Apollo 14 - shoot mortar shells at the moon

In addition to the changes introduced in the Apollo spacecraft, they installed wider and softer beds and the astronauts were equipped with blankets, a more sophisticated heating system, a variety of creative food and space suits designed by the Apollo 12 pilots. The first and "Inters" for the lander. Antares is the name of the planet according to which the astronauts navigated the spacecraft.

• The first episode in the series - Apollo 11
• For the second episode - Apollo 12
• for the third chapter – Apollo 13

The landing site chosen for Apollo 14 was the 38 km diameter Censorius Crater. The purpose of this landing was to learn about the processes that led to the formation of this crater. The cancellation of the Apollo 13 landing resulted in changes to the Apollo 14 plan. The Apollo 14 pilots were tasked with fulfilling the mission of the Apollo 13 pilots. The crew of Apollo 14 included Alan Shepherd, Edgar Mitchell and Rosa Stewart. They were supposed to set off on October 1.10.1970, 13. The need to learn the lessons from the Apollo 31.1.1971 flight led to the postponement of the launch to January XNUMX, XNUMX.

In addition to the changes made to the Apollo spacecraft, they installed wider and softer beds and the astronauts were equipped with blankets, a more sophisticated heating system, a variety of creative food and space suits designed by the Apollo 12 pilots. and "Entres" for the landing party. Antares is the name of the planet according to which the astronauts navigated the spacecraft.

Shepard, Mitchell and Stewart refused to take poison in case the spacecraft escaped and was lost in space. Due to the disease that afflicted Apollo 13 pilot Mattingly, the Apollo 14 pilots were put into 21 days of isolation until the flight. Some time before the flight, a small but insignificant malfunction was discovered in the fuel shields of the second stage of the Saturn rocket. There was a fear of a malfunction in the insulation panels that protect the fuel. It turned out that it was just a scratch in the paint.

31.1 - the first day of the flight
A storm of heavy clouds and the danger of a thunderstorm that approached the Canadian fun caused the countdown to stop 8 minutes and 2 seconds before the launch. Only when a window opened in the cloud cover about 40 minutes after the launch date was the spacecraft launched. The space pilots had an interval of 3 hours and 39 minutes to set off. If the spacecraft had not been launched within this period of time, the flight would have been postponed to 1.3. The delay in the launch is in accordance with the regulations established after the Apollo 12 flight, which was struck by lightning during the launch. 12 minutes after the launch, the spacecraft entered a circular orbit around the Earth that is 200 km from the ground.

1.2 - the second day of the flight

Two and a half hours after launch, the astronauts detached the spacecraft from its terrestrial orbit and began their journey to the moon. A short time later they had to extract the lander from the third stage of the launch vehicle and connect with it. 6 times they tried to perform this maneuver and only succeeded on the seventh time. The first 3 latches of the landing gear which have to hold the ring in the bow of the control cabin until the 12 main latches are tightened, were not well grasped. After the second attempt, it was decided to stop these attempts until the space engineers were able to analyze the situation, it was decided to make the connection using the main latches. 3 of them are needed for attachment, except for 2 that the astronauts closed after a short time manually, they were all closed. The possibility was raised that two astronauts would put on their spacesuits and leave the spaceship to check the source of the problem, but before that it was decided to try the connection one more time and as mentioned the seventh time they were successful.

For the seventh attempt Stewart slowly approached the lander and then activated all the small navigational engines and thus bounced the command cabin at once. At the same time he folded the broken mechanism. The disabled equipment was put out of action and Stewart could rely on the spacecraft's two adapted collars to make a "hard" connection. Not only did the collars lock inside each other, but the latches also came loose and locked into place.

All the while Stewart was also driving the spaceship. This maneuver consumed 5% more fuel than planned, but the fuel inventory was still 17% above the level of concern. The space scientists even considered giving up the lunar landing altogether and settling for orbiting the moon. After docking, the third stage of the launch vehicle is detached and destined to crash on the surface of the moon. The connection failure led to the postponement of the astronauts' rest by an hour. They sleep 10 hours. The flight path was found to be so accurate that it was decided to cancel its correction.

