In this chapter we will deal with the unmanned test flights and those that were canceled
The Lunar Absorption Laboratory
The thought that there is life on the moon, even if it is microscopic in size, requires taking precautions against known diseases and perhaps also unknown ones. The first precautions are taken already on the moon. Before leaving the moon, the astronauts leave their top boots on its surface. Backpacks and other "infected" equipment. Everything is covered in plastic wrap. When the astronauts enter the lander, they clean it with the help of vacuum cleaners and the air brush that is purified with the help of lithium hydrogen - a powerful disinfecting device. All this work takes 5 hours. After the lander connects with the command cabin, the command cabin pilot transfers sterile bags to the lander and into them the lander pilots put everything they brought from the moon. After connecting these two aircraft, the cockpit pilot blows a stream of air over them to clear them of any dust particles. The first action the lander pilots perform after entering the command cabin is to store the spacesuits in sterile bags. On the way back to Israel, the control room undergoes a thorough purification with the help of suction hoses and lithium water. The outer mantle is purified by its heating as it passes through the atmosphere. The astronauts are purified as well. All these actions guarantee purification at a rate of 99.97%.
After landing on Earth, the astronauts are given a "biological isolation suit". This garment is made of an opaque material and the air exhaled by the wearer is filtered before being released into the atmosphere. The clothes are thrown into the control room through the entrance, which closes quickly after them. After they put on the isolation clothes, the astronauts go down to a rubber flotation boat next to the spacecraft, row towards the aircraft carrier and board it. Here they go into a portable isolation cell. The entrance to the isolation cell is through a sealed passage, a sort of spacious plastic tube.
The mobile isolation chamber is a long and narrow chamber resembling a truck box. In this cabin, in addition to the astronauts, there is also a doctor and an engineer. In this cell, a doctor examines them for the first time. The blood tubes are flown to the Lunar Reception Laboratory for immediate testing. By plane the cell is transported to the Lunar Absorption Laboratory in Houston. The astronauts enter the laboratory as they enter the isolation cell.
The lunar absorption laboratory is a huge, three-story building. It is a small town in Enfin. It has laboratories, work rooms, residences, toilets, kitchen, game rooms, cinema, lecture room and more. Meetings between the astronauts and their families are held in a hall divided in two by a glass wall. The astronauts stay in the laboratory for 21 days for the reason that most of the known epidemic diseases are detected during this period of time. No one including scientists, technicians and doctors leaves the building before the end of the quarantine period. If it is necessary to bring in a technician or a doctor from outside, he stays there until the end of the isolation period.
Nothing is emitted into the atmosphere without purification. Body secretions are sterilized. The air that the occupants of the house breathe is refined by an air conditioning system. Atmospheric pressure is slightly lower than normal. Even if there is a malfunction, the air flows in and not out.
The lunar soil samples are brought to the laboratory in two planes. The first tests are designed to determine the rate of radioactivity and gas emitted by the stones. After that, the conditions prevailing on the moon are recreated. First, the sides of the sample containers are purified with ultraviolet light, in an acid bath. They are then washed in sterile water, dried in sterile nitrogen and transferred to a small chamber empty of air.
The investigation of the samples is done from the outside. The researchers diagnose the gas emitted from the tanks, photograph them with 6 cameras and observe them through a powerful microscope and weigh them on fine scales. A small broom made of stainless steel collects the stone crumbs if they crumble. Some of the samples are transferred to a radioactive measurement laboratory 15 meters underground. The amount of radioactivity in the samples is so low that the cosmic radiation can mislead the measuring devices. To prevent this, the laboratory is covered with 15 meters of dirt and surrounded by a half meter thick layer of concrete and a 1 meter thick layer of dunite (a material that is almost completely free of radioactivity). The cell itself is protected by 20 cm of lead.
To know if any life forms have not adhered to the samples, they are ground and mixed in a centrifuge. The effect of the substance on living cells of the althis fish and on cancer cells taken from the human body is tested. In addition, the substance is injected into corn, potatoes, tomatoes and types of grass. Minnows and invertebrates such as poplars and crabs are exposed to extracts of the lunar material to see if signs of infection have appeared in them.
In two small laboratories, the effect of moonstones on mammals is tested. In these laboratories, white mice are housed in glass cells and breathe sterile air. The parents of the mice were born by caesarean section in an environment purified from bacteria. They themselves grow and multiply in sterilized glass cells. Since the mice have never been infected with any infection and have not developed resistance, they are vulnerable to disease.
One generation of mice was exposed to the influence of the moonstones. If no reaction is detected in them, a substance is taken from their body that is injected into the second generation and so on until the fourth generation. If no negative effects are detected in the mice during the quarantine period, this means that the astronauts are free of hostile lunar pollutants and are released to their homes.
The examination of the soil samples brought by the pilots of Apollo 11, Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 clearly proved that the lunar soil does not contain dangerous and deadly substances for humans, animals and plants. These satisfactory results led to the cancellation of the medical quarantines imposed on the Apollo pilots who would fly to the moon. Starting with the Apollo 15 flight, the astronauts made direct contact with people without the need for a period of isolation.
