An Illustrated Chronology of the NASA Marshall Center and MSFC Programs

8/6/2019 An Illustrated Chronology of the NASA Marshall Center and MSFC Programs

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, May 197 4

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All lll u sl r at edhrono l o gy

of the

NASA Ma rshal l Centrr

all d

M_FC l'r ogr r,us

1960-19 73

By

David S , Akcns

tlistorical S taffManagenle nt Services Office

George C. Marshall Space Flight CenterNATI ONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPAC E AI)MINISTRA TION



Postscript

Although this chronolog y ends on June 30, 1973, it se ms appropri at e t a add a fewwords about the Skylab program after th at date and prio to chronology publication. OnJuly 28, 19 73, the Skylab 11 astronauts (SL -3, Second ,',lanned Mission) went into spaceand , after a successfo l 59-day flight , returned safe ly to earth on September 25. Final ly,the Skylab 1 1I (SL-4 ) astr onau ts, in the las t fligh t mission t.l tile Skylab program, rosefrom earth on November 16. The Skylab 11 astronauts successfully completed theirm;ssion and, afte r 84 days in space, re turned safel y to earth on Febluary 8, 1974.

A final post script concerns major changes at MSFC subsequent to its first 13 years. OnMarch 5, 1974, NASA announced tha t Dr . Rocco Petrone w ould go to Washin gton tobecome NASA associa te administrator, the age ncy's third highes t rankin_ off icial.Replacing Dr. Petrone as MSF C d ir ector woul d be Dr . Wi lliam R. Lucas, the MSF Cdeputy director. The official changeover from Petrone to Lucas was later reset for June15, 1974. Concurrent with the announcement of these major personnel changes at MSFC,NASA also announced a major reorganization of MSFC to become effective May 30,1974, paralleling an MSFC redut_tion-in-force that would be effective that date. TheCenter issued layoff notices to 397 persons and downgrading notices to 259. This newpared-down MSFC work force was considered a more efficient organization for carryin gon the future MSFC roles.

DSAMay 31,19_4

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CONTENTSPage

1957 ............................................................. 1

1958 ............................................................. 3

1959 ............................................................. 5

1960 ............................................................. 11

1961 ............................................................. 21

1962 ............................................................. 43

1963 " 57

1964 ............................................................. 771965 ........................................................... 99

1966 ............................................................. 119

1967 ............................................................. 141

1968 ............................................................. 167

1969 ............................................................. 203

1970 ............................................................. 235

1971 ............................................................. 271

1972 ............................................................. 303

1973 ............................................................. 327

Appen aix A - Documentation ......................................... 345

Appendix B - Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................... 389

Appendix t." - Historical Summary of MSFC .............................. 401

App endix D - Earlie st Organizational Charts ............................. 415

Appendix E - MSFC's Manp ower Status ................................. 419

Appendix F - Representative Personnel Charts ............................. 425

Appendix G - MSFC Funding .......................................... 431

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APR IL - D ECEMB ER 1957

1957

In April t he scienti fic organization dir ected by Dr . Wern her voq Braun b egan studi es

which led to Satu m, America's first r ocket d eveloped for spac e investigation. T he team atRedston e Ars enal , Alabama, hoped to d esign launc h vehicles that could carry 20 000- to

40 000-pound p zyloads for or bital missions or 6000- to 1 2 000-pound payloads forescape missio ns. High-thrust booster stag es wer e essen'i_l. In D ecemb er t he yon Braungroup , then working with the Army Ballisti c Missil e Agency (ABMA), pro posed aprogram to t he Departm ent of D efense. At t hat tim e the Unit ed Stat es was consid eringan integra ted missi le and space vehicle de velopment program. Creatiop of a booster wi th1 500 000 pounds of thrust was the aim of the propo sed program [ 1].

Saturn IB



AUGUST - DE CEMBER 19 58

1958

On August 15 the A dvanced Research Pro jects Agency (ARPA) formally initiated whatwas to become the Sa turn pro ject . The agen cy, a sepa r ately or ganized re search and

development ann of the Depa r tment of Defense, auth or ized ABMA to conduc t a researc hand d evelopment p ro gram a t Reds tone _.r senal f or a 1 500 000 -pound thru st vehiclebooste r . A number of available r ocket engines woul a be clustere d . 1his design wo uld betested by a full-scale static firing hv the end of 1959 [2].

A contract was awarded Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviation on September11 to uprate S-3D, the Thor-Jupiter engine. After redesign, simplification, andmodification, the engine would be the H-1 [3].

In Oct ober AR PA expan ded its program objectives. A multistage carrier vehicle capableof performing advanced space missions would be b uilt. The vehicle was tentativelyidentified as Juno V. ARPA requested Redstone personnel to study a complete vehicle

system s o that upper-s tage selecti on and developmen t cou ld begin and initiated a study ofAtlantic Missile Range (AMR) launch facilities which could accommodate the launchvehicle [4]. Later, on December 11, ARPA authorized the Army Ordnance MissileCommand (AOMC) to begin design, modification, and construction of a captive static testtower and facilities for use in the booster development program. AOMC was also todetermine the design requirements for necessary laupch facilities [5].

While the booster-vehicle program was being formulated and expanded, developmentwork on the H-I engine cont:nued. The first full-power H-1 engine firing occurred inDecember at the Rocketdyne facility in Canoga Park, California [6].

Proposed configuration

Final preparatio n for launch of first U .S. of a clustered boostersatellite , January 31 . 1958 . Insert shows

close -up of satellite at op ttle Jupiter C .This first U .S. satell ite pioneered t he U.S.

i space program that led to Satur n and_ b,,yond.

PREC EDING PAGS BLANK NOT FILMI_ 3 I



r

1958

Thor -Jupiter engine

.,.'77_

m2--t_i_lllFarly H -! engine

Booster tooling

Dr . T. Keith Gh'mta n on August 1 9. 19.58, became the ftr , yt" administrator of NASA . lh, would serve until his replacement

by James E . Wehb olt February 14 , 1961,

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JANUA RY - JULY 1 959

1959

Concurrently with development of the H-I engine, studies were conducte d to determinei the feas ibility of a larger single -chamber rocket engine. On January 9 Rocke tdy ne agree d

by contract to d esign, develop, and test such an engine, designate d as the F-1. Thisengine, burning lox and RP-1, a ker osene-typ e fuel, woul d generate a very high thrust,appr oximately 1 5 00 000 pour ds [71.

Constructi on of t he ABMA static t est stand for large boost er s began January 10.Meanwhile, Army representatives of the ARPA board vis ited AMR to discuss selec tion ofa site for large vehicle launch facilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida. By February a contract

, had been aw arded for construction of the blockho use at the site (Launch Complex 34).A design contract was also awarded for a movable stracture which would be used toassemble and service the vehicle on the launch pedestal [8].

On January 27 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) submitted tothe President a rep ort con taining its recomm endations for a National Space VehicleProgram: the development of a series of general p urpose s pace-flight vehicles of increasingpayload capability for successive periods of use, with the aim of achieving a high degreeof reliability and reduced costs. Four types of vehicles, Atlas-Vega, Atlas-Centaur, JunoV, and Nova, were suggested and were discussed in terms of configuration, payload andmission capability, and development and operational time and cost.

Con,;erning the Juno V, the third of the pro posed National series, the report said, "Atypical missio n would inv olve sen dwg a crew of men into orbit with enough facilities tosustain them for a long period of time and the necessary equipment to permit them toperform experiments and make observations. This vehicle may well become ti_e basicvehicle for orbital supply missions, involving the transport of food and supplies to crewsin orbit, the exchange of crew members, and the transport of additional fuel andequipment to the orbiting vehicle."

The report was prepared by the Propulsion Staff of NASA, in consultation with ARPA ofthe Department of Defense [9].

On February 3 an ARPA memorandum officially renamed the large launch vehicle projectSaturn. ARPA representatives presented the proposed Natio nal Vehicle Program to thePresident and the National Aeronautics and Space Council on March 2. Included were thepropose d Saturn B an d C vehicle systems [ 10]

By April 28 the first production H-I engine (H-i001) had been delivered on schedule to

ABMA . ABMA's first firing test of this eng ine, later used in the first te_t booster, wasper formed su ccessfully on Ma y 26 [ 1!].

On July 5 construction of the Saturn blockhouse for Laun ch Complex 34 began at CapeCanaveral. On July 27 when the last Jupiter airframe was completed, Redstone Arsenalshops be gan retoolin g to support the Saturn project [121.

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1959

Pr eliminary concept o f Launch Com plex 34, Cap e C::averal

P_pA kYLOAD

•"LECTRON ICGUIDANCECKAGE

I _ CIQuwt_] _,' HYDROGEN

2nd STAGE _L TANKLIQUID

t,, _ OXYGEN

I _,_! TANK

/I _LOX TANK

ATLAS l_I

l=t STAG E RP-1 TANK

Atlas Cen taut ve hicle ( ( en t aut second stage)

Seven astronauts with Dr , Wernher yo n Braun in the ce _Iter , as seen thro ugh the frame ofan ABMA missile. The picture was taken d ,,,mg the astronauts ' visit to Redstone

Arsenal i n Ju: ,:,. 1959.

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SEPTE MBER- - DECEMBER 19 59

In Sep tembe r representatives o f AOMC, NASA, and t he Air Force pr esen ted Saturn,Nova, and Ti tan C systems to the Booster Evaluat ion Commi ttee of the Offic e of theSecr etary of Defens e. On the basis of the se pre sentations ARPA chose S at urn. AR PA

then re quested that Reds tone scientists detemtine the Satu rn con figurations which couldbest carry NASA pa yloads [13].

Because of its large size and weight, the Saturn boos ter could no t be tr anspo rt ed by airor land. W at er tr ansportation app eared most feasible, and ARPA, on Oc tober 23,authorized AOMC to proceed with engin eer ing wo rk for dock facili ties. These would belocated on the Tenn essee River at the southern boundary o f Redston e Ars en_t. inDecemb er, A OMC was furt her aut horized to construct t he facilities and to build a bargeto transport t he boost er to Cape Canaveral [14] .

On Nov ember 18 NASA assu med t echnical direction of t he Sa turn project pending itsformal transfer from ARPA. Administrativ e dir zction was r etain ed by ARPA until Marc h16, 1960, w hen transf er of bot h administrative and t echnical dir ection would becomeeffective [ 15 ] .

On D ecember 15 t he Satu rn Vehicle Evaluation Com mittee ( the Silverstein Commi ttee)rea ched a decision on Satu rn upp er-s tage configurations . This committ ee, composed ofrepre sentativ es fro m NASA, ARPA, Departm ent of D efense, and t he Air Forc e,re comm ended a long-range dev elopm ent program for a Satu rn vehicle with upper-stag eengine s burning liquid hydrog en and liquid o xygen. The initial v ehicle, identified a t C-l ,was to be a st epping ston e to a larger v ehicle, the 6'-2. A bu ilding-block concept waspropo sed th:,t wou ld yield a variety of Saturn configurations, each using p reviouslyproven d evelopments as far as possi ble. These r ecomm endations _,ere accept ed by theNASA A dmin istrator . On Decem ber 31 a 10-v ehicle program was establis hed [16]. TheC-I ve hicle configuration in clud ed t he S-I , S-IV, and S- V stage s. The S-t stage would haveeight H-I engin es. Fuele d by lox /RP-l , tbe clust ered engin es were expected to produ ce atotal of 1 500 000 pounds of t hrust . The S-IV stage was envision ed as a four-engin e liquidoxygen-liquid hydrogen fuel ed unit capa ble of producing a total of 8 0 000 pounds ofthru st. T he S-V stage would u se two of t he sam e engines a s the S-IV stage and wouldprovid e an additiona l 40 000 po unds of t hrust [ 17].

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H-I engine in alignment fixture

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1959

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Model of blo t l, hou._e at Lau,wh COmF!eX 34

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,4BMA SCIENTISTSTop scientific specialists led the Army 's space efforts at ABMA bef ore trans]er _/" the team

to MSI"C. From h'ft to right ." Dr Ernst Stuhling er, Director -Rese_,.r<h ProleCtS Of/ice . Dr .H. ttoelzer . Director -Computation l,aboratory ; K. L. !leimburg , Director -Test Lab _ratorv .Dr E.D . Geissler . Director -Aeroballisth 's Laboratory , E.W. Neuhert , Director -Systems

Analysis & Rel iability Laboratory , Dr . W. ttaeussermann , Director Guidance and Om ;rolLaboratory: Dr . Wernher yon Braun , Direct or-Development Operations Division , W.A. Mrazek ,

Director -Structures and Mechanics L aSoratory Hans ttu, 'ter , Dire, ' tor -Sv_tem Supp_rtEquipment Laborat _ry; Eberhard Rees , Deputy Director -Development G'pcrati _ms Division ,

Dr . Kurt Debus , Director -Missile Firing labora .ory, H.tl. Maus , Director -Fabrication andAssembly Et_gineering Laboratory

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1959

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Vehicles using Tita n 'Joprr tR JUNO_and Atlas Stages

C-t and earlier vehicles

Proposed C -2

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JANUARY - SEPTE MBER 1960

1960

The Saturn pr oject was approved on January 18 as a p rogram of the highest nati onalpriority (DX rating). A mockup of the Satu rn booster was installed in the ABMA teststand on January 4 to check mating of the booster and stand and to test servicingmethods. This mockup was removed from the test stand and the complete test booster,

._ SA-T, was installed in its place during February 1960 [18].

t During March the executive order transferring the Saturn program to NASA became• effective [19]. Later in the month two of Saturn_s eight first-stage engines passed an

initial static firing test lasting 8 seconds. This test was identified as number SAT-01, the_ last live firing of the Saturn test booster (SA-T); it occurred on March 18 [20] In a

second test (SAT-02), on April 6, four engines were successfully static fired for 7! seconds. All eigh t engines of the test booster were successfully fired on April 29 in an

3-second test [211.

In April N ASA awarded Douglas Aircraft Company a contract to develop the secondstage for the Saturn rocket. Then in the following month NASA announced tha tRocketdyne had been selected to develop the high-thrus t J-2 engine. This e r .gine, of thetype defined by the Silverstein Co:nmittee in December 1959, would burn liquidhydrogen-liquid oxygen. It would be used in an advanced Saturn vehicle [221.

The first 10 Saturn flight ,,ehicles would be numbered from SA-I to SA-10. S ,_-I0 wouldbe the p ro totype of the oper ational Saturn. On Ma y 26 assembl y of the boos t, : stage forthe first Saturn flight vehicle began in Huntsville. On July 1 the Saturn program wasformally transferred to the George C. Marshall Spa ce Flight Center _MSFC ) [23].

On July 1, 1960, formal transfer ceremonies at Huntsville, Alabama, officially openedNASA's George C . Marshall Space Fl ight Cente r [ 241.

On Jul y 26 NAS A signed a supplemental agreement with Douglas Aircraft Companycoveri ng the second stage. Douglas would design, develop, and fab ri cate the four-engineS-IV stage. Contracts were le t on Augus t 10 with Pratt & Whitney t '_ develop andproduce LR-119 engines; the Government would furnish these engines to the contractorsr esponsible for buikling the S-IV and S-V stage s of the C-I veh icle. The LR-! 19, anuprated LR-115 engine, was c×pected to generate 17 500 pounds of thrust [25].

On Augus t 14 construction began on the mobile serv ice structure f or Launch Complex 34at Cape Canaveral [26].

On Se ptember 8 the faci lities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration atHuntsville, Mabama, were dedicated and designated as the George C. Marshall SpaceFlight Center. President Eisenhower, Mrs. George C. Marshall, NASA Administrator T.Keith Glennan, and many other national, state, and local dignitaries participated in theceremony 1271.

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Initial configuration of the S -! I/stage

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NOVEMBER - DECEMBER ! 960

On November 21 the first Mercury-Redstone (MR-I ) failed to launch at Cape Canaveralbecause of improper separation of elrctric' ,d connectors be tween tile launching table andthe vehicle 1281.

On December 19 at 11"!5 a.m. EST, MSFC's Launch Operatior, s Directorate launchedMercury-Redstone (MR-IA) at Cape Canaveral. Tile Mercury-Redstonc booster launchedthe unmanned Mercury spa cecraft 135 miles high and 235 miles down the AtlanticMissile Range. The I-ton spacecraft landed by parachute and was recovered by helicopter.Thirty-two minutes after landing, the spacecraft was on the deck of the USS ValleyForge . The spacecraft was recovered in exc ellent condition [291.

In December MSFC published the Historical Origins of the G eorge C . Marsh all SpaceFlight Center . highlighting events impor tant in the Center s formation. This first MSFC

history included background events such as the March 1 945 fonnation in the Pentagon ofProject Paperclip to recruit Gennan missile scientists. Project Pape rclip resulted inapproximately 100 V-2 ballistic missiles being shipped from Germany to White SandsProving Ground in the United State _ in August 1945. On Sept ember 20, 1945, MSF C'sfuture director Wernher yon Braun and six other key Gennan rocket scientists arrived inthe United States as a result of Project Paperclip, On December i0, 1945, 55 Germanspecialists arrived at Fort Bliss, Te>'as, and White Sands Proving Ground, Texas, wherethey were j oined by the first seven specialis ts headed by Wernher von Braun. The firs tV-2 rocket was static-fired at White Studs Proving Ground, March 15 , 1946. On March21, 1950, the U. S. Army Adjutant General ordered transfer of the missile personnelheaded by Wernher yon Braun from White Sands to Redstone Arsenal. Alabama. On April1, 1950 , the German missile personnel headed by Dr. yon Braun were moved from WhiteSands Proving Groun d t o Redstone Arsenal , Alabama. On Febru ary !, 1956 , tile Armyactivated the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), which grew out of the RedstoneArsenal's Guided Missile Devel opment Division. Russia ins pired the U. S. to new spaceefforts when it launched Sputnik I, the first earth satellite , on October 4 , 1957. TheUnited S tates followed with Explorer I, the Free World's first ear 'h satellite, orbited onJanuary 31, 1958. The success of Explorer I whetted U. S. space appetite, ard on April2, 1959, NASA selected seven astronauts for project Mercury, after a serie_ of the mostrigorous physical and mental tests ever given to U. S. test pilots. On October 21 , 1959,President Eisenhower announced his decision to transf er a portion of ABMA 's personnel ,facili ties, an d missions to NASA. The nex t mon th, on Novembcr 2 , Presiden t Eisenh owerannounced his in tention to transfe r t he Sa turn projec t from the Army to NASAmonitorship. On November 18, 1959, NASA assumed technical direction of the Saturnprojec t pending its formal transfer from the Army. On January 14, 1960, PresidentEisenhower directed the transfer of ABMA's Development Operations Division and itsspace-related m issions to NA SA. The George C. Marshal l Space F light Center, NASA'sttuntsville Facility, was so named by Executive Order of President Eisenhower on March15, 1960. Formal transfer ceremonies at Huntsville officially opened NASA 's George C.Marshall Space Fli# ., Center, July I, lC_60 [30, 31 l.

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1960

_\I I II\ _.\'I ! R\

Second stage (S -IV) Third stage (S -V)

Moving Saturn test booster fro m asse mbly to test

NASA officials when MSFC was formed - Morris , Rees. wm Braun ,Glennan . and Ostrander .

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Structural fabrication of SA -I booster

Installation of engines on SA -I booster

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1960

MSFC's first director , Dr . Wernher yon Braun

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1960

_LX__IL||IIJJ n__J: /:.;-,

" .i,I_ ",t//////_

Dedication of Geor ge C. _,IarshallSpace Flight Ce nter, September 8, 1960 - Left to ri ght.Dr . T. Keith Glennan . Administrator of , VASA: Dr. Wernher yon Braun . Director o f MSFC;

ISesident Dwight D . Eisenhower . Mrs'. George C . Marsha ll. Widow of the late GeneralMarshall . and Ma/or General August Sch omburg . Commanding General . A OMC (.far right) .

General Marshall 's bust is in the .fore front .

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1960

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JANUARY - MAY 1961

1961

On January 31 NASA conduc ted the Mercury-Redstone flight M R-2 mission at Cape

Canaveral. A 37-pound male chimpanzee , Ham, rode in a regular Mercury spacecraftweighing 2400 pounds to a.1 altitude of 135 miles and a distance of 4 20 miles. Becauseof premature lox depletion which ac tivated an abort signal resul ting in increased veloci ty,the spacecraft wen t 40 miles higher an d 130 mi les farther downrangc than intended.Otherwise the fli ght was successful [321.

In January Convair Astronautics submit ted a proposal for an S-V upper stage for theSaturn vehicle; however, later in the mo_:th D r . ,,nn Braun proposed that the C-I vehicEchanged from a three-stage to a tw o-stage configuration in support of the Apo lloprogram. NASA decided to delete requirements for the S-V stage on C-I vehicles [33].

On April 10 NASA announced the Project Apollo objective of developing an orbiting

laboratory for the .study of effects of radiation and prolonged weightlessness, first withanima ls and later with a three-man crew. During April I):Juglas reported th at air transportfor the S -IV stage was feasible. (Douglas had been authorized in 1960 to stud y airtransportation for S -IV stages.) This would greatl y reduce the time which would berequired if the stages were moved b y water from California to MSFC at Huntsville, andthence to Cape Canaveral, Florida. The use of gliders, blimps , and other aircraft to car rythe stages was also considered [34].

On April 17 the Palaerm,n began its first trial run to Cape Canaveral. The barge carried awater -ballasted tank simulati og the size and weight of the S -I booster , plus a dumm y S-Vstage for the SA -1 [351.

MSFC completed construction of its dynamic test tower on April 17, the same day thatthe Palaemon left for Florida. The dynamic tower would permit checkout of themechanical mating of the C-I vet.. Ae and would aid in determining the vehicle's naturalbending characteristics and the effect of simulated flight vibrations [361.

Mercury-Redstone MR-3 carried our nation's first astronaut into space at 9:34 a.m. ESTon May 5, 1961. Astronaut Alan B. Shepard's parachute-cushioned spacecraft landed inthe Atlant ic Ocean 14.8 minutes later, at 9:49 a.m. This country's firs t astronaut hadtraveled 115 miles high and 302 miles to the south at a maximum speed of 5100 milesper hour [37].

In May NASA Headquarters accepted MSFC's proposal to incorporate design changes intothe S-I stage of the C -1 vehicle. The changes would permit the C -i to be used as a two -

or three -stage vehicle p6ssessing satisfactory safety requirements for the two -stage mannedmission. This change eliminated the immediate need for an S -V stage with t '_e C-I exceptfor special missi ons. Also during May MSFC be gan reexamination of the capabilities ofthe Saturn C-2 configuration to support lunar circumnavigation missions. Results of thisexamination indicated that a Saturn vehicle of even greater performance would bedesirable [381.

PRECEDIN G PAGE BLANK NOT FI LMED

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1961

_4 ' "' ' " " ' k _

SA-I checkout _ ..

.. Saturn booster recovery

i

Proposed Saturn C -1 L.,,,;,.Apollo configuration

C-2 Second Stage concept . ._ _'_ '_

Six-engine Facilities constructionconfiguration at Launch ('omple.v 34

_ ":.."_2_, '_" _ .... . t

The barge Palaemon was usedto trattsport the Satztfn betwee n

Redesigned tail of the Saturn booster MSFC and the ('ape

22



JUNE - jULY 1961

On June 2 a lock collapse d at the Wheeler Dam on the Tenness_'e River. All movement ofriver traffic was halted. Because file Palacmon was trapped in the "tpper river , MSFCdecided to transport the booster in it over land to a point below the dam. There thestage would be reloaded on a barge to continue the trip to Cape Canaw,-ral. To supportthis plan MSFC obtained a Navy barge which had been mothballed at Pensacola , Florida.Necessary modil]cations began so that the new barge, renamed the ('umpromise . ccdldcarry the S-I and dummy S-IV stages and dummy payload 1391.

On June 5 Launch Complex 34 at Cape Canaveral was dedicated in a brief ceremony andturned over to NASA [401.

An estimated 45 000 to 50 000 "Space Day" visitors attended MSFC's first open house' on July !. Attending were such national figures as the NASA Adm ;qistrator , Jan_c_ E

Webb; the Director of NASA Launch Vehicle Programs, Maj. (;eta. Don Ostrander; and

numerous other national , state, and local dignitaries. Most of the visitors observed one ofthe four Saturn H-I engine static firings during the day [411.

MR-4 ( Liberty Bell 7) manned by Mercury Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom, made a successful15-minute, 118-mile high, 303-mile long flight down the Atlantic Missile Range on July21. After laqdin g in the Atlant ic, a premature blowou t of the escape hatch flo oded thecapsule , making helicopter " " ' ,lck,.p of Grissom difficult. The capsule sank in 18 000 feetof water after a warning light indicated that th e helicopter engine was overheating , andthe capsule was cas t loose. This was the second successful manned suborbital spa ce flight[421.

MSFC awarded a contract to the Space Technology Laboratories , Inc., Los Angeles.

California, during July, to investigate the relative merits and potential problems ofassembling the giant Saturn boosters in horizontal and verti cal positions. Other contractsawarded by the Center in July included qualification mad reliability testing of Saturnground support equipment, subsystems, and components; constru ction of a specialassembly building at Cape Canaveral; and site development of the Center's new stati c testfacility in Huntsville. Also in July NASA's Space Task Group invited 12 companies tosubmit proposals for the manned lunar Apollo spacecraft. Meanwhile , the Centercontemplated a nuclear -powered Saturn upper stage and awarded contracts for a 6 -monthRIFT ( r eactor-in-flight test) design analysis to General Dynamics /Astronautics, DouglasAircraft Company, Lockheed AircraL Corporation , and the Martin Company [43].

i Check out of the SA-! fligh t booster , started in June , was comple ted early in Augus t[441. The booster stage, the dummy S-IV stage, and the dummy payload body were

: shielded with protective covers and loaded on their respective transporters. The stages andpayload body were then moved from the MSFC shops to the docking facilities on theTennessee River and loaded aboard the Palaemon . On August 5 the barge began the firstleg of the trip to Cape Canaveral. At Wheeler Dam the units were unloaded , transported

, to a dock below the dam, and placed on the second barge, the Compromise , to c_n_:nuethe 2200 -mile trip to Florida [451.

23



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.:.,' Unhmdtng simulat _r at th e (}l[w

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Bm_ster simtdator bei ngloaded at _.ard l 'alacmon

24



AUGUST- NOVEMBER 1 961

On August 24 _ASA designated Cape Canaveral as tile base for :_11manned lunar flightsand other space missions requiring ddvanced launch vehicles. NASA would secure an80 000-ac r e trat, t of land, in{:reasing its to tal area in tile vicinity to 97 000 acre_. Theadditional land was needed because of tile tremendous vibration and no ise expect ed withlater launch vehicles [461.

On Sel_tember 7 NASA selected file government-owned Michoud Ordnance Plant nearNew Orleans as the site for indt.-trial producticn of the S-I stage• The plant would beoperated by industry under the technical direction of MSFC. MSFC continuedpreparations for a c onference to secure esti mates from industry on production of the S-Istage. On September 11 N_,SA selected North American Aviation to develop and buildthe S-ll stage for an advanced Saturn launch vehicle. The stage would be used in bothmanned and unmanned missions 1471.

Death claimed Deimar M. Morris, MSFC Deputy Ditector for Administration, onSeptember 9. He served as Acting Di rector of the Center until Dr. yon Braun assume d tileposition of Director on July !, I960. Mr. Morris was responsible for a considerableamount of the work involved in translerring the Development Operations Division fromthe Army Ballistic Missile Agency to NASA [481.

Army Engineers awarded a contract on Sct_tember 13 for the construction of SaturnLaunch Compl ex 37 at Cape Canaveral. Tile , :omplex would include a mobile steel tower,a blockhouse, and a cable tower on a 120-acre site a: tile north end of the Cape [49].

Dr. George N. Constan, acting manager for Michoud Operations, announced on O_tober20 tha t t he official designa tion of tile Sa turn production plan t in New Orleans was "TileGeorge C. Marshall Sp ace Flight Ce nter, Michoud Operations" 1501.

On October 25 NASA selected a 13 550-acre site in Mississippi on which to build afacility for static testing advanced Saturn and Nova first stages , only 35 mile s from theMicboud Plan t where industry would manufac ture the S-I and S-IC stages. NASA namedthis new location the Mississippi Test Facility. MSFC would opetate the facility [51].

_le world's largest known rocket, the Satun, first s tage booster , was launched onOctober 27. It was 162 feet tall and weighed 460 tons at lift-off. The rocke t attained arange of 214.7 miles from its launch pad at Cape Kennedy and an altitude of 84.8 miles.Its eight clustered engines had developed 1.3 million pounds of thrust at lift-off, onsubsequent tests the thrus t would be increased to !.5 million po.unds [52].

e,

On November 3 NASA Headquar ters direc ted the transf er of MS FC's electric propulsion•3gram to Lewiz Research Center where tt would be consolidated into one electric

propulsion program for NASA. The transfer would be completed within 3 m onths I53].

On November 6 MSFC dire cted North American to redesign the S-II stage to incorporatefive J-2 engines, providing 1 miliion pounds of thrust 1541.

25 '_

S'



1 i nli

1961

mMo vemcnt of dumm .v S-! V stage t _ checkout

p



NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 1961

Late in 1961 the expanding space progranl was evident at MSF (" as elsewhere, in its leadstory for November 8. the MSFC M¢,r.s' haUStar stated: '"l 'ht. Marshall ( 'enter has joined

other elements of NASA in a nationwide drive to re cruit new employees to carry out thenatio;£s accelerating space and aeronautical research programs . A total of some 3.500persons are to be hired by NASA bctw,. ' cn now and June 30, 1962. The majority, 2,000,will be scientific and engineering personnel. James E. Webi). NASA Administrator ,announced the talent search Friday in Washington. The Marshall Center expects to luresome 750 additional persons during the fiscal year ending Jtme 30. Present MSFCstrength of about 5 ,750, plus the oumber of persons employed ,lext spring, shouldapproach 6,500" [551.

NASA announced o n Novembe_ 17 the selection of Chrysler Corporation to negotiate acontract to build, check out, and tes t 20 S-I boosters. These bo¢_sters would bemanufactured at the Michoud Plant. The contract was signed in mid-January 1 962 [561.

On November t9 the nation's first liquid I,ydrogen engine, the RLIO , successfullycompleted its preliminary flight rating test. Producing 15 000 pounds thrust, the engine,designed and developed by Pratt & Whitney, performed about 30 percent better thanengines ,4sing hydrocarbon fuels. Six such engines wodld power the Saturn S-IV stage1571.

On December 5 Atomic Energy Comn :ission {AEC)-NASA Space Nuclear PropulsionOffice selected the Aetron Division of Aerojet-General Corporation's proposal as the basisfor a Nerva engine test stand contract. The Nerva would be used in nuclear stages with areactor derived from the Kiwi-B test series. Two days later a preI_roposal conference washeld at Huntsville , Alabama, to select a prime contractor for the reactor-in-fligh t test(RIFT) stage launch vehicle. The RIF T vehicle , planned for use as a n tippet stage of aSaturn vehicle, would be powered by the Nerva nuclear engine 1581.

On December 15 NASA selected the Boeing Company as a possible prime contractnr forthe first stage (S-IC) of the advanced Saturn vehicle. The S-I C, powered by five F-Iengines, would be 33 feet i.n diameter and about 140 feet tall. The manufacturingprogram at Michoud was to produce 24 flight stages and one ground test s tage [591.

On December 28 the Mississippi Test Facility (M TF) was oMcmlly named Mississippi TestOperations (MTO) by Dr. Robert C. Seamans of NASA tlcadquarters [601.

27



T

Ii

1961

Artist 's concept of Apolk _ capsule

" , fll

Air tra ttsport of S -I V stage

28



1961

ii." • •

.@

" _ -*.'- A helicopter lifts Shepard from/ water at the end of flight .

NASA Astronaut Alan B . Shepard . Jr . isshown in the Project Mercury spacecraftlust prior to its being sealed . Sherard

succe _sfull.v completed a 302 miles_5orbital flight , the first in the

Project Me rcury program .

/

I _,_- ' • __ ' "" , _, . \ ,"'_", . , ' , _ ', ';_

..... .,. ":. - ", . , • ,_7" -. ....

NASA Astronaut Alan B. Shepard strides a cross the deck o f the U .S. NavyCarri_,rC hampla in following an inspection of his spacecraft .

29



1961

Astronauts D .K. Slayton ( far left) andVirgil L Grissom ( far right) were on hand

to greet Astronaut Alan B . Shepardat Grand Bahama Island . Just behind

Shepard is Dr . Keith LyndelL

,, _

_ , "_ _ -

Pos itioning flight booster in test stand

P- Separation of upper stages from boosterf-_ acj¢

:;; ii "2. _.4_

Sacramento Test F acili tyDummy Saturn vehicle in

dynamic test stand

30





1961

fl._i .f .k "

Tail area mocku p Forward intersta ge mockup

Launch Complex 34 Launcl z Complex 34, blockhouse inte rior

" .m

f

,rl)

7" -

Booster movement ar ound Wheeh,r Dam

32

r



1961

Comparison of Saturn '*_ ' "*""_"

" 11

' ' ! iiL__,J_l "'

i First Saturn assembled Stati c firing of SA-T2

on launch pedestalI[

Installation of SA -T2 on static " ...1test stand , _. ,

1

Artist's concept of Apolloseparation fr om S-I! stage eutawa .v - ,_rtist 's

second stag e concept

33



k

IV _

k "iWelcomi ng Visttor s at Anniversary Celebrati on - Dr . Wern her yon Braun , MSFC a irector ,

addressed visit ors at the test ar ea prior to a static firi ng on July I . 1961. At left wasMiss Carolyn Travi s, attendant to Space Queen Linda Page . who stood behind Dr . yon

Braun . At right were Sandra Bae rg, Space Queen attenda t_t; James E . Webb NASAadministrator , who als o welcomed t hc visitors; and Ma/ . Gen . Don Ostrander , director

of Office of Launc h Vehich, Programs at N ASA th 'adquarter s.

34

/,P' ,e



1961

0

°

On MSFC's first ann iversar y, July 1 , 1961, there were 27 top officials . Upper row , left toright: Bart J . Slattery , Jr ., Public I nformation Office; Jerry C . McCall , Assistant to t he

Director; Erich W . Neubert , Associate Deputy Direct or, Research a nd Development;Eberhard F . M. Rees, Deputy Director , O.esearch and Development; Wern her yon Bra un,Director; Del mar M . Morris , Deputy Director , Administration ; Harr y Gor man, Associat e

Deputy Director , Administratio n; (Tzaup.cey W. t;uth, Operations Analysis Office ," WilliamE. Guilian , Chief Counsel. Second Row. Oswald H . Lange, Satur n System_' Office, Hans

Haeter , Light and Medium Ve hicles Office; Wer ner G . Tiller , Weapon Systems Offi ce;Heinz H . Koelle , Future Proje cts Office," George N . Constan , Technical Program

Ct_ordination Office ; Dm,id It . Newbv, Technical Services Office; Victor C . Sorense n,

Management Services Office: Cla ude E. Stockton, Financial Management Office ," Wilbur S.Darts , Procure ment and Contract Offi ce. Third Row ." Ernst D . Geissler , Aeroballisti cs

Division; Helmut Hoelzer , Computation Division , • Hans H. Maus, Fabricatio n and Asse mblyEngineering Division ," Waite '" Hae usser mann, Guidance and Control Division; Kurt H . Debus,

Launch Operatio ns Dire¢.torate: Er nst Stuhlinger , Research Project s Division, • Wilha m A.Mrazek, Structures and Mechanics Di vision," Dieter Grau , Quality Division; Karl L .

Heimb[ "g, Test Divisio n.

.....

Payload movement Booster movement to docking facilityaro zmd Wheeler Dam

35



i 1961

)

m

.¢' Im

Astronaut Grissom prepares toenter Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft .

Astronaut Gas Gri ssom prior to America 'ssecond manned flight into space

, tt

?' ' 'I ) _ I

; - I '

d ,

i" " "_' Navy doctors aboard USS Randol ph check

_'_ i. " _" (!_i', - "' '.'" ,,,L_. AstronautGrissom followinghistrip , ntOspaceuly 21, 1961 .•

...... _ L t'

Astrop,aut Gas Gr issom being rescued iaft¢ splashdown of Liberty Bell 7 .

_. 36



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T

L

.vjr_ r,j _cll g ,, " _ ',,w wtNI

. ",: .'_ ,,_.,' . ,

Booster mo_'etnent aroutld S -i attd S -IV stages aboardlFheeler Dam tlw Com promise

37

4r



1961

lit _ " •

_ .

Unloadiplg Compromise ill Florida

_ r'!_"_w t;

S-I V erectio n at Cape Canaveral Payh _ad b ody erection i ntoservice stru cture

Saturn Launch Complex - artist's concept

L

38

Jr \



-% -._

•

, ID'

Satur n SA-I fl_g,_t vehicle _• ,, .

on launch pedestal , _.'. _.

: '_

l'qrst launc h of the Saturn ve hicle October 27, 1961 . Theflight lasted about R mi nutes 3 ._ seconds . Saturn reached

a veloc zO' of 3607 mph,

39



_" w- _ '_Launch of Saturn SA -Ifliglit vehicle

S-I V tankage at Sacram ento Test Facilit)

4O

J



1961

4!

p



J ANUA RY - APRIL 1962

IQ62

On January 25 NASA appr oved development of tile three-stage Saturn C-5 vehicle underthe direction of MSFC. The v ehicle would support manned circumlunar flights andmanned landings by earth or lunar orbit rendezvous method. Tile C- 5 was expected to becapable of placing 120 tons in low earth orbit or sending 4 5 tons to the vicinity of themoon [611.

On February 9 a preliminary contract was awarded the Space and Information Syst emsDivision (S&ID) of North American Aviation to design , develop , and fabri cate the S-IIstage of the C- 5 vehicle. MSFC s_gned a preliminary S-IC development contra ct withBoeing Company on F ebruary 14 1621.

After several days of frust r ating delays . John Glenn. destine d to become the first

American in orbit, entered Friendship 7 on February 20. There he waited an additional 3hours and 44 minutes before the Friendship 7 lift-off. But then in one blaze of fire andsmoke it all became worthwhile as crowds at the Cape yelled "'Go, Map Go" and similaryells were shouted at radio and television sets throughout th z land. "Keep itA. O. K.-Go, Man Go" and similar space words were soon to become familiar j zrgonthrough the world. Astro m:ut Glenn was forced to manually control the spacecraft duringthe second a nd third orbits because of t roubles with the automatic pilot, but after threeorbits Friendship 7 reentered as scheduled and parachuted into the Atlantic east _¢ theBahamas. Glenn had ridden 81 000 nfiles in 4 hours and 56 minutes. Retrieved by thedestroyer Noa . Glenn remained inside the capsule until aboard ship where he emerged"feeling fine." It was estimated that over 60 million Americans had witnessed the launchvia live TV coverage. The Voice of America carried liCe overseas broadcasts, the U.S.Senate recessed before the spacecraft landed, and the U.S. Post Office placed ProjectMercury postage stamps on sale the same day [63,641.

On March 7 NASA established the NASA Launch Operations Center at Cape Canaveral,with Dr. Kurt H. Debus as Director. Reporting to the Director of Manned Space Flight atNASA Headquarters , the new Center would serve all NASA projects launched from CapeCanaveral, absorbing Marshall Space Flight Center's Launch Operations Directorate I651.

On March 19 the Seal Beach, California, site was reconfirmed as the location of the S-IIstage major manufacturing and assembly activities. Testing of prototype stages would beperformed at Santa Susana, California. Stage acceptance testing would be conducted at

•the Mississippi Test Operations [661

About 60 key officials of the nat ion's space p ro gr am, including Astronau ts John Glennand Alan Shephard, met at MSFC on April 16 for a talk on the manned lunarexplor ation program. Directors c_ three NASA cen ter s charged with carrying ou t t heproject held a join t technical pla nmqg and review session concerning the program. Dr.Wernher von Braun was host to Dr. Robert Gilruth, Director of the Manned SpacecraftCenter, and to Dr. Kurt Debus, Director of the Launch Operations Cente ,', as well as toAstrcmauts _.,tcm,"" and _llepllal 't_l°*, IOllt'_'_ •

p_ECED13q_ pA_ E R_',A_K Nf_T FI"T,M_ :T_ 43



r

1962

1t

SA-- erected on lam .c,t pedestal

' : , _1 I

.-I I

' "1 Ii " ' _. .o I II _.

,_...... _ii_ ' -_1 : -'1,_ " J I; , t,- It

Cent,al Laboratory and Offi ce Building - .4stro nauJ John H. Glenn , Jr .. Dr . WilliamBaiMers expe cted to conlph, te t his D_,agla _. Astronaut 's Flight Surgeon , and

$4 000 000 MSFC buihti ng earl ), in 19 6J. Joe Sch mitt. Equipment Specialist . lea Jqngcrew quarters prior to 1 tt,4-6 launch .

44

a,



' A PRIL - J ULY 1962

NASA Head qttart er s anno unced on April 18 t hat t he h ighest nati onal priority (DX) had

, beena

pproved for tile Apollo,

Sa

turn ('-1

.and S

atu

rn C-5.T

ile priority

in

clud

ed

allstages, engines, facilities , and related construction for production , test, research, laun ch,: and ins trumen tation [6 81.

NASA launched the second Saturn flight vehicle , the SA-2, from Cape Canaveral on April25. As with the SA-I, the vehicle was launched without a technical hold during the10-hour countdown. This vehicle had a secondary missi on. After first stage shutoff at 65miles altitude, the water-filled upper stages were exploded, dumping 95 tons of water inthe upper atmosphere. The massive ice cloud produced rose to a height of 90 miles. Theexperiment , called Project High Water , was performed to investigate the effects on theionosphere of the sudden release of such a great volume of water. This experiment didnot interfere with the major goal of the flight which was achieved when the first-stageengines ourned out 116 seconds after launch. Every phase of the flight was consideredsuccessful [69-721.

In mid-April reconstruction of the Wheeler D am Lock on the Tennessee River wascompleted transportation of Saturn fligh! stages could be made without land detour[731.

On May 26 P,ocketd_ ,ne successfull y conducted the first full-thr ust, long -dur ation F -Iengine test [74].

In mid-M ay MSFC directed Douglas to produce a 260-inch-diameter S-IVB otage. Theincrease of 40 inches over the initially planned d iameter permitted development of amore optimum size stage. Also during May the Center decided to increase S-If stage

length from 75 feet t o 81.5 feet and decrease the S-IC stage length from 141 feet to 138feet [751.

On June 5 MSFC contracted to modify the Satur n C-I booster st atic test stand at MSFC.The stand, originally built to test the Redstone and Jupiter mis siles and later modi fiedfor Saturn testing, would provide tes t positions for two C-I first stages [76].

More than 25 000 MSFC employees and relatives visi ted the MSFC Space Museum d'lring"Family Day." The occasion was the second birthday of MSFC I771.

During June bids were requested fo r construction of a static test stand to captive fire the3aturn C-5 booster The stand, to be located at MSFC, would provide handling ,equipment and thrus t restr aint for boosters up to 178 feet in leng th, 48 feet in dia me ter,and with thru st of up to 7.5 mi llion pounds . In cluding a c rane at the top , the tower iwould stand 405 fee t high, more than twice as tall as the current Satu r n C-! booste r teststand [781.

As of Independence Da y, July 4, a total of 1239 technical, ad t_inis tr ative, and suppo rtpersonnel we re emp loyed at the MSF C Micho ud Oper ations. Fif ty- four percen t of the _emp loyees had been hire d from the New Orle ans area 1791.

l

45

J

ij¢



1962

_

HAMPTON VA.S P ACE 'WN U.S.A.

bi

Proje ct Mercur y Astronaut John H . Glenn , Astronaut . John Glenn spea ks at aJr .. is picked up by a Navy helico pter and 'Welcome Home" celebration a ttd parade .hoisted aboard for the trip to the carrier

USS RANDOLPtt fron t the destro yer USSNOA. Glenn was retrieved b y the NOA, |

when his s pacecra ft was hoisted by a crane 9 ..and lifted to the d ecks of the NOA, just !j21 minutes after landin _ in the At/anti( * I ° ' '

near Grand Turk Ldand . following his | =historic thrc _'-orbit flight around th e _

eart lt on Feb; 'uar y 20, 1962 . ._":

T ,. .J

_t_,_._. _ Saturn C -IB vehicle , _

C-! first stag e test sta _d Laun ch of SaturnSA-2 flight vehicle

46

r k""



J

J ULY - SEPTEMBER 1962

A new Saturn vehicle was needed. N ASA announced on Jui y il tilat a new, two-stageSatur n-class vehicle wo uld be developed for manned earth orbital missions with full -scale

: Apollo spacecraft [801. The Saturn w ou ld be known as the Sat urn C-lB. Simultaneou sly,NASA announced selection of lunar orbit rendez vous as the method of performing themanned lunar landing. This lunar rendezvous mode would require the use of only one

, Saturn C-5 vehicl: to in ject the spacecraft into an earth-lun ar tr ajectory. The entire

: Apollo spacecraft would not land on the moon after its separation from the launchvehicle's third stage. Rather, one unit of the spacecraft, a lunar excursion module, or"bug," would land and later rejoin the rest of the orbiting Apollo :81 ].

On July 21 NASA Headquarters announced construction plans for Launch Complex 39,Saturn C-5 launch facil ities, at Cape Ca naveral. The 350-foot-high veh icle wou ld beerected ano checked out vertically in a s pecial 48-story assembl y building. Fo llowing

._ checkout, a 2500-ton cr awler vehicle would move the Saturn C-5 to its launch pa d [821.

