Latest Space News - Echoes of Apollo

(A11-40yrs) Apollo 11 Splashes Down in the Pacific
Drogue chutes are seen before NASA mission control makes contact with the crew after a fiery reentry. Mission Control is heard to call to the crew “via ARIA” ( the Apollo Range Instrument Aircraft) many times before they are able to answer. They finally are able to communicate [...]

(A11-40yrs) Apollo 11 Jettisons the Service Module before Reentry
In preparation for reentry, the Service Module has been separated at 194 hours 49 mins. Just before separation Mission Control advised that Apollo 11 was “cleared for landing”. The crew retorted “the landing gear is down and locked”. The service module must be pushed far enough away [...]

(A11-40yrs) Apollo 11 Backup Crew has joined CapCom at Mission Control for Reentry
193 10 mins, 14,633 ft/second. The final preparations are being made as the capsule has only two hours left before reentry. The astronauts have commented on how big the earth is getting outside of their window. Splashdown is scheduled for 195 hrs 17 [...]

(A11-40yrs) The Role of the ARIA Aircraft.
lAt 182+ hours – Apollo for the first time will reenter with lift vector “up”. It is normally down, but they want to extend the range 250 miles, so for the first time, lift vector is set to “up”. This is a last minute change to correct for the [...]

(A11-40yrs) The influence of Earth’s Gravity Grows
The nearer to earth the capsule get, the faster it accelerates. In the last 20 minutes the capsule speed has grown from 10,534ft/second to 10,876ft/second an increase of 342feet/second and it has only 32,447 nautical miles  from the earth.
In the earth’s atmosphere most objects are speed limited by the [...]

(A11-40yrs) Apollo 11 Prepares for Splashdown
At 190+ hours – the Astronauts have just woken up from their last sleep period.
They have been finishing breakfast and Mission Control has read them the news. The astronauts are advised that Apollo 11 remains in the headlines. Other stories includes the news that president Nixon has called each of [...]

(A11-40 yrs) Apollo 11 approx 120,000 nautical Miles from Earth and the Moon.
170+ hours   into the mission, Apollo 11 has reached the halfway point between the earth and the moon. At a little over 120,000  miles from both the earth and the moon, the craft has been under the influence of the earth’s gravity [...]

(A1-40yrs) Apollo 11 only has One Mid-Course Correction Burn
The Apollo 11 craft, crew and mission control were so accurate in their engine burns, that only one mid-course correction was required. This was the first of three corrections scheduled on the trip between the moon and earth.
The first burn occurred at 150:29:55. The others were not [...]

(A11-40 yrs) Apollo 11 Engine Burn puts them in Trans-Earth Trajectory.
After jettisoning the Eagle, the crew has settled down to some housekeeping, meals and preparations for a trans – Earth trajectory burn of the Service Module engine.
The crew spent some earlier time establishing precise coordinates and Mission Control has then done the calculations that were [...]

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