apollo experience report flight planning for manned space operations

8/8/2019 Apollo Experience Report Flight Planning for Manned Space Operations

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A

OLLO EXPERIENCE REPORT -

John W. OWeill , J . B . Cotter, and T. W. HollowaySpacecrafi Center

77058

I O N A L A E R O N A U T I C S A N D S P A CE A D M I N I S T R A T I O N W A S H I N G T O N , D. C. S E PT E MB E R 1972


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i. R e p a i t NG.NASA Tl4 0-0973

f this page) 21. NO. of Pages5 O n

I 2 Government Accession No.I . '

22. Rice'$3.00

~4. Title and Subtit leAPOLLOEXPERIENCEREPORTFLIGHT PLANNING FOR MANNED SPACE OPERATIONS

7. A u t h o r k )John W. O'Neill, J. B. Cotter, andT. W . Holloway, MSC9. Performing Organization Name and AddressManned Spacecraft CenterHouston, Texas 77058

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and AddressNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationWashington, D.C. 20546

3. Recipient's Catalog No.

5. Report Date6. Performing Organization Code

September 1972.---~

8. Performing Organization Rep ort No.MSC S-31910. Work Unit No .

914- 80-23-96-7211. Contract or Grant No.

13. Type of Report and Period CoveredTechnical Note14 . Sponsoring Agency Code

The MS C Director waived the us e of the Inte rnational System of Units (SI) for5. Supplementary Notes:his Apollo Experience Report, because, in his judgment, us e of SI Units would impair the usefulnessIf the report o r result in excessive cost.16. Abstract