In July NASA announced that a co raputer center would be established at Slidell,; Louisiana, to service the Michou d Operations. Iile centc r , to be ore of the nation's

largest, would perform engineering calculations necessary in the development , building,and static testing of the Saturn C-i and C-5 boosters [831.

To test C-5 strength, MSFC awarded a design contract in July for a 360-foot-highdynamics test tower at MSFC. The Saturn C-5 launch vehicle would be suspended in thetower and vibrated by mechanical and electrical means. This simulation of free-flightcondit?ons would determine the vehicle 's natura l bending modes [841.

On August 6 NASA and Chrysler Corporation signed a contract fo r production of 21 C-1

boosters , to be delivered between late 1964 and early 1966. The stages would beproduced by Chrysler at the Michoud Plant near New Orleans. On the same date NASAannounced that the Boeing Company had received a supplementary contract from MSFCfor work leading to design, development, fabrication, and test of the C-5 booster [85].

A C-5 secon d s tage contract fo r d esign, development, f abrica tion, and t esting of theS-IVB stages was awarded Douglas on August 8. The contract called for ! ! of the stages:five for ground tests (two of which would be used later as inert flight stages) and six forpowered flight. Next, provision was made for C-5 guidance and control. On August 13MSFC selected the C-5 instrument unit design , The cylindrical unit would measure 260inches in diameter and stand 36 inches high. All vehicle guidance and control equipmentwould be mounted on panels fastened within this structure [86].

On August 15 NASA awarded Rocketdyne Division a two-year contract to continue H-1engine research and development. The first Saturn booster engines would also be used inSaturn IB boo sters. Meanwhile, the C-I second stage progress contint ,2d [871.

Pres ident John F. Kenne dy and Vice -President Lyndon B. Johnson, with an official partyof key government officials, including NASA Administrator James E. Webb , visited theCenter for a look at Saturn progress on September 11, 1962 [881.

47



1962I

1 I , t. oj

..... -- _ _,- , - _ :-_,:_..-_, mto c L._._."

Ip_ll

,,,_ " l "-*j 32 ,,; ,Z/_'=-":--. 7" :.......| (_ ........ -',S LII_LL CO ilP I/TER

-'J-'_ --# __--.S _"_'": ,, 4 .........

,,,<..- ¢_ ,..__. s,,? >_t

Regional map showing Mississippi Test Operations

T

President Kenn edy visits MSb'C .48

t

r



SEPT EMBE R - DECEMBER 196 2

On September 15 Michoud technicians ins talled a 42-foot boring mill, the largest known,for use in C-5 ploduction [89]. Also in mid-Sel_tember, MSFC provided Douglas a 90-dayprogram authorization to investigate minimum changes necessary to adapt C-5 secondstages to C-lB. Douglas would also study attachment of the S-IVB stages to the C-1booster, as well as separation during flight [90].

Early in September ground breaking ceremonies were held at Seal Beach, California,where =ssembly and test facilities for t!ac second (S-II) stage of Saturn C-5 would belocated. The S-II facility would be co nstructed by file Navy and operated by NorthAmcrica,a _,viation's S&ID [91].

During September preliminary pla ns vere completed for development of the MississippiTest Operations fac!lity First phase of the three-phase program included building twotest stapds each for static firing the S-IC and S-II stages and about 20 service and supportbuildings. Improvenaent of approximately 15 miles of river channel a nd construction of acanal within the test facility would permit transportation of stages from Michoud toMississippi Test Operations test stands [92].

MSFC awarded a Saturn C-5 contract on October 5 for construction in Huntsville of acombined S-IC stage vertical assembly building and hydrostatic test tower [93, 94].

The third Saturn flew on November 16. SA-3 was successfully laur_ched from CapeCanaveral . c:_':y i_lg a full propellant load of 750 000 pounds. It rose to a height of about104 miles; fl ight range was 13t statute miles. Inboard engine cutoff occurred as pl annedafter 141 seconds of flight; outboard engin.' cutoff came 8 seconds later. Project, HighWater was performed as a secondary mission on SA-3 as on SA-2 [95-971.

The first documented report to suggest use of an S-IVB stage as a laboratory in space waspublished by Douglas Air, ,raft Company in November. Meanwhile, at MSFC similar ideaswere generating, though not yet to the extent of being published as a report [98, 99].

MSFC Director Wernher yon braun announce d on December 14 that Captain W illiam C.Fortune had been appointed manager of the Mississippi Test Operation r [100].

t

S-II stage assembly and test facility

49

I



1962

Static firing of F -I engine

Satur n C-5 launch pad - artist's concept0



1962

\

\\

\

t '_ \

Launch Complex 39 - artist's concept

Pictured here in the spring of 1963 is construction of the Vertical Assembly andHydrostatic Test Facilit y at MSFC's Michoud Operations . The foundation is 215

by 195 feet , an indication of the size of the structure t hat wouM stand 214 feet high .

51



' 1

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" :G !fO R _"' ""'"_ "" *:'*"'*'_i'_ FLIGI! I - (.k 'N l.I. t _,

, - .|

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= ,

At the close of MSFC's second ,ear , June 30 , 1962 . there ,were 27 " ap officials . Upperrow, left to right. Bart J . Slaltery, Jr ., Public I nformation Office," Jerry C. McCall,

Assistant to the D irector; Ericii W. Neuberl, Associate Deputy Director, Research andDevelopment, Eber hard F . M. Rees, Deputy Director , Resea rch and De velopment; Wernheryon Br aun, Director ; Harry H. Gortnan , Deputy Director, Administration; David H. Newb y,Associate De puty Director , Admhlistra; ion," Hans H . Maus, Central P!anning Office," WilliamE. Guilian , Chief Omnsel . Sec,.,a r .w." Oswa ld 14. Lange , Saturn &s tems Office; Han s

Heuter , L_,hl and Medium Ve hicles Office; Heinz H. Kaelle, F uture Prol ects Office. JamesT. Shepherd, Fa cilities En gineering O ffice, Davis E. Foxworthy , Support Services Office;

Victor C . Sorensen , Mana gement Services Office; Theodore U . Hardeman , FinancialManagement O]f ice; Wilbur S. Davis , Pr ocurement and C ontracts Office . Third row ." Ernst

D. Geissle r, A eraballistics Di visi_m; Hel mut Hoelzer, Computation Division ; Werne r R.Kuers Man ufacturing Engin eering Di :qsion ," Walter Haeu _serma nn, Astrionics Division; Kurt

II. Debu s, Launch Operations D irect orate: Ernst Stu hlinger , ReseaYch Projects Division ,William A. Mrazek , Pr _v_ulsion attd Vehicle Engineering Division , • Geor ge N. Constan,

Michoud Operati ons, Dieter Gmu , Quali ty Assura nce Dtvision ," Karl L . Heimburg,Test Divisiotl.

Mississippi Test Fa cility

52



T 1



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During th eir Scpl,.'II/_t'r I.] i tsl[ t,) MSI "('. Prc stdcnt Ken nedy and Vice President LyndonB. Johnson rtev.ed the Sa' z_rq (-I rt'lm'h' in th e .ilanltfa cturing E ngir , eering Division . The

PresMeat ,:nd |'_ c l'rt, szd_'nt ,r," s/town with l)r . I_Pernher yon Braun . MSFC Director

Unloading S -IV stage at MSFC

in._tallatt ,:z _,1 .¢J -l,,)t b , ,_mg mtlt

54

¢



1

1962

lit I 0

i

Launch of SA-3 flight vehicle

.• • °

\ x

Vertical Assembly Building at Mic houd - artis t's concept

55



LC-39 Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral - artist 's concept

I

!

56 i



I FEBRUARY - MAY 19631963

On Februar y 4 MSFC aecided to m odify the wes t side of tile MSFC static test tower forF-1 _ngine testing. The mod;fica tion would allow single Fol engine tests to begin severalmonths earlier than scheduled. The stand would later be re converted for S -I static testingIlOl}.

On February 20 NASA began c ontract negotiations f or design , fabrication, erection, andtesting of tile crawler-transp orter which would transport the Saturn V vehicle to thelaunch pad of Launch Complex 39. The contract was signed on March 29. On tile sameday NASA Headquarters approved the plan for modificati on of the basic Chryslercontra ct. Tile plan provided for redesign of the S-l stages [102, 193}.

For Saturn. V, NASA Headquarters approved the Boeing S -1C definitive co,atract on

February 21. Boeing would uesign, de velop, and manufacture one ground test stage andine flight stages at the Michoud Plant in New Orleans [1041.

During the firstsweek of February, NASA Headquarters ann ounced a change in Saturnvehicle nomenclature. Saturn C-1 became Sa:urn 1, Saturn C -IB became Saturn IB, andSatur r C -5 became Satu rn V [1051..

i The first live Satum 1 sec ond stage w ould be p owered by liquid hydrogen, still n ot flight: proven. The S-IV b att leship s tage permi tt ed t ests of this new technology [106-|081.

Dr. George N. Constan, general manager of Michoud Operations, announced on March 12that he expected a peak total of some l0 000 government- contracior personnel to beemployed b y the Saturn Booster Manufac turing Fa cility of Michoud b y mid-1964 [1 091.

Saturn SA -4, the fourth and last of the single -powered -stage, Block I vehicles, wassuccessfully lat:nched on March 28 from Launch Complex 34. The vehicle, carryingseveral Block II components for test, r eached an altitude of 80 sta tute miles. Range was218 statute miles and peak velocity 3660 miles per hour. As a secondar y, mission, the No.5 inboard engine was cut off a t 100 sec onds to test t he vehicle engine-ou t capabili ty .Overall performance of the flight was very satisfactory [! iOI.

At its Sacramen to Tes t F acility (SACTO) Douglas completed the S-IV bat tleship test' program with a final lox depletion firing of 444 seconds on May 4. Sixteen tests totaling

4302.5 sec onds were acc omplished usin g the RL I0-A-3 engines. The complete battleshipi test pr ogram (including b oth A-I and A-3 engines) had a t otal liring time of 5440.1

seconds [1 11, 1121 .

' Pr esident John F. Kennedy , on an all-da y tour of Nort h Alabama, s topped briefly at theRedstone Airstrip for a short address to a crowd of 10 0 00 people befo r e boarding his jet

i to return to Washin gton. Before leaving, he talked about 5 minutes with Dr. yon Braunabout the space program 11131

[ During early Ma y the J-2 engine, use d on S-IVB and S-II stages , was successfull y fired f or

! the first time at a sim ulated sp ace altitude in excess of 60 000 feet. The engine developed

l 57¢



"_+.++

'1_ , . +o "

: e_,._-.. SIC stat ic test towerSAo5 instru ment unit

Saturn V dynamic tower

: 58



MAY - OCTOB ER 1963

_nn nnn pounds o f _h.... ,- .,_'t,,t 20 SeCO.qds th,_ toet _t. .a__rmi nat ed a_ progra mmedIll4!.

The MS FC Space Orien tation Cen ter, forme r ly the Space Museum. was d r awing as man yas 500 persons a d ay accor ding to assistant cur ator Evelyn Ealkow ski during a Jun e 11interview.

Some i 200 MS FC employees began moving into Building 4200, the Cen ter 's new Centr alLaborato ry a nd Office Building, in Jun e [115].

On Augu st 5 NASA comple teu S-I B contrac t nego tiations wi th Chry sler Cor poration a tMichoud. The following da y S-IVB/Satum IB con tr act nego tiations were comp leted withDouglas Air cr aft Cor porati on a t San ta Monica [116].

In its lead story of Augu st 22, the MSFC Marshall Star had the fo llowing: "B ILLY(,RAHAM RALLY SLA TED HERE SUNDAY. Evangeli st Billy G r aham, said by many tobe the g re atest speake r in modern Chri stiani ty , will cond uct a religiot_s set :ice a tReds tone Air l:ield nex t Sunday at 4:00 p.m. The ser vice is expec ted to draw thousandsof visitors from all over north Alabama." In an announcement to MSFC employees Dr.yon Braun stated: "I would like to urge all MSFC employees and their families to attendthe Reverend Billy Graham's service Sunday afternoon. In this age of space flight andunprecedented scientific accomplishments, it is _mportant that we be mindful of ourspiritual necessities. Dr. Graham had d evoted his life to the spiri tual welfare of peoples allover the world. We are very fortunate to have him visit Huntsville." The announcemen t_were successful. The expected big crowd attended the Billy Graham service the followingSunday.

On September 1 Dr. Wernher yon Braun, MSFC Director. announced a majorreorganization of the Center. Progress in the Saturn program, and a rise in industrialparticipation to approximately 90 percent of the budget, necessitated the changes. TheCenter created two major subd ,visions - Research and Development Operations andIndustrial Operations. Research and Development Operations, composed of the ninetechnical di_. Aons redesignated laboratories, was strengthened for its Huntsville-basedoperations and for specialized contractor assistance. Industrial Operations was created todirect the portion of the Center's work performed by prime contractors, mainly thedevelopment of stages and engi;aes for the Saturn 1, Saturn IB, and Saturn V multistagerockets 1117, 1181.

Dr. yon Braun addressed a large gathering of Center employees outside Building 4200 in a

special c_remony on October 15 marking the fifth anniversary of NASA [i 19].

Nasa announced on October 30 a rephasing of Saturn manned flight missions. Saturn iman ned missions were dropped, thereby deleting six Saturn I vehicles, The Saturn !program would terminate with completion of the research and development program forthe i0 unmanne a flight vehicles. NASA approved speed-up of Saturn IB development.The more powerful Saturn IB vehicle would launch the Project Apollo manned flights inpreparation for Saturn V's manned moon mission. "All-up" testing would be utilized in

59

j, l



_% _ . ...........

S-H Seal Beach facility

60



i

OCTOBER- DECE MBER 1963

future Sat urn fl ights . That is , the re would be n o further flights with dunimy stages;development flights would test Saturn vehicles in final configuration [120, 121].

On October 31 MSFC received from Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviationthe firs t production model of the huge F-1 engine [122, 123].

NASA approved a Chrysler contract modification in October tha t provided for 12 SaturnIt_ boosters in lieu of operational Saturn I boosters. At Michoud, Chrysler continueddesiga stt:dles on components for these S-IB stages. MSFC approved the design release forthe S-IE spider bea_a and completed the 50 percent design review of the gaseous oxygenline and diffuser. Do uglas continued work on hydrostatic and dynamic test equipment forSaturn IB's second stage and began assembly of its S-IVB battleship stage at theSacremeato Test Facility. Douglas began fabricating an S-IVB liquid hydrogen test tankin Huntsville for use in J-2 engine tests [124].

MSFC an a Chrysler completed their study of the use of uprated H-I engines in SaturnIB's booster st_.ge. On November 8, after Chrysler determined engine load criteria andSaturn IB schedule impact, MSFC directed Rocketdyne to develop the more powerfulengine [125 , 126].

On November 8 MSFC contracted for a $13.4 million test complex at Mississippi TestOperations for the Saturn V second stage (S-II). At Seal Beach, S&ID continued assemblyof the S-II battleship stage for static tests. NASA contracted a few days la ter for a SaturnV launch pad at Kennedy Space Center Complex 39 [127]. The pad would cost over $19million.

An important engine development milestone occurred on November 27 with

Rocketdyne's first extended-duration firing test of the J-2 endine. This successful test of200 O00-pound thrust, liquid hydrogen-fueled engine lasted for more than 8 minutes. TheJ-2 would power upper stages of both the Saturn IB and the Saturn V _ehicles [1281.

On November 28 the name of the NASA facility at Cape Canaveral was changed officiallyto John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) [ 129 ].

America's "second generation" of astronauts, as well as some of the original sevenastronauts, spent November 29-30 at MSFC being briefed on the Center's space program.The astronauts included Walter M. Schirra and John Glenn along with newer astronautsFrank Borman, James Lovell, Thomas Stafford, Elliott Se e, Nell Armstrong, John Young,James McDivitt, Edward White, and Charles Conrad [130].

In November NASA postponed the fifth Saturn 1 flight because of techn ical problemswith the SA-5 vehicle [1311.

Saturn V progress during December included MSFC's firs t F-I engine tests, thes_occurring on December 3 and 5. Duration of the first firing tests was 1.25 seconds; thesecond fi r ing la sted 10 seconds [1321. On December 20 NA SA updated the Boeing S-ICcontract to amend the stage delivery schedule [13 31. The contr act as changed meant t ha;

61



1963

m

S-IV dynamic facilities stage at Cape Canaveral

Check-out of $4V-5

Static fir ing of S-I-5 i .:

Loadi ng of S-IV stageSAM on Launch S-IC sta ge aft area mockup

Complex 34

62



DECEMBER 1963

MSFC rather than Boeing would provide the second S-IC night booster. On December 27NASA a mended the p nme S-iI stage contract with S&ID in urde t to make th e first S-llflight stage "live" instead of dummy [134].

MSFC in December postponed the SA.-5 flight until January 1964 after discovering cracksin fuel line fittings on the S-I-5 stage. MSFC decided to replace critical tubing on it alzdall remaining S-I stages. On December 13 MSFC accepted from Chrysler at Michoud thefirst industry-built Saturn 1 booster (S-I-8). By the end of December Chrysler hadcompleted and MSFC had approved most of the structural redesign of Saturn IB's firststage [1351.

i A

Facility checkout of Launch Complex 37B

1"-7."

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Completion _ff S-IV battleship test progra m

63



1963

........'i _."', _ i:_ -

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Dougla s" thmtington Beach Facility

wo: °

Chatting at Redsto ne Airfield dur ing President Kenned .v's brief stop ot MSFC on Ma _ 18.1963. were the President attd MSFC Director Wernher yon Braun .

64

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1963

......... G " tlPc._2ti ld_ '' ,'- . : ,ngma¢_' :,._l. ....

Satu,n V b_wilities at MSF ('. Featur ed in ;hi _' low aerial v teware the S -l(" Te.st Staud (l eft) holdi _zg a booster, attd

the f:-1 Engine T est Stand .

•, ' ir t_,,_ ,:_-F-_¢_-U__ff_d_" )!.. _.._

"_ai _.w , . ,_ o

On Oct _ber 15 , 1963. MSFC h eh/ a sp ecia l program to c eh'br ate the/ifth ann iversar3 o]"NASA. Director W ernher yon Braun address ed (i'nter oJfic iaL_and employ ees in tt ze

ceremony outside building 4200 .

65



1963

•-.:IJliiii._ :iJlll_SImII ' ' "i ] i':_i,"

a . Barrel assembly I

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d. Thrust structure _ ="'

f. Lox and Fuel tanksready for cluster ing

e. Spider Beam

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g. Installation of center lox tank h . Ciu_tering 70 -inch lox tanks

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i Cluster ing 70 -inch fuel tanks j . Final as sembly

Fabrication a nd assembly of S -1-8 at Michoud

66

,1'



i

('onstru etion at L _um'h ('_mq;h'v 39o ?



Dredging at Mississippi Test Facility

Second stage for SA -6 flight Spider beam mockup for SaturnIB's First , S-IB, Stagebeing placed in SA CTO stand for

acceptance testing

68



1963

Mating bulkhead to Y -ring

69



196 3

GEORC _C MN_SWU.LSPACEF U(a tT CENTER

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MSFC organization chart

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lntertank for S -IC-T

70

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1963

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MSFC Headquarters Area - Thir acrial view photograph in October 1963 shows the MSFCoffice complex . When completed t h< complex would comprise t hree multistory buildings .Building 4200, the Central Laboratory and Of fice Building, is at left , and Building 4201,

the Eng;neering and Ad ministra _,on Building , was under construction at right . A thirdstructure , the Project Engi neering Building . Building 4202, wo uld be behind Build ing 4200 .

71



I963

a. S-II aft interstage b . S-II forward interstage c . S-II bulkhead fabricationmockup mockup bu ilding at Seal Beach

f Gore forming

e. Bulkhead fabrication facil ity at E! Toroarea a t Seal Beach

d. S-II structural testtower at Seal Beach

• t _t ' "

'f i"lg. S-II skate bulkhead h . Explosive for ming

welders at Seal Beach d ie at El Toro

S-If stage activities

Mtchoud mec _an ic drilling holes in the first $4C lower thrust rin _

72

=

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1963

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a. Assembly of S-IC test _. _, "

b. WeMing S-IC bulkhead

Saturn I/ booster test stage components

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MSFC F- I engine l _ring test

73



1963

i...... 'a . Instrument unit _ ,.._..;

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d. Payload adapter f . Payloade. Hoisting payload

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g. SA-5 at Launch Complex 37B

' Erection of SA-5 at Cape CanaveralI

i 74



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c. Batth'ship test stand

S-II test stand cotzstrttctiotz at Sattta Su sana

75

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1963

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S-IVB liquid hydrogen test tank, MSFC

76



J ANUARY - MAY 1964

1964

As report ed January 20, th e MSFC Space Orientation Cen ter was drawing almos t 100 000visitors a year according to records k ept by th e Space Orientati on Cente r(SOC) curator ,Paul H. Satterfield. SOC visitors accounted for a bout hal f of the annual visitors to MS FC.

On January 29 NASA launched the fifth Saturn I , SA-5. The li quid hydrogen -fueledsecond stage, flight tested for the first time, function ed perfectly. First-stage engines shutoff as planned, 147 se conds afte r lift-off. The se cond s tage separated, ignit ed, burned for8 minutes, and with the attached in strument unit and sand- filled nosecon e attained o r bitas an earth sate llite. Time from lift-off until orbit was 10.32 minut es. The almost 19-tonsatellite was the heavi est ever or bited [1361.

NASA ann ounced in Janu_ y that constructi on budg ets for Saturn IB and S aturn Vfacilities at Michoud and the n earby Mississippi Test Operations would b e $6 534 000 and

$61 991 000 , respectiv ely, for FY 65 [1371.

Mrs. L yndon B. Johnson mad e a l-clay visit to MSFC on Mar ch 24. A ccompan ied byNASA Administrator Jam es E. We bb and oth er officials, Mrs. Johnson toured M SFC,viewed two static firi ngs, and made three sp eeches [ 138].

On April 24 th e first indust ry -produced Saturn I booster arrived at MSFC from Mi choud.TLe Chrysler-bu ilt S-I-8 stage went directly to M SFC's static test s tand [13 91.

Building 4201, the se cond of thre e buildings in the MS FC Central La boratory andEngineering complex, was compl eted in Ap ri l. Approximately 650 Indust ri al Oper ationspersonn el began moving into thi s six-story Engine ering and Administration Building[1401.

Early in April MSFC negotiated with Radio Corporation of America (RCA) for 19ground computer systems to be used in checkout, static test, and launching of Saturn IBand Saturn V vehicl es. Cost of these systems and seveq ordered during 1963 would totalmore than $47 million. They would be used at Michoud, Mississippi Test Operations, andCape Kennedy Launch Complexes 34, 3 '7 , and 39. Also in April NASA completedinstrument unit arrangements for Saturn IB and Saturn V. IBM became lead contractorfor work which, toge ther with previous irtstrument unit assignments to IBM, wasexpected to cost $175 million over a S-year period. NASA deleg ated management of thiswork to MSFC [141].

The sixth Saturn 1 flight occurred on May 28. The SA-6 flight was successful, as all

preceding flights had been. Th

e vehicle's guidance system, active in thl.s flight for the firsttime, corrected a deviation from the planned trajectory caused by premature shutdown ofone of the engines. The payload, 37 300 pounds and slightly lighter than that of therecord SA-5 load, included a boilerplate Apollo spacecraf t which reentered theatmosphere and disintegrated as expected after 3.3 days and 50 orbits of the earth[1421.

77



1964

a

tt " i ' •The cast of the Space !s So Startling s how visited MSFC . Shown here in the Space

Orientation Center where they saw many of the compone n,'s used in the pr obes int o space .

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7

Fifth Saturn I Flight Sat urn 1 second stage separation



MAY - AUGUST 1964

MSFC announced in Ma y th,ti il had leased office space in Iiuntsvdle's new West C lintonStreet buildin g for some 280 of its personnel currently hot_sed in the Twickenham Hotelbuilding. MSF C 's lease fo r the Twickenham w ould expire June 30. MSF C would occup y

some 35 350 square feet of net usable floor area in the top tbur floors of the e!gJitstoried Clinton Street building 11431.

As a further indication of an expanding MSFC, the MSF C Personnel Office announced inmid-June that it ha d hired 1 40 new employees in the first 2 weeks of June [ 144].

The total number of contractor and civil service personnel working a t the MSFC MichoudOperations passed the 10000 mark early in J,me of 1964. There was a total of 10 101persons working at the Michoud plant for the following organizations: Boeing Co rapany,5868; Chrysler Corporation, 1995; Mason-Rust, 818; NASA_ 281; Rocketdyne, 17; a ndTelecomputing Compan y Services, 124 11451.

Automati c Retailers of America (ARA) assumed operation of MSFC cafe terias on June29. The firm succeeded the Southern Cafeteria Company as the MSFC concessi onaire11461.

NASA's middle-sized Satum, Saturn IB, progressed during June to be ginning ofmanufacture of the first flight booster. By mid-June North AmericanAvla tion-Rocket dyne had delivere d the first four u prated 200000-pound- thrust, H-Iengines to Michot. fer the Saturn IB booster [147].

The first of two test stands for the Saturn V second stage (S-II) was completed by NorthAmerican Aviation at its Santa Susana Field Laboratory i n July. On July 11 Douglasdelivered its first Saturn V third stage test hardware to Huntsville. Flown from LongBeach, California, this S-IVB stage forward skirt would co nnect the top of that stage tothe vehicle instrument unit [1481. On July 13 Army's Corps of Engineers of Mobile,Alabama, acting as NASA's agent for Mississippi Test Operations construction, awarded acontract w orth mort . than $17 million for construction of the first test position on thegiant S-IC dual t est stand [149].

By mid-Jtdy Chr ysler at Michoud had clustered all tanks for the first Saturn IB booster,S-IB-i, and by the end of the mo nth installed all eight uprated H-I engines 11501.Chrysler worked on the second booster (S-IB-2) components and began the third booster•Chrysler pers onnel also bega a converting the Saturn I dynamic test booster to a SaturnIV dynamic test stage. After d ynamic tests, tlais st age woul d be used to check outKennedy Spac e Center Saturn IB launch facilities. This modifie d stage was designatedS-IB-D/F [ 151 l.

During Au[ust the Fairchild Hill er Corporation continued work on meteoroid detectionsatellites to 9e orbite d by the last three Sa turn I veh icles. E ach satell ite, soon a ftersecond stag e, separation a ad orbit, would extend its wings to a span of 96 feet. Duringthe month NASA named the satellites Pegas us after the winged horse of ancientmythology. Problem s with thei r development threatene d the sche du le of the l ast threeSaturn I launclles [ 152 , 1531.

79



1964

//!- , 4F • " •

Saturn I lox tank which would be modified for Saturn 1B

80

.¢I_



SEPTEMB ER - NOVEMBER 1964

NASA launched its seventh Sa turn I from Cape .',ennedy on S eptemb er 18. Tile two-stagegA-7 rocket olaced appr oximately 37 0 00 pounds uf paylt md into an orbit similar to r_e

interim orbit for future three-man Apollo lunar missions (145-mile apogee, l l_-n llcperigee). Boilerplate Apollo spacecraft command and service modules, il-' _ent unit.and the spent S-IV stage comprised the satellite. All malor test objectives were met: finaldevelopment testing of Saturn 1 pr opulsio,1 , structural , guidance , and flight controlsystems : development test ing of Apeqo spacecraft st ructure and design; demonstration ofphysical compatibility of launch whicle _nd spacecraft; and test-jettisoniv .g of spacecraftlaunch escape system. Cameras ejected after the flight were abandoned because ofHurricane Gladys, but some were later unexpectedly recovered. After this flight Saturn Iwas dc,:lared opera tional, achie ving i" ogoal three vehicles ea r ly 1154. 1551.

Major constructioJ] ended on the Saturn V Dynamic Test Facdity on September 30 atMSFC [1561.

On Oct ( _'z, 6 _';FC concluded 3 V2 y ears o f Saturn I fi_st stage static tes ting with a tes tof the f,.... boost er. The 156-sec ond test indicated that the S-I-10, manufactured byChrysler at l_,ichoud, was sat"ff actory [ 157, 158].

Mr. and Mrs. R obert B. Y 'our,g departed Huntsville on October 23. I v an unusualapproach to MSFC c ontractor management , Young had been director of IndustrialOperations a t MSFC for the past year. He was vice-president and g eneral man ,-ger ofAerojet General Corporation's Sacramento Plant befo re joining MSFC. While at MSFC hedirected "hat portion of the Center's work caz-ied out by prime contractors in industr3 ,11591.

As;.ronaut M. Scott Carpenter and MSFC Director W_-mher von Braun spoke toemployees at a special awards ceremony in front of Buildinf , ,1200 on October 28 [1601.

Nasa Administrator James E. Webb visited Huntsville and ? a/SFCon October 29 to discussthe role of the Center in future NAS A programs [161].

A surprising recovery of films from the seventh Saturn I flight look place in November.Almost 2 m onths after the flight, two barnacle-encru sted capsules, each containing 100feet of color motion-picture film in good condition, were found, one on a beach of anisland in the Bahamas, the other in San Salvador in Central America. Hurricane weatherhad thwurted recovery efforts after the flight [162].

NASA provi ded for construction of Pa d B at NASA's S at urn V Complex 39 , Merrittlsl_" . ., Florida, by awardin g in November at. a lmost $20 million fir._ fixed-price co_,tract[165-,.55].

81

d \_, p v



A_- o , " °

MSFC Director W prl,her yon Braun present _ a saf ety hard hat to Mrs . Lyndon B. Johnson .wi]e 9f the President . durtttg / ,er visit to t/t _ Center o n Mar:a 1 24. 1964 . Dr . yon Braunwe_' rs a Texas La; g iren him by :he President in a visit t t the LBJ Ranch . This picturewas made .n th_ 5_turn V mt_ckup area prior to stotic f .rings of the S -I engine and the

S-! stage .

82



S-IVB dynamics test stage MS FC static test sta nd forSaturn V booster

S-I-8, 17rst industry-pro duced Saturn booster , being unloaded from barge at MSFC

, :.,.,s,_c ,,m-_,-_' .','_" -_ ':.,, -. %_".. '-_-. _ ',.. ,

MSFC Headquarters Com plex The two laboratory and office buildings completed areshown in this Spring "964 photo looking nort heast at MSFC . Building a 4200 , left, and

4201 would be joined by Building 4202 which would occup y the space between the twostructures in this picture . Work on Building 4202 began in Ma y 1964 .

83

,1



1964

.-_ ...s:_l_....-_. ........

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Mockup of instrument unit for Saturn IB and Saturn V

84

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1964

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Lox tank assembly for S -IVB stage , u_per _tage for Sat urn IB and Y

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First Saturr , V second stage , Saturn V booster full -scale$41 , fligt_t hardware mockup at Micho ud

Saturn IB and Saturn V prcgress at time of sixth Saturn I flight



1964

i

1 % _ Q • " > ,

-

Malor port ions of the Saturn V ground test complex are shown in this June 1964 aerialview cf :,'_¢West Test Area at MSFC . Left center is the SIC static Test Stand • The F -1Engin z S;and is at right . The high -pressure water system for the stands is in foreground ,

and the Blockhouse is at center of picture .

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The Engineering a _d ldmiistration Building at Michoud Operations was near structuralcompletion in thi s summer 1964 picture . _Vhen compleled later in the year, the three -story building wouM accommodate about 5000 contractor and govern n;ent per ,_onnel .

87

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1964

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• Fuel and Iox tanks bein g built in Hunt sville _."_ for the Saturn V j _st stage, S -IC _:..

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: Structural test stage t hrust unit at Seal Beach

for the Saturn V s econd stage, S-I! S-IB spider beamFabr ica tion of Saturn V

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_ ..- ' [ '..... '"_ S -_Bal le c tio n

Saturn IB nonfilghtinstrument unit

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H-I engine, upra ted forSaturn I B booster

Last Saturn I booste rgroun d test

., 88 ..

XXX


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F-I furnace brazing operation FI engine assembly

J-2 engine assembly

Saturn engine manufacturing by Rock _tdyne at Canoga Park

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Guidance and control systems test facility in Building 4487 at MSFC92

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1964

; ............................................DtTECTO,PAm

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S-IV STAGE

fabricatio l; urea

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Two of three Pegasus satellites ]or last Saturn I fhghts : ,_J ihoused in _'ide ada , qed service modules ,

Recovered cameras

S-IB-2 S-IB-I S'IB-D /F S-I "_ '_ 'J_

('hrvsh'r Saturn IB bo _ster wo ,'k .

Pegasu s B. fohh'd ,a t h']t . ml

Pega.'_ us prototype in spacecraftt,'ztt,gration area of l;atrchihl

llilh'r ('ompanv Ilagc ,'stou n, MD

93

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1964

Laboratory and ...-.,,..... __ ,.;4J R

engineer ing bzdldin 8 Test stand for se-'ond Test stand for firstSaturn V stage , S-11 Saturn V stage , S-IC

Mississippi Test Operations

94



!

95

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1964

Buildup of Saturn V se (ond stage , nonflight vers ion for tests

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Internal ribs orf irst Boeing -built Saturn Vfin, assembled and ready foratta chment of skins

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1974027133-0



97

s'



JANUARY - MARCH 1965

1965

MSFC completed n egotiations w ith Douglas on Jan lLary 28 for th e re maining eight

S-IVB /IB s tages and a set of ground s uppo rt equipme nt. Another Sa turn IB milestone onthis date occurred when KSC a warded R.E. Clar son , Inc ., a $2 179 00 contract for P haseil modification of t he Launc h Complex 34 servi ce structur e to support Satu rn IBlaunches [ ! 66].

MSFC on February I completed compon_.nt assembly of the instrument unit,S-IU-20OD /50OD, for the Saturn IB and Sat urn V d ynamic tests. NASA began Februarywith several Saturn milest ones. On Febr uary 19 the space agenc y amended Chrysler 'sS-I/S4B contract (NAS8-4016) to include prelaunch checkout support, an amendmen tthat add ed about $34 642 878 to the contract cos t [167]. Also in the Saturn program ,effective this date, MSFC announc ed the following major revisions in the S -II stagepr ogr am: cancellation of the dynamic test stage, S -II-D; substitution of the structural test

stage, S -II- S, as a d ynamic stage; transfer of all -systems test stage, S -II-T, from SantaSugana to Mississippi Test Opera tions; assignment of the facilities checkout stage , S-II-F,directly to KSC; and scheduling of an end to the Electro -Mechanical Mockup testpr ogram [168]

On February 5 workmen at Seal Beach completed the S -II-S stage, first ground test s tagein the Saturn S -II stage prog r am [169 ].

Douglas compl eted final assembl y of the S -IVB facilities checkout stage, S -IVB-500F, onFebruar y 12 and turned th e stage over to NASA at Seal Beach, Calilbrnia. Workmen thenloaded it aboard the NASA barge Orion for transportation to the Sacramen to TestFacilities [ 170].

On Feb ruary 16 NASA launch ed from KSC the Saturn I SA -9 vehicle. It p erformedexcellently during the flight and plac ed the Apoll o boilerplate spac ecraft, BP -16, and thefirst Pegasus sat ellite into s eparate orbits. Th e Pegasus A satel iite deplo yed its "wings" toa span of 96 fe et and exposed 2300 squar e feet of instrum ented surface to gath ermeteoroid data, sort the information, and transmit i t to earth receiving s tations. NASAlaunch ed SA-9 instead of SA -8 on this date b ecause SA -9's S-! stage, built in house, h adprogressed through manufacture and testing more rapidly than had S -I-8 [171, 172].

On Febr uary 28 the first industry -produced Saturn I fir st stage, S -I-8, arrived at KSCfrom Michoud [173].

During F ebruary NASA m odified the H-l engine research and development con tract to

include uprating the H -l from 188000 pounds thru st (188K) to 200K for Sat urn IBapplica tion . NASA approved modific ations to the Rocketdyn e H- I engin e produ ctioncontract converting it from cost-plus-fix ed-fee (CP _F) to cost-plu s-incentiv e-fee (CPIF)[174] .

NASA on M arch 31 approved a ward of t he Satu rn IB /V instrument unit contract to IBM .This contract (NAS8-1400) was t he fir st major incentiv e contract to be negotiat ed in t heSat urn IB pro gram [175].

P RECEDING PAGE BLANK NOT FILM ED 99



!

t

1965

- gi:lPegas us with solar panels "

fully extended _

.,'__ S-II-I thrust structureabrication at T tclsa-;,.,, .'¢ , j,

mb'_..,.

SA-9 launc h at Kennedy S -IC-T

en route fromSpace Ce' :ter ME lab to test stand

Assembly of S-IU-2OOD/5OODfor the Saturn IB and

Saturn V

..... Saturn IB/Centaur ConfigurationErection of S4C -T in

test stand at MSFC

I00



MARC H - AUGUS T 1965

In March N ASA deline ated specific managenlent r oles for the Saturn IB /Centam Systemto MSFC aad Lewis Research Center. MSFC received project nlanagement for the SaturnIB/Centaur System and Lewis management of the Centaur System [I 761.

By March M..qFCprogram analysts and developers were beginning to use the terms "spentstage" and "wet workshop" in reference to the possibility of emptying fuel from aSaturn S-IVB stage in space and then using the stage as a laboratory [177].

On April 1 in the IB program NASA authorized Rockctdyne to increase the 200K H-Iengine to 205K to support Saturn IB application to even larger missions [178].

The first single-engine S- IC-T firing occurr ed aL MSFC on April 9. On April 16 Marshallpersonnel successfully test fired all five of the S-IC-I" stages 's F-I engines. This firstS-IC-T five-en r_,ine test occurred 2 months ahead of schedule and lasted 6.5 seconds[179].

MSFC announced on April 30 that Ashburn and Gray had received a $1 656 867 contractto build 7 miles of road for MSFC, inclt, ding one road to connect Martin and Rideoucroads. The roads would route traffic around the eastern boundary ")f MSFC [ 180].

On May 10 Douglas delivered the 1 0th and last Saturn ! S-IV stage (S-IV-10) to KSCaboard the Pregnant Guppy aircraft. A week later, on May 17 , MSFC submitted theprocureme t plan for nine additional Satu rn V S-IVB stages to the NASA Office ofManned Space Flight (OMSF) for approval I1811-

Fin',d period of countdown for the SA-8 launch started on the afternoon of May 24 and ,except for a scheduled 35-minute hold , continued uninterrupted to lift-off whichoccurred the next day. SA-8 the ninth successful Saturn flight, placed in orbit PegasusB [1821.

Members of the Alabama legislature, Governor George Wallace, and some 50 newspapereditors witnessed for the first time a test firing of the Saturn V launch vehicle boosterduring a l-day visit to Huntsv ille on June 8 [ 183].

The KSC launch crew successfully performed the z ountdown demonstration test forSA-10 on July 27. Final phase of countdown for the SA-10 launch was under way at9:25 p.m. EST on July 29 and continued to lift-off without any technical holds. On July30 SA-10, in the final flight test of the Saturn 1 program, performed excellently. Thelaunch vehicle in_rted its dual payload of Pegasus C and BP-9 into an orbital trajectory.This SA-10 flight concluded NASA's Saturn I program [1841.

In mid-July severa l hundre d emp loyees began moving into Building 4202 , the thtrdbuilding to be completed in the MSFC headquarters complex. Industrial Operationsemployees were the first workers to make the move [1851.

On August 2 MSFC personnel conducted the first successful ignition test of the MSFCS-IVB battleship. It lasted for 2.1 seconds. This first firing of the MSFC S-IVB battleshipcompleted activatiot_ of the J-2 /S-IVB test stand at MSFC [186, 1871,

101



Sat_trn stages in r _mq, to MSI"(" by barge

I

m_

I%mt Barr mv, c'arri c'r fi_r S-I 1"/_-5001: stage

102



AUGUST - OC TOBER 19 65

The first full-duration run of S-I C-T oc curred at MSFC on A ugust 5. The firing la sted143.6 second_ [188, 189l.

On August 6 Dr . Georg e E. Muell er , Associa te Admini strator for Man ned Spac e Flig ht,NASA H eadquart ers , anno unced t he esta blishment at tt ead quart er s of an A polloApplications Program Offic e. Effective with dlis announcement, the Apollo Ap plicationsPr ogram came into b eing , replacing t he old Apollo Extension Syst ems progra m [190].

In an August 13 me morandum to MS FC employ ees, Dr . yon Bra un stated : "Wit h thecompletion of t he Satu rn 1 program, with the Satu rn IB progra m well into produ ction ,and with the Saturn V in final de sign and into t he testin g stage, we ar e ent ering anadvanc ed p hase of the spa ce program . While Satur n IB and Sa turn V still r emain as o urprimary and most important jo b, we mu st t ur n atter, tion to t he fiiture role of Mars hall inthe natio r.'s space program , such as t he Saturn IB /Cen taur , Apollo Extension Syst ems ,

and Suppor ting Res earc h. As a conseque nce. _ome skill s and ca pabilities that have beeninval uable in earli er project s will have less valve in t he filtur e rol e of the Mars hallCenter .As 1 anno unced last week, t he Manned S pacecraft C ent er a t Hous ton is ent ering abuild-up for t he operational p hase of the Apollo program, a nd, as a result , 200 MSFCpositio ns are being t ransferred to the Manned Spac e:raf t Cent er. This provide s anopportuni ty for MSFC em ployees to join an organization which will undou btedly have acritical need fo r skills that are less crit ical to the future activi ties at MSF C" [I 91].

Hur ricane Be tsy entered the Michoud area abou t 8 p.m. on Sep tember 9 and lef t severer oof and building damage a t Michoud. I t also w r ,hed the NASA barge Promise upon thelevee, inflicting damage to the barge in the amount of $89 138. Tile NASA bargePalaemon , with the S-IB-3 stage a_ cargo , weathered Hurricane Betsy near Baton Ro uge,

Louisiana, w ithout dama ge duri ng the f irst day of its journe y from Michoud to MSF C inHuntsville [ 1921.

The upper stage testing in the Saturn IB dyna mic test program ended at MSFC onSeptember 11 [193, 1941.

On September 29 the S-II-S /D ruptured and disintegrated during a structural loading testat Seal Beach. The failure occurred at 144 percent of limit load on the aft skirt. Thisfailure necessitated redirection of the S-II program by substitution of the S-ll-T as adynamic test vehicle following static testing at MTF. Mea vwhile. workmen at Seal Beachcompleted manufacture of the S-II-T s tage on September 30 [ 1951.

The S- II-T, fir st "live" launch veh icle stage at MTF, arr ived Oc tober 17 for start of stageall-systems testing. S&ID personnel a t MTF placed S-II-T into Tes t Stand A-2 on Octobe r19 [196, 19 7].

On October 28 Rocketdyne delive r ed to Chrys ler at Michoud the firs t t wo H-i enginesupr ated fr om 200K to 205K. Eigh t of the upra ted engine s would add abou t 40000pounds thrust to the S-IB stage and in,zrease the total thrus t of the sta ge to i 640 000pounds [ 1981.

103

¥



1965

Meteoroid measurement capsule

104

.¢.-; k



l

NOVEMBER 1 965

Tlur ty-mx MSFC emplo yees wulkcd ac r oss a platf orm in fr ont of Building 4200 onNovember 5 and received a variety of awa r ds includ ing a pres idential citation and s ix

inven tion awa r ds, it was pa r t of a local ce r emony to observe th e sevent h anniver sary ofNASA. H igllhght of the event was aa add r ess by Dr . yon B r aun. V isitors includedHuntsville Mayor Glenn H. tlearn and Chairman of the Boar d of Madison CountyComm issionel_. James R. Reco r d [199].

In Nove:nber NASA announced that the J-2 engine contract would be amended to add48 engines. NASA, in addition, asked Rocketdyne to provide 52 additional J-2 enginesfor delivery in 1967 and 1968 I200.201].

105



Static . firing of S-IB-I at MSFC

t , "i_ ?, .

,,,,,=,_ _,

The big doors of the Mississippi Test Facility lock system openin May 1965 sign ifying completion of the MTF canal system .

_ / ./

This aerial photograph made in July 1965 shows admimstrativ ebuildings at Mississippi Test Facility .

106



1965

t,k \

°

** ,IF _ -

L

:,r£=.9

"1_ ,,1¢

, At

I

Statw tcst o f all .live engines of &.turn V booster (S -IC stage)

S-IVB production sequence

107





1965

S-IC s:atic f iringS-H A-2 test st and.

Mississippi Test l:acility

Satur _z SA-I O, duringcountdown demonstrationtest

,' " . " / _ _-_ AI!- ' _ - ' ___

.o ,_

This aerial vi ew shows the ('omph 'ted MSFC headqua;ters complex on Rideout Road .The n_.ne-story str m'ture it z ];>reground is t he C,'ntral Laboratory and Of _i'ce Buildb tg.4200 • The Engineering and Administra Live Bui;ding . 4201, zs right and the Wo /ect

Engi twers Building , 4202 , is h'ft.

j,



!

I

1965

.,, 41 1

---L"

•*': _,/' . _:*. "

L.:.

_*' ,,,

The taltest structure a t __,fSFC ,the Satur n V Dyna mic Test F ac ility, is shownlate in 1965 as it await s interior erection of the Satur n Ii dynamic te_t vehicle .

The facil ity is over 400 feet high .

11" --

/ _,_'" .._

: S-H-T arriving at S -II-A2stand at MTF

-i

S-IB static test in Huntsville

S4VB-20! being hoisted o n _..._ ' liig "q lllnthe Steel Executive _ _ ,i_l_ ,

S-][ .S/D ruptured duringstructural load ing test

Loading S -II-T on A KDPoint Barrow

110



1965

4,,,,Bm_J

Technici ans chec king Rocke tdyne-built J-2 engines on S -II stage

•, ", /.,_

The struct ure in foregr ound is Building 4708 at MSFC where Saturn boosters werechecked out f olh_wing assembly . A t upper hft is another Qualit y Lab building , used for

receipt and inspection _,.fcomponents and s ubassemblies ]rom contraclors . At upperright is a Man ufacturing Engineering Laboratory building .

