#apollo program
What’s that out my window? A lunar rendezvous is in progress between the Command Service Module & Lunar Module during Apollo 10, May 1969. A10 was the 2nd mission to orbit the moon (after Apollo 8) & served as a dress rehearsal for a landing on the moon. The mission was flown by John Young, Tom Stafford & Gene Cernan. They flew the Lunar Module 8.4 nautical miles above the moon’s surface. This is the point where a powered lunar descent would commence. On the way home they set a speed record for a crewed spacecraft at 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph); a record which still stands today.
Leaving for work. Apollo 15 was the 4th mission to land on the moon. Astronauts David Scott & James Irwin became the first to drive on the moon courtesy the Lunar Rover. The pair landed by Hadley Rille which was originally planned to be the landing spot for Apollo 19 before budget cuts nixed the mission. The Aug 1971 mission was Scott’s 3rd and final spaceflight while it was Irwin’s & Command Module Pilot Al Worden’s first and only. What a historic mission.
The incredible rescue. The Command Module of Apollo 13 floats with astronauts James Lovell, Fred Haise & Jack Swigert catching their breaths. A damaged wire had ignited on the Service Module following a stir of the oxygen tanks. The explosion left the astronauts’ supply of oxygen venting out into space. The Lunar Module then became the lifeboat for the 3. It was designed to support 2 men on the moon for 2 days; Mission Control though worked around the clock to improvise & create new procedures to allow it to support 3 men for 4 days. Just incredible. As always, I recommend director Ron Howard’s classic ‘Apollo 13’ for your viewing pleasure to see the full story.
A First Day Cover from Sept 9, 1969 commemorating the Apollo 11 moon landing. There’s a post stamp from the July 20 moon landing & a beautiful 10 cent stamp featuring Neil Armstrong stepping down upon the lunar surface. So many great space-themed stamps were designed by the USPS during the space age.
Setting up shop. The Lunar Module Antares has touched down upon the moon with the instruments set up during Apollo 14, Feb 1971. The mission was the first to land in the Lunar Highlands & the final ‘H-Mission’, or 2-day stay on the moon. After this, Apollo flights would be J-Missions, or 3-day lunar stays. This mission with Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell & Stuart Roosa was to take place in 1970 but was pushed back following an investigation into the explosion upon the Apollo 13 spacecraft.
Practice makes perfect. Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin go through the steps with the Lunar Lander during preparation for Apollo 11, 1969. Backup crew for the first mission to the moon were Jim Lovell, Fred Haise & William Anders. Armstrong & Aldrin spent 21 & ½ hours at Tranquility Base before joining Command Module Pilot Michael Collins who was in lunar orbit in Columbia.
A vintage trading card wrapper from 1969 following the Apollo 11 moon landing. Just 5 cents for a pack of trading cards.
Parking is ample. The first to drive on the moon, David Scott, walks away from the Lunar Rover during Apollo 15, Aug 1971. Scott & fellow astronaut Jim Irwin spent 18.5 hours on EVAs during their lunar stay while Command Module Pilot Al Worden orbited above.
The road to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. Completed in 1966, the VAB was originally intended for the vertical stacking of the Saturn V rocket during the Apollo Program era. During the Space Shuttle era, shuttle orbiters were mounted to fuel tanks & rocket boosters. The VAB is the tallest building (outside an urban area) in the US. It was the tallest building in Florida until 1974 & is the largest single story building in the world at 526 feet. At 129,428,000 cubic feet, it’s larger than your average 1-bedroom apartment.
Astronaut Neil Armstrong undergoes training prior to Apollo 11, 1969. Following his retirement from NASA in 1971, Mr. Armstrong went taught at the University of Cincinnati until 1979 in the Dep’t of Aerospace Engineering. During his space career, he also flew on Gemini 8 in 1966 & spent a total of 8 days & 14 hours in space during the two historic missions.
A 1963 model by NASA of what an upcoming moon landing might look like during that decade. The first human-made object to land on the moon from Earth was Luna 2 by the USSR in Sept, 1959. There were 6 crewed landings by the USA between 1969-72 during the Apollo 11-17 missions (with the exception of Apollo 13). There were no soft landings on the moon between Aug 1976 to Dec 2013. A soft landing is one in which major damage doesn’t occur to the vehicle or its payload. The average vertical speed during a soft landing is approximately 6.6 feet, or 2 meters per second.
Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins & Buzz Aldrin. In Feb 1968, NASA announced 5 potential landing sites for A11’s Lunar Lander, ‘Eagle’. These 5 spots were chosen following research by 5 unmanned lunar orbital missions & Surveyor landing missions. Among these 5 potential spots, 2 were in the Sea of Tranquility. In May ‘69, Apollo 10 flew within 9.3 miles of A11’s future landing site in Tranquility & deemed it acceptable.
Astronauts on a cloudy day. Alan Bean, Pete Conrad & Richard Gordon hop out of the shuttle bus & step towards the 363-foot tall Saturn V rocket in preparation for Apollo 12, Nov 1969. Conrad & Bean spent 31 hours on the lunar surface while Gordon orbited 45 times above in the Command Module. The spacecraft was nearly identical to that of Apollo 11 with the exception being that hammocks were added to the Lunar Module so that Bean & Conrad could rest more comfortably when not out moonwalking. The mission lasted a total of 10 days & 4 hours.
A relaxed astronaut. Stuart Roosa takes a moment during preparations for Apollo 14, Jan 1971. Mr. Roosa flew ‘Kitty Hawk’, the Command Module for the mission & orbited the moon 34 times as crew mates Edgar Mitchell & Alan Shephard walked on the moon. Roosa was 1 of 19 astronauts chosen in Group 5 by NASA in 1966. Following A14, he served as backup Command Module Pilot for Apollo 16 & 17.
Where’s my drill? Astronaut David Scott retrieves a drill off the lunar surface during Apollo 15, Aug 1971. The mission was the first with the LRV (lunar rover vehicle). Mr. Scott was the 7th to walk on the moon & first to drive when he got behind the wheel of the LRV. He wa chosen in the 3rd Group of astronauts in 1963 & flew with Neil Armstrong on the historic & perilous Gemini 8 mission of 1966. He also flew on the 10-day Apollo 9 flight in 1969. David walked on the moon with James Irwin on A15 while Al Worden orbited above in the Command Module. The pair spent 18.5 hours on EVAs while on the moon’s surface & brought back 170lbs of moon rocks home.
Astronauts Jim Lovell & Fred Haise prepare for Apollo 13, Feb 1970. Mr. Haise was chosen in the 5th group of astronauts in 1966. Besides A13, he flew 5 Space Shuttle Approach & Landing Tests during the early days of the Shuttle Program in 1977. Mr. Lovell was chosen in 1962 in the 2nd Group of astronauts & flew on Gemini 7, 12 & Apollo 8 & 13. An excellent film on the Apollo 13 mission is Ron Howard’s fantastic, award-winning film.
Standing by. Astronaut James McDivitt readies for training during preparation for Apollo 9. Mr. McDivitt first flew on Gemini 4 with Ed White on a historic space flight in which White became the first American to space walk. Apollo 9 was a 10-day flight which McDivitt commanded and the first to employ the full Apollo spacecraft (the Lunar Module & Command & Service Modules). A9 was also the 2nd crewed flight with the Saturn V rocket. McDivitt was part of the Group 2 of astronauts selected in 1962.
Have camera, will travel. Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean does some work with the Hasselblad camera in preparation for the 2nd mission to land on the moon. Mr. Bean, chosen in the 3rd Group of astronauts by NASA in 1963, became the 4th person to walk on the moon during the Nov 1969 mission. He was 37 years old at the time. 4 years after A12, he flew on Skylab 3 in July 1973 on a mission which lasted 59 days. Also an accomplished painter, Bean created space-themed paintings of his adventures & of his fellow astronauts.
In the field today, on the moon tomorrow. Charlie Duke & John Young undertake geology training for Apollo 16 in Sudbury, Ontario, 07/71. The city in Northern Ontario, nicknamed ‘The Nickel City’, was chosen due to the area’s shatter cone formations. The pair landed in the Descartes Highlands upon the lunar surface in April the following year. They spent 71 hours on the moon & brought back ‘Big Mule’, for research; the largest moon rock collected during Project Apollo.
Some space age reading material. A brilliant & colourful cover depicting the passion of the space race between the USA & USSR courtesy Time Magazine, Dec 6, 1968. Later that month, NASA would win the race to a crewed lunar orbit via Apollo 8 & astronauts James Lovell, Frank Borman & William Anders. Such an exciting decade of historic firsts.
