Apollo 10 moonshot ready
Engineers clamp ring in parachute system
SPACE CENTER, Houston (UPI) - The Space Agency said yesterday it has corrected a potentially serious problem on the Apollo 10 spacecraft which might have resulted in damage to the moonship's parachutes at the end of the mission.
A spokesman at the Manned Spacecraft Center said the problem was discovered on Apollo 9 after that craft was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean at the end of its flight in March.
The spokesman said the trouble was with a metal ring which serves as a base for explosive charges that blow off the craft's docking mechanism. After Apollo 9 was recovered, engineers discovered this ring had come partly loose from its moorings.
"It wasn't any problem for Apollo 9 and couldn't have been a problem," the spokesman said.
But he said engineers feared the ring might come all the way off during later flights, possibly flying up into the parachutes and damaging them during the descent to the ocean.
Engineers installed four spring retainers to keep the ring clamped in place on Apollo 10, set for launch Sunday on a moon orbit mission, the spokesman said. He said the modification was made on the launch pad and took less than one shift.
After Apollo 10, the spokesman said, all moonships will receive the same modification before they go out to the launch pad.
Apollo 10 crewmen contrast blend personalities into team
By United Press International
By United Press International They're a trio of contrasts, the crewmen of Apollo 10, yet they mesh their varied personalities
Moon explorers to be quarantined
SPACE CENTER, Houston (UPI) Quarantine procedures for the first U.S. moon explorers have been changed, but stringent precautions still will be taken to protect life on earth against possible contamination by moon organisms, space agency officials said yesterday.
The first U.S. moon landing is scheduled for July 20 with Apollo 11. Original plans called for the crew to remain sealed inside the spacecraft after splashdown until the vehicle was hoisted up on the deck of the recovery aircraft carrier.
Then the moonmen would have walked through a sealed plastic tunnel into a quarantine van, pulling the tunnel into the van with them. This was to keep them from coming into contact with humans or with earth's environment.
George Low, Apollo spacecraft manager, said tests showed trying to haul the spacecraft aboard a tossing aircraft carrier with the crew inside was too dangerous.
"The present plans are that the crew will get out of the spacecraft into a life raft, where they will don a special isolation garment," Low said.
into a brand of teamwork that goes beyond brotherhood in its closeness.
Thomas P. Stafford, 38, a baldish six-footer from Oklahoma, commands the team. In small but significant ways, the other two show the soft-spoken air force colonel is the undisputed boss—and they like it that way.
John W. Young, 38, shortest member of the crew and the man of fewest words, flies as navigator. But behind Young's outward reserve lies a dry wit and a love of fun that has occasionally gotten the boyish pilot with a shock of unruly brown hair in trouble with staid space agency officialdom.
All three men are veteranspace pilots. Their mission with Apollo 10: fly to moon orbit and practice every step of a lunar landing except the final touchdown itself, to clear the way for other Americans to walk the lunar surface on July 20.
Eugene A. Cernan, 35, a 'tait and suave young man from the sedate Chicago suburb Bellview, Ill., qualifies as the crew's poet and philosopher. He also serves as its systems engineer, charged with keeping watch, over the myriad pieces of equipment that make up Apollo 10.
"It requires a great deal of teamwork," said Cernan, who will hurtle to within 9.5 miles of the moon with Stafford in the lunar landing craft while Young orbits alone 69 miles above the surface.
Log of Apollo 10 mission
SPACE CENTER, Houston (UPI) Brief day-by-day log of key events planned during the moon orbit mission of Apollo 10, set for launch Sunday to clear the way for a July lunar landing.
Sunday, May 18-Launch, begin coast toward moon, television of earth.
Tuesday, May 20 -Midcourse correction, television of rapidly-approaching moon and tiny blue earth.
Monday, May 19- Two midecourse corrections, television of earth and moon, astronauts pass 120,000-mile halfway mark.
Wednesday, May 21-Final
Thursday, May 22-Television from moon, lunar landing craft drops down to scout Apollo 11 landing site from altitude of 9.5 miles, then performs rendezvous with command ship in orbit 69 miles high.
12 KANSAN May 13 1969
course adjustment, drop into lunar orbit, television of moon.
Friday, May 23-Navigation tests, two periods of television from moon.
Sunday, May 25-Astronauts pass halfway mark on way home, make course adjustment.
Saturday, May 24-Astronauts start home, television of earth and moon.
Monday, May 26-Television of earth, final course adjustment, re-entry, splashdown near Pago Pago in Pacific Ocean
UPI photo
Technicians begin Apollo countdown
CAPE KENNEDY (UPI) Technicians began the countdown at midnight yesterday for Sunday's launch of three men on the Apollo 10 moon orbiting adventure.
The first items on the long 51/2-day countdown list were servicing the spaceship's water system and the installation of explosive devices in the towering space machine.
Astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young and Eugene A. Cernan earlier yesterday practiced space flying on the ground in the final major rehearsal for their eight-day mission.
The astronauts undergo their last major head-to-toe medical checkup today and then hope to slow down the pace of training for the riskiest spaceflight yet undertaken in the moon program.
The three Apollo 9 astronauts caught colds three days before their scheduled launch time and had to wait an extra three days. Doctors said the pilots' resistance was probably lowered by their demanding training schedule.
"We're trying to end up with a rested crew this time," said a space agency spokesman.
At last report, Stafford, Young and Cernan were healthy. They had colds several weeks ago.
The astronauts spent most of yesterday in two spacecraft trainers rehearsing critical phases of their eight-day mission. Controllers in Houston monitored the exercise as if the pilots were in space.
The space agency said the session was the last big simulation planned for the Apollo 10 crew in the intricate, computer-controlled containers
which the pilots have relied on for months to get ready for flight.
The goal of the flight of Apollo 10 is to pave the way for a moon landing by two of the three Apollo 11 astronauts in July.
The astronauts will circle the moon for 2½ days to check out lunar landing machinery, to improve moon navigation techniques and to inspect the Apollo 11 landing site on the Sea of Tranquility.
Apollo 10 is scheduled to set out for the moon at 11:49 p.m. CDT Sunday and swing into lunar orbit 76 hours later.
Regular customer made his mark in pub
SPALDING, England (UPI) The owners of the Pigeon Inn are giving a five-gallon barrel of beer to 89-year-old Jack East, a customer so faithful that he has worn a hole in the floor by his favorite spot at the bar.
East downed his first beer in the pub when he was 19,and he has been a regular customer ever since.
"I started late, but I have been making up for it since," he said.
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