The history of flight planning fo r manned space missions is outlined, and descriptions and examplesof the variol;s c~dz t imzry hases nf f!ight data documents from Proj ect Mercury to the ApolloProgram are included. Emphasis is given to the Apollo flight plan. Timeline fo rmat and contentare discussed in relationship to the manner in which they are affected by the types of flight plans.and various constraints.

~~~~~ ~17 . Key Words (Suggested by Auth ods ) )' Apollo Pro gra m' Crew- Activity Scheduling' Flight Planning'Timeline

19. Security Classif. (o f this report) 20. Security Classif. (None ] None

18. Distribution Statement

I I

* For sale by th e Na t i o n a l Technical Information Service. Springfield. Virginia 22151


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Section

CONTENTS

PageSUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BACKGROUND O F FLIGHT PLANNING FOR MANNED SPACE MISSIONS . . . .

Purpose of Flight Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Evolution of Flight Plans Through the Apollo Program . . . . . . . . . . . . .

APOLLO 12 FLIGHT PLAN SAMPLES AND DESCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . .Introductory and Administrative Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Detailed Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Selected Supporting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FLIGHT PLAN SCHEDULES AND DATA REQUIREMENTSFactors Affecting Flight Plan Development SchedulesData Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .

DEVELOPMENT O F THE FLIGHT PLAN TIMELINE CONTENT . . . . . . . . .Abbreviated Timeline as a Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Detailed Timeline Fo rmat and ContentFinal Abbreviated Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Interaction of Detailed Flight Planning. Trajectory Refinement.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Proced ures Development. and Crew Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .REAL-TIME OPERATIONS IN THE MISSION CONTROL CENTERCONTINGENCY AND ALTERNATE FLIGHT PLAN DEVELOPMENT

. . . . . . . .. . . . . . .

Contingency Flight Plan Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alternate Flight Plan Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11337

111 1172226262829303032

3234353539

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Section Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .LIGHT PLAN CHANGE CONTROL. 39

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .andidate Change Evaluation 40Flight Plan Configuration-Control Pr oc es s 40

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42ONCLUDING REMARKS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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F I G U R E S

Figure Page4Technical evolution of f light plan and flight data file . . . . . . . . . .

2 Flight planning information utilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Excerpt fr om detailed timeline of Mercury M light plan . . . . . . . 84 Excerpt f ro m detailed timeline of Gemini XI1 flight plan . . . . . . . 105 Partial abbreviations listing from Apollo 1 2 final flight plan . . . . . 1 26 Symbology description in ch de d in Apollo 12 final flight plan . . , . 137 Excerpt f ro m the notes section of Apollo 12 finalflight pla n.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Lithium hydroxide ca ni st er change schedule fro m Apollo 1 2fina l flight plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Excerpt fr om mission requi rements refer ence chart of Apollo 1 2final flight plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

10 Excerpt f ro m earth-o rbit al detailed timeline of Apollo 1 2final flight plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1811 Excerpt f rom TLC period of Apollo 12 final flight plandetailed timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 2 Excerpt f ro m Apollo 1 2 final flight plan detailed timel ine coveringsimultaneous operation of two vehicles in lunar o rbi t . . . . . . . . 2013 Example of graphical presen tation of spacecra ft- maneuvering data inApollo 1 2 final flight plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 114 Graphical presen tation of landmark- tracking information fr omApollo 1 2 final flight plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2215 Summary of se rv ic e propulsion sys te m predicted propellant usagef r om Apollo 12 final flight plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2316 Excerpt f rom abbreviated timeline of Apollo 1 2 final flight plan a . . 2417 Alternate mission 1 summary flight plan f or Apollo 1 2 CSM . . . . . 2518 Contingency flight plan breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

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Figure Page19 Typical Apollo mission contingency flight plan format . . . . . , . . , . 3820 Apollo operations change-control boards at MSC. . . . . . . . . . . , . 41


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AOSASP0CCBCPCBCSMc. s. t.DO1EVAFA0GETiMLO1LOSMCCMCC-HMCC-1MOCRMSCMSFNPTCR&DRCSRE FSMMATS IVB

ACRONYMS

acquisition of signalApollo Spacecra ft Pr og ra m OfficeConfiguration Con ro1 BoardCrew Pr oced ure s Change Boardcommand- se rv ice modulecentral standard timedescent orbit insertionextravehicular activityflight activities officerground elapsed time!!Lnar mndl-llelunar orbit insertionlos s of signalMission Control CenterMission Control Center, Houstonmidcourse correction 1Mission Operations Control RoomManned Spacecraft Cente rManned Space Flight Networkpassive the rma l controlre se ar ch and developmentreaction control systemreference stable member matrixSaturn IVB (third) stage

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SPSTD&ETECTEITIGTLCTLI

service propulsion syst emtransposition, docking, and extrac tiontransearth coasttransearth in e c iontime of ignitiontranslunar coasttranslunar injection

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APOLLO E X P E R l ENCE REPORTFL IGHT PL ANN ING FOR MANNED SPACE OPERATIONS

By J o h n W . O'Ne i l l , J . 6. Co t te r ,a n d T. W. HollowayM a n n e d S p a c e c ra f t C e n t e rSUMMARY

The purpose of a flight plan is to organize the activit ies of a mission in a logical,efficient, and sa fe manner. During the premission phase, flight plans a r e developed tosupport har dwa re definition, to support the integration of the cr ew and vehicle, and toprovide a basis fo r crew training and mission simulations. During a mission, the flight=hming team- suppnrts the Flight Director by monitoring flight plan activiti es, antici-pating prob lems necessitating the preparat ion of alter nate plans, monitoring overallcrew procedur es, and modifying the procedures when necessary.Flight planning has g reatly incr eased in complexity fro m previous pr og ra ms to thepresent missions of the Apollo Progr am. Using the Apollo 1 2 final flight plan as an ex-ample, this repor t describes the present st ate of the flight planning a r t in detail. Thediscussion is oriented around a three-way division of the flight plan: introductory in-formation, timeline, and supporting data. The timeline format and content a r e di s-cussed, and the elements affecting the timeline a r e described.Flight plan development and scheduling of crew activities a r e discussed. Facto rsthat affect scheduling include mission type, launch frequency, crew training and simula-tions, and flight plan corr elat ion to othe r onboard data. The interplay of these and otherfactors are described, and the effect on flight planning data requirements is outlined.One section of th is repo rt is devoted to contingency and alternat e flight plans.Contingency flight plans include timelines for situations in which some mission objec-tives a r e abandoned to avoid violation of the mission rules. Alterna te flight plans are

