Tag: Apollo 9

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 4: The Patch Collection

Image of binder containing Vega's collection of Apollo mission patches in front of her bedroom closet

Vega entered her apartment after another long day at the law firm, and went straight to her bedroom closet. There, on the top shelf, was the cardboard box she was looking for. From it she pulled out a three-ring binder with gold lettering embossed on its black cover.

It was his father’s old collection of the Apollo program mission patches. He had given it to her when she was 10 years old. His way of showing her how much he loved that she shared his interest for the space race. This had always been one of her most precious possessions. A treasured symbol of the special bond she had with her dad.

Since lunch, a little voice kept telling her to look into that collection. She began staring at the colorful embroidered patches in the album without really searching for anything in particular. While doing so she could hear her father explaining them to her like it was yesterday.

“The Apollo astronauts had a lot to say about their mission patches. Some of them even took it upon themselves to design theirs. Looking at them is like taking a trip into the astronauts’ minds,” he told her the first time he showed her the collection. And then he would go through each one of them explaining their missions.

Apollo 1 mission patchApollo 1’s patch irony was not lost on her. She couldn’t help thinking about the astronauts’ family members while staring at the patch showing a command module orbiting Earth.  A mission that never left the launch pad where a fire ended the life of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.

The mission numbers then jumped from one to seven. According to NASA there were some unmanned missions between 1 and 7. Her father always doubted their official numbering story.

Apollo 7 mission patch“The mission commander for Apollo 7 was Walter Schirra, one of the Mercury seven original astronauts,” her father would say.  “After the Apollo 1 tragedy, NASA needed all the positive vibes available in the universe. So they went with lucky number seven. Remember that all the Mercury missions used that same number and they were all successful. Of course NASA would never accept they were as superstitious as the next guy so they came up with this cockamamie story about obscure unmanned missions that only they knew about, or understood for that matter.”

Vega noted something she hadn’t before in the Apollo 7 patch. Although the key visuals on it were similar to Apollo 1’s – they both featured a command module orbiting Earth – on this one the ship’s engine was lighted while on Apollo 1’s it wasn’t. Did the astronauts do that on purpose? You know, to indicate that this one would get off the ground… and avoid their predecessor’s fate after featuring what could be referred to as a dead engine in their patch. Was this superstition at work again? She wondered… but moved on.

Apollo 8 mission patchApollo 8’s had always been her favorite – a very sleek design that featured a red “8” denoting both the mission number, and the circumlunar trajectory of the mission. The design was first conceived by mission astronaut Jim Lovell who then prepared a sketch and gave it to the NASA artist in charge of the project.

Apollo 9 mission patchApollo 9’s mission patch was probably the least appealing of them all. Her father used to compare it to an elementary school textbook diagram. She moved over quickly to the Apollo 10 patch – another one of her favorites. Apollo 10 mission patchA pretty busy design, unlike Apollo 8’s sleek one, but somehow it worked in a very pleasant manner. Mission astronauts Young and Cernan designed it and its shield-like outer shape gave it a space ranger flair.

She turned the page and came face to face with the most famous patch in the history of space flight – Apollo 11’s landing eagle insignia.

“This one here is where it all started,” her father would tell her. “When I was a little kid I swallowed NASA’s official version regarding the meaning of this design. The eagle with the olive branch in its talons representing the United States going to the Moon in peace. And no astronaut names on it because the feat was an achievement for all humanity. But as I grew older I started to feel there was another more revealing meaning to it.”

Apollo 11 mission insigniaThe first time he said that my eyes opened up like Frisbees, thought Vega.

“Mission astronaut Michael Collins designed the insignia,” he would go on, “and I truly believe he and the rest of the crew decided to leave their names out of it for another reason. In case they didn’t land on the Moon and had to go to their backup plan. The one  in which only the image of the United States accomplishes it. What if their real mission was to make the world believe they had landed regardless of whether or not they did.  Back then, there was a great deal of pressure on NASA to fulfill Kennedy’s dream. Plus the reputation of the United States was on the line. Not to mention the political pressure associated to the Soviet Union’s parallel efforts to reach our companion in the cosmos.”