111



1965

•. -.it

"'_'_ Installatio n of S-II-T in.' .,

MTF test stand A- 3Altitude simulation test facility at

Tullahoma , Tennessee

w_.i ..i. -"_._........ "__

Aftermath o f Hurricane Betsy at Michoud

, , i°

l8

i"-. . . ,-,,'J " _2', , ,,

Building 420 a l MA F, the Stage Test Position Facility , is _hown after Hur ricaneBetsy in September 19 65.

112

d



1965

n

t ,11m =,, A-_

.,_', II_,!1_ . ,,- S -.commo n.lkhea dH-I engine test tank (CBTT)

S-IVB-202 installed inTest Stand Beta 3 at

Sacramento Test Facilit y

• .-" - ; ', ' 2 9 "I ,

":"_'_ '-ill.

NASA barge Pro mise upo n levee alter Hurricane Betsy

113



1965

• "X ,

Damage at Mic houd by Hurricane Betsy

_\_,,.._...__ ...... ,,,n.

__ _. ,.Hurricane Betsy lea ves Pro mise on levee

The MSFC headquarters co mplex ts se en in thi s low aerial view in the Fall of 1965 .14



:965

This aerial p hotograph made in October 1965 s hows a wide view of the West TestArea at MSFC . Principal structures include the S -IC Test Sta nd, F-1 Engine Test

Stand , Dynamic Test Stand , Blockhouse , and High -Pressure Water Facility .

Portions of the Prop ulsion and Vehicle E ngineer ing (P& I/E) Laboratoryarea at MSFC are pictured here in October 19 65. A t left rear is the principaloffice building, Building 4 610. The Load Test Annex is shown in foreground .

115

¢



I .

1965

1 1 6

I



1965

Ma/or compo nents of J -2 engine

OQ

Apollo spacecraft

117



JANUARY - MAR CH 1966

1966

On January 4 MSFC announced th e awar ding of seven new Saturn con tracts, qv e of themto Saturn prim e stage contr actors, for continuation of studies aimed at improving S-IBand Satum V launch v ehicles. North Ameri can, Boeing , and Chrysler each received one ofthe contracts; Douglas rec eived two. The r emaining two of the s even contracts were forcontinuation of engin eering studies relating to a manned reusa ble transport syst em: (1) a9-month $23 7 000 contra ct to Lockh eed Aircr aft Corporation to study possi b ilities ofdeveloping a reusable transport system based on presen tly appro ved launch and spacevehicles and (2) a 6-month $51 000 contract to Martin-Marietta Corporation forcomparison s tudy of launch mo des for reusable launch vehicles. Bo th con tracts would beunder MSFC's direction [2021.

NASA announced on January 7 the award of a $7 837 500 contract to the RadioCorporation of America, Aerospace Systems Division, Van Nuys, California, effectiveDecember 1, 1965, for logistic support of Saturn ground computer checkout systems.Under the 2-year c ontract, managed by MSFC, RCA would pr ovide space parts, logisticmanagement, maintenance support, and report services for the Saturn ground computercheckout systems. On this same date MSFC announced that the Air Force's ArnoldEngineering Development Center (AEDC) near Tullahoma, Tennessee, was being expandedfor test of a third stage (S-IVB battleship) of NASA's Saturn V launch vehicle [203 ,2041.

Removal of the S-IC-T from the static test tower on January 20 at MSFC concluded theS-IC-T planned test program at Huntsville. MSFC moved the boos ter to theManufacturing Engineering building for storage and later conversion to the functionalconfigur a tion of S-I C-4 [2051.

After postponement on three consecutive days because of continuous bad weather, NASAon February 26 launched Saturn vehicle SA-201 from KSC Launch Complex 34. Thevehicle performed throu_out the powered and coast phases of flight. No major systemmalfunctions occurred in this unmanned suborbital Apollo flight. In lifting the spacecraft,SA-201's first stage had generated 1.6 million pounds of thrust. After burning 2 minutesand 26 seconds, propelling the _,pollo to 37 miles altitude, the booster's eight H-1engines, fueled with kerosene .rod lox, shut down and the stage separated from theS-IVB. Four seconds later, a 209 000-pound thrust S-IVB (second) stage engine, burningliquid hydrogen and liquid oxygea, ignited [2061.

NASA signed with the Boeing Company a Mar.:h 4 supplemental agreement converting

the Saturn V first stage (S-IC) contract from a fixed fee to an incentive fee contract. Itwas the first Saturn stage contract to be cenvert_d to an incentive type. At the time ofthis conversion the Boeing contract was valued at $850 114 303 [207].

The Apollo Extension Systems had been proposed as a proglam to utilize Apollo Saturncapabilities and hardware to fly future missions and, thereby, to minimize the initialdevelopmen t cost of new sy stems. Sub sequen tly, the name of the pr oject was changed toApollo Applications. NASA's first "officially released" schedule in the ApolloApplications Program (AAP) was Schedule ML-4, released by NASA on March 23, 1966.

PRECEDING PAG E BLANK NOT FILMED 119

i



1966

CARGO .5-_C,S-II' , .,?, W'_'_ ,"

:-- _-: • _'_ _,r .... ._ , . - . . -

Barge Poseidon used to move Saturn stages S- IC-1 (right)and S -IC-2

(h'ft) in transit at MSFC

_ 9 ,' , ._: ., , , , , . .-. -- , . , .... _ -_ .

S-I I/B facilities atMSFC dock activity S -Ill-.O. nloving to KSC Sacramento Test Facility

120



MARCH - M AY 1966

This schedule called for 26 Saturn IB laun ches and 19 Sa turn V launch es. Involv ed in tile

launches would be /bur Apollo Telescope Mounts (ATM's ). This schedule also includedfive hmar missions and two synchronous orbit miss;ons 12081.

NASA announced on Marcia 24 tha t it would negotiate incentive contracts with twomajor aerospace firms for the procurement of fivc ;_dditional Sahlrn V first stages (S-IC)and 33 F-I rocket engines. N ASA wotfld rlegotiate with the Boeing Company for thestages and with Rocketdyne lbr the F-I engines tbr these stages. The five S-IC stageswould cost in excess of $165 million , These contrac ts were in line with NASA's plan tolaunch 15 Apollo /Saturn V space vehicles by the end of 1970 [2091.

On April 1 NASA translL 'rred project management of its first bydrogcn-fizeled engi ne, theRLI0 , to Lewis Research Center at Cleveland, Ohio. A cluster of six RLIO engines had

powered the Saturn l's S-IV second s tage before the conchlsioq of MSFC's Saturn !program the previous year [ 2 i O].

In an April 4 release NASA announced a challge ira sequence of the S-IB- 2t)2 and theS-IB-203 launches. Uprated S-IB-202 was reschcduled to follow the AS-203 mission. Thepurpose of tile sequence change w a_ to provide additional time for checkout of Apollospacecraft to be flown in the AS- 202 mission. AS-203 was a launch vehicle developmentmission and would not carry an Apollo spacecraft [211].

Nine Astronauts visited MSFC for briefings on the Saturn IB launch vehicle , April 1 0-21,1966. Visiting w ere Vir gil !. Grissom, James A. McDivitt , l)avid R. Sc ott, RussellSchweickart , Edward H. White Ii, Frank Bor man, Walter M. Schirra , Jr. , Roger Chaffee,and Wa_ter Cunningham [ 2121.

MSFC announced on April 21 that N¢SA had awarded $50000. 60-day fixed-pricecontracts to Douglas Aircraft Company, McDonnell Aircraft ('orporation , and GrummanAircraft Engineering Corporation to perform definition and preliminary design studies andto evaluate a plan to make spent Saturn V S-IVB stage hydr ;n tanks habitable formanned space missiens up to 3 0 days in duration. MSF C wou,, , manage the contracts[2131.

On May 6 the first uprated J-2 rocket engine arrived at MSF( ' frona Rocketdync. inupra ting tile J-2 , Rock,_tdyne had increased the thrust to a new capability of 230 000pounds. NAS A schedules c;dled for use of the hi gher thrust J- 2 ira the second stage of theS-|B beginning with vehicle AS-208 and in the second and third stagcs of the Saturn V

beginning with vehicle AS-504 [ 214]. O

On May 19 MSFC announced the following nomenclature changes:

Lunar Excursion Module to be called Lunar Module; the Saturn IB to become

'the Uprated Saturn !.' At first the changes will be noted as 'the UpratedSaturn , the Saturn IB ' g-adqally dropping reference to the Saturn IB as the newname be comes more familiar. This would enable us to contin ue the string ofSaturn I successes. Realistically the Uprated Saturn 1 is what we have anyway:

121



1966

S-I_:T remored from test stand ,it M fFC

" , " " maa. mm' _"

F-I cngine

S-I Vlt stagehydrogen tanks

Apollo Telescope Mount



!

1

_AY - JULT i966

in gen_iai pub lic releases we sh ould begin refer ri ng to Saturn stages simply asthe f irst, sec ond, or third _tages, and, where helpful, t o semi-techn ical press and

in press kits f ollow tile technical n omenclature , i.e., 'tile third stage of theSaturn V (S-IVB),' etc; future releases and announcement should make use ofthe new nomenclature [2 ! 5 I.

The first full-duration firing of the S-II flight stage occurred May 20 at MTF when S-II-Ttest-fired for 354.5 seconds• Lox cutoff sensors initiated cutoff automatically. The firingpassed all major test objectives with the exception of the propellant utilization system.This was the fourth static firing of the S-!I- T. The stage developed ! million pounds ofthrust from its fiv e hydrogen-oxygen-powered J-2 engines [216].

"Rollout" of the SA-500F occurred at KSC May 25. The 500 O00-pound facility testvehicle, 363 f eet long , moved from the Vehicle Assembly B ra iding (VAB ) on its 3000-tondiesel-powered , steel-link crawler transporter to Pad A t o verify launch facili.' ,ies, tram

launch crews , and develop te st checkout procedures [2171.

Twenty astronauts toured MSFC laboratories and test facilities and rec eived briefings onSaturn IB and Saturn V launch vehicl es on May "_5 _7 Among those attending wasJoseph P. Kerwin, a medical doctor slated to fly in the Skylab program as ascientist-astronaut [2181 •

On May 27 NASA announced selection of two aerospace companies for negotiation ofparallel t-year study contracts covering inte_ation of experiments and experimentssupport equipment lor manned Apollo Applications. Each contract was estimated at 1million dollars. The two firms selected were the Lockheed Missiles and Space Companyand the Martin Company 12191.

Because Hurricane Alma approached Kennedy Space Center on June 8, it was necessaryto interrupt file processing and test activities of SA-500F and move th e vehicle back tothe VAB. The hurricane threat passed, and 2 days la ter the veh icle was again back on Pa dA [2201.

On June 27 the establishment of the Saturn /Apollo Applications Program Office at MSFCunder the direction of Leland F. Belew was officially approved by the NASAAdministrat or [2211.

On July 5 the 12th Saturn vehicle, AS-203, flew from KSC Launch Complex 37B.AS-203 preceded AS-2 02 into space to allow more time f or preparati on and check out ofAS-202. After 1 hou ; 53 minutes and 17 seconds of countdown holds, AS-203 lifted off

the pad to begin the second unmanned flight of the uprated Saturn 1. The vehicle'ssecond stage (S-1VB), instrument unit, and nosecone, weighing 58 500 pounds, comprisedthe heaviest U. S. satellite ever placed in orbit. Primary mission of this July 5 flight wasan engineering study of liquid hydrogen fuel behavior during orbit [222, 2231.

NASA Deputy Administrator R obert C. Seamans, Jr., in a July 26 memorandum s tated:"It is a fundamental policy of NASA that pr ojects and programs arc best planned andexecuted when these responsibilities are clearly assigned to a single management group. !

123



1966



L

J ULY - SEPTEMBER 1966

am therefore ass igning to the OMce of Manned Space Flight the full responsibility for

the conduct of Apollo and Apollo Applic'Jtions missions" [224].

N_SA Headquarters unconditionally approved J-2 eng;'ae program contract NAS8-19 onJuly 29. This contract established the provision for pr oduction support effort throughDecct**ber 1968 and for delivery of the 155 J- 2 engines requireo for the Ap ollo program.The contrac" combined what had been two major j_2 contracts 12251.

A meeting of the NASA Manned Space Flight Management Council held at Lake Logan,North Carolina, Aug'_st 13-15 is considered a pioneering milestone in the Skylab Program•At this m eeting NASA delineated " Post Apollo Manned Spacecraft Cente, and Marshal lSpace F ;ht Center Roles and Missions in Manned Space Flight." Relative to MSFC andMSC roles, NASA officials discussed the broad parameters of a "Space Station Concept."

Also outlined were tlae MSFC /MSC roles relative to the Orbital Workshop an? the ApolloTelescope Mount. As part of the agreement reached at the Lake Logan meeting, the rolesa_d missio ns concept was applied to the Apollo Applications Program - specifically, tothe Orbita, Workshop and the Apollo "telescope Mount. By previous agreement MSFCwas responsible for experiment integration on both of these projects• For the OrbitalWorkshop itself it was agreed that the colnbmation c ,f the Apollo Comma vd and ServiceModules and the Airlock Module were MSC's responsibility. The Orbital S-IVB stage wasMSFC's responsibility. Experiment Modules would be either Center's responsir , ility,depending upon whether they were installed in the S-IVU or attached to the AirlockModule [2261.

A lox line leading to the Saturn V launch pad at KSC ruptured on August 19, spillingmore than 800 000 gallons of lox. The incident occurred during the first-stage tankingtest when vacuum created inside the t enk caused a depression in the tank's 2.5-inch-thickdome 12271.

On August 19 NASA selected the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation for negotiations on afixed-price contract to produce an __irlockfor an experiment in which astronauts wouldenter the empty hydrogen tank of a'spent Uprated Saturn I second stage. Estimated co stof the work was 9 million dollars [2281.

Apollo /Saturn vehicle AS-202, the tl:_ -d vehicle to fly in the Uprated Saturn I series, rosefrom Launch Complex 34 at Cape Kennedy on.August 25. AS-202 was the 13th Saturnvehicle in a row to fly successfully through space. This was the second successful flighttest of the Apo!io s pacecraft command and se r¢ice modules before earth orbital mannedmissions. The flight proved the Apollo commant i module ablative heat shield bysubjecting it to extended high heat loads during flight [2291.

NASA announced on August 28 that the August 19 rupture of the 900 000 gallonstainless steel storage tank lb_ the Saturn V booster's Iox would delay the booster's firstflight, scheduled _or the first quarter of 1967, by at least 45 days I230].

MSFC announced on September 7 tha t fear barges carrying 400 000 gallons of vitallyneeded liquid oxygen were enroute to KSC after being dispatched from MTF. Theshipment, together with 40 000 gallons brought into KSC by truck and rail tank ca, s,

125



,

1966

SECONDSIAGE (S-IVB)

FIRSTSTAGES-IB)

Uprated Sat urn I la unch vehicle configuratio n

.- - , . - • " ".T -- :,. :- ..

, _ " _ .,m _ - " ._-._._ _ "_' ._+

S-I lib [acilities at Hunt ington Beach

126



SEM'EMBER - DECEMBE R 1966

would replenish the l iquid oxygen lost oil At tg us! I t) when ,I line ruPtt tred below tile Iox

sto rage tank serv ing Satu rn V'S Launch Complex 39. Schedules called for p ropellantloading te st s to re s ume Septclub c r '0 12311.

MAF was host to approxim:.ltely IS 000 visi tors at its annual NAs A-contra c toropen-hous e eve ilt oil Novenlb er 12 12321.

Te chnicians at MSF(" succe s sfully acc eptauce-fired the S -IC-3 on November 15 Ik_r 121.7seconds mainstage. Th is was tie.' las t plan ned firing of the S-I(' stage at MSF('. Futurefirings would be acc omplished at the B-2 s ta nd a t MTF 1"331.

{Jn Novem ber 17 NASA ,Innoun ccd several A p ollo /Saturn manned space flight schedulechanges because o | launch veh,clc and spacecraft development problenl.,,. The principal

change called for r, ,' scheduling a man;led earth orbital mission, Apollo /Saturn 205, whichwas to have lkfllowed the first manned Apollo flight, AS- 204 12341.

On November 18 NASA approved | :-! engine contract NAS8-18734 CPIF. This contractprovided for 30 F-I engiqes needed in tile Apollo program and continued pr oductionsupport and GSE ti_rough Jtme IgTO. The ,_ F-I rock.rt engines ftlrnished by RocketdyneDivision of North American Aviation would complete the nt ,,'nl_er of engines (106 )required by tb_e 15 scheduled Saturn V vehicles, plus spares. The cost would be about$141 million. The delivery of 30 engines would begin in November 1967 and continuethrough October 1968 1235 I.

Charles W. Me,thews, MSC Gemini Program Manager, was named Director ofSaturn-Apollo Applications in the NASA Headquarters Office of Manned Space Flight,effective November 30 12361.

At MTF on December i North American Aviation conducted a successful 384-second

captive firing of fl_e first fli ght hydrogen-fueled engines, developing a total i milhonpounds of thrust. During file test nt .mber 2 and 4 engine SLAM arms did not drop,resulting in tl_e successful gimb:dling of engines I and 3 only. The test included therecording o f about 800 nlea suremenls of the stage's performance, including propellanttank temperatures, engine temperatures, propel hmt flow rates, and vibrations [2371.

With Schedule ML-SB, issued by NASA on December 5, the cluster concept entered theAAP design, following studies completed a short time earher. The ML-SB schedule calledfor 22 Saturn IB and 15 Saturn V launches. Included in the launuil of the 22 Saturn IB's

would be two Saturn IB's launched approximately a day apart, one Saturn IB mannedand the other one unmanned. Among the Saturn fliglits scheduled in ML -5B would beflights utilizing two Sata m V Worksho ps and four LM /ATM missions. Lunar missionswere also included in this schedule 12381.

On December 17 an estimated 2500 children greeted Santa Claus at tile first annualMarshall At tfletic Re creation-Social Exchange (MARS) Christmas Party for Child r en atMSFC. Each youngster received a sn_: ll gift and enjoyed movies from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00p.m. 12391.

127



1966

• " -o- . !,

S-IVB aboard Super Guppy before shipment



I)ECEr_I BER 196 6

l_ll • " t " it,tS[ _..iiiiiOtili,. :,Ld t,lt ])t'tcitttlct ' 0 ti,c aw;.llti Of ,I $7.2 million con tract modific ation to

Chrysler (.'o rp t_ratitm to bcgin procurcnlcnt of long-le,id-tinlc ilelns lot addition,il Upr:ltctl

S,Iturn first st ages tS-I BL Under this agreement to bc completed by Jun e 3f_ I e 7,Chrysler would i_rocur c lilt" lllat¢l'ials. ¢ OIlll_O llt'lltS. and engineering su pt_or! nccc,,._ ,"-', 'onlaiilt, lin its capability to ,i._._cnl b lcou r I.lllrzitcd S a ltirn I boos ters per year. ('hrysl c ' ,_ascurrently under conlracl Io a ._._ Clilblcnd test I _ of the !.6 illiilioli-potiild first slages atMichoud [ "401.

#



1966

[4 ,¢p_ 1 Saturn V and mobile....._,_:. " launcher on crawler

• i * : emerging from VAB , KSC

J-2 production at RocketdyneAS-203 in flight , showing

shock wave fo rmationaround nose cone

• ._._,__ .....

,_ .. ,,. ..,. . _ .,'_ . ,

S-II facilities at Seal Beach

Buildup of the SA -501vehicle us ing the H7 -1 7

.fit-up .fixture as a spacerto replace the _-II-1 at KSC

130



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S-ll-T stati c firing at MTF

131



1966

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1966

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Acceptance f iring o f the S-IVB-502 at Sac r amento

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Transferof the S -II-1 from the Point Barrow to the PearlRiver at Mlchouden route to MTF from Seal Beach

133

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1966

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1966

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Artist 's concept of integral Space Station

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1966

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Wet Workshop cluster with A TM , CSM, and Lunar Mappingand Survey System Mod ule" docked

136

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1966

S-IC-3 being loaded on barge Poseidon[or sh ipment to MSFC

" S-1U-200S/500S during SIC test stand at MTFfrom KSC structural test . MSFCS-202 rises

on August 25, 1966

t-

S-IC-I sta ge ar rival, KSC

137



1966

" _'_ S-II-F stage being unloaded at MSFC8

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.... ,p

S-IC-3 being erected in the ] !?_°"static test stand at ."_SFC ' "_t_

Cracks in the liquid hydrogen tanks for the S -II-3

Dyna mic vehicle stacked Tin the Satur n V Dynamic _ _Test Tower at MSFC _

rr_d

S-1VB Orbital Worksho o138

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dr" . _

Orbital Workshop MDA mated with CSM[/ t TM129

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J ANUA RY -- FEBRUARY 19t17

1967

Tile first flig ht version of a r ocket stage to undergo captive firings at M TF , the S-II-Istage , left Bay S: L cuis , Mississippi , on January 1 6 enroute to KSC where it wouldbecome a p ar t of the first Apollo /Saturn V flight vehicle, schedu led fo r launc h during t hesecond quarter of i9 67 [241 ].

A Saturn V t hird stage , S-IVB-5 03, exp!oded s hortly befor e it was scheduled t o beignited in a Ja.auary 20 test at file Sacramento Test Facility . The explos ion completelydestroy ed t he 'age at Test Stand Beta II l. Post-ac cident investigation revealed t hat oneof the eight _'r.bient t empe rature helium storage sp heres located on t he engine t hruststructure ex I _oaed because of weld weakness resulting fr om us e of t te wrong weldmateria l [ 242].

Following the loss of the S-I VB-503 stage during testing on January 20, NASA of ficialsamended identification numbers of subsequent S-IVB stages to fill the void. TheS-IVB-51 M became the S-I VB-503N, S-IVB-505 bec ame S-IVB-504N, and S-IVB-506became S-IVBo5OSN. A r_placement stage using an old S-IVB-507 tankage becameS-IVB-506, and S-IVB-507 and subsequent stages retai ned the old identification [243,244]. (The N at tlae end of the stage iden tification s tood for the word "New," adesignation started after an earlier stage ver sion exploded, necessitating the use of asubstitute stage.)

At KSC a flash fire swept through the Apollo I ,pacecraft ma ted to the SA-204 launchvehicle on LC-34. Three astr onauts withi:_ the capsule, Virg il I . Gri ssom, Edward H .White, and Roger B. Chaffee, perished from smoke inhalation. It was the wors t tragedy in

the history of the U. S. space program [245].

Dr. Wernhei- yon Braun and five other MSFC o|'fici ',ds atte nded me morial services onSunday and Monday, January 29 and 30, 1967, in Texas for the three Apollo astronautskilled the pre vious Frida y in a flash fire that had swept their spacecraft. Memorialservices for Roger Chaffee were held at the Webster Presbyterian Church on Sunday andfor Edward White and Virgil Grissom on Monday at the Seabrook Methodist Church, allin Texas. Some mor_tbs earlier one of the three astronauts, Virgil Grissom, had said, "Ifwe die, we want people to accept it. The coliques t of space is worth the risk of it"[2461.

In the first st atement concernin g Apollo flight missions since the AS -204 ac¢l der .t, NASA

Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight , Dr. George E. Mueller, announced onFebruary 3 that NAS A would proceed w ith launching of three unmanned Apo llo flightsscheduled f or 1967: AS-206, AS-501, and AS-502. NASA meanwhile was postponingindefinitel y manned Apollo missions pending the outcome of the Apollo 204 ReviewBoard's in vestigation [2471.

Also on February 3 NASA signed an in centive contract modification with the BoeingCompany for five additional Saturn V first stages. As a result of this modi fication, Boeingwas now under contract to fabricate and assemble 15 of the 7.5 million-pound-thrustboosters, thereb y completin g the S-IC stage requirements for the scheduled launching of

PRECE DINGAGEBLA NKNOTFII 2 I D 141



1967

i

; •

S-IB-7, S-IB-9, S-IB-5. and S -IB-6 in final assembly ar ea. Michoud

,,.gP

t B

Saturn F"third stage ($4/B)

AS-503 third stage (S -IVB) explosion

Michoud, aerial view with S -IVB-505 ang S -IVB-21 iS-I! stage arrival at KSC plant in backgr ound in _,erticai checkout tow er

at Huntington Beach142

/



4

FEBR UARY - APR Il, 1967

15 Saturn V space vehicles in the Ap ollo manned lunar landing program. The $12 0

million supplemental agreement awarded by _ ,:SFC extended the Boeing contract throt,g hJune 1970. This modification increased the total estima!ed value of the Boeing contractto $977 million [2481.

On February 25 work men at MTF completed co nstruction of tile S-I! A-! Test St and,and the Corps of Enginee r s accepted beneficial occupancy with exceptions [249].

On March 2 NASA ann ounced th._t MSFC _ould design and build in h ouse a multipledgcking ad .pter (MDA) f or use in an AA p ayload cluster scheduled for launch in1968-1969. Preliminary designs called f or a 10-fo ot-diamete r , 15-foot-l ong cylinde rsurrounded by five 36-inch-diameter tunnels with d ocking collars and sealing h a tches f ororbital docking [250].

On March 20 NASA scheduled use of the AS-204 booster to launch the first Ap ollo LMon an unm anned flight in the su.mmer of 1967. It was the last booster equipped with fullR&D inst rumentation. Original plans had been to use the AS-206 _ ,_ster. Purpose of thefirst LM mini on would be to obtain dat :,, on ascent and de,_,,,tr propuisi'_n ,._stems ,including a restart; verify LM stru cture; and evaluate stagiqg [251 , 2521.

NASA decided on March 24 to add two s olar arr e,y panels ,,-" it,, Apollo Applicati onsProgram Orbit a l Workshop. They w ould be 180 deg rees apart and run the length of theOWS. Th :, auuii[gn was deemed necess ary becaus e of the increased electri cal powerrequirements resulting from habitation of the Wo r kshop. Until this ch ange inrequirements , the CSM had been conside r ed the primary p ower source for the clusterexcept for the Ap ollo Telescope Motmt which w ould still have its own solar arrays andpower system [253].

On April 19 a J-2 engine set a record with the c omplet ,.'on of 103 tests lasting a total of7,0 094 seconds. This l ength of testing was l onger th an for any other ,,rge rocket en ginepr oduced by the Rocketdyne Divisi on of North American A_Jation , Inc. Thisrecord-br eaking series of tests was c onducted on research and development en ?ine J022-1on test st and Delt a 2A at the Santa Susan a Field L aboratory between December 9, 1966 ,and Apr il 19, 1967, with nn m a jor ha rdware changes. The tot a l run durati on was mo r ethan five times th e design a ted qualification test time, and the number of tests was morethan three times t he numbe r required f or qualification. At the time of this test

completion Rocketdyne h ad deliver ed 109 J-2 pr oduction model engines to MSFC , theCente r responsible f or technical directi on of the en gine development [254].

Of concern to m any MSFC empl oyees was the death of M a j. Get:. Holger N. Toftoy , 64,who d ied April 19 at Wa lter Reed Army Medical C enter, Washington , D. C. , after a longillness [2551

l'hir teen astronauts att ended a Saturn V l aunch vehicle systems and perform ance briefingat MSFC on April 27 and 28, 1967. Am ong the astro nauts attending was Neil Armstr ong,destined t o become the first m an on the moon [256].

143



1967

[ .,,........ .

Overall vi ew of S-1V8 fiwltanl _ relief vah'e undergoing Saturn V first stage (S -IC), Boeing Co .,

test at G eneral Dynamics prime contractor(subcontractor for Douglas)

in San Di ego

Route used to transport the S -11!: stag e from Seal B each comp ,'ex

/ to the Seal Beach dock

i %.Assembiy area , Hunting ton Beach . California . S4VB-50 7

left, S-I VB-506 middle , and S-I _'B-212 right

"-" S-I VB-206 on transporterin VAB, Sacram ento

S-II Seal Beach F acilities, looking east144



APRIL - JUNE ! 967

..... *; -" with McDonnell ......... r"......... ;"'" Apri! "_ "" '_ouglas Aircraft Co, eo, a ..... _ ........ ' A:...... *" _v, v ........became known as McDonnell Douglas Corporation [257, 2581.

Twelve astronauts visited MSFC from May 2 through May 5 and evaluated modificationsproposed for converting tile S-IVB liquid hydregen tank into a space station. Theastlonauts practiced some of the tasks they would perform while orbiting in 10 900 cubicfeet of living and working space. Workmen disassembled the mockup, about 60 feet longand 22 feet in diameter, and the astronauts, dressed in space suits, practiced putting itback together in much the same manner as if they had to do it in space. Such aconverted S-IVB stage would provide space in which the astronauts could live and workfor an initial 28 days in space. Then the astronauts would "store" the workshop in spacetbr reuse later for longer periods. Douglas Aircraft a_mbled the mockup at itsHuntington Beach, California, facility and airlifted it to MSFC aboard the Super Guppyaircraft [2591.

Inclement weather failed to mar the enthusiastic reception given Vice-President Hubert tt.Humphrey during a visit to MSFC on Monday, May 22, 1967. After his talk in front of ashivering audience outside Building 4200, the Vice-President spent several minutes shakinghands with people before he toured MSFC via a motorcade. The Vice-President and hisparty later watched a static firing of an Uprated Saturn I first stage from the EastObservation Bunker. The full-duration test lasted 145.6 seconds [2601.

NASA announced on May 24 that the second stage of the first Saturn V launch vehiclewould be dismantl:d at KSC to check for any hairline cracks. NASA made this decisionafter finding similar cracks in an identical stage of the vehicle at the North AmericanAviation, Seal Beach, California, plant. The space agency did not expect additional checksto delay the _" * Sat'timrs, V fhght - an unmanned mission scheduled for mid-August - by"more than a week or so" [261 ].

On May 24 NASA realigned its Apollo AAP launch schedules as a result of the accidentin early 1967. This new AAP schedule ML-6 calied for 25 Saturn IB and 14 Saturn Vlaunches. Major hardware involved in these launches would be two Workshops flown onSaturn IB vehicles, two Saturn V Workshops, and three ATM's. Also planned were ninelunar missions an d one Mars mission called Voyager. According to this new schedule thefirst launch of a Workshop would be in January 1969 [262].

During May the highlight of the Orbital Workshop design progress was the intensive 3-dayS-IVB Orbital Workshop design review held at MSFC early in May with more than 200engineering and management representatives participating. Organizations represented atthe preliminary design review incb,ded NASA Headquarters, Manned Spacecraft Center,Kennedy Space Center, MSFC, and Douglas Aircraft Company, manufacturer of theS-IVB stage. The review featured an S-IVB mockup built by Douglas and shipped toMSFC. Made of nonflight S-IVB hardware, the mockup was outfitted according to thepreliminary design of the manned Orbital Workshop [263].

NASA changed the charter on June 8 to reflect the change of the name of the MichoudOperations to Michoud Assembly Facility [264].

145..



1967

.¢



JUNE 1 967

The Ce nter announ ced on June 14 that the number or suc cessful F-I znginc tc.qa had

reached the 4000 mark. This 4000th test occurred when an F-I engine at Edwards FieldLaboratory , California, ran 165 seconds at 1 542 000 pounds of thrust. The total of 4000firings included 2035 engine firings a od 1905 thrust chamber injection assembly firings.Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviation, Inc., developed the engine. Enginenumber 103-1 made the 4000th run . almost 7 years after the T;rst F-I firing at Edwards[265].

The first flight model of thesApollo LM arrived at KSC on June 23 aboard the PregnantGuppy aircraft. This was the payload for SA-21 M, then on the pad at LC-37. The lunarmodule would be in KSC's industrial area for about 45 days befoxe installation atop thelaunch vehicle [266].

Officials at NASA's rocket engine test site at Edwards Air Force Base, California , heldbrief ceremonies on June 28 marking the de!ivery of the millionth ton of cryogeni crocket propellants and pressurants. NASA had used tile liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogento test F-I rocket engines during the past 6 years. (The first engine test had been in1961.) Peak testing was in 1965 when as many as 35 300 tons were delivered in a singlemonth [2671.

MSFC announced on June 30 the award by NASA of a $14 811 540fixed-price-incentive-fee c ontract to North American Aviation for 60 additional H-Irocket engines for use on first stages of Uprated Saturn 1 vehicles. This order increasedthe total number of engines purchased to 322. Delivery would continue throughSeptember 1968 [ 2681.

During June special tes ts to determine the best way to recover and reuse the Saturn Vfirst stage (S-IC) were conducted at MSFC. In these tests I /I0 scale models of the S-ICwere dropped from altitudes of as much as 156 feet into a 20-foot-deep water tank tosimulate descent of the stage through the earth 's atmosphere and into the ocean. Purposeof the tests was to study a "soft splash" concept designed to bring back the S-IC withminimal damage. MSFC engineers said a ,"orkable recovery method would save millionsof dollars in future years i269].

Records at the end of June indicated that during the first 6 months of 1967 Rocketdyneconducted 1838 R&D A-I engine tests for a total firing time of 149483 seconds. Thetests were performed at Edwards Field Laboratory and at MSFC's West Area F-I TestStand . Rocketd yne delivered I! F-I production engines to Boeing during the same6-month period: one for the S-IC-7 stage, five for the S-IC-8 stage, three for the S-1C-9stage, and two as S-IC flight stage spares [270].

Records at the end of June also indicated that during the January to June 1967 periodRocketdyne conduc ted 103 J-2 engine R&D tests at San ta Susana Field Labora tory(SSFL) for a total firing time of 18 904.5 seconds; conducted 66 J-2 engine productiontests for a total dura tion of 10443 seconds; and continued J-2 engine environmentaltesting at AED C, including S-IVB-501 verification tes ts proving res tart capability andS-!I-501 verification tests. In this same period NASA accepted 19 J-2 production engines,allocated 17 of these as Government-furnished equipment to NAA for S-il fligh t stages

147



Jr \



.IUNE - AUGI.JS T 1967

:rod one as an S -II spare, and provltled tilt : otiler en gh_e to I )A(" as an S -IVB fh ght stagecngine 1271 I.

MSF(' awarded McDonnell l)ougla,; a $496 024 contrac! on July I to study advancedversions of tile Saturn S-IVB Orbi tal Work.shop. Under terms of this contract, the

contractor would explore concepts for 3 follow-on Workshop for the Upratcd Saturn iprogram and several more soph v, tic:_ted versions of the Saturn V, with initial emphasis onuses of the stage in the Apollo Apphcations prograt;] 12721.

MSFC announced on July 26 that NASA had awarded a $2.275 million contract to theBoeing Company for procurement of long-lead-timc matcrials for two additional Saturn Vflight boosters. The cost-pltts-flxcd-fee contract was the first Saturn V procurement insupport of NASA's Apollo Applications program. Bocing, prime contractor for the 7.5million-pound-thrtlst first sh.lgc (S -I(') of the Saturn V launch vehicle , wa_s manufacturing12 stage.', a _ MAF for th e Apollo manncd lunar cxplorat.on program. Boeing would beginacquiring such items as propellant ducts, liquid oxygen tunnels, and fuel tankcoHiponents for the 16th and 17th stage.',. The contract wottld expire on January I. 196812731.

On July 26 NASA selected M_,rtin Marietta Corporation to negotiate a 27-month,525-million, cost-plus-incentive-award Ice contract for payload integration of cqt, ipmenton Apollo Applications spacecraft. Tasks would be performed at NASA's three mannedspaceflight centers: (I) MSFC work would invclve thc Orbital Workshop and ApolloTelescope Mount (A TM), (2) MSC work, the meteorological and earth rcsourccs payloads,and (3) KSC work, the tcst integration planning and support for launch operations12741.

MSFC and KSC on July 31 signed a formal Memorandum of Agreement concerning "KS("

Use of Selected MSFC Personnel." The agreement laid the grotm d rules for use of MSF( 'pcr:omlel by KSC to (lt support the AS-501 launch scheduled for September 1967 , and(2) to support projects of mutual interest and importance to both Centers which wouldrequire additional specialized personnel for temporary periods of time 12751.

MSFC announced on August 3 the successful completion of a dynamic test program ofthe Apollo /Saturn V, in effect giving "the green light" for ti_e launch of the firstApollo /Saturn V later in the ycar as f ar as dynamics and structures were con, :crncd.Boeing conduct e.d the test program at MSFC trader the dir2ction of MSFC cnginccringpersonnel, the latter ?roviding test criteria and monitoring of effort. Initial dynamic tests

had started with the first stagc of the Saturn V. Subsequent tests included the secondand third stage, instrument unit , and the Apollo spacecraft. MSFC made several minormodifications to the space vehicle as a result of th e dynamic program. l 'hesc testsincluded determination of the bending and vibration characteristics of the completcvehicle. Tests were carried out in ;: 400-foot-high tower in the Cc_tcr's Test Labor_tory1276, 2771.

"Rollout" of AS-501 occurred August 26 at Kennedy Space Center. Represen;.atives fromMSFC and other NASA organizations, and newsmen , were present when a Ituge door ofthe Vehicle Assembly Building was raised to allow passage of this first flight vehicle. The

140



1967

htstallati rm of opticalO'stem in S-IVB space

J-2 injector test ,_ itl Vertical Test Stand O/I f. 'Janta chamber , lltt/l/i _tgtolt BeachSusana t 'Teld I aboralo/ :v



AUGUST - OC TOBER 1 967

rocket and its portable launch pl_,tform and tower , weighing 12.2 million pounds, creptto the launch mound 3.5 miles away at a top speed of less than 0.5 mile an hour.Workmen secured AS-501 over th, : flame trench within approximately 4 hours after ithad reached the launch site. Then on August 28 workmen at KSC placed the9-million-pound mobile service structure around the 363-tbot-tall vehicle, providing workplatforms and other access during the 7 weeks prior to launch date 1278].

O1; September 1 MSFC returned 4 McDonnell Douglas-bailt S-IVB Orbital Workshopmockup to the contractor's Space Systems Center in Huntington Beach, California, tbrincorporation of a number of design changes. Following modification the mockup wouldrepresent the S-IVB stage as a manned space laboratory designed for use in the ApolloApplications Progrr:n [279].

O11 September 18 the NASA procurement officer executed a contract modification

(supplemental agreement 813) for five additional S-II llight stages (S-II-II throughS-I1-15) to become effective on October 3. Authorization and funding to procurelong-lead-time hardware f or these stages had b een given previously , during the firstquarter of 1967. This was a $159 716477 co ntract modification lor the fabrication oftile five Saturn V second stages. Purchase of these five stages completed the S-llrequirements for the 15 Saturn V launch vehicles approved Ibr development in theApollo program. Schedules called for the first of the stages to bc delivered to NASA inFebruary 1969. The total value of the S-11 stage contrac t with North American wasapproximately $1.2 billion [280, 281].

The S-!I-3 stage fired for approximately 65 seconds during its first acceptance test,September 19 [282].

The major S-II stage contractor, North American Aviation, Inc., merged withRockwell-Standard Corporation on September 22 to form the North American Rockwell(NAR) Corporation [2831.

A branch of the Huntsville Post Office opened at MSFC on September 25, 1967 [284].

N 'ISA Administrator James E. Webb announced on October 2 that Deputy Admi',istratorDr. Robert C. Sear nans was resigning to return to private life on January I , 1968 [285].

On October 3 NASA published its Apollo Applications Program schedule ML-7, aschedule that reflected current budgetary restraints. This schedule reflected the reducedApollo Applications Program hmar activity to four missions and Saturn V Workshopactivity calling for only 17 Satuna IB and seven Saturn V launches. During this programof 24 Saturn launches, there would be two Workshops launched on Saturn IB velficles,one Saturn V Workshop, and three ATM's. Laun ch of the first Workshop was scheduledfor March 1970 [2861.

In support of the Saturn V program NASA decided on Oct ober 4 to purchase nineadditional S-IVB stages from the McDonnell Douglas Corporation tor $146. 5 million,fulfilling requir eme1::s for currently approved 15 Saturn V ar:d 12 Uprated Satuql Ilaunch vehicles. I)eiivery would begin in April 1968 and end in May 1970. The purchase

151



,

152



OCTOBER - NOVEMBE R 1967

brought the total S-IVB contract val ,c for both vehicles to $957 182 093 and the totalnumber of stages purcha,ed to 27 [287:.

Also on October 4 NASA revealed that MSFC had used AEDC facilities to investigatepreparation of a spent rocket stat- ,e for human occupancy in space. The investigationinvolved dumping 840 gallons of super-cold liquid _.itrogen (LN) through a " oead" orinactive J-2 rocket e o_-,jne.Conducted at a simulated 100 000-foot altitude, this dumpingexperiment would pave the way for as tronauts to move inside an orbiting stage and usetanks as living quarters for"a space station [2881.

A NASA spokesman announced on October I0 tb zt the planned launch of the SaturnV-Apollo 4 vehicle AS-501 , schec'qled lor October 17, would be postponed until earl} 'November. Trot, Lles with ground support equipmen t had stalled the countdown rehearsal.Once rehearsal was finished , engineers would evaluate results and set the date for the

unmanned launch [28'9].

The countdown rehearsal for Apollo 4 (AS 501 ) ended on October 14. final flightpreparations were to be completed for scheduled launch in about 3 weeks [ 290].

In an October 23, 1967 , letter to all MSFC employees , Dr. Wernher von 13raun statedthat there was a possibility of a reduction in personncl if NASA's FY 1068 budget wascut as proposed by Congress [291].

Maj. Gen. Samuel C. Phillips, Apol'.o Program Director. announced on October 26 thatthe first flight test of Saturn V, designated Apollo 4. would be scheduled no earlier filanNovember 7. "This is a target date," he said. "We are in a very compler , learnin_ processand we are going to take all :he time we need on this first launch." Key objective of theflight planned for November 7 would be evaluation of the Apollo command module heatshield under conditions encouratered on return from the moon missro n. The Apollo 4flight plan would call for Saturn V to place the spacecraft and launch vehicle third stage(S-IVB) into a II 7-mile circular orbit. After completing two orbits, the third stage wouldbe reignited to place spacecraft into orbit with an apogee of 10800 miles. Afterseparation f com the third stage, the service module propulsion system w ould be fired toraise the spacecraft apogee to 11 400 miles [292].

NASA Asso ,'iate Administrator for Manned Space Fligh t. Dr. George Mucllcr, announcedon November 4 a revised Apollo mission schedule that called for six flights in 1968 andqve in 1969 using the "200-series" (Uprated Saturn I) and the "500-series" (Satu, n V)launch vehicles to test and qualify Command, Service, and Lunar Modules (C&SM and

LM). The schedule for 1968 would include: Apollo /Saturn 204 (AS-204), first unmam :dtest of LM in earth orbit; AS-502, second unmanned flight tc'.;t of Saturn V and ApolloC&SM; AS-503, third unmanned test of Saturn V and C&SM; AS-206. sec ond unmanncdflight test of LM in earth orbit; AS-205, first manned Ap ollo flight, a 10-day mission toquahfy C&SM for further manned operations: and AS-504, first mam:ed Apollo flight oqSaturn V to provide experience with r -'th C&SM and LM, including crew transfer fzomC&SM to LM and rendezvous and ( acking. The sJ v_'dule for 17 09 would include fivemanned flights (AS-505 through AS-509) with the first four programmed as lunar mission

153



1967

tmoi3t_ _ .l , inl i I,IINI_F IN ,In PI,INIl I I i I i ,_ . . .... _l , n I I I , ........... :_

' r _" "

,,_, . . retrofit kit to u mbilical quickdisconnect mechanisn l. IBM

facility . Huntsville

Saturn IB second stage; _aturn V third stage (S -IVB).McDonnell Dot ,glas Co .. prime contractor

Seal Beach . S-If

, ] _- fccilities , looking west

F-I test facilities . Edwards AFB

• . ' . f

, "xl_ . MTF. laboratory and: _ \_f _ engineering complex ,

_" " . "_, MTF, meteorology lab looking north

Satur n V flight vehwh,in VAB-KSC

154



NOVEM BER 1967

deve lol, ment ll ights or hmar tn tssJon sitnulat,ons - AS- 509 being that fl ight in which theh,mn" lanthng would b e made 12' 43. 2941.

NASA reached a critical point in the Apollo Program ,_,ith the Apollo 4 flight (AS-501 )on November 9. all "'all-up" laun ch from LC-3'4 at KSC. The flight, termed "perfect'"based on evaluation of llight data. demo nstrated that the space craft, heat shield, andhm.lr rocket met program r"ot, ircmcnts. S-IC stage Iox depletion sensors sig naled S-ICott_board engine cutoff at 150._'_ sccomls aft cr launch. The seColld burn, lasting 300seconds, in.letted the spa, :ecr:fft into an orbit with an apogee of 9301 nautical miles.Spacecraft reentry occurred at 400 000 feet, at a lli_lt path angle of-7.077 degrees withan intern al velocity of 36 537 feet per sec ond. The CM landed t zpright within 9 nauticalmiles of the planned landing point m the Pacific Ocean. 8 hours 37 minutes 8 secondsafter launch. The CM was recovered by divers from the carrier USS Bemtington 2 hours14 minutes after splashdown. Post-latmch examinatit m re_ealed th at the ;ift heat shieldwas hc:_vily charred but that crew- compartment-heat-shield charring was less than

expec ted. The spececr;fft windows were undamaged, but moisture existed between themicrometeoroid and heat shield panels o i the rendezvous window, and the spacecraftcontained approximately 2 quar ts of .',ca water t aken in through the relief valve. Apollo4"s llight was the firs t of two or three mi:;sions designed to qualify Saturn V f or mannedflight, and th e first test of the stru ctural integrity und compatibility of launch vehicle andsp:lcccraft, ileal shield design. S-IVB restart, strtt ct,tral /thermal integrity, compatibility oflaunch ,, ..'hicle and spacecraft, and ground suppor t had been proven [ '_'4 '; 3 '4OI

The blastoff of Satu rn V at KS(" produced one of th e loudest noises in history, naturalor man-made, ac cording to a November 9 a vnounccment by Columbia University'sl.amont Geological Observatory. lo cated in Palisades. New York. Observz,tory physicistDr. Wilhaiu Donn l abeled U.S. and US.S.R. nu clear explosions as tile only loudermanmade sounds, and llle ',883 hdl of 'to Grea t Siberian Meteorite as the only lou derna;ural sound on record 1300i.

