Structure:

Brief Introduction Cases Solution Brief conclusion

CASE STUDY: THE APOLLO MISSIONS By: Shradha Ghosh, Akash Patel and Siddarth jain

Introduction

The Apollo missions were initiated more than half a century ago. The mission assigned thirty two astronauts as a part of unmanned lunar landing program out of which twenty four astronauts left Earth’s orbit and flew around the moon, twelve of which walked on the moon’s surface and six drove the lunar roving vehicles. These men maneuvered their way across 240,000 miles of free space and managed not only to land but also to take off and return home. Apollo missions reshaped how we see the Earth while the ingenuity that put men on the moon gave birth to the technologies used today.

The study discusses in detail the space race between the Soviet Union and USA, the political pressure built on the launch on Apollo rockets and how this pressure acted as a catalyst in the beginning and later successful execution of six of the Apollo missions (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17).

The study describes step by step advancements of these Apollo missions, technology used ,projects that came prior to Apollo and the methodologies that were adopted and rejected to complete the mission to moon.

The study analyses the lunar landing module and why it was made without keeping aerodynamic considerations.

It will debate upon why only Apollo 17 had a geologist and with just one scientist how the Apollo missions were scientifically beneficial..

The study will follow up on the reasons of shutting down of Apollo missions. It will discuss the authenticity of lunar landings.

At last it will discuss the Soviet Union’s fall back in the space race and along with that the conclusion.

This study is based on my research from the sources on internet that will be mentioned alongside the topics and my conversations with my seniors, faculty members and friends.

Discussion #1 (political conditions and pressure)Tension between USA and USSR

1. Political Difference: The two countries that were once allies in WW2, faced the following difference in their ruling philosophy.

Soviet Union USA Communist state Democratic state Controlled press Free press Exclusive rights to govern Free elections No freedom of expression and

association Freedom of expression and association

Russia wanted to spread communism throughout the globe while USA opposed it, this lead to the cold war between two superpowers.

2. Nuclear competition: The Soviet Union had developed and tested the ICBM technology( that was a missile used to transport bombs) in august 1957 with their R-7 launcher. While US didn’t take the ICBM seriously till 1954, Kennedy realized this missile gap, and the two countries started preparing for possible a nuclear war.The graph shows the nuclear stock pile of US and Russia in 20th century.

3. Space race starts: In October 1957 Russia uses the R7 launcher to put the first artificial satellite Sputnik in space and marks the beginning of space race. The same rocket that

launched Sputnik could send a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes, stripping the continental United States of its oceanic defenses, this situation called ‘Sputnik crisis’ and the fear of Soviet Union taking over gave birth to NASA and the start of space race.

NASA’s reaction Few years after United States had announced to launch an artificial satellite Russia launched Sputnik1 before NASA’s project vanguard could even finish. US had to answer back to maintain its superiority and to keep itself in the space race. NASA launched Explorer 1on 31st January 1958 and like that for the past few years Soviets and US competed neck to neck in the space race. However Russia dominated in the first half of the race.Vostok space station also developed the technology that sent the first man in space to orbit the earth and this feat. was accomplished on 12th April 1961 by Yuri Gagrian.

The above graph shows the minor time differences between the first launches of artificial satellites, space mission, and spacewalk between both the countries and yet how these minor differences cost America the chance to be written as the first in history of mankind to carry out the respective missions.

The Soviet Union's non-military accomplishments in space, therefore, forced Kennedy to respond and to serve notice that the U.S. was every bit as capable in the space arena as the Soviets. In less than a month after the Vostok President Kennedy announced the task of putting a man on the moon before the decade ends to be a priority of the nation.

Discussion #2 Apollo and Prior ProjectsApollo mission started with an objective of expanding human boundaries into space, and also achieving a national goal by landing a man on a celestial body for the first time and bringing him back. The various challenges associated it were escaping earth’s gravity, slowing down enough to enter moons orbit and to reenter earth’s orbit safely. To conquer these challenges various smaller projects were taken on, the first project was Project Mercury.

