Another chapter in the series on the history of the space program
introduction
on flights Apollo 7 And Apollo 8 The spacecraft's command cabin and service cabin were tested. The lander was also tested on the Apollo 9 flight. The purpose of this flight was to execute a separation and docking maneuver with the lunar lander as planned for the lunar landing. The astronauts who took part in this flight were James McDivett, David Scott and Russell Schweickart.
The first day of the flight
Due to the cold of the astronauts, the launch was postponed from February 28, 1969 to March 3. Fifteen minutes after launch, the spacecraft entered an elliptical orbit whose distance from the ground is 165-190 km. The route was supposed to be circular, 191.4 km from the ground. A short time later the route was corrected. McDivot, the flight commander, reported one of the instruments gave inaccurate details regarding the pressure of the helium. It turned out that the control devices in the control center did not detect any malfunction. Because of this, the pilot team was informed that there was nothing to fear and that the flight would continue according to the plan.
The docking maneuvers with the lander were done at an altitude of 170 km. As a preliminary step to docking, the covers of the third stage of the launcher were removed, so that the nose of the lander was visible. In the second stage, the lander separated from the third stage of the launcher, accelerating itself to a distance of 15 meters from it. Then, the flight crew turned the cockpit so that its nose was facing the lander, which had been flying behind it until that moment. While carefully moving at a speed of 28,165 km/h, the astronauts zeroed in on the spacecraft using instruments and binoculars on the lander and gently attached their spacecraft to it. After docking, the engine of the third stage of the launcher was activated and put into orbit around the sun. This operation was done from the control center in Houston. The controllers wanted to know if the astronauts noticed the flying chips at the time. The astronauts did confirm this. "Yes, we could see all kinds of things coming out of it, when it began its upward flight, but then it entered a very strong light and we could not look at it anymore." This stage of the launcher reached a speed of more than 1600 km per minute, it moved away from the Earth and contact with it was lost. At a distance of 58,000 km his engines stopped working. The spacecraft is now moving with the lander wheels in the direction of flight.
After this maneuver, on which the journey of Apollo 9 depended, the three astronauts rested at the same time. This is the first time that the crew of a spaceship sleeps at the same time, and all this while the spaceship is under the full supervision of the control center. Whenever this was possible, the three astronauts ate together and at the same time reduced other activities to a minimum.
The second day of the flight
On the second day of the flight, the astronauts engaged in maneuvers designed to simulate a flight around the moon. These maneuvers included the following:
- A. The astronauts ignited the spacecraft's engines twice. This engine has a main role in braking the spacecraft when it enters orbit around the moon, when it leaves this orbit before returning to Earth and during entry into the atmosphere. It was proven that the weight reduction of the spaceship due to the burning of the fuel gives it greater maneuverability, so that from that moment on the navigation engines could be activated for a shorter time to make minor corrections to the flight path.
- B. The autopilot control in the spacecraft was tested. when the main engine was started. The astronauts deliberately set the spacecraft in motion. They did this to test the stability of the spacecraft and the effectiveness of the locking systems that connect its various parts together. The automatic mechanisms whose function is to curb the fluctuations were also examined. All the devices and mechanisms met with complete success in these maneuvers.
- third. The orbit around the Earth was adapted for longer flights. The astronauts raised the altitude of the flight above the earth.
- d. The astronauts repeatedly photographed, measured and calculated the angle of the spacecraft towards the Earth as if they were preparing for landing.
- Schweikart, who is on his first flight in space, proved once again that he is less inclined to get excited than his two friends who are veterans of space flights. When the main engine was fired a second time, McDivett's and Scott's heart rates rose to 109 and 115 per minute at once. Schweikart's heart rate was stable, 70 beats per minute.
