The "thrust" of the experiment

Although the makeup of the Moon's surface had been debated since the dawn of Mankind, the need to understand the lunar surface commanded greater attention as humans began to journey to from the Earth to the Moon.

The debate about the lunar surface raged right up until Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Sea of Tranquility on July 20th, 1969. There were many scientists, including Thomas Gold, who claimed that the lunar module (LM) might disappear into the deep dust of the lunar regolith. Unmanned probes, such as Surveyor and Luna, landed on the Moon prior to Man's arrival to test and determine the strength of surface soil. Unmanned probes provide a limited amount of information based upon their landing location, mobility and experiments carried on their mission. There was a need to continue to gather of information on the mechanics of the lunar soil even after men had landed on the Moon.

NASA requested proposals from scientists for lunar soil experiments. One such experiment dealt with directly with the question on the weight bearing characteristics of the lunar regolith. The name of the experiment was the "Self Recording Penetrometer."

The penetrometer is the device with the cylinder on top at the far left of the LRV tool rack as shown below in the Apollo 15 photograph of the lunar rover.

As shown in the Apollo 15 EVA training photograph below, the objective of the Self-Recording Penetrometer was to provide quantitative data on soil penetration resistance as a function of depth below the lunar surface.

The Self Recording Penetrometer (SRP) consists of the reference pad assembly that rests on the surface, the upper housing assembly that contains the recording drum, and the shaft that joins them and is used for the penetration. The data was recorded on a drum on the upper end of the instrument. The moonwalkers would then disconnect the drum and return it to Earth. The principle investigator (PI) would review the data. The resulting study was published in the mission preliminary science report approximately six month after the mission's completion.

The Self-Recording Penetrometer was used on both the Apollo 15 and the Apollo 16 lunar missions. While there were no still photographs taken when the tool was in actual use on either mission, both missions LRVs camera caught Irwin and Duke using the tool during their EVAs on the lunar surface.

The video still shown here is of Charlie Duke performing the penetrometer plate experiment on test site 7 at Station 10 during EVA 2.

Art has captured a still portrait of a moonwalker using the penetrometer. In the painting below entitled "Charlie Duke, Soil Scientist-Maximum Push," Alan Bean recorded Charlie Duke using the SRP at Station 10 during the final EVA .

As shown below, the SRP take probes of various shapes and sizes and uses them to determine how deep they could penetrate into the lunar surface. One of the probes, highlighted in yellow, is the penetrometer plate probe. At one by five inches, the penetrometer plate was the largest probe used in the SRP system. While the other probes were used for penetration, the plate was used to determine soil compression. During it's use on the Moon's surface, the moonwalkers used the plate to compare compressibility between virgin and trodden areas.

Recently, I was able to procure the Self Recording Penetrometer plate that Charlie Duke used on the lunar surface during Apollo 16. The photograph below shows the plate used at Station 10 at the Descartes Highland. The scale cube accompanying the plate is one inch cubed.

The part number, SDB391106117-301 and the serial number 2003 can be clearly seen in this side view of the penetrometer plate.


The plate also appears in the "Apollo Stowage Lists" within the "Apollo 16, Mission J-2 CM-113 and LM-11" section under the title of "LM Earth Launch Stowage List." The part, highlighted in yellow on the page below, is labeled "Large Base Assy" and is shown on page 73 with the rest of the Self Recording Penetrometer equipment. The part was stored in Quad Three of the lower bay within the LM descent stage during liftoff from Earth and would not unstowed until Young and Duke were working on the surface of the Moon.

The page shown below is Page 19 of Charlie Duke's cuff checklist that he wore on his spacesuit during his EVA. The page is a map that provides a short hand menu of all the tasks that were to be performed at Station 10 during the second EVA. The sections of the map that are highlighted in yellow are where the penetrometer plate was used and the map key that described the plate symbol.

In November of 1972, NASA released the initial lunar experiment results in the "Apollo 16 Preliminary Science Report." In the two pages listed below, NASA scientists reviewed the results of the Self Recording Penetrometer tests performed by Charlie Duke at Station 10. The yellow highlighted area at the bottom of the page provides the penetration results achieved with the plate.

In both attempts with the 1 x 5 inch (2.54 x 12.7 cm) plate attached, the probe penetrated between two and four inches into the lunar surface.

The Self Recording Penetrometer results suggested that the lunar soil in the Descartes Highlands was soft on the surface and increased in strength with depth.


In April of 2008, Charlie Duke posed with the penetrometer plate that he carried back from the lunar surface.
The plate is one of the few remaining tools used out on the lunar surface during the Apollo era as such it represents Man's continuing quest for knowledge of the worlds around us.