designed for us e on nonnominal launch dates.INTRODU CT ION

It has long been accepted that any major project should have a documented plancovering what is to be done, how, when, b y whom, the cost, the fore seeable problems,and the alternative solutions to these problems. The plan is the means by which therol es and responsibilities a r e communicated to t h e project participants; it is the


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yardstick by which performance is measured. In recent year s, the concept of planninghas been expanded and incorporated as a basic element of sys te ms engineering. Ju stas the entire integrated sys tem s assembly and the interrelat ed requ irements and con-str ain ts must be considered in the purely technical functions of sy st em s analysis, de-sign, development, and testing, the planning of the project al so must cover the completerange of activi ties nece ssary t o reach the s ys te ms development goal.The actual execution of a manned s pac e flight certainly must be ranked as one ofthe largest and most complex projects ever undertaken; and the need fo r a documentedplan is even more cr it ica l because of the complex goals, re sou rce s, and constra intsthat must be interr ela ted. The flight plan fo r a manned mission, therefore, must bedesigned to fulfill all the listed planning requiremen ts in regar d to the mission person-nel and resources. The questions answered in the flight plan are described in the fol-lowing paragraphs.W h a t is to be done? Whata re the mission objectives and what are all the crew

and ground-control activities required to perf or m these objectives ?How ? What a r e the safest, most efficient, and most potentially successf ul crew

and ground procedu res f or accomplishing the objectives and all prerequ isite activities ?When? What a r e the durations of these activities , and what is the most logicaland effective sequence that ensu re s adequate time fo r all critical activities ?By whom? What is the procedural re lationship of the flight crew and ground-support function? What are the proper division and interaction of the onboard ta sksamong the crew, taking into account the constr aint s of the vehicle and spac eenvironment ?At what cost ? What is the most efficient and safes t way to execute the mission inte rm s of all consumables and resources, such as propellants, el ect ri cal power, life-support water and oxygen, photographic film, and crew and mission time avai labl e?W h a t are the foreseeable problem s and alternative solutions? What effects accr uefr om possible inflight hardwa re probl ems or sl ips in the launch schedule, and what a r ethe new o r revised flight plans that will maximize what is to be gained fro m the al ter -nate or contingency mission?The discussion that follows t r ac es the evolution of flight planning fr om the f i r stmanned flights through the fi r s t two Apollo lunar- landing missions. The development,

change control, and real- time updating of the flight plans are discussed, and the im-portance of crew training and mission simulations in validating and modifying the flightplan is illustrated.

The changing relationship between the flight plan and other documentation used bythe crew ha s had a major impact on the flight plan purpose and content. This relation-ship and the associ ated changes are pres ente d whenever unique insight is to be gained.This document was pr epar ed by the Flight Planning Branch of the Crew Proce-dures Division, Flight Crew Operat ions Directo ra te , NASA Manned Spacecraft Center.Cofittribdting zGihGi*sfi*oiii h e Flight Planning Branch were W.M. Anderson, J. H.Bin,

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D. D. Durychj R , E. Ferguson? S. H. Gardner, G. E . Gentry, T. A. Guillory, J. N .Leech, E. B. Pippert, J. W. Fadcliff, L. J. Riche, J . V. Rivers: C. L. Stough, andMajor G. M. Colton, USAF. Acknowledgment is al so made to R. J. Rogers of TRWInc ., Houston Operations, f o r his contribution to the section on Apollo flight plan for-mats and samples. J. N. Leech and H. E. Moos, J r . , co-op students fr om PurdueUniversity, assisted in the final editing proces s.

BACKGROUND OF FL IGHT PL ANNING FOR M A NN ED S PA CE M I S S I O N SP u r p o s e of Flight P l a n s

As the objectives of a flight a r e determined, the flight plan is the means of opera-tional implementation. Using known sys te ms constraints, cr ew constraints, and opera-tional requireme nts, the flight planner schedules the crew activities and the major crewand ground-control interfaces.This scheduling function is necessar y in the premission phase t o support develop-ment of total operations plans, and it continues through the real-time mission operationto accommodate any necessar y changes resulting fr om actual mission events. Refer-ence flight plans for advanced-program missions can se rv e as systems-design inputsand evaluation toois.The rol e of flight plans in premiss ion support. - During the premission phase,flight plans are developed to support hardware definition and proper integration of crewcapability into the vehicle design. Flight plans also provide the basis f or c re w trainingand mission simulations as the program moves into the flight phase.During the mission conceptualization phase, genera l flight plan studies are oftenconducted to assist in establishing a realistic program definition and basic program ob-jectives. As the program moves into the hardware design phase, mor e detailed flightplanning is initiated to verify the operational compatibility of proposed spacecraf t s y s -te m designs with mission objectives, to introduce the operational knowledge gained fr omprevious pro gr ams into the sys tem s design, and to as su re that adequate operating flex-ibility is provided by the hardware. Studies based on design-reference flight plans in-clude (1) the u s e of hardware for backup and alternate missions, (2) the use of hardwaref or emergency situations, ( 3 ) proposed experiment-payload analyses, including esti-mate s of crew time available f o r experimentation, (4 ) the effects of t ra jectory and point-ing requir emen ts upon the flight plan, and ( 5 ) detailed timelines f or u se in consumablesanalyses.Throughout the hardw are design proce ss, the flight plan studies al so support de-tailed crew-integration ef forts. The fundamental goal of crew integration is to use maneffectively in th e space environment. The fo ur basic crew-integration functions a r e

(1)determining the operational adequacy of vehicle sys te ms and of the monitoring andcontrol capability required by the crew, ( 2 ) identifying and analyzing inflight operat ions,(3 ) optimizing the technical and scientific return fr om missions and the probability ofmission su cc es s through application of the capabilities of the crew, and ( 4 ) planning andconducting flight crew train ing. Because the flight plan is the outline of c rew act ivi ties,it is a most useful tool in all these area s.3


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Where vehicle- systems operational constr aints a r e not compatible with the to ta lmission system (the integrated crew-vehicle/ground-control syst em), these conflictsa r e evaluated for vehicle impact and crew -operations impact. When the crew op er a-tions are found to be unacceptable, a recommendation for design change is made. Thecontext of the recommended design change re fl ec ts the minimum hardware change thatis compatible with a safe and sufficient flight activity definition. The la tt er will havebeen evaluated agains t the total flight plan and the assoc iated constrain ts.cases of unacceptable crew operations, the hardware -change impact may be extensiverelative to schedules or funds. If the requirem ent fo r the flight activity still exists, a