Project Mercury (5 may 1961)

Goal: To put a man on Earth’s orbit and bring him back safely, astronaut Alan B. Shepherd made this space flight.

What NASA learned

How to put astronauts in orbit around Earth How people can live and work in space Tracking and control of space craft in earth’s orbit How to work about thousands of obstacles to successful space flight About microgravity and other biochemical issues related with space flight.

The Mercury missions proved that astronauts could fly in space. NASA had to learn what happens when people spend more time in space, for that project Gemini was introduced.

Project Gemini (1961-1966)

Goal: To develop space travel techniques to support Apollo’s mission to land safely on moon.

What NASA learned How astronauts could go outside a spacecraft in a spacesuit

How to connect two spacecraft together in space How to maneuver in orbits

Apollo mission Beginning:

NASA designed the Apollo Command Module for this program. It was a capsule with room for three astronauts. The astronauts rode in the Command Module on the way to the moon and back. It was larger than the spacecraft used in the Mercury and Gemini programs.

Now the question was how to get to the moon

Rejected methodologies discussed to reach moon:

1. Direct Ascent

Approach: Construction of a huge booster that launched a spacecraft, sent it on a course directly to the moon, landed a large vehicle, and sent some part of it back to earth. The nova booster project, which was to have been capable of generating up to 40 million pounds of thrust, would have been able to accomplish the feat

Drawback: huge cost and technological sophistication of the nova rocket

2.Earth Orbit Rendezvous

Approach: Launching of various modules required for the moon trip, into an orbit above the earth, where they would rendezvous, be assembled into a single system, refueled, and sent to the moon. This could be accomplished using the Saturn launch vehicle already under development by NASA and capable of generating 7.5 million pounds of thrust. Establishment of a space station in earth’s orbit to serve as assembly and refueling point was also part of the prospect.

Drawbacks: Challenges like finding methods of maneuvering and rendezvousing in space, assembling components in a weightless environment, safely refueling space craft.

Methodology accepted to reach moon :

2. Lunar orbit Rendezvous

Pressures during launches of Apollo rockets

Tragedy of Apollo 1: The planned low Earth orbital test of the Apollo Command/Service Module never made its target launch date of February 21, 1967, because a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test on January 27 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members. Manned Apollo flights were suspended for 20 months while these problems were corrected.

After an year of the Apollo 1 tragedy Apollo 7 was launched and it stayed in the earth’s orbit for ten days. But soon after the success of Apollo 7 , the rumor spread that Soviets are about to launch a manned lunar mission called Soyuz7k-L1, This put tremendous pressure on NASA. But Apollo 8’s launch on 21 December 1968, despite of these pressures completed a successful flight and paved way for the Apollo 11 mission.

Approach: Sending the entire lunar space craft up in one launch. It would head to the moon, enter into orbit, and dispatch a small lander to the lunar surface. It was simplest of the three methods, both in terms of development and. operational costs.

Discussion #3 Technology used in ApolloThe Apollo missions are a demonstration of how much could be accomplished with so little. The computing technology of the average cell phone far exceeds the combined computing power of the two spacecraft that got humans to the moon and home safely.

Saturn V is till the only space craft that has been able to land a man on a celestial body and brought him back safely. Here is a magnified look on the Saturn V rockets, Lunar Module and the computers used for Apollo.

1. Computers: The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) used a real time operating system, which enabled astronauts to enter simple commands by typing in pairs of nouns and verbs, to control the spacecraft. It was more basic than the electronics in modern toasters that have computer controlled stop/start/defrost buttons. It had approximately 64Kbyte of memory and operated at 0.043MHz. The AGC program, called Luminary, was coded in a language called Mac, (MIT Algebraic Compiler), which was then converted by hand into assembler language that the computer could understand. The assembler code was fed into the AGC using punch cards. Experts cite the AGC as fundamental to the evolution of the integrated circuit. It is regarded as the first embedded computer.

The Apollo program proved that computers could be entrusted with human lives. Man and machine worked in unison to achieve something that 40 years on, has yet to be surpassed.