Flying the Flag

Call me patriotic, call me jingoistic or just call me a lover of the American Flag, but it is a truly beautiful flag. It is simple in its design and, yet, complex in its symbolic meaning. The stripes in our country's flag truly reflect the beginnings of a unique experiment in democracy and, yet again, the stars reflect our Union's accomplishments in today's world.

Our country has accomplished many amazing quests in over two hundred and thirty years. The United States flag has flown in some interesting places at the ends of the Earth like the North Pole or the bottom of the ocean and so, it is not surprising that astronauts take the US flag into Space.

The United States flags shown in this exhibit journeyed into Space, but six flags journeyed to an even more unique place on Mankind's greatest expedition of the 20th Century on a voyage to the Moon.

The Apollo Project flew eleven missions from 1968 to 1972. Six of the eleven mission landed on the Moon. The project represented a feat of peacetime engineering that has yet to be rivaled even into the 21st Century.

As with any great journey, it starts with a step forward. After the disastrous Apollo 1 fire, Apollo 7 rose for the ashes to perform a successful test flight of the newly redesigned Apollo Command Module. The crew of Wally Schirra, Don Eisele and Walt Cunningham took the American flag back into orbit after an 18 month hiatus.

Walt Cunningham kept this flag in his personal collection since that flight in 1968. The flag is attached to a standard NASA presentation page of that era. What is difference from other presentations of this type is the pristine condition of the entire presentation as well as a photograph of the crew attached to the display. Walt has inscribed the flag as being flown on the Apollo 7 mission.

Apollo 7's near perfect mission lead NASA to take a momentous gamble to beat the Russians to lunar orbit by the decision to launch Apollo 8 to the Moon. On this first mission to leave the gravitational bounds of Earth, Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders brought the flag to further from our home planet then had been done before.

This flag presentation shows its age with some yellowing on the paper display and the discoloration of the double sided tape used to adhere the flag to the page. In June of 2007, Jim Lovell signed the flag at the Kennedy Space Center. Capt Lovell commented on the flag presentation. He remembered the three astronauts sitting down and signing all of these presentations.

The United States had proved that they could orbit the Moon. The next giant step was to land on the Moon, but there were still a few smaller steps to ahead.

One of those steps was to test the vehicle that would land on the Moon. The first major in-flight demonstration of the lunar lander was Apollo 9. This flight would test the Lunar Module (LM) by simulating all the major events of a lunar landing in Earth orbit. The hope was to prove the LM's capability to function in space. It was a extremely complex mission and the crew of James McDivitt, David Scott and Rusty Schweikert would preform it flawlessly. Thus paving the way for another step to a lunar landing.

Apollo 9 carried very little in the way of mementos from the flight, but the flag was there. In September of 2004, I had the pleasure of meeting Dave Scott in Los Angeles. There I showed him the flag shown in the two photographs shown about. The flag had been signed by David previously and the prior owner removed the flag from an old presentation and attached it to a acid free matte.

The final flight test prior to a landing on the Moon was the mission of Apollo 10. Apollo 9 had demonstrated that the LM was flight rated for space travel. Due to several reasons including the need to test the communication systems and lunar rendezvous, Apollo 10 would journey to the Moon and perform descent, rendezvous and docking while in lunar orbit. In a nod to Charles Schultz's comic strip"Peanuts, the strip's two main characters and their use as mascots for the Manned Spaceflight Awareness Program, the crew of Thomas Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan would name their Command Module "Charlie Brown and the Lunar Module "Snoopy." Snoopy would descend to within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface and then return to Charlie Brown for the trip home. The flight, while being called a "Dress Rehearsal," was the accomplishment of another very difficult step to lunar landing.

The Apollo 10 flag presentation shows what lack of care can do to these displays over time. The prior owner, who received the flag during a presentation ceremony with the crew, framed and hung the display in his home in direct Floridian sunlight. The display seriously darkened over the decades. The signatures faded and the owner tried to redo the signatures with a Sharpie at some point during his ownership. In 2005, I showed Gene Cernan the flag display and the gentleman's presentation plaque that came with the display. Gene recognized the name and remembered the ceremony where the crew attended and presented flown flags to NASA support people who provided outstanding performances during the Apollo 10 mission.

The US flag again accompanied the mission. By this time, the process of bringing the flag to space had been perfected. Under NASA review, flags were vacuum packed into clean room plastic bags with a unique pink tint. The "pink" bags were then placed in the command module by the support crew prior to the launch. Once the mission was complete, the bags would be removed from the spacecraft. Eventually, the flags would be mounted on a standardized presentation as shown in the above photograph. Then the crew would either sign or personalize the presentations (as was done on the Apollo 8 flag presentation artifact shown above) as gifts to VIPs and members of the ground support team.