In some

complex compromise must be reached to resolvethe requirement. In this case, the flight planbecomes the focal point of evaluating the alter-natives in crew operations, flight opera tions,and flight definition.

After the hardware is developed, the flightplan, as a means of integrating subsystem pro-cedural s te ps into flight activity definitions,becomes a pri mary reference in vehicle-integrated-test design. In many respects, proc-essing of data elements to generate the flightplan is essentially the s am e s ys te ms -engineeringapproach used to generate a detailed tes t objec-tive. Preliminary versions of lunar -missionflight plans we re used extensively in developingthe test plans fo r the Apollo command-servicemodule (CSM) and lunar module (LM) ful l-scalethermal tests in the Space Environmental Sim-ulation Laboratory at the NASA Manned Space-cr af t Center (MSC).

The evolution of the flight plan and flightdata file on the ba sis of functional data isshown in figure 1. These data elements do notnecessarily correspond to published documentsbut re flect types of information considered increw integration and flight planning. Followingthe evolution fr om top to bottom, it can be seenthat each data category is dependent on the p r e -ceding category.within a category has independent goals associ-ated with it.goals are delineated in figure 2.

Further, each data elementThe flight planning data-process ing

Gene r a l dataMission object ivesM i s s i o n e n v i r o n m e n t d a taSystems and en ginee r ing dataF l ight exper ience dataOper at iona l const r a in t s1

[ent of bas ic cr ew in te gr at io n data I-~ S i m u l a t i o n sSubsystem proceduresMiss ion oper at ions procedur esSpecial ized navigat ion products1

Applied cr e w in t egr at ion dat aSystems temporal dataIn t egr at ed cr ew o per at ionsFI iqht def in i t ion

Int egr at ed pr ocedur esFl ight p lan

1Onboard dataFl ight data f i le

I

Figure 1. - Technical evolution offlight plan and flight data file.


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I Genera! dataFlight planning

operations at the following interfaces.Man-vehicleVehicle-spaceMan-spaceIrsasic crewintaration data 1I 1

Flight planning

tI Fliaht Dlanninai n view ul mlsjion thjectives. !o:-u!a!e !ime -sq x?nc e? fligh t

1Flight planningDocument crew per ati on s information necessary to accomplish the

1 ;lihPkI 0111s other items of the fliah t data f l lP. II Onbcd rd data I

Figure 2. - Flight planning informationutilization.

The use and evaluation of flight Dlansin crew training ana mission simulaiioiis. -The first r e a l t e s t of the flight plan comes-when the c rew us es it, o r portions thereof,in vehicle simulators and other trainingexercises. The,,, flight planning becomesan even more iterative process. Crewtraining is the basic laboratory for d eter -mining the feasibility of not only the de-tailed procedures but also the various flighiplan phases.

When the crew has progress ed f romsys tems training to mission training, thepreliminary flight plan becomes the guide.A s the crew trains, th e flight planner r e -ceives feedback fro m the crew on the con-tinuity, the ord er , and the feasibility ofdifferent part s of the flight plan. Duringthis phase, the flight planner m us t workwith the crew to make sure that they under-stand some operational constraints thatmay not he obvinus, For example: com-munications with the ground ar e requiredf o r some engineering te sts and experimentsThis requirement may mean that the test orexperiment cannot be performed at the opti-mum time, based on crew workload, butmust be scheduled at a time when a Manned

Space Flight Network (MSFN) station will have contact with the spacecraf t. On theApollo 14 mission, the bistatic radar test required not only ground control and moni tor-ing but al so specific ground-tracking stations for the processing of data. Also, a par tof the flight plan often may se em logical on paper, but a mor e logical sequence w i l l be-come apparent when the crew pe rf or ms the sequence during training exe rci ses .Initial time allocations for activi ties in the flight plan a r e based on experienceand judgment; but, when the activity is performed in the simula tor or other trainingfacility, the crew may find that the time allotted is more or i e s s than what is required.With th is information, the flight planner can add o r delete activities of lower priority

o r reschedule initial events i f necess ary and possible, Some scheduled activit ies arefound to be ver y difficult or impossible to perform when the crew simulates the activity.The flight planner must either modify the activity so it can be performed o r delete itfr om the flight plan.

The final preflight tests of the flight plan are the integrated simulations involvingthe c rew i n the spacec raft sim ulators and the ground controlle rs in the Mission ControlCenter (MCC). Integrated simulations demonstrate how rapidly the ground can reac t tocrew prob lems and how well the ground can provide normally r equi red data. By thetime the integrated simulations ar e reached in the training cycle, the crew has tra inedwith the flight plan for a sufficient period of time ir, reveal the ma jor modifications re-quired. The flight plan should be refined to such a point that no ma jo r changes in the

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crew timeline sequence of act ivit ies resul t from the integrated simulations.plan is , however, polished to final form as a result of integrated simulations.The flight

F l i g h t experience has proven that, unless a major or persistent systems prob-lem occurs, the portions of the mission that are simulated with the crew and the groundcontrollers ar e retained as they were planned. However, many of the inte ract ions ofacti viti es cannot be determined preflight and, because simulation time is limited andcostly, the crew cannot tr ain fo r all portions of the mission. The flight planner mustextrapolate from whatever data he can glean fr om simula tions of othe r portions of themission.

Real-time flight planning support. - During a mission, the flight planning andcrew procedures team, headed by the Flight Activities Officer (FAO), suppor ts theFlight Director by monitoring flight plan acti viti es as they a r e performed; by antici-pating f l i g h t plan problem areas and supervis ing the preparat ion of alte rna te plans; andby monitoring and modifying, as required, over all crew procedur es. The flight plan-ning and procedures te am al so provides attitude information for activiti es other thanmajor propulsion-system burns. In addition, the F A 0 and his t eam coordinate miscel-laneous scientific inputs into the flight plan. Working with other flight cont rol lers , theF A 0 coordinates procedural changes or new sys tem s tests and schedules them in theflight plan.