Dr. yon Braun announced by let ter to all MSFC personnel on November 9, 1967, anexpected cut of 70 0 peoole in the Center's authorized employment strength. He advisedthat the cu t might become necessary be cause of a redu ction in NASA's FY-1968 budgetto be announced by the Senate Appropriations Commitee. Figured on tl,c basis of 7183permanent Ci,,il Servi ce personnel at MSFC at the st :' rt of 1967, this would be a cut ofapproximately I0 percen t [3011.

By letter and speech on N ovember 15. 1967, Dr. von Braun gave his personalcongratulations to MSFC Civil Servi ce and con*factor employees for their work in makingthe first Satttrn V, Saturn /Apollo _;01. successful in its mission. The MSFC Director

stated, "... th e success of 5 01 ,gives us r enewed hope for meeting th e original g oal oflanding men on the mo on in 1969" 1 3021.

On November 20 NASA named crews for the first two manned Saturn V /Apollo flights.As prime crew for AS-504 (fi1_t mission) , scheduled for 1968, it names James A.McDivitt , commander; David R. Scott, CM pilot; and Russell L. Schweickart, LM pilot.Backup crew would be Charles Conrad , Jr.. commander, Richard F. Gordon , CM pilot;and .Man L. Bean, LM pilot. Prime crew for AS-505 (second missionL scheduled for

155

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NOVEMBER - DECEM BER 1967

1969, would be F rank Borman, conlman der: Mich;_el Collins, CM ,,a_ ..... ,_ _,:,,: .....,a l_., t, dttU

Anders. LM pilot. Backup crew would be Neii A. Armstrong , commander: James A.

Lovell, CM pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin, LM pilo t. A three-astronaut support team wasnan,.ed for each thght crew: for AS-504 - Edgar D. Mitchell, Fred W . Hais e, Jr., andAlfred M. Worden; and for AS-505 - Thomas F. Mattingly 11, Gerald P. Carr, a nd John5. Bull [303].

The S-11-4 stage , more powerful and somewhat lighter than pre vious S-II flight stages,arrived at MTF on November 26 from the NAR Corporation, Seal Beach, California. EachJ-2 engine of this stage had been upra ted to produce 5000 more pou nds of thrust thanhad been developed by pre vious J-2 engines . The lightel weight resulted from. the us : ofthinner propellant ta nk walls and lighter weight s tructures [304, 305].

In a November 29 , 1967, speech to all MSFC employees, Dr. yon Braun told of theofficial administrative d ecisions necessary beczuse of a reduction in NASA's FY 1968budget and 'also because of the changing nature of MSFC as development of Saturnlaunch vehicles near ed completion. He stated that N ASA had directed MSFC to: (I)reduce personnel by 700, to be effective January 13, 1968: (2) reduce travel by 10percent: and (3) reduce "all other administrative costs by 15 percent. Personnel reductionwould include 34 5 wage board and technicians , 120 cleri cal, 145 business andprofessional, and 5 0 engineering posi tions. Dr. yon Braun also s tated that the reduction incivil service pe r sonnel would be accomFanied b y a propor ti3na te reduc tion in suppor tcontractor personnel, effec tive also by Januar y 13, 1968 [306].

Special pe r sonnel no tices we r e delivered to app r oxima tely 1200 MSFC emplo yees onDecember 6, 196 7, informing them of reduc tion-in-fo rce and rea ssignmen t actions madenecessar y by the pers onnel c .ut announced the previo"s week b y Dr . yon Braun. MSFC

was reducing i t_ per sonnel by 700, 630 employees being laid off, wi th att rition and o therpersonnel ac tions accoun ting fo r the re mainder 1307].

Appr oxima te ly I00 r epres entatives of Governmen t and indu stry attended an O r bitalWo rkshop de sign mee ting at MSFC December l 1-1 4 to discuss s tr uctur es, mechanicalsystems, propulsion, ins tr umen tation, communica tions, c rew s tation, and ele ctricalsystems. At t his meet ing membe r s for mula ted plans fo r a 5-day Or bital Wo r kshopmockup re view to be held in late Januar y 1968 with a McDonnell Dougla s Corpora tionmockup con taining the mo st r ecen t design concep ts on display [ 308].

President Lyndon B. Johnson, accompani ed by NASA admini str ator and M r s. James E.Webb, othe r official s from NASA Headqua rter s, MSFC officials, and Louisiana's Governo rJohn J . McKei then, toure d the Michoud Ass embly Facili ty o_,. December I 'L While a tMAF t he Pre siden t spoke to some 2600 spec tator s, stating: "We Ame r icans a re the firstto r eally enter and the first t o und ersta nd the Tw entieth Centu ry. W e will never e vacuatethe frontie rs of space to any ot her N ation. We will be - we must be - the pio nee_ wholead the way to the sta rs" [3091.

NASA A dminist rato r Ja mes E. Webb an d other officials of NASA stopped briefly atMSF C on t heir return to W ashington, D. C., from Michoud. During his stopo ver Webb

157



1967

S-IC flight stage , Huntsville

S-! VB production area , Hunt otgton Beac h

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DECEMBE R 1967

toured the AAP mock area and was briefed by Dr. von Braun and other MSFC executives[3101.

On n .... h_ , "_9 MSFC ........ -_ ....... :+t. ....... : _ +_,,,.g ...... . ,,,s CCSD for an _ .^,_.,,_,o, , ,,..

the S-IB stage contract to cover four additional S-IB flight stages and related services atan estimated cost of $2.5 million. This would bring to 16 the total number of S-IB flightstages to be developed by CCSD for MSFC [311].

NASA announced on December 31 that, in the final 6 months of 1967, Rocketdyneconducted 100 J-2 engine R&D tests accumulating 14 675 seconds firing time at SSFLand also conducted 35 production engine tests having a total firing duration of 4449seconds [312]. During this same time Rocketdyne conducted 122 R&D F-I engine testsat Edwards Field Laboratory (EFL) for an accumulated firing time of 13 254 secondsand at MSFC's West Area Test Stand eight tests that totaled 340 seconds of firing time.Rocketdyn¢ meanwhile conducted 36 production engine tests at EFL totaling 2983seconds firing time and delivered 11 production engines to NASA [313].

MTF, barges - hurricane precautions

Saturn Workshop 1 -g trainer

159

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J ANUARY 1968

! 968

On January 5 NASA exercised tile second of three l-year renewal opt ions with the RangeSystems Division of Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) to provid'_ computer "ervices for the

major contractors orera ting at the NASA-Michoud Assembly Facdity in New Orleans.The new $2 704 349 exlension of LTV's basic cost-plus-award-fee contract was awardedby MSFC fcr Michoud. The contract , to continue in force until January 8 , 1969, wouldincrease the total value of LTV's contract to $7 64! 584. NASA had originally selectedthe Dallas-based firm in December 1965 to proviae computer services at the Michoudinstallation in New Orleans and at its Computer Operations Office iq nearby Slidell ,Louisiana [314].

On January 9 NASA budgetary restraints required an additional cu ;. m AAP launch_ :s.The reduced program called for 12 Saturn IB and 3 Saturn V launches, including oneWorkshop launched on a Saturn IB vehicle; one Saturn V Workshop; and one ATM. Twolunar missions were planned. Launch of the first Workshop would be in April 197013151.

An indication of NASA's varied act wities in the Saturn Program is in the Saturn VWeekly Report for January 10 as follows: AS-502 Flight Vehicle (final package) wasscheduled lor delivery to KSC January 26, 1968; also for the AS-502 flight the finalLVDC (flight program tapes) and SLCC tground tapes_ were scheduled for delivery toKSC by February 5, 1968. Status of the AS-503 Flight Vehicle was as follows: all threestages were in the VAB-KSC undergoing inspection and checkout; as for the S-IU-503 forAS-503 , adverse weather conditions and mechanical problems with the Super Guppy haddelayed the delivery of the IU on-dock KSC from December 29, 1967 , to January 4 ,1968. Status of the AS ,504 Flight Vehicle was: S-IC-4 Stage was in test cell atBoeing-Michoud undergoing modification; the stage was scheduled o:,-dock at KS(" April15, 1968; S-1I-4 Stage |br AS-504 was at test stand at MTF undergoing modificationwork prior to lox /LH: tanking test with captive firing scheduled for Jantaary 2_ , 1968,and then the stage was scheduled on-dock KSC March 31 , 1968; thc S-IVB-504 stage forAS-504 was in the VCL-SACTO and the stage was scheduled for transfer onto Beta I TestStand for deferred post-firing checkout after completion of Korotherm rework , afterwhich the stage was scheduled on-dock KSC March 31 , 1968; the S IU-504 Unit forAS-504 was it. storage at IBM-Huntsville, scheduled on-dock KSC April 15 , 1968. Statusof AS-505 Flight Vehicle was: S-IC-5 Stage was in storage at Boeing-Michoud, scheduledon-dock KSC June 29, 1968; 3-II-5 Stage for AS-505 was undergoing shakedowninspection preparation at NAA /SD-Seal Beach, prior to on-docking MTF F ebruary 9,1968, and then on-docking KSC June 29, 1968; S-IVB-505 Stage for AS-505 was instorage at VCL-SACTO, scheduled for on-dock KSC June 29, 1968; and S-IU-505 Uqitlbr AS-505 was in component assembly at IBM-Huntsville, scheduled on-dock KSC June

29, 1968.

NASA announced on January 11 that it would negotiate with CCSD, New Orleans, forassembly and delivery of four additional S-IB _ .tages at a rate of two per yeal. EarlierNASA had contracted with Chrysler for production _f long-lead-time materi zls, parts , and_components for these stages. Work related to this effort would be performed at New

PRECEDING PAGE BLAIq & NOT FILMED 167





J ANUARY 1968

Orleans under th e direction of MSFC . Chrysler presently was under contract with NASAto l'iai tii_], i_" Saturn iB flight stag es 1316, 317].

On Januau , 11 NAS A began negotiation with McDonnell Douglas. H untington Beach,California. for assembly and delivery of four additional Uprated Saturn I launch vehiclesecond {S-IVB) stages at a rate of two per year. The negotiations were expected t e resultin a contract valued at more than $48 million. Earlier NASA had cor _tracted withDouglas for prod uction of long-lead-time materials, parts, and comp :'.lents for thesestages. Work related to this effort would be performed at Hunti_-_gton Beach underdirection of MSFC [318, 3191.

NASA awarded Rocketdyne Division , North American Rockwell Corporation a contracton January 11 valued at $14 796 400 f6r engineering support services for H-1 engines.The H-I e,_gines would be used to power the first s tage of the Saturn IB launch vehicles.Under this cost-plus-incentive-fee a_eement . Rocketdyne would be responsible for

engineering support se wices for engine __anufactunng, testing, delivery, application,reliability, and flight performance evaluation. The major . ,,.,rtion of the work would be atRocketdyne's Ca,loga Park, Calif orni,, pla_lt. Minor segments would be performed atMAF. where the H-I engines would be installed o.1 th e Saturn IB's first stage, and at theKennedy Space Center's la ,nch complex. "lhe contract would cover the period July 1967tl;rough J'me 1971 [320, 3211.

The Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., issued a January 11, 1968, temporaryre.,tlaining ,_,rder which postponed the effective date ot personnel action in a reduction inforce (RIF) at MSFC. The RIF, announced December 6, 1967, had been scheduled total<e e ffect January 13, 1968 [322]. Copies of the order were distn_ ,uted on January 16to all 1_.$ 7C employees [3 23]. On the _m e day a five-n 'an commit t:e from NASA

H,z.adquarters arrived at MSFC to conler with Cen ter officials on the efect of the order.l.t. Gen. Frank Bogart . Deputy Assoc'.ate Administrator. Office of Manned Space Flight,was head of the visiting group 13241.

On January 16 N ASA awarded a l etter contract to Martin Mari"tta for the payloadintegration effort en the Apollo Applications Program [325].

Also on January 16 MSFC combined the Saturn IB Office and Saturn V Office as aSaturn Program Office under the direction of Lee B. James [326].

NASA announced on .p auary 17 that the Apollo 5 flight, the first test in space of anun,'nanned lunar module, was being rescheduled for no earlier t l'.:m Monday, January 22.Reason for the rescheduiing was that some launch operations being done for the firs ttime req uired more time th an expec ted for comple tion, includ ing the loading ofhypergolic propellants ."board the spa_ zecraft. The new schedule would be depertdent uponthe success of scvera; additional ground tests, including the launch countdowndemonstra tion test, scheduled for c ompletion on Jan uary 19 [3271.

On the same day the Boeing Company made the q_l'al presentation of a study entitled"Saturn V Vehicle With 260-Inch Diameter Solid Motor." The 8-month study investigated

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1968

S-IC stage arrival at KSC

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. • SIC 16x and fuel tanks in assemblyFirst SIC. flight stage - Huntsville building at MSFC

170

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J ANUARY 19 68

tile feasibility of using four 260-inch solid rocket motors /or a strap-on boost assist toincrease Saturn V payload capabiiity {328j.

Also on January i7 a mocl, up of the S-IVB _tage to be used as a :nanned OrbitalWorkshop was flown t e MSFC. The full size model arrived from the West Coast aboardthe giant Stiper Guppy aircraft. The mockup would be used la ter in the month for a crewstation design review. NASA plans called for launt ming the flight Orbital Workshop as thesecond stage of the Saturn IB launch vehicle. Once in space, astronauts would convert thestage's large fuel tank into living and working quarte_; for a 28-day stay. The OrbitalWorkshop nlockup had recently been modified by McDonnell Douglas, manufacturer ofthe Saturn upper stage for MSFC. This was the mockup's second trip to MSFC; theprevious spring engineers had used the model at MSFC in its original configuration lbrdesign studies [329, 330].

The director of the 5th Civil Service Region at Atlanta, Georgia, notified MSFC onJanuary 19, 1968, that he had received a total of 416 appeals from MSFC emplo yeesinvolved in the RIF. The MSFC Manpower Office began contacting all personnel who hadseparated prior to the January I1 injunction to determine whether they wished to havetheir separation orders cancelled [33 ! I.

On January 20 Dr. von Braun invited Dr. Gilruth of MSC to send MSC representatives toa long-life hardware symposium at MSFL. on March 17-19, 1969. Dr. von B_aun statedthat he "would like to encourage strong participation from personnel at MSC who areconcerned with long durati on mi:_sions such as the AAP-2 /4 and future space stations.Such a meeting should benefit both our centers" [332].

The Saturn IB (AS-204) launch vehicle and the hmar module it orbited on January 22performed satisfactorily. This Apollo 5 mission began at 4:48 p.m. CST January 22 when

the Saturn lifted off Launch Complex 37 at Cape Kennedy after ground st,pportequipment caused a delay of 3 hours 50 minutes. The lift-off came at sundown on a dayso clear that both stages were visible to the unaided eye long after stage separation. TheS-IB could be seen falling and the S-IVB going on toward orbit when tracking equipmentindicated that the second stage was almost 90 miles up and 168 miles downrange. TheSaturn hurled the lunar module into space to begin a series o; tests of the LM's ascentand descent propulsion systems, the first such test in the vacuum of space [3331.

The Post Apollo Advisory Committee, authorized by the NASA Administrator to evaluateand make recommendations on post-Apollo space activities, held a meeting at MSFC onJanuary 25. The committee, h eaded by Dr . Floyd Th ompson. Spc ciai Assistant to theAdministrator , held three additional meetings - February 15, 1968, at MSC; March 12 ,

1968, at Headquarters; and March 25 a nd 26, 196 8, at KSC. The report by thiscommittee confirmed the basic objectives of the Apollo Applications Program and playeda deciding role in its later evolution [3341.

NASA announced on January 30 that shipment of the second Apollo spacecraft lunarmodule and fifth Saturn tB rocket to KSC would be postponed pending furtherevaluation of Apollo 5 mission results, initial evaluation of the first lunar module flighton January 22-23 had indicated that a second unmanned flight, launched by the Sa t .urn

171

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172

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J ANUARY - FEBRUARY 1 968

lB, might n ot be required to qualify th_ spacecraft f or flight with men aboard. Furtherdetailed review of flight data and deliberations by a NASA design certification reviewboard in March would determine the final decision. Meanwhile the Lunar Module 2 andthe Saturn IB rocket stages would be maintained reacy for shipment to KSC on 3-and14-day notices, respectively. Refurbishment of LC 37B would proceed for a secondunmanned lunar module flight. The Mission Control Center, Houston, and tracking shipsCuastal Sentry Quebec and Rose Km)t Victor would maintain tile operational capabilityto support another unmanned lunar module flight [3351.

By the end of January an Orbital Workshop engineering mockup simulating the flightvehicle had been readied for an extensive 5-day crew station review February 12-16 atMSFC. During the review several astronauts were scheduled to "walk through" manytasks on the ground that would later be done in orbit under zero gravity conditions.These tasks would include experiment installation and operation. Lighting tests werebeing conducted during the week in the Orbital Workshop mockup by engineers of theMSFC Propulsion and Vehicle Engineering Laboratory. P&VE was the lead laboratory forthe devel opment of the W orkshop [336 ].

Duritl$ January NASA Headquarters affirmed several project name changes. Theintermediate Saturn la unch vehicle formerly called "Uprated Saturn I" was officiallydesignated !B. The ground-outfitted C,rl_ital Workshop, sometimes called the "dryworkshop," would henceforth be known as the Saturn \" Workshop. The Workshop to belaunched by the Saturn IB, formerly referred to as "Orbital Workshop" and "wetworkshop ," would be officially named Saturn I W3rkshop [337 , 3381.

During lanuary NASA and Rocketdyne decided to move the site of H-I engineproduction from Air Force Plant No. 65 at Neosho , Missouri, to Canoga Park , California[3391.

The S-Ii stage for the fifth Apollo /Saturn V mis3ion left Seal Beach, California, onFebruary 2 aboard the USNS Point Barrow enroute to the M TF, where the stage wouldundergo static testing before shipment to KSC. Also on board the ship was an F-I rocketengine. "lhis combination load saved an estimated $6000 in transportation charges. TheF-I would be unloaded for inspection at MAF , where the stage would be transferred to abarge for the remainder of the trip to MTF 1340],

The AS-502 transfer to Pad A of Launch Complex 39 occurred on February 6 at KSC.However, the scheduled transfer of the Mobile Service Structure (MSS) to the pad wasdelayed for 3 da ys because of high winds [3411.

Also on February 6 NASA negotiated an a dditional l-year contract with the Boeing

Company for operation of the Saturn V Development Facility at MSFC. The $5 782 750incentive contract wo uld continue thro vgh September 1968. The original award was madein September 1964. The Saturn V Development Facility , often called the "Saturn Vbreadboard," would electrically simulate the operation of the Sa turn V and i ts groundand electrical support equipment. Each step at the launch site, through lift-off and flightof each stage, could be computer-simu lated at the facility [342].

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1968

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FEBRUARY 1 968

Oil the same day the Senate confirmed the nomination of Dr. Thomas O• Paine as NASADeputy Admivstrator, to succeed Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr. [343].

On February 7 NASA added a $3 226 374 supplemental clause to tile Boeing Company'sSaturn V systems engineering and integration contract . The contract extension would beeflectwe through December 1969. Under this contract Boeing would be responsible forproviding NASA with Saturn V propulsion systems preflight and postfllght performanceanalysis for the first 10 Saturn V launch vehicles. Boeing would study all of thepropulsion system data recorded during the vehicles' test firings and launches for acomplete analysis of Saturn V propulsion system performance. All work would beconducted at Boeing facilities in Huntsville. This extension brought the systemsengineering and integration portion of Boeing's three-part Saturn V contract to a total ofS194 845 024. Meanwhile, under separate agreements, Boeing remained responsible forSaturn V booster production at HAF and for launch support services at KSC [344].

Transfer of the Mobile Service Structure for AS-502 to the pad, delayed on February 6because of high winds , occurred on February 9 [345].

As of February 9 MSFC Civil Service employee strength was 6685, or 299 above the6386 ceiling authorized by NASA Headquarters [346].

]he first full-duration captive rocket firing at MTF in 1968 was successfully completedon Saturday, February 10, ushering in tile busiest year to date for the rocket testingcenter. Space engineers and technicia,ls static-fired the fourth flight version of theApollo /Saturn V second stage (S-II-4) for its full duration of 6 minutes. The hugeliquid-hydrogen -fueled rocket developed an equivalent thrust of more than 1 millionpounds. A North American Rockwell crew conducted the captive firing with the rocketlocked in a 200-foot-tall tower. The captive firing was one of a series of special checkoutsthe stage would ,,o through at the Mississippi proving ground before it would be certified

for later flight from KSC in the manned lunar landing program• NASA engi!_eers andscientists would carefully evaluate approximately 1000 separate measurements taken fromthe rocket before a flight worthiness certificate would be issued. MTF was scheduled totest-fire, check, and flight-certify eight more Apollo /Saturn space vehicles in 1968 - fourof the S-I! second stages and four S-IC first stage rockets [347].

During February 12-14 a group of 12 scientist-astronauts , appointed to the space program6 months earlier, visited MSFC. Purpose of the visit was to acquaint the new group withMarshall Center work, including development of the Saturn vehicles. They also saw anengineering mockup of an Orbital Workshop - a vehicle that would some day houseastronauts for extended stays in space. The ast r onauts who visited the Cente r , all of themwith doctoral degrees, were Robert A. Parker, Brian T. O'Leary, and Karl G. Henize,astronomers; John A. Llewellyn, chemist; Joseph P. A]en, Philip K. Chapman, and

Anthony W. England, physicists; William B. Lenoir, engineer; F. Story Musgrave,physiologist; and William E. 'thornton and Donald L. Hoimquest, medical doctors [3481.

The Office of Manned Spa( .e Fligilt at NASA Headquarters issued a teletype on February20 authorizing MSFC to proceed with procurement of long-lead items for S-IC-16 andS-IC-17, the boosters for Saturn V vehicles beyond the approved 15 vehicle productionprogram [3491.

i"/5

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S-II-4 removal from vertical checkout building at MTF

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Simulated wei ghtlessness acth ,ity in S-IVB Orbital S -H fright stage erection at MrFWorkshop mockup at Huntington Beach

176



FEBRUA RY - MAR CH 1968

Congressman George Millei of California, Chairman of the House Committee on Scienceand Astronautics, headed a Congressional group visiting MSFC on February 22 , 1968.Tile group received a briefing on tile Apollo Applications Program and presented to the

Ccnt_r ;_portrait of Dr. Wernher yon Braun painted by Victo : Lailier [350].

By the middle of Febn_a_ ' '''_q.... ,_, h ad announced that the first Americans on the moonwould k,nd in one of l 'ivc 3-by-5- -mile landing areas selected by NASA's Apollo SiteSelection Board . Each of the areas would satisfy criteria in which astronaut safety wasthe paramount consideration. The first two sites selected by NASA were in the Sea ofTranquility . the third in the Central Bay, and the fourth and fifth were in the Ocean ofStorms. The sites were selected from eight under study from a choice of 30 original sites.Selection of the five permitted scientists and engineers to concentrate on fewer areas inpro.paring data on the specific sites. The site selection board studied material obtained byunmanned Lunar Orbiter_ and _oft-landing Surveyor spacecraft. Lunar Orbiter returnedhigi_ resolution photographs of all the sites , and Surveyor provided close-up photos and

surlhce data of the general areas in which they were located. The criteria considered bythe board included smoothness of the area, desirability in terms of amount of propellantnecessary for the lunar module propulsion systems , lighting as it concerned the bestvisibility by astronauts, and the ge r, eral slop,_of the landing area [351].

Nea_ the end of Februaiy nfinor problems necessitated the rescheduling of Saturn flights.Discovery by MSF C officials of tiny weld flaws in the Saturn V second stage promptedscheduling of a new test series before the flight could be manned. Although none of theflaws was considered serious enough to cause failure , it was decided to conduct cryogenicproof testing on March 18-25 with the Saturn V "fourth flight version." Meanwhiledelays in the normal test and checkout procedures in the Apollo 6 space vehicle beingprepared for launch at KSC resulted in a slippage of the launch date from March 21 to

March 25. Problems encountered, none of which were major, ir,ci eded such items asmodification of the spacecraft service module propulsion tanks, problems with replacingthe inertial measurements unit in the spacecraft guidance and ,:ontrol system, andchanging the eight actuators on the first stage outboard engines and resulting interacti onswith normal test activities. No one item could be exclusively identified as being the :najordelaying factor, but the accumulated effect of the corre ctive actions resulted in a 4-daydelay in the che ckout schedule [352 , 353].

Dr. von Braun commented on March 12: "If AS-502 is successful, there will be po needfor a third unmanned Saturn V flight" [354, 355].

By the middle of March all three static test stands at the Mississippi Test Facility werefilled with Apollo /Saturn V flight stages for the first time. Tw,o of the stands containedsecond stages for the lburth and fifth Apollo /Saturn V rockets. A third was holding the7.5 million pound thrust booster that would lift the sixth Apollo /Saturn V off its KSClaunch pad 1356 , 357].

On March 19 NASA rclea ,_ed ttle findings of an Investigating Board appointed to examineand report on the Jtmc 8 , 1967 , rupture of a tes t '.,tnk at MSFC in Huntsville whichresulted in the deaths of two employees of Brown Engineering Company of Huntsville, aNASA subcontractor. NASA 's release said in essence that the rupture of the test tank wasapparently caused by internal pressure which exceeded the tm,k limits [358].

177

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178

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MARC H - APR IL 196 8

0:1 March 19 and 20 more than 100 engineers and scientists part icipated in a 2 -daySaturn I Workshop design review board meeting at MSF C. Tile engineers discusse d resultsof prc 'vious Workshop reviews including the original engineering design review in May1967, a documentation study in December, and a week-long crew statio n review February12 16 at MSFC. Mceting p,uticipants represented me Manned Space craft Center , KennedySpace Center, NASA Headquarters . and the McDonnell Douglas Corporation ,manufacturer of the Saturn S-IVB stage. A Workshop mockup had been used at MSFCfor earlier design work. Chairman of the design review board was Leland Belew, managerof Marslvall's Saturn /Apollo Applications Office [359].

After a two month's delay caused by the temporary restraining order issued by theFederal District Court in Washington, MSFC began issuing R1F notices, at a much lowerrate than its December 6 RIF action. That action had involved approximately 1200MSFC employees in reduction-in-force and reassignment roles. The new action involvedless than one-sixth that number [360].

On March 27 test personnel a t MSFC mounted an S T-124M Saturn V guidance platformin the F-I Engine Stand and subjected the test article to a 30-second F-I engine staticfiring. The objective was t o measure the v ibrational and ac oushcal effects of thisexposure on the S T-124M. Similar tests in the F-i Engine Stand had also occurred onMarch 12 and March 19 [361].

NASA decided during the third week in March that a se cond unmanned flight of thelunar module would not be necessary. The first manned LM flight would be made later inthe vear, launched by a Saturn V vehicle. The decision to cancel the repeat flight of anunmanned LM followed a detailed evaluation of the first LM flight, flown January 22atop a Saturn IB launch vehi -le. Data from a comprehensive examhaation of the LM'sstructural and gro_ d test ,esults were also thoroughly analyzed [362, 363].

On March 28 MSFC decided that "it would be in the best interest of the space programto transfer S-IC and S-IB stage p rocurement responstbilities from the Michoud AssemblyFacility to Huntsville [364, 365].

The schedule for launch of the AS-502 vehicle slipped 13 days during March, prima , ¢because of a problem with the A7-64 propellant disconnect. Two days of slippage wereattributed to problems with the S-ll-2 stage [366, 367].

During March workmen completed structural assembly of the 75-foot-diameter NeutralBuoyancy Tank in Huntsville and filled the tank with water. Also completed were therecomp_ession chamber, the diving belt , the airlock system, and the breathing mr system.Installation of instrumentation and cabling was in process [368].

On Apr il I MSFC tr ansferred fr om MAF t o Huntsville the administrat ion of the Chr yslerand Boe ing prime contracts involving the Saturn IB and Saturn V pr ograms , respectively

1369].

The AS-502 (Apollo 6) launch countdown began at LC-39A at KSC on April 3 [370].

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l_" "

..... Installation o/ S -IC-_ in lnstallatz(m of S -II 5 intotest st apzd at MTF A -1 sla tld at M TF

HA'TURN VAC.HIE VEN1EN r

!

Saturn V m high bay area ._ ;_AB at KSC " ,



APRIL 1968

On April 4 NASA successfully launched Apollo 6 from KS C's Complex 39A at 7:00 a.m.EST on a mission to qua lify tile Sa turn V launch vehicle for future manned space flights.Primary objec tives w_:re to demonstrate structural and thermal integrity and compatil'llity

of launch vehicle and _ ,pacecraft: confirm launch loads and dynamic characte ,istics;demonstrate S-II /S-IC _nd S-IVB /S-II stage separations; verify operation of propulsionlincluding S-IVB restart), guidance and control (optimum injechon), and electricalsystems; evaluate performance of Emergency Detection System (EDS) in closed-loopconfiguration; and demons trate mission support facilities and operation" required forlaunch, mission conduct , and CM recovery [371] The launch vehicle second-stageperfoc_:a.lc" was near nominal , but two of the five second stage J-2 engines shu t downprematurei y, causing the remaining second- and third- stage engines to burn longer that ,planned [3?2]. As a result , the spacecraft and third stage entered elliptical parking orbitwith a 223.1 mile t395. i-kilometer) apogee, 107-mile (172.l-kilometer) perigee. When thethird stage failed to re-ignite on command after tw o orbits as planned , NASA switched toan alternate mission , firing the Service Propulsion System (SPS) to p;ace the spacecraftinto tr:,jectory with a 13 823-mile (22 225.4-kilometer) apogee [373]. Since insufficientpropellent remained af ter the extended burn, a second SPS burn was not attempted , andlhe _M reent ered at 22 376 miles per hour , just under the planned 25 O00-m,,ie-per-hourrate. Eze spacecraft splashed down 50 miles off target in the Pacific Ocea ,i 9 hottrs 50minutes after launch and was recovered in good condition by the U.S.S. Okinawa .Preliminary assessment indicated that four of the five objectives were attained , eventhough the launch vehicle performance of the S-IVB restart and guidance control(optimum trajectory) were not fully successful [374].

At the third in a series of m onthly meetings , on April 4, the MSF C Manpower Utilizationand Administration Office staff and administrative officers of MSFC heard a presentationof a summary of fin' ,d RIF actions at the Center. The actions included 57 terminations ,

68 reassignments in the same grade , and 49 changes to lower grade , for a total of 174actions [375].

MSFC annotmced on Aprd 4 that launch damage to LC-39A facilities , subsequent to thelaunch el AS-502 , was less than expected, indicating the effectiveness of modificationssubsequent to the AS-501 launcll. Service arm damage, however , was more extensive thanexperienced in the AS-501 laun ch [3761.

On April 17 MSFC awarded a 9-month, $99 000 contract for habitability studies ofSaturn 1 and Saturn V Work ._,nops. The contract award went to Raymond Loewy /WilliamSnaith, Incorporated [377].

A technical review of Sa:nrn launch vehicles, attended by about 140 scientists, engineers,

and adminis tratols, was nc!4 at MSF C April 20-21. The participants in ;estig:_ tcd thestatus and fli"Lfll tschedtde of Sat urn launch vehicle s [378, 37ol.

eta April 22, 23, and 2 4. Dr. Thomas O. Paine, ncwl y appoin ted Depu ty Admr_is tratorof NASA , vi,:i,_.d MSFC and its subsidiar y "at.it; !tes, MAF and MTF, wi th _, party ofNASA lleadquar tels and MS FC oMcials. Dr. Paine toured the facilities, heard briefii_gs onthe ft , nctions and programs of the Center, and wi tnessed a s tatic firing of an S-iB stageI380, 3811.

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1968

Stage at base of S -IC stana at MTF



._,PRi L 1 968

l)uring tile week of April 22 MSFC directed B oeing to delay static firing of S-IC-6 untilmodificati ons could be mcorporateu m r ,., ti_e stage to alleviate, the p ugu Cllt:_-t , ..,_.,,,,.,t.....,:xperlen_ ,.ti m the A3-_02 launch [3821.

On April 23 S-IB-| 2, the last of t he _saturn IB flight boosters, was shipped from MAF totlunts_ille aboard the NASA barge Palaemon .

NASA announced on April 27 that the AS-503 launch vehicle would bc manned and that

the launch would be scheduled for the fall. The manned llight would occur in the fourthquarter of 1°68. Two previous dights of the Saturn V had been unmanned, but on thebasS', of data thus far obtained from the second unmanned flight, on April 4. NASAdc:ided to plan and work toward u manned flight with the tl urd Saturn V vehicle."'ttowever. we will re 'ain "he option of flying arother unmanned mission if furtheraqalysis and gr ound testln_ indicate that it is t."e best course ." said Maj. Gen. Samuel C.Phillip .-,. Apollo program director. 13ctore NASA made its decision , NASA and industryengineers worked virtually around the clo ck to determine the causes, effe cts, and

..,oh,tions of several problems experienced in the April 4 flight. "t-hese included: prematureshutdown of two J-2 engines in the second stage {S-II) of the Saturn V fa ilure of thethird stage J-2 e,'gine to re-ignite in orbit: a longitudinal oscillation, or pogo effect.caused by syncnronous vibration of the five F-I engines in the first stage: and anindication that some material fell away front the area of the spacecraft /lunar moduleadapter. Information developed by the time of the NASA April 27 announcementindicated that the curly shutdown of the two second stage engines began with the failureof a smah fuel line in the Number 2 et:gine ignition, system. "We are confident that weknow t ile cause, effects, and solu tions inv olving the J-2 ,..agree failure and the launch

vehicle long itudinal vibration prob iems.' :'.u C-'1. Phillips. "Analysis and ground testingwill contint,e to achicve an even m ire .npletc understanding of all aspects o" Saturn Vperformance and operation 13_31.

NASA Director of th , apollo p,pp iications Program , Charles W. Mathews , or April 25assignc a r-sponsibility for overall systems engineerin[ activities to MSFC , respoqsibili,yfor the mtplcntcntatlon of all lhght operation_ md recovery activities to MSC. andresponsibility for the intplementation of all latmch uperations to KSC. In terms of Centerrespons ibldtics for flight hardware elements l e assigned to MSFC the Saturn IB: LunarModule Asceh, Modifications ; Workshop . Aidock . and MDA: ATM" and assignedexperiments, int.luding Workshop habitability experiments. He assigaed MSC the

resp,unsibilities for ( '_ qaand and Service Modules . and any required modifi ,:ationsthereto Crew S ' ,_tcms esst, re suits . EVA equipment, etc.): Medical "quipment; Food::rod Ass;,.,ne¢ t_, ' rinw .,._, including medical expenment_ [384 ,

On Apt_ , 2'- , _SA awarde,] a $23.8-million. l-year, cost-plu"-fee contract to Berlthx

Field Engineenng Corporaqon for continued maintenance and operation of the majorportion of NASA 's Manne ,.'l Space Flight Network, iacluding il facilities of the14-station, unified 8 h:,-ld network for Apollo. The con tract extended the original 2-year_greemcnt 1385 , 3361.

l)uring April R ocketdyne pe_ '"nne l begum a test program designed to overcome the .I-2cng.ac fail .:rcs c×pcrienced on the S-Ii and S-IVB stages of the AS-502 flight vehicle

183

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_.:.., _i.. -':• _ ,....-_Q.._c_::. .,? . .

.lh,hd< hmm' h('r ,_< 'rvwcarm._ lor S-l an d _"_""' _:""S-I1"11 _tag(.._ arttxt :_ (',m(.c.l_t R(,t_:()t c' c_mtrol MTA

184



APRIl, - MAY 1968

during the flight p eriod. They fir ed R&D J-2 entzines 30 times. Thre e production enginetests totaled 315 seconds. At A EDC 21 S-IVB firings occurred under simulat ede,wironmental conditions [ 3871.

Rocke tdyne comple ted assembly of J-ill, the first full conf iguration J-2S developmentengine, and shipped the engine to the Santa Susana Firing Laboratory for tes ting. Teststhere were delayed for basic J-2 engine testing to resolve AS-502 flight problems [388I.

Dttring April an exhaustive test program to solve the S-IC stage problem of pogolongitud inal vibrations experienced on tile AS-5 02 flight delayed the accept ance testschedule of S-IC-6 at M TF. O r , Apri l 4 m preparation for st atic testing. Boeing testpersonnel turned power on the stage in the Test Stand. Subsequent to the AS-502 latmchthat same day, program officials and eagineers began work to isolate the causes, usingS-IC-6 in an effort to determine corrective action [389, 3901.

I)uring the second week in April MSFC completed a repmt cont aining preliminary resultsof tile Apollo 6 flight. Although the basic source of the difficulties had not yet beendetermined, scientists and engineers speculatetl that wires carrying cutoff commands tothe malfunctioning engines were interchanged. The first stage had perl\3rmed as pla,me 6and stage thrust was near that predicted during the first portio r , of flight. The secondstage had performed satisfactorily fllrough the first-stage boost, second-stage ignition, andearly portion of second-stage powered flight. First indications of anomaly were thedecreasing temperatures on the main oxidizer valve and its control li ne on the fifthengine and steady decrease in second engine's yaw actuat or pressure. The third stageperformed satisfactorily through the first burn and orbital coast. Investigations werecontinuing on longitudinal oscillation of the vehicle. Guidance and other instrumentationfunctions, telemetry performance, and onboard TV camera operation were satisfactory.Considerable damage, and not typicar, involved both M obile Launcher (ML) elevators in

the Apollo Emergency Ingress /Egress System (PAD & ML). The damage occurred atignition lind /or during lift-off [391,392].

Mr. Harold T. Luskin was appointed Director, Apollo Applications, in the Office ofManned Space Flight on May I. Luskin came to NASA in March of 1968 as DeputyAssociate Administrator for Manned Space Flight (Technical ) 13931.

On May 3 NASA completed contract negotiations with Boeing for technical integrationand evaluation in support of the Apollo program. The $73 million cost-plus-fixed-feecontract would continue thrmigh December 31, 1968, v, ith provisions for extensions13941.

At a May 7 Management Council meeting at MSF C, participants agree d to assign toMSFC the overall systems integration responsibility for individual stacked ve lucles as wellas the previously assigned systems integr ation resp e ksibility for the cluster and to incre asemanagement responsibility by MSFC in the Apollc Applications Program [3951.

On May 13 Dr, Wernher yon Braun announced the impending retzrement of Dr. ArthnrRudolph as Saturn V Program Manager and the gradual assumption of his duties by Lec

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MAY - JUNE 1968

B. James . A veter an of 38 years in rocket devel opment, Dr. Rudolph had ma._ag ed tileSatt, rn V program at MSI-C'_ Industrial Operations for 4 V., years 13961.

After extensive testing, MSFC and Rocketdyne engineers concluded on May 20 that tileJ-2 engine failures on the S-il and S-IVB stages of AS-502 resulted from brok ena,tgmented spark igniti on fuel lines. The findings led offi cials to prescribe solid-wall linesfor both lox and fu el in place of the flexible lines formerly used [397].

On May 20 NASA increased the capabi lity of the Skylab 1_ ',tiple Docking Adapter(MDA ) to provide for crew habitation and to perform certain biomedical experiments inthe event the Orbital Workshep could not be made habitable upon reaching orbit [3981.

On Mz,y 21 MSFC personnel completed rework of the Saturn i Workshop crew quarterssection which would adapt the structure for use in neutral buoyancy simulation [399].

MSF(" announced on May 22, 1968, that NASA had notified elemen ts of th e agency to

ilold permanent employment to the onboard s trength as of the close of business May 13,1968 14001.

Also on May 22 MSFC received NASA Headquarters approval of the modificationextending RCA Service Company's Management Services Office support conhact for 1year, and awarded the $6.4 million contract exlension. RCA's support of managementservices ranged from houseke eping projects to MSFC's medical facilities 1401 ].

On Jtme 4 NASA released it's Apollo Applications Program, " Launch Readiness andDelivery Schedule ML-14A." This new schedule decreased the number of Saturn flights to!i Saturn IB flights and one Saturn V flight. It cal_ed for three Workshops, one of thewhich would be launched "by a Saturn IB and another which would serve as a backup.The zhird Workshop would be launched by a Saturn V. Schedule ML-Iq A also includedone A TM. Launch of the first Workshop would be in November 1970. Lunar missionswere no longer planned in the AAP.

A June 7 memoraI_dum cited the general Apollo Applications Program efforts assigned toMSFC as of that date as follows: (a ) Saturn I Wor" shop. (b ) Multiple Docking Adapter ,(c) Apollo Telescope Mount, (d ) Payload Si_rot, d for the Workshop and A TM, (e)Assigned Engineering Experimer._ts, (f ) Saturn IB :_nt] Saturn V Launch Vehicles 14021.

On June 7 the Point Barrow which had left Seal Beach May 25, arrived at the MichoudAssembly Facility with a cargo of an S-il stage (S-1I-6), five F-I engines, and seven largeF-! engine components. It was the first time F-I engines were shipped in quantity bywater. The engines would be unloaded at MAF for installation on an S-IC stage. The S-il

stage was destined for the Mi_issippi Test Facility, where i t would undergo captive firingand taqkage proof presst, re testing [40_1.

During Jtme Rocketdyne completed assembly and test of the first H-I engine sincetransfer of production capability from Neosho to Canoga Park. MSFC observed that thel;roduction transfer appeared to be "completely satisfactory" [4041.

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J ULY - AUGUSr 1968

Oi1 July I, 1968, MSFC, established on July 1, 1960, with 4400 c,-nployees and facilitiesvalued a t S l 00 million, celebrated its eighth anniversary as NASA's largest center. Currentwork force was 6500 and plant value was $400 million [4051.

O11 July 15 the Special Studies Subconmfitt,'e of tile House Committee on GovermnentOperations ordered NASA to try to cut the escalating cost of its June 16. 106 "). contractwith Boeing for technical integration and evaluation in the assembly of the Apollost,acccraft with the Saturn V launch vehicle. The contract, awarded after ;.he January 27,1907. Apollo fire, in an effort to improve safety', had been listed tentatively as costingS20 million dollars. NASA now placed the cost of continuing the contract through 1968at $73.4 million dollars [406].

A by-product of the Saturn program would be the Mobility Test Article (M TA). An M IAtest program began at MSFC on July 15. Test Laboratory provided personnel andequipment for the three MTA vehicles on the test course. The three vehicles were built

by Bendix. General Motors , and Brown Engineering [4071.

On July 18 MSFC announced the completion of tests to determine a solution to thepogo longitudinal vibrati ons of lhe Saturn V first stage during the Apollo 6 (AS-502)flight and a means of pre,_enting subsequent oscillations. Tests had revealed that thenatural frequency of the ;'ellicle structure and the propulsion system coincided,multiplying oscillation amplitude. Such a problem would be corrected by using small gasreservoirs as an "accumulator" in the lox prevalves in order to change the frequency ofthe propulsion system. This solution would be verified in the test-firing ef a stage early inthe following month 1408].

The last captive firing of S-IB fligilt stages in Huntsville occurred oll July 25 whenChrysler personnel at MSFC conducted a 145.4-second static firing of S-IB-I 2, the secondand final firing of this stage. All systems performed satisfactorily [4091.

The MSFC Manpower Utilization and Administration Office reported on July 2(, , 1968,that of 130 R1F appeals heard by the Civil Service Commission , NASA 's action wassustained in 129 cases, rhe commission a lso ruled that N ASA's support contractorpolicies were "not appealable.'" NASA procedures during tile RIF were upheld in everycase , the report said [4101.

On August 2 NASA al :notmced the halt of work on Saturn IB vehicles No. 215 and 216.The agency also instructed contractors to discontinue work on Saturn V follow-onvehicles 516 and 517. Such a curtailment was an economy move [4111.

On August 7 Chrysler removed S-IB-12 from the Static Test Tower East a t MSFC andprepared it for shipment to MAF. S-IB-12 was tile final Saturn IB booster , and thisoperation completed Chrysler's activities at Static. Test Tower "st [4121.

MSFC's share in a reduc tion outlined in a new NASA O_ erating Plan , announced August7, would be 459 people. Personnel strength that had been 6440 on July I must bc downto 5981 oil June 30 , 19(_9 , 1o meet guidelines set by the new plan. ttowever , this 45 9

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1968

Saturn l/"major contractors

" _.t L.

_1 _. . Airlock flight articleMAP manned laut l_"

configuratiun S -1C ] )tel tank ass embl), no . 2 - St. Louisat Mic'houd

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AUGUS T - SEPT EMBER 196 8

reduction v ,as expected to be absorbed by attrition if condi tions remained the same asanticipated [4131.

On August 13 an S-IC-6 st', .tic firing oc_.urrcd at MTF on the first attempt and continuedsuccessfully for 125.1 seconds . All indications were that the newly instituted pogosuppression system performed as expected 1414].

On August 30. tbllowing receipt of NASA direction to limit Saturn V production toveificl, : 515, MSFC completed studies and began terminating production of enginehardware for the Apollo and AAP programs. Th e termination action involved 27 H-Iengines, el,ght F-I engines , and three J-2 engines [4151.

