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…
Apollo Spacecraft Software Configuration Control Board notes for the March 19 meeting
We spent another couple of hours talking about the Delta V monitor programs. Two program change requests were considered for Sundance and Luminary. It was concluded that no change would be made to Sundance, but that both changes should be made to Luminary, although, I am not sure if one of them is not in…
We’ve bit the bullet on GRR
The fact that the 206 LM is the only LM to be powered up when launched presents a requirement for some unique manner for the G&N to detect or at least be informed that liftoff has occurred. In the absence of a hardwire liftoff signal, it had been intended to transmit a guidance reference release…
Immediate restart of the SPS engine under PGNCS control
This memo is in response to your question as to whether there was anything in the spacecraft computer that would prevent attempting to restart the SPS engine immediately if it shut down prematurely for some reason. I passed this question on to the Guidance and Performance Branch (MPAD). The following paragraphs are quoted almost verbatim…
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…
Deep serious trouble
I realize it’s none of my business, and it’s getting to be less all the time, but you are going to be in deep serious trouble when the MIT contract negotiations for Apollo and AAP hit the fan in the next couple of months unless you have somebody pretty sharp ready to take over for…