As spacecraft-systems problems occur, the F A 0 dir ect s the reorder ing of thecrew activities so the higher prio rity objectives can be accomplished. The consum-abl es must be monitored, and, if a consumables redline is reached o r approached, ac-tiv itie s ar e deleted to allow completion of ma jor objectives. Some problems r equ irenot only rescheduling of activ ities but al so reworking of mission procedu res . The FA0and his procedures t eam modify the procedures and provide them to the other flightcontroll ers for review. After all flight controllers have agreed on the proposed pro-cedure of flight plan changes, the F A 0 prep ares an update to be read to the crew.As indicated by the re fer enc es to the F A 0 team, real -tim e flight plan support re-quir es more than one person. The F A 0 is located in the main control room, the M i s -sion Operation Cont rol Room (MOCR). Per sonnel in the MOCR receive detailed supportf r om many mission-operations personne l located in various staff support rooms. TheFlight Activities Officer's Staff Support Room is manned by other flight planners, se-lected experiments personnel, procedur es experts , navigation experts, simulator in-str uct or s, and specialized cler ical personnel. The flight planners assist the FA 0 infollowing the mission and monitoring the activiti es. They suggest operational alte rna-tives, support the preparation of flight plan updates, and assist in tracking the consum-ables. The experiment-support personnel calculate the attitudes requ ired to supportmission activiti es, coordinate photographic requ irements and proc edur es, provide

MSFN-acquisition times and landmark-crossing times, and act as the interface withthe ground compute rs fo r any flight plan support.Before the mission, the crew tr ain s daily in the simulator s. The simulator in-str uctor s, by working with and training the cr ew, have an excellent opportunity to ob-se rv e in detail the individual and collective manner in which the crew executes themission procedures. Therefore, the inst ruct ors are most qualified at monitoring thecrew procedures during the mission. Another important capability re su lt s if experi-enced simulator ope rato rs a r e available when major procedur al changes are proposed

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in real time.the procedure changes chirhg the m i s s i m befme upcbting th e prncedure to the crew.When time allows, the instructo rs can use the MSC simulators to check

Evolution of Flight Plans Through the Apollo ProgramFlight planning, in para llel with the spacecraft and program objectives, ha s in-cr ea se d in complexity because of the growth in mission duration and s; xe cr af t capa-bility and the inc re as e in the number, complexity, and sophistication of the objectives

and vehicle systems.The flight plans of the ear ly manned missions are considerably different fromthose of the presen t, mainly because of the difference in the length of the miss ions.The shor t missions of Pro jec t Mercury made it more efficient to include in the flightplan, in checkli st form, all the details required to accomplish the various objectives.Sample pages of a Project Mercury flight plan are shown in figure 3 .In the Gemini Pr og ra m, the number of objectives incr eased as a function of the

longer duration of the missions and the inc rease in the capability of the spacec raft.Some objectives were scientific in nature and othe rs were operational evaluations de-signed to develop techniques that would be used in the Apollo Pr og ra m. Constra ints,such as trajectory o r sy st em s requirements, had to be met, thus resulting in the neces-sity of performing the objectives over the United States o r in the South Atlantic anomalywhe re the Van Allen radiation belt phenomenon is encountered, or the necessity that thespac ecra ft be powered up fo r attitude information. Still other objectives wer e con-str ained by the number of crewmen available, because the staggered sleep cycle (inwhich one crewman slept while the other monitored) was used on se ve ra l of the Geminimiss ions. Also, the type of activity that could be per formed without awakening a sleep-ing crewman restricted the objectives that could be accomplished during these periods.Because the Gemini miss ions were much longer than those of Pro jec t Mercuryand had many more objectives, the job of scheduling the objectives and showing enoughdetail in the flight plan to accomplish the objectives became mor e complex. The nec-es sa ry information was too voluminous to be included conveniently i n the fl ight planitself; ther efore, an integrated flight plan and flight data fil e (crew onboard data) sys-tem w a s developed. The deta ils of act ivit ies such as rendezvous, vehicle activation,o r extravehicular activity (EVA) were included in a checklist s epar ate fro m the flightplan. On Gemini missions , the flight plan itself indicated when, not how, an activitywas to be perfo rmed (fig. 4).The Apollo flight plans evolved into much more detailed documents than either the

Mercury or Gemini flight plans (although procedural data were stil l carri ed in thechecklists), pr ima ri ly because, at cert ain times, two manned vehicles wer e involved.This i nc re ase in the number of vehicles led to an incr ea se in the number of operationaland sy st em s constraints to be considered in scheduling activities. In addition, the com-plexity of tfie Apollo missions required more detail to assist the crewman in performing

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C Y 1 LOS(ASCS Orbit)ZZB(ASCS O r b i t )Sho r t S t a t u sReport(ASCS OrbitMUC AOS(ASCS O r b i t

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TV camera - ONR epor t s t a t u s of sys temsGyro switch - FREE(Ts + 5 sec . check )TV camera - OffGyrc swi tch - SLAVEReadout fu e l and 0 q u a n t i t i e s2S h or t s t a t u s r e p o r t

Blood p r e s s u r eEmergency voice checkSend end r e s t command f o r checkS-band beacon - GROUND COMMANDLong s t a t u s r ep o r t

Oral t emperatw e

G i ve s t a t u sGive GO-NO GO d e c i s i o n

TV camera - ON

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Figure 3 . - Excerpt from detailed timeline of Mercury M light plan.


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,r Min0

:4 1

:48

:54

:05

:15

:25

:35

:00

:07

:10

3 :14

Power Down( D r i f t )

Twin Fa l l Victo ryLOS( D r i f t )C Y 1 AOS( D r i f t )C Y 1 LOS( D r i f t )ZZ B( D r i f t )Shor t S ta tus Repor t( D r i f t )MUC("rift !Long Status Report( D r i f t )CAL( D r i f t )MCC AOS( D r i f t )MCC( FBW-LOW)

dCC LOS( FBW-LOW)I 'hi rd Orbi t

A p r i l 1 5 , 1363

A-

A-

A-

A-

A-

A-

A-

A-

A-

A-

A-

A-

ASCS Control - SELECTCage GyrosPower Down ASCS busTV camera - OFFTape recorder - PROGRAMC-band beacon - GROUND COMMANDTV camera - ONTV camera - OFFReadout f u el and O2 q u a n t i t i e s

S h or t s t a t u s r e p o r t i n t o t a p ere c o rde rBlood pressureExerc i seBlood pre ssu reLong s t a t u s r e p o r t i n t o t a p er e c o r d e rTape recorder - CONTINUOUSPower up ASCS BusTV camera - ONGO FBW-LOWA l i gh t spacec r a f tilncage gyrosGo ASCS Orbi tGyros - SLAVEBlood pressureTV camera - OFF

-4- Revis ion A

0

2,

0

Figure 3 . - Concluded.

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0 00o:oo ----00:10 ,---m:20 .---0 0 : 3 0 ,---00:40 ---I

0

F I ' H

ASC

PR ETAN.

KSC Form 1489 (June 6 5 ) FLIGHT FIAN---

01:oo -01:lO .---01:20 .--01:30 .-

-01:40 .

2 -$

ALIGN PLAT

II

00 :-OP-fL.4N9 rHiWSLATIONP aF O H M UNSTGWkiE X - L I STHAW ACC B IA S CHECK

RD R - STBY/ONR E T I C L E O N

A L I G N PL A T

GYMTE X

I P R

LAUNCHI V A R I N SE R T I O NLOAD MODULE 111 AINSERTION x - m r

JNSTOW RNDZ, P R O C E D U R E S , h FLIGHTPLAN BOOKS

NC1 UPDATE ALIGN PLATRAD-FLOWE V A P- N O WJ LC - A D A PT i O N TCOMP-NAVN TRANSLATION

c-my-cm

COMP- P RE LN00 : 50

C R O GO/NO CO FO R 16-1GGT TIME HACK NOM R I - 91%

ACT FQI --I:OO J

MISSION I EDITION I DATEG P I I N I X I 1 I FINAL I OCTOBER 20. 1966