The Apollo 7, Apollo 8 and the Apollo 10 flags are mounted on the NASA standard presentation display of that era. The three presentations also show the various stages of deterioration that occurs over time. Walt Cunningham maintains his displays away from sunlight and the presentation reflects that care as it is still white. The Apollo 8 presentation shows average aging of these displays. The page has slightly darkened and the double sided tape used to attach the flag to the presentation has darkened and bled through the flag. The Apollo 10 display shows extremely aging, but also reflects the fact that the recipient of the flag proudly displayed this flag prominently in his house during his life.

The final step of landing on the Moon was accomplished by the Apollo 11 mission. The lunar module, codenamed "Eagle," journeyed the last 50,000 feet from low lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon at a place called Tranquility Base on the Sea of Tranquility. With the crew of Apollo 11, so landed the American flag. The first and only flag flown by man to another world. The crew consisting of Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin carried US flags and the flags of other countries in both their "Personal Preference Kit" (PPK) bags as well as in the NASA flight kit (those pink colored clean room bags). The current number of flown US flags is not been officially announced by NASA and it is unknown to this author what is the actual number of US flags flown to the Moon on the Apollo 11 flight.

The above flag was part of a presentation Buzz Aldrin made to a Vietnam US prisoner of war. Buzz has inscribed the flag , since it was from his collection. The prior owner detached the flag from the presentation and stitched to an acid free cloth backing to the flag to prevent it from deteriorating.

The prior owner also took the time to privately meet with Buzz in Washington, DC. in 1999 to pose for with the flag.

Apollo 12 was the second flight to plant the American flag on the lunar surface. This all Navy crew of Charles Conrad, Richard Gordon and Alan Bean carried several different size flags to the Moon. The most notable is the largest type of flag flown to the lunar surface. The US flag shown above is approximately 12 inches by 17 inches and was flown to the Ocean of Storms about the lunar module "Intrepid" in November of 1969. It estimated that only twenty large format flags were carried to the lunar surface on all the Moon landings.

I procured the flag directly from the collection of the command module pilot, Dick Gordon. The crew had all their flags placed on presentation boards soon after their flight was completed. Dick inscribed the flag presentation board that also has a small typed plaque that reads, "Sailed with Yankee Clipper and Intrepid to the Ocean of Storms, November 1969."

In 2007, I visited Alan Bean at his art studio. The renowned artist inscribed and signed the flag. Then posed with me and the flag. There are examples of his work on the easels behind us. Two of the paintings represent the first man and the second man to walk on the Moon.

Just a short note about flag sizes that the various crews carried to the Moon. There were three sizes. They were labeled small, medium and large on the astronaut's PPK lists. The small flag was four by six inches. The medium sized flag was eight by ten inches. While the large flag was twelve by seventeen inches.

Apollo 13 never landed on the Moon. As NASA's "successful failure," the crew of James Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise were saved by the determination of the personnel on the ground and their own ability to avoid panic in a life threatening situation.

Once they safely returned from space, they commissioned the Scheduling Office and it's supervisor, Bill Whipkey to design a VIP presentation for their mission. Bill created the above presentation that included a flown flag, flown beta patch and a flown piece of webbing from the lunar module, Aquarius. The crew signed the bottom of each presentation. Bill received two such displays and this one is certified and signed by Fred Haise.

All flown flags are not American flags. Although Uncle Sam's "Stars and Stripes" is by far the most popular flag in the public's mind. The astronauts flew flags from other countries as well as flags from all the states in the Union.

As a resident of the State of Massachusetts, I am partial to the state's flag. I was able to procure one such example directly from Edgar Mitchell, the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 14. The flag along Edgar's other crewmates, Alan Shepard and Stu Roosa traveled to the Moon in the command module "Kitty Hawk." Later Alan and Edgar would land at Fra Mauro and would make the longest "walk" ever performed on the lunar surface.

I journeyed to Edgar's home to pick up the flag, take a certification photo and to sit with him to talk about his experiences.

Apollo 15 was the first "J" mission launched to the Moon. This mission was the first to include a lunar rover as a means to explore farther from the initial landing site. The landing site of Hadley Rille and the Apennine Mountains certainly added to the splendor of the mission. The crew of David Scott, Al Worden and James Irwin would undertake what is considered the greatest scientific mission on the Moon.

The United States flag shown above is directly from Al Worden's private collection and has Al's certification on it.

Al and I met in Denver in 2007, where I was able to photographically document Al with the above flag and written certification.

Apollo 16 pushed the boundaries of lunar knowledge even further with a landing in the Descartes Highlands. Their mission would prove the need for Man's presence in scientific exploration of the Solar System. John Young, Ken Mattingly and Charlie Duke's work would change some of the pre-conceived theories of lunar origin.