2. Saturn V Rocket: The rocket had three stages Stage one (S1-C) included the five F-1 engines (height :19ft, liquid oxygen and

kerosene as propellants, burned for 165 seconds) producing nearly 7.7 million pounds of thrust. These powerful engines are required to lift the heavy rocket fast enough to escape Earth's gravity. The first stage engines are burned at liftoff and last for about 2.5 minutes taking the vehicle and payload to an altitude of 38 miles. The first stage then separates and burns up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Stage two (S-2) The second stage contained five J-2 engines. After the first stage is discarded, the second stage burns for approximately 6 minutes taking the vehicle and payload to 115 miles altitude. The second stage is then also discarded.

Stage three contained the lunar module and the command and service module , and was powered by one J-2 engine. This engine burns for 2.75 minutes boosting the spacecraft to orbital velocity of about 17,500 mph. The third stage is shut down with fuel remaining and remains attached the spacecraft in Earth orbit. The J-2

engine is reignited to propel the spacecraft into trans lunar trajectory (speed of 24,500 mph) before finally being discarded.

After Trans Lunar Injection, the Command/Service Module detached from the 3rd stage, turned around and docked with the LM. After lunar orbit was achieved, the LM deorbited and carried 2 astronauts to the moon. After a period of up to a 3 days - on the J missions - the ascent stage returned to orbit. After it docked with the Command/Service Module, the astronauts transferred with experiments and samples to the Command Module, and the LM was discarded prior to Trans Earth Injection.

3. Space suits : The suits were custom tailored designed to be fully operational in the vacuum of space and also to walk around on the moon .There were several layers to the suit. The inside was a sort of "long john" fabric that included cooling water tubes sewed to the material, to keep the astronauts cool while working on the lunar surface. After that were several layers of nylon, Kapton, glass-fiber cloth, Mylar and Teflon to maintain pressure and protect the astronauts from radiation and micrometeroids. To help the astronauts "feel" things as they pick up, the glove digits included silicone rubber. Attached to the suit was a polycarbonate helmet, which attached using a neck ring that stayed in place as the astronaut moved his head.The portable life support system, a backpack that allowed astronauts to breathe and maintain suit pressure for up to seven hours on the surface.

Discussion #4 Lunar Module designed without Aerodynamic considerationsAlong with the Command and service module the Lunar Module was the third and trinity of vehicles which made the moon landings possible. The Purpose and use of the LM were much different from the other parts of the space craft:

Unlike a spacecraft made to function in the atmosphere (like the space shuttle, which looked like a plane) the LM was all strange angles and bumps.This is because in space, there would be no atmosphere to worry about. Shaving the aerodynamic features helped save weight, cutting down the costs of launching the spacecraft all the way to the moon there were no draw backs of the LM being made without aerodynamic considerations.Hence the Lunar Module didn’t suffer any drawbacks despite being made without aerodynamic considerations.

Discussion #5 scientific success of Apollo missionsInitially the Manned Spacecraft Centre was too preoccupied with the development and construction for the manned flight and the science was left at a low priority. But after some advancement, it was Science that eventually became the navigator for lunar exploration, but only after the primary objective had been attained. There was a lot of research work done on the surface of moon, some of which are still ongoing and the Apollo missions proved to be way more than just a way to show national dominance.

Here are the scientific exploits of Apollo missions:

1. Lunar Samples: Before 1969 a large fraction of all human knowledge about the origin and age of

the solar system . . . has been derived from the study of only the meteorites, with unknown origins. The Apollo samples changed all that.

The five Surveyor spacecraft, which landed in different types of terrain, carried instruments that demonstrated differences in the chemical makeup of lunar soil and identified the soil as "basaltic." Results from Surveyor allowed scientists to infer that the moon's interior was different from its surface.

Apollo surpassed the efforts of other unmanned Soviet lunar vehicles in bringing back selected and documented samples from six locations of the moon.

2. Soil Mechanics Investigation Goal: To improve scientific knowledge about the properties of lunar soil. Outcome: 1. Force required penetrating various depths in soil.

2.Lunar soil is fine grained with grain size less than0.1mm. 3.The dust grains absorb sunlight and heat.