0 0

C S I h C3 HU P3A T E

Figure 4. - Excerpt fr om detailed timeline of Gemini XI1 flight plan.the mission objectives. Some of the necessary details that wer e added to the flightplan to assist the crewmen wer e as follows.

1. Spacecraft attitudesa. During translunar coast (TLC) and transearth coast (TEC)

(1) Passive ther mal control (PTC) ttitude(2)Onboard-computer lunar-navigation-program (P23) tarsightingattitudes(3)Attitudes fo r television and photographic operations


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b. During lunar orbit(1) Onboar d- computer orbi tal- navigation- program (P22) attitude, time,and landmark references(2) Lunar-orbit sleep attitude(3 ) Communications attitude fo r high-gain or steerable antennas(4) Bootstrap-photography attitudes o r any other attitude required to pe r-form a specific objective

2. Preferred navigation stars3 . High-gain and steerab le antenna angles f o r communications4. Photographic information, such as camera location, camera lens, and cam-era sett ings , included with photographic objectives5. Update pads included in the flight plan for those act ivit ies requir ing updatesfr om MSFN, the exception being maneuver padsb- nmmary, the ear ly flight plans were self-sufficient; but, as the missions be-

came longer and more complex, it became necessary to construct a general timelinesupported by detailed procedures in checklists. This approach reduced the logistic sof the flight plan by eliminating the repetition of standard procedures. Detailed andlengthy act ivi ties were covered in a separate and specialized book for that missionperiod.

APOLLO 12 F L IG H T P L A N S A M P LE S A N D D E S C R I P T I O NI n t r o d u c t o ry a n d A d m i n i s t r a ti v e I n f o r m a t i o n

The init ial sec tion of the flight plan is a compilation of premission informat ionthat identifies the document, status, contents and revi sions (if any), abbreviations andsymbols used, spec ial considerations, and applicable mission objectives. The docu-ment identification, approval , and control are specified by NASA standards , with uniquecontrol provisions detailed in the administ rative section of the flight plan. The abbre-viations and symbols used are often unique to both manned space flight planning and thespecific miss ion being planned. Typical li st s of abbreviations and symbol nomencla-ture fr om the Apollo 12 flight plan are shown in figures 5 and 6, respectively, to dem-onstrate the extensive use of acronyms, abbreviations, symbols, and graphicalrepr esen tati ons. The inclusion of these reference data assists the infrequent user ininterpreting a highly specialized, technically a n d operationally oriented document.

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0

0

0

0

0

ACCELAC NACTAC QAEAAG SAHALSCCALSEPALTAMAMP o r ampAMPLANGANTAO HAOSAOTAPSAR SAS CAITATTAU XA2BATBDB DAB i oBPBRKTBTBUBWBW1C AP COMCAL 4CAMCA NCBC C I GCDHCDRCD U

~

Figure 5. - Partial abbreviations listing f r om Apollo 1 2 final flight plan.

ABBREVIATIONSA c c e l e r o m e t e rA s c e n s i o nActi a ti nA c q u i s i t i o n o r A c q ui reA b o r t E l e c t r o n i c s A s se mb lyAbor t Guidance Subsys temAmpere HoursA po l l o Luna r S u r face C l ose -up Cam eraA p o l l o L u n a r S u r f a c e E x p e r i m e n t Pa ck ag eA1ti u d eAmpl i u d e M o d u l a t i o nAmpereAmpli i rA n t i quaAntennaA po l l o Opera t i ons HandbookA c q u i s i t i o n o f S ig n a l o r A c q u i s i t i o n o f S i t eA l i g n m e n t O p t i c a l T e l e s c o p eA scen t P ropu l s i on S ubsys temA tm os ph er e R e v i t a l i z a t i o n S ys te mA s c e n tA l i gnm en t T echn i queA t t i u d eA u x i 1 a r yAz imuthB a t t e r yBandBermudaB i o -M ed i ca l Da ta on V o i c e D o w n l i n kB a r b e r P o l eB r a c k e tBurn T imeBackupB l a c k & Whi te ( F i l m 3400B l a c k & W h i t e ( F i l m 3 40 1Capsule CommunicatorC a l i b r a t i o n A ng leCameraCANISTERC i r c u i t B r e a k e rCold Cathode I o n GageC o n s t a n t D e l t a A1ti u d eCommanderC o u p l i n g D a t a U n i t

i x


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1SFN

1c

TMSFAv

x i x

SYMBOL NOMENCLATURE

LANDING SITE

LUNAR TERMINATOR

SPACECRAFT SUNSET

*1

MSFN LOSSTART OF INDICATED REVOLUTIONDARKNESS1

SPACECRAFT SUNRISELUNAR TERMINATORMSFN AOS

SUBSOLAR POINT

Figure 6. - Symbology description included in Apollo 1 2 final flight plan.

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The first section of the flight plan c onsi sts of flight planning notes and sum marycharts of special in te re st to the mission planning community. The flight plan notes(fig. 7) contain various i tems related to the detailed timeline that a r e called out forspecial attention. Typical it ems covered are crew designation and positions, pr es su re -garment protocol, the ground and space cr af t communications interface, and manage-ment of the various spacecraf t sy st em s. The ti tl es of sou rc e documents fo r theprocedures called out in the detailed timeline a r e als o identified in this section.precautions may be spelled out or implied in this section to emphasize safety consid-erations o r to provide rationale fo r scheduling decisions.

Safety

Summary char ts of specific functions and activi ties a r e genera ted as a re sul t offlight plan analysi s and optimization. Experience has shown that th ese su mma ri es arefrequently applicable to the real-time replanning effort. These summary c ha rt s andtables include, but are not limited to, the following items .1. Graphical communications links2. Tabularized ground-station coverage3 . Television schedule4. Spacecraft-systems-management schedules5. Thrusting-maneuver data6. Planned navigational corrections

A typical systems-management data item, a lithium hydroxide canister change sched-ule, is shown in f igure 8. As with other summary chart s, additional information isprovided. An elapsed time between acti vit ies and the applicable stowage data arereadily available fo r this particu lar function. Other summary c har ts pr ese nt informa-tion such as predicted usage ra te s for consumables, changes in various orbital pa ram-eters , and special rema rks.

Mission requirements, which are the basis fo r the flight planning effort, a r e re-lated to t h e activity schedule of the detailed timeline in section 2 of the flight plan. Apage from a typical cha rt of mission objectives, activi ties, and the corresponding time-line page number s is shown in figure 9. Successful completion of the re la te d activi ty,therefore, ens ur es satisfaction of all mission objectives as required.


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FLIGHT PLAN NOTES

SEPARATIONP D I & TDLUNAR STAYE X CE P T E V A

0

0

0

0

0

ALLCD R & LM P CMP

V A R I E S A C C O R D I N G TO CHECKLIST FOR CDR & LMP.CMP WILL BE PARTIALLY S U I T E D W/ O HEL MET & GLOVES

A. CrewT C r e w d e s i gn a t io n s ar e as f o l lo w s:

SU R F AC E E V ALIFTOFFTHRU D O C K I N G

Prime Backup-cDR 1 Conrad Scot tCommand Mod ule P i l o t (CMP) Gordon WordenLunar M odu le P i l o t (LM P) Bean I r w i n-2. The nominal CM c o uc h p o s i t i o n s ar e:L e f t C e n t e r RishtCMP . LHPT& D t h r u E n t r y CMP CDR LMPm h r u L I

3. The PGA 's w i l l be worn as f o l l ows :

CD R & LMP CMPCDR & LMP CM P

I 1 ALL I

POST JETTISONTHRU T E IENTRY

ALLALL

POST JETTISONTHRU T E IENTRY

ALLALL

