[X] My Assistant

[jmknapp]

I was reading up on this mission and have a few questions:

1) Some of the instruments, e.g., LAMP (or LAVA LAMP, haha) will be used to identify any water ice in the "permanently shadowed" parts of polar craters. But with the Earth at least, the pole is said to have migrated quite a bit. Is the Moon conversely so locked in synchrony that its own pole can't wander appreciably? Seems like even if transient, it might not take too long to burn off any ice.

2) I was wondering what the first "earthrise" opportunity might be for LRO postcard purposes. According to the available SPICE kernels the initial orbit comes in around longitude 90 over the south pole and so from the point of view of earth circles without eclipse initially until it eventually precesses around or whatever.

3) The launch has been delayed by a month. Is there any possibility this mission might be cancelled? I.e., has NASA (read: US Congress) ever cancelled a mission where the spacecraft had essentially been built?

[ilbasso]

I was reading up on this mission and have a few questions:

...

3) The launch has been delayed by a month. Is there any possibility this mission might be cancelled? I.e., has NASA (read: US Congress) ever cancelled a mission where the spacecraft had essentially been built?

Sorry for the late reply here, here's another Yes answer. Apollos 18 and 19 had the hardware completely built. They were forced to cancel essentially because the money was not allocated to run the support operations.

[ilbasso]

Yeah, for those of us who lived through it, Apollo could easily become an obsession. I still live it! Am still modeling Apollo hardware and collecting souvenirs and autographs all these years later. oDoug, I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one who used to tape the moonwalks. I also photographed the TV screens during the moonwalks...even the puppets that NBC used after Al Bean fried the Apollo 12 camera.

My dad shared (and fueled) my obsession. His office ran the classified program from which NASA borrowed the technology for the Apollo 11 TV camera, so I have benefitted from having some of the mementos he picked up here and there in his travels. He got a VIP tour of the VAB when Apollo 12 was being stacked - what I would have given to be able to go with him on that tour!!

In high school, I worked as a volunteer tour guide at the National Air and Space Museum before it was in the "new" building. I sneaked away from the tour area and went up to the library during Al Worden's space walk as Apollo 15 came back from the Moon. While I was watching it on the dinky B&W TV, Mike Collins (then director of the NASM) came in and we watched the spacewalk together, just the two of us. It was a thrill I will never forget. We also briefly had a full-size, battery-powered mockup of the Lunar Rover at the museum, and I got to drive that around on the Mall every day for a month - I drove an LRV before I had a license to drive a car!

I wish I knew how to convey to the people of today who didn't live through that era what it was like to be alive at that time. Perhaps it was best to be a teenager then, not having to worry about the Vietnam War or the riots or politics - just to be able to see such a glorious dream come to fruition. The pace of launches in 1968 and 1969 was breathtaking, one just about every 2-3 months. Every one of them broke new ground, every one of them was daring, every one had really cool technology, and every one of them was a chance to see mankind at its best.

[dvandorn]

oDoug, I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one who used to tape the moonwalks. I also photographed the TV screens during the moonwalks...even the puppets that NBC used after Al Bean fried the Apollo 12 camera.

I didn't have access to a camera for Apollo 12, though my older brother borrowed a Yashica (twin-lens reflex) from high school and took pics off the screen during Apollo 11. (I actually accompanied my Dad to the drugstore to get film for the event, thus not returning home until about four minutes into Apollo 11's PDI burn. I nearly sat in the car to listen to the landing without interruption, but decided to tear into the house as fast as I could.)

Starting with Apollo 13, I was working for the school newspaper myself and had access to the same set of cameras, and was all set to take pics off the screen. Then I had to wait 9 months after 13 aborted to take pics during Apollo 14. I continued that practice and took several rolls of film during the remaining Apollo flights.

Over the many years, the prints from those pics have been lost, but I recently discovered that I still have (in moderate to poor shape) the negatives from those rolls. I may get them reprinted someday.

And I was certainly a teenager during Apollo. I turned 13 while Apollo 7 was in orbit. I was 15 years old when Apollo 15 flew, 16 years old when Apollo 16 flew, and 17 years old when Apollo 17 flew. With a birthday in October, it just worked out that way.

So, yes -- I began obsessing with Apollo before they started flying.

-the other Doug