See list attachedMay 2, 196969-PA-T-69APA/Chief, Apollo Data Priority CoordinationCSM 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.
Sometime long ago, I got the impression that acceptable rendezvous navigation could not be done in the CSM using VHF ranging data alone. That is, I thought that if sextant tracking were not also available due to failure of the optics or the LM tracking light, there was no point in processing the VHF data. It turns out that this is not true. In fact, under certain circumstances, such as before CSI on the F and G missions, use of VHF ranging data alone is said to be better than using the combined data sources. In fact, the only place there is some question about using VHF ranging alone is after TPI where some analyses show it breaks down.
My apologies to you, Mr. Charlesworth.