2.2- the third day of the flight
During the flight, additional problems arose, but of secondary importance, and they are:
1. The astronauts had difficulty getting the spacecraft to rotate around an axis. They succeeded in this only after their second attempt.
2. The convenience facility - in this facility there are valves whose purpose is to prevent oxygen leakage from the cell while waste is being ejected from it. These valves did not work properly and the oxygen leakage was excessive. The astronauts also overcame this problem.
At a distance of 200,000 km from Earth, the spacecraft's engine was activated for 10 seconds to correct the path. This action took the spacecraft out of the free return orbit. This activation of the engine was also used to increase the flight speed in order to overcome the problem of the launch delay.
The astronauts removed the probe rod whose function is to guide the nose of the command cabin into the attachment collar of the lander and transmitted photographs of it to the control center. Examination of these images revealed no malfunctions in the mechanism. This situation completely eliminated the doubts about the landing. It was decided to carry out the landing despite the malfunction. Several explanations have been put forward for the source of the problem:
1. Moisture that stuck to the mechanism froze in the cold prevailing in the space and interfered with the operation of the latches.
2 grains of dust entered the mechanism and blocked it. Due to the shocks that went through the mechanism during the flight they
fell
3. Another but illogical explanation said that it is possible that it is a curvature in tiny dimensions. In such a case it is difficult to correct this curvature.
A television broadcast was held and several hours were devoted to sleep.

3.2 - The fourth day of the flight
The linkage mechanism was once again moved to the control room for inspection. For 4 and a half hours it was checked by the astronauts while this activity was broadcast on TV and nothing was found. The mechanism worked flawlessly. Shepherd and Mitchell surveyed the lander for about an hour and broadcast this activity on television as well. The flight path was found to be so accurate that it was decided to cancel its correction. After all the tests, the astronauts fell asleep for several hours, although their sleep was shortened.

While sleeping it became clear that due to the overload the voltage in one of the two batteries of the lander dropped and there was a fear of a further drop in voltage. The voltage difference between the two batteries is not harmful, but a serious leak in one of them could cancel the landing. During this period it was not possible to move one of the 4 batteries of the landing pad to the upper part of the lander.

4.2 - the fifth day of the flight

The spacecraft's engine was turned on for 7/10 of a second and the entry into the lunar flight path. Later the engine was turned on for 6 minutes and 12 seconds to put the spacecraft into orbit around the moon. The spacecraft entered an elliptical orbit around the moon whose distance from the ground was 99-272 km. During the 33 minutes that the spacecraft passed over the far side of the moon, contact with it was lost. In this orbit, Apollo 14 circled the moon twice for 4 hours. The lander had to land in a mountainous area. Finding a suitable landing site in mountainous terrain takes a lot of time and fuel. To save fuel, the route was lowered. The intersection point of the route was 15.5 km and the intersection point was 95 km. This change in the route required the engine to be activated for 21.7 seconds. Stewart located a landmark and thereby proved that the spacecraft was in its orbit.

Lander pilots Shepherd and Mitchell entered the rover to test its systems. Among other things, the broken battery was also checked. It turned out that there was a malfunction at the rate of only 3/10 volts. This zero drop removed the fear of canceling the landing. It was hypothesized that the battery control clock was a fake. The astronauts spent the rest of the time photographing additional landing sites. And for 8 hours of sleep..

An hour and a half before Apollo 14's entry into lunar orbit, the third stage of the launch vehicle crashed into the lunar surface. The missile did explode with a force of 11 tons of TNT, but its impact was not as strong as the geologists had expected. On the other hand, a crater with a diameter of 10 meters was formed. First tests of the shock waves revealed that they penetrated to a depth of 40 km. No lunar crust was found and no geological boundary was discovered.

5.2 - The sixth day of the flight, the first day on the moon

After the 10th lap, Shepherd and Mitchell put on their spacesuits and entered the lander for inspection. A thorough check was conducted on all systems, including the battery, which was found to be strong and fit for landing. After the test, the lander detached itself from the command room without any problems and entered a lunar orbit that is 18 km from the ground. The command cabin in which the astronaut Stewart soared and entered the orbit which is 112 km from the ground. Until the reconnection with the landing, he was engaged in topographical photographs of additional landing sites.
The lander circled the moon twice and began its descent towards landing. Here new problems arose. The navigation computer emitted an unclear signal. In order not to take any risks, the lander took off back until the resolution of the signal was clarified. It turned out that the computer was providing the astronauts with incorrect data. Hal scientists contacted the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Within an hour, a new nominal method was invented that made it possible to ignore the misleading computer data.

The cause of the malfunction was contamination in one of the switches of the computer. When the lander descended a second time, the radar did not work. Shepard and Mitchell managed to overcome this problem as well. In the last 200 meters, the spacecraft is manually navigated by Shepherd. When it touched the ground a cloud of dust rose up. At the time of the landing Shepherd's heart rate was 140 and Shepherd's was 120.

When he landed it became clear that there had been disruptions in Shepherd's space suit. It turned out that the urine tube in his suit was severely twisted and the walkie-talkie in his backpack was not working. Shepherd picked up the control center and it picked up no signals and vice versa. It means not being able to get off the lander. Testing the device showed that one of the circuit breakers did not work properly. The breaker reset and the connection was restored. There were no difficulties in aligning the urethra.