3.Solar wind composition experiment: Solar winds are the flux of electrically charged particles emitted into space by sun. Earth's magnetic field prevents these charged particles from reaching the Earth's surface.The Moon is outside the Earth's magnetic field for most of each month and has a negligible atmosphere, allowing solar-wind particles to reach the Moon's surface. Two different experiments, the Solar Wind Composition Experiment and the Solar Wind Spectrometer, were deployed on the Moon to study the solar wind.

`Goal: To study solar wind. Outcome: chemical composition of solar winds determined. The isotopes of

the light noble gases were measured, including helium3, helium-4, neon-20, neon-21, neon-22, and argon-36. Some variation in the composition of the solar wind was observed in the measurements from the different mission.

4. Passive Seismic experiment

Goal: to study propagation of seismic waves on moon. Outcome: Knowledge of Lunar Interior Structure: Moon is not a primordial object like

the Earth; the Moon has a crust, mantle, and core. The lunar crust is rich in the mineral plagioclase and has an average crustal thickness of 60-70 kilometers, which is about 3 times the average crustal thickness on Earth.

5.Laser Ranging Retro reflector This is the only Apollo experiment that is still returning data from the Moon.

Goal: To gain knowledge on relative motions between moon and earth and the distance between them.

Outcome: The Laser Ranging Retroreflector experiment has produced many important measurements. These include an improved knowledge of the Moon's orbit and the rate at which the Moon is receding from Earth (currently 3.8 centimeters per year) and of variations in the rotation of the Moon. These measurements have also improved our knowledge of changes of the Earth's rotation rate and the precession of its spin axis.

So I wouldn’t say a grand success but Apollo missions were not a total scientific disaster after all.

Discussion #6 why were Apollo missions Shut down?

NASA scheduled three more missions to the Moon—18, 19 and 20—but those were subsequently grounded. The Apollo Moon program was stopped by the U.S. Congress after the Apollo 17 mission. NASA’s total budget was cut and the remaining program of human flights was redirected toward the less expensive Apollo-Soyus joint flight with the USSR, the three Skylad missions (the first space station), and eventually the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. The truth about why, however, isn't stranger than fiction. John Schuessler, a former NASA engineer who worked on the Gemini program that came before Apollo, tells PM that the enormously successful Apollo program was ended for mundane reasons such as

NASA's research goals: NASA had accomplished everything they were trying to. Apollo was a proof that the United States was a leader in technology in space. That was the big gain.

Change of priorities and lack of funding: The agency had to plan Skylab visits in 1973 and 1974, as well as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. They was always a shortage of money. Plus, there was a shortage of political support, and they were getting ready for the next program.

National financial crisis: The levels of federal spending which NASA had received before 1966 had become untenable to a public which had become financially wary, particularly as they experienced a major oil crisis in 1973, which shifted the nation's priorities.

A famous graph by economists Picketty and Saez of pre tax income in the US from 1913 till present.

The graph clearly shows that 1970’s was an economical low point for US, at this time Apollo missions seemed like a far from necessary expenditure to the nations economy and were thus shut down.

Discussion#6 Why Soviet’s fell back in space race? In the 1950s, the Soviet Union and the United States engaged in the space race.. The Soviet Union started that contest by launching the satellite Sputnik into orbit on Oct. 4, 1957. But the U.S. was the first country to successfully land on the moon and thus marking the end of Space race. But despite an upper hand in the beginning why did the Soviet Union loose? Why couldn’t they develop the technology fast enough to match the success of Apollo?

Here are some of the convincing reasons:

1. Internal Conflicts: Chief designer Korolev, took the credit for the success of sputnik. The other designers felt discontent about this and the first to revolt was designer Valentin Glushko, whose liquid-propellant engine was used on Russian - and some US – rockets. The dispute led to Glushko offering his services to Korolev's rivals. Glushko, by government decree, continued to design engines for Korolev, but the work wasn't good. So, despite Sputnik's initial triumph, a decade later the Soviet Union lost the race to the moon.

