1. An Insiders View of the US Space Programs Dennis O’Connor, PE

2. The Space Race began with the 1957 launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1. This came as a shock to the American public, and led to the creation of NASA to expedite existing U.S. space exploration efforts, and place most of them under civilian control. After the successful launch of the Explorer 1 satellite in 1958, manned spaceflight became the next goal. Prior to the Space Shuttle Program, there were 3 mainline programs with increasing complexity and difficulty in execution. The Mercury program used a one person capsule designed and built by McDonnell. The Gemini program used a two person capsule again designed and built by McDonnell. The Apollo program used a three person Command Module/Service Module designed and built by North American Aviation and a two person Lunar Module designed and built by the Grumman Corporation. History

3. Mercury Program Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1959 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a solo human into Earth orbit and return the person safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. The US launched its first astronaut, Alan Shepard, on a suborbital flight in May 1961. The U.S. reached its orbital goal on February 20, 1962, when John Glenn made three orbits around the Earth. When Mercury ended in May 1963, both nations had sent six people into space, but the US was still behind the Soviets in terms of total time spent in space. Mercury flights were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (the old Cape) on modified Redstone and Atlas D rockets.

5. Gemini Program Gemini was an intermediate step between Mercury and Apollo started in 1961 and concluded in 1966.. Its major objectives: to subject two men and their equipment to long duration, microgravity flights; to rendezvous and dock with other orbiting vehicles; and to perfect methods of reentry and landing the spacecraft at a pre-selected point. Its launch vehicle was the Gemini–Titan II, a modified Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Project Gemini was the first program to use Houston as the Mission Control Center for its flights.

7. Apollo Program The Apollo programwas the third United States human spaceflight program carried out by NASA, which accomplished landing the first twelve humans on the Moon from 1969 to 1972. First conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower as a three-man spacecraft to follow the one-man Project Mercury which put the first Americans in space, Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" by the end of the 1960s, which he proposed in a May 25, 1961 address to Congress. Project Mercury was followed by the two-man Project Gemini (1962–66). The first manned flight of Apollo was in 1968.

8. Apollo Program The Apollo program was a model of organizational skills. It required exceptional systems engineering skills to produce the high level designs that would lead to major ground facilities and flight systems being developed. Contracts were first let in 1962 by NASA and we were on the moon in 7 years. Ground facilities included the construction of the Industrial Area, the Vertical Assembly Building, the Launch Control Complex, the Crawler Transporter and the actual launch pads. All were in what is called the new Cape, or Kennedy Space Center. Flight systems included the Saturn 5 rocket consisting of 3 stages built by different companies, the Command/Service Module and the Lunar Module, and the Launch Escape System. The design of the mission profile was controversial and was debated for years. Virtually all the major US companies were involved to some extent.

9. Apollo Program Apollo succeeded in achieving its goal of manned lunar landing, despite the major setback of a 1967 Apollo 1 cabin fire that killed the entire crew during a pre-launch test. After the first landing, sufficient flight hardware remained for nine follow-on landings with an ambitious plan for extended lunar geological and astrophysical exploration. Budget cuts forced the cancellation of three of these. Five of the remaining six missions achieved successful landings, but the Apollo 13 landing was prevented by an oxygen tank explosion in transit to the Moon, which disabled the command spacecraft's propulsion and life support. The crew returned to Earth safely by using the Lunar Module as a "lifeboat" for these functions.

23. The Mobile Service Structure (MSS) provided access to the launch vehicle and spacecraft while the vehicle was on the launch pad. It was a separate structure that was moved onto to the launch pad shortly after the Mobile Launcher was rolled out to the pad. After placing the Mobile Launcher onto the launch pad, the crawler/transporter retrieved the MSS from its parking place alongside the Crawlerway and took it to the pad. The MSS remained in position around the launch vehicle until the day before the scheduled launch. Mobile Service Structure The MSS was originally conceived as the “Arming Tower.” Prior to launch, a number of explosive devices needed to be installed in the launch vehicle. These included the linear shaped charges that would separate the stages of the vehicle in flight, as well as explosives along the fuel and oxidizer tanks for “fuel dispersion,” which would destroy the vehicle in flight if it veered off course. For safety reasons, it was felt that these should be installed at the launch pad rather than in the confines of the Vehicle Assembly Building. As the Apollo/Saturn design matured, the MSS evolved into a structure that would enable technicians to work on the vehicle as it sat on the launch pad. It also provided the spacecraft with a degree of protection from the weather.

26. Direct Ascent: The spacecraft would be launched as a unit and travel directly to the Moon and land. It would return, leaving its landing stage on the Moon. This design would have required development of the extremely powerful Nova launch vehicle. Earth Orbit Rendezvous (EOR): Multiple rocket launches (up to 15 in some plans) would carry parts of a Direct Ascent spacecraft and propulsion units for translunar injection (TLI). These would be assembled into a single spacecraft in Earth orbit. Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR): A single Saturn V could launch a spacecraft that was composed of a command spacecraft, which would remain in orbit around the Moon while a smaller, two-stage lander would carry two astronauts to the surface, return to dock with the command ship, and then be discarded. Landing only a small part of the spacecraft on the Moon and returning an even smaller part to lunar orbit, minimized the total mass to be launched from the Earth. Lunar Surface Rendezvous: Two spacecraft would be launched in succession. The first, an automated vehicle carrying propellant for the return to Earth, would land on the Moon, to be followed some time later by the manned vehicle. Propellant would have to be transferred from the automated vehicle to the manned vehicle. Path to the Moon

27. Flight Planning

28. The flight mode, lunar orbit rendezvous, was selected in 1962. The boosters for the program were the Saturn IB for Earth orbit flights and the Saturn V for lunar flights. Apollo was a three-part spacecraft: the command module (CM), the crew's quarters and flight control section; the service module (SM) for the propulsion and spacecraft support systems (when together, the two modules are called CSM); and the lunar module (LM), to take two of the crew to the lunar surface, support them on the Moon, and return them to the CSM in lunar orbit. https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AvINsRkl1nicsxFeUtKcr.SbvZx4?fr=yf p-t-764-s&toggle=1&fp=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&p=saturn%205%20launch Path to the Moon

29. The Saturn V rocket was 111 meters (363 feet) tall, about the height of a 36- story-tall building, and 18 meters (60 feet) taller than the Statue of Liberty. Fully fueled for liftoff, the Saturn V weighed 2.8 million kilograms (6.2 million pounds), the weight of about 400 elephants. The rocket generated 34.5 million newtons (7.6 million pounds) of thrust at launch, creating more power than 85 Hoover Dams. A car that gets 48 kilometers (30 miles) to the gallon could drive around the world around 800 times with the amount of fuel the Saturn V used for a lunar landing mission. It could launch about 118,000 kilograms (130 tons) into Earth orbit. That's about as much weight as 10 school buses. The Saturn V could launch about 43,500 kilograms (50 tons) to the moon. That's about the same as four school buses. Path to the Moon

36. Lunar Module Simulator – Flying Bedspring

39. https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AvINsRkl1nicsxFeUtKcr.SbvZx4?fr=yf p-t-764-s&toggle=1&fp=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&p=saturn%205%20launch