The lunar lander missed its target by only 26 meters. She landed in a narrow valley, dissected and rocky as she stands at an angle of 0 8. Shapar and Mitchell landed on a slight slope (north of the planned landing site), near small formations called the Twin Crater and the Triple Crater.

Due to the malfunctions, the landing was delayed by 2 minutes. The first operation performed by Shepard and Mitchell was to inspect the lander and it was found to be fine. The astronauts spent 5 hours preparing for their first tour. Departure was 15 minutes late due to malfunctions in Charard's space suit. Shepherd went out first followed by Mitchell. The astronauts had to place a large number of instruments. To make it easier for them, they were equipped with a wheelbarrow on which there were bags for collecting soil samples, digging tools, various devices and cameras. Shepherd carried the wheelbarrow and Mitchell followed him carrying other instruments. The work of the astronauts was broadcast on color television from the moment they left until they returned to it. These are the devices placed on the moon:

1. A mortar with 4 barrels loaded with crushing shells capable of firing at distances of 1500, 900, 300 and 150 meters. The shells have a power of 1, 1/2, 1/4 kg TNT. From the explosions carried out by the mortar (4 explosions were made after the lander lifted off) the scientists wanted to learn about the structure of the lunar crust, its compression, thickness, which layers Soil is found on the soil, the moon, what is the nature of the moon's chemical components and what metals are found on the soil. The first shells were fired before the astronauts returned to the lander.
2 A seismographic facility that included geophonic devices for receiving shocks and ground noises.
3. "Hubat" fires 21 explosive pods on the surface of the moon to create small noise waves. The purpose of the "batter" is to check the reliability of the seismographic device and to learn about the upper layer of the lunar soil. This device is like a walking stick whose explosives are packed in a container at the bottom end. The plate at the bottom of the device hits the face of the moon and creates surface seismic waves.
4. A reflector that works on laser beams. This device has two purposes:
A. To help in the study of the earth's movement around an axis while early detection of earthquakes.
B. Learn about the interrelationship of the gravitational force that exists between the Earth and the Moon.
5. Ion detectors to detect and record any gases present on the moon.
6. Radiation-charged particle detector.
7. Small nuclear power plants that received the name Shem Pra-Mauro to operate the devices. This station can operate for two years.
8. An antenna to maintain contact between the astronauts and the Earth.

The astronauts also raised the US flag. Mitchell left an inscription on the moon in 16 languages ​​that said "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" and a photo on microfilm of the entire Bible in a special case made of fireproof material.

Sheppard and Mitchell ran into exasperating difficulties and delays in placing the devices. The large antenna was not fully opened and it took 10 minutes to raise the flag. Mitchell had trouble loosening a dust-laden shutter in the ion detector. Another recording device fell time and time again on the dusty lunar floor and only 13 explosive charges out of 21 used by the "batter" worked. When they returned from their first tour, the bag of samples dropped from Mitchell's hand when he tried to store it in the lander and it fell. Since the space suit does not allow bending, he had to lift with a sample collection tool.

All devices were placed at a distance of 100 meters from the lander. Shepard and Mitchell then conducted a 1 km route to collect soil samples from the rocky slopes of the Pra-Mauro highlands. They were equipped with a device capable of collecting samples from a depth of 38 cm. During the tour, oxygen leaked from Mitchell's suit.

After 4 hours and 47 they returned to the lander. Shepherd entered first followed by Mitchell. They devoted 10 hours to rest and sleep. The space scientists took advantage of Shepherd and Mitchell's sleep to discover the malfunction in Mitchell's suit.

6.2 - The seventh day of flight, the second day on the moon

After waking up from their sleep they prepared themselves and Mitchell for their second tour. According to their request, they left the landing an hour ahead of time. Shepherd and Mitchell placed a device to measure the moon's magnetic field and collected soil samples. They photographed each rock sample they took and the area from which the sample was taken before and after it was taken.

They did not take the TV camera with them and because of everything they gave detailed descriptions of their surroundings. They said that the ground is rough and there are hardly 10 meters without craters and pits. On their way they passed by 3 craters rising to a height of 20 meters. The area is strewn with brown stones and among them one white stone. The wheelbarrow left smooth tracks as if a tractor had passed there.
1500 meters east-north-east of the landing place rises to a height of 150 meters Kon Crater. Its diameter is 300 meters and its depth is 100 meters. In this place there are rocks from the original material of the sea of ​​rain. Shepherd and Mitchell had to climb to the top of the crater to collect soil samples, roll stones into it whose signals would be picked up by the seismographs and draw a geological map of the crater noting the movement of the geological layers. This map could help scientists estimate the order of formation of the moon's geological processes.