The third day of the flight
On the third day of the flight, the astronauts began their preparations for the separation and attachment exercise from the lander. Of the three, only Scott remained in the control room. Schweikart followed by McDivot moved to the landing. They encountered unexpected difficulties until they managed to crawl through the tunnel in the bow of the command cabin into the lander. This maneuver was done 58 minutes late because Schweickart had difficulty in shifting the closure of the command cabin to clear the way for the tunnel whose dimensions are 1.2 meters long and 80 cm in diameter. Schweickart then reported to the doctors that he felt in his stomach and vomited.
The astronauts on the lander broadcast on TV for 9 minutes. In the broadcast it could be seen that Schweickart was not feeling well. Although they encountered difficulties, they reported that everything is going more or less according to the plan. After 9 hours they returned to the control room. During all that time they were engaged in testing the lander's systems.
Schweickart threw up twice. Once before the transition and once after. According to the instructions of the doctor Dr. Charles Berry, he took pills to suppress the nausea and prevent diarrhea and he was somewhat better. He said that despite this he has no appetite and still does not feel well. When he and McDevitt were in the lander, he had to hover in space outside the spacecraft for two hours. The doctors' fear was that if he vomited while being alone outside the spaceship with his helmet on his head, he might inhale the vomit into his airways. When he threw up the day before he was without a helmet.
Due to the state of Schweickart's health, it was clear that floating in space was canceled. Instead, the two astronauts opened the porthole of the lander and exposed themselves to the weightlessness and pressurelessness of space. The television broadcast that was going to be made outside the lander was made from it a little while before they returned to the command cabin. There were many interruptions in the broadcast and it was almost impossible to hear them.
If Schweickart's health had worsened, it would have been difficult to postpone the meeting maneuvers intended for the fifth day of the flight by more than one day. Various systems of the lander were activated and staying too long could have allowed too little space for maneuvers. After the test, the two astronauts returned to the control cabin, detached it from the lander, started its engines and raised their flight path higher so they could rest.
The fourth day of the flight
On the fourth day of the flight, the astronauts located the location of the lander that had been left by them, they approached and clung to it. On that day, Schweickart had to stay outside the spacecraft for 2 hours and 10 minutes. Schwickart and McDivot moved to the lander again to practice operating the instruments on it. Schwieckart had to perform a series of exercises more daring than all those done in previous space flights. Schweickart wore a spacesuit cooled by capillaries containing fluids woven into the suit that weighed 36 kg. He got out of the landing and had to hold the handrail of the stairs and walk on the sides of the landing. The "golden sandals" were meant to pin him to the side of the lander when a golden cable - through which the oxygen is fed from the lander to his helmet - was dragged under him, he continued to crawl out of the lander, climbed and climbed onto it and finally a hole in it. This is an emergency maneuver designed to test different options for rescue in space in the event of a malfunction in the lander and the transition from it to the command cabin. Before the end of the tests, Weikart was supposed to stand up to his full height on the wall of the cell and photograph the space in different positions. He then had to bend half his body down looking at the Earth and take a picture of Texas and Florida with a television camera.
This series of maneuvers was not performed due to his health condition the day before. With the improvement in his health (he stopped vomiting), he did leave the lander, but did not perform the original exercises. Instead he made a last-minute planned maneuver. He exited the lander onto the front ram where the first astronauts landed on the lunar surface. Schweikart stood on this step for 40 minutes. During this time he took a series of photographs and collected samples of various objects and crumbs that had accumulated on the outer wall of the lander, which were thoroughly studied after returning to Israel. Scott, who remained in the control room, photographed Schweikart from a distance of 5 meters as he took the upper half of his body out of the spaceship. This experiment was conducted at an altitude of 237 km. After that, another detachment and attachment maneuver was performed.
On that day, the first malfunction occurred in the spacecraft's engine system when they failed to turn on the main engine to lower the altitude of the orbit. It turned out that two of the motors that operate the fuel pumps did not work for some reason. The fault was fixed after one lap of the Earth and the engine was started. This malfunction is not serious because it is possible to activate other engines in different combinations to activate the pumps or perform the maneuver with the help of other engines present in the spacecraft. The inactivity of the pump engines was caused by an error in the programming of one of the spacecraft's instruments.
