Important Day in Space History

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 11:05 am

It wasn't nesecarily because he didn't want to come down. He used fuel up doing his own expirements and ignoring the flight plan. For one thing he kept maneuvering the capsule to get a better view of earth, and he also maneuvered the capsule to figurre out what John Glenn's "Fireflys" were. He was so distracted he fired hisreentry thrusters 3 seconds late and ended up 250 miles off course. Not to mention he was out of fuel for maneuvering so hes lucky he came down blunt end first at all. After that NASA never oficcialy grounded him since he was still a national hero but never let him fly again either. He later went on to ocean exploration. One other thing that didn't help his case with NASA was a news interview where when asked about the offcourse reentry he told the reporter that neither he nor NASA knew where he was which made NASA look bad when infact they knew the general area where he came down but it took recovery forces 2 hours to reach him.

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 12:04 pm

That's what I meant to say.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 12:04 pm

Sure you did Benji i just thought i'd elaborate a little more on it.

Benji · Post by **Benji** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 12:23 pm

You had all the details I didn't. What I said before was just what I remembered from Kraft's book (or was it Kranz's?, they all just seem to blend together).

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 12:26 pm

Well i don't know about Kranz's book yes since i still havent gotten to read it but i know Kraft was very critical of Carpenter and i think he was a big part of him not getting to fly again.

stargazer0105 · Post by **stargazer0105** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 2:28 pm

Kraft was very critical of him in his book. I don't remember about Kranz though since he wasn't in mission control at the time.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 2:31 pm

Well i would think Kranz would have written little if any about his flight i dont believe he came to mission control till they moved to Houston.

stargazer0105 · Post by **stargazer0105** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 2:47 pm

Yeah, I think that's what I meant to say. But I'm still trying to figure out this AC office stuff so it may have sounded wierd.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 12:24 pm

Well getting back on topic to an important day in space history. Today is a very significant one. Today was the day that NASA chose Lunar Orbit Rendevous for the method of reaching the moon. It doesnt seem like much but it shaped the whole apollo program and allowed us to meet Kennedys goal. See info below. Its from the Encyclopedia Astronautica page.

1962 - Nation: USA. Launch Vehicle: Saturn IB, Saturn V, Nova 8L.
Selection of LOR as Apollo Mission Mode Program: Apollo. Class: Manned.
Following a long controversy NASA selected Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) as the fastest, cheapest, and safest mode to accomplish the Apollo mission. LOR solved the engineering problem of how to land. The EOR or Direct Landing approaches required the Apollo crew to be on their backs during the landing and having to use television or mirrors to see the lunar surface. A lunar crasher stage approach had finally emerged as lesser of evils but raised other issues. LOR allowed a purpose-built lander with a logical helicopter-like crew station layout. Studies indicated LOR would allow landing 6-8 months earlier and cost $9.2 billion vs $ 10.6 billion for EOR or direct. Direct flight by this time would not involve Nova, but a scaled-down two-man spacecraft that could be launched by the Saturn C-5. Additional Details: Selection of LOR as Apollo Mission Mode. References: 26 , 27 .