Fabrication and assembly of the last approved Saturn V booster, S-IC-15, began at theMichoud Assembly Facility in August 14161.

In At:gust Rocketdyne personnel at Santa Susana Field Laboratory ran nine R&D J-2engine tests and four production J-2 engine tests. J- ? engine tests at Arnold EngineeringDevelopment Center numbe,ed 16 14171.

Following receipt of NASA directions to limit Saturn V production to • nicle 515, MSFCcompleted studies and took action to begin terminating production of engine hardwarefor the Apollo and Oribtal Workshop programs. This termination action affected 27 H-Iengines, eight F-I enganes, and three J-2 engines [418].

Because of LM processing delays at KSC and problems experienced in the LMdevelopment program, NASA decided not to use the lunar module LM-3 on the AS-503(Apollo 8) flight. Instead, NASA decided to fly the AS-503 vehicle with the Lunar TestArticle LTA-B to simulate the structure and weight of LM-3. This decision not t o useL3_-3 on AS-503 resulted in a change in mission assignments. NASA officials redesignatedthe mission: Instead of a "D-type" (CSM-LM operations) mission it became a "C prime"CSM operations mission. The primary obj e: tives of C missions were to demonstrateCSM/crew performance and CSM rendezvous capability [ ,91.

On September 4 Dr. von Braun performed a full-pressure suit test il , the Saturn 1Workshop mockup immersed in the Neutral quoyancy Tank. He reported that theupgraded seals used in the aft dome penetration staling study were "very good." Dr. vonBraun recommended additional handholds and tether points [420].

On September 5 NASA terminated production of H-I engines under its ,'ontract withRocketdyne. Of 60 engines being produced for the Saturn IB vehicle, Rocketdyne had

completed delivery of 32 [4211.

NASA Administrator James E. Webb announded on September 16 that he would resigneffective Oc tober 7. Deputy Administra tor Thomas Paine would become ActingAdministrator at that time. Webb was nar,ed NASA Administrator February 14, 1961,by Preside,it Kennedy [422].

191

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1968

..-9,D

This is an aerial view of the storage , waterway ,and tes ting area at the Missis sippi Test Fa cilio'.The ]3 424 acre test faciliLv was us ed for s tatic S-IC rit z and fairing assembly at Michoud

tests of the fi rst and second stages of the

Sat..,, v z_.,._h_ehme.Be_a.se,J the _, , .... ., ._.7_--.____xtensive waterway around the a re,'. Saturn ' ..

stages and propellants could be barg _ "2 into and _.__.i"out of MTF on convenient river/ _anal systems . _ _ _ . ; , ,

•1 \, 4



SEPTEMBER - OC TOI1ER 1968

On September 16 and 17, KSC launch crews comple ted both "wet" and "dry"Cot,ntdaw'1 D....... s,rat, o_, Tc sts (CDDT's) for the Apollo 7 t_-,S--'0._j_pace " ,chicie. Tilewet test, with propellants aboard, lasted the normal 102-hour countdown and ended at

T-0. The dry test picked up at T-5 hours [423].

In a September 17 letter to General Samuel C. Phillips. Col. Lee B. James wro te: "'Duringthe NAR /SD cost reduction presentation to General Bogart's committee on August 20.SD proposed, as a significant cost reduction i tem, the deletio n of cryoproof testing

effec tive wi th S-II-7. MSFC had stated a position a t t he initiation of tile cryogenic prooftest program that the testing was not considered essential in man-rating the S-;Istructure... MSFC would be willing to accept the N AR/SD proposal to delete cryogenicproof testing at cost savings."

On September 18 NASA assigned to MSFC the management responsibility for the AirlockModule and the modified Lunar Module Ascent Stage. MSC formerly ma' aged these AAPactivities. NASA officials explained that this reassignment was made for the purpose ofestablishing a satisfacto_ balance between Apollo and AAP and in order to place adesign integration under a single NASA Center I424].

On September 23 the General Accounting Office reported to Congress that the BendixCorporation had agreed to a downward adjustment of $106 000 in fees it w ould havercccived under its $57 million dollar contract for development of the S T-_24 Saturn Vinertial guidance platform. Effective date of the contr z,ct modifica tion was August 22,1968 [4251.

An estimated 25 000 persons visited MSFC for Family Day and Open House , onSeptember 28 and 29, 1968. The program included an addr:ss by Dr. von Braun , anawards ceremony , and displays in mboratories and sh o,:s o!l .)_,er the Center. The eve_;tmarked the 10th anniversary of NASA's establishment [426].

During September North American Rockwell assessed the structural failure repairrequirements for S-II-TS-C, damaged in an August 21 test at MSFC. T ile recom'nended31-week-repair plan was not acceptable to MSFC. fffit .i;d_,dccided to repair local areas of

damage and accept minor c onfiguration deviati ons 14271.

On October 6 MTF held Open House to 9bserve the 10th anniversary of NASA. Ancstimated 3500 persons toure,_' the lhcility [428].

On October 8 , 1968 , the Huntsville Board of Education approved the naming of threenew city scllools for the three as tronauts who died in tile Apollo 204 fla sh fi_ 'e at CapeKennedy January 27, 1967. A new high school would be named for Virgil 1. Grissom, a

junior high school for Edward II. White I1, and an clemel : tary school for Roger B.Chaffee. All three schools were sch' tduled to open in the fall of 1969 [4291.

On OctJbcr 9 NASA rel eased its AAP , "Launch Readiness and Dclivery Scllcdul' 2ML-15," which slipped the first launch of W orkshop into August 1971. This newscht .du,c called for eight Saturn 1B's but no Saturn V launches. According to this

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OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1968

schedule there would be one . Workshop launched o. ", Saturn IB, one backup Workshop;no Saturn V Workshop scheduled; and one ATM wit!, .. backup.

On October 11 Apollo 7 (AS-295 ) rose from KSC LC-34 :_t 11:02 a.m. This was the startof the first manned mission ill tile Apollo Lunar Landing Program , the fifth in a series ofSaturn IB launch velticle flights. Primary mission e " iectives were to demonstrate('SM/crew performance and crew /space support facilitie , performance during mannedSCM missions, and CSM rend_, zvous capa bility. All launch events occurred as planqed.The S-IB stage propulsion system performed satisfactorily. In )ard engines cut off at140.64 seconds range time; outboard engines cut off 3.68 seco_:ds later. The S-IB stageseparated from the S-IVB /IU/CSM at about 146 seconds. The S-IVB's J-2 engine ignitedat approximately 147 seconds. Jettison of ullage motors and the launch escape towerfollowed. The S-IVB engine cutoff came at 616.75 seconds , and 10 seconds later theS-IVB /IU/CSM was inserted into an earth parking orbit with 177.8 /mile apogee and138.2 /mile perigee. Aboard the spacecraft for this histori, " journey were Astr onautsWalter M. Sch,rra, Jr. , Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham. Live _,olor telecasts atse_,eral intervals during the flight featured the astronauts and the spacecraft interior , aswell as cloud and earth views. The crew also photographed Hurricane Cladys in the Gulfof Mexico. On the final day of the flight, CM /SM separation , parachute deployment , andother ree_atry events were normal. The CM splashed dowq in the At!antic near therecovery ship Essex at 7:11 a.m. EDT on October 22. All primary mission objectives hzdbeen achieved [43q1.

A. pioneering concept in th e substitution of th e "dry" f¢ r the "wet" Workshop programwas the B-Zero project g enerated at MSFC in October 1968. B-Zero 1"meaning leastsophisticated_ was proposed as a standby S-IVB stage stripped of existing ha r dware andon substitute standby as needed for a "wet" S-IVB stage [431].

On November 4 NASA issued a contract to the Boeing Company for a 10-month studyto :lefine a two-stage derivat,_ve of the Saalrn V launch v ehicle. The proposed vehicle ,consisting of S-IC ,_ zd S-IVB stages a_ld instrum ent trait , would place a payload of158 000 pounds in to low earth orbit. MSFC wo uld administer this $239 500 con tract[432].

On November 6 a definitive engineering summary of data findings sllowed that thepowered phase of the Apollo 7 (AS-205) flight was extremely close to prcJictions. Inthat October II launch the first stage performed with accuracv within 0.2 percent ofpredictions. Th e second stage also performed as planned. Launch vehicle instrument :l:ionsystems attained a reliability of 99 _ ,3 percent [4331.

The first meeting of the AAP Mission Evalu ._tion Panel was conducted at MSFC onNovember 7. Representatives from KSC , Msc, NASA Headquarters , Goddard SpaceFlight Center , and MS r: 'C participated 14341.

On r_lovember 20 Dr. George E. Muellcr , NASA Associate Admu_islrator for MannedSpace Flight , made his am,ual staff visit to MSF( ' 1435].

IC)5

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1968



NOVEMBE R - DEC EMt lER 1968

In November MSF C technicians fire d an H-I engine at the P ower Plant Test Stand. Theengine had been in storage since October 1963. All engine parameters appeared normal,and there were no discrepancies during checkout. Purpose of th_ test program was to

investigate gear-box prese r vation requirements during extended storage. The engine laterwould be torn down and inspected for damage caused by age, corrosion, or wear [4361.

In Novel _,_er Rocketdyne conducted a J-2 engine test program at Santa Susana FieldLaborat r / to explore the effects of the loss of fuel *.ank pressure during flight period.A- a result of this testing pr ogram, officials decided to recommend against abor tingflights because of loss of fuel tank pressure [437].

On December 15 the la .mch countdown for AS-503 (Apollo 8) began at 7:00 p.m. ESTat KSC's LC-39A [438, 4391.

On December 18 NASA announced the appointm ent of William C. Schneider, ApolloMission Director, as Director of the Apollo ApplicatioI_s _r ogram. He succeeded HaroldT. Luskin, who died November 25, 1968 [4401.

On December 20 NASA approved a supplemental agreemei,t to a Loeing contractextending the maintenance and operation of the Saturr_ V SDF at Huntsville andproviding s,_pport to MSFC for the Saturn V mechanical ga'cune support equipment. Thisagreemen t, costing $8 429 047, called for performance fr om October 1908 through March1970 [441 ].

/also on Dece mber 20 an explosion during a test completely destroyed the S-II-TS-Bspecimen and caused extensive fires in the test area at Santa Susana Field Laboratory.Space officials conjectured that the explosion occurred when the LH 2 forward bulkheadcollapsed because of negative pressure , causing a tank rupture that introduced air to thetanks [442].

NASA's Apollo 8 (AS-503), the second manned mission in the _ .pollo lunar landingprogram and the first manned mission to orbit the moon, rose from KSC LaunchComplex 39 a t 7:51 a.m. EST, December 21, atop a Saturn V booste -. Aboard Apollo 8were Astronauts Frank Borman (commander ), James A. Loveli, Jr. (CM pilot), andWilliam A. Anders (LM pilot). At 10:42 a.m. EST a second burn of the third stageinjected the spacecraft into a lunar trajectory and the astronau ts began their journey tobecome _e first men to leave the earth's gravitational field. A second midcoursemaneuver, scheduled for the second day, was canceled beca ase the trajectory was alreadyso accurate that a burn would have required a velocity d tange o /" only 0.7 foot persecond. The crew took navigation sightings and conducted th e first TV transmission,showing the spacecraft interior and t he earth from a 138 690-mile al::,iude, and theydemonstrated food preparation and movementsin a state of weightlessness. A secondtransmission, on the third day, showed e_cellent pictures of the earth fro ,n an altitude of201 365 miles, including a view of the Western Hemisphere in sunligh t. On the fourthday, Christmas Eve, communications were interrupted as Apollo 8 passel behind themoon and the astronauts be came the first men to see the moon's far side. In their thirdTV telecast Anders described the lunar surface as "whitish gray, like dirty beach sand

,t_ io7

....... 4

J



Apollo 7 astro,lat , ts _ ,, _ ";" - ._[_ ,.._-._':...

Apollo 7.4 tlantic recovery area - pararescueme n

"' " _ " " ; _r. attac h flotation collar to Apollo 7 spacecraf t

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| .... -- .._

Recovery of Apoll o 7 astrm _auts _

Apollo 7 Astro nauts Schirra , E_sele, and Cunninghamaboard USS Essex .following their recovery

198



I)ECEMBER 1968

with lots of fo otprints on it. Some of these craters look l ike pick-axes str iking concrete,creating a lot of fin e dust.'"

After their spacecraft had passed from behind the moon,

Lovell said that the astronautshad '+agrand view" of the hmar surface and confirmed that prospective landir_g sites weresatisfactory. They conduct ed a commtmications experiment which showed tha t a radiosignal from th e earth to Apollo 8 and back to earth took 3 seconds to make a460000-mile round trip. Their third TV transmission during flleir nin th revolutionshowed heavily impacted motmtains described by Anders as +', vastness of black andwhite, absolutely no color." The moon is "a very dark and unappe tizing place .... "Then the crew furt her electrified their earth-ground fans by reading versus from the firstchap ter of Genesis and wishing viewers a Merry Christmas. On the fif th day th e Apollo 8headed back toward the earth. A _fth TV transmission s howed ,q_e spacecraft interior,controls, and food preparation. A sixth TV transmission showed the earth from analtitude of 112 125 miles. On the sixth day the crew pr epared for r¢entry, and the SMseparated from the CM on schedule. Parachute deployment and other reentry ev,'nts werenominal, and the Apollo 8 splashed down in ti :e Pacific about 5100 yards from therecovery ship USS Yorktown at 10:51 a.m. EST, December 27, 147 hours af ter launchand precisely on time. As scheduled, helicop ters and aircraft hoveled over the spacecraft.and parares,:ue personnel were not deployed un til local sunrise , 50 minutes aftersplashdown. The crew was then picked u,_ and reacl ,ed the r ecovery ship at 12:20 p.m.EST. All primary Apollo 8 mission objectives had been met. Apollo d had been tile fif thApollo mission to date , the second manned At_ollo mission, the first manned mission ona Saturn V launch vehicle, and the firs t manned operation of the Apollo system underconditions for which it was designed [443-445 ].

On December 21 a preliminary analysis at MSFC of the AS-503 (Apollo 8 ) launchindicated that all propulsion systems of t he vehicle performed normally. The pogosuppression system performed as scheduled, and there was no evidence of longitudinalvibrations on the S-IC stage. The J- 2 engines on the S -If and S-IVB stag es operatedsatisfactorily, and there were no problems with the modified augmented spar k ignitionfuel lines [4461.

On Decembe_ 27 MSFC awarded a $173 t_00, I i-month contrac t to the Boeing Companytor the study of cost-re duction methods in future space vehicl e logistics sys tems,including expendable and r eusable systems 14471.

Per sonnel str ength at MAF at the close of 1968 was 609 5. The total was divided asfollows: Boeing 373_: cI, .-_-,;: - t _t6; Mason-Rust (support. contractor ), 618 ; NASA civilservice, 158 ; and 6ervice Technology Corporation 247. Ling-T emco-Vought , the computer

service contracto a t Slidell, Lo uisiana, had 245 employe es, a r educ tion of 41 personsdur ing the year .

At MTF personn el at the end of the year totaled 2775, including all government andcontrac tor employees. This was.a reduction of 6.4 percen t front the 296" / at the sitewhen the year began. Y ear-end employment include d: Government, 190; G eneral El ectricCompany, i!97; su bcontr actors of General Electric, 356; stage and engin e contractors,1028; and const r uction employees, 4 [4481.

199



Moon as seen from Apollo 8

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e

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Lal/nch of Apollo S .", _

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" 1"11 ('oon (.l' or('grolmd) and earttl as1'3 91 - IRecovery of Apollo 8 astronauts 11(_(d iron1 Apollo 8

200



DECEM BER 1968

At MSFC personnel at the end of this year totaled more than 13 000, including allgovernment and contractor employees 14481.

NASA ended the year 1968 with a record of four Saturn flights. These consisted of twomanned and two unmanned missions. Both the Saturn V and Sa turn IB lat,nch vehicleswere manned for the first t ime in 1968. The Saturn V sent Astronauts Frank Borman,James Lovell, and William Anders aloft in Apollo 8. The Saturn IB vehiclesplace d t hefirst manned spacecraft, Apollo 7, into earth orbit on October ! ! , with Astronauts WalterSchirra , Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham aboard. The first unmanned Saturn missionin 1968 occurred on January 2 when a Saturn IB carried an unmanned lunar moduleSl:.cecraft into orbit as Apollo 5. Tbe second unmanned Saturn mission, Saturn V, camew_.h the launching of Apollo 6 on Apr il 4 [4491.

In December Convair Division of General Dynamics Corporation received a $200 000contract from MSFC to study the feasibilit y of experimental television broadcast sa tellitestbr the 1972-1977 period. The study would consider use of the Sa turn V vehicle , bothmanned and unmanned [450].

In December there were seven drop-tests in a continuing series of tests being conductedat MSF C in the Zero Gravit y Drop Tower located in the Saturn V D ynamic Stand.MSFC 's Test L aboratory conducted the tests in order to assist the Propulsion and VehicleEngineering Laborator y in a stud y of low gravity fluid mechanics and thermodynamicsphenomena [ 45 i 1.

201

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J ANUAR Y - F EBRUARY 1969

_6,,a O

The year 1969 began with varied activity in the Saturn program. As the Apollo 8 crt ,'wunde rwent deb ri efings an d medical ch ecks prior to their January 9 visit with thePresident at the Whit e House to receive Distinguished Service Medals, workmen at KSCrolled the Apollo 9 space v ehicle out to its pa d , on January 3, with no hitches. Trav elingbetween 0.5 and 0.8 mi! e per hour the huge v ehicle an d its mobile launcher _.ndtransporte r made the 3.5-mile tr ip in almost 9 hours. Th e 5.5-milli on pound tr anspo r termoved its 12.5-million-po und load to the top o f the ramp at Launch Com plex 39.Meanwhile , the Apollo 10 launch v ehicle (Saturn /Apollo 50 5) was stac ked insid e theVeh icle Assembly Buil ding. Schedules called for th e Apollo 106 spa cecraft to arrive atKSC the s econd w eek of J anuary an d for the AS-50 5 spacecr aft to undergo altit,adechambe r runs [45.9.].

On January 9 NASA named As tronauts Nell A. A r mstrong (commander), Michael Collins(CM pilot), and Edwin E . Aldrin, J r . (LM p,lot) as the prime crew of th e Apollo ! ! lunar

landin g mission sch eduled for the summe r of 1969. The bac kup crew would b eAstronauts Jam es A. Lovell, Jr. ( commander), William A. Anders ( CM pilot), and F r ecl W .Haise , Jr. (LM pilot) [ 453].

Near the star t of 1969 s everal hund re d MSFC employees changed th eir physical locationat MSFC. This began with a sh ift of 400 in Program Management, f ormerly In dustrialOperations. The movement of office workers was being made to reflect an organizationalchange announced in January by Dr. von Braun. In another change MSFC telephonenumbers were c onver ted t o a single centrex s ystem. The new MSFC prefix was beingchange d t o 453 [454].

Telephone exchange equipment valued at ahnost $1 mill ion, permitting MSF C's phon ,_

exchange to utilize a single Centrex system, was placed in operation on Febru ary 2[4551.

The MSFC Medi cal Program qualified at the start of 1969 for the Certificate of l-]ealtnMaintenance awarded by the Occupational Health Institute. The certificate indicated thatthe MSFC medical organization was among those U. S. organizations achieving distir, ctionfor the quality and quantity of constructive health maintenance service for employees[4561.

The second stage (S-11-6) for the Apollo 11 mission arrived at KSC on February 5. It hadbeen test-fired at the Mississippi Test Facility before arriving at KSC aboard the Orion .Meanwh ile, NASA ann ounced that the fi r st stage (S-IC-6) of the AS-506 launch ,;ehiclewould be shipped from the Mississippi test complex on February 10 and would a_ive bybarge at KSC on February 16. Schedules also called for the instrument unit (IU-6) toleave Huntsville on February 20 aboard the Super Guppy cargo aircraft and to arrive atKSC the same day. The third stage of the AS-5 06 vehicle ha d arrived at the Kenne dylaunch site on January 19, after being shipped by Guppy aircraft from California [457].

As of February 10 acting NASA Administrator Dr. Thomas O. Paine was expressingconcern at NASA's inability to develop an attractive Space Station plan which w ould be

203P RECEDING P AGE; BLANK NOT FI LMED



1969

:,...---

Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman _.__.

thanked MSFC employees in t he spring .. : ...?_. .of 1969 . From t he left are C M . Smith.Joyce Taylor , Robert Wilcox , Lloyd Marks

(in background) , Forrest Wells , TomA rnoM. Wesley F. Hammer . and

Car mine DeSar ctis. An aerial view of a portion of the MarshallCenter showing the Quality and Rel iabilit yAssurance Laboratory, the Manufacturing

, Engineering Laboratory , and the vertical"" assembly building .l

• o _ .• • D

Artist's concept showing com monality ofdesign for Shuttle and Orbiter

Apollo 9 astronauts

__'_'_ Astronaut Schweickar t during EVAof ApoUo 9 flight Dr . Thomas O . Paine., became NASA's third

''.b, •

• . A&,dnistrator on, Mar . 5, 1969

Launch of Apollo 9

204

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1

, FEBRUARY - MARCH t969

bold an d aggressiv e yet reasonabl e and, more impor tantly, one ttlat would demo,stra tc a"united attitude." Relative to Space Station activities , Dr. Paine considered two majorNASA in-h ouse pr oblems to be: (i) where shoul d we be going and what is the nature ofthe program? (i.e., size, timing, mode of operation, and systems desired for the SpaceStation pr _gram); (2) how d o we organi ze NASA t o undertake such a program? [458]

Aq indication of retirement trends was a trial retirement program offered for the firsttime at MSFC and a 3.9 percen t cost of living increase promised those retiring on orbefore February 28, 1969 14591.

On February 17 file legal affairs office at MTF reported that members of the Lee TownCommunity (approximately 9 to I1 miles north of the S-IC test stand) were circulatingpetitions requesting that MTF static testing be stopped or that much stricter safetycri',cria be utilized [4601.

The Apollo 9 Countdown Demonstration Test (CDDT), last major test before thescl_eduled February 28 launch date , ended on February 19 at KSC. Meanwhile, the "wet"portion of the CDDT ended on February 18 after minor problems. Astronauts James A.McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart took part in the February 19 phaseof the test. Schedules called for the Apollo 9 precount to begin on February 22 andcontinue through the launch, The missior, would be the first in-space test for th e lunarmodule 14611.

On February 27 MSFC signed an agreement with N orth American Rockwell C or poration'sRocketdyne Division for extension of J-2 engine production through April 30, 1970 , atthe reduced rate of one engine per month instead of three. The engines would not bet;sed as rapidly as originally planned because of overa!! extension of the launch vehicleproduction schedule. The modification amounted to $8 423 454 [462].

As an indica tion of the local in terest in MTF activities, M3 F announced that visitors whoviewed the static firings of S-IC-9 numbered approximately 12 000 [4631.

One week before the launching of Apollo 9 , human factors seemed on the verge ofsidetracking all the technical preparations. The three Apollo 9 astronauts developed sorethroats and nasal congestion, and project officials said that the illness could delay thelaunch. In a phone conversation with the astronauts' physician, Dr. Charles Berry, Dr.yon Braun inquired about the astronau ts' conditions. Dr. Berry replied that things werenot going very well because of astronaut James McDivitt's "real acute upper respiratoryproblem" that had no t cleared up. Dr. Berry added that if the problem was not be tt ersoon, the launch would have to be postponed because Dr. Mueller would prefer to delaythe launch for a short while rather fi_an go with backup perso r.nel [4641.

A Saturn V booster ;uccessfully launched NASA's Apollo 9 (AS-504) a t i !:00 a.m. ESTon March 3. This launch, from [,aunch Complex Pad _, at KSC, v ,as the first mannedilight of an Ap ollo luna r module. The flight w ould not continue t o the moon, butinstead the mission was for extensive lunar module tests, ex travehicular ac tivity, andcommand /service module-lunar module separation, rendezvous , and docking to simulate

activities after a lunar landing. The launch had been postponed 3 days because the crew

205

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1969

_-. _,_,. ,_

j_- ¢ -- _ . ®

Dr. Thomas O . Pa ine, right, is sworn in asadministrator of the Nat ional Aeronaut ics

and Spa ce Administration by V ice-Presi dentSpiro T . Agnew. The ceremony took place

Astronaut Scott during EVA of April 3 , 1969, in Wash ington .Apollo 9 flight

,',_ : , _

__g_ __ ___j _, SkylabAre sola_rraydepl oymentW_.__r f - concept

LR V in folded conf:guration

206



MARCH 1969

had v _ral inf ection s in their respirato ry syst ems. Physicians feared that th e illnesses andlack of re st might hinder t he men's perfor man ce. Du ring th e 3-day hold the astronautsstudied mission pro cedure s and worked in a mission simulator. They also got some rest

prescri bed by their doctors. T hey took medica tion until March I, and by Marc h 3 thedoctors had said the colds were clear. T he p rimary objectives of th e mission in clud eddemonstratio n of crew, space vehicle , an d mission support fa cilities perfor man ce during amanned Satu rn V mission wi th the command/servic e module and th e lunar module. T helaunch events o ccurred as planned as the spacecraft carried Astrona uts James A McDivitt(cc_mm an der), David R. Scott (CM pilot), an d Russell L. Schweic kart (LM pilot). Afterpost-insertio n checkout t he crew s uccessfully docked with the LM, and th e dockedspac ecraft was s eparate d from the thir d stage. T wo S-IVB bu ms placed th e stage on anearth-escap e traj ectory. On t he thir d day, McDivitt and Schw oickart entered the LM4,

through the d ocking tunnel , ev_ uated the LM systems, transm itted t he first telecas t, andconducted the tirst manne d firin_ of the LM descent pro pulsion sys tem (DPS). They t_-.enreturned to the CSM.

McDivitt and Schweicka ;t reentered the LM on the fourth day and transmitted a secondtelecast. Schweickart spent 37 minutes outsk'e the spacecraft, walking between the LMand CSM hatches, maneuvering on handrails, and standing in "golden slipper" footrestraints. Then he and McDivitt returned to the CSM. McDivitt and Scbweickartreen tered the LM on the fifth da y to perform the CSM-LM rendez vous. By the end ofthe fifth day 97 percenZ of the Apollo 9 objectives had been successfully accomplished.On the sixth through the ninth days the crew accomplished tasks that included takingmultispectral ph otographs of earth, tracking landm arks, an d then prepar ing for reentry.On the 10th aay there was some concern because of unfavorable weather in the plannedlanding area, but the CM-SM separation, parachute deployment, and other reentry eventswere normal. The spacecraft reentered during the 152nd revolution and splashed down inthe Atlantic eas t of the Bahamas at 12:55 p.m. EST on March 13 within sigh': of the

recovery ship USS Guadalcanai . The he licopter picked up tb_ crew an d fle,:_ it to therecovery ship within 1 ho ar after splashdown. This first manned flight of the lunarmodule had quali fied the last major component for a hmar landing mis sion.

Apollo 9 was the sixth Apollo mission and the third manned Apollo mission. Earlierunmanned Apollo flights ha d yielded all s pacecraf t inform ation possible w ithotit a crewon board. Apollo 4 (launched November 9, 1967) and Apollo 5 (lau nched January 22,1968) had both been highly successful, completing inflight tests of all major pieces ofApo llo hard wa re. Apo llo 6 (launche d April 4, 1 968), despite launch vehicle proble ms,had attaine d four of five pr imary objectives with the spacec ra ft r ecovered in excellentcondition. The first manned Apollo mission, Apollo 7 (October 11-22, 196 8), hadachieved all primary obj ectives and veri fied operation of spa cecraft for lunar-mis sion

durati on. The second manne d mission, Apollo 8 (Decem ber 21-27, 1968 ), had p roved thecapabil ity of Apollo hardwar e and systems to operate out to lunar d istances and returnthrough the e arth's a tmosphere [465-4681.

President Richa rd M. Nixen nam ed Dr. Thomas O. Paine as the new NASA Ad ministra toreffecti ve March 5, 1969 . The Pr esident made the a nnouncement at the White Houseduring cerem onies March 5 h onoring the Apollo 8 crew [469].

207



1969

7J " c"

' ii!' ill

A TM solar array development ,wing deployed Workshop solar array wing being deployed

o._'.

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• MISSION ENGINEER INGPtANNING

The Skylab Program Skylao Airlock/MDA trainer

_, z " ."_.,,_ __", i

Airlock test article on A irlo_k flight article no . 1 during fitting ofproducti on line t hermal curtain patter n - MSFC

208

\



MARCH 1969

Per sonnel at the Kennedy Spa ce Center move d the Apollo/Sat urn V la unch vehicle forthe Apollo 10 mission to La unch Complex 39B on Mar ch i !. Launch of the fifth Satur nV veh icle from C omplex 39 B would mark the first use of this portion of the facili ty.Apollo 9 and three previous Saturn V flights had been from nearby 39A [4701.

On March 13, ten days after the launch of Apollo 9, the MSFC Mission Operat i as Officesubmitted its final summary report. The report stat,_d, "Launch of the payload into orbitand post-burn chzckout was accomplished successfully, but the crew experienced somevibration during S-il a t about 8 minutes GET (ground elapsed time). S /C guidance datawas lost for one orbit, but was recovere_ by ground station computer reprogramming."Among lesser prob lems was a master ala rm that was received when the docking probefirst eng:,ged the LM drogue. This anomaly was unexplained but had been experiencedbefore with other vehicles 14711.

Oil March 18 MSFC awarded a contract for additional work on an aerospike engine

system to the Rocketdyne Division of North /,merican Rockwell Corporation. The newcuntract amounted to $1 142 924. Work would be done at Rocketdyne's Canoga Park ,California, facility and at the company's Nevada Field Laboratories. The aerospike engine(also called a plug-nozzle) was a ring-like engine with many tiny throats along itscircumference that discharged engine exhausts clown the sides of the plug. By theaerospike's action, the performa nce characteristics of a full-length nozzle were permittedwithout any increased weight and length [4721.

A second group of MSFC astronauts participated in full pressure-suit test operations inthe Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at MSFC to evaluate A-fM hardware configur ationchanges and to suggest f urther changes to facilitate ATM extravehicular activity [4731.

After reviews by top NASA officials , Administrator Thomas O. Paine announced onMarch 24 that Apollo 10, scheduled for launch May 18, would be a lunar orbit missionin which two astro nauts would descend witlfin 50 000 feet of the moon's surface. As Dr.Paine made the announcement, the Apollo /Saturn V 505 vehicle waited at LaunchComplex 39B to lift astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene Cernanon their 8-day flight. The manned lunar module would approach twice to within about10 miles of one of the preselected Apollo landing sites during the 3-day trip to thevicinity of the moon. While there would be no actual landing, the mission plan would bethe same a_ for the lunar landing mission [474].

General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, a4th President of the United States, diedMarch 28, 1969. He had dedicated the Marshall Center on September 8, 1960 [475].

On March 28 MSFC and Rocketdyne signed, a $38 340000 contract modificationcovering production support on J-2 en gines for upper stages of Saturn IB a nd Saturn Vlaunch vehicles. Provisions inclufed work to simplify the engine, make it more versatile ,and modify it for a reduced _estart time [4761.

In response to Dr. yon Braun's concern about the oscillation problems in the 504 flight ,Lee B. James wrote Dr. yon Braum "We recognize the 504 problem must be workedseparately and quickly. We are engineerin3 an early center engine cutoff in case it is

209

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Earth and the mo on as viewed fr om Apollo10 spacecraft Lunar landing maneu ver - artist 's concept

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Artis t' s c oncel :t of spacecraft r ecovery Orbital Workshop

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ATM flight unit canister at MSFC LR V l -g tr, .,(., at MSC2_0



!

MARCH - AP RIL 1969

n,*_*_|,_.d in _*_,.m _r_ 1 F, olir _e _ u,.rxJnr _o m_-n.ni v_ th _ p rnhl _n3 whic h mll_ t h_ s 0lve_ We

are all w orking best appr oached to a long-ter m so lu tion" [477].

A few days bef ore Apollo 9 astron,_-_ts Mc Divitt, Schweickar t, and Scott pr epared tosplashdown in the Pacific , other as tronauts were splashing down at MSFC. Threeastronauts from the Manned Spacecraft Ce,lter, who were iz:. Aved in Apo llo ApplicationsSpace Explorati on, worked inside the Neutral Buoy m ,cy Simulator at MSFC. The threewere Dr. Edward G. Gibson, Lt. Comdr. Joseph Kerwin (a medical doctor) and Lt.Comdr. Paul J. Weitz. Inside the large water ta nk the astronauts were able t o maneuverinside and aroun d a full scale replica of an Apollo Telescop e Mou', t and Saturn 1Workshop. [4781.

When Dr . Thomas O. Pai ne became the new ad ministrator of NASA on April 3: NASA'sprogram of Apollo /Sa turn spa ce flights was about one-t hird ac complis hed. _,¢re hadbeen 10 flig hts in t he Apoll :_lSaturn seri es [479l.

On April 8 MSFCengin eers t ested one solution to the worri some pro blem of longit udina loscilla tion (pogo effect) or vibration which had o ccurred on bot h Apollo 8 and 9 fli ghtsand the S-II c c._*ere r:.gine and t hrust struc tur e. Since osc illations on b oth flights occurred30 to 40 seconds before the S-If engin es shut down, one solut ion to the problem mig htbe to shut do wn t he cen ter engine early . With this in mind , test engin eers int entiona llyshu[ down the center eng ine nea rly !!/2 minut es early during a captiv e firi ng of a SaturnV second s tage (S-ii-8) at the Mississ ippi Test Facili ty. This was t he first time suc h anexperiment o ccurred. If data obtained from the test should prov e satisfacto ry - and onfirst look it appeared to be - the ce nt er engi ne might be cut off earl y dur ing the fli_h tof Apollo 10, scheduled May 18. A test of the eightk S-II vehicle laster 385 secends,with on ly the four "outboard" engines functioning t he final 86 seconds during this April8 experiment. Should the early engine shut down be carried out in order to f orestall theoscillation problem, there would be a sacrifice of about 500 oounds of the 3000-poundpayload reserve on th e Apollo 10 mission. However, by , :utting the engine off early,engineers wou ld simply be using the vehicle's engine-out capability in a planned mode.Guidance system of the rocket would treat it as an engine loss and ma ke the necessarycorrections 14801.

On April 8 NASA r elease d its AAP , "Laun ch Readiness and Delivery Schedu le ML-16."This new schedule called for the same number of Saturn IB and Sa turn V launches asML-15, hut moved the launch of the first Workshop 3 morths tc November 1971.

On April 9 MSFC awarded two 8-month identical $400 000 contracts, one to GrummanAircraft Engineering Corporation and one to Ben dix Corporation, for preliminary designand definition studies of dual-mode lunar roving vehi cles (DLRV's) to be included in thecargo lofted from earth b y Saturn vehicles. The DLRV would provide mobility for oneastronat , t oa the lunar surface and could be operated by remote control from earth whilemaking automat ed, long-range traverses of large lunar areas. The DLRV would bedelivered to the moon aboard Apo llo LM 14811.

On Ap ril 10 NASA announced the p r ime c rew for th_ A pol lo 12 mi ssion : AstronautsChar les Con rad, Jr. (command er), Richard F. Gordo n, Jr . (CM pilo t), and Alan L. Bean

211



I .

1969

' I" !_ d

o_nnCj ? teC2ar;1969o}edom ._" -' -','_. . -,--_I, ,t._e Marshall Center to

the Aiabama Space and .......... Apollo I1 Lunar ModuleRocket Center located Ap ollo I 1 crewon Alabama H ighwa y

20 in Huntsville .

Approach of Apollo 11Earth as viewed fi -om Apollo 11 to lu nar land ing site

Lift-off of _,t _, a y . ,........Apollo l l , - " .. k , •

,o _A,

• , " " ".... Flag depb _yment at

. ,';':','."-_- ' " ,,,, Tranquility Base

• "_ r!'7;.

Astronaut on lunar Lunar Modules_rfac _ at Tranquil ity

Base

212



11

APRIl , 1969

(LM pilo t). The backup crew wo uld b e Astr ona uts David R. Scott, Alfred M. Worden ,and James B. Ir win. Tile Apollo 12 would land on the moon 4 to 6 mon ths after the

July 1969 Apollo il mission 1482 l.

On April 18 MSFC anno mtced that it had issued Requests For Proposals for assistance inproducing 320 completed solar arrays to convert solar energy into electrical power tooperate the Saturn I Workshop. A preproposal conference was scheduled at MSFC May I14831.

Expressing appreciation t o Saturn Program employees who helped assure the success ofhis flight to the moon and back, Astronaut Frank Borinan, Commander of the Apollo 8crew, visited M3FC on April 24. Borman greeted and shook hands with MSF C workers atseveral locations [484].

On April 27 several thousand gallons of fuel drained from the Apollo I0 first stage: thisresulted in an extensive series of checks at KSC to determine if any damage occurred.The RP-! fuel flowed out when the prevalves in the S-IC stage opened while a leak wasbeing repaired in the ni trogen pressurization system on the mobile launcher at Pad B inpreparation for the countdown demonstration test (CDD T). Inspection of the forwardsection of the fuel tank included a series of dye penetrant checks to assure that no crackswere present. Entry into the stage for further inspection also was planned 14851.

in proposing to build a Space Station NASA had to make a major decision concerningwhether or not to build a Space Station utilizing a zero g (gravity) or an artificial g. Anindication that the decision might be in favor of zero g was contained in an April 28note from Dr. Mueller to Dr. Paine in which Dr. ; dueller stated that as a result of a

review of a meeting with representatives of Loewy /Snaith and Astronaut Walter Schirra," Loewy /Snaith is developing new habitability concepts based on the freedom ofmovement afforded by a zero g environment."

In a subject area related to orbiting space laboratories some 250 scientists and en gineersfrom universities, govermnent, and industry attended a Workshop on optical telescopetechnol ogy at MSFC April 29 through May i. The purpose of the Workshop was theexchange of technical information related to the desi gn of future sp',ce telescopes andidentifica tion of the research and technolo gy efforts needed to support future missions.NASA's Office of Advanced Research and Technolo gy (OAR T) and its Office of SpaceScience and Applications (OSSA) sponsored the workshop. Speakers discussed the use ofspace telescopes and the instrumentati on necessary for selecting astronomy tasks [4861.

MSFC announced on April 30 that proposals for two design and planning studies of aSpace Station program for the mid-1970"s, one of which would be directed by MSFC,had been requested by NASA. Major effort of the studies would be preliminary designand planning of a i 2 -man, earth-orbital Space Station which could be developed by 1975.it would be designed to have an operational life of 10 years , subjec t to resupply ofexpendables and rotation of crews with logistic vehicles. The Space Stat!on would beenvisioned as the initial element of a large space base. The work would include aconceptual design of a 50-man space base made up of specialized modules assembled in

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1969

_-- p I, I( id _ 1{ liOa ll

,/

"--'= '==_I

On July 9 workers pn'pared ,'ertainportions of a /0 acre area for a

Lunar Landing (Webration at theMarshall Center . Shown here are

debarkt 'd trees zJsed as shelters .

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APRI l, - MAY 1969

low earl'h _rbtt ii1 tile late 1_ )70's and early 1980's. The space base w otdd be acentralized facility in orbit, comparable to a sc ientific and tec lmic_d research,

development, and op erations c enter o n eartl. 1487].

MSFC's official we ekly newspaper, the Marshall Star stated in a headline on April 30 that"'Saturn V Propellants Cost 23.4c A Mile For Moon Trip." Tile paper wen t on to add,"When the NASA's Apollo /Saturn space vehicle makes its long-awaited journey to a hmarlanding this year, it will travel more titan 655 000 statute miles -- at a cost in propellan tsof 23.4 cents a mile. The estimate is based on the historic Apollo 8 flight to the moonlast December. The space vehicle that makes th e actual moon-landing tligh t will followvery closely the space trail blazed by Apollo 8. Total fuel bill for Apollo 8 's Saturn Vlaunch vehicle and Apollo spac ecraft was sligh tly more than $153 000 , an averag e of justtinde r 16 cents a gallon for propellants. The Apollo /Saturn space vehicle grit 0.68 mileper gallon on its Apollo 8 trip, much less than the average automobile, but theApollo /Saturn is not of course t,hc av erage automobile" {4881.

humediately following the successful S-!!-8 firing, MSFC issued Change Order 1643 toNAR, a athorizing incorporation of early S-il center-engin e cutoff. "Ihe Change Orderapproved modification of stages S-1|-5. S-!i-6, and S-II-7 pending alternate solutions tothe exc ess oscilla tion problem 14891.

MSFC announced on May 2 the issuance of requests for proposals for exp erimentmodules to be us ed with a proposed manned Space Station to orbit the ear ti, in theIq70" s. This study, under an 8-month con tract, would analyze the scientific andengineering need lb r e xperiment modules and would d evelop concepts for tile leas tnumber of m odules nee ded. These stu dy tasks included further defin ition of cand idateexperiment groupings , development of preliminary module concepts, definition of

minimum number of concepts, development of preliminary design and cost analysis foreach module concept, and the making of a proposed plan schedule. Proposals would bedue May 22, 196 9 14901.

On May 2 NASA unloaded an 8-ton airlock at MSFC for ground test ing to qualify it aspart of an orbiting Space Statiot_. The airioek was part of the Apollo ApplicationsProgram cluster t o bc launched in t he mid ,1970's. NASA flew tile 65-inch-d iameter.17-foot cylindrical unit f r om McDonnell l_ ouglas Corporation's St. Louis p hmt to bc

joined to the multiple-docking adapter, it would provide an interconnecting passagewaybetween the S-IVB rocket stage and the multiple-docking adapter in flight , conditionenvironmental gases , and provid e instr umenta tion, data management , intercommun ication,and other services 1491 l.

After overcoming problems, most of which were considered routine , workmen at theCap e succc_sfid ly complete d the "wet" por tion of the CDDT for A pollo I0 on May 5.One pr,'!_lem not considered routine had been the occurrence oil April 21 when several,' lousand gallons of fuel drained from t ile Apollo 10 first stage. But after a series of dyepenetrant d_ ccks gave assurrnce that no cracks were present, tile countdown continuedon schedul e, the launch sche dule rema ining the sarn e, wilh none of th.,' pro_l_em s causingimpac t on tile launch schedule through the May ,_ c ountdow'n 14'92, 4931.

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O' _i i '.

, f

15

'"_ "_ Skylab OWS conceptf, _ :_.

Airlock trai ner viewed from OWS _.end - MDACoE

W

\

" . _

CSM/Skylab docking

,_ A TM mockup at MSFC

Coleman Street was the mai n business area '_'_2._; : ":_of _,'_land . Mis_., before l_lurr icane Cam ille _, _1[1_' ."

leveled , 'he town . Several hundred people .includi ng 14 civil service employees of the

Mississippi Test Facility . once lived here • A TM canister

216

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, I

er.

i MAY 1969

Charles W. Mathe., v_, NASA's Deputy Associate A dministrator for Manned Space ["light ,sponsored a May 5 meeting in Washington to discuss management of the Space Stationstudy. Represen ting MSFC was Dr. William R. Lucas [4941.

On May 7 N ',SA announced the establishment of two new groups. One of them was a"Space Station task group" under Dr. George E. biueiler, NAS A Associate Administratorfor Manned Space Flight. The ot her was a "Space Shuttle task group" under Charles W.Mathews, Dep uty Assoc iate Adminis trator for Manne d Space Fligh t. Reporting to Dr .Mueller would be LeRoy E. Day, former Director of Apollo Test. His group woulddevelop NASA material for a report on Space Shuttles to the President's Space TaskGroup by June 15. Frank Borman, former Deputy Director of Flight Crew Operations atMSC and Apollo 8 commander, would rep c,rt to Mathews as Field Director for the Spa_,eStation effort [4951.

O_. May 16 MSFC awarded a $4 620 310 contract modification to Chrysler Corporation

.Space Division for vehicle systems engineering and integration on Saturn IB vehiclesscheduled for NASA Apollo Appli cations program flights. Work begun on January ! ,1969, would extend through March :',1, 1970 [496].

On May 18 ano ther Sat urn V booster successfull y lifted an Apollo on its way toward the

moon. NAS A's Apollo 10 (AS-505), first luna r orbital mission with complete Apollospacecraft, was lau nched successfully from KS C C omplex 39, Pad B, at 12:49 p.m. E DT.Heading the list of VIP's for the launch were Vice-President and Mrs. Spiro Agnew.Vice-President Agnew had dinner witl_ the crew the night before the launch. NASADirector Dr. Paine and the Vice-Pre_ident co-hosted a luncheon at KSC the day of thelaunch.

Primary objectives of the AS-505 mission were to demonstrate crew, space vehicle , andmission support facilities during a manned lunar mission with the CSM and the LM andto evaluate the LM per formance an d cislunar and lu., :ar env ironments. Lau nch eventsoccurred as plann ed, and the spacecraft , carrying Astronauts Thomas P. Stafford(commander), John W. Young (CM pilot ), and Eugene A. Cernan (LM pilot ), enteredinitial parking orbit with a 118.I-mile apo gee and 114.6-mile perigee. The astronau ts didnot report any vertical oscillations or pogo du ri ng the second stage burn. Suchoscillations had been expe ri enced on the two previous Saturn V flights. Stafford didcomment that when the Saturn V passed dirough maximum dynamic pressure, or "maxQ," that "Things are beginning to shake i n here." The astronauts reported oscillationsduring the third stag e burn, describing the situation as "worse than on Titan." Lee James,Saturn Program Manager, said that engineers we_'e aware that such oscillations could beexpec ted and that "we have so me more work to do" in this connection. After hmar

trajectory insertion and clleckout the CSM, code-named "Charlie Brown," separated fromthe Saturn V third stage (S-IVB) an 0 the LM, code-named "Snoopy."

