![]() I am of the hope that these problems are temporary: not road blocks, but speed bumps. We don’t have a rocket system to repeat these adventures, and even our ability to get people into low-Earth orbit is hampered. ![]() Right now, the future of NASA is in considerable doubt. ![]() We owe a huge amount of our technology today to those exploits. For a period of a few years, time and again, we hurled men into space on a days-long journey to our nearest astronomical neighbor, seeing what humans could do, and learning vast amounts about science… and all the while creating new engineering to do it. Sound familiar? I will freely admit that the Apollo mission was driven by the Cold War and fear of the Soviet Union, but sometimes the fruit of efforts with dubious beginnings ripens into something that far exceeds the reasons for planting the seeds. It was done in a time of increasing inflation and the beginnings of economic uncertainty that would explode in the 1970s, when racial strife was at a peak, and when we were deep into a war in a foreign land with no apparent hope of getting extricated. These are historical evidence of one of the most extraordinary adventures we humans have ever undertaken. These aren’t just pixels on a screen, or squiggles and splotches in a picture. It’s possible that Pete Conrad and Al Bean just preferred to keep the crater on their left or right as they walked around it, or if they really went around it the other way coming back just to see something new.īut either way, that’s a very human thing to do, and it really brought home to me the reality of what they did. I do that to see what else there is there to see. When I come across a field, or a lake, or some other interesting spot I go around it one way first and the other way coming back. Then, the LM separated and went into solar orbit or crashed into the Moon.I’m not sure why they did that, but when I hike in the mountains I do that exact same thing. After a few course correction burns, the LM would dock with the CSM for transfer of the crew and rock samples. To leave the Moon, the LM would use the descent stage as a launch platform and fire the ascent engine to climb back into orbit. Finally, three-foot-long probes extending from three footpads of the lander touched the surface, the descent engine cut off and the LM settled on the surface. At this point, the commander took over control and, with just enough fuel reserve, hovered for about two minutes to make any corrections before landing. During final approach, the LM pitched over to a near-vertical position, allowing the crew to look forward and down to see the lunar surface. Then, the engine was started again and, with the crew flying on their backs, the computer slowed the LM’s forward and vertical velocity to near zero. After achieving a lunar parking orbit, the commander and LM pilot powered up the LM, replaced the hatches and docking equipment, unfolded and locked the landing legs and separated from the CSM, flying independently.Īfter the command module pilot visually inspected the LM landing gear from the CSM, the LM was withdrawn to a safe distance and the descent engine performed a 30-second burn to reduce speed and drop close to the surface. During the flight to the Moon, the docking hatches were opened and the LM pilot entered to temporarily power up and test systems.
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