Space Rocket History #198 – Apollo 10 – Snoopy Returns and a Successful Dress Rehearsal

Posted on February 22, 2017 by spac9750

“Hey, Apollo – Houston, this is Apollo 10. Look, I know you ran some studies, but by golly, we can see Snoopy, and he isn’t too far away! He’s catching up with us. Can you talk to the FIDOS? He’s right down below us. We can occasionally see him tumbling end-over-end down below there, and he’s coming in closer each pass. That’s Snoopy’s descent stage. We can see him right down below us now, and he’s right – I thought he was a little out-of-plane, but now he’s looking more in-plane with us.” Tom Stafford Apollo 10

Relative Orbits of the Command Module and the Descent Stage

Cernan, Stafford & Young arrive on the Carrier USS Princeton

Apollo 10 Command Module at the Science Museum in London

Feb 01

Space Rocket History #195 – Apollo 10 – Lunar Module Testing

Posted on February 1, 2017 by spac9750

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When Stafford and Cernan were ready for undocking they discovered the Lunar Module had slipped three and a half degrees out of line with the command module at the latching point, possibly due to loose mylar collecting on the docking ring…

Events planned for revolution 12

LM upper hatch locking handle and overhead cabin relief dump valve handle

View of Apollo 10 LM from the CM

Jan 25

Space Rocket History #194 – Apollo 10 – Acquisition of Signal & Lunar Orbit

Posted on January 25, 2017 by spac9750

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The six-minute retrograde maneuver seemed interminable, just as it had to Borman’s crew on Apollo 8, but the engine kept firing and the Apollo 10 crew’s confidence in it kept growing. When the engine finally shut down and they were sure that it had done its job, Stafford and Cernan had time to look at the lunar surface. They likened one area to a volcanic site in Arizona. Shortly, Stafford forced his attention back inside the cabin and told his crew-mates that he thought the best thing to say when they got back in radio contact with mission control was, “Houston, tell the earth we have arrived.”

Apollo 10 photographed Sistes 1, 2, & 3

Site 1 was on the eastern side of the Sea of Tranquility

Site 2 was on the southwestern part of the sea

Jan 11

Space Rocket History #192 – Apollo 10 – Translunar Injection & First Docking

Posted on January 11, 2017 by spac9750

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After a shaky but successful S-IVB burn Apollo 10 was on the way to the Moon. Now the first order of business was for John Young to move to the command module pilot seat.