4 . C r e w s t a t u s r e p o r t s w i l l b e v o i c e d t o MCC-H b e f o r e a n d a f t e rc re w s l e e p p e r io d s . A f t e r w a k i n g t h e c re w w i l l r e p o r t s l e epo b t a i n e d a nd r a d i a t i o n d ose s r e c e iv e d d u r i n g t h e l a s t 24 h o u r sa nd b e f o r e g o i n g t o s l e e p t h e c r e w w i l l r e p o r t m e d i c a t i o n u s e dand a ny o t h e r p e r t i n e n t i n f o r m a t i o n on a c t i v i t i e s p e rf or me d.

e a c h c h e c k l i s t .A l l onboard gauge read ings w i l l be r e ad d i r e c t l y f r o m th e6 . ga ug es w i t h n o c a l i b r a t i o n b i a s a p p l i e d .

5. N e g a ti v e r e p o r t i n g w i l l be u se d i n r e p o r t i n g c o m p l et io n o f

1 -1

Figure 7. - Exce rpt from the notes section of Apollo 12 final flight plan.

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0

0

0

0

0

1234567

89101112131415161718

1PPROX.GETHR S9:oo

18:OO30 :0041 :0055:OO6 6 : O O77 : 088:OO

102:oo121:oo146:OO159: 00173:OO185:OO196:OO208: 00221 :oo235:OO

L i O H C A N I S T E R C H A N G E S C H E D U L ET A B L E 1-4

I i 1AP P ROX . IN S T AL L REMOVE & STOWSTOWAGELOCATIONO S I T I O N C AN N O .T CA NHRS NO.

12

11 6 B 4 85I-. I 1 1 1A 5 86

8 B 6 8611111114192513

9 A 7 B 610 B 8 8611 A 9 A 312 B 10 A313 A 11 A314 B 12 A 3

I T 15 A 13 A412 I 16 1 B I 14 I A411 I 1 1 1. . 17 A 15 A 412 I14 20 18 A 6

1-15

Figure 8. - Lithium hydroxide can iste r change schedule fro m Apollo 12final flight plan.

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TABLE 2-1MISSION OBJECTIVE/ACTIVITYREFERENCE

N8N

NUMBERAA-1

BB- 18-28- 38- 4

Cc -1

FF- 1F-2F-3

OBJECTIVEC o n t in g e n cy S am pl e C o l l e c t i o nP r o v i d e a c o n t in g e n c y s am pl e f o r p o s t f l i g h t

s c i e n t i f i c i n v e s t i g a t io n sL u n a r S u r f a c e EV A O p e r a t i o n sE v a l u a t e w a l k i n g p ac e o n t y p i c a l t e r r a i nE v a l u a t e t h e c a p a b i l i t y o f t h e c re w t o l i f t andm a ne u ve r l a r g e p a ck a ge sE v a l u at e t h e c a p a b i l i t y of t h e c r ew t o u n s t o w a ndd e p l o y t h e e r e c t a b l e S - ba nd a n t e n n aE v a l u a t e t h e a de qu ac y o f t h e p r e f l i g h t e s t im a t e s o ft im e r e q u i r e d t o p e r f o r m s p e c i f i c EV A a c t i v i t i e sPLSS RechargeD e mo ns tr at e t h e c a p a b i l i t y t o r e c h a rg e t h e PLSS w h i l ei n t h e LM on t h e l u n a r s u r f a c eS e l e c t e d S am ple C o l l e c t i o nC o l l e c t r o c k s a m pl es a n d f i n e - g r a i n e d f r a gm e n t a lC o l l e c t on e l a r g e r o c kC o l l e c t a c o r e t u b e s a m p l e

m a t e r i a 1

ACTIVITY

EVA-1

EVA-1, EVA2EV A 1 1EVA-1EVA-1, EVA-2

POST EVA-1

EVA-1EVA-1EVA-1

PAGE NO.

3-93

3-933-943-1093-943-933-109

3-973-100

3-963-963-96

0~

0 0 0 0~~ ~~~ ~~

Figure 9. - Excerp t fr om mission requirements re ference cha rt of Apollo 12fina l flight plan.D e ta i e d T i me1i e

The pri ma ry product of the premiss ion planning effort is the time-oriented se-quence of c re w activi ties called the detailed timeline. Graphical and alphanumericpresentations of trajec tory and sy st ems information a r e integrated with procedural datato provide an astronaut-oriented sequence of mission events. All mission ru le s andconstraints are reflec ted in the detailed timeline eithe r by implication (such as timerelationship) or by statement (such as ''Go/No-Go"). The initial planning effort de-pends greatly on the planner's experience. Then, through detailed review techniquesand training simulations, the timeline eventually develops into a complete launch-through-splashdown sequence of act ivit ies . The conten ts of the detailed timeline aredescribed best by reviewing s ev er al sam pl es of the final Apollo 12 detailed timeline andthe requ irement s f or this information.

The plan fo r a typical hour in earth orbit is shown in figure 10. To the right ofthe time column (which shows hours and minutes of ground elapsed time (GET)) is a

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DUMP DSE01 :30U P L I N K T O C SM

S T A T E V E C T O R & V 6 6

T L I P ADT L I +90 M I NA B O R T P A DP 3 7 ( L /0 + 8 ) PA D :4 5

7 01:oo- :05-- : 1 5--i :28

L :4 9

A P O LL O 1 2 F I N A L ( NO V 1 4 ) O C T O B E R 1 5 . 1969

GO/NO-GO FOR PYROAR M

01:OO - 02:OO 1 / 1 - 2 3-2IL 92:oo

eHSKI

TiYi

FLIGHT PLAN N O T E S

S C S A T T R E F C O M P A R I S O N C KE X T E N D D O C K I N G P R O B E

S M R C S H OT F I R EGO/NO GO FOR PYRO ARM (C UE W S F N )( M I N I M P U L S E - A L L J E T S )L O G I C - O NB E G IN T L I P RE P

EMS AV TEST

A S A G E N E R A L R U L E ,M SFN WILL ALW AYSU P L I N K T HE S T A T EV E C T O R T O T H E C S MS L O T A N D T R A N S F E RI T V I A V 6 6 T O T HEL M S L O T I N OR DE R T OH A V E R E D U N D A N T S T A T EVECTO RS O NBO ARO

0 C 0 0 0Figure 10. - Excerp t fr om earth-o rbi tal detailed timeline of Apollo 12final flight plan.

narrow column in which applicable tra jectory data a r e presented graphically. In thiscolumn, the presence o r absence of the solid black s tr ip indicates spac ecraft d arknessor daylight, respectively, and the lines including a ground-station indicator (e. g. , HSK)rep rese nt the period of spacecraf t-stat ion communications. The far -le ft column iden-tifie s the information that must be provided by MCC to the spacecr aft during this period.The large center column contains the crew activities fo r this period. The far-r ightcolumn provides information that is neither a ground control nor a n astronaut activitybut that has been found to aid either or both in using o r interpreting the flight plan.The plan for a typical hour of TLC is shown in figure 11. Although the generalfo rm at has not been changed fr om that of fi gure 10, se ve ra l unique fe atur es of the flightplan a r e displayed. In the notes column, a blocked group of data appe ars entitled "BurnStatus Report. T t These data a r e recorded in the flight plan after midcourse correction 1(MCC-1) has been per for med at the ti me of ignition (TIG), 11:47: 19.8 GET. The notesindicate fur ther that only the data followed by an a st er is k need be reported by the c rewto MCC. The dashed line at the right of the cent er column is used t o indicate that PTC

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0 02122 C S Tmcc-M

0FLlGHT PLAN

MSFN

1.

P 3 0 - E X T E R N A L bV

V 4 9 - M NVR TO BURN AT 1S X T S T A R C H E C KB A T T E R Y C H A R GE , B A T T E R Y A0 F U E L C E L L P U R G EW i S T E W A T E R D U M PP 4 0 / P 4 1 - S P S / R C S T H R U S TG DC A L I G N T O I M U

eIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

0 0N O T E S

IBURN STATUS REPO R

x x 0a

K R I M-x x xx x xIx

T I G : 1 1 : 4 7 : 1 9 . 8V66 - T R A N S F E R C S M S V T O L M S L O TM C C - 1 B U R N S T A T U S HtPUKl P T C

'v

X

A T I GB T" g xRPYVVV

g x9 Yg=

F U E L *o x *UNBAL

o v c

I T E M S T O B ER E P O RT E D I N M S F NM C C - 1 W I L L B ED E L A Y E D T O M C C - 2I F P R O PE L L AN T C OS TI S N O T P R O H I B I T I V ET L I + 9 H R S

[MISSIONI EDITION I DATE I TIME I DAY/REV I PAGE ]

Figure 11. - Excerpt fro m T L C period of Apollo 12 final flight plandetailed timeline.is maintained during this hour if MCC-1 is not required. The ru le that will be appliedto determine if MCC-1 should be performed is also provided in the notes column. Italso should be noted that the initial G E T of 11:OO is equal to a central st andard time(c. s. t. ) of 21:22, i f the launch occur red as planned, and that c. s. t. is indicatedabove 11:OO GET.