But they did land on the Moon Dad, Vega could hear herself say with the innocence of a ten year old.

“The United States did, yes,” he would say, “but not Apollo 11. To the astronauts’ credit, they tried, but had to abort and go with the backup plan – make the world believe they did.”

Vega was incredulous the first time she heard her father’s theory. Then, after reading a great deal about the Apollo missions through the years she had to conclude that something didn’t quite match. Especially suspicious were those of Apollo 12 and 13, just ahead of the Kitty Hawk mission.

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 19: Third Inning – Who’s on First?

The third inning started, and Lucas’ list of questions increased with every pitch.  

“Who decided which astronauts were to carry out the secondary protocol missions?”  

“One simple directive guided the selection process: they had to be the ones most likely to keep their mouths shut,” said Armstrong. “Military background was preferred although in my case it was more of a psychological profile thing.”  

“What do you mean?”  

“In August 1968 George Low, Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, had a secret meeting with Bob Gilruth, head of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Chris Kraft, Director of Flight Operations, and Deke Slayton, who as NASA’s Flight Crew Director was the person tasked with making crew assignments. They were Apollo program’s four senior administrators, and by that time had become an unofficial committee that got together often in Gilruth’s office to discuss and make decisions on the future of the program. Not much happened that didn’t originate with them.

“Well, in that August meeting Low convinced the group that the only way to meet Kennedy’s goal was to send Apollo 8 around the Moon on December of that year. It was a Hail Mary pass that would allow NASA to fulfill in one mission many of the program objectives needed to land on the Moon.

“That meant reshuffling the other missions and the crew assignments. The original Apollo 8 mission became Apollo 9 and in the process Buzz, Michael and me, instead of being back-up crew of Apollo 9 became back-up for Apollo 8. Something that meant that our place in the rotation suddenly had us in line for the prime crew of Apollo 11, which was, at the time, scheduled to be the first G-type mission. In other words, the first Moon landing mission.

“At the time I thought that such a realignment of missions had been simply a lucky break for us, but I found out shortly thereafter, that I had been chosen not to be the first man to actually land on the Moon but to be the commander of the mission with the secondary protocol to tell the world that we had landed on the Moon. Very big difference, believe me. And the reason I was selected for that was that Gilruth, Low, Kraft and Deke saw me as a person who did not have a large ego. Chris Kraft wrote about that in 2001 as part of his autobiography.”

“So, in June 6, 1968, LBJ gave the order to put the secondary protocol in motion,” said Lucas, “and in August, the Big Four laid out the whole plan. Right?”

“Pretty much. That Apollo 8’s crew, was the first to train for a secondary protocol. The crews of Apollo 7 and 9 were kept in the dark. Their missions were about testing the spacecrafts on Earth orbit and as such, were of little or no use to the overall plan.

“Only seven astronauts were aware of the whole secondary protocol: Commanders Frank Borman of Apollo 8, Tom Stafford of Apollo 10, Pete Conrad of Apollo 12, Jim Lovell of Apollo 13, Alan Shepard of Apollo 14 and myself on Apollo 11. Nobody else was made aware of the whole plan; it was just us. As a matter of fact Lovell carried out two secondary protocol missions; the only astronaut to do so. We were all members of the New Nine group except for Shepard who, as you know, was one of the Mercury Seven; the first American to go into space way back in 1961.”  

“What about their crews? You said that the commanders would brief their crews only to the extent of their mission and did not include any information regarding the role of other missions. Didn’t they have questions? How was that handled?”  

“There was a total of 10 crew members involved in the secondary protocol missions; all were military men. They knew how to follow orders without questioning them. Plus there was always the ‘that’s classified’ response,” said Armstrong with a smirk. “Actually, two of them, Young and Cernan, did get to walk on the Moon in later missions. And a third one, Dick Gordon was in line to do the same in Apollo 18 until his mission was cancelled due to budget cuts. I’m sure they didn’t need much more motivation to keep their mouths shut.  

