Apollo by the Numbers

344 Pages·2015·32.65 MB·English

by  Richard W. Orloff

APOLLO BY THE NUMBERS:

A Statistical Reference
by
Richard W. Orloff
NASA History Division

Office of Policy and Plans

NASA Headquarters

Washington, DC 20546

NASA SP-2000-4029

2000

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]

Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-000 I

ISBN 0-16-050631-X
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Orloff, Richard W., 1948­
Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference I by Richard W. Orloff.

p. cm- (NASA History Series)
"NASA SP-2000-4029:'
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Project Apollo (U.S.) 2. Project Apollo (U.S.)- Statistics. 3. Space flight to the Moon. 4. Moon-Exploration. I. Title.
II. Series.
TL789.8.U6 A564 2000
629.45'4'00973-dc21 00-061677
Foreword
In a spring 1999 poll of opinion leaders sponsored by leading news organizations in the United States, the 100 most significant
events of the 20th century were ranked. The Moon landing was a very close second to the splitting of the atom and its use
during World War II. "It was agonizing;' CNN anchor and senior correspondent Judy Woodruff said of the selection process.
Probably historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., best summarized the position of a large number of individuals polled. "The one
thing for which this century will be. remembered 500 years from now was: This was the century when we began the explo­
ration of space." He noted that Project Apollo gave many a sense of infinite potential. "People always say: If we could land on
the Moon, we can do anything;' said Maria Elena Salinas, co-anchor at Miami-based Spanish-language cable network Univision,
who also made it her first choice.
Perhaps because of his long life, Schlesinger has looked toward a positive future, and that prompted him to rank the lunar
landing first. "I put DNA and penicillin and the computer and the microchip in the first 10 because they've transformed civi­
lization. Wars vanish;' Schlesinger said, and many people today cannot even recall when the Civil War took place. "Pearl Harbor
will be as remote as the War of the Roses;' he said, referring to the English civil war of the 15th century. And there's no need
to get hung up on the ranking, he said. "The order is essentially very artificial and fictitious," he said. "It's very hard to decide
the atomic bomb is more important than getting on the Moon:'
There have been many detailed historical studies of Project Apollo completed in the more than thirty years since the first lunar
landing in 1969. The major contours of the American sprint to the Moon during the 1960s have been told and retold many
times, notably in several books in the NASA History Series, and by William Burroughs, Andrew Chaikin, and Charles Murray
and Catherine Bly Cox. All provide he end of the decade through the first lunar landing on July 20, 1969, on to the last of six
successful Moon landings with Apollo 17 in December 1972, NASA carried out Project Apollo with enthusiasm and aplomb.
With the passage of time, the demise of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the subsequent opening of archives on
both sides of the space race, however, there are opportunities not present before to reconsider Project Apollo anew.
While there have been many studies recounting the history of Apollo, this new book in the NASA History Series seeks to draw
out the statistical information about each of the flights that have been long buried in numerous technical memoranda and his­
torical studies. It seeks to recount the missions, measuring results against the expectations for them.
This work appears in the NASA History Series as a Special Publication (SP) in the Reference Works section, SP-4000, of the
series. Works in this section provide information, usually in dictionary, encyclopedic, or chronological form, for use by NASA
personnel, scholars, and the public. This new publication captures for the use of all detailed information about Apollo and its
unfolding during the 1960s and early 1970s.
Roger D. Launius
Chief Historian
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
October 2, 2000
0
Foreword
Introduction
The purpose of this work is to provide researchers, students, and space enthusiasts with a comprehensive reference for facts
about Project Apollo, America's effort to put humans on the Moon.
Research for this work started in 1988, when the author discovered that, despite the number of excellent books that focused on
the drama of events that highlighted Apollo, there were none that focused on the drama of the numbers.
It may be impossible to produce the perfect Apollo fact book. For a program of the magnitude of Apollo, many NASA Centers
and contractors maintained data files for each mission. As a result, the same measurements from different sources vary, some­
times significantly. In addition, there are notable errors and conflicts even within official NASA and contractor documents. In
order to minimize conflicts, the author sought original documents to create this work. Some documents were previously unavail­
able to the public, and were released only following the author's petitions through the Freedom of Information Act.
This book is separated into two parts. The first part contains narratives for the Apollo 1 fire and the 11 flown Apollo missions.
Included after each narrative is a series of data tables, followed by a comprehensive timeline of events from just before liftoff to
just after crew and spacecraft recovery. The second part contains more than 50 tables. These tables organize much of the data
from the narratives in one place so they can be compared among all missions. The tables offer additional data as well. The read­
er can select a specific mission narrative or specific data table by consulting the Table of Contents.
Event times in this work are expressed mostly as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) and GET (Ground Elapsed Time). Local U.S.