Planning for two vehicles more than doubles the information required during eachhour of the timel ine , and the level of de tai l presented becomes a controlling facto r. Atypical plan f o r 1 hour of operation of two vehicles in lunar orbi t is shown in figur e 12.Because the vehicles are in a 2-hour orbit at this time, acquisition of signal (AOS), lossof signal (LOS), and the spacecraft day and night cycles become very important and areindicated fo r both vehicles. Activity timing also increases in importance, and horizon-tal lines a r e drawn to indicate the required completion time of spec ific activities.Graphical presentations'of the lunar subsolar point and the landing site a r e added by a0.3-inch-diameter dotted ci rc le and a heavy X, respectively. Emphasis is provided fo rtracking activities by enclosing them in a box s i m i l a r to astronaut recording pads. Anexample is the map update in figure 12 .

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0 0CSMCMP -

O AD AG S PAD

SELECT O M NI -FW OSELECT O M Nl 0R O L L 120" T O T R A C K I N GA T T A T : 0 6 : 1 0R L , P z , Y o

U P L I N K TO L EL S R E F S M M A TL M S V & V 6 6LGC/CMC CLO CK SYNCP I P A B I A SLGC ABORT CONSTANTE-MEMORY UPDATE( I F R E Q 'O )UPDATE TO CSElS E P T I N E &U N D O C K T I M EUPDATE TO LMAG S K FACTORAGS ABORTCO NSTANTS

V 0 6 N 2 0 EV E R I F Y O S E M O T I O NP Z P - O R B I T A L N A V I G A T I O N

A P O L L O 1 2 F I N A L ( N OV 1 4 ) O CT OB ER 15 , 1 9 6 9 1 0 6 : O O - 107 :O O

E S T A B L I S H 0 . 3 " / S E CP I T C H R A T E A T L D M K A O S

5 /1 2 3 - 8 3

00 NOT PROCEED ON N 8 925 SEC BETWEEN MARKS,S TO P A GS GAL P I T C H G P EB Y 1 D 6 : 3 5V06 N 2 0 EMNVR TO AGS GALA T T B Y 1 0 6 : 4 5R L , P 1 5 8 , Y 23HGA: P s Y rV 0 6 N 2 0 ESC CONTROL-SCSM I N / M A X DE , L O W / H I G HR A T E ( A 1 C D R ' S R E OU ES TCMC F R E E FOR RC SHOT F I R EV E R I F Y D S E M O T I O N A T L O 'RECORD LM PCM DATA

2 0 2 2 C ST- 1 0 6 : O O

: 1 5

M

:38

:45

:57107:OC

CDRDAP SET - G I M B A L &T H R O T T L E T E S TL O A 0 O A P - 32022

RATE GYROT E S TV 0 6 N 2 0 O N M A R K

R C S P R E S S U R I Z A T I O N

V 0 6 N 2 0 E ON MARK

V06N20E O N M ARK

RCS CHECKOUT

0 0M C C - H

S L E W S T E E R A B L E A N T :FO R AG S CAL ATTR C S P R E S S U R I Z A T I O Np a , Ql-

S T E E R A B L E A N T $' s( I F R E Q 'D )U P D A T E T O C S MM A P U P D A T E R E V 1 3

RCS CHECKO UT U P D A T E T O L MS T E E R A B L E A N T 4's! 0 7 : 4 7 )IW D O M NI -LBRSLEW STEERABLE S-BD

Figure 12. - Excerpt f ro m Apollo 1 2 final flight plan detailed timeline coveringsimultaneous operation of two vehicles in lunar orbit.Maneuvers occurring during a particular lunar revolution are presented graph-ically on se pa ra te pages, placed as closely as possible to the as socia ted flight planpages. The graphical presentation of the maneuver information appearing in figure 1 2is shown in figure 13. More complicated maneuvers , such as tracking landmarks, a ls oare presented graphically but in profile. The detailed prof ile of the landmark-tracking

activity in figure 12 is shown in figure 14.In summary, the detailed timeline rep re se nt s the way in which the miss ion isplanned to be flown. The unique featur es of graphical represent ation permi t integrationof trajectory data with astronaut activities. The use of acronyms and abbreviationsdirectly associated with training procedures allows the flight planner to p res ent a largevolume of information on an 8- by 10-inch page.

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\ I

E N D P I T C H R A T E ;MNVR TO AGSC A L I B R A T I O N A T T( 8 , N A / 1 5 8 , 2 3 )I A T T H

0 03 - 8 0 A

0

ROLL 120 DEG TOL D M K T R K N G I( O , N A / 2 7 0 ,O:I A T T H

rE G E N D :0 0 S F N A O S , L O S0 0 S / C S U N R I S E , S U N SE T3 LIBEARTH "!F!T

(R,LHP/INP,Y)I A T T H - I ' I E R T I A L A T T I T U D E H O L DLATTCI - L O C A L A T T I T U D E H O L D. ___-"0 0

Figure 13. - Example of graphical presentation of spacecraft- maneuver ing datain Apollo 12 final flight plan.During the mission, the spacec raf t crew and M C C light planning team maintainthe detailed timeline as the indicated activit ies ar e performed. A daily review of whatha s been accomplished and what is planned fo r the next day is conducted between thecrew and MCC. The detailed timeline is carr ied on board as pa rt of the flight data fileand is one of t he major displays in the MCC.

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~ ~~~

DOCKED LANDMARK TRACKING PROFILE

2 DEG PITCH DOWN FROMLOCAL HORIZONTAL BEGIN0 3 OEG/SEC PITCH DOWNAT AOS.

T 1 GE T AT 0" ELEVATION72 GE T AT 35" ELEVATION

R --- P ---OY _ _ _ ON o r S NM - - S A - - T A - -AOS t o LOS = 3 MIN

LONG/2 -11.614'

F I U J R E 3- 13-82

0 0 0 0 0Figure 14.- Graphical presen tation of landmark-tracking information fr om Apollo 12final flight plan.

Selected Supporting DataThe need fo r supporting data directly associa ted with the planned-timeline con-sumables usage is obvious during premiss ion planning. This information als o must beavailable in the event of real -t ime replanning. This area of the flight plan con si st s ofnumerous ch ar ts and graphs presenting the predicted re su lt s of expending re so ur ce sduring the specific mission. The sta tu s of each re so ur ce must be planned fr om launchto splashdown for each activity affecting that r es our ce . The predicted resource-usagedata documented in the Apollo flight plan include information about propel lant s, cyro-genies, battery power, water , oxygen, and life-sustaining capabilities. A summary ofth e service propulsion system (SPS) propellant us age planned for the Apollo 1 2 missionis shown in figure 15. Similar sum marie s and detailed graphs are included f o r eachexpended resour ce. Additional details relating to each re so urc e are supplied whereassumptions are made o r clarification is required fo r re al-t ime application.

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0

I O

TABLE 4-2SPS PROPELLANT SUMMARY

November 14, 1969 Launch to Apol lo Site 772O Launch Azimuth, 1st opportunity TLI

Item

Loaded aTrapped and UnavailableOutageUnbalance MeterAvailable for A VRequired for A V

I 1 . S - 2 . I T - - - r C r - I C 0 0 6-e)nyur I U I I ~ I I ~ I F Iv u . u t p a ,TLMC (120 fps)LOI-1 (2889.9 fps)LOI-2 (169.6 fps)LOPC-1 (372.4 fps)LOPC-2 (360.0 fps)TEI (3035.9 fps)

Nominal Remaining-30 DispersionsContingency A V (1000 fps)Propellant Margin

b

Propel an tRequired, L b-441.485.7100.0-57 1 s1164.223610.21199.71310.41225.18658.0-390.11533.1

PropellantRemaining, L b4081 7 O40375.640289.9401 89.9401 89.9

395!8*438354.214744.013544.312233.911008.82350.82350.81960.7427.6427.6

a 15728 lb fuel and 25089 l b oxidizer; this is actually loaded on CSM-108.

plane change an d performing instead a worst case L M rescue.his amount of propellant reflects the difference in performing the second

4-4

Figure 15 . - Summary of se rv ic e propulsion system predicted propellant usagefrom Apollo 12 final flight plan.

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An abbreviated timeline is included as supporting data to provide a condensed24-hr/page schedule fo r each phase of the mission . The contents of the detailed time-line a r e combined to for m a daily plan that is phase oriented. Gross-level analysi s ofsle ep periods and mission-phase durations are possible with thi s timeline. A typicalpage from the Apollo 12 abbreviated timeline is shown in figure 16. A la rger view ofactivities such as sleep periods, eat periods, PTC, and thrusting maneuvers is .pre-sented, allowing the mission planner to interrelate these periods.

7 2 : O O --

7 4 : O O

-76:90 --78:OO

apollo experience report flight planning for manned space operations

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