They also had drove their rover in the first and only Lunar "Gran Prix" and performed in the lunar Olympics. This mission would also set the record for the highest traverse on the Moon, when John and Charlie drove their rover up the side of Stone Mountain near their landing site.

The above flag presentation was designed by Charlie Duke himself. The flag was flown directly to the lunar surface about the lunar module, "Orion."

I traveled to Charlie's home in 1999 to have him certify the flag as a surface flown flag. We are standing in his home with the presentation and the certification letter that he provided with the display.

As the final mission to the Moon so far, Apollo 17 touched down in the Taurus-Littrow region on the Moon. The crew of Gene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt would close out the first manned exploration of the Moon in 1972. Man has not journeyed beyond low earth orbit ever since.

This flag presentation is of interest, since it was presented to Howard Benedict, a reporter for Associated Press. Howard covered the Space Race from before America's first manned launch to the Shuttle era. Howard became friends with many of the nation's astronauts and most notably with America's first man in space, Alan Shepard. Howard would later become the executive director of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

The display presented to Howard upon his retirement from the Associated Press. The presentation was signed by 34 astronauts and includes the first American in space and the last man to walk on the Moon.

In the winter of 2005, I bought the display to Gene Cernan. The flag used in the presentation was an Apollo 17 flag. Gene remembered Howard well. Gene even remember the retirement presentation. I had learned that Howard had donated the presentation to a fund raising event for the ASF and it eventually found its way to my collection. Gene certified the flag and posed for this photograph. Thus completing a unique era in exploration.

Indeed these flags have made some remarkable journeys. They represented the United States when the nation showed the world its technological excellence and sent explorers beyond Earth's grasp to land on the Moon.

Apollo 10: "Son of a Bitch!"

As Apollo missions go it had been an uneventful flight. The mission's accomplishments were ticking off the flight plan like seconds on a well tuned clock.

Apollo 10, the second lunar voyage, was that "in between" flight that the public seems to forget due to the accomplishment of Apollo 8 in first reaching the Moon and Man's first landing on another world during Apollo 11. Even so, this flight was groundbreaking in that this was the first time the lunar module (LM) would be used in lunar orbit. The LM, as the craft would be nicknamed, would take Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan to within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface. That close approach would mimic every operational objective of a landing with the exception of the final descent.

The mission was deemed a dress rehearsal, but, in hindsight, Apollo 10 was a test pilot's dream of a "full up" mission and everything was going smoothly.

At 102:45:12 GET (Ground Elapsed Time) having completed their orbital descent to 50,000 feet, Stafford and Cernan prepared to jettison the Descent Stage and fire the Ascent Stage engine in order to rendezvous with the Command Module (CM) piloted by John Young, which was waiting in a parking orbit 50 miles above the lunar surface. It was a normal maneuver and successfully performed in Earth orbit during the Apollo 9 mission.

Suddenly, the LM tumbled out of control. While still on a hot mike, with the world listening, Gene blurted out, "Son of bitch, what the hell happened!"

Gene Cernan would later say, "I saw the lunar horizon go by about seven or eight times in ten seconds. That's a hair raising experience. That's when I said, "Son of bitch, what the hell happened."

Tom Stafford jettisoned the Descent Stage of LM and maneuvered to regain control of the gyrating Ascent Stage. After only 8 seconds, Tom, in a masterful feat of flying, had the LM under control. Tom and Gene guided the LM to a successful rendezvous with the CM in lunar orbit.

What caused this severe tumbling of the LM while in low lunar orbit? During an interview Gene described what happened during those critical moments.

"When we staged, there were a number of things we had to do, including changing programs in the PGNS (Primary Guidance and Navigation System) and changing switch positions. When it came time to stage... there was (a) switch that had to be changed and I changed it. I will bet that Tom acknowledged (the same instructions) and moved it back to the old one (the original position). And, in effect, we created the problem."

Tom and Gene followed prescribed procedures that were based upon years of training, but even then, they needed some device to provide step by step instructions.

What they used were cue cards. Small pieces of cardboard with important instructions printed in sequential order. These cue cards were small and fitted with Velcro for attachment to critical areas on the LM instrument panel. The photograph above shows Tom and Gene working in the LM simulator. You can see some of these cue cards on the main instrument panel. They provided a quick reference for key actions during specific events in the flight.

During a meeting with Gene in San Antonio during 2004, he told his assistant, Claire Johnson, and me, that the cue cards were extremely important during a mission. Gene related to us that the cue cards were right in front of their eyes and they referred to them frequently at critical times.

I had recently purchased several cue cards from Captain Cernan's collection. As I showed him the cards, he picked this particular card out and pointed to a specific command on the card. The command was "AGS MODE CONT - AUTO." Gene went on to relate how this was the command that he and Tom both handled that caused the LM to gyrate in low lunar orbit.