Eastern time, in which all missions were launched, is included only for significant events. In regular usage, GMT does not use a
colon between the hours and minutes; however for the convenience of readers of this work, most of whom are in the United
States, where time is expressed as "OO:Oo': the colon is included.
The term "GET" (Ground Elapsed Time), used for manned U.S. spaceflights prior to the Space Shuttle, was referenced to "Range
Zero;' the last integral second before liftoff. With the first launch of the Shuttle, NASA began using the term "MET" (Mission
Elapsed Time), which begins at the moment of solid rocket booster ignition. The format for GET used here is hhh:mm:ss.sss
(e.g., hours:minutes:seconds). Example: 208:23:45.343, with "GET" excluded and assumed in order to avoid confusion with GMT.
Some other abbreviations used frequently in this work include:
B.S.: Bachelor of Science degree M.S.: Master of Science degree
CM: Command Module MET: Modular Equipment Transport (used only on Apollo 14)
CMP: Command Module Pilot NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
CSM: Command and Service Module(s) (combined structure) Ph.D.: Doctor of Philosophy degree
GH2: Gaseous Hydrogen Sc.D.: Doctor of Science degree
LH2: Liquid Hydrogen S-IB: Saturn IB launch vehicle
LM: Lunar Module S-IVB: Saturn IV-B launch vehicle
LMP: Lunar Module Pilot SM: Service Module
LOX: Liquid Oxygen SPS: Service Propulsion System
LRV: Lunar Rover Vehicle (used on Apollos 15, 16, and 17)
Trivia buffs will have a field day with the data published here, and it's a sure bet that a few readers will disagree with some of
it. However, it is a start. Enjoy!
Comments and documented potential corrections are welcomed. Mail inquiries should be sent to Richard Orloff, Apollo by the
Numbers, c/o NASA History Division, NASA Headquarters, Mail Code ZH, Washington, DC 20546, U.S.A.
Richard W. Orloff
October 2000
0
Apollo by the Numbers
Acknowledgments
The information contained in the mission narratives in this work was derived primarily from uncopyrighted NASA and con­
tractor mission reports, and, in some cases, is quoted verbatim from the original text without attribution. Readers interested in
specific sources will find them listed in the bibliography which appears at the end of this work. In a few cases, it was necessary
to include information from copyrighted works, and the author acknowledges those cases as follows:
The source for some of the astronaut biographical data is Who's Who In Space: The International Space Year Edition, by
Michael Cassutt, although most information was derived from NASA biographies.
The primary source for descriptions of the mission emblems is the official NASA text that accompanied each emblem.
However, additional information has been used from Space Patches From Mercury to the Space Shuttle, written by Judith Kaplan
and Robert Muniz. Another source is Dick Lattimer's unpublished draft of Astronaut Mission Patches and Spacecraft Callsigns,
available at the time of this writing at Rice University's Fondren Library.
The source for the COSPAR designations for the various Apollo spacecraft and launch vehicle stages once on orbit is the
R.A.E. Table of Earth Satellites 1957-1986.
The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the following people for helping to locate original NASA documents,
images and other information, and for checking the transcript for errors.
Becky Fryday, formerly Media Services, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center; Bunda L. Dean, formerly Lyndon B. Johnson Space
Center; Dale Johnson, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center; Daryl L. Bahls, The Boeing Company; David Ransom, Jr.,
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA; J.L. Pickering, Normal, IL; Ricky Lanclos, Nederland, TX; Dr. Eric M. Jones, editor of the Apollo
Lunar Surface Journal Internet Web site; Dr. John B. Charles, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center; Florastela Luna, Lyndon B.
Johnson Space Center; Gary Evans, TRW; Gordon Davie, Edinburgh, Scotland; Janet Kovacevich, Lyndon B. Johnson Space
Center; Joan Ferry and Lois Morris, Woodsen Research Center, Rice University; Joey Pellarin Kuhlman, formerly Lyndon B.
Johnson Space Center; Kenneth Nail, formerly John F. Kennedy Space Center; Kipp Teague, Lynchburg, VA; Lee Saegesser, for­
merly NASA Headquarters; Lisa Vazquez, formerly Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center; Mike Gentry, Lyndon B. Johnson Space
Center; Margaret Persinger, Kennedy Space Center; Oma Lou White, formerly George C. Marshall Space Flight Center; Paulo
D'Angelo, Rome, Italy; Philip N. French and Jonathan Grant, NASA Center for Aerospace Information; Robert Sutton,
Chantilly, VA; Robert W. Fricke, Jr., Lockheed Martin; Ruud Kuik, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Dr. David R. Williams,
National Space Data Center, GSFC; Hayes M. Harper, Downers Grove, IL; Lt. Col. George H. Orloff USA-RET, Oakhurst, NJ;
Harald Kucharek, Karlsruhe, Germany; Kay Grinter, Kennedy Space Center; and Louise Alstork, Stanley Artis, Steve Garber,
Hope Kang, Roger Launius, Warren Owens, and Michael Walker, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
8
Acknowledgments
This book is dedicated to
ROBERT W. FRICKE, JR.
Lockheed Martin/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
Bob started working in the space program during Project Mercury. He's seen it all, and his insights have been invaluable in
making this book come to life. In fact, it was Bob's gift to me of a copy of the Apollo Program Summary Report more than a
decade ago that helped give birth to the concept of Apollo by the Numbers. During those years, Bob has continued to be a
source of information, inspiration, and above all, a dear friend.
In recognition of the fact that he has worked on post-mission reports for more than 100 U.S. piloted spaceflights, NASA pre­
sented Bob with the coveted "Silver Snoopy" award for his outstanding achievement.
Richard W. Orloff
October 2000
0
Apollo by the Numbers
Table of Contents
Foreword iii