Already on their way to the crater, they made a mistake and had to look at the maps until they found it. The summit of the crater was not found in the place indicated on the map. Their cumbersome clothes, the wheelbarrow they pulled (it turned out that it was ineffective in a severed area and they had to carry it in their hands) and the steepness of the crater weighed on them. They were breathing heavily and their pulses were rising. Mitchell's pulse reached 138 and Shepherd's pulse reached 150. They rested several times. Since they were behind schedule and the oxygen was running out, Shapard and Mitchell stopped their climb after 90 minutes 80 meters from the summit and returned to the landing. Even on their way back they were breathing heavily.

Tests made upon their return to Israel with the help of maps and photographs of the crater showed that the astronauts missed their target by only 22 meters. Shepard, tired from the effort, estimated that it would take them about half an hour to reach the edge of the crater. This assessment was wrong because he did not look in the right place. In fact, the rim of the crater was 22 meters to his left at the end of a comfortable descent down the slope. This error arose from the recognition that the rim of the crater is the highest.

In connection with this, one of the scientists said that "the rocks they could bring with them from the rim of the crater were no different from the ones they did bring back with them". According to the plan, Shepard and Mitchell had to patrol for a distance of 2.7 km. Their inability to reach the summit of the crater shortened their tour. Shepherd and Mitchell toured for 4 hours and 45 minutes. They returned to the lander with 54 kg of soil samples, including 2 rocks weighing 13 kg each. On their way back, Shafard struck golf balls with an improvised golf club (one of the accessories of the Haya) which he "smuggled" into the spaceship. Because of the low gravity and the absence of an atmosphere, the balls flew hundreds of meters away.

After a stay of 33.5 hours, the lander took off from the moon and entered a lunar orbit whose distance from the ground is 92 - 17 km. At the same time, the command cabin circled the moon in an orbit that is 110 km from the ground. In the event that malfunctions in the lander grounded it, the astronauts could repair it with the help of sophisticated devices they had in two days. If they failed to make the repairs in this period of time, the command cell would return to Israel without them.

The connection with the command cabin was made about an hour - 47 minutes after the launch without any problems. If the malfunction that happened on the second day of the flight were to repeat itself, the astronauts would steer the lander towards the command cabin to a minimum distance, so that one astronaut could hold on to the fixed grips in the command cabin. This astronaut would connect the spaceships with a rope so that the other astronaut could pass and transfer the cargo brought from the moon to him. The astronauts also transferred the lander's probe, which is usually left on the moon, to the control room to test it on Earth.

7.2 - the eighth day of the flight

The command cabin and the lander flew together for a while and then the lander was detached and thrown towards the moon. It crashed into his face with a force of 720 kg TNT at a distance of 50 km from the landing site. The signals were picked up by the seismographs and broadcast to Israel. After dropping the lander, the spacecraft separated itself from its lunar orbit and moved to a path that would bring it to Earth. A few minutes later, Shepard received the space scientists when they asked to try again to photograph the moon with an aerial reconnaissance camera that broke down earlier. Shepard claimed that the camera was packed and difficult to get out of its place, what's more they were tired and exhausted.

Contact with the control center was cut off for 45 minutes. The astronauts tried to fall asleep and failed. Due to the large amount of cargo that they brought into the command cabin, they spent 45 minutes arranging the cabin. The flight path was found to be so accurate that one of its corrections was canceled. This allowed the astronauts to sleep 11 hours, an hour more than planned. After these 11 hours the flight controllers hesitated whether to wake them up or not. In the end it was decided to wake them up. Even then the astronauts were quite tired.

The astronauts engaged in experiments designed to prove the proposition that certain work processes of industrial or scientific value can be performed perfectly in space conditions, than on Earth. These experiments lasted 50 minutes and were broadcast on television. Shepard, Mitchell and Stuart experimented with the process of separating organic substances in solutions using an electric field. This method enables the production of extremely pure vaccine components. They also tried to grow tiny metal crystals that are used as components of communication and other devices.

In this broadcast Shepherd said: "The sight of the Earth's glowing moon reminds us that there are still battles to be fought. We all have acquaintances, friends and even relatives in Vietnam... Our wish is that our efforts within the framework of the space program will be useful to encourage understanding and peace in the entire world and to correct the deficiencies that still exist." Two jet navigation engines were activated for 3 seconds to accelerate the spacecraft's speed and improve the angle of entry into the atmosphere.