Excellent quality color television coverage of the docking _quences w as transmitted tothe Gold stone tracking station and was seen on wo r ldwide commercial TV. Thespacecraft entered the moon's sphere of influence on the fourth day, May 21. On thefifth day Stafford and C erna n entered t he LM a nd checke d out all the systems bef orefiring the SM reaction control s ystem thrusters to separate the CS M and the LM about 30

217

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1969

'_. t •

Refugees await evacuatio n beside NASA LR g flight unitvehicles t hat brought hospital and Civil

Defense equipment and s upplies into thestriken to wn of Pass Christia n in the wake m,_,-of Hurricane Ca mille . Tire refugees are in

front of a school that served as hospital andcommunications ce nter , bzside t he school ,

more ho meless people li tre up forinoculations from MSFC doctors and nurses .

"

-

r,1.. ,,,

A TM in vibraliol z test fixture at MSFC

),_ i i \ •

Hand controller on i _;_*...: .... , ',' .. _ : -_ _,, .W _ , " x _Jm ', " .-"

: View of Wo rkshop cre w qv_rters . At left. crewmanremoves fo od from overhead oven . h, center , crcwman

checks perso nal gro oming in mirror . In fi_regr ound.unrestrai ned astronaut places vac uum clea ner bag in

tras h alrlock .

218

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fcct and aga in for a 2 .3-mile separation. The LM d escent prupu!_iun syMe| n burnpropelled the LM to within 9.6 miles of the lunar surface. The crew had no difficultyidentifying landmarks. Stafford said, "It looks like all you have to do is to put your tail

wheel down and we're there .... The craters (around No. 2 landing site) look flat andsmooth at the bottom. It should be real easy" for the Apollo 11 landing. The LM crewtook numerous photos of the lunar surface and provided continuous commentary ontheir observations after their camera malfunctioned.

The CSM entered a transearth trajectory after 61.5 hours (31 orbits) in lunar orbit.Pictures of the moon as seen from the receding spacecraft were spectacular. On theeighth day file crew prepared for reentry, and the SM separated from the CM onschedule. Parachute deployment and other reentry events occurred as planned. Apollo 10splashed down in the Pacific at 12:52 p.m. EDT on May 26, 3.4 miles from the recoveryship USS Princeton , precisely on time. The crew was picked up and reached the recoveryship at l:31 p.m. EDT. During their busy schedule the three astronauts had taken timeto share their voyage with the world. Nineteen color television transmissions totaledahnost 6 hours.

All primary Apollo 10 mission objectives and detailed test objectives had been achieved.Apollo 10 was the seventh Apollo mission to date, the fourth manned Apollo mission,the larges t p ayJoad ever p laced in earth and lunar or bits, and the first d emons tration oflunar orbit rendezvous. The mission acquired major quantities of photographic trainingmaterials f or Apollo I! and subsequent missions . NASA planne d the Apollo 1 0 missionas a manned lunar mission development flight to demonstrate crew /space vehicle /missionsupport facilities performance during a manned lunar mission with the Command /ServiceModule and Lunar Module, and to evaluate LM performance in the cislunar and lunarenvironment. The Apollo 10 countdov , n occurred with no unscheduled holds. The majoractivity in the first period of the launch included space vehicle launch, insertion intoearth orbit, and translunar injection. Major activities during the second phase of themission were a mid-course correction, two lunar orbit insertion burns, and initial LMactivation. During this second phase the astr onauts conducte d a 29-minute schedule dcolor television transmission of the lunar surface, and the picture quality of lunar sceneswas excellent. Major activities in the third period were the LM descent to within 50 000feet of the lunar surface, and subsequent rendezvous with the orbiting CSM. Fourthperiod major activity included the LM APS burn to depletion, extensive landmarktracking, photography, TV, and transearth injection (TEl) burn. Although the crew made18 landmark sightings during this period and took extensive stereo strip and obliquephotographs, they deleted two scheduled TV periods because of crew fatigue. Majoractivities during the fifth period included star-lunar landmark sightings, and a CSM S-bandhigh gain antenna r eflectivity test. Major activi ty during _e fin al phase incl ud ed live

color television, reentry., and recovery [497-5011.

Responding to a qr.estion on the May 18 NBC TV program "Meet the Press," NASAAdminis trator Dr. Thomas O. Pa ine said that use of the MOL and of NASA's Orb italWorkshop were "two very different projects." NASA's was a "longer range programaimed at a very substantial facility which would be really a university campus typeresearch station in orbit." MOL was a "program that is well advanced, and is d esigned tofind out the mi litary app lica tions of space" [5021.

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! _r .... .

; d • "" ?._

Skylab Workst,op wardroom Apollo 12 cre wviewed through doorway . Food

oven Lnceiling ." directly belowis observatio ,n windo w. At bottom

is food preparati on table w iththigh and foot restraints .

,N

•

L.- r

• "_ Ca meras and observation sta nd at KSC during+ _*" launch of Apollo 12

: .di

_, , , ........ + oN+ApoL' 12lift -off _) " .+ "" .)' _

' ..2! ,. - _+_" ,

Heat sh ield of CM after reentry

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MAY - JUNE 1969

' In NASA's 1969 Astronautics and Aeronautics Chronology entry for May 19 aPhiladelphia Evening Bulletin reporter was quoted as follows, describing the magnificance

: of the Apollo 10 lift-off: "TV cameras do not do it justice. It is like 100 claps ofthunder, each following the o ther with machine-gun speed. The flame that leaps frombehind the rocket could have come straight from Dante's inferno. It is too bright to beseen with comfort by the naked eye. The earth trembles beneath the f:et. two milesaway.

"Then the towering rocket, nearly twice as high as Niagara Falls, two-thirds the height ofthe Washington Monument, creeps with agonizing slowness the first few feet off theground, enveloped by a white cloud.

"'Ti_en it is gone - and man is left to wonder and to pray."

On May 20 the stacked spacecraft and Saturn V launch vehicle tbr Apollo 1i, first lunarlanding mission, rolled out to Launch Complex 39, Pad A, at KSC [5031.

On June 2 NASA announced its preliminary flight plan for the forthcoming Apollo I1lunar landing mission. The spacecraft, carrying Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong(commander), Michael Coliins (CM pilot), and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. (LM pilot), would belaunched from the KSC Launch Complex 39, Pad A, by the Satu rn V booster on J ulylb, with touchdown occurring on the moon's Sea of Tranquility on July 20. On July 21Armstrong would step onto the lunar surface, followed an hour later by Aldrin. Theastro_muts would collect up to 50 pot:nds of lunar surface samples for return to earth,take photos, and deploy an experiments package before leaving the moon on July 21 andreturning to the CSM being piloted by Collins. They would complete their 8-day mission

with splashdown in the Pacific on July 24, 195 hours 20 minutes 42.2 seconds afterlaunch 15041.

Charles W. Mathews, Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Spaceflight, andAstro,mut Frank Borman visited MSFC on June 9 for discussions concerning the SpaceStatio n and the Space Shuttle. Dr. W.R. Lucas of MSFC hosted the one-day meeting.Mathews recently had been named to head a Manned Space Station Task Group inaddition to his duties rs Associate Administra tor . Astronaut Bo rman, Commander of th eApollo 8 flight, had been named Field Director for the Space Station effor t [505].

On June 9 Dr. von Braun r equested of Dr. Mueller "an early program approval for afollow-on procurement of six Saturn V vehicles" in order that procurement activities

might continue "in support of" s chedules structured to support a delivery of AS-516 toKSC in January 1973 [5061.

As a followup to a September 1968 letter in which MSFC had stated a position at theinitiatio n o[ the cryogenic proof test program that the testing was not consideredes3ential in man-rating the S-II structure, Col. Lee James on June 16 reiterated the MSFCposition to Lt. Gen. Samuel C. Phillips in anoth er letter. Col. James wrote, "Thecryogenic test results and subsequentl y inspections of the structural test articles and flightstages £-ii -3, S-il-4, S-11-5, S-II-6, and S-!I-7 have not disclos -d any eviden ce thatdecreased our confidence in the S- If stage as manufactured and processed through

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J UNF, - JUI.Y 1969

hydrostatic component tes ts and Im cumostatic tes ts. Based on this experience, w e arerecommending that the cryoproof testing bc discontinued effective with S-Ii-IO. A costsav ings of approximately $1 000 000 could be realized in t ile current program."

MSFC announced on June 24 the issuance of RFP's relative to an 8-month study ofintegration of Centaur and Saturn S-IVB stages for possible us e in future unmannedhigh-velocity mission s. ProposMs for the study, which would include six launch vehicleconfigurations, would be due on July I0 [5071.

The first stage of the Sa turn V (SA-508) launch vehicle to be used on the Apollo 13mission reached KSC on J o.le 16. The second stage, scheduled to leave MTF on June 25.would reach KS C on Ju_,,_ 30. The third stage had arrived at KSC on Junt 13. TheInstrument Unit would be flown to KSC on July 7 15081.

MSFC announced th e return of Maj. (.;eta. Edmund O'Connor to the U.S. Air ForceIbllowing the Apollo t l laun ch. General O'Connor joined MSFC 4 Vz years earlier, asDirector of Industrial Operations (currently Program Management ), and had been a keyfigure in MSFC management and m tl_e Apollo Program management team. Lee B. James ,Satur n V Prog,am Manager, succeeded Genera l O'Connor as D irector of P cogramManagement [5091.

On June 26 the Saturn V first stage (S-IC-ll ) caught fire in the test stand at theMississippi Test Facility during an acceptance test that was scheduled to last 125 seconds.The test was terminated automatically af ter q6 seconds when the temperature on the No.3 engine turboprop exceedy d the limit. The fire was extinguished by a fire-control systembuilt into the test stand after burning for less than an hour 15101.

On June 30 three aerospace industries received space agency contracts totaling$2 238 734. Under terms of the contracts the three industries would study designconcepts and devel opment requirements for a nuclear rocket stage which could replacethe current third stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle for adwmced missions in the late!

1970's and 1 980 period and which would serv.: as a workhorse for earth orbital and: planetary applications. The three lO-month contracts went to McDonnell _ougla _ ,,

Corporation, $9 13 000: North American Rockwell Corporation, $756 734: and Lockheed, Aircraf t C orporat ion, $569 0 00. Payload conce pts and their development requ irements

for potential flight tests and early operational .applications of this nuclear stage wouldi also be considered. The prop osed nuclear s tage wou ld use the NERVA (Nuclear Engine_ for Rocket Vehic le Applicati on) being de veloped j ointly by NASA and the A tomic

Ener gy Commi ssion [51 I1.

While man y throughou t the v,orld doub ted file po ssibili ty of safely landing men on themoon. there were nonroutine indica tions wi thin MSFC that t he Cen ter had s trong fai th inthe technical com petence and exper tise tha t would assu r e a successful rn ission. Six we eksbefore file scheduled Apollo II launch, a naemorandum went to all MSFC em ployeesstating, "We have "all worked very hard lbr a long time to realize a national goal ofgetting men to the moon and back. For this reaso v. Dr. von Braun wants as many MSFCemp loyees as possible to att end the launch ing of Apoll o Ii, sci_eduled for 10:27 a .m.

EDT on July 16, 1969. MARS has been "_sked to make t r avel arr angemen ts for those

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JU I,¥ 1969

i employees who w ould not otherwise have an opportunity t o see this launching." .A fewdays later MSF C gave fur ther indication of its optimism b y announcing Cta t H untsville

: personnel headed by Messrs. David Newby, General Chairman; John Chase, Manager; JimJohnson, Co-Manager; and Everette Brouillette, President of the AFGE Lodge, wereplanning a giant celebration in Huntsville On July 26 following the lunar flight. Dr. yonBraun, Dr. Rees, and Mr. Gorman decided a few days before the aunouncement that itwould be appropriate for MSFC to sponsor such a celebration [5121.

The Director, MSFC, assigned l esponsibilities for development and procurement ofmanned LRV's for use on Apollo missions in 1 971. Consistent with the "phased projectmanagement" phil osophy under tile Center's new crga nizational structure, the Directortransferred the overall responsibility for the project from Program Development toProgram Managemen t excluding the responsibility of the Dual Mode Lunar RovingVehicle effort. Within Program Managem ent, the LRV Project Office would become an

element of the Saturn Program Office. Pending final plans for the organization, an LRVTask Force consisting of personnel from Program Management, Program Development,and Science and Engineering would be used, managed by Saverio F. Morea, as manager ofthe LRV Projec t. Assisting Morea as chief project engineer and acting deputy manager ofthe project would be James A. Belew, formerly task team manager of the LRV effort mProgram Development [5131.

The Apollo 11 booster, s pacecraft, and , Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins ,and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., completed a final coun tdown rehearsal test, July 3. Theastronauts achieved a simulated lift-off at 9:32 a.m. EDT at the exact time of thescheduled July 16 launch• Final countdown for the first manned lunar landing missionwould begin July 10 [5141.

Oil July 4 NASA officials ordered technicians to repain t the Saturn V third stage (S-1VB)after it was discovered that the old coating had begun to peel. Thermal paint would helpprotect the super-cold hydrogen fuels from the sun's heat. Repainting of the stage,scheduled to boost the manned Apoll o 11 spacecraft toward the moon July 16, wouldnot affec t the launch da te [5151.

The Apollo 11 countdown began at KSC at 7:00 p.m. EDT on July 10 in preparation forlaunch at 9:32 a.m. EDT on Ju!y 16 [5161.

On July I1 MSFC issued RFP's for the design, development, tes t, and delivery for fourflight models of a m anned lunar roving vehicle. This four-wheeled, 400 -pound vehiclewould be carried to the moon on board the LM in 1971 to transpor t astronauts , tools ,lunar samples, and other equipment and experiments 15171.

That the Saturn Program was nea ri ng the center' of the world's stage w as apparent as theflight of Apollo I 1 approached. First notables to arrive at Cape Kemledy on the eve ofthe Apollo 11 launch inc luded former President and Mrs. L yndon B. Johnson andSouthern Chri sti'n Leadership Conference president, the Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy.The Joh nsons arrived in military aircraft assigned by Preside nt Nixon. to attend aluncheon hono ri ng James E. Webb, former NASA Adminis trator. Abe r nathy led 25 poorSouthern families to protest Federal funding p ri orities. NASA Administrator, Dr. Thomas

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JULY 1969

O. Paine, met a group of 150 :_o_l people outside a KS( " g_tte where .A.bern_thy re ',lt, ested40 VIP passes to the laun ch, asked Dr. Paine t o join the light against pover ty, and t,_ :dthat NAS A technology b c converted to finding a new w_ ,y to feed the poor. Dr. Paineagreed to admit memb ers of the group to the launc;, ,_d pledged to do what he could toadapt s ,_ace-developed food con centra tes to aid und_. .,: ,.ished. "it will be a lot harderto solve the problems of hunger a_ld pover ty than it is to send reed to the moon," Dr.Paine said. B ut, "If it were possible f or us not to push th it but ton tomorrow and s olvethe problems you are talking abou t, we would not push the but tt>n." He said that tl;espace program and scien ce eoukl be u ._.'d to he lp solve the poverty pr obl'm ,_. "1 wa ntyou to hitch your wag ons to our rocket and tell the people the NASA program is anexample of wha t this country can do." The poor people said they wo uld pray for theApollo I i astronauts. By evening 500 000 tourists had arrived in Breve ,- t County, si te ofKSC , with _ million expe cted by early morning. The _'ir traffic had q,:_orupled, with lOlocal airf ields hand_ing over 1200 sl_.mll air craft and 200 p_'ivate . jets. Air craft were tobring Vi ce-President Spire T Agnew, over 200 congressmen, 60 am bassadors, 19

governor s, 40 mayors , and o ther publi c ligures for the July 16 launch. More than 1000police struggled to control road traffic, and hordes settled to sleep tm beaches fromwhich they could see the illuminated spa cecraft on the launch pad [5181.

From J uly Ib through June 24 the Apollo l i (AS -506) manned lunar landing missionflown by NASA a chieved an 8 -year goal set by Presiden t Kennedy on May 25 , 1961. OnJuly 20 the spac ecraft's LM _Eagle) la nded on the tatar sqrface, and the first manstepped out onto the mo zm. Two astronauts perfo r med tlxeir assigned tasks on the hmarsurface bc!bre reentering the LM to lift off from the moon , redock with the CSM, andreturn safely t o earth. Th e historic Apol lo Jnissi ou - ooe, of man's boldest adventures -began at 7:32 a.m. ED' F, July 16 , at file Kennedy Space Center. Millions around thewor!d an d thousands a t the Florida laun ch site observed the lift -off of the giant Saturn Vvehicle. Crewmen were Commander Nell Armstrong, Mi chael Collhls, and Edwin E.

Aldrin, Jr.

A backward g lance at the mission shows that the Saturn V booster lifted the space craftfrom the KSC Launch Complex 39, Pad A , as planned , and the spacecraft earned theastronauts into cir cular earth parking orbit. Af ter the post -insertion checkout , the ( 'SMseparated from the Saturn third s tage (S-IVB). The successful propellan t dump prov idedthe impulse to the S-IVB for a slingshot ma,_e vver to earth -escape velocity. Thespacecraft entered luna r orbit at 1:28 p.m. EDT on July 19. Bo th lunar orbi t inser tion(LOI) burns we r e made whe n Apollo I l was behind the moon and out of "sigh t" of themanned space fligh t network sta tions.

Arms trong and AIdrin entered the lunar module on Jul y 20, and the LM landed on thei moon at 4:1 8 p.m. EDT, July 20, in the Sea of Tranqu ihty. Armstrong reported:

"Hous ton, Tr anquili ty Base Here - The EagE has land ed." Mission Control replied:

, "Roger, T ranq uility. We copy you on the groun d. You got a bunch of gdys about to tami blue. We a re breathing aga in. Thanks a lot. '" , he lur, ar c rew readied the lunar m odule for

immediate ascent and then to ok a br ief rest bef or e depressurizing the cabin. Then thea_tronauts requested and were granted permissi on to descend to the moon's surface -about 4 */, hours ea'l ier than originaily scheduled. Al drin remained inside the LM andrecorded Armstrong's descent with a camera. Armstrong took man's first step on th, "

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- moon at 9:56 p.m. C DT. July 20. An es timated 600 mi llion viewe,_ on earth - one-fifth_. of the w orld 's population - watched live TV transmission an d heard him describe the

feat as "one small s tep for a man - one giant leap for mankind." Collins, orbiting t ileJ,-oon alone in the CS M , was unable to see the landin g and s ubsequent walks on themoor. because the CSM was not equipped to receive TV transmission. Aldrin, about 40minutes behind Armstrong, followed Armstrong onto the moon's surface, and tn_ .astronauts collected bulk samples of assorted surface material and selected rock chunks,two core samples, and 20 pounds of discretely selected mater ial. Then the astronautstransferred the material to the LM and reentered the LM th emselves.

At 12:45 p.m. CDT, July 21, the [.M successfully lifted off the moon after 21 hours 36minutes on the lunar surface. All. mar ascent and rendezvous maneuvers were normal.Tile LM docked once more with the CSM, the crew with samples transferred to the CSM,"a Ndthe L M a scent stage was je ttisoned into lunar orbit. The CSM en ter ed transearth

trajectory after 59 hours 28 minutes (30 revolutions) in lunar orbi t. The C M , code-namedColumbia, separated from the SM on schedule. Parachute deployment and o ther reentryevents occurred as planned, and Apollo 11 splashed d own in the mid-Paci fic at 11:51a.m. CDT, July 24, 15 miles from the recovery ship USS Hornet , 195 hours 19 minutesafter laun ch. The astronauts climbed out of the Apollo 1 I, and a h elicopter carried themto the recover y ship - then the CM was retrieved. The primary Apol lo 11 missionobjective of a lunar landing and all detailed test objectives had b_en a chieved. Apollo 1 ihad been the eighth A poll'_ mission, th_ fifth manned A pollo mission , and the firstmanned lunar landing mission [519-522 ].

On July 18 N ASA Administrator Dr. Thomas O. Paine approved the change from the" 'wet workshop" concept to the "dry workshop" concept for the Orbital Workshop bysigning a Project Approval Document change request. Dr. Paine's approval o¢ the "dryworkshop" concept i 'ollowed a May 27, 1969, Ap ollo Ap p lications Program reviewpresentation to the administrator concerning the "'dry workshop" alternative. In general,the change was made necessary when the "wet workshop" concept became obsolete asmere an, 4 more operational requirements added weight to the project, necessitating thelifting of the Workshop b y a Satun " V rather than a Saturn lB.

MSFC employees along with those of a ll Executive departments, independentestabliskments, and other Governmental agencies obser ved a "National Day ofParticipation" proclaimed by President Nixon beca ose of the historic oc:asion of ma n'sfirst step on a celestial body other then the earth _5231.

On July 22 NASA announ ced plans to laun ch the Workshop and Apollo Telescope Mounttogether in 1972, using the first two stages of the Saturn V in place of the Saturn 1 WetWorkshop. The Workshop would be outfitted on the ground and would arrive in a235-mile circular orbit equi pped for immediate occupancy by astronaut s and ,_ith theATM atta ched. Prcgram objectives would remain the same as when N ASA intended touse the Saturn IB second stage as the 1971 Workshop to provide an environment inwhich man could live and 'york for extended periods in space and to study man'sphysiological and psychological responses and capabilities in space. As a result of theApollo Program success, the Saturn V hardware from that program would be available forthis revised plan [5241.

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JULY - AUGUST 1969

On July 23 the contra.:_ with (;.-_im man Aircr af_ Corporat ion for the modificatio n of anLM ascent stage for use with the ATM was terminate 0. The LM ascent stage was nolonger needed when the decision wus made : to put the Worksho p with the ATM attachedin orbit with the Saturn V vehicle [525].

NASA anno unced en J uly 23 tile select ion of two terospace industry teams to co nductdesign and planning studies of a f uture manned Space Station which co uld reach fligh tstatu s in the mid-19 70's. One of the teams would be headed by McDonnell DouglasCorporat ion, Huntingto n Beach, California, and the o ther wou ld be headed by Nor thAmeri can Rockwell Corporation, Sp ace Divisio n, Seal Beach, Ca lifornia. The two team swould conduc t para llel, l 1-month pro gram (phase B) studies. Each would be va!u ed atapp roximately 2.9 million do llars. MSFC wo uld direct the study co ntract with McDonnellDc,uglas, while MSC wo uld direct the st udy contrac t with North American Rockwell.M_jor efl'ort of the stud ies would be prelim inary de sign and p lanning of the 12-ma n,

_arth-orbital Sp ace Statio n which co uld be developed b y 1975. I t would be desi gned tohave an operat ional life of 10 years, st:bject to re supply of expendables a nd rotation ofcrews with logistics vehicles. The Space St ation was eh visioned as the initia l elem,:nt of alarge space ba se and as a means for i n_'estigating the prob lems associated with mannedhabita tion of space for extended periods, s uch _s wo uld be encountered in f uture mannedplanetary mis sions. The work wo uld a_so inc lude a conceptual design of a 50-man spacebase made up of specia lized modules assembled in low earth orbit in the !ate 19 70's andearl y 1980's [5261.

On July 24 the city of H untsville , Alabama, held a commu nity-wide celebration at it scourthouse square following splashdown of Apo llo !] at the end of the firstmoonqandin g mission. Fo ur local councilmen hoiste d M SFC's Director, Dr. Wernher yonBrau n, on their shoulders as thousands cheered and waved banners saying, "H untsville isRocket City USA" [5271.

MSFC employees joined in a L una r laq ding Celebration at t he newly establis hed MARSpicnic area at the Cent er. Foods, rides , a mid way, and spa ce exhibi ts wer e featured . Dr .yon Braun spo ke to the employ ees shor tly after noon exp ressing his thanks for a "jobwell done ." Also at a lunar l anding c elebra tion dinner and dan ce in Huntsville , Dr.Wern her yon Braun said: "'We worked tog ether and toget her we accomplis hed our pa rt ofthe mission . The moon is no w acc essibl e" [528] .

MSFC anno unced on July 28 the transfer of .Maj . Gen. Edmund F . O'Connor (USAF) ,

Dffector of Industrial Op erations , effectiv e July 31 . General O 'Connor , on l oan to NASAfro m USAF for t he pas t 5 years , would becom e Vic e Commander of the Air For ceAeronau tical Systems Division . He would b e succ eeded by Lee B James , Saturn VManager , MSFC [529] .

On A ugus t ! NASA ,.warded a $1 170 000 contrac t te the Marti n Mari etta Corporation ,Orlando , Florida , for certain flig ht hardwa re to be use d in t he Apollo Applica tionsProgra m. The assignment , which was expect ed t o tak e 18 months for comple tion , calledfor fab rication, teshng, and deliv ery of 15 Sa turn V Works hop rat e gyro processo rs, amodul e test set , and t he retrofi t of 22 Apollo Telescope Moun t gyro processors . The ra tegyro pa ckag es would fly o n a large scale ear th-orbiting Works hop in 1972. T he gyros

226



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AUCUSm69J

! would provide precise attitu de control of the Workshop cl uster including the ApolloTelescope Mo unt. Work under the contract wo uld be performed at the contractor's

[ facd ity in Or lan do [530].Ii On August 2 NASA name d Rocco A. Petr one as successor to L t. Gen. Sa muel C . Phillips

(USAF) as D ir ector o f the Apollo P rogram , effective Se p tember 1. Dr. Petrone ha d been, Direc tor of Launch Operat ions at KS C since 1966. He wou ld be succee ded by Dep utyII Direc tor ot Launch Opera tions Wal ter J. Kapryan. Pe trone had been Saturn Project Of fice

a,d Apo llo Program Manager [5311.

Astronauts O . K. Garriott, R. W. Cunningham, and R. L. Schweickart visited MSF C'sNeutral Bu oyancy Simulator and evaluated ATM film r etr ieval system s on August 5. The ysuggested a number of hardware and procedural chan ges which should be incorporated[5321.

On August 6 NASA named the flig ht crews for A pollo 13 and 14 lunar landing missions.Prime crewme n for Apollo 13 would be Astronauts James A. Lovell, Jr. (commander),Thomas K. Mattingly 1I (CM pilot), and Fred W. Haise, Jr. ( LM pilot). The backup crewwould be com posed o f Ast ronauts John W . Youn g, John L . Swigert, Jr., an d C harles M .Duke, Jl. Ap ollo 14 prime cr ewmen w ou ld be Alan B. Sh epard, Jr . (commander), StuartA. Roosa (CM pilot), and Edgar D. Mitchell (LM pilot ). The backup crew would beAstronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans, and Joe E. Engle. Both missions wouldinclude lunar ex p loration and deployment of Apollo lunar surface experiment packages(ALSEP). The total lunar surface stay tim e would include two EV A periods _ ,f 3 hourseach and would not exceed 35 hours. The flights would be the first for AstronautsMattingly, Haise, Roosa, and Mitch ell [533].

NASA announc ed on August 7 that General Dynamics Corporation, San Diego,Califo ,nia, had received a contra ct from the N ASA Marshall Space Flight Center to stu dyexperiment modules to be used with a proposed manned Space Station. The final amountof the contr act was $950 000. This 8-month study would compl ement the S pace Stationinvestigations to be carrie d out t _y McDonnell Douglas Corporation and Nor th AmericanRockwell Corporation. General Dynami cs wou ld study the variety of experiments suitablefor a manned Space Station. Some of those under consideration included a stronomy,space physics, engineering and operations, earth appli cations and meteorology,biome dicine and biotechnolog y, spa ce biology, adv anced t echno logy, and mat erialspr ocess ing [5341.

On August 7 N ASA modified a contract with the Boeing Compan y that called forcon tinu ed Satu rn V systems engineenng and integration thro ugh June 1970. Amount ofthe award was $15 455 800. The work would be performed in Hunts ville and wouldcover wo rk from June 1 967 throug h J une 1970. Boeing, builders o f the Apollo/Saturn _V's 7.5-milhon-pound-thrust first stage, p erformed systems en gineering on all six Saturn Vvehicles launched so far in the pro gram. This contract modi fication continued th e effortthro ugh 10 Sa turn V l aunch vehicles [5351.

227



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AUGUST 1969

On August 8 a l etter con tract b etween MSFC a nd t he McDon nell Dougl as AstronauticsCompany d efined t he provision for t wo Saturn V Works hops . The first one was scheduledfor la unch into lo w eart h orbit in 197 2: the second Works hop would initially s erve as abac kup. T he Works hop would be a converted S-I VB stag e in which astronau ts could liveand work for periods up to 8 weeks . The 10 000 cu bic foot hydroge n tan k, wh ich thecr ew would occupy , would be many ti mes larg er than any spac ecr aft flo wn be fore . Theestimated cost of this cost-plus-fixed fee /award-fee contract was $97 340000 . Thecontract would run t hroug h July 1972 , and work would b e performed at t he McDonn ellDouglas Western Division at H untington Beac h, California [53 6].

On August 8 MSFC modified a co ntract with the McDonnell Douglas AstronauticsCompany for continu ed work on two airlock modules, test, and checkout of t hemodul es, syst ems a nd documentatio n, and logistics support . Cost was estimat ed at

$8?'4 50000 , and t he work would b e perform ed primarily at the McDonnell DouglasEast ern Division in St. L ouis but also would involve som e effort at the three man nedspace flig ht cent ers - MSFC , KSC , an d MSC . The airlo ck would b e a part of an ApolloApplications Pr ogram cl uster to be flo wn in 197 2. The clust er would be made u p ofce,'tain elements including t he Satu rn V Works hop , multipl e docking adapter , Apollocommand and S ervice module, and t he Apollo Telescope Mount . One airlock was "alr eadyundergoing tests at MSFC [ 537].

On August 13 NASA released its AAP "Launc h Readiness and D elivery Sc hedul e ML-17 ."According to t his new sc hedule t her e would b e _" "en Satu rn IB and two Satu rn Vlaunch es with two dry Works hops flo wn on Satu rn ,/ vehicles, and t wo ATM 's planned.The first Works hop launc h would be in Ju b' of 1972.

Hurricane Camille hit t he Mississi ppi Gulf Coast late Sunday , August 17 , and movedinland east of t he Mississippi T est Facility . Althougl l ther e was widespr ead damage to t hesmall :ommuniti es in t he storm's pat h, Hurri cane Camille caused r elatively little damageat the MSFC's M ississippi T est Facility and the Michouu Asseml'ly Fa cility. No injuri eswer e reported at either facility. Ar ea reports indicated t hat t he Saturn V fi rst (S-IC-12)and s econd (S-II-iO) stages in the test stands were not damaged .

Many Hu ntsvill e space workers sp ed r escue and r ecovery equi pmen t and s upplies to theassistanc e of their co work ers at t he Gulf Coa st. By midnig ht Monday , August 18 , aconvoy fro m Huntsvill e began a lo ng journ ey to the coast. A mobile 20 0-bed emergency

hospital w as par t of the convoy. Ot her equip ment and v ehicles included large ge nerators ,thr ee ambulanc es, vans of co _s, civil def ense food s upplies , hand tools a nd chain sa ws,wat er trucks, four buses, two gasoline trucks and t wo diesel trailers , and sev eral utili tytrucks. Almost two doz en MS FC employees went with the convoy or arrived by plane inthe are a.

Early T uesday mor ninoo, two do ctors, two nurses and two med ical techn icians flew toMTF for br iefings, then to Pass Ch r istian, where they set up an emer g_.ncy hospital.Wor king through t he nigl_t Tu esday, th e medical team was not reli eved until l ateWed nesday mor ning when a 400-man Navy Seabee for ce began movi ng into the ar ea.

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AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1969

Meanwhi:e, tile _:onvoy o f supplies and e quipment reached Pass Christiar_ by late Tuesdayafternoon and went into operation, cl earing streets, caring for r efugees, and cl eaning the_chooi buil ding where the hospital and communications cent er were located. NASAequipment provided the only communica tions with the outside world for more than 24hours 15381.

The Director, MSFC, se nt letters to the Center's Huntsville employees urging support of aDisaster Fund Dri ve under way to aid MA F and M TF em p loyees who h ad suffere dextensive losses due to Hurricane Camille. The Director established a Disaster AssistanceCommit tee to accept donati ons [5391.

On August 26 biSFC issued a $56 727 contract for development during the next 6months of a lunar roving vehicle hazard locator. The locator would use a laser beam tospot rocks, holes, and other obstacles on the surface of the moon as the vehicle movedforward. Due to the angles of light on the moon, astronauts could not always see wellinto certain areas, particularly shadows. The use of the locator would provide informationdisplayed on a screen that would warn them of obstacles hidden from their view. Theunit would be mounted high on the lunar roving vehicle and would be aimed at theground " ahead of the vehicle's path. The work would be done by Bionic Instruments,Incorporated , of Penn sylvania. D uring the fir st phase of the work, the firm wo u ldinvestigate a numb er of conc epts and th en, later in the p eriod, would produce aprototyp e of the sele cted concept [540 |.

As of August 28 approximatel y 20 claims for damag es resulting from static firings a tMTF were outstanding. The L egal Affairs Of fice announ ced that d enial had beenrecommend ed in each instanc e, with the exce ption of thr ee claims. Por tions of the threeclaims involved broken glass and china for which payment had been recommended. Therehad been 10 complaints of damage as a result of the static firing of the S-IC-10 stage onApril 16, 1969, out of which had arisen one formal claim. This claim had been filed by aresident of Pearl River, Louisiana. Rather extensive noise and disturbance had beenreported as far away as Hammond, Louisiana, although no allocations of damage hadbeen received from that area [541-543].

In mid-1969 NASA ma de studies concerning the conversion of the Sk y!ab from a wetWorkshop flown on the Saturn 1B vehicle to a dry Workshop flown on a Saturn Vvehicle. Following a July decision by NASA that the Apollo program objectives had beenachieved, NASA decided that a Saturn V vehicle could be given to the AAP for the firstSkylab Workshop. Af ter making thi s decision on Jul y 18, NASA released its AAP SkylabLaunch Readiness and Delivery Schedule ML-17 on August 13. According to this new

schedule there would be seven Saturn IB and two Saturn V launches with tw o dr),Workshops flown on Saturn V vehicles and two ATM's planned. The first Workshoplaunch would be in March of 1 972 [544].

On September 4 a contract was awarded to tl'* , McDonnell Douglas Corporation forstudies relating to a future manned Space Station which might be flown in mid-1970.Under the $2 899986 effort, which would last !1 months, the firm would propose

preliminary d esign and p lann ing on the ea r th or bital Space Stat ion wh ich m ight have a

I 229

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' 1

i

?.

i SEPTEMBER - OCT OBER 1969i-i l Z-man cr ew and operate lbr as many as I0 years, subject t o resupply of expendables

and rot ation of c r ews wi th logis tics veh icles. The work w ould be performed a t

|!untington Beach, California. Meanwhile , a parallel effor t was being conducted b y MSCL

in Hous ton and Nor th American Rockwell's Space Division in Seal Beach, Califo r nia. The

iv space s tation was being envisioned as the initial element of a large space base and as a' means for inv estigating the problems associa ted with man's habi tation in space fo r

i extended periods, such as would be encountered in future marmed plane tary missions

[ 15451.

i MSFC ann ounced o r: September 1 0, 1469 , that empl oyees had c ontribu ted $35 744.22 tohelp fellow work ers at the Mississippi Test Facilit y and Michoud Assembly Facili ty whosehomes and personal belongings had been dan_ 'd and de stroyed by Hurricane Camille15461.

Five of six suits against the Government for 0 ,mages allegedly resulting from static testactivities at MTF were heard before Feder_,_ Di>tr_ct Judge Walter L. Nixon. The plaintiffsand their neighbors (15 in all) testi fied that the noise was severe, that their buildingsvibrated considerably, and that their concrete blo ck ho_ 'es and buildings cracked severel yduri ng the tests. The Government's acoustic a : . :on,,tr uction expert s testified that thesound level in the area of plain"""'' ._ homes was well below that which would causedamage to a concre te block s tructure (142 dB), that the s tr uctures were old andsubstandard, and th at they had cracked prior to the tests. The Judge apparently felt thatthe plaintiffs' testimony outweighed that of the Government exper ts: he ruled in theirfavor and awa r dud $27 000 to them for dama ges [547].

On Sep tembe r 19 MS FC modified a con tr act with the Inter national Business Machines

Corpo r ation in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in connec tion wi th 27 instrument units orderedfor the Saturn program. This $19073 032 modi fication revised the delivery schedule,extended t he period of perform an ce by nearly 15 month% and pro vided for as sessment ofcertain MSF C engineering change requests. At the t ime of this con tract modi fication IBMhad a contract with MSFC which called for fabrication, checkout, and delivery of 27units for both the Saturn IB and Saturn V launch vehicles. The work would beperformed in Huntsville, Alabama [5481.

Over 400 managemen t and supervisory person nel attended presentatio as in MSFC's MorrisAuditorium on Sep tembe r 25, 1969. These were given by Director yon Braun and otherkey management officials. The subject was space goals proposed by President Nixon forthe next decade. The presentations covered goals for Apollo, the AAP, the IntegratedPrograms , and Ap ollo !i science achievements. O ther MSFC emplo yees viewe d t hepresentations via closed circuit television I549].

Dr. Thoma s O. Paine, NASA Administrator, awarded a total of 117 awards at an honorsceremony in the Morris Auditorium at MSFC on October 2. Most were in recog nition ofexceptional service to the Apo llo program to sen d men to the moon [550].

Effective Oc tober 7 MSF C signed a new contract with the General Electric Company'sApollo Systems Di vision in Huntsville, Alabama, for work in connection with the ApolloApplica tions Program . Unde r t he $10751 000 con tract, GE would pr ovide e lectrical

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OCT OBER - N OVEMBER 1969

suppor t equipme nt for the Apollo Telesc ope Mount and launch systems for t he Satur n V

Works hop mult iple docking adapter and airlock. T he Works hop would b e an earlymanned Space S tation to be flown in 1972. The contract call ed for the work to beperform ed at Huntsvil le, Alabama; at the Manned Spacecraft Cen ter in H ouston ; atDay tona Beac h, Florida ; and at t he Kennedy Space C enter in Florida . Work on theproject was to be compl eted by Jun e 30, 1972 [551].

A huge Satu rn V first stag e was erec ted for display at t he MSFC Ori entation C enter . Thebig boos ter had a rriv ed from t he Michcud Assem bly Facility a board the NASA bargePoseidon [552].

NASA aut horized MSFC in Octo ber 20 to issu e RFP's to t he con trac tors and ent er intopre liminary negotiations for the procur ement of si x Saturn V v ehicles, SA-516 throug h

SA-521 [553].

On October 20 representatives from Chry sler Corporation Space Division were at MTF tofamiliarize themselves with the S-II test stand relative to a planned proposal to performSpace Shuttle Booster vehicle testing at MTF [554].

Oil October 30 MSFC selected the Boeing Company, Aerospace Group, Huntsville,Alabama, to design, develop, test, and deliver four flight-qualified lunar roving vehiclesand related test and training equipment. The four flight vehicles would be used inmanned exploration of the moon's surface. Boeing was one of four contractors that hadsubmitted proposals for this work. MSFC estimated the value of thecost-plus-incentiv e-fee contract at $39 591 000 [555].

On October 31 NASA de :,.'ded to add television cameras for interior coverage of theSaturn Wor kshop [556]. ,

On Nov emb er ! MSFC b ecam e a separat e custom er (a part fro m MICOM)of t he Sou thCentral Bell T elephone Compa ny for administ rativ e telephone servic e. Cent er p ersonnelrec eived a t elephone p refix of 453 d esigna ting t he Cent er 's servi ce [557] .

At the M ississipp i Te st Fac ility ther e was a s uccessful test of a Satu rn V boo ster onNovember 3 - the first test of th e vehicle since a failure the previous June had cause dfire on the test stand; the vehicle test ed was the S-I C-12. It was fired for 125 secont , othe standard duration for ground tests, by the Boeing Com pany, maker of the stage. Thetest apparen tly met all objectives [5581.

MSFC employees contributed $160 570 to the Combine d Federal Campaign, $11440more than i n 1968. Employee participation was 91.6 per cent compared to 92 percent theprevious year. Approximatel y 90 percent of the contribution would go to the UnitedGive,"s Fund of Hu ntsville-Mad ison Co_.nty and several other counties in Al ab ama andTenness ee wher e the em ple,'ees l ived . The rest wou ld be divided between par ticipa tingorga nizations of the Nati onal Health Agencies and the International Service Agencies[5591.

231

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i' NOVEM BER 1969¢

! On N ovember 9 , 1989, Federal District Judge Har old Cox ruled in favor of the! Governmen t in the case of Pig ot t versus U. S., a suit for damages allegedly caused by

static fi ri ng at M TF. Damages claimed in this suit were the same type as th ose claimed inprior sui ts wherein Fede r al J udge Nix on ruled agains t t he Government 15601.

_: On No vember 10 , 1969, NASA announced tile resignation of Dr. George E. Mu eller,NASA Associate Administrator for MSF [5611.

The Apollo 1 2 (AS-507) spacecraft carrying Astronauts Charles (Pete) Conrad , Jr.t (command er), Richard F. Gordon , Jr. (CM p ilot), and Ala n L. Bean (LM pilot ) rose from

KSC Launch Complex 39, Pad A, a t 11:22 a .m. EST , Novemb er 14 atop a Sa turn V . The

i countdown bef ore file launch wen t smoothly except for an unscheduled 6-hour hold at

l T-17 hours (spacecraf t cryogenic l oading) f or replacemen t of the Service M odule's liquidydrogen tank number 2, which had been leaking. Three thousand invited guests,' including President and Mrs, Nixon, watched the launch. During rocke t ascent , observers

on the ground saw two parallel streaks cf lightning flash between clouds and the launchpad. NASA reported that electrical tra asients, later attributed to elect ri cal potentialdischarges from clouds through spacecraft to ground , had suddenly shut off thespacecraft 's electrical power and turned on numerous alarms in the CM. The spacecraftautomatically switched to backup battery power while the crew restored the primarypower system. Commander Conrad radioed, "'We had everything in the world drop out."Control Cen ter commented, "We've had a couple of cardiac arrests down here , too.""There wasn't time up here," Conrad said. However, the power system remained normalthroughout the res t of the mission.

Conrad and Bean began the transfer to the LM du ri ng the translunar coast l-hal t" hourcartier than planned in order to obtain full TV coverage through the Goldstone tTacking

station. The 56-minute transmission showed excellen t color pictures of the CSM,intravehicular transfer, LM interio r , earth, and moon. A TV broadcast scheduled beforelunar orbit _nsertion was canceled because o f the sun angle and glare on the spacecra ftwindows. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit at 10:47 p.m EST on November 17. Duringthe first lunar orbit, good quality TV coverage of the lunar surface was transmitted for33 m inutes. The crew provided an excellent description of the lunar features. Conrad andBean tra nsferred t o the LM for 1% hours of housekee ping, voice and telemetry test_, andan oxygen-purge-system ch eck; they then re turned to the CM. Conrad and Bean reenteredthe LM, and entry into the approach phase trajectory was close to normal. The crewtook over manual control at 370 feet, passed over the right side of the target crater , andlanded on the moon's Ocean of Storms about 600 feet from the Surveyor Iil spacecraft

at 1:$5 a .m. ES T on November 19. Con rad repor ted extensive dus t obscuring th e viewduri ng the final d escent. Gordon, orbi ting the moon in the CM , "Yanke e Clipper,"

reported sighting the Surveyor Ill and "Intrepid" on the moon. Conrad, inches shorterthan Neil A. Armstrong, wh o had stepped on the moon on July 21 , had difficulty takingthe last step from the ladder, and when he t ouched the lunar surface at 6:44 a.m. ES Ton November 19, he said , "Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small step for Neil , butthat's a long one for me." The LM had landed so gen tly that its shock-abs or bing legswere barely telescoped. Bean descended at 7:14 a.m. EST on November 19. Shortly afterthe color TV camera was removed from its bracket, transmission was lost aad was notregained for file remainder of the EVA. However, the crew collected 40 to 50 pounds of

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NOVEMBER 1969

contingency samples and reported mounds re sembl ing volcanoes. Conrad and Bean dustedeach ot her off and entered the "Intrepid " after 3 hours and 5 6 minutes walking on thelunar surface.

After rest ing inside the LM and checking plans for their second EVA period, th eastronauts left th e LM at 10:55 p.m. EST on Novem ber 19 , 1 hour and 40 minut esahead of schedule. After w alking_ Conrad r eported that he had fallen once, but Bean hadpicked him up without difficulty. The cr ew obtained th e desired photogr aphicpanoramas, core samples, tr ench sample, lunar environm ent sampl e, and assorted rock,dirt, bedrock, and molt en samples. Th e crew reported that the Surveyor footpad markswere s till visible and that the entire spacecr aft looked brown , as if something h ad rainedon it. The crew r etrie ved parts of Surveyor II I, including the TV c amera and soil scoop.They re entered the LM closing the h atch by 2:44 a.m. EST on November 20 , after 3hours and 49 minutes of walking on the lunar surface in th e second EVA eeriod.

While the LM w as on the moon, Gordon , orbiting the moon in the CSM, completed th evarious photogr aph assignments.