Introduction iv

Acknowledgments v

Dedication vi

Apollo I

The Fire
Apollo 7

The First Mission: Testing the CSM in Earth Orbit 13

Apollo 8

The Second Mission: Testing the CSM in Lunar Orbit 31

Apollo 9

The Third Mission: Testing the LM in Earth Orbit 51

Apollo 10

The Fourth Mission: Testing the LM in Lunar Orbit 71

Apollo II

The Fifth Mission: The First Lunar Landing
89

Apollo 12

The Sixth Mission: The Second Lunar Landing Ill
Apollo 13

The Seventh Mission: The Third Lunar Landing Attempt 135

Apollo 14

The Eighth Mission: The Third Lunar Landing 159

Apollo IS
The Ninth Mission: The Fourth Lunar Landing 183

Apollo 16

The Tenth Mission: The Fifth Lunar Landing 211

Apollo 17

The Eleventh Mission: The Sixth Lunar Landing 239

Statistical Tables
General Background 266

Crew Information-Earth Orbit and Lunar Orbit Missions 267

Crew Information-Lunar Landing Missions 268

Apportionment of Training According to Mission Type 269

Apollo Training Exercises 269

Capsule Communicators (CAPCOMS) 270

Support Crews 271

Flight Directors 272

Apollo Space Vehicle Configuration 273

274

Designations
0
Table of Contents
Launch Vehicle/Spacecraft Key Facts 275
Launch Vehicle/Spacecraft Key Facts 276
Launch Vehicle/Spacecraft Key Facts 277
Launch Windows 278
Launch Weather 279
Launch Weather 280
Apollo Program Budget Appropriations 281
Call Signs 282
Mission Insignias 283
Ground Ignition Weights 284
Ascent Data 285
Earth Orbit Data 286
Saturn Stage Earth Impact 287
Launch Vehicle Propellant Usage 288
Launch Vehicle Propellant Usage 289
Launch Vehicle Propellant Usage 290
Translunar Injection 291
S-IVB Solar Trajectory 292
S-IVB Lunar Impact 293
LM Lunar Landing 294
LM Descent Stage Propellant Status 295
LM Ascent Stage Propellant Status 296
LM Ascent and Ascent Stage Lunar Impact 297
Extravehicular Activity 298
Lunar Surface Experiments Package Arrays and Status 299
Lunar Surface Experiments 300
Lunar Surface Experiments 301
Lunar Orbit Experiments 302
Geology and Soil Mechanics Tools and Equipment 303
Lunar Subsatellites 304
Entry, Splashdown, and Recovery 305
Entry, Splashdown, and Recovery 306
Selected Mission Weights (lbs) 307
Command Module Cabin Temperature History 308
Accumulated Time in Space During Apollo Missions 309
Apollo Medical Kits 310
Apollo Medical Kits 311
Crew Weight History 312
lnflight Medical Problems in Apollo Crews 313
Postflight Medical Problems in Apollo Crews 314
NASA Photo Numbers for Crew Portraits and Mission Emblems 315
Bibliography 317
Photo Credits 323
The NASA History Series 325
Index 329
~ Apollo by the Numbers