8.2 - the ninth day of the flight

The astronauts slept for 10 hours and spent the rest of the time cleaning the spacecraft and packing the lunar soil samples.

9.2 - the tenth day of the flight

The astronauts held a half-hour press conference. Stewart said that when he circled the moon he saw the lander as a white dot that did not belong to the moon. He could not make out her form. When asked by the head of operations Donald Slayton how the cosmic vacuum cleaner works (the vacuum cleaner is designed to collect the lunar dust that accumulates on the space suits while on the moon), the astronauts said that it works perfectly. The problem of the dust not sinking in the weightlessness conditions but remaining suspended in the air caused difficulties in the previous flights while you were on the moon. Starting with this flight, the astronauts used a special tube that transports the dust from the spacecraft into space.

A few hours before landing, all the light objects were tied to the body of the spacecraft. Any object that remains free may be fatal upon entry into the atmosphere. The extra weight in the spacecraft requires many careful maneuvers in order for the spacecraft to enter the atmosphere at the desired angle. For this purpose, the crew is required to take the manual control from the automatic control, while coordinating the entry angle. Unnecessary fuel ejected from the steering system created a bright yellow cloud against the background of the light clouds
Apollo 14 landed 20 seconds late in the Pacific Ocean near the Samoa Islands, 1.5 km from the landing site. In total, the spacecraft stayed in space for 216 hours and 20 seconds. The astronauts and the spacecraft were brought aboard the aircraft carrier New Orleans.

after landing

Upon landing, Mitchell, Shepherd and Stewart were transferred to the "Lunar Absorption Laboratory". During their stay in the laboratory, they underwent a series of very strict and thorough medical examinations. Those found healthy were released on 17.2.
The lunar research station

On January 19.1.1976, 19.2.1976, the research station placed on the moon stopped responding to commands from Earth. On February XNUMX, XNUMX, the station began to work in a mysterious manner, including the particle detector that operated intermittently before the station ceased operation. This detector powered itself and transmitted scientific data. Moreover, he acted continuously and clearly. Exactly one month later, the station went silent.
The mysterious flashes of the Apollo flights

The Apollo pilots reported many times during their flights about strong flashes of light, a kind of unexpected fireworks that appeared to their eyes in space. From the beginning one could think that this was the result of excitement and effort, but the regular reports about these sparkles and their clear television footage that they brought to Israel made it clear that it was certain types of radiation.
The researchers were aided by studies on the space helmets of the astronauts since radiation particles leave clear tracks in them. To examine the trajectories of the particles, the researchers developed a simple and interesting method. They cast patterns of the particle trajectories on the helmets (made of the hard plastic material polycarbonate) using silicone rubber. Thus they were able to obtain clear three-dimensional prints of the particle trajectories by comparing these printouts of these trajectories with the trajectories of known particles from current research on Earth. It was possible to determine what their nature was. The tracks carved into the astronauts' helmets are usually half a millimeter long. Some are much smaller. Among the particles that were distinguished were ions of zinc and nickel.

Two main hypotheses have been put forward as to the cause of the flashes. One of them says that this is the result of cosmic radiation hitting the retina of the eye. The second one says that this is nothing but the result of secondary radiation of radiation that hits the fluid in the eyeball, creating a relatively weak secondary radiation there, and the latter is the one that hits it and creates a sense of sight.

The Apollo 14 pilots performed a simple experiment to distinguish between the options. The experiment, which actually only needs a flashlight, is based on the fact that when a person suddenly moves from a lighted place to a dark corner, a few minutes pass until their visual sensitivity reaches its maximum. Since the mentioned secondary radiation is relatively weak, it can be assumed that a person who is required to suddenly adapt to darkness will not notice it immediately, but after some time when he adapts to darkness. On the other hand, the sensitivity to direct radiation damage to the visual cells does not depend on the ambient lighting. It is assumed that a person will see flashes as a result of direct radiation damage to their retinal cells, even after entering a dark room.

To test the possibilities, the Apollo 14 pilots eclipsed Tham. Then they shined a flashlight into their eyes for a brief moment and immediately turned it off. The momentary illumination by the flashlight canceled their adaptation to darkness and when it was turned off they had to adapt to darkness again. Now the astronauts counted the frequency of the flashes which they saw as a function of the time that had passed since the flashlight was turned off. In other words, depending on the time of transition from darkness to their adaptation to it. It turned out from these experiments that the astronauts see the same amount of flashes even when their eyes are not used to the darkness. The conclusion is that the flashes are usually caused by a direct hit of radiation on the retina of their eyes and not by a secondary, weaker radiation that is created as a result of the cosmic radiation hitting the liquid in the eyeball.