At 9:26 a.m. EST on Nov ember 10, the LM successfully lift ed off the moon after 31hours and 31 minutes on th e lunar surfac e, leaving behind the LM d escent stage. Tilerendezvous maneuvers oc curred as planned , and the LM docked with the CSM at 12:58p.m. EST on Nov ember 20. At 3:49 p.m. E ST on November 21 the cr ew fired the enginethat injected the CSM into trans earth traj ectory after 89 hours and 2 minutes (44revolutions) in lunar orbit. Good quality trans mission of a question-and-answ er periodwith sci entists and press was condu cted for 37 minutes. The CSM w as separated from th eSM, parachute d eployment and oth er reentry events occurr ed as planned, and the"Yank ee Clipp er" splash ed down in th e mid-Pacifi c at 3:59 p.m. EST on November 24 ,

4.03 miles from the r ecovery ship USS Hornet . Duri ng the mission the largest U .S.payload had be en placed in lunar orbit (72 335 pounds after lunar orbit insertion).Apollo 12 had be en the ninth Apollo mission to dat e, the sixth manned Apollo mission,and the sec ond manned lunar landing mission [562-566] .

MSFC transferred technical management of the modified lunar module ascent stage(LM-A) to MSF C on November 15 and the air lock mo dule in December. Contractors forthese two modules were Grumman Aircraft Corporation and McDonnell DouglasCorporation, respec tively [567].

MSFC announced on Novembe r 20 tha t the top stage of the Saturn r ocket which hadsuccessfully boosted the Apollo 12 spacecraft to the moon was currently in a large

elliptic orbit around the earth. On three previous missions the S-IVB stage had passedbeifind the moon in a corridor 970 to 2750 nautical miles wide and had entered an orbitaround the sun on a path slightly closer and a little faster th an that of earth. Passing thetrailing edge of the moon at those distances, the announcement reported, "the stagereceives a slight velocity increase due to lunar gravity, which slips the stage into sunorbit. This means of discarding the stage is called a slingshot maneuver. During thepr esen t mission, the stage passed outside the corridor - about 4000 nautical miles behindthe moon. It did not gain suf ficient gravitational pull to make the sun orbit" [568].

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1970

On January 2 MSFC s hipped the test version of th e Sat ur n V vehicle's third stage to theMcDonnell Douglas plant a t Huntington B each, California, for modification. T he S-IVBstage went from MSFC to the West Coast aboard the Super Guppy aircraft. Th e stag e,formerly id enti fied a s the S-IVB 500 F, or faciliti es sta ge, would b e conv erted in to aSaturn V Workshop "dynamics test article. " On ce th e modification was complet e, thestage would b e used in the Apollo Applicat ions Pro gram's dynamics and acous tics testingactivity. The sta ge was formerly a par t of the Satu rn V facili ties vehicle used to ch eckout manufac turing, testing, and launc hing facilitie s early in the Apollo /Sat urn V pro gram.The s tage had b een retu med to MSFC from KSC early in 1 969 [575].

The Apollo 1 2 cr ewmen who visi ted t he moon l ess than 2 months earli er sp ent 3 hoursin Huntsv

ille on January 8. Astronau

ts Charl

_s Conrad, Jr., Richard Gordon, Jr., and

Alan B ean t_onked the many MSFC employ ees who had helped to make th eir lunar trippossibl e. The astronau ts made speeches to s ever al thousand employ ees, an d thousands ofothers saw them as their mo torcade pass ed through th e Arsenal to the downtownHuntsville ar ea [576].

On Jan uary 8 NASA announc ed th e app Jint ment of Dale D. My ers, Vice-Presid ent andGen eral Manag er of Nort h Am eri can Ro ckwell Corporation's Spac e Shuttle Pro gra m, asNASA Associa te Administrator for Man ned Sp ace Fli ght, effective Jan uary 12. Myerswould s ucceed Dr. G eor ge E. M ueUe r, who left NASA on Dec ember I0, 19 69 [577].

On January 14 MSFC modified its contract with the Boeing Company to includ e changes

incorpora ted in th e first stage of the Saturn V rocket. Th e changes had been made onsub_quent fli ght stag es af ter the second Saturn V experi enced excessive oscillations onan u l_manned r esear ch and d evelopment fli ght, April 4, 19 68. Under the $4 360 260modifi cation, Bo eing install ed "accumulato rs." or small gas r eservoi rs, in th e liquidoxygen pr evalv es of t he first st r.ge to chan ge th e frequen cy pa ttern in the propulsionsyst em. Additional ground t esting and studies of f light da ta led to t he decision to installthe accumulators [578].

On January 23 NASA awarded separate contracts to three firms to study the possiblemodification of existing rocket engine test stands for use in developing a new SpaceShuttle engine. Not yet under development, the new engine would be used in clusters topower a reusable space vehicle, or Shuttle, which would be flown as many as 100 times.

A total of 12 test positions in three locations would be examined, and recommendationswou ld be mad e as to the possible con ve_ion of the sta nds for capt ive firing the newpropulsion system. All of the test facilities would be government property. No decisionhad been made as to how many test positions would be needed in the Shuttle program.Four of the t est positions were at MSFC; Aerojet General Corporation, Sacramento ,would study the MSFC-Huntsvill e facilities. Four positions were at th e NASA RocketEngine Test S ite, Edwards . California, whe -e the stud y would be done by theRocketdyne Di vision of North American Rockwell Corporation, Canr , ga Park, California.And four positions were located at the N ASA-Mississippi Test Facility, where the studyfirm would be the Pratt and Whitn ey Div'sion of U nited Aircraft, West Palm Be a ._h,

235



, ]

-VOIV

" M

Dr. Eberh ard Rees succeeded D r. Dr. yon Braun and family on the speak er_von Braun as MSFC's D irector plat form at MSFC

_!_J'_' .,'."'"_ ; O r. GeorgeLow(center, ,NASA

Ir _Q * ; ,_ F_" , ' _ deputy administrator , answered

questions f rom newsmen at aFebruary 19 70 press con fere nce.

_ . . ' ,, i_, following his talk to Marshall Center[i_ ....._ " ' _:,_'_ '*''' ' , employees . With Low were Dr . yon

Braun : Dale Myers . newly appointedDr . von Braun and family , Senator Sparkman . assoc iate administrator for Mannedand Gover nor Brewer standing beside plaque Space Flight; and Dr . Eberhard Rees ,

placed in me_t,ry of Dr . von Braun by citizens who would become MSFCof Hun_s_,' le and Madison County , director March 1 .

Alabama , at MSFC .

236



' tL

|

JANUARY - FEB RUARY 1970

Florida. The objectives of tile studies were identical to assess each test position andprepare a preliminary engineering rep ort which would state the s tands' potent ial forconversion to the shu ttle engine program. Fac tor s to be covered included methods ofmodifica tion, cost, and timing. All s tudy wor k would be conduc ted simultaneousl y,requiring 3 mon ths. The Aeroje t contr act was fo r $167 643; the other two con tracts weretor $150 000 each [ 579-581].

On Janua ry 23 NASA r eleased i ts AAP " Launch Readiness and Delive ry ScheduleML-18." which moved the scheduled AAP-I launch da te to November 15, 1972, bu t witha targe t launch da te of July 15, 1972.

NASA announced on January 27 that Dr. Wernher yon Braun, head of MSFC for almosta decade, would leave Huntsville for Washington, D.C., where he would head NASA'splanning effort for future U.S. space missions. His title would be Deputy Associa te

Administrator for Planning, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Succeedinghim as Director at MSFC in Huntsville would be his long-time deputy, Dr. Eberhard Rees15821.

Astronaut Walter Cunningham, who flew the first manned Apollo mission in 1968, visitedMSFC on January 28 and presented 45 "Snoopy" awards to MSFC employees who haddone an outstanding job promoting flight safety [583].

On January 28 and 29 there was a re view meeting at MSFC concerning the design of themanned lunar roving vehicle (LRV). Approximately I00 design planners and programmanagers attended the 2-day session. A resul t of the meeting was confirmation of therover's preliminary design, thus allowing the contractors to begin work [584].

AS-5O q, launched February 2, was the first vehicle to incorporate a center engineaccumulator in an S-I1 stage to inhibit pogo oscillations. NASA announced that thepreliminary assessment indicated excellent center engine accumulator performance [585,5861.

In February a number of local and visiting dignitaries were headlined in the MSFC area.On February !0 Alabama Governor Albert Brewer spent an hour visiting MSFCinstallat ion:. On Febru ary 20 Dr. Christian N. Barnard, the surgeon known interna tionallyfor his successful human hear t t ransplants, visited MSFC for a t_cture and discussion inthe Mo rris Auditor ium. Near the end of February Dr. and Mrs. yon Braun were honoredwith several farewell parties and a ,giant down town Huntsville parade and courthouse

ceremony before their move to Washington, D.C. 1587, 588].

After soliciting proposals in September of 1969 from firms interested in defining controlsystems for two different types of Space Shuttle vehicles, MSFC's Aero-As trodynamicsI.aboratory evaluated proposals from 13 participants. As a result of the evaluation, MSFCawarded a $49 982 contract to Honeywetl, Inc., on February 1 I [5891.

On February 12 the House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommitt_.e onNASA Oversigh t re leased its r eport Manned Space Flight: Present and Future . O,_e of theconclus ions drawn b y this staff study was that after 1974 the U.S. w ould have no

237



1970

• 5- _ •

Saturn and mobil _ launcher New o1"the aud ience as they fistened to Dr . Chr istiana_oard cr awler at K$C Barnard at Morris Auditorium .

f, I ' ' ' _ " ':" " I i _" "_ ' ' "

Dr. Ch r istian Barnard (center) of t he Groote Shurr Hospital st aff, Johant, esburg,South Africa , visited t he Marshall Center to prese nt a lecture , tie also metwith Marshall Center leaders ] 'or a tour of the instailati:m . Shown here from

left to right are . Dr . Wernher yon Brau n: Dr . Ernst Stuhl#zger , MSb_; '_ associated_rector ].or science , who invited Dr . Barnard; Ott< _Ki'_na , vice presMent a ndgeneral manager of General Electric h z Philadelp hia; a nd Dr . Eber hard Rees ,

MSFC dep uty d/rector , terhnitoL

238

\



FEBRU ARY 19 70

c_lpabiii ty for lifting manned payloads over 60 000 pou nds into spa ce and w ould haveonly t hree vehi cles that could l ift a 6C O00-pound payload u ni,_ss Sat ur n V pr oductionwas r esumed or a subs titute was developed. Als o, the b. :_. would have _o long-d uration.

manned, ea rt h-or bital capabili ty after 1973 without extension of file O r bit"l Wo r kshopprogr am or ini tiation of developm ent of a Spac e Station.

On Feb r uary 18 NASA r equested pr oposals fr om the aer ospace indus try for preliminar ydefini tion and planning s t,.,,_ies of a Space Shut tle main propulsion _ ystem. Highperformance liquid h ydrogen, liq md oxygen fueled engines would make bp the SpaceShuttle's main propulsion s ystem for launch, orbi tal inser tio_ and fl_gh t oper ations, andreentry from ea rt h or bit. Prelimina," y concep ts call ed for a clus ter of engie.es in tl,cbooster stage and a le sser number (two or t hree engin es) in the or biter st age. Th e engine:,would be thmtt leable wi th a nominal sea level thr ust of approxima tely 400 000 poundsf_m each engine. The v ert ical take-off, ho_. :ontal landing Shu ttle could b e operational i l1977 or 1978. Fr om the p,'oposals to ix. : -L, mitt ed, up t o three firm s would be selec ted

for par allel I l-month Phase B studie:; trade r fixed pric e contr acts to be managed b yMSFC. Indus tr ial finns r eceiving the reque sts for proposals we r e Nort h AmericanP,ockwell Corpo r ation, Rocke tdyne Division, Canoga Pa r k, Califo r nia: Uni ted Air crldtCor por ation, P r att and Whi tney Aircr aft Divi sion, Wes t Palm Beach, Flo rida; ,_e r ojetGener al Cor poration, Sacramen to, Califor nia; TRW Inco r por ated, Redondo Beach ,California: B ell Aer ospace S ystems, Buffalo, N ew York; and Ma r quardt Cor por ation, VanNuys, California [590].

NASA requ ested pr eposals on Feb r uary 20 fr om the aer ospace ind ustry for pr eliminarydefinition and planning s tudies of a Spac e. Shutt le system for tr ansport ing crew,passengers, and ca r go to and f r om low earth orbit. The two-stage, full y reuseable SpaceShutt le wotald be a logistic v ehicle for manned ea rt h or bital ope r ations includingplacemen t, m aintenance, an d retrieval of exper imen tal mod ules end satelli tes; delivery ofpr opulsive s tage and p_ yloads; deliv ery of pr opellants to a Space S tation or orbi tingvehicle; and sho rt duration special pl. ,r pose o r bital mis sions. P r oposals were to besubmitte d to NASA' s Office of Mann ed Spac e Flight by Mar ch 23 , 1970. Fr om thepr oposals, as ma_ ,y as thr ee fir ms would be selec ted for pa r allel I I-mon th Phase B studiesunder fi xed price con tr acts. The Phase B contracts would be managed b y MSFC andMSC. lndustr lal firms receiving the r equests foi pr oposals were Lockheed Ailc r aftCor por ation, Los Ang eles, Califor nia; Ch r ysler Cor por ation, De troit, Michigan; G r ummanAir cr aft Engineering Ccrpor ation, Bethpage, Long Island, New Yor k:s the BoeingCompan y, Sea tt le, Washing ton; General D ynamics Co r porat ion, San Diego, Califo r nia;Nort h American Rockw ell Cor por ation, Downe y, Califo r nia; Ma rt in-Marie tt a Corpo r ation,Denv er , Cclor ado; and the McDonnell Dougla s Astr onautics Compan y, St. Louis, Missour i[59_1.

NASA Headqua rt er s announc ed on Febr uary 24 a change of the pr ogra m name f r omApollo Applica tions Pr ogram to SkTlab P r ogr am. Th e Skylab Progr am would be designedto make maximum use of the existing space hardwar e developed fo r t he Apollo luna rlanding ser ies. Included in the cluster of com ponents making up the Skylab would b e theWo r kshop, ai r lock, a mul tiple docking adap ter , and an ATM. These compon ents would belaunch ed lay a Saturn V r ocket with the fi_t t wo stages p r oviding p r opulsion As tr onautsin an Apollo command /service module would be launched b y a Satur n IB r ocket t o

239

]l' ................................ .. . .._



1970

Ii -. -t _ I " as

f

I

_I FORTHE80'sSpace Sh uttle concept/,

_.-" "" . - lW,_ ._ .ij f,d ..I I i_Jl__ ._ i,$1el_,,

. .. : "=&_. ._;'_ _._. • GtO_l_t I"_d_"'_','_'r', '",

Alabama Governcr Albert Brewer , who was inHuntsville early i n 1970 to address t he PrezsClub . _pent a n hour in the afternoon looki ng ..... _ _.over hard warc at ti re Marshall Center James " _ ......

R. Thompson. Jr .. (right) of Ma nned Systems "lntegrati,m , Astronautics Lab, conducted t his

portion o f the brie1 7ng along with Karl Arti st's concept of Shuttle depictingHeimburg (left), director of Astro nauti cs Lab. its use for global tra nsportatio n

iI . . q ,

• v_u . .. .

..... -i ............

"Skylab activation and operatio n

I ., ' \1Launch conBgurat ion

of Space Shuttle

240

I



FEBRUARY - MARCH 197 0

rendezvous and d ock wi,.ti the Skylab. The ATM would be a solar observatory t o be use dby the astronauts in studies of the sun from the earth's atmosphere. MSFC would beresnonsible for development of the Workshop, airlock, multiple docking adapte r , andAiM 15921.

Dr. Eberhard F.M. Rees became the director o1• MSFC, succeeding Dr. Wernher vonBraun, on March ! 15931.

In their Space Station Program Phase B Definition report, dated March 13, 1970, NorthAmerican Rockwell concluded that the Space Station could be designed to accommodatea broad spectrum of research and applications activities in the following areas:astronomy, earth applications, advanced technology, space ph ysics, aer ospace medicine,manned space flight engineering and operations, bioscience and materials science, andproces, ing [ 594 I.

On March 13 NASA Headquarters conducted a briefing on Space Station and Shuttlepro_-ams for representatives of 17 nations NASA Administrator, Dr. Paine, said thatforeign participation was a step in NASA's continuing efforts to inform other nations ofpoot-Apoiio progra m nlanaing so that they might determine the extent to which theywished to participate [5c' 51.

Representatives of three NAS A Centers gathered in Huntsville on March 31 to start a4-day tour of Skylab government and contractor facilities• Those on the tour includedDr. Robert R. Gilruth, Dr. Christopher C. Kraft, Kenneth S. Kleinknecht , Clifford F.Charlesworth, Dr. Maxine E. Fagot, Sigurd A. Sjot .ert, Dr. Donald K. Slayton, GeorgeAbbey, Robert F. Thompson, Dr. C.A. Berry, Eugene F. Kranz, and Cadwell Johnson, allof MSC. From KSC there was General Thomas W. Morgan , and from MSFC there were

D;. Eberhard Rees, Ed Mohlere, Lee B. James , Ludle Richard, Dr. F.A. Speer, Dr. WalterHaeussermann, Karl L. Heimburg, Brooks Moore, Leland F. Belew, and Jack Lee. At theMarshall Center on this date the group viewed Skylab work in several laboratories. !n theafternoon they departed for a 3-day tour of contrac',or facilities. Companies visited wereMcDonnell Douglas Ast ronautics Company, St Louis, Missouri; Martin-MariettaCorporation, Denver, Colorado; and North Am erican Rockwell Corporation andMcDonnell Douglas in tile L os Angeles area. The group also visited the NASA-FlightResearch Center at Edwards, California [5961.

The first U.S. satellite, the 30.8-pound Explorer i, launched from Cape Canaveral,FIo."ida, by a Jupiter C booster on January 31, 1958, reentered the atmosphere over _heSouth Pacific on March 31, 1970. This pioneering satellite had discovered the Van Allen

radiation belts and had completed more than 58 000 revolutions of the earth• Dr.Wernher yon Braun, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for P lanning, who wasDirector of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency z;t the time of launch, said: "By today'sstandards Explorer I was a feeble, first step in space. But in _ts day it was an outstandingaccomplishment, done on short notice to place the free world in the space race .... Wehave come a long way from that tiny Explorer, demonstrated by the fact that the SaturnV we arc now flying can place in Earth orbit about 10 000 times as much payload as thelittle Jupiter -C that launche d Exp lorer ! " [5971.

t241



1970

3kylab ch esterIn earl y i970. 67 awards were given toManageme nt Services . Inc., motor pooldr ivers at an annual Safe Dr iver A wards

ceremony . The awards were presented fi _r "" *,safe driving records ra nging f, omi to 8years . Here the winners pose in [ro t" of .. t: ..... _ ,/ ' ,.

the MSFC Space Orientat ion Cente ,. , _ _r , _z,_ £dJ_ll'.4

.:;, . ... (

i o.

,_ , ,._,,_ Dr . Rees. Dr . _wn Bra un, and Astronaut I4/.'_:_ Anders wit h National A ero nau tics and Space

Council Gro up in Buildi ng 4619 ,View instde Workshop mockup looking over space hardware at MSFC .

I 1----

, . r" , ! ",l

"_" t '

Forward skirt being joinedto 0t¢S no. 1 Apollo 13 astro tu2uts. Left to right .

Lovell. Swigert . Haise242



APR Il. 1970

Space Shuttl e mission capabilities w ere described by LeRoy E. Day. I V,nager , Space_huttle T_I_I<Grnup NA SA OMSF. ill a paper presented on April I at tile AIAAConference on Test Effectiveness hi the '70's at Palo Alto, CalifornJt. "It is envisioned

that the Shuttle will eventually replace essentially all of the present day launch vehiclesor their derivatives except for very small vehicles of the Scout class and the very largeSaturn V. This will be possible because low operational costs of the reusable Shuttle willmake it competitive even if it carries only a fraction of its full payload capability onparticular missions" [5981.

MSFC announced on April 2 that eight aerospace firms had submitted proposals to MSFCrelative to a study contract aimed at defining the auxiliary propulsion system for a SpaceShttttle vehicle. The proposals were being evaluated as of that day. Also under evaluationin ._ separate action were bids from three aerospace firms for definition of the mainengine propulsion system lor the Shuttle craft. The firms submitting proposals on theauxiliary propulsion system were Bell Aerospace Systems, Grumman Aerospace, LockheedAircraft Company, Martin-Marietta Corporation, McDonnell Douglas AstronauticsCompany, Rocketdyne Division and Space Division of North American RockwellCorporation , and TRW , Incorporated. Aerospace firms that submitted bids for the mainpropulsion system included Pratt and Whitney Division of United Airclaft, AerojctGeneral, and Rocketdyne Division of North American Rockwell [5991.

Between April 6 and April 22 MSFC awarded contracts to three aerospace contractors forcontinuation of nuclear Shuttle definition studies. Contracts were awarded to McDonnellDouglas Astronautics Company , $343 000: Lockheed Missiles and Space Company ,$282 000: and Nort h American Rockwell Corporation's Space Division, $245 000.sAvariety of nuclear Shuttle concepts would be studied under the contract extensions.These contracts assumed use of the NERVA engine , which at the time of these contractswas tinder development by NASA and the Atomic Engery Commission. North AmericanRockwell would study a large, 33-foot-diameter nuclear stage which would be placed inorbit by the Saturn V and refueled by an earth-to-orbit Shuttle which NASA wasconsidering for development Lockhee d would study a completely m odular concept inwhich the earth-to-orbit Shuttle would be used to transport modules to orbit forassembly into the nuclear shuttle system. McDonnell Douglas would study both the33-feot-diameter system and the modular concept. The contract extensions were for Iyear 1600-602!.

in its April 7 Apollo 12 Failure /Anomaly Status Report, NASA announced that it hadrevised launch miss'_on rules and incorporated procedural and software chauges tominimize recurrence of the atmospheric electrical discharge that occurred with the flightof Apollo 12.

MSC on April 10 awarded a $1.9 million contract to the ltek Corporation for design,development, and delivery of multispectral photographic equipment for Project Skylab.ltek would provide one 6-lens camera flight ttnit, one backup, and associated lenses andmagazines 16031.

243



1970

' !L- _: Splashdo wn of Apollo ld,

• _r i_''_l_'''_ " afterflight was aborted__ because an oxygen tank in

the spacecraft 's servicemodule ntptured .

MDA test article infabricatio n at MSFC Launch of Apollo 13 )

It



!

APRIL 1 970

NASA's i ll-fated Apollo 13 (AS-508) flight began with a s uccessful lift -off as scheduledfrom KSC Launch Complex 39, P ad A, et 2'i3 p.m. EST on April l I , carrying

, Astronauts James A. Lovell, Jr. (commander ), John L. Swigert, J_. (CM pilotL and FredW. Haise. Jr. (LM pilot). Perhaps a bad omen for the flight occurred when Swigert wassubstituttd from the backup crew for Thomas K. Mattingly II, who had failed to developimmunit ¢ after exposure to German measles. Approximately 4500 VIP's were on handfor the launch, including Vice -President Spiro T. Agnew, West German Chancellor WillyBrandt, and NASA Administra tor Dr. Thomas O. Pai ne. It was during the secon d-stageboost that excessive vibration of the S -II stages' center engine caused an earl y shutdownof that engine. The second stage's four outer engines burned about 34 seconds longerthan scheduled and the third stage (S -IVB) single engine burned 12 seconds longer tocompensate for the early engine cutoff. Preliminary analysis of flight data indicated thatan automatic early cutoff occurred due to action of "thr ast OK switches" on the centerengine. Large pressure oscillations in the liquid oxygen system, coupled with vibrations inthe center engine support structure , started a chain of events that led to center eLgir_e

cutoff 132 seconds earlier than planned. However, sufficient propellants remained ..'ortranslunar insertion.

On April 13 Lovell and Haise entered t ile LM for housekeeping and system che cks, butminutes later, at 10:08 p.m. EST, the crew reported rapid loss of pressure in an oxygentank. Haise reported "a pretty large bang associated with the caution and warning." Afew minutes later the crew reported that the spacecraft was venting something -- laterdetermined to be oxygen - out into space. Despite desperate efforts nothing seemed tohalt the drop in oxygen pressure. The spacecraft dipped repeatedly, apparently because ofventing gas. The decision was made to abort the mission. With onl y minutes of powerremaining, the crew fed oxygen into the reserve tank. The public's appareut boredom att.he beginning of the missio n was transformed into deep concern for the ,_._tronauts '

safety

. Messages and offers of aid were sent to the U.S. from world leaders, and pray

erswere offered b y religious leaders on every continent.

The Apollo 13 was placed on a free -return trajectory around the moon. During theremainder of the transear th coast the crew continued emergency pr ocedures t o deal with

. shor tage of water t '_ cool the LM electr onic systems, decreasing temperatures in b othcabins, and build,._p of carbon dioxide in the LM. The crew kept the spacecraft inrotation to let the sun uniformly heat all si&s. The astronauts m,_t the cool watershortage by filling every plastic bag they could with water from the CM and carrying itto the LM. The crew tried various ways to keep warm: wearing boots carried for walkingon tile moon, sleeping in the three-foot-wide tunnel between the LM and CSM thatseemed warmer, and wearing extra clothing.

Officials on the ground developed new reentry procedure_ a;_d verified them inground-based simulations. Almost every move that the Apoll( , t3 crew made was firstproved on the ground. The crew viewed and photograt," :he SM when it wasjettisoned, reporting tb.at one entire panel was missing an( / tlaat a great deal t_, debris washanging out. Parachute deployment and other reentry events occurred as planned, and theOdyssey splashed down in the mid-Pacific southeast of American Samoa at 1:07 EST onApril 17, 4.02 miles from the recovery ship US lwo Jima . The astronauts, exhausted butin good health, were picked u p by a recovery helicopter and were safely aboard the

245



ai

1970

- _.

_' • 'i],_'i ,,. CHAIIACIIlII$|I¢$

*m .,_ oo_ .,._ • WlISlI! {|OAIII}0 , il.l_l UI

• • |MIITil

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Space Tug Crew Mod ule concept Multiple Docking Adapter

, - r-::'_ "' t Iz.t• .,-%.,, I.-.,!I.-..*-_---I:

NASA Astronauts Charles Duke (left) and JohnFinal asse mbly of theYoung ran through practice ex ercises with a

full scale model o i' tie Lunar Roving Vehicle A TM thermal system sunit at M SFCin June 1970 at the M arshall Center . The twoastronauts , wear ing pressurized space suits and

portable l ife support systems , spent hourschecking crew equ ipment and systems . They

were observed b y engineers and techn iciansfrom the Marshall Center , the Manned

Spacecra ft Center, and LR V contractors .

.'7

""'_ s /_ ,-_ *". .:.,', . , _"_ _,

:........ ., , . _, / .=-_.'_ I, ___, _:_,;,..-_,.. , ._,.-.,:,_-._, - , ,

S-IV-B Orbital Workshop electron Artist 's concept o f electron beambeam exper iment experiment in operation

246



!

APRIL - MAY 1970

recovery, ship less than 1 hour after splashdown. The primary Apollo 13 missionobjectives were not achieved, but the Apollo 13 flight crew performance was outstanding

throughout the mission. NASA Administrator Dr. Thomas O. Paine announced on April17 that an Apollo 13 Review Board, headed by Langley Research Center Director EdgaL"M. Cortright, would be established to determine the cause of the accident. The Apollo 13flight had been the 10th Apollo mission and the 3rd manned lunar landing attempt. Theaccident was the first inflight failure in 22 manned flights in the U.S. space program[604-6081.

MSFC Director Rees ann ounced on April 16 that effect ive April 22 Mr. R oy Godfre y,Manager, Saturn Program, Program Management, would be reassigned to ProgramDevelopment to serve as Manager, Space Shuttle Task Team [6091.

On April 23 NASA awarded a $3 million contract to the Garrett Corporation fcr a

portable astronaut IVe support assembly (ALSA) to support extravehicular andintravehicular activity in the Skylab program [610].

On April 30 Roy Godfrey, Manager of MSFC's new 5pace Shuttle Task Team, informedDr. Rees: " ... the Apollo /Saturn has without a doubt been one of the most stringentlymanaged programs of its kind. The application of technical and managerial resourceswithin the government and industry has perhaps been unprecedented in bringing to beardisciplines of design control, analysis, and scrutiny of the system. Qualification of designand continued quality control of ma nufacturing through multiple tests and inspectionshave been successful in forcing the exposure of potentially critical flight failures.Correction of failures to the most minute detail has been the rule. Regular and in-depthtechnical audits have detected problems and corrective action has been applied to both

technical and managerial proble ms. Successive cross matric [ sit'] reviews o ¢ all disciplinesfrom different perspectives in design , quality, safety , managemen t , as well as differentorganizational levels; [ sicl i.e., contractors, suppliers, government resident offices, S&E,PM, and Headquarters have been in tense ar.d in-d_pth" [611 ].

NASA selected two aerospace industrial firms on May 12 for final negotiations ofparallel, l I-month contracts for definition and preliminary design studies of a reusableSpace Shuttle vehicle for possible future space flight missions. Fixed priced contractswould be negotiated with McDonnell Douglas Corporation, St. Louis , Missouri, and NorthAmerican Rockwell Corporation, Space Division, Downey, California, valued atapproximately $8 million each. MSFC would manage the McDonnell Douglas work andMSC would manag e the No r th American Rockwell contract. Four firms submittedproposals for the studies [6121.

MSFC announced on M ay 15 that NASA had decided t o launch Saturn lb an d Saturn Vvehicles sgheduled for the 1972-1973 Skylab Proo dam from Launch Complex 39 at CapeKenned y'. The decision to conduct Saturn IB launches at LC 39, rather than Complexes

,, 34 and 37, was r eached after a comprehensive study of the capabilities and costs of bothlocations, Skylab Program officials ,said. The original plan was to launch only Saturn V'sfrom LC 39 16131.

247



T

1970

| -'5

Deployment of HEA 0 from "" "MDA dynamic test arti cle Shuttle - artist 's c,mcept Airlock flight article no . 1

being l owe,ed ontofactory tra iler • in clean room at MDAC -E

being rotated intovertical positio n

taJa UT_Om su xto_ntocs O _p,_s _ i 'SlCT_ _ FJSl '_W__m S_ I_m

'_ -'_ ' CHARACTERISTICS r, . ,4

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Airlock Module ' . ." . _ 1, _t -z._-.-"

,,_._..:, , '_'_,_ .................

,"'. Three Saturn IB ho, _stc, rs were delivered to theI_.: ', tli" , ,,_,2 Marshall Ct ' _er in the summer of 1970 al ter

'_ 7 a barge trip fr om the Miehoud Assentbly Facilityn New Orb'a rts. The stages wer e to be placedin storage c_t MSFC be caus e of a stretch in

,- lattn ch dates . The boosters were for Satur n ;B213 .vehicles _ 1_. 214

/ ¢

7,_v/

//?i "

I ,

) 4

!A irlock flight unit in _

fabri cation ar id assembly A irhwk Module int erior duringcrew station r eview

248

• \x_



MAY - JUNE 1 970

On May 21 MSFC negotiated a supplemental agreement with International BusinessMachines Corporation for Saturn launch vehicle flight programming computer

requ irements and development of computer programs. The supplement was valued atmore than $1.8 million dollars and extended the effort described above throughDecember 1972. The supplement was part of IBM's original contract wi th NASA,awarded in August 1964, to build and s v.3port 27 instrument units for Saturn launchvehicles [614].

On May 26 MSFC anaounced that its Advanced Systems Analysis Office was investigatingpossible uses of a Space Tug multipurpose vehicle to be developed simultaneously with alarger Space Shuttle. This Tug, the only space vehicle that would work with and connectall existing and future vellicles and systems, would first be used as a link between the5pace Shuttle and the Space S tation to taxi cargo and passengers in earth orbit. BothMSFC and MS C were working to develop spac e tug plans [6151.

MSFC revealed on June ! th e relocation of several Saturn IB and Saturn V stages andinstrument units to avoid possible damage or destruction by hurricanes in the area of theMichoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana. Three Saturn IB boosters wouldbe moved from Michoud to MSFC in mid-July [616].

On June 4 MSC awarded the following contracts: North American Rockwell SpaceDivision would receive a $305700000 cost-plus-fixed-fee /award-fee supplementalagreement to the Apollo spacecraft contract for four CSM modules for the Skylabp'rogram. This agreement defined the March 1969 letter contract and brought theestimated cost of the the contract for both Apollo and Skylab to $3 618 006 813. NorthAmerican Rockwell Space Division also would receive $250000 for a preliminaryplapning study of a reusable Space Tug with multipurpose applications [617, 6181.

On June 9 the Mar tin Marietta Corporation of Denver, Colorado, received a modificationto its Skylab pr ogram payloa d integration con tract fr om MSFC. The m odification, valuedat $2 168 070, was for work on systems integration for the multiple docking ada oter, amajor segmen t of Skylab's Saturn Workshop. Schedules called for the work modificationto be completed by early 1972. The work would include design development, buying ofmaterials, manufacturing and quality control, testing several test models, and buyingground support equipment and long-lead time materials. Martin Marietta's contract withMSFC gave the company responsibility for integration of all elements of the SkylabProgram, including the Saturn Workshop, Apollo Telescope Mount, airlock, MDA, andother equipment [619].

The June 10, 1970, minutes of the Apollo Design Certification Review Board concurredwith an earlier MSFC position taken in May 1969 in support of termination of statictesting of Saturn V stages; however, this board ruled that a decision to continue staticfiring tor any new buy of vehicle s would be reevaluated at a later date based oncircumstances at that time. These DCR Board minutes represented "the first time that aManned Space Flight Headquarters position concerning termination of static firing wasput in writing" r,5201.

249



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1970

. _ . \_ I

/ 'i--tTi. _rf':

Airlock payloa d shroud, flight A TM .flight rack o 'Td canis tersunit no. 1 at MD AC.

Installation o f nose co ne on

cylinder section for finalinstallation of electri cal , "---= ..

ordnance , atzd air co nditioningcomponents _ '

I

%

IBM 1410 co mputer in Computatio ng'_ Lab at MSFC

Skylab/MDA NASA trainer - interior vie w o - ' . ...

J ..,S-II separation from Skylab payload Sk .vlab shroud separation

250 "

1'



1970

• tt

"_ c_ -" ' I_'_/_,, " _'"_" :_

'_, - • _rJ,,"" _' .._'_T ': '_ ,_ _ tOO T STRAilT _ v

Airlock trainer tun nel section being loaded Multiple Docking Adapteron truck for shipment fro m MSFC to MSCView looking forward showing EVA hatch

p Ii ii , '-- llllll I I

W " * "

, #_ ,'o .

Orbitalorksh opdynamic ..... _"' , ::_ ."_ Itest article at MSC

'Norks hop dynamic test articleexterior view of forward dome

,. ;.,

O_S type bogie assembliesbeing tr ansported by road

Airloc k zero -g simulation in KC-135 a ircra ft

252

PRECEDIN G PA(IE B LANK NO 'I? FILMF_



1

I

JUNE 1 970

scanner for tile Skylab Works._-op experiment to develo p techniques and interpretivemethods for L ,.,rth survey fr om orbital vehicles. This scanner would detect and measure

radiated and reflec ted solar energy from materials on earth [624].

3n June 18 MSFC awarded a contract modification to Martin-Marietta Corporation forwork on the Skylab Program. The $13 460 726 contract was for continuing work on theSkylab's mu!tiple docking adapter; the work was being done at Martin-Marietta's Denverfacility. This modification covered design, development, fabrication, assembly, integration,and testing of the MDA equipme_t. MSFC made t he basic docking adapter structure. Atthe time of this contract modification Martin was the prime contractor to MSFC for theSkylab Program payload integration [625].

On June 23 NASA awarded a c_ntract to the Rocketdyne Division of North AmericanRockwell Corporation for Saturn rocket engine support work. Rocketdyne would provideopera tional and fligh t suppor t and launch site support for the H-l, 1 _-1, and J-2 rocketengine programs. The $22 341 941 contract covered the period July 1, 1970, to June 30,1971. At the time of this contract award, Rocketdyne was supporting H-l, F-l. , and J-2rocke t engines for Sa turn launch veh icles. As of this date all o t the rocket enginesrequired fo_ the Satum program had been fabricated and deli vered to the space agency.The rocke t engines we_ 'e purchased from Rocke tdyne under separate contracts. MSFCdirected the development of the Saturn launch vehicles and would administer thiscontract [6261.

Abou t 4000 employees and their famihes at tended MSFC's big Ten th AnniversaryCelebratio,_ on Saturday, June 27, in the Redstone Arsenal picnic area. The crowd heardpresentations by Dr. Rees, and about 2800 had picnic-style lunch. There were rides and

prizes for the child ren 16271.

NASA held a "Skylab and Bey ond" press briefing and tour of production facilit.es atMSFC, on June 29 and 30. William C. Schneider , Skylab Program Director, said that theproject was "in the very critical phase of firming up our designs" and predicted that the1972 launch da te would be me t. Three missions were planned for the 8-mon th lifetime ofthe 48-foo t-long Wo r kshop. Primary ta sk of the first mi ssion would be to studyphysiological and ps ychological as" ts of space flight for 28 days. During the secondmiss ion, for 56 days, telescopes would be operated. Dur ing me th ird mission , for 56days, earth resources would be surveyed with highly sensitive cameras [628].

After issuing requests for quotations to 45 firms for a proposed 12-mon th "Space BaseNuclear System Safety Study," MSFC awarded the contract to General Electric on June30. The aim of this $369478 study would be to identify p otential and inhere nt

radiological hazard s of the s pace-base program an d t o recommend a pproaches forelimina ting the hazards or re ducing them to an acceptab ; ,e risk level. The 50.man spacebase as env isiom_d would begin with a Space Station in earth orbit in the arid-1970's withstation modules being added periodically to even tually form the large base with modularuni ts designed for various func tions. A space base would be exposed to radiation fromradioactive ma terials and sy stems on board plus n_. mral radiation from ou ter space 1629l.

253



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JULY 1970

: Tw o weeks afte r tile Apollo 13 Rev iew Boar d presented its findings on Ju ne 15, N ASA: Admitfis trator Dr. Th omas O. Paine inf o,rmed the U.S. Se na te Committee on, Astronautical and Space Sc iences that the recommen dations of the Apollo 13 Review

Board would be implemented before the Apollo 14 mission would be a pproved forlaunch. This would requ ire postponing the launch date to no earlier than January 31,1971. The Review Board had reported that a short circuit ignited electrical insulation inspacecraft oxygen tank number 2, causing failure of the tank, subsequent loss ofelectric al power, and abortion of the lunar landing mission 200 000 miles from Earth onApril 13. Command and Service Module systems would be modified to e liminatepotential comtt:stion hazards in high-pressure oxygen of the type revealed by the _ ,pollo

' 13 accident 16301.

, In a July 2 letter NASA Associate Administ r ator for Manned Space Flight, Dale D.M_ers, wrote Dr. Rees requesting particip tion in a review of the Apollo and Skylabprograms. Myers stated that the review would be a followup to the report of the Apollo

13 Review Bo ard which included recommendation No. 9 that in essence called forreassessment of all A pollo spacecraft subsystems and the engineering organizationsresponsible for them a t MSFC and its pri me contractors. Myers adde d that the sc ope ofthe coverage under the recommendation bad been expanded to inclu de all elements ofApollo (spa cecraft, launch vehicle , and GSE ) as well as Skylab. It would be a majorreview, followedsby other s, with more than 100 MSFC personnel participating directly invarious stages of the reviews.

On July 7 Dr. Wernher yon Braun and eight other NASA Headquarters of ficials beganattending a series of meetings at MSFC to discuss the Skylab, the High EnergyAstronomy Observatory (HEAO ), and future scientific space projects. Although a newand relatively small preject a " of this date , the HEAO signified a type of payload tha._

could become one of the major scientific

experiments in early phases of the Shuttlefl

ightprogram [6 3 ! 1.

, On J uly 8 MSFC modifi ed an existi,lg c ontract with Mar tin M arietta Corporat ion , Denver ,Colorado, for additio nal work on the Skylab Pro gram. The $1 863 000 contractmodification covered development , implementation, a nd operation of a change integration

and configuration control . ,,ystem for the Skylab Program. At the time of thisannouncement Martin was the Skylab payload integration contractor for MSFC. Thisaction brough t the contract total to $104 946 600 [632].

MSFC announced on July 13 that Richard G. Smith, formerly Deputy Manager ,l' echnical, Saturn Pro gram, h ad assumed the duties of Ma nager, Saturn Progr am [633].

Fourteen employees of MSFC presented papers during the Space Shuttle conferen. :e atthe Lewis Research Center, Cle veland, Ohio, July 15-17. Two other employees chairedsessions at the conference, and 30 additional employees attended the sessions. The 3-dayconference for United States and fnreign contractors reviewed the status , progress , andplans of technology p rograms r equir ed to supp ort Space Shuttle develop ment. Technicaltop ics included a erothermodyna mics , configur ations, structures, materials, electr onics, ipr opu lsion, biotechnology, and safety . Chairing the_ _essions w ere H.G. Paul and C .C.Wood, both of MSF C's Astr onautics Laboratory. Prese nting papers were J.A. Forney , !

I255 t



1970

0

S-IC stage erection at MTF \ . Y._i_._i

Cosmo naut Sevastya novat Airlock EVA work

Astronaut Overmyer a t statio n in Neutralergometer station in Buoyancy Facility

Skylab mockup at MSFC

•__-__ ,.. _ _,,_.

!SpaceShuttlebooster/orbiterconcept _ 'i'' ,_

Cosmonauts Sevast yanov and Nikolayev wii,;........ . .... -., interpreter Bqrsky bei ng briefed by Dr . Rees,

• • 'i Mr. Belew, and Mr. Hardy in Workshop mockup

O

j " * e

Space Shuttle sortie missio n t

basic experiment mod ule '" '_'_ ,. _D ......_-_

Research A pplicatio ns Modtd e

256



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JUL Y - AUGU ST 1970

H .G . Struck , J .H . Jones, R.S . R_ an and M H. Rheinfur th, all of the Aero-Astrodynami csLa bora tory ; W .O . Fro st of Ast rionics La bor :,or y; and E .E . En_ler , K.D. Coa tes. R. WSci_ock, C .E . Ca taldo , J .E. Curry, E .C . McKannon, A .L. Wor hmd , and T.W . Win ste,d, allof As tronautics La borato:y [634] .

On July 23 MSFC modifi ed an existing contract with McD onne ll Douglas A stron auticsCompany for addi tional work on the Sk ylab airlock. Under the contrac t , McDonnelll;ouglas' Eas tern Division at St. Louis, Missouri , was building two Skylab airiockmodu les, on e for flight and one for spar e. The contract modification totaled$38979 000. Tile airlock mod u le wou ld provide the major wor k area and supportequipment r equired to ac tivate and operate th e Workshop and woul d also form apassageway for the astr vnauts to move from th e Apollo command modul e and multipledocking adapter into ' ,.heWorkshop. The airlock co u ld also be d epressurized and sealedoff for exit into space outside the vehicle [6351.

In line with Recommendation No. 9 of the Apollo 13 Review Board, MSFC hosted a

mass ive review at MSFC on August 12-14. The re view, dir ected by Dr. Rees, de altexclu sively with the Saturn Progr am. Official NASA visitors included C harl es W. Mat hews,heading tile oelegation f r om Headquarters, and C .C . Kraft of MS C.

Lee B. James, charged with responsi bility for the Apollo 13 review at MSF C, felt that thereview had benefits beyond the recommendations of the Apollo 13 Review Board. "lthink a bigger purpose of the overall review was we found out in the Apollo programtliat occasionall y the entire program needs to be shaken down by the very topmanageme nt in an overall review.., that had seldom happened in Sk y:ab, an d thisApollo 13 Review gave an occasion to really spend some time from this one point ofview to go through the entire Sk ylab program, and to really che ck it in the end from thetop managemen t point of view. We get a lot of good ou t of these th;ngs; they turn u pdifferent things if there isn't an y othei wa y to do this... I would wat ch for occasionssuch as this to give the program an end-to -end review , and have a good orderl y reviewjust for the good of the program" [636 -638].

Within a year after Apollo astronauts first landed on the moon MSFC and other NASAcente r: were faced with a major reduction in for ce. On August 14, 1970, MSFC Dire ctorRees wrote to MSF C emplo yees as follows: "Over the past months sin ce first we knewthat a r eduction -in-force in all of NASA was probable, we have tried to keep youinfornle d on the develop ing situ ation. O n July 15, it was a painful duty to tell you thatthe MSFC portion of the redu ction was 190 positions, in the interim, 69 eligibleemplo yees have acc epted their retirement. I can assure you that all but a very few ofthese took retir ement at this time rather than later because the y knew it would ease th eimpact of tile R IF on theii fellow emplo yees. We are de eply indeb ted to all of them for

this unsel fish gesture. This brings our net ioss of posltions down to 121. While this is animprovement in our overall position , ! am ac ately conscious that this is small consolationto 121 of our co-workers. Lett ers to our people who will leave the rolls of MSFC will bedeliver ed Monday, August 17, as well as letters to 9ther emplo yees affe cted by result ingpersonn el actions -- change of grade or positions .... it is our aim to reduc e to tileabsolute minimum the impa ct of the redu ction-in-force on our emplo yees and their

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1970

' . - .

_llilllli_m_:_:f _" "' " tr_ ." "_ ,

Senato r John J . Sparkman (second from _ _ .._ : .: _.._, . --left) visited the Marshall Center in oNovember 1970 for talks with Dr . Lunar exploration sitesEberhard Rees , director , and other

MSFC ofj _cials and for a tour of someof the facilities . His visit was sponsored " .by the MARS Women's Club • From left _tb__

above are Mrs . Peggy Shanahan , President _. :f the club , Senator 6park man; Mrs . "_. " _-Martha Farish, MARS Club member, " andDr . Rees. They are inspecting the lunar _'_:rock on display in the lobb y of Building

4200 at MSFC . Senator Sparkmaninspected the Sk ylab mockup during

his visit.

