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Author
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Topic: Plot board of Apollo 6 flight to orbit
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BBlatcher Member Posts: 57 From: Savannah, GA, USA Registered: Aug 2011
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posted 11-20-2012 10:58 AM
While re-reading Apollo by, Charles Murray and Catherine Cox, I came across this description of the Apollo 6 flight: "The plot boards showing where the Saturn had wandered looked as if a drunk had been drawing the trajectory."Is there an photo of that plot board online? I'd love to see what it looks like. |
garymilgrom Member Posts: 1966 From: Atlanta, GA Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 11-20-2012 12:41 PM
Remember this was the second all up test of the Saturn V. It had problems with engines in the first two stages and some reports have it entering orbit while thrusting toward the Earth.I believe the S-IVB stage engine also had a problem restarting. This last unmanned test of the moon rocket shows how gutsy NASA was to man the next flight and how brave those men were. |
bwhite1976 Member Posts: 283 From: Belleville, IL Registered: Jun 2011
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posted 11-20-2012 02:21 PM
I have always wondered about that passage from Murray and Cox's Apollo and glad you mentioned it. I recall reading that at one point the prolonged pitched up attitude(due to the lost engines) made the IMU pitch the nose of the rocket straight downwards to the center of the Earth so that it could correct course? Also, that the rocket went into orbit backwards? Was it actually pointed backwards? |
BBlatcher Member Posts: 57 From: Savannah, GA, USA Registered: Aug 2011
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posted 11-20-2012 04:12 PM
Here's the relevant paragraphs from the book (the part in parentheses is my addition to clarify who's speaking): After the two engines had gone out, the vehicle had maintained a pitched-up attitude known as chi-freeze for far longer than it would have under ordinary circumstances. "Well, the S-IVB lit up," (Flight Dynamics Officer Jay) Greene recalled, "and the first thing it said was, 'Omigod, I've got too much altitude.' And so it pointed its nose straight at the center of the earth." This battle between the guidance system and the gimbal limits on the engine continued for about eighty seconds, with Greene getting closer and closer to an abort call of his own. When the S-IVB finally gave up trying to get to the altitude it wanted, it had a flight-path angle that was unacceptably low. "So then the little devil said, 'Well, this is bad, I've got to pick up the flight-path angle,' so it started pitching up, and as it started pitching up it said, 'Now I'm over speed,' so it actually went into orbit thrusting backward." The plot boards showing where the Saturn had wandered looked as if a drunk had been drawing the trajectory. It was without question the most exciting powered launch anybody in the MOCR had ever witnessed. "A fascinating flight," Greene said tersely — his very first shift in the MOCR. What was he doing all this time? "Puckering." | |
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Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a
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