Tag: Surveyor

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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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