We have recently held several small Trajectory Control Data Priority Working Group meetings dealing with Spacecraft 101 retrofire and reentry. The results are being documented to show how the various guidance and navigation data sources will be compared to one another and used during the mission. During these discussions a couple of basic assumptions have…
Category: Mission phases
Lunar rendezvous abort summary
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…
Let’s hear it for “Delta Guidance”!
As part of the Apollo software team’s contribution in the search for extra LM hover time and/or payload capability, they are vigorously working on the development of a new descent guidance and throttle control technique. The pay off could be impressive compared to things like trying to decrease LM weight. Specifically, a ΔV improvement on…
First meeting of the Descent Phase Mission Techniques Working Group
This memo is to request your participation in the detailed development of the Apollo Mission Techniques for the Descent phase of the lunar landing mission. We are setting up a small working group of the following composition to do this job:…
Transearth midcourse maneuvers are getting easier and cheaper all the time
On June 6 we had a Transearth Midcourse Maneuver Mission Techniques meeting at which we discussed implementation of the philosophy as described in my June 3 memo. The technique proposed, you recall, involves making a number of small RCS burns using the SCS, solely for the purpose of corridor control. I have discussed this with…
C’ Lunar Orbit – Navigation and Block Data
On Thursday, November 7, we gathered with the C’ Flight Crew and everyone else who was interested in the lunar orbit Operations On that flight. At this meeting we cleaned up a lot of loose ends primarily dealing with the lunar orbit navigation and with block data. This memo is to report the new things…
Apollo 13 Mission Techniques are in good shape
On December 5 we had what I expect to be our last full-blown Mission Techniques meeting for Apollo 13. This memo is to tell you about it….
Descent phase to be added to your Apollo Mission Techniques document
TRW recently completed the attached chapter to be added into the appropriate vacancy in the Apollo Mission Techniques document I sent you recently. As was the case for the other mission phases, this section on Descent was done essentially without participation by other than TRW personnel. Accordingly, I expect it will be modified substantially before…
Apollo Spacecraft Software Configuration Control Board meeting number 32
On October 9 Chris Kraft convened the first Software Configuration Board meeting since June 5 at MIT. We had a real pot full of PCR’s to discuss, some of which were approved for Apollo 13, some for 14, and some were put in a category in which MIT was to continue development to a point…
“C” Rendezvous Mission Techniques Review
Attached is a preliminary version of the “C” Rendezvous Mission Techniques document. It is based on numerous meetings of a MSC working group involving Flight Controller Directorate, Flight Crew Directorate, and Engineering and Development Directorate people and their contractors. Although there are still known flaws and more open items, we have reached a point where…