Space Age Britain

Apollo 12 - Part 2 - SCE to AUX

2009-11-16T00:29:00.004Z

Here's the thing - John Aaron was 24 at the time.

Coming Soon - Apollo 12

2009-11-05T00:06:00.008Z

or, 'When Three Navy Pilots Got Hold of a Spaceship'

Apollo 12 Saturn V rolls out from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), en route to Launch Pad Complex 39A. Launch date is set for November 14th, 1969.

Apollo 11 - Part 5

2009-07-24T23:55:00.003+01:00

Apollo 11 - Part 4 - The Landing & Moonwalk

2009-07-21T01:39:00.004+01:00

And so, at last, it had happened.

"Tranquility Base here. The 'Haystack' has landed."

Not quite as evocative as the actual words, but the early NASA internal planning name for the 'Eagle' was indeed 'Haystack'. The Command Module, named 'Columbia' was referred to as 'Snowcone'. Good move to choose better names before announcing the mission to the world.

Apollo 11 - Part 3 - En Route to the Moon

2009-07-18T11:16:00.004+01:00

Space Food

Apollo 11 - Part 2 - LAUNCH DAY

2009-07-16T00:46:00.004+01:00

Yes, we now know it happened, and it was of course totally successful.

But forty years later I find the lift-off as exciting, moving and, yes, tense as the child of six years old did.

What about you?

No one knew for sure that all would go well - but they believed that it would. I think that belief counted for a lot, and still does.

This slow motion coverage of the lift off, featuring the various pad systems as they automatically disconnect from the Saturn V just as it starts to move, is really fascinating.

Stay with it and towards the end of the film there are a great few seconds of the Saturn V stack disappearing into the blue sky...en route to the Moon...at last!

Apollo 11 - Part 1

2009-07-12T04:16:00.003+01:00

Apollo 10 - part 5

2009-05-28T01:36:00.002+01:00

Home Again!

Apollo 10 - part 4

2009-05-25T16:29:00.004+01:00

Apollo 10 - part 3

2009-05-18T23:02:00.008+01:00

Launch Day

Headed for the launch pad, Apollo 10 commander Tom Stafford pats the nose of a stuffed Snoopy held by Jamye Flowers (Coplin), astronaut Gordon Cooper's secretary. Photo Credit: NASA

And again, in slow motion...

Apollo 10 - part 2

2009-05-16T23:41:00.010+01:00

Meet the Crew

Gene Cernan : John Young : Tom Stafford

Gene Cernan, whilst paving the way for the first man on the moon, was eventually to be the last man on the Moon.

John Young had flown Gemini, and went on to fly the Apollo Command Module, Apollo Lunar Module and the Space Shuttle. He also drove the Lunar Rover on the Moon.

Tom Stafford flew Gemini, Apollo and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

This was the first manned space mission to contain an all-veteran crew - the mission was very challenging and therefore proven, experienced crewmembers were selected to carry it out. This was essentially a dress rehearsal for a Moon landing, and was required to bring Stafford and Cernan's lunar module "Snoopy" to only 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) above the lunar surface.

Except for the final descent from 8.4 miles down to the surface, the landing and later Lunar liftoff, the mission was designed to simulate exactly the landing approach, and later Lunar orbit rendezvous after lift-off with the Command Module ("Charlie Brown").

For Mission Control in Houston and Apollo's extensive tracking and control network around the world this crucial, but nonetheless challenging test was intended to form a dry run for a Moon landing mission.

But remember - none of this was routine. Little of it had been done before.

And none of it had been done whilst circling the Moon, a quarter of a million miles away...

Apollo 10 - part 1

2009-05-13T00:20:00.002+01:00

Coming soon - Apollo 10

Apollo 10 leaves the VAB behind as it heads towards pad 39B

The Apollo 10 mission was to be the all up test for the first manned Moon landing mission. The crew would do everything the first landing mission would do - except touch down on the Moon.

The key objectives were to be a full test of the Lunar Module in Moon orbit and perhaps the most nerve wracking of all manoeuvres, the rendezvous and docking of the Lunar and Command modules a quarter of a million miles away over the surface of the Moon. As ever, there was no hope of rescue if anything went wrong.

We'll meet the crew in a couple of days, then join us for the launch on May 18th.