“All astronauts involved were given a lifetime mission that transcended the primary mission objectives. Our mission would not be completed until we have taken what we know to our graves. It’s a very heavy burden I’ve come to regard as unjust, not for me, but for the ones who were not given the credit they deserved. Look Lucas,  I’m convinced that it was the right thing to do in the context of the era, but we now live in a different world. It’s time for people to know the truth.”  

Over on the field

The third inning was a testament to the pitching duel in front of us that day with only one hit between the two teams and no runs scored. Reds still leading 1-0 after three.      

 

 

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 20: Fourth Inning – 1968 Overture

Image of Surveyor probe on the surface of the Moon

On the top half of the fourth inning the Indians tied the game on an RBI single by Casey Blake. Lucas pumped his fist in celebration before resuming his conversation with the old astronaut.

“We’ve got ourselves a tie ball-game,” he said.

Armstrong smiled and continued his story.

“You know,” he said, “what prompted President Johnson to green light the secondary protocol in 1968 was the lunar module evaluation done by the Apollo 9 crew.

“Both mission Commander Jim McDivitt and his LMP, Lunar Module Pilot, Rusty Schweickart had been part of the many tests conducted at Grumman’s.”

“Grumman, yes, the company in charge of developing the lunar module,” added Lucas.

“That’s correct. In general terms their assessment was that the extent of things still not working properly on the module was such that it would be impossible to have a 1968 launch.”

“Which would have made it almost impossible to fulfill Kennedy’s promise,” said Lucas.

“Right, so when confronted with that situation in June, 1968 LBJ activated the secondary protocol. It’s no coincidence the LM-2, the designation for the lunar module initially assigned to McDivitt’s mission, was moved to NASA that same month.

“Production of the lunar module was already behind schedule, but when the LM-2 arrived at Cape Canaveral that June, NASA confirmed that the craft still had significant defects and some officials referred to it as a piece of junk. Grumman’s estimate at the time was that the first mission-ready lunar module, meaning LM-3 because LM-2 was beyond fixing, would not be a reality until at least February 1969.”

“And that’s when George Low came up with the idea of the circumlunar mission for Apollo 8,” said Lucas.

“You know your NASA history,” said Armstrong. “Another event added pressure on the Apollo program to make the 1969 landing goal. In September 1968 the Soviet Union’s Zond 5 mission successfully carried Russian tortoises in a cislunar loop around the Moon. This was the second consecutive successful cislunar mission for the Soviets, and NASA was getting antsy.

“The stakes were extremely high, and the pressure was mounting. There was speculation within NASA, that the Soviets were preparing to launch cosmonauts on a circumlunar mission before the end of 1968.

“As matter of fact the Zond 5 mission shocked the hell out of us when voices of cosmonauts were transmitted from the spacecraft,” said Armstrong. “The cosmonauts were apparently reading out telemetry data and computer readings, and even discussing making an attempt to land. It turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by the cosmonauts who were sitting comfortably at their command center in Crimea plugging into the Zond 5 transmitter.

“The official version was that it was a prank, but I always thought they were testing their own version of our secondary protocol. The fact that their transmission was discovered to be a fake so fast taught us a critical lesson: our communication of a Moon landing very probably would have to come from a transmitter on the surface of the Moon and not from the orbiting command module.

“Which brings me to the next point. The one thing that finally convinced President Johnson that the secondary protocol was the way to go,” said Armstrong, “was the fact that there were five Surveyor probes on the surface of the Moon.”

“You mean the probes sent by NASA to test soft-landing capability?”

“Yes, from May 1966 to January 1968 NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory sent seven robotic spacecrafts to the surface of the Moon. One crashed and another one exploded before landing, but five made it to the surface and those could be used to simulate transmissions from the surface of the Moon.