." ........... " I

Neutral Buoyancy "clothesline, testing " at MSFC

"I

J

J

Airlock, MDA , and ATM m ockups ...... used during EVA CDR Lunar Roving Ve hicle 1-g trainer

i 258

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I AUGUST 1970

: f families. We c ouldn't make i t p leasan t, but we will do everyt hing poss ible to minimize' hardship for you who have been our valued and res pected fellow workers."

' MSFC announced on August 17 that manufacture of the 15th and final Saturn V boosterstage (S-IC-I 5 ) had been c ompleted by its builder, the Boeing Company, at the MichoudAssembly facility in New Orleans. The stage was being shipped on August 17 by barge totile Mississippi Test Facility where it would be prepared for a static test firing in lateSeptember. S-IC-15 was scheduled to boost the Apollo 19 moon landing mission in 197416391.

On August 21 MSFC issued a modification to a contract held by IBM for changes todigital computers. The modification, in the amount of $7 932 440, would cove t changesrequired when the basic concept for the Workshop was altered in 1969. The computersinvolved would be aboard the Apollo Telescope Mount , a major component of the Skylab[6401.

On August 21 MSFC awarded the North American Rockwdl Corporation twomodifications to its basic contract for the second (S-II) stage of the Saturn V launchvehicle. The first modifications, valued at $1 768 228, covered changes to the basiccontract, originally awarded in 1962, for the manufacture and test of 15 S-II flight stagesfor tile Satu rn V. Tile amen dment v_'as due to s tage design changes. The secondmodifica tion called fo r Nort h American a:: Seal Beach to identify the S-II's capaOili ties inlaunching po ssible Space S tation mission s and to determine wha t pr oduction impact swould res ult fr om Space S tation mission studies being conducted b y MSFC. Thismodifica tion was valued a t $2429 005, and the wor k was to be comple ted by Ma r ch 31,!971 [6 41].

Mor e than 150 r epr esentatives of NASA and indust ry conduc ted a week-long c r iticaldesign r eview of the Skylab mul tiple docking adap ter dur ing the week of Augus t 24 atthe Mar tin Mari ett a facili ty in Denve r , Colorado. This was scheduled a s the final technicalr eview befo r e appr oval would b e given fo r manufac turing fligh t har dwar e. Skylab official sfr om MSFC, MSC, KSC, and NASA Headquarte r s attended. The MSFC delega tion washeaded b y F.M. D r ummond , manage r of the Ai r lock/MDA P r oject. Mar tin Marie tt a wasthe Skylab payload integration con tractor for the Marshall Cen ter. While MSF C wasbuilding the multiple docking adapter external structure, Martin was integrating theexperiments. Other coatractors included the Bendix Corporation and McDonnell DouglasCorporatio n [6421.

On August 27 MSFC issued a modification to an existing contrac t with the McDonnellDouglas Astronautics Com pany for Skylab program work. The modification would pay

for the conversion of the original Orbital Workshop to be launched by a Saturn IB rocketto a completely outfitted Worksh op to be lat ,.ched by a Saturn V. The original contractwith the finn was for $97 340 000 and called for one Orb:,tal Workshop and one backup'this modifica tion added $63 918 000. Originally the plan was to launch the second stage(S-IVB) of a Saturn IB into earth orbit. The S-IVB would be filled with fuel so that itcould propel itself into orbit. Astronauts launched by a second Saturn IB would thenrendezvous with the empty stage and convert it into living and working quarters. In 1969

259

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Workshop dynamic test article ontransport er bei ng loaded on USNS

Point BarrowWorkshop dynamic test article

ip vibratio n test at MSC

. _ / _. ,'_,_ ",_. _:_ _ ._ . _

fi ,_' o , •C-

A Christmas tree and lots of h olly were not "_ _ - '! i " Y _"the only decorations sprucing up t he MSFC Former astrot taut Ja mes A. McDivitt

Headquarters complex during the 1970 addressed abo ut 1100 gover nment andChrist _ .as holiday season . On display on contractor employees at a Manned Flight

the front lawn of BuiMb ,,g 4200 were Awareness gat hering at t he Michoudmodels of the Saturn V an,q the Apollo Assembly Facility in December 1970 •

command module •; 260



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AUGUS T - SEP TEMB ER 1970

; a decisi on was made to outfit an S -1VB on tile gr ound an d launch it rea dy for use. Thei launch vehicle for this new ve_ion would be the Saturn V [643].

On August 28 a group of MSFC engineers successfully completed a week-long series oftests of Skylab program hardware in simulated we ightlessness aboar d a USAF KC-135,tbur-engine-jet, research aircraft. Tests included operation of flight-configuration doors forfihn cassette compartments, retrieval and replacement of film cassettes, and evalua tion ofhandrails and foot restraints. A lunar soil penetration experiment was conducted aboardthe aircraft to study load-bearing characteristics of lunar soil and performance of theLRV wheels on the moon. The KC-135 was flown in parabolas, with 30 seconds ofweightlessness a :hieved on each parabola in a technique that most nearly duplicated zerog [644].

On August 31 NASA published its "Skylab Launch Readiness and Delivery ScheduleML-19," which moved the scheduled Skylab lal,.' -,cti date to November 1, 1972, anddropped the July 15, 1972, target date scheduled under the earlier ML-18 schedule.

On Septembe r 3 MSFC awarded the Ball Brothers Research Corporation, Boulder,Colorado, a $195 000 space agency contract to study a solar telescope for possibleinclusion in a manned solar observatory on a future flight "_pportunity. A t the time ofthis contract award, NASA's first manned solar observa tory (Apollo Telescope Mount)was scheduled for launch in 1972 as an element of the Skylab cluster. This ATMcontaining solar experimen ts designed by five principal investigators was being built atMSFC. The space agency had asked Ball Brothers to define requirements for a 26-inch,solar telescope as a major new experiment to be included iq a follow-on observatory[645].

On September 8 NASA issued a supplemental agreement to _he McDonnell DouglasAstronautics Company in the amount of $97 057 455 for S-IVB program realignment.The basic contract, with a value of $1 026 393 830, covered the furnishing of the S-IVBstages for Saturn iB and Saturn V. The supplemental agreement adjusted the contract asa result of schedule stretchouts. Costs would cover storage of completed stages;maintenance of ground support equipment, tooling, and facilities over an extendedperiod; and maintaining engineering capabil ity. Period of performance under theagreemen t would be extended from May 15, 1970. through July 31, 1972. The contractwas being administered by MSFC which had responsibility for Saturn vehicle development[646].

MSFC announced on September 8 that the flight design of the Saturn Workshop, a partof the Skylab program, would be accep ted in a series of important reviews schedule d forthe nex t few weeks at MSFC in Huntsville .an d at Huntington Beach, Cal ifornia.Government engineers, astronauts, and industry representatives woul d determine i ;changes were necessary before the final approval would be given for completing t;,e fligh tWorkshop cur rently scheduled for launch into earth o r bit in 1972. Fir_. in the reviewseries would be an astronaut procedures review on S eptember 9 _, ',2 10 at MSFC.Astronau ts would s 'udy many proposed Workshop procedu r es in a . ockup. A critic Adesign r eview woul d be conduc ted Sep tember 14 -18 at t he ,_,,.Donne ll DouglasAstronautics Company facility a t Huntington Beach, California. M,, ,_mell Douglas , xas

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SEPTEMBER 1970

manufa cturing tile Workshop for the spa ce agenc y. More than 2 00 governmen t andindustry represen tatives were expe cte,t to particip_te in the cri tica! design review. AWorkshop crew sta tion review would be held Sep tember 21-24 at MSFC. Astronau t

crewmen would "walk through" m any of the Skylab tasks in this review.

Results of the reviews would be considered in a Workshop Critical Review Board meetingOctober 2 at Huntington Beach, with Leland Belew, manager of the Skylab ProgramOffice at MSFC, presiding. Many of the same participants would have taken part in aprelimi nary review of the results September 28 and 29 at Huntington Beach, wi th Wi lliamK. Simmons . Jr., manager of the Workshop project under Be!ew. acting as chairman[6471.

On September 8 MSC and Nor th American Rockwell Space Divis ion selectedMesserschmitt -Boelkow-Blohm of Munich. West Germ any, and B AC of Bristol, Englan d .to conduct subsystems studies for NAS A's Space Shuttle. In a major step forinternational cooperation in space, Messerschmitt would study the attitude control systemand BAC would study structures , aerodynamics and flight=test instrumentation, and datahandling under contracts financed by their respective governments. Work would beperformed in Downey, California [6481.

Dr. Ernst S tu hlinger headed a four- member MSF C team that attended a Space S tationmeeting at Ames Research Center on September 9 and 10. At the meeting wereapproximately 500 NASA members, company executives , representatives from universitiesand colleges, engineers, scientists , and members of government from both inside the U.S.and abroad, in r, 'oorting to Dr. Rees concerning the meeting, Dr. Stuhlinger indicatedthat there seemed to be general concensus that the three major projects in the spaceprogram fo r immedi ate consideration should occur in the lollowing priorit y: (1)broa dactivi ties in a pplications an d explora tion; (2) Shu ttle; (3) and the S tation. The concens us

seemed to be that the U.S. at this time could not afford all three. Therefore, the firstshould have highest priority• The Shuttle would be useful without the Station, but theStation could not be operated and utilized properly without the Shuttle. Therefore, theShutt le should have Priority No. 2, an d the S ta tion shou ld be postpone d until thefinancial situation proved to be better in terms of the nation's space commitments [649 ].

, MSFC a nnounced on Sep tember 10 th at a test model of the Apollo Telescope Mountsolar observatory was being returned to MSFC. from MSC where it recently underwent

. extens ive therm al vacuum chamber tests. Tbe ATM thermal systems unit was beingbarged to Huntsville from Houston. Upon arrival here in late September, the model

" woul d be disassembled and used in other test programs. The unit's rack , without the, experiment canister, woul d be converted by MSFC into an astronaut trainer. This trainer

would be sent _ ,ack to MSC for use by Skylab crewmen there. The experiment canisterwould be used in further environmental control system evaluations at MSFC.

Thermal vacuum cha mber tests of the ATM test model were complete d on August 17,well ahead of schedule, in the MS( ' Apollo vacuum test ch amber. The ATM pr ototypeaad fligh t units, both of wh ich were being fabrica ted at MSF C , would be flown toHouston fo r a series of tests in the same vacuum chambe r . The ATM would have a

262



SEPTE MBE R 1970

cluster of telescopes and other scientific instruments which would be used to study thesun from earth orbit - abe ,r e the distorting effect nf the atmosphere. The A TM wasscheduled for launching in 1972 as a part of the Skylab program 1650].

One of the extensive recommendations of the report of the Apollo 13 Review Board wasthat "'N ASA should conduct a thorough reexamination of all of its spacecraft, launchvehicle, and ground systems which c ontain high-dens ity oxygen, or other str ong oxidizers,to identify and evaluate potential combustion hazards in the light of informationdeveloped in this investigation." Further indication of NASA's extensive reappraisalfollowing the Apollo 13 accident was included in a September 15, 1970, letter from DaleMyers to Dr. Rees in which Myers requested that "a similar investigation...beundertaken to include the MSFC in-house facilities, laboratories, and test equipmentwhich may handle high-density oxygen or other oxidizers and are not directly related tothe Apollo program. I think that we would be in a vulnerable position if we were to havean accident in one of our facilities not directly related to Apollo and had not examined

these with the same rigor that we exercised in examining the Apollo flight and groundsupport systems."

Dr. Thomas O. Paine, who joined NASA in 1968 as deputy administrator and becameadministrator later that year, departed NASA on June 15 to return to the GeneralElectric Company. No successor was named immediately. During an earlier pressconference Dr. Paine said that Dr. George Low would automatically become actingadministrator pending action by the President [651].

MSC amlounced o n September i 5 the selection of Singer-General Pr ecision, Incorporated ,Link Division, to receive a $4-million, cost-plus-award-fee contract to design, develop,install, and support a Skylab simulator for astronaut and ground crew training at MSC[6521.

On September 21 a Saturn Workshop crew station review began at MSFC as a part of theSkylab Program. A group of nine astronauts headed by Richard Truly participated in tileweek-long review conducted in a mockup at MSFC. Government and industry engineersmGnitored the astronaut crewmen's progress and commented as they "'walked through '. 'many of the Workshop tasks. Medical experiments scheduled for tile Skylab flight werereviewed during the week. This crew station review followed a critical design reviewconducted September 14-18 at the McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company facility atHuntil;gton Beach, California. At the time of this review, McDonnell Douglas wasmanufacturing the Workshop for the space agency [6531.

Meetings to select requirements for the main engine design of the proposed Space Shuttle

began on September 22 at MSFC and continued through the following day. About 100people from three NASA centers, the U.S. Air Force, and several NASA contractorsattended the series of meetings. Tile work of three stud) , contractors for the SpaceShuttle's main engine was reviewed. The companies were Aerojet General Corporation ,Rocketdyne Division of North American Rockwell Corporation, and Pratt and WhitneyDivision of United Aircraft Corporation. At the time of this 2-day meeting ',he threecompanies had 1 I-month study contracts with NASA for main engine design work. Theyeach had spent abo ut 3 month s on their pr eliminary study. Dec isions were currentl y

263

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being made on wha t would b e required for t l,_ Shu ttle' s main engine sys tem. Th econtracto_ would thell incorp orate these req uirements into their studies. Attending themeetings were representatives from NASA Headquarters , MSC, MSFC, and the Air Force;

Space Shuttle study con tractors from McDonnell Douglas Corporation and NorthAmerican Ro ckwell Corporation; and th e three main engine study contractors.Preliminary design reviews fo, the three contractors were s cheduled to be h eld at MSFCm about 2 months, giving the companies a final 6 months to comple te their design w orkbetbre their study contracts ended [6541.

As a |ollowup to Dale Myers' July 2 letter to the Center Directors concerning the Apollo13 Review Board Recommendation No. 9, Charles Mdthews on September 25 wrote Dr.Eberhard Rees confirming arrangements for a Skylab subsystems review, with a reviewteam headed by himself which would meet at MSFC on November 17-19 , 1970, and MSCand KSC early in 1971.

The last in a se ri es of 15 Saturn V first stages (S-IC-15) was successfully captive- fired for2 minutes 15 seconds at MTF on September 30 , thus ending a 5-year static firingprogram at MTF. Captive testing of the S-IC stages had begun at MTF on May 16 , 1967,to check out and flight-certify stages for manned lunar missions. Meanwhile , as a result ofNASA direction in February and March 1970 to delete the requirement for storage ofstages at Se al Beach, five stages (S-II-I 1 through S-II-15) would be shipped from M TF toKSC du ri ng the 6-month period between July and December 1970. The S-II finalassembly line at Seal Beach came to a halt with the completion of systems installation ofthe S-I1-15 in July 1970. This final stage was checked out and shipped to MTF inSeptember [655, 6561.

NASA's Flight Research Center announced on October 12 that tests had demonstratedthat unpowered app roa ches and landing maneuvers of the Space Shuttle could be madesafely and readily by qualified pilots and did not require highly trained test pilots. Pilotshad flown landing app r oaches in a f our-engine jet transp ort configured to simulate theSpace Shut tle duri ng a NASA stud y of energy-management techniques f or the proposedShuttle Orbiter [6571.

After issuing requests for quotations to 13 aerospace finns for a study to de fine spacebiology payloads for possible use in a manned earth orbital research facilit y, NASAawarded the $230 528 contlact to General Dynamics /Convair on October 13. The _mesResearch Center would assist MSF C in dir ecting this 12-month study and woul d beresponsible for experiment selection and definition. At the time of this announcementAmes was actively engaged in development of biological flight experiments f or the Sky labprogram and unmanned mission s. The overall purpose of the study would be to learn the

problems involved in inte grating space b{ology ex periment s with manned space flights,particularly spac e L'iology app licable to manned eart h or biting space stat ions. Pa yloadsdescribed in this study would feature research act ivities defined by NASA as suitable fo rincorpor ation in the manned ear th orbital space program in th e pe riod 1974 to 1980[6581.

Cosmonauts Adrian Nikolayev and Vitali Se vastynov, c r ewmen for the Soviet Soyuz 9,arri ved at MSFC on October 2 0 for a 2-da y visit. Astronaut Edwin Aldrin, a member of

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OCTOBER 1970

tile Apollo 11 luna r landing crew, accomp_ mied the two Soviet cosmonauts as hos t forthe American tour [659[.

Oil Octo ber 21 Russian Cosmonauts Sevastyanov a,d Nikolayev were briefed on theSkylab mission during a tour of MSFC [660].

On October 26 and 27, U.S. -U.S.S.R. talks on the possibilities for compatible rendezvousand docking arrangements in space were held in Moscow between the NASA delega tionheaded by MS C Director, Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, and a Sovie: Academy of Sciences teamheaded by Academician Georgy 1. Petrov. During the exchange of basic i nformation ondocking systems, NASA officials described Gemini and Apollo techniqLes, pr ocedures,and docking adapter s and the Skylab project. The Soviet team d 2scribed plans lbr afuture system similar to Apollo's, with a tunnel between the spacecraft to accommodatedocking apparatus. Agreement was reached that 12 scientific technical elements requiredfurther jo int stud y, including gu idance sys tems for rendezvous , docking hardware,

coordinate systems , and reference markings [6011.

On October 28 MSFC modified an existing contract with the Boeing Company for workon Satum V launch vehicle's fir st stages. The contract modification totaled $21 029 756.This change extended Lhe contract performance period through March 31, 1973. Spaceagency officials said that tile extension was caused by a redirection of tl Y Apolloprogram calling for longer periods between missions. At the time of this modification, tileBoeing Company was building the Saturn V first stages (S-IV) at the Michmld AssemblyFacility. Work tinder this c_', ltract modification would be performed at the Michoudplant 16621.

MSFC announced on October 29 that NASA had issued a request for quotations for a

study entitled, "Shuttle Orbital Applications and Requirements." As envisioned at thetime of this reqt , est for quotation, the vehicle would consist of a lar ge booster stage thatwould carry the orbiter t o an altitude of abou t 200 000 feet bef ore _eF::r ating an d flyingback to earth. The smaller stage , carrying the payload , would proceed to orbit , completethe mission, and return to earth. Under direction of MSFC, the contractor selected wouldanalyze the use of the Space Shuttle and flight systems delivered by it to earth orbit, fcaccomplishing and supporting various prospective missions. The contract would do thepreliminary de finition of a selected manned-support module and any other new hardwarenecessary to supplement the orbiter's mission support capability. A manned supportmodule - like a small "house trailer in space" - would be carried to earth orbit by aShuttle vehicle to serve as temporary living quarters for a crew of four. It would be smallenough to fit into the Shuttle cargo bay, probably about 20 feet long and less than 15

feet in diameter. It would have no propulsion system. The support module could bejoined with experiment modules, satellites, planetary probes, and other objects.

/dso, the con tractor would define the opera tional and design in terfaces be tween theground support systems, Shuttle, manned support module, special purpose flighthardware, and prospective payloads or classes of payloads. Another objective of the studywas tc provide total mission descriptions, including definition of the new flight hardwarerequired, systems interfaces, s,apport requirements, new hardware costs and schedules, al,dpertinent integration and p: 'elaunch schedules for selected Shut tle-payload combinations.Due date for the quotations was set as November 23, 1970 [6631.

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NOVEMBER 1970

i On November 8 NASA invited industry t o submit propos;:ts on the prelim inary design ofa Research and Applications Module (RAM ) which could be used with the Space Station

'_ and Space Shuttle currently being studied. Proposals for the 12-month des ign stud ies

i would be due January 8, 1971. Conceptual (Pl.ase A) studies of the RAM had recently: been completed. The firm selected for this new contract would carry the work through! preliminary design. At the time of this invi tation to submit proposals, NASA wasi studying the use of a Space Shuttle for low cost transpor ta tion to orbit, and it was. studying the Space S tation as a semipermanen t facility wh ich would have general and

special purpose laborat ories. The RAM concept offered an economical wa y to extend thei capabilities of both the Shuttle and Space Station. These modtfles would provide versatile

and economical laboratory facilities for doing earth orbital research and applicationswork. Two modes of operating RAM units were being considered by the space agency.Plans were to operate RAM's either attached to the Shuttle or Sp ace Sta tion or asfree-flying units. Free-flying modules could be returned to the earth by the Shuttle or tothe Space Station for servicing and maintenance. Such free-flying modules might be

required for experiments which could be extremely sensitive to vibrations, con tamination,or unique pointing accuracy 16641.

An awards ceremony to observe the successful completion of more than four years ofSaturn V launch vehicle test firings occurred at MTF on November 9. Among guestsinvited to the ceremony were Mississippi Governor John B. Williams an d U.S. Senator

, J ohn Stennis. They headed the list of federal, state, and local government officials who, paid tr ibute to the work of several thousand workers a t the NASA tes t site during the

Saturn V test program. MTF workers represented NASA, private contrac tors, an ,t severalother government agencies. In addi tion to NASA officials attending, mayors and othergovernment officials from MTF's surrounding communities and counties in southernMississippi and southeas t Louisiana 'also attended the ceremony [665].

Ou Novemb, r 9 NASA's Apollo 14 spacecraft was moved from the assem01y building tothe launch pad at KSC in preparation for the launch toward the moon on January 31[6661.

A proposal for a Space Station to be assembled in orb "_ one module at a time was bei ngstudied at MSFC and MSC, NASA announced on November i2. This Station , to providea centralized facility for research, applications, and operations for 6 to 12 men over 10years, would be composed of cylindrical modules 14 feet in diameter and 58 feet long,joined to form a variety of shapes. Ind ividual modules would be carried into orbit on areusable Shuttle vehicle. This Station would be assembled within mon ths in a circularorbit 200-300 miles high with a 55 degree i,lclination [66.1.

Two Skylab Program reviews were under way as of Noven'.t ,er 17 at MSFC. Anextravehicular activity critical design review was being held at the Skylab mockup areaand the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator. The EVA review, which star ted on November 16,included astronaut performan ces under normal earth glavity in the Sa_ ' .rn Workshopmockup and s imulated weightle._sness in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator. i_n astronautsfrom the Manned Spacecraf t Center, headed by Russell Schwetckart, took part in thereview activi ties on November 16. The review lasted a week.

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NOVEMBER - DECEM BER 19 70

Charles W. Mathews, Deputy Associate Administrator , Office of Manned Space Flight,NASA Headquarters. was cllairman of a Skylab Subsystem Review Team meeting whichbegan the same day The team members inspected the Sk_ .b mockup area, touredsimulation facil ities in Astrionics and Manufac turing Engineering Labora tories , and viewedApollo TeIescope Mount hardware being assembled in the Ma,lufacturing EnginemingLaboratory. The review team ended its act ivities on Now'mber _Q [668].

A major milestone in the manned hmar roving veb;cle (LRV) program was reached o lNovember 17 when a special training veh icle arrived at MSFC from the Boeing Company,LRV prime contractor. The vehic lo, called a "I-G trainer" because it wot, ld operate inearth's gravity, was built tbr Boeing by its major LRV subcontractor, the DelcoElectronics Division of General Motors Corporation "This milestone is second inimpor *,ance only to the final accomplishment of delivery of the l..-st flight LR V," saidS.F. Morea , LRV project manager from MSFC, during brief delivery cmemonies at theGM Defense Research Laborator ies. Santa Barbara, California, where the trainer was bt,{It.

Morea, Astronaut Charles Duke, and offick.ls of both Boeing and De lco Electro nics werepresent at the informal ceremony. The I-G trainer would be shipped to MSC to arrivethere in about 1 week. The vehicle would be used in a training program to teachastronauts how to operate the vehicle under many simulated s ituations [669].

On November 18 the fl ight model of the Skylab multiple docking adapter was flownfrom MSFC to Martin Marietta Corporalion Space Center in Denver , Colorado aboardthe Super Guppy aircraft. It would be outfitted with controls and display panels for solarastronomy and earth resource experiments, storage vaults for experimen ; fiin, ':nd athrust-attitude control system. When conlpi ,'tely equi 2ped, the adapter wn_,ld be matedwith the Skylab a irlock flight versmn at McDonneil Douglas Astronautics ( ,.pany in St.Lou is, Missouri, and the unit would perform a simulated mission in the altitude chamber[670l.

On December 2 MSFC announced that a Saturn Workshop would be shipped onDecember 4 from the McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company faJlity _,'.HuntingtonBeach, California, t,. M3C in Houston, Texas, for extensive grotmd tests. This Workshopwas a ground test version of one which would be used in the Skylab Pxcgram toaccommodate teams of thre ,, astronauts for stays of up to 56 days in earth orbit [67i].

A 2-week preliminary design review of main engines for the proposed Space Shuttleended at I_.SFC on December !I. More than 170 representatives of government andprivate industry attended the meetings. About 60 represe ntatives were from the threeprime study contractors for the Shuttle 's main propulsion system: Aerojet GeneralCorporation, Pratt and Whitney Division of United Aircraft Corporati_m , and Rocketdyne

Divisien ef North American Rockwell Corporati.on. Gowmment participants represch,edNASA Headquarters, the U .S. Air Force, and several NASA field centers. The threeaerospace companies had I l-month study co ntracts with NASA to defi ne Shut /.le enginerequirements, provide p0ototype designs, and determine design feasibility to meettechnical requirements. The purpose of these mee tings was to review the designapproaches taken by the contractors, to discuss potential problems in th; designs, and toassure that all thlee efforts were proceeding satisfactordy under the same basic design

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DECE MBER 1970

requireme_ ts. Jerry lh omson, chief engineer of the Shu ttle Eng ine Office , Space ShuttleTask learn , was coordinator for the meeti vgs [672].

A meeting to review two parallel _ tudies of a propo_.d chemical ; ,nter-orbital SpaceShuttle was held at MSFC on Dece , aber It ,. Two aerospace flints , North American

Rockwell C orporation and McDonnell Douglas _,sttonautics Company, were makingdetailed anal yses of wha t modifica tions would be r equir ed to adap t either t he second(S-II) stage or the thir d {S-IVB ) stage o f the S_.turn V launch veh.cle in to an inter-orbi tal

Shuttle fo r opera tion to and from earth o rbit and luna r orbit. MSFC managers we r eassuming that further l unar explo-afion, if appr oved and funded, wot, ld requi r e a Shu tt lemuch larg er than the Apo qo spacecraft in order to transpor t larger pa yloads and crewsbetween earth orbit and the moon. Primar y objectives of the two analyses were to makeprel iminary designs of how the s tages mos t be modified , deteJ..,i ne orbital launch

operai,ous a_l d p rocedures , and gather in formation on preliminary cos t ,, logistics, andfacili ties. Which ever stage woul d be chosen would be ca r ded into ea r th )r bit att ached toa newl y developed Space Shu tt le boos ter . Nort h American was building the S- If stage andMcDonn ell Douglas was building the S-IV B stage. Abou t 45 people, mos t of them from

MSFC, att ended the all-da y mee ting, called a "'mid- term review" because the two7-month studies w er e now half comple ted. Both effo r zs began Sep tember 1 and w ere dueto end April i, 1971 [673, 674].

The three companies conducting nuclear Shuttle studies for MSFC gave progress reportsto Center authori ties in a series of mee tings on December 16 and 1 7. The finns ca r r?':-lgout this wor k were lockheed Missi les and Space Company, North Amer ican RockwellCorporation, and Mc _nnell Douglas Astronautics Company. In addition, severalcompanies conducting technology studies related to the reusable nuclear stage wereschedu led to prepare summary repor ts. They included General Dynamics /Fort Wor th,

Whi ttaker Corpora tion, Hughe s Aircraf t Compan y, Aeroje t Nuclear Sys tems Company,and North American Rockwell. These technolog_ studies werz being done under the

direct; 'm of the MSFC Astronautics Laboratory [6_51.

As NASA neared the end of 1970, there was much activity relative to the movement ofSaturn stages. A few days before Ch r istmas two Saturn V flight stages (S-II-15 andS-IVB-512) were en route to KS C, and a Saturn Workshop test model would sooncomplete its joumey to MSC in Houston: MSFC had shipped both the vehicles.Meanwhile on December 18 the ship Point Barrow had reached the Michoud Assembl yFacility in New Orle ans from California c arrying the Saturn Wo rkshop and theS-IVB-512. The Workshop was unloaded for later shipment to MSC while the S-I 1-15,which had been brought from MTF the previous day, was loaded aboard the PointBarrow for the remainder of abe trip to KSC. The ship would reach KSC on December20. where the two s tages would be s tor ed un til neede O for flight m issions.

The Workshop vehicle destined for MSC, known as the "'dynami c test a ,'ticle ," would: leave M tchoud December 31 a board the MSFC barge Orion . It would be unloaded a t a

NASA dock a t Clear Lake, near MSC, the firs t such hardware to move to the Hous toncenter in this manner. It was to arrive on January 5, 1971. The Workshop model would

I undergo a se r ies of tes ts at MSC to verify i ts bending and vibra tion charac teristics.Ano ther Sa turn V stage, the S-I1-13, was taken f rom a tes t stand on December 18 a t

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I DECEM BER 197 0

MTF. T ile _tdg c would be prepared durin g, the following two weeks for shipment to KSC.it was sched uled to be loaded aboard the barge Poseidoh December 30 at M TF. The

barge w ould leave Mich oud on December 31 for the trip to KSC [6761.MSFC announced on December 22 that highlights of 1970 at MSFC included: launch efan Apollo /Saturn V vehicle, (AS-508); renaming the space agency's embryonic SpaceStation project Skylab; continuing work on the Space Shuttle and Space Station; doingearly planning on the unmanned astronomy satellite HEAO; Dr. Eberhard Rees' beingnamed M 3FC director. These and other highlights combined to make the first year of thedecade an eventful one at NASA's largest field center [6771.

MSFC old-timers were reminded in the winter of 1970 that the Center's work policyduring severe weather had changed considerably over a iO-year span. in early MSFC daysth,,'re had been a liberal policy relative to granting administrative leave to employees whodesired to go home if the impending weather seemed threatening. But in a December 23,

1970, announceme _,t MSFC Deputy Director, Management, R.W. Cook, wrote amemorandum to employees stating that, "As you know, we are approaching the time ofyear when the Huntsville area is apt to suffer its most severe weather conditions. MarshallSpace Flight Center em ployees are remin ded of their respo nsibility to prepare them selvesand their vehicles for possible hazardous travel conditions. 1 urge each of you to beprepared by acquiring tire chains, snow tires, shovels , etc. As in recent year s, workactivity at the Marshall Center will continue during severe weather, and the granting ofadministrative leave and excused absence because of weather conditions is notanticipated. If, however, an individual feels personal danger is involved in tr_,veling towork, annual leave may be granted" [6781.

An assessment of the feasibility of providing a crew rescue capability for Skylab wasconducted by the three MSF Centers during 1970. This culminated in a Headquartersdecisieq to provide a limited capability based on fail ,ire of CSM return capability whiledo, to the Saturn Workshop. The rescue " z:;_,,le for the first two Skylab m;_sionswo_ be the next Skyl,_' vehicle in flow at KS C . Upon receipt of a rescue call, thein-flow CSM would be prepared for launch after some minor modifications to permit atwo-man crew launch and a five-man crew return [6791.

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J ANUARY 1971

1971

On J ........... r_ vR thr,_.... _.r-sr.c"_ "'," ......eams, inclu ding seven -_,,rope-n firrn.s as pros_' ctivemembers, submitted proposals on the preliminary design of a Research and Applications

Module (RAM) for NASA. NASA was considering the RAM for use with the SpaceShuttle and the Space Station currently being studied. Submitting proposals for the RAMwere teams headed by General Dynamics, Convair Aerospace Division; General Electric ,Space Division; and Martin Mariet ta, Denver Division. Conceptual (Phase A) studies of theRAM had recently been completed; the team selected for this new c ontract would carrythe work through preliminary desi_. For the purposes of this preliminary design study,tile first module launch would be Flanned for 1978 and would be a part of the modularSpace Station which would have an orbital lifetime of 10 years or more or, alternatively,

operate in a Shuttl e sortie mode. The max imum size of a module would depend upon tileShuttle's cargo capacity. This could be 14 feet in diameter and up to 58 feet long, witia aweight of 20 000 pounds [6801.

On January 22 more than 150 representatives of governmentsand industry attending aquarterly review at MSFC inspected a mockup of one Space Station concept under studyby NASA. This mockup depicted the proposed 12-man station coacept studied by theMcDonnell Douglas Astrona utics Co mpany for MSFC. A 50-foot tall structure, 33 feet indiameter, the mockup had four decks and a large simt,lated po.;ver section. TheMcDonnell Douglas space station concept was based on guidelines which included usingthe two-stagt. Saturn V as a launch vehicle. The Space Station could be placed in a lowearth orbit of about 250 miles; its lifetime would be 10 years. McDonnell Douglas hadrecen tly been asked by NASA to extend the Space S tation stud y contract to include thepreliminary design and planning for a modular Space Station of a smaller diameter.Several Space Station configurations and module combinations which could be assembledin orbit fi'om modules sent from earth in a Space Shuttle would be examined. The studywas making use of the data produced in the preliminary design of a larger diameter

station 1681 !.

On January 29 President Nixon delivered to Cofigress his proposed budget ,'or Fiscal Year1972. MSFC Director Eberhard Rees wrote a detailed letter to MSFC employees stat!ngin detail the probable impact of this proposed budget on MSFC. "1 regret.., that I mustadvise you there are reductions within the total budget, namely in the personnel area,which will affect the agency's civil service employment levels .... A reduction in civilservice employment.., in each element of the agency will be necessary. Marshall will berequired t o reduce fr om our present streng th of 5804 to 5507 by the end of June 1972.We expect to achieve this reduction through a combinatmn of normal attrition ,retirements, and ! am sorry to say, RIF procedures. Due to the difficulty in predictingattrition for the next 18 months, it is not possible at this time to determine exactly howmuch of the required reduct ion wc will be able to achieve through attrition andretirement. I assure you that I will advise you as soon as we can determine this."

Apollo 14 vehicle (Saturn V 509 ) proved to be one of the best performing vehicles in theSaturn V seri es as it lifted off from Cape Kennedy at 3:03 p.m. CST January 31 , 1971,after a 40-minute-2-second hold caused by weather. Low clouds in the launch s ite areadelayed the launch for the first time in the nine vehicle Saturn V series. The Saturn V

1

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JANU ARY - FEBR UARY 1971

509 was also several t housand pounds heavier t han a ny of t he earli er v ehicles. Lift-offweight for th is vehicle was estimate d at 6 423 754 pounds. Commander of the Apollo 14was Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Lunar Module Pilot was Edgar D. Mitchell , and CommandModule Pilo t was Stuar t A. Roos a.

The first (S-IC) stage inboar d engine cutoff occurred ex actly on time at 2 minutes 14.7seconds. Outboard engine cutoff came at 2 minutes 43.5 seconds, one-half second early.The second (S-iI) stage inboard engine burned for 4 mi nutes 58 seconds. Nominal burntime for this engine was considered to be 4 minutes 57.6 seconds. The S-II outboardengines oper ated for 6 minutes 33.4 seconds. The f our eng ines were sche duled to opera telor 6 minutes 30.5 seconds. The third (S-IVB) stage first burn was 2 minutes 20.4seconds; nominal time for the burn was considered to be 2 minutes 25.7 seconds. Asecond hum of the third stage's single J-2 engine took place about 5:30 p.m. on January31 The 5 minute 52 second burn speeded the s tage and Apollo 14 spacecraft out ofearth orbit on its way to the moon. Walter ! Kapryan , director of Launch Operations,_dd immediately after the launch that early data indicated there was no "turbulence or

pogo" as experienced on earl ier flights.

Onboard TV was initiated to cover the CSM docking with the LM, but difficulty indocking was encountered. The first five docking attempts 0y CM pilot Roosa wereunsuccessful. Mission control at Houston, watching on TV, studied this problem thatcould preven t the extrac tion of t ile LM and make lunar landing impossible. Altem,, temissions also were under study. The a_tror, auts noted that catches seemed properlycocked but did not release. However , the sixth try was successful , although docking wasachieve d I hour 45 min ute s later than p lanned.

Apollo 14 entered lunar orbit at 1:55 a.m. February 4. Touchdown of the "Antares"occurred at approximately 3:16 a.m. on February 5. Aboard were Shepard and Mitchellwho made two "moonw alks." During their stay on the lunar surface the n ,en set up aseries of experiments and conducted geological surveys of the area around the Fra Maurolanding site. The two gathered approximately 80 pounds of lunar material for return toearth. Shcpard and Mitchell had a two-wheeled pull-cart carrying experiments and geologytools during their lengthy field geology trek. The astronaut's main problem was lunardust which stuck to their space suits up to their knees. Just before reentering the LMShepard drcpped a golf ball onto the lunar surface and on his third attempt drove theball about 400 yards, the first golf ball hit on the surface of the moon.

While the LM was on the moon, Roosa, orbi ting the moon in tile CSM, comp letedphotography of the Descartes landing site and astronomic photography.

The LM carrying Shepard and Mitchell lifted off the lunar surface, 33 hours 31 minutes

after landing on the moon. During the braking phase for docking, telemetry indicatedtheft the abort guidance system had failed, but no caution and warning signals were on.Dock ng was accomplished successfully on February 6 , and the crew traP.sferred from theLM to the CSM with st'mples, eq uipment, mid film. The transearth injection maneuverwas on schedule, and the CM Kitty H awk separated from the SM. Parachute deploymentand other reentry events occurred as planned, and the Kitty Hawk splashed down in themid-Pacific about 4 nautical miles from the recovery ship USS New Orleans at 3:05 EST

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1971

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274



:_ FEBRUARY 1 971

on Febr uary 9 . The astronau ts were c arri ed by helicopt er from the CM to t he recov ery' ship. where the y entered the mobile qu arantine facilit y with the recover y physician and

_cchnician. The Apollo 14 had bee,: the l tth Apollo rni__iQr l to date. the 8th mannedApollo mission, and the 3rd successful lunar land ing missi on [682, 683].

Requirements lbr seven astronomy experiments for a proposed High Energy AstronomyObservatory (HEAO) were defined under contracts awarded by NASA, effective February1, 1971. The HEAO spacecraft was envisioned as a 21 000-pound , 30-foot-long craft,designed to carry relatively few but heavy instruments, accounting for more than half itsweight. Planning called for the spacecraft to be launched by a Titan IIID rocket into a230-statute-mile orbit. MSFC was directing the HEAO experiment definition phase (PhaseB) studies. Shoul d the HE AO become an approve d flight program after the definitionphase, the instruments study w otdd be considered for the first HEAO m ission curr ently

planne d for m id-1975 [6841.

A high-level advisory group responsible for guiding NASA in all aspects of mission safetyopened a 2-day meeting at MSFC on February 8. The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel,which was app ointed by the NASA administrator, was hea ded by Dr. Charles D.Hanmgton, president, Douglas United Nuclear, Incorporated, Richland, Washington. A tMSFC the group discussed safety aspects of the lunar roving vehicle, the Skylab cluster ofspacecraft , and the pro posed reusable space vehicle (Space Shuttle) [685].

On February 1 0 the Kenne dy Space Center awarded a $9 17900 contrac t to theHolloway Corporation of Titusville, Florida, to construct a launcher-pedestal that wouldbe used during the upcoming Skylab Program. The 127-foot-tall pedestal would beadapted to an zxisting Launcher-Umbilical Tower so that manned Saturn IB spacevehicles could be launched from facilities now supporting the larger Saturn V rockets.The Holloway Corporation contracted to construct th '_, launcher-pedestal in 180 days

after receiving its notice to proceed [6861.

Accumulators for center engine feedlines were being installed on all second (S-1I) stagesof the Saturn V launch vehicle under terms of a cor_tract modification granted to theNorth American Rockwell Corporation by MSFC on February 12. The modificationamounted to $2 163 217. The w or k was being done at the contractor's plant at SealBeach, California, and at MTF. It was to be completed by June 1972. The accumulatorwould lower the frequency of the line to prevent unusuall y high oscillations like thoserecorded during the launch of Apolio 13 in April 1970. Those oscillations caused an earlyshutdown on the S-II center engine, although the launch vehicle met all flight objectives.The f;rst accumulator in this modification was installed on the Saturn V vehicle thatlaunched Apol lo 14 on January 31, 1971. No unusual oscillations were recorded duringthe launch [6871.

In a February 18 memorandum to all employees MSFC Manpowe Director Paul Stylesstated, "The Civil Service Commission has incorporated in the Federal Personnel Manual(Supplement 831-1 Subchapter S-I I) a policy a,d procedure statement providing moreflexibility in permitting retirements in situations where those retire_ _e nts will help meetneeded reductl ans in personnel strength." This memorandum was distributed in an era ofsteady output of retirement bulletins informing employees of various i_ o,sibilities inherent

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1971

Crew compart ment stowage review benc h Astronauts sampli ng food in wardroo mcheck component layout duri ng workshop crew compart ment

stowage review

A dozen of MSFC's 15 taxicabs and thedrivers lined up fo r a quick photo in thespring of 1971 . Shuttle buses had been

removed from the routes for a trial period .LR V flight unit

i

' " i

_" " . C'- " Dr . James C . Fletcher

_ql -" •Ill*w, , berame NASA's_l_'_t _--:' z-. _' fourth Administrator

Itand controller o n LR V no. 2

Workshop .flight unit in assemblyat MDA C -WD

276



FEBRUARY - MARCH 197 1

in earl y and r egular r etir emen t fr om the gover nmen t. Back gr ound for t his letter wascontinuing pr obabi lity of a r educ tion-in-for ce at t he Cen ter [688]

On February 23 MSF C gran ted to the Interna tional Business Machines C orporation a

contract modification for the manufacture of instrument units (IU) for Satu_ launchvehicles. Valued at $14407 743, the modification would extend IBM's delivery schedulefor IU's through December 31, 1973, to be compatible with the extended Apollo andSkylab Program launch schedules. IBM was under NASA contract to build 27 IU's forSaturn veh icles: _2 Saturn IB 's and 15 Saturn V 's. Ten of the Sa turn IB units and 12Satu rn V units had been completed. All work was bei ng done at the company's facilitiesin Huntsville, A labama. The o ri ginal IU contract had been granted to IBM in March 1965for the fab ri cation, assembly, checko at, and delivery of the 27 units and related supportfunctions [6891.

NASA announced on March 1 that it would modify the formel Saturn V second (S-II )stage test facilities at MTF for tile Space Shuttle engine testing, l ;i.-.ns were to convert

two former S-II stands for testing the shuttle's orbiter and booster engines. A contractfor the final design of the required modifications to provide two operable engine teststands was awarded to the architect-engineering firm of Sverdrup and Parcel andAssociates, Incorporated, St. Louis, Missouri. The total price of the design contract was$447 000. The modifications that would be required to convert the existing S-II standsfor Shuttle engine testing included the ad,-Ftion of l iquid oxygen and l iquid hydrogen runtanks, a th r ust measur ing system, an d modi fications to the stan ds' structu ral, mechan ical,ahd elec trical systems. The M issouri ar chitect-eng ineeri ng finn would provid e theengineering drawings an d specifications that would be nee ded to acc omplish theconstruction effort. Engine testing was planned to start in the second quarter of calendaryear 1973.

NASA also announced that testing of Space Shuttle engines under simulated altitudeconditions would be done at the A ir Force Arnol d Enginee r ing Development Center,Tullah oma, Tennessee. Some 100 development tests un der simulate d altitude conditionsat AEDC were planned, beginning in 1974 and running through 1976. Selection of the.two test sites was made following studies by a Si te Evaluation Board which surveyedexisting government-owned or controlled sites with proven capability of reasonablepotential to accomplish Shuttle engine testing. This selection of the engine test site wasthe first step in carrying out a master plan for Shuttle facilities. Work was currentlyunder way to identify and define detailed technical and operational requirements forother Space Shuttle facilities. A decision on the location of a vertical launch facility wasexpected in the fall [690, 691 ].

NASA on March 1 asked three aerospace firms for proposals concerning the development

of the main engines that would power a two-stage reusable launch vehicle (SpaceShuttle ). The firms were tile Aer ojet General Liqui d Rocket Company, Sacrament o,Californi a; the Pra tt and Whi tney Division of Unite d Aircr aft C orpor ation, West Pa lmBeach, Florida; and the Rocketdyne Division of North American Rockwell Corporation ,Canoga Park, California. Since June 1970 all three companies had been performingpreliminary, design and definition studies of the Shuttle engine under independent,parallel contracts costing $6 million each. As of this request for proposals one of thecompanies woul d be chosen to devel op the engine [ 6921.

277



q

1971

I"

o

....... \" t.;.,- /. " _e,

Airlock flight unit in assembly " \ " "at MDA C -ED

A TM/light experiment NRL -A incheckout at MSFC

- ' r , I_,_,_, _.-_..._ - : I: r "'_"'_ "

,4TM prototype co ntrols and d ispla ydur ing checkout at MSF C MDA structural test hardware

at MSFC's PE La b

Space Shuttle sortie mission

pressurized laborato ry concept

Saturn V paremeters

278



: MARCH 1971

; On Ma r ch 1 Presiden t Nixon submit ted to Congress the nomina tion of Dr . James C .Fletcher to be th e new NASA Admi mstrator. The s enate confirmed Dr. Fletcher i 1 dayslater on March I 1 [693].

Follow.lng a "Sonic Boom Meeting " at LRC in which participants from ARS , LRC, FRC,MSC, and MSFC discussed sonic boom relative to the planned shuttle flights, Dr.Eberhard Rees requested, on March 5, policy guidance from Dal e Myers concerning "justhow much of the sonic boom business is to b e discuss ed internally and with contractors."Dr. Rees pointed out that ther e would be a Flight M echanics Working Group meeting atMSFC the following week and that sonic boom was oll the egenda. Dr. Rees wanted toknow if this should be cancell ed, or just how much should be