Apollo 9 - part 3

2009-03-18T09:39:00.006Z

Here's a couple more short clips of the Apollo 9 mission. One shows the Command and Service Module, 'Gumdrop', orbiting with the hatch open, allowing EVAs to be performed around the spacecraft. The other features the Lunar Module, 'Spider', being tested in Earth orbit. This mission was the first time a manned 'pure' spacecraft had been tested in space. By that I mean that the Lunar Module had no capacity to serve as a viable re-entry vehicle to Earth. It was built only to operate in space and in a low gravity environment like the Moon.

The astronauts took Spider out to over a hundred miles away from the Command and Service Module, using the Lunar descent engine to travel out, and the Lunar ascent engine to return. The film clearly shows the ascent stage of the LM (minus the LM descent stage with it's landing legs) returning to rendezvous with the CSM. The crew then successfully re-docked with the CSM. That's proper test pilot stuff.

Having rehearsed and proved the major procedures of undocking, free flight, rendezvous and redocking, the next time U.S. astronauts would perform the feat would be a quarter of a million miles away whilst orbiting the Moon.

That test, amongst many others would take place on the Apollo 10 mission, scheduled for May 1969.

Apollo 9 - part 2

2009-03-03T12:54:00.004Z

Apollo 9 - part 1

2009-02-15T23:03:00.006Z

Continuing the 40 year retrospective look at the Apollo Moon landing programme:- Coming Soon - Apollo 9!

Launch date is set for March 3rd. This will be the first tests in space of the Lunar Module - which needs to work properly to enable a landing on the Moon, followed of course by a safe return to Earth for the crew. The LEM tests will be carried out in Earth orbit.

Let's Go to the Moon this Christmas - 10

2008-12-28T02:41:00.004Z

SPLASHDOWN!

I couldn't find a video of the Apollo 8 splashdown, so here's one they did later - Apollo 15;

So the mission went almost perfectly. A good thing too.
In November 1970, it must have preyed on Jim Lovell's mind that had the Service Module exploded on Apollo 8, as it did on his later flight Apollo 13, there would have been no hope of recovering control and returning to Earth. Apollo 13 only made it back because they had the Lunar Module still attached and were able to use it's engine to power back to Earth before the crew all died of exposure or more likely, asphyxiation.

In the case of Apollo 8 though, once the mission had slowed from the free return trajectory to orbit the Moon, there was only one way back; firing the Service Module engine successfully.
The mission was a bold and courageous undertaking. There was no back up plan, no hope of rescue and no experience to draw upon. The Apollo 8 mission emboldened NASA and made the Moon landing in 1969 a possibility - it converted hope into experience.

Let's Go to the Moon this Christmas - 9

2008-12-26T13:04:00.005Z

Apollo 8 is now about half way between the Moon and the Earth, coasting back towards a splashdown rendezvous in the Pacific Ocean on the afternoon of the 27th December.

To illustrate the difference in the size and capability of a launcher and spacecraft system needed to support a lunar mission as opposed to Earth orbital trips, here's a scale comparison of the first three U.S. launch systems. Mercury, a single man system was the first, followed by the two man Gemini and lastly the three man Apollo.

Let's Go to the Moon this Christmas - 8

2008-12-25T02:32:00.006Z

Having orbited the Moon for a day, all the crew needed to do now was to come home to Earth. This required a long burn of the single SPS engine to increase their speed to escape the Moon's gravity and head off in the right direction for Earth. Here's some extracts from the verbatim flight logs:

Public Affairs Officer - "This is Apollo Control Houston at 89 hours, 19 minutes into the flight. We are now less than 30 seconds to the scheduled time of ignition for the maneuver to start Apollo 8 on its course back to Earth. In the last 15 seconds, prior to ignition, the crew will be burning their Service Propulsion System - rather their Reaction Control System engines to settle propellants. And here in Mission Control Center, we have just counted down to the burn. We should have ignition at this time. That will be a 3-minute and 18-second burn nominally. It will increase the spacecraft velocity by about 3,522 feet per second or some 2,395 miles per hour. Following the maneuver, The spacecraft should have a velocity of about 8,800 feet per second - some 6,000 miles per hour. And here in Mission Control, it is relatively quiet, as it has been since we lost communications with the spacecraft as they went over the Moon's horizon. At this point, flight controllers here in Mission Control, as with the rest of the world, now they are waiting."

089:20:16 Anders (onboard): Burned for 1 minute.

089:20:18 Borman (onboard): Okay.