“Of all the Surveyor missions only number 7 at the Tycho crater was not used for the secondary protocol. Surveyors 1 and 3 were in the Ocean of Storms which ended up being Apollo 12’s landing site and one of the alternate landing sites for Apollo 11. Surveyor 5 was on the Sea of Tranquility which ended up being Apollo 11’s landing site. And Surveyor 6 was on Sinus Medii, another one of Apollo 11’s alternate landing sites.

On the bottom half of the fourth inning

The Reds regained the lead on a solo homer by Adam Dunn. 2-1 Reds after four.      

 

 

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 21: Fifth Inning – Heads and Tales

NASA Administrator Thomas Paine in 1969

While on the playing field Reds pitcher Edison Volquez manhandled the Indians lineup on the top half of the fifth inning, Armstrong continued his tale.

“In October 1968, NASA Administrator James Webb who had been informed about the secondary protocol plan by the big four, Gilruth, Low, Kraft and Slayton, stepped down from his post,” said the old astronaut. “Although the official version for his resignation was that he wanted to give the next President space to name his own director, some say the decision was prompted by his strong opposition to the deception.

“He was succeeded by Dr. Thomas Paine who oversaw the Apollo 8 to 13 missions. It was rumored among the astronauts in the secondary protocol loop that Dr. Paine was not made aware of the plan when he took over. It became obvious later that, being an engineer, he had figured out the deception somewhere along the line and that was why he quit after the Apollo 13’s opera of a mission. I think something else was at play too.

“Dr. Paine had been in charge of acquiring the sentiments of world leaders for the Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages which were meant to rest on the lunar surface. He personally corresponded with the heads of what became seventy-three participating nations, and coordinated the efforts to enshrine their messages on a tiny silicon disc. By the way, it’s interesting to note that Lyndon B. Johnson’s message was written as if the Moon landing was a future event and not an accomplished feat. Something along the lines of: ‘We expect to explore the Moon… The purpose of the American people remains unchanged… and so on.’

“To this day I can’t figure out why he did that. It was too risky, but time proved him right I guess; nobody noticed anything fishy about that. Anyway, I digress. Going back to Paine, I think that, once he figured out the deception, he got really upset with NASA. It must have been frustrating to spend so much time in a purely cosmetic endeavor. One that amounted to nothing in the end. I’m sure he felt used. He resigned and left NASA a couple of months after the conclusion of the congressional review on the Apollo 13 mission.

“Then came Dr. George Low,” said Armstrong.

“The man historians deem responsible for saving the space program. Instrumental in the development of a safe Apollo spaceship after the Apollo 1 fire. And originator of the idea to turn Apollo 8’s mission into a circumlunar one,” said Lucas.

“Again, right on the money with your NASA history. The timing of his appointment and tenure are very revealing because he only oversaw the Apollo 14 mission. The chief savior of Kennedy’s dream was in fact the one in charge during the mission that accomplished the feat, albeit not within JFK’s timeframe. I don’t think that was a coincidence. Remember he had been one of the architects of the secondary protocol, a shady but program-saving initiative as well. So, his appointment at the time seemed like NASA’s way of showing him the appreciation he deserved. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. There were seven other missions before Apollo 14.

“As I mentioned earlier, Apollo 7 had no secondary protocol. Their mission was to test the command module on Earth orbit. Apollo 8’s mission, on the other hand, was critical. Besides the political statement regarding the U.S. leadership position in the Space Race, it was meant to test whether communications from Moon orbit could be distinguished from the ones coming from its surface. Something that the Soviet Lund-5 prank had already proved  impossible. Regardless, NASA believed they had a game-changer for that approach.

“They tested the ability to use the Surveyors’ communication equipment as relay stations between the Apollo command module and mission control on Earth. They also tested the already obsolete “Moon bounce” technique which was developed in the late 40’s and which entailed reflecting a radio signal from the surface of the Moon. It turned out these were not their only options.

“The game-changer was the unified S-band transponder General Dynamics had been developing for the Apollo spacecraft. One of its functions was to provide the link for the surface of the Moon broadcast. But the most interesting aspect of this was that this piece of equipment served as a communication relay station between the astronauts and mission control. After all the tests performed by Apollo 8, the unified S-band transponder approach became plan A for the secondary protocol deceptive communication with Earth. They kept using the Surveyors’ communication systems as back-up plan which is why the Apollo landing sites matched the Surveyors’ locations.