Canceled Apollo flights
Apollo 18 - launch date late 1972 or early 1972. Designated landing site a deep crater in the Schreiter Valley. Flight objectives:
A. Russian and American astronomers reported based on their observations that a glow or red spots appear near Aristarchus Crater. The Apollo 18 pilots had to clear up the mystery.
B. Taking soil samples.
third. Placement of devices.
Apollo 19 - launch date 1972. The intended landing site is an area of volcanic craters in the Huygens Gorge. Flight objectives:
A. Finding the origin of the straight grooves. It has been suggested that their origin is volcanic.
B. Taking soil samples.
third. Placement of devices.
Apollo 20 - launch date late 1972 or early 1973. Landing site Copernicus Crater. Flight objectives:
A. The investigation of the material in the crater of Copernicus. The astronomers hypothesized that the origin of this material is from the depths of the moon and was thrown up with the formation of the crater.
B. Taking soil samples.
third. Placement of devices.
Preparatory missions for the manned flights
- 1. On July 5, 1966, a two-stage Saturn 1 rocket was launched. The second stage was the third stage of the Saturn 5 launch vehicle. This stage is capable of developing a thrust of 102,000 kg. It is designed to put the Apollo spacecraft into lunar orbit. The purpose of the launch was to establish its mode of operation. Various devices and two TV cameras continuously transmitted data on what happens to the right fuel in space conditions and in orbital flight.
- 2. On December 10, 1967, two satellites were launched, one for solar orbit and the other for the training of ground crews.
- 3. On December 13, 1967, two satellites were launched with a Thor-Abel rocket. One satellite is Pioneer 8 for solar orbit and the other satellite for terrestrial orbit. The second satellite is a training and testing satellite. The purpose of the launch was to test the surveillance and communication network of the Apollo program.
Initial test launches of Apollo spacecraft
1. On February 26, 1966, the Apollo spacecraft was launched on all its systems by the Saturn B1 launch vehicle. The weight of the spacecraft is 19 tons. The spacecraft traveled 9,000 km in 39 minutes and landed 55 km from the ships that were waiting for it in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean
2. On August 25, 1966, another launch of the Apollo spacecraft was conducted to test the ability of the command cabin to withstand the loads and temperatures of entering the atmosphere. The spacecraft was launched by a Saturn 1 launch vehicle. The spacecraft flew for 93 minutes and landed 200 km from the landing site. The chosen landing site is located 480 km southeast of Wick Island in the Pacific Ocean.
Apollo 4
Apollo 4 was launched on November 9, 1967 with a Saturn 5 rocket. The purpose of the experiment was to test the spacecraft's endurance in hot conditions.
A. In space - for this purpose the spacecraft flies when it is directed at a certain angle towards the sun.
B. In the atmosphere - when it enters the atmosphere, the friction creates a heat of 2,500 degrees.
42 minutes after launch, the spacecraft smoothly entered its orbit. The flight path was circular - 185 km above the ground. The spacecraft stayed in space for 8 hours and 33 minutes and flew at a speed of 40,000 km/h while navigating automatically, after a journey of 18,500 km the spacecraft landed in the Atlantic Ocean less than 1 km from the landing site.
Apollo 5
Apollo 5 was launched on January 23, 1968 into terrestrial orbit using the Saturn 1 launch vehicle. The purpose of the flight was to perform a simulated landing, a simulated takeoff and test the mechanism that separates the lunar lander from the command cabin. The first stage of the flight passed successfully, but later a malfunction occurred. The lander's braking engine operated for 4 seconds instead of 38 seconds. Because of this, the thrust force reached 480 kg instead of 4,500 kg. The fault was fixed and another experiment was conducted. In this experiment the engine ran for 12 seconds. Experiments were also conducted with starting and shutting down the launch engines.
Apollo 6
Apollo 6 was launched on April 4, 1968 using the Saturn launch vehicle. 5. 6 minutes after the launch, malfunctions occurred in the launch vehicle. Two of the five engines of the second stage shut down, after mysteriously firing properly 2.5 minutes ahead of schedule. The remaining engines were run for a longer time to gain the necessary speed, but nothing happened. The speed was achieved only after the engines were activated for 23 seconds longer than planned. These faults led to a change in the spacecraft's trajectory. Instead of the route being circular 185 km, it was elliptical 350-182 km.
The third stage engine disobeyed the instruction to move the spacecraft to a distance of 500,000 km. Due to this, the spacecraft was separated from the third stage and by the power of its engine it was pushed to a distance of 22,240 km. From this height the spacecraft was returned and landed safely in the Pacific Ocean. Later the third stage that remained in orbit mysteriously disintegrated into thousands of small fragments.
Tests done after the flight according to the telemetry records showed that the two engines of the second stage were damaged when they were disconnected from the first stage and an electrical fault prevented the start of the third stage.
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
