We have reached a plateau in our work on Descent Monitoring, perhaps making it worthwhile to send out this memo. First of all, I don’t think there is any question that Descent is the thing that requires most of our attention between now and the G mission, at least in the empire of Mission Techniques….
Year: 1969
F Rendezvous Mission Techniques Clean-up
On April 5 we had what I expect is the last of the F Mission Rendezvous Techniques meetings. We resolved a number of open items which had not been covered before, or which popped up during simulations. This memo is to list them for the record. Some are trivial, some are really quite significant….
Some things about Descent
This memo is to list a few odds and ends dribbling out of our latest Descent Monitoring clambake….
Let’s drop one of the lunar surface RR tests
During our review of the G Mission Lunar Surface Mission Techniques Document on April 10, we came to a conclusion which may interest you. It deals with the need, or really lack of need, for the crew to do some things that are in the current flight plan. Specifically, in the crew LM timeline, we…
How the MSFN and sextant data are used to target DOI and Descent
We had a meeting on April 9 which was extremely interesting to me. We discussed and settled on how the MSFN tracking and sextant landmark observations would be used in the MCC/RTCC to produce optimum DOI and Descent targeting for the LM. The big new factor that had to be taken into account somehow was…
Reduction in Number of P52 Alignments During Apollo Missions
References: 1. RAPSIC Memo 2. Apollo 10 Flight Plan, March 12, 1969…
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….
What’s descent all about?
As a result of some stirring around within NASA on how the various guidance and control systems are used during descent, George Cherry of MIT took it upon himself to write a complete description of the capabilities that exist and how they may be used. Without doubt, this is the finest, briefest, most readable description…
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…
CSM rendezvous navigation works fine using just VHF ranging
I made an announcement during the F Operations Review which was absolutely flat-out wrong. This memo is to correct that statement and/or just to make sure you know what capability really exists in the CSM for rendezvous navigation….