The failure to flip the switch to "AGS MODE CONT - AUTO" or Abort Guidance Control to Automatic caused the LM to start searching for the CM prematurely. The rendezvous radar was commanded to lock onto the CM. The LM attempted to position the radar to find the CM, which was not in range, by maneuvering around on its three axes and caused Tom and Gene's wild ride.

In the above two pictures, the command has been highlighted in yellow on both sides of the cue card to provide a better view of the instruction.

This cue card was flown on Apollo 10 and was key to the only major incident that occurred on the mission. Gene had already written "Apollo X, Gene Cernan" on the card as provenance that this artifact was part of his personal collection.

While in San Antonio, Gene took the time to pose with the cue card during our interview.

Gene would later tell me that his inopportune outburst triggered by a potential brush with disaster caused him some grief when he returned to Earth. A pastor from Florida had heard the outburst and wrote to NASA to chastise Gene for his poor choice of words.

I can only wonder what I would have said if I was in Gene's shoes at that moment. I know it would have been worse or, at the very least, more colorful.

Apollo 12: A Robbins to treasure

A relic that combines the exploration of the New World
with the exploration of a new world.

In July of 1715, eleven ships of the annual Spanish Plate Fleet departed the anchorage in Havana Harbor and sailed from Cuba on the final leg of it's journey to Spain. The wealth of the Spanish Empire relied on the annual shipments of treasure that the plate fleets brought from the New World.

The "Combined Armada of 1715," loaded with silver and gold from the mines of Peru, Mexico and Columbia and artifacts from the gold and silversmiths in Cuba, sailed north to the east coast of Florida prior to the traverse across the Atlantic to Spain.

The trouble of manning the ships and bureaucratic delays postponed the sailing date until the start the hurricane season. The first week during the cruise up Florida's east coast was uneventful, but on July 31, 1715, the fleet was struck by a severe hurricane just east of Cape Canaveral. The wind drove the fleet ashore just south of the Cape with the loss of all the treasure galleons and most of their crews. After some small salvage attempts by the Spanish in the year following the disaster, the wrecks were lost for the next 250 years.

In the late 1950's, a beachcomber named Kip Wagner was walking the beach near Sebastian Inlet after a violent hurricane. During his walk, Kip spotted a bright object in sand at the water's edge. That bright object turned out to be a Spanish piece of eight. This small find resulted in the discovery of the missing shipwrecks of the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet.

Kip salvaged the wrecks for gold and silver. Over the years, the result was the retrieval of more than a $1,000,000 in gold doubloons, silver pieces of eight, gold and silver ingots and jewelry.

The famous Indianapolis 500 race winner and Florida car dealer, Jim Rathman, later became involved with Kip Wagner and his group of divers. Together they formed the Doubloon Salvage Company.

As Jim stated in the above letter written in 2007, he supplied the astronauts with Chevrolet Corvettes during their time with NASA and made friends with several of the astronauts.

Since Apollo 7, the Apollo crews flew commemorative medallions made by The Robbins Company in Massachusetts. The coin designed by the crew and minted in silver was referred to as a "Robbins Medallion." The crews would take the medallions on their flights. They would present the medallions to family and friends as gifts and symbols of their flight into space.

The Apollo 12 crew was no different. Charles "Pete" Conrad, Richard Gordon and Alan Bean used their mission patch design for their mission's medallion. The mission patch design use was an Apollo crew standard at the time, but Pete Conrad wanted something unique for his mission's medallion. In early 1969, Jim Rathmann helped Pete procure a silver ingot from the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet wrecks. The relationship between the space center's location and that of the wreck site on the shores of Cape Canaveral probably played a factor in Conrad's decision to include silver from the treasure fleet in the medallions.

Once Conrad procured an ingot from the treasure fleet wrecks, he sent it to the Robbins Company in Massachusetts. The Robbins Company has been designing and making these astronaut flown sterling silver medallions, since the initial request for a unique memento by the astronaut crew of Apollo 7.

When the silver ingot reached the The Robbins Company offices, they, in turn, forwarded the ingot to Handy Company in Connecticut for processing into a flat sheet of pure silver. Once again in possession of the silver sheet, Robbins stamped the first 82 medallions from the Spanish silver. The medallion shown above is number 49. Robbins made a total of 262 Apollo 12 medallions. The other 180 medallions were made from Sterling silver and numbered 83 through 262. The serial number and the word "Sterling" were stamped at the bottom of the reverse of the non-treasure medallions. All the 262 medallions flew to the Moon on the mission.

Normally, Robbins made the medallions out of Sterling silver and imprinted each medal with the word "Sterling." The treasure fleet silver was of a more pure melt, so Robbins did not use the "Sterling" imprint on those medallions.

