Apollo 10 Stopped Just 47k Feet from the Moon

[japhyr]

I just finished Moondust, which is a really good read for anyone interested in the Apollo story. The author was a journalist working on a story about the Apollo astronauts, and he was interviewing one of the men who walked on the moon. During the interview the astronaut took a phone call, and came back a while later saying, "Now there's only nine of us." I believe it was Pete Conrad that had just died.

Shortly after that, the author (Andrew Smith) decided to go find each of the men who had walked on the moon, and ask them what they'd done with their lives since walking on the moon. It's a wonderful mix of his own recollections of growing up when Apollo was happening, each of the astronaut's personal backstories and recollections of what it was like to be at the center of the Apollo program, and what life has been like after walking on the moon.

I can't recommend it highly enough. It's being re-issued this summer for the 50th anniversary of the first landing, but you can also order the original version from 2005.

https://www.amazon.com/Moondust-Search-Men-Fell-Earth-dp-006...

[MikeCapone]

I recently finished Rocket Men by Robert Kurson, about Apollo 8. That was great. But the ultimate book on Apollo for me is still Chaikin's 'Man on the Moon' which details all of the Apollo missions from interviews with the astronauts not too long after, as well as some of the pre-Apollo stuff (Gemini and Mercury).

Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff is also great to understand the test pilots from which most of the astronauts were picked.

[Animats]

It's sad. Most of them did not do well in later life.

[carlosdp]

> Cernan speculated that the lander’s ascent module had been short-fueled on purpose: “A lot of people thought about the kind of people we were: ‘Don’t give those guys an opportunity to land, ‘cause they might!’”

I've always loved this anecdote. It really illustrates the adventurous attitude and boldness these astronauts. If they were fully fueled, there was a non-zero chance they would have just landed. What's Houston gunna do about it?

[themodelplumber]

I remember reading that NASA's psychological selection/screening process is top secret or something like that, but if you read between the lines and analyze the astronauts themselves, you quickly conclude that yes, if there is fuel and a giant unexplored opportunity nearby, don't get in their way. Not only are they adventurous, but they will push just about any boundary; that is their default setting.

Sometimes there are "interesting" incidents where you get to see this psychology in weaponized form, like the Terminator-esque jilted astronaut lover story from back in 2007. I'm not surprised at all to hear that contingency means might be taken to limit related risks on space missions.

[dmurray]

This would make for a great conspiracy theory, let's say in the alternative world where Apollo 11 had a catastrophic failure and the Apollo program was pushed back by years and eventually cancelled. "NASA did go to the moon in the 60s, but they covered it up!"

[pacificmint]

> It really illustrates the adventurous attitude and boldness these astronauts.

I remember reading something years ago along the lines that the astronauts they would select for a hypothetical mars mission would be a totally different type than the Apollo astronauts.

The Apollo guys were more the cowboy and daredevil type, where for an 18 month space mission you’d need much more level head types.

Not sure if that was a thing NASA had already planned for, but it always made sense to me.

[taneq]

Wasn't there some story about Chuck Yeager in a Bell X15 on his last flight just saying 'Screw it, what are they gonna do, fire me? I'm going to go to space today.' and taking it up as high as it would go?

[saagarjha]

> What's Houston gunna do about it?

Preventing them from flying another mission, ever, presumably.

[alanh]

This is more or less exactly the scenario explored in this classic sketch comedy video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj3pJudQi7A

[Luc]

It’s a joke.

[sharkweek]

I was staring at a picture today (I think it was a screen capture from the Apollo 11 documentary).

It was a view out across the Moon’s horizon and then total darkness. At first I felt this strange sense of dread and emptiness but then reframed the feeling into awe.

I can’t even begin to imagine what that must have felt like to be actually standing there. Or to be in that tiny little shuttle orbiting around the moon at what is essentially the height of an airplane flying across the ocean.

[ozmbie]

Apollo 11 is such a great documentary. They restored a lot of 70mm film and the clarity of the image is surreal.

It didn’t get screened in any cinemas where I live, but the bluray looks absolutely stunning. I wish they did a 4K release.