2. Systemic Problems : Lack of proper organization structure to execute non-military space programs. No recognized authority to order all involved organizations to cooperate. Lack of Soviet quality control: widespread poor quality control in the factories, no

discipline at these factories, and few qualified workers. The management and the development practices of the Soviet space program were

inferior to the Americans. Continued use of artillery development practices (many test flights instead of extensive ground test) complex systems outdated.

3. No consensus within leadership to support manned spaceflight, let alone mission to the moon:

Lack of comprehensive long-term space program. Trying to 'beat Americans' instead of orderly program leading to earth orbit infrastructure and lunar base.

the military were not interested in lunar spaceflight. Higher priority to military programs and lack of funding.

These political, scientific and military differences led to the fall of Soviet Union in the space race.

Discussion #7 Moon Landing fact or myth?

It has been more than four decades since the moon landing but there are still debates whether they were real or fake, I will provide both the discussions separately in favor and against the authenticity of moon landing and leave it on you to decide.

Theories suggesting moon landing as fake:

1. The Waving Flag : When the moon landing was shown on television viewers could see the flag fluttering, since there is no air in the moon’s atmosphere, and therefore no wind to cause the flag to blow.Nasa’s explanation: NASA claimed that the flag was stored in a thin tube and the rippled effect was caused by it being unfurled before being planted. The video where the flag's moving is because the astronaut just placed it there, and the inertia from when they let go kept it moving

2. Lack of impact center : There would be a blast crater underneath the lunar module to mark its landing, if NASA really landed on the moon.Nasa’s explanation: NASA maintains that the module required significantly less thrust in the low-gravity conditions than it would have done on Earth. The surface of the moon itself is solid rock, so a blast crater probably wouldn’t be feasible. Thanks to Lunar Reconnaissance orbiter, pictures of lunar landing sites are now clearly visible.

3. Lack of stars: One compelling argument for the moon landing hoax is the total lack of stars in any of the photographic/video evidence. There are no clouds on the moon, so stars are perpetually visible and significantly brighter than what we see through the filter of Earth’s atmosphere.

4. NASA’s explanation: this is because the Moon is very bright, reflecting a lot of the Sun's light. There are no stars because the cameras couldn't pick them up.

There are some more speculations regarding the authenticity of moon landings, but there are also some independent evidence from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) SELENE lunar probe, India's Chandrayaan-1 probe and The missions were tracked by radar from several countries on the way to the Moon and back, that suggest that moon landings as a matter of fact were real.

ConclusionThe study concludes the following

1. The cold war facilitated the birth of NASA, and the launch of Sputnik1 accelerated the already ongoing project of artificial satellite and after the launch of Explorer 1, both countries actively participated in the space race.

2. The technological advancement in space science ensured military development for both countries and was the main reason of the competition.

3. Despite the challenges with Apollo 1 and the constant threat of Soviet Union landing on the moon first Apollo missions succeeded with a computing technology far less advanced than today’s cell phones. Leaving Russia far behind in the Space race and dominating the cold war.

4. Other technologies also flourished under the findings of Apollo missions : “Moon Boot” material has revolutionized athletic footwear, improving

shock absorption and providing Superior stability and motion control. Technology developed by NASA led to an intruder detector

that helps prevent burglaries. The technology from lunar module program, gave birth to solar panels

as renewable source of energy. NASA’s Apollo technology was used by Medrad to develop the AID

implantable automatic pulse generator, which monitors the heart continuously, recognizes the onset of a heart attack and delivers a corrective electrical shock.

NASA’s Cool Suit technology — originally designed to keep astronauts cool during launch using a water circulation system — is now used by hazardous materials workers, armored vehicle crews, firefighters and NASCAR driver.

Many other discoveries such as cordless instruments, vacuum cleaner and quarts watches are also a contribution of Apollo missions.

5. The Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) conducted in July 1975, was the first joint U.S.–Soviet space flight, and the last flight of an Apollo spacecraft. Its primary purpose was as a symbol of the policy of détente that the two superpowers were pursuing at the time, and marked the end of the Space Race.

Sources:1. Wikipedia 4. Io9.com

2. History.nasa.gov 5. www.space.com3. www.armaghplanet.com 6. www.astronautix.com