The fifth day of the flight
On the fifth day of the flight, the maneuvers reached their climax. Schwickart and McDivot reentered the lander to detach from the spacecraft, move away from it, and then reattach. This maneuver was conducted in several stages:
- A. Schwickart and McDivot entered the lander and sealed it.
- B. After seeing that all the systems were working properly, they detached the lander from the spacecraft. The disconnection was delayed for a few minutes due to a small glitch. The ignition mechanism does not open immediately.
- third. The two spacecraft flew for an hour next to each other as Scott performed a visual inspection of the lander.
- d. The lander's engine was activated several times and raised its flight path by 16 km from that of the spacecraft - the command cabin. At this height, the lander's orbit around the Earth took longer than that of the command cabin and gradually lagged behind it until a distance of 170 km.
- God. This phase started even before phase D came to an end. Shortly before the lander moved away to a distance of 170 km, the astronauts activated the lander's braking engine and disconnected the landing gear. This part was blown by the power of the engine into orbit around the sun.
- and. After that, the astronauts activated the take-off engine of the lander whose weight dropped from 13.5 tons to 4 tons and lowered its orbit to a orbit lower than that of the spacecraft (command cabin) by 15 km. Now began the chase made by radio and radar signals with Scott. As the lander approached the command cabin, McDivitt raised the nose of the lander and started the engine to put it into its original orbit. Half an hour later, during which he activated the navigation engines twice to correct the flight path, McDivot activated the braking engines to match the speed of the lander to that of the spacecraft.
- H. After the distance between the lander and the spacecraft was reduced to 30 meters, Scott activated the engines of the service compartment to sacrifice for the final rendezvous. The two spacecraft docked without incident and the lander's crew moved to the command cabin.
- God. At the end of this maneuver, the lander was disconnected from the command cabin and by activating its engine it was sent into space.
The entire maneuver lasted six hours. At the time Scott was photographing the lander and its surroundings. The importance of these photographs is great because it is possible to learn from them if the lander's knees were not damaged and if there were burn damage to the lander itself.
The sixth day
After 19 hours of work, astronauts are allowed to sleep for 8 consecutive hours. It turned out that the fuel consumption so far was greater than planned. From now until landing, the astronauts used the remaining fuel very sparingly.
The seventh day of the flight
On the seventh day of the flight, the astronauts photographed the Earth and conducted navigation experiments. After letting them sleep one hour longer than planned. Since they had a large amount of photographic film they were asked to take pictures whenever they had free time. In addition, they were asked to take spectrum photographs of the earth so that it would be possible to learn from them about the reality of natural treasures. Schweikart tried a new camera for use on the surface of the moon. In the last four days of the flight, the astronauts photographed the Earth with 4 synchronized cameras and using different filters and films.
In the navigation experiments as a whole, the astronauts had to follow ground marks, a method they later used for landing on the moon to determine the exact height of the spacecraft above its surface. They also tried to use the planet Jupiter for navigation. At first they failed to find Jupiter because they mistakenly entered the computer with data from the planet Venus. After correcting the mistake they found Tzedek without difficulty. As part of the navigation exercises, the main engine was activated a seventh time to raise the height of the epigeo to 440 km to facilitate the return to Earth.
On March 13, Apollo 9 landed. The landing was perfect. The spacecraft circled the Earth once more than planned. And this is to copy the intended landing place (in the Pacific Ocean) where there was a storm at the time. The landing was in the Atlantic Ocean 10 seconds late.
During their flight, the astronauts noticed twice a huge communication satellite called Pegasus that was launched in 1965. Each time they noticed it, the distance between them was 1600 km.
Additional chapters in the history of space exploration series:
- Mercury program
- Gemini plan
- Voskhud plan
- Vostok program
- Russian exploration of Mars in the sixties and seventies
The Apollo manned flight series