Public Affairs Officer - "Coming up in just a few seconds now, we should have shutdown of the Service Propulsion System engine on the spacecraft that should have occurred at 89 hours - or rather will be occurring at 89 hours, 22 minutes, 34 seconds. Actually, we are just a little less than a minute from that event. And the clock here in Mission Control Center that is counting down to the time when we will reacquire the spacecraft shows that we have 6 minutes, 30 seconds until reacquisition. At this point, the SPS engine should be shut down and we will now be waiting for the spacecraft to come over the lunar horizon and give us a report on their status We now show 5 minutes, 45 seconds until reacquisition."

089:23:02 Borman (onboard): 1, OFF.

089:23:03 Anders (onboard): Got it.

089:23:04 Borman (onboard): 2, OFF.

089:23:05 Anders (onboard): Got it.

089:23:06 Borman (onboard): 3, OFF.

089:23:07 Anders (onboard): Got it.

089:23:08 Borman (onboard): 4, OFF.

089:23:09 Borman (onboard): Got it.

089:23:10 Borman (onboard): Okay -

089:23:11 Anders (onboard): TVC SERVO POWER, 1 and 2. OFF.

089:23:13 Borman (onboard): OFF.

089:23:14 Anders (onboard): FLIGHT Recorders OFF; MAIN BUS ties, going OFF; A is OFF - -

089:23:20 Lovell (onboard): There we go.

089:23:22 Anders (onboard): - - B is OFF.

089:23:23 Anders (onboard): Proceed.

089:23:24 Borman (onboard): Wait a minute. Did you get all this, Jim?

089:23:26 Lovell (onboard): Yes.

089:23:28 Anders (onboard): You ready to proceed?

089:23:29 Lovell (onboard): Proceed. I'll get these.

089:23:31 Anders (onboard): Okay, null residuals. Record DELTA-V.

089:23:33 Lovell (onboard): Minus 54 - -

089:23:34 Borman (onboard): That 0.5?

089:23:36 Lovell (onboard): Yes, 0.5.

089:23:37 Anders (onboard): You don't have to do a thing to that.

089:23:39 Borman (onboard): Just record it.

089:23:41 Anders (onboard): Record DELTA-Vc.

089:23:43 Borman (onboard): Minus - that's up here - minus26.4.

089:23:49 Lovell (onboard): I got 26.4, and the burn time was- -

089:23:52 Borman (onboard): Minus 26.4.

089:23:53 Lovell (onboard): - - have it, burn time was 2minutes (cough) and 23 seconds.

089:23:58 Borman (onboard): Okay, can we proceed out of here, then? You got all this?

089:24:01 Lovell (onboard): I have all that.

089:24:02 Borman (onboard): Proceed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Public Affairs Officer - "This is Apollo Control Houston at 89 hours, 26 minutes. Flight Director Milton Windler has just advised his flight control team here in Mission Control Center that we have less than 3 minutes now until reacquisition of the spacecraft and he requested that they monitor their console, get prepared to reacquire and to get a status from the crew. (Pause.)"

Public Affairs Officer - "This is Apollo Control Houston. We now show less than 30 seconds until reacquisition. We will stand by for the first words from the Apollo 8 crew as they come over the lunar horizon, and into acquisition."

Public Affairs Officer - "We have AOS signal. There is a little bit of a cheer going up among the flight controllers here. We should be hearing from the crew shortly."

Public Affairs Officer - "Our station at Honeysuckle reports that we do have a radio signal from the spacecraft. Having a bit of trouble locking up at this point, to the point where we can get voice communications from the crew."

089:31:12 Mattingly: Apollo 8, Houston. [No answer.]

089:31:30 Mattingly: Apollo 8, Houston. [No answer.]

089:31:58 Mattingly: Apollo 8, Houston. [No answer.]

089:32:50 Mattingly: Apollo 8, Houston. [No answer.]

089:33:38 Mattingly: Apollo 8, Houston.

089:34:16 Lovell: Houston, Apollo 8, over.

089:34:19 Mattingly: Hello, Apollo 8. Loud and clear.

089:34:25 Lovell: Roger. Please be informed there is a Santa Claus.
089:34:31 Mattingly: That's affirmative. You're the best ones to know.

089:34:37 Lovell: And burn status report: it burned on time; Burn time, 2 minutes, 23 seconds; seven-tenths plus VGX. Attitude nominal, residuals; minus five-tenths VGX, plus four-tenths VGY, minus 0 VGZ; Delta-VC, minus 26.4.

