CMP Mike Collins called the other day to ask if there is any reason why he should not do active rendezvous navigation between DOI and PDI on the G mission. That is, he would like to run P20 incorporating sextant and VHF ranging data to update the LM state vector in the CMC. His primary…
Month: June 1969
PRN ranging in lunar orbit is unnecessary
This memo is to restate our requirements for PRN ranging while in lunar orbit. I am writing it since there is evidently some confusion about it….
CSM Rescue Mission Techniques are complete and clean
On June 9 we had our final Mission Techniques meeting on CSM Rescue. I am pleased to report that this stuff appears to be in very good shape. After much hard work by many people, the CSM rescue rendezvous plans shake down to only two basic profiles. Each of these has minor modifications to account…
Some significant LUMINARY program changes you should know about
I really blew it at the June 5 Apollo Spacecraft Software Configuration Control Board meeting. Although dozens of rather minor changes were approved, the one I was most concerned about wasn’t even discussed and I completely forgot it. This memo is to inform you that we are now desperately trying to include a capability in…
Ascent with busted guidance and control systems
On June 11 we had a Mission Techniques meeting to discuss manual ascent from the lunar surface. The term manual ascent, though, is somewhat misleading since most of our discussion had to do with how the guidance systems should be operated if certain of its components failed prior to ascent. In summary, I think everyone…
Post Insertion CSM P52 is optional
Dick Gordon and Pete Conrad called the other day to ask how important we feel the CSM platform alignment is just after LM insertion into orbit. As I recall, this alignment is a carry-over from the time we planned to do the CSM plane change just prior to lift-off rather than just after landing as…