[JKCalhoun]

I read a description of the final approach to the moon (it might have been from Michael Collins) and how unlike the way we see it from Earth, as they got very close it filled your view and was clearly spherical — had depth — hung there like a thing made of plaster of Paris…

My jaw would be hanging open the whole time — well, you know, if I weren't in free-fall.

[ryanhuff]

Would the astronauts have seen only blackness? While under dark skies on Earth, we see the stars of the Milky Way. Wouldn’t the Astronauts on the moon see the same? Or does the illumination of the moon surface mask the stars?

[saagarjha]

> Or to be in that tiny little shuttle orbiting around the moon at what is essentially the height of an airplane flying across the ocean.

Minor correction: the lander was not "orbiting" the moon, the command module was.

[umeshunni]

That's 14 kilometers for those wondering.

[butterpeanut]

Thanks, I initially saw the article title as 'Apollo 10 Stopped just 47 feet from the Moon' and I thought, gee that's rather strange, why would you do that. Also, how would you do that. Thanks for saving me from embarrassment. [edit] I always read the comments before the article.

[jyriand]

I’m wondering if Apollo mission was actually using feet or meters for calculations.

[2dollars27cents]

I recently found this list of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents. There are some truly harrowing experiences, including an astronaut whose helmet began to fill with water during an EVA. He was having difficulty speaking by the time he was removed from the suit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight-related_ac...

[lathiat]

Chris Hadfield told a good story about "going blind in space" in his TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo62S0ulqhA&t=31s

[wereHamster]

About the EVA

> By December, 2013, NASA had determined the leak to have been caused by a design flaw in the Portable Life Support System liquid coolant. The designers failed to take into account the physics of water in zero-g, which unintentionally allowed coolant water to mix with the air supply.

They did not take into account that a space suit will primarily be used in… space. wat?!?

[drstins_n]

Parmitano is going back to the ISS in July. Also he is going to be the first Italian to take command of the space station.

[scott_s]

Dave Wolf told stories about his EVAs to Radiolab. It's a good listen: https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/242184-dark-side-earth

[rectang]

For those not in the exclusive clique and up on the jargon: EVA = Extra Vehicular Activity.

[ec109685]

Why didn't the Apollo 10 astronauts fly back up as part of Apollo 11 since they handled their mission so well and the 11 was pretty much identical?

[chrisseaton]

Maybe because it was considered too stressful to do two missions close like that?

Maybe because that's how the military do things - recce and offensive action are usually done by different units or subunits within a unit, with the recce briefing the other group.

[perilunar]

The Apollo 11 backup crew was the prime crew for Apollo 13.

Crew scheduling was somewhat messy, but generally the backup crew for a mission were the prime crew for the next+2 mission. (13 and 14 crews were swapped for reasons).

[maxerickson]

I imagine both crews were pretty well set in stone years before 10 launched.

[Agathos]

Then you end up like the tech company where only one guy does deployments, because he's the only guy management trusts, because he's the only guy who's ever done a deployment.

[maxxxxx]

The mission details were quite different so there would have been no time for training. In addition they tried to rotate the crews and not rely on a few people.

[haakon]

FYI, 47k feet is 14325 meters.

[cowwithbeef]

Anyone who has played Kerbal can tell you the hardest part of this mission is getting back to the orbiter.

[HNLurker2]

I wish I had a gaming PC for that (hit rock bottom). Guess I'm gonna watch YouTube instead?

[axilmar]

It's obvious, it had to be the 11th mission.

(/joke).

[1over137]

"47k feet"? Metric prefixes on American units, interesting. There's hope! :)

[ronilan]

This is aviation standard. Nothing special.

[dang]

HN's software (or sometimes mods) abbreviate large numbers in this way because they are often used as attention-getting devices, a.k.a. bait, in titles.

It would be oxymoronically metric if the k attached to the unit, but it attaches to the number.

[iscrewyou]

Hey, we tried. This is the closest we’ll get. It’s an inter-unit handshake.

[Buttons840]

"47 kilofeet"

[DerekL]

Actual title is “Why Apollo 10 Stopped Just 47,000 Feet From the Moon”.

[paulsutter]

Stopped? Yeah right