089:35:14 Mattingly: Roger.

089:35:19 Mattingly: Apollo FLIGHT has...

089:35:23 Mattingly: Apollo 8, reconfirm your burn time, please.

089:35:30 Lovell: Roger. We had 2 minutes, 23 seconds. Our - wait one. Stand corrected to that; 3 minutes, 23 seconds.

089:35:43 Mattingly: Thank you. [Long pause.]

Public Affairs Officer - "This is Mission Control, Houston. Flight Dynamics Officer says that burn is good."

089:36:33 Borman: You get the sensation that you're climbing, Ken.

089:36:35 Mattingly: Say again, Apollo 8.

089:36:41 Borman: I say, this gives you the sensation that you're climbing.

089:36:47 Mattingly: Rog. [Pause.]

089:36:53 Borman:. What's next on the docket?

089:36:56 Mattingly: High Gain Antenna. [Long pause.]

089:37:10 Mattingly: Apollo 8, at the first convenient moment, we'd like to have the High Gain Antenna.

089:37:19 Borman: You've got it; you're on the High Gain.

089:37:25 Mattingly: Rog.

.....and that was that, they were on their way home. No drama, no excitement, just on to the next thing on the checklist. These guys really were ice-cool.

Let's Go to the Moon this Christmas - 7

2008-12-25T01:53:00.001Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7797439.stm

Have a Happy - Space Age - Christmas!

Let's Go to the Moon this Christmas - 6

2008-12-24T21:42:00.001Z

Time to get busy. Slowing from 15,000 miles per hour and positioning Apollo 8 into a stable orbit around the Moon was a precise and risky procedure. It involved turning the spacecraft around and firing its powerful Service Module engine for precisely four and a half minutes — an eternity of time when even a couple of seconds is enough to send a spacecraft spinning irretrievably off course. The engine burn was designed to slow the spacecraft down enough to insert it into a lunar orbit without losing so much altitude that it crashed into the Moon instead.
Orbital mechanics also demanded that the manoeuvre should take place on the dark side of the moon, entirely out of radio contact with Earth. At 68 hours and 58 minutes into their journey, the crew strapped in and vanished around the Moon's far side, out of sight, out of contact with everything they had ever known.

Ten minutes later, Jim Lovell typed the instructions for the engine burn into the on-board computer, and the computer flashed back "99:40," which was it's code for "Are You Sure?". Lovell was. He pressed the 'Proceed' button. The engine ignited, performed flawlessly and the burn worked exactly as scripted. That and subsequent burns inserted Apollo 8 into an lunar orbit 68 miles high at its 'peak' and at it's lowest point just 60 miles above the tops of the lunar mountains.
And even before Apollo 8 came around the other side of the Moon and back into radio contact with Mission Control, Houston, Bill Anders had spotted and photographed what no human being had ever witnessed before. It is surely the most iconic photo of the space age and one of the most iconic of any age - Earthrise over the Moon.

This photograph became important and iconic after the astronauts had returned to Earth. At the time it's existence was unknown to those watching and listening to the live coverage from NASA.
But what was to follow later, on Christmas Eve in the U.S., early on Christmas Day in the U.K., no-one had predicted or prepared for. It was historic - the largest worldwide television audience ever at that time tuned in to see the Astronauts broadcasting a 'normal' PR slot from their Apollo spacecraft.
They got that.
But what they also witnessed was the ultimate Christmas Special, transmitted live to planet Earth from a quarter of a million miles away, 60 miles above the surface of the Moon....

Let's Go to the Moon this Christmas - 5

2008-12-24T01:28:00.000Z

As Apollo 8 speeds towards its rendezvous with the Moon, let's jump forward in time 40 years to see what the astronauts have to say now about their pioneering journey way back in 1968.

Let's Go to the Moon this Christmas - 4

2008-12-21T22:59:00.000Z

A flawless launch - Apollo 8 is on it's way to the Moon. If all goes well, it will take three days to travel approximately 240,000 miles, and arrive in the vicinity of the Moon on Christmas Eve.

Here's another view of that launch, this time taken by remote camera at the top of the service tower, about level with the Apollo capsule containing the crew, approximately 365 feet above the ground.

