causing us to depart the relatively stable situation of being in earth orbit and begin a trajectory that would hopefully just miss the moon three days later. If the engine stopped prematurely, we had some complicated scrambling to do to make it back to earth at all.
3. T&D Transposition and docking, the process of separating the CSM, turning it around 180 degrees, docking with the LM, and pulling it free from the carcass of the Saturn. I also include here clearing the [docking] probe and drogue from the interconnecting tunnel.
4. LOI Lunar orbit insertion, a two-burn procedure for slowing down enough to be captured by the moon's gravatational field, but not enough to crash into it. If the engine shut down prematurely during the first burn (the more important of the two), some really weird trajectories could result, and the LM's engine might have to be quickly pressed into service to return us to earth.
5. DOI/PDI Descent orbit insertion and powered descent initiation were two LM burns which caused Neil and Buzz to depart my comfortable sixty-mile orbit and intersect the surface of the moon at the right spot. If not precisely performed, the LM would come down in the wrong place or - more likely - couldn't land at all, in which case some really zany rendezvous sequences could ensue.
6. Landing Could be very dangerous; we simply didn't know. Fuel was short, therefore timing was critical. Also, the properties of the lunar surface in that one spot might be poor. Worse yet, visibility and depth-perception problems could cause a crash instead of a landing. Thus it has been since the days of the Wright brothers.
7. EVA [Extra-vehicular Activity] Walking on the moon might be physically taxing and overload the oxygen or cooling systems. There might be potholes, or even underground lava tubes which would cause the surface to collapse. Even more basic, any EVA puts man just one thin, glued-together, rubber membrane away from near-instant death.
8. Lift-off Only one engine, and it had better work properly - that is, provide enough thrust and provide it in exactly the right direction. If not, at best the LM would limp up into an orbit from which I might be able to rescue it; at worst, Neil and Buzz would be permanent decorations among the rocks in the Sea of Tranquility.
9. Rendezvous A piece of cake, if...a horror, if...which if would prevail? I would have my book with its eighteen variations on the theme tied to my neck, literally, as I waited in the CM to find out. Then, hopefully, docking and tunnel clearing again.
10. TEI Transearth injection; we burn our one engine, which could get us home or leave us forever stranded in lunar orbit. No back-up this time, as the LM would be empty and gone at this point.
11. Entry Diving into the earth's atmosphere at precisely the right angle was required for a successful splash, not to mention the flawless on-time performance of the parachute system and related claptrap. I would fly the entry phase, because, of course, I had to learn how to do it all in case I came back from the moon without Neil and Buzz.
The adventure is about to start!
Sources for my tribute are primarily NASA, and I'll provide links/references where possible. Some in advance:
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