🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <ByyGp2.685@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <1992Dec8.100407.1@fnala.fnal.gov> higgins@fnala.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
>>Henry, you imply that Apollo 10's LM couldn't actually land and
>>return.  Can you elaborate?  This is the first I've heard of this.

>talks about it.  He says that the Apollo 10 LM *probably* could have
>flown a lunar landing if some fuel had been offloaded to lighten it, but
>the margins would have been slim and hard to predict.  It would probably
>
>So, as actually flown the Apollo 10 LM was indeed a little too heavy.

Scary.  As I have often recalled, there was a subtle bug in the LM
software that flew in the Apollo 10 mission.  When in ascent mode, the
LM was supposed to automatically stay in contact with the CSM by
directional antenna.  If it wasn't, then the LM automatically would
do a "random tumble" to locate it.  During Apollo 10's simulation of
ascent, that started happening just at the beginning of the simulated
ascent.  Stafford yelled "Son of a bitch!", which we all heard on Earth
a while before we found out the problem.

I am not saying that would have happened (noflamesplease) as it is
probable that the CSM *would* be locked in, and the LM commander would
be manually overriding more tightly than Stafford was.  But it does 
point up the extra risks of a "let's do it this time and surprise the
russians" landing that might have been tried.

(By the way, I remember discussing this with my circle at the time of the
flight; at that point, the space race still seemed real.)

tombaker
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