Since the launch to Earth orbit, jettisoning the first (S-1C) and second (SII) stages along the way, Apollo 8 has been checking out all systems in preparation for a TLI (Trans Lunar Injection) burn of the third stage (S-IVB). The trusty third stage has already powered the Apollo 8 spacecraft on the final leg to Earth orbit before being shut down. Now travelling at around 17,000 miles per hour, it will be restarted to accelerate the Apollo 8 spacecraft to 27,000 miles per hour, enough speed to escape Earth's gravity and reach the Moon on Christmas Eve.

Join us soon for another.....

Let's Go to the Moon this Christmas - 3

2008-12-21T11:18:00.000Z

Nearly time for lift-off. The countdown has been proceeding well since December 16th with no major problems along the way. Quite important for a new rocket, the Saturn V, which so far has had two okay-ish test flights. Today will be the first manned flight and it is hoped that modifications to the booster stages will work as planned.
Travelling to the Moon raises the stakes considerably in the event of a problem. In Earth orbit, assuming that there has not been a complete disaster, the astronauts can separate their capsule from the rocket stages and re-enter Earth's atmosphere. Gravity is an ally. A Moon mission however presents a quite different situation. Once out of the Earth's gravitational field and captured by the Moon's, it is only possible to return to Earth by either swinging around the Moon and coming straight back to Earth in a 'sling-shot' trajectory, or, if already in orbit around the Moon by accelerating away from the Moon using rocket power. Either way, the Astronauts will be several days away from Earth for much of their journey. Apart from radio and telemetry links with Mission Control in Houston, Texas, they are effectively on their own.
Of course, the crew, Borman, Lovell and Anders are all experienced in handling potentially risky situations, and they are well trained. As the countdown runs down through the Terminal Phase, let's meet them.

L-R - James (Jim) Lovell [Command Module Pilot], William (Bill) Anders [Lunar Module Pilot], Frank Borman [Mission Commander].

The Apollo 8 crew 'left the building' earlier this morning and are now waiting atop their Saturn V for a lift-off scheduled at around 12.50 GMT (7.50 EST).

Let's Go to the Moon this Christmas - 2

2008-12-08T08:56:00.000Z

Some broadcasts will be in black and white, but, as far as we can, we'll be following the mission using BBC2's new colour service...

Let's Go to the Moon this Christmas - 1

2008-12-06T00:04:00.000Z

Forty years ago, three men set off to travel around the Moon for Christmas. It's almost unbelievable now to think that in 1968 such a thing would be possible. It would be impossible now.
Yet 40 years ago, as a small boy of 5 years old, not only did I take this amazing feat for granted, it seemed that almost everybody did - it was going to be the 'first step'. Now of course we know that it was almost the last. At the time though it was the most exciting thing in my young life and sparked my longest lasting interest - space travel, and all it's works.

So join me, and let's travel back to 1968 and remember - or imagine - what it was like.

The date is December 5th 1968 and the Saturn 5 is on the pad, being prepared for launch later this month. The crew, Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lovell are training for their flight. They will become the first people to travel out of the Earth's gravitational field and be captured in orbit by another celestial body, the Moon, 240,000 miles away.

They will do this with no rehearsal, no back up plan, no hope of rescue. Forty years later, they are all still alive. The Apollo 8 crew is pictured below at the rollout of the Saturn V at the Cape.

Let's close by taking a look at their Moonrocket, now standing quietly, being prepared, on Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on the Atlantic coast in Florida.

Full of Hot Air

2008-06-20T22:15:00.000+01:00

As seen over our house about an hour ago:

Looks like the 21st is going to be a washout, so let's call these the official record of a warm Summer night at the brightest time of the year.

All Systems Go!

2008-05-17T11:14:00.000+01:00

During the tea/cigarette/ice lolly picture card collecting mania of the 60s, amongst many others were two sets of cards issued by Lyons Maid.
One was called 'All Systems Go', the other was called 'Space Age Britain'. You might also have heard of Wall's 'Moon Fleet' set.

All these sets of cards pictured optimistic, technology based promises of a future without drawbacks. They are quite charming. Just right for the Thunderbirds generation.

From time to time I'll put one up here with the text and you can see what you think.

By the way, the rocket pictured above is the British built Black Arrow. It was successfully launched several times from Australia from the mid sixties to the early seventies, placing our satellites into Earth orbit.

To date, Great Britain remains the only country ever to have developed a space launching capability - and then abandoned it.