Apollo 15: Timing of mission milestones

Space News
space history and artifacts articles

Messages
space history discussion forums

Sightings
worldwide astronaut appearances

Resources
selected space history documents

collectSPACE: Messages

Mercury - Gemini - Apollo

profile | register | preferences | faq | search

next newest topic | next oldest topic

Author

Topic: Apollo 15: Timing of mission milestones

Fra Mauro
Member

Posts: 1624
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 04-09-2010 12:55 AM

I reading the NASA mission reports on Apollo 15 and two things struck me -- how little time they had after the third EVA to depart the lunar surface, and that the S-II stage was firing for about 40 seconds before the interstage jettisoned.

mikej
Member

Posts: 481
From: Germantown, WI USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 04-09-2010 04:29 PM

Are you certain you did your math correctly?

My first thought was that the difference was somehow due to the fact that Apollo 15 was the first flight without S-II ullage engines and only four S-IC retros, but when I compared the Saturn V Launch Vehicle Flight Evaluation Reports from Apollos 14, 15, and 16, the relative timing is identical, and the actual timing is very similar.

Event	Apollo 14	Apollo 15	Apollo 16
S-IC/S-II Separation Command	164.8	161.2	163.5
S-II Engine Start Command	165.5	161.9	164.2
S-II Mainstage	168.5	164.9	167.2
S-II Second Plane Separation	194.8	191.2	193.5

Fra Mauro
Member

Posts: 1624
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 04-12-2010 12:20 AM

I got my numbers from p. 14 of the Apogee series on Apollo 15---SII Ignition at 2.42.2 and abd S-II Interstage Jettison at 3.10.5

All times are CT (US)	next newest topic \| next oldest topic
Administrative Options: Close Topic \| Archive/Move \| Delete Topic
	Hop to:

Contact Us | The Source for Space History & Artifacts

Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a