A great deal of work has gone on over the years on the subject of lunar abort rendezvous, spearheaded by Morris Jenkins, Ed Lineberry, Buzz Aldrin and others. The results of some of this work have already been documented and more detailed reports are in the works. The primary reason I’m writing this note is…
Category: PDI Abort
Descent Abort Mission Techniques
On February 13 we went over our Descent Abort Mission Techniques with the world. In general they were accepted as is. That isn’t to say we didn’t have some lengthy discussions resulting in some improvements and/or changes but we didn’t make any substantial changes to the basic ground rules, philosophy, or overall procedures. I would…
When is the rendezvous radar designate routine (R29) needed?
George Cherry (MIT) asked if it is possible to drop the rendezvous radar designate routine (R29) out of the descent abort programs (P70 and P71). He gave me the impression that to do so now would significantly reduce their work and permit concentration in testing in more profitable areas. I don’t know when the next…
Descent Aborts and subsequent Rendezvous Mission Techniques
On April 28, 1969 we reviewed the Descent Aborts and subsequent Rendezvous Mission Techniques with the crew and the rest of the world. I think most of this is quite complete and agreeable to everyone concerned, with one major exception. I was shocked and ashamed to find that I had badly misunderstood the situation regarding…
F mission rule regarding DPS gimbal drive failure indication
This memo is to report how it is currently planned to handle an indicated failure of the DPS gimbal drive actuator (GDA) on the F mission….
Apollo 12 Mission Techniques
On September 15 and 16 we had the second (and last) Mission Techniques meeting for Apollo 12. It was advertised to be a “catchall” and it was. It all went smoothly enough considering how many people were there – the place was stuffed (even the projection room!) – and the exhaustion and emotion these things…
Some G Mission Techniques action items
This memo is just a list of action items assigned to MPAD and/or MIT which I remember coming from our recent G descent/descent abort meetings. In addition to reminding those responsible for them, they serve as some sort of indication of what’s going on in this business which you might find interesting….
The LM4 RR/LGC interface may be broken, but that’s okay – sorta
This memo is to document the Data Priority position regarding a recent LM4 systems problem. To wit, it is considered acceptable to proceed with the nominal F mission with a questionable or known interface failure between the rendezvous radar (RR) and the LM spacecraft computer (LGC). It should be emphasized that a properly operating rendezvous…
Descent Aborts
We have finally started mission techniques meetings on lunar landing descent aborts. At the risk of losing whatever confidence you might have in my judgment, I would like to describe a technique we are probably going to propose for aborts early in the descent phase. That is, within about 25 seconds of commanding the DPS…
Descent Aborts – Part II
This memo is to carry on from that three page snowflake I sent you the other day on the same subject. It turns out we have encountered one of those rare situations when in doing something to fix an undesirable situation we actually improve something else at the same time. Specifically, the rendezvous people want…