But before that, Apollo 9 had to render a verdict.

On the field…

Things got worse for the Indians on the bottom half of the fifth inning. The Reds increased their lead to 4-1 thanks to RBi singles by Ken Griffey Jr. and Brandon Phillips.        

 

 

 

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 22: Sixth Inning – To Land or Not to Land

Apollo 10 command module as seen from the lunar module in Moon orbit

The Indians’ rookie first baseman Michael Aubrey homered with one out in the top of the sixth to close the gap to two runs.  

“Nice one”, said Armstrong before resuming his amazing tale. “Chief among the problems with the LM was the landing radar. A system that, for obvious reasons, Apollo 9 couldn’t test on Earth orbit.”  

“What kind of problems are we talking about?”  

“Locking on false targets due to the LM’s vibration. Electrical problems that caused arcing. Persistent cracking on solder joints, just to name a few. As a matter of fact, NASA developed a new maneuver in order to be prepared for landing radar related problems. This service module’s  Moon orbit maneuver was developed to save descent stage propellant thus increasing hover times during powered descent.

“Apollo 9 had no secondary protocol mission, but Apollo 10 did. It was up to them to test the radar on a powered descent trial run on Moon orbit.  But they had a secret agenda as well. Their secondary protocol mission was to deploy an S-band transponder to the surface of the Sea of Tranquility.”

“Wait, before you go on… how did you guys hide the secondary protocol during the mission? Logic tells me that the ship’s systems would’ve transmitted to mission control some sort of data regarding the actions taken”, said Lucas.

“Before activating any secondary protocol task, we would switch our transmission to a previously recorded telemetry data that would match the primary mission. But funny you mention that, because on Apollo 10 they disguised their launching of the transponder by doing it while separating from the descent stage. Not a great idea in hindsight because this caused the LM to start gyrating wildly in all three axes. It took Tom and Gene almost four minutes to regain control of the spacecraft.

“Apollo 10 had very interesting moments. I’m sure you’ve read about the strange music the crew heard while on the dark side of the Moon. Of course there are people who believe those were signs of another intelligent presence on the Moon, but I think that the most reasonable explanation for the weird sounds is that they were being originated by the transponder.

“By the way the transponder lander also included a laser ranging retroreflector that Earth scientists could use to verify the landing. The Eagle’s official landing site was adjusted to correspond with the transponder whereabouts.”

Something in his mind made the old astronaut smile.

“What?” asked Lucas.

“The crew of Apollo 10 was a very special group. Lunar module pilot Gene Cernan described themselves as the kind of people who given an opportunity to land, they just might take it; NASA was not going to risk having a couple of cowboys attempt a Moon landing if the landing radar worked. That’s why the ascent stage of their lunar module was loaded with the amount of fuel and oxidizer it would have had remaining if it had lifted off from the surface and reached the altitude at which the Apollo 10 ascent stage fired; this was only about half the total amount required for lift off and rendezvous with the command module from the surface of the Moon”, said Armstrong.

“If I recall correctly, they got as close as nine miles to the surface of the Moon”, said Lucas. “Just looking at it at such close range must have produced a very hard-to-resist temptation to land. Do you really think they would have attempted it?”

“Even with a full amount of fuel? I doubt it. Tom was a very disciplined astronaut, and as  commander he would’ve never strayed from the mission. Anyway, it ended up being a moot issue.  The landing radar didn’t function properly, so they were forced to activate their secondary protocol.

“In the end, Apollo 10 successfully accomplished its mission objectives and the stage was finally set for the most important secondary protocol mission of all.”

Indians’ ace Cliff Lee chased off the field  

After seeing their advantage trimmed in the top half of the inning the Reds answered with two runs in their half of the inning sending the stellar Cliff Lee to the showers early. 6-2 Reds after six.

 

 

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