The difference between the regular medallions and those of the treasure fleet can found by looking at the serial number located at the bottom of the reverse side of each medal as well as the word "Sterling" being omitted from the medallion.

The ingots were manufactured by the local minters in the New World. They made crudely sized ingot of pure silver at the mine sites for shipment to the central port of Havana, Cuba. The above photograph shows the finely finished Apollo 12 "treasure fleet" Robbins medallion with an ingot recovered from the 1715 Treasure Fleet wreck site off of Cape Canaveral in Florida.

In 2007, a reporter from the Robb Report contacted me about space collectibles for an article in the magazine. Sheila Gibson Stoodley came to my home to review the collection for some artifact of interest. Sheila felt that the combination of maritime and space histories made for a very unique anecdote about a space collectible. Her article appeared in the October 2007 edition of the Robb Report as shown above.

The Robb Report article tells the tale of the conquest of the "New World" along with the conquest of a new world. A fitting description for a unique piece of flown space memorabilia.
___________________________________________________________________

Photographs 2,3 and 4 are reproduced courtesy of the National Geographic Society, "Drowned Galleons Yield Spanish Gold" Kip Wagner, January, 1965.

Photograph 5 is reproduced courtesy of Farthest Reaches and Steven Hankow, "Jim Rathman Certification," Lawrence McGlynn, April, 2007

Photograph 9 is reproduced courtesy of the Robb Report, "One Last Thing..." Sheila Gibson Stoodley, October, 2007.

I also would like to thank Dick Gordon and Al Bean for answering my questions concerning the silver and the medallions.

The Star Charts of Apollo (Part One)

Humans have navigated by the stars, since the dawn of man. Those seemingly stationary pinpoints of light in the night sky provided mariners and aviators the direction home as mankind moved into modern times. It would only be natural to use the stars to determine the proper course of a spacecraft during a voyage into outer space.

Early Earth orbit star charts mimicked the earthbound star charts by having a circular layout with the stars and constellations arranged around the wheel as they would appear in the sky at night. The photograph of an Apollo 9 training star chart is just such an example.

During the Apollo era, stellar navigation was integrated into the digital computer and perfected through the use of a sextant. The diagram below shows how the sextant optical assembly functioned with the DSKY (Digital display and keyboard) to help program the navigation systems and determine the proper course for the Apollo spacecraft. The navigation unit was placed in the lower equipment bay against the wall of the command module for stability and to prevent vibration. The unit consisted of an optical assembly that included the sextant and scanning telescope as well as the DSKY which interfaced with the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC).

The first major use of the Apollo Guidance Computer came with the flight of Apollo 8. The mission was to journey to the Moon for the first time in the history of mankind. It would also be a test of the MIT designed computer system. The test would be to determine if the Apollo Guidance Computer would be able to navigate the spacecraft to the Moon and back without the help of Earth based guidance assistance.

In the photograph above, taken during the Apollo 8 mission, Jim Lovell is using the scanning telescope to locate a specific star for input into the AGC. Command Module Pilot (CMP) Lovell is sighting through the eyepiece, then he will enter a two digit number that represents the particular star into the AGC via the key pad located in the upper right corner of the photograph. The digital number code for the star would tell the computer one point in space where the spacecraft was located. The triangulation of three star positions would provide an accurate state vector for the Apollo stack that consisted of the command/service module (CSM) and the lunar module (LM). The Apollo 8 mission proved that the spacecraft's navigation computer could be self sufficient on a journey to the Moon.

With the advent of the digital computer that was introduced into the Apollo spacecraft, the star charts changed to accommodate the new system. The star charts were redesigned from the circular chart type to a more rectangular chart. The constellations were aligned on the ellipse. Specific stars were highlighted, named and numbered with a two digit numerical code numbering 1 through 45. If you look closely at the above scan, you will see the stars, their names and numbers on the chart. This star chart from Apollo 10 is an early design that would change to provide ease of use during future missions.

As the missions to the moon progressed, the star charts continued their metamorphosis. Here is a lunar module (LM) chart from the next mission, Apollo 11. Although the grid system is the same, the constellations are heavily outlined and there are no background star fields to confuse the astronauts at key moments. Speed and accuracy were required since the star sightings were usually done during key events like Translunar Insertion (TLI) or Trans Earth Insertion (TEI). This star chart accompanied the crew to Man's first landing on another world.

I caught up with Buzz Aldrin, the Apollo 11 LMP, in New Jersey in 2005. Where I got a photograph with him holding the LM star chart flown on his mission.

This star field chart was for use with the scanning telescope also located at the navigation station inside the command module. This particular page was to show the CMP, Michael Collins, the correct star alignment that he would see through the eyepiece of the scanning telescope. This page showed how the stars should line up to make sure the Apollo CSM was in the right attitude just prior to lighting the Service Propulsion System (SPS) or main engine for TEI. This critical maneuver boosted the crew and their spacecraft out of lunar orbit and back to Earth.

In Part Two of the Star Charts of Apollo, we will show show of the different star charts used in the CSM and LM as well as star charts used on later missions to the Moon.

The Star Charts of Apollo (Part Two)

In part two of the Star Charts of Apollo, we will look at the different charts used in both the command module and the lunar module.

Again one of the first things to understand about the star charts was how they interacted with the spacecraft and it's navigation computer, the Apollo Guidance Computer(AGC) and the inertial measurement unit (IMU) . The above diagram shows the primary components of the system. The astronaut locates the star through the optical assembly. He plugs the two digit star code located on his star chart into the DSKY, which alerts the Apollo Guidance Computer to run a program that updates the inertial measurement unit. Once the operation is complete, then the state vector or position of the spacecraft is known.

The black star chart located above was of a type normally used in the command module (CM). I have only seen one exception to it's use in the CM. The chart is approximately 6 x 15 inches and unlike the other flat rectangular star charts is made of a plastic film. Color was used to differentiate the planets from the star field. The key stars used for navigation are numbered, highlighted and oversized. This black star chart was used as a training aid for the crew of Apollo 15. These black star charts were multi-purpose, they were used for many things including as sunshades in the CM. An Apollo 11 television broadcast on the way to the Moon shows the sunshade use during a tour of the spacecraft. Buzz Aldrin pointed the camera at the window holding the black star chart and comments about it as a sun shade. The black part of chart blocked the sun, but like being in a planetarium, the stars were brillantly illuminated.

One other story is related to the star chart design. Gus Grissom was working with the designers of the star charts for the Apollo Program. During the decision making process of choosing which stars to use on the chart and their number code for use in the Apollo Guidance Computer, Gus Grissom made up the names of three stars for use on the charts. Virgil Ivan Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee were to be the first Apollo crew to fly in space on Apollo 1. Gus took a section of his name as well as White's and Chaffee's names, spelled them backwards and added them to stars on the star chart initial design for their flight. When the crew of Apollo 1 perished in "The Fire." NASA maintained those star names on the star charts in honor of the fallen crew. If you click on the black star chart and look for star #3, star #20 and star #17, then you find the stars named after the Apollo 1 crew. "Navi" is Grissom's middle name of Ivan. "Dnoces" stands for Ed White, the Second and "Regor" is for Roger Chaffee. A small honor for a heroic crew.

The lunar module also carried a computer called the Primary Navigation and Guidance System (PNGS). The PNGS also used star charts for navigation purposes while on the Moon.
The above diagram shows how the Primary Navigation and Guidance System worked inside the LM. The key components were the LM Guidance Computer, the Alignment Optical Telescope (AOT), the Inertial Measurement Unit, the DSKY and landing radar. The CM and LM used the same guidance computer, but the main difference between the two spacecraft was the optical unit. While the CM sextant and scanning telescope could determine both the spacecraft position and orientation. The AOT could only determine the LM's orientation. The AOT used a three position rotated prizm to cover the lunar sky. The LGC could read the AOT's position and by aiming the eyepiece at different stars in the lunar sky, the LGC could determine the LM's orientation.


The LM carried several checklists or Flight Data Files (FDF) onboard the spacecraft during a lunar mission. One of the FDF's was the G&N (Guidance & Navigation) Dictionary. The G&N Dictionary was the manual and checklist for the operation of the LM PNGS system. After the first few pages of the checklist, there is the star chart for use in the LM. The above star chart flew on Apollo 17 and is part of the complete FDF. The star charts of later missions used a complete grid system over the star field for ease of use.

Also included in the G&N Dictionary FDF along with the star chart is the star key. The star key listed the stars used in the LGC in both alphabetic and numeric order. The star key also flew in the G&N Dictionary with the above star chart.

The DSKY has been discussed, but not shown during this study of the star charts. Here is one of the production models. The numbers would be typed into the guidance computer via the key pad. The numbers would appear in the screen on the right. The astronaut would confirm the number and press enter to input the code into the guidance computer. The computer would process the information to determine the position and/or the orientation of the spacecraft.

The star chart and star key shown above are from the G&N Dictionary that flew on the Apollo 16 lunar mission. Both pieces are signed and certified by Charlie Duke, the Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) aboard the Apollo 16 mission. The dark spots on the chart are traces of lunar dust.

Charlie Duke is pictured with the same star chart shown above. The star chart and star key were part of Charlie's collection.


The above photograph show the AOT and the DSKY at the LM console. Unlike the command module navigation station, the navigation equipment in the LM is located in different areas of the LM console. The AOT is located on the ceiling of the LM at the top of the photograph. The DSKY is located on the console at the bottom of the picture. The guidance computer is located inside the aft wall and the IMU is located in the ceiling in the front of the LM.



The final star chart to be displayed in this series is a circular star chart used to determine the proper orientation of the LM while on the lunar surface. The two piece chart consists of a black base disk with the star field and a semi-transparent disk with circular ring displays on it that are attached to each other by a metal rivet. The circular rings on the transparent disk are actually viewfinder displays showing what stars would appear in the AOT at certain times on the lunar surface during a mission. This star chart was flown on the Apollo 17 mission to the Taurus Littrow region. This star chart was used prior to lift off. The transparent disk section is folded over. Gene Cernan states that he used this chart to orient the ship just prior to launch back into lunar orbit. The fold was done with his gloved hand, so he could align the star chart properly during the events just before lunar surface lift off.

The Apollo 17 LM carried two such star charts. The first chart for use in the event of an emergency abort lift off immediately after the initial landing. The second chart for use during a normal lift off at the end of the mission on the lunar surface. The second chart was used, at that time, due to the fact that the planets and stars had precessed across the sky during the astronauts time of the Moon.

Gene Cernan is pictured with the same star chart shown above. Gene was a guest of Novaspace Galleries and I was able to get the chart certified and photographed during the Burbank show at their booth in 2004. The star chart and star key were part of Gene's collection.

The star charts have universal aura about them. They are beautiful, elegant artifacts of the space age and easily understood by the layperson here on Earth. At the same time, they were precise instruments used by the astronauts as part of the Apollo guidance system to navigate their way to and from the Moon.

Music to the Moon: The Apollo X Music Tape

On May 18, 1969, Tom Stafford, John Young and Gene Cernan lifted out from Pad 39B of the Kennedy Space Center launch complex. Their next stop was the Moon. Their mission was the final "dress rehearsal" for the Saturn V, the Apollo spacecraft and the lunar module at the Moon prior to landing.

The trip to lunar orbit would take three days of coasting in deep space. Although the crew remained busy during the translunar coast phase of their mission, there were down times between chores. The crew had a special piece of home in the form of popular music of the time recorded onto a cassette tape by a friend to occupy them during such lulls in the flight.

The cassette tape was recorded by Al Bishop, who was an employee of Boeing at the time. Al hooked a cassette tape player to his stereo and recorded several of the more popular musical artists of the day. Artists like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and The Kingston Trio were included on the tape. Mr. Bishop used songs like "Fly Me to the Moon", "Going Back to Houston" and "Moonlight Serenade" to provide a theme befitting a flight to the Moon. Gene had pretty good taste for the popular music of the time.

When the crew returned from the mission, they designed and had constructed a presentation plaque with the actual music cassette. Tom, John and Gene presented it to Al Bishop as gift of gratitude from providing them with some entertainment during their trip to the Moon. When Mr. Bishop passed away, his widow gave it back to Gene Cernan. Gene kept it in his collection for a number of years before parting with it himself.

In the photograph shown above, Gene is displaying the tape presentation while at his home in Texas.


Gene wrote a brief certification "Flown on Apollo X" on the reverse side of the presentation plaque. He signed the plaque using Eugene A. Cernan. Which indicates that Gene signed the artifact when he first started identifying his collection as he only uses Gene Cernan now. I learned that from Gene in December of 2005 during our visit together in Tucson.

In August of 2006, Gene told me that he and Al Bishop spent the afternoon lying on the floor of Al's living room recording all the music on this tape. The quality of the tape reflects that type of early private recording with miscues, skips and clicks that an older record album would make on a turntable. That is what makes the tape so good for historic purposes. These two men took the time to sit, choose and record music for a flight to the Moon.

I was able to gently open the display and extract the tape from the display. After 37 years, the tape still functioned. The music was downloaded into my computer. A compact disk was burned of the music and presented to Gene for his listening pleasure.

Every once in a while I put on my copy of the CD and listen to Frank Sinatra sing "Fly me to the Moon" and know that in this particular case the song really did journey to the Moon.

There is a new development as of 5-19-2005. There are three clarinet instrumentals towards the middle of the album. The songs and arrangements were familar, but I could not remember the musician at the time. I have since found out that the clarinet player, composer and arranger of those melodies was a gentleman by the name of Acker Bilk. He lives in England and stills tours. I contacted him via his website (www.ackersmusicagency.co.uk/acker.html) and told him the story of his music going to the Moon. Mr. Bilk was requested a copy of the CD. During my meeting with Gene in the summer of 2006, I pointed out that I had found Mr. Bilk. Gene remembered his music and his hit single "Stranger on the shore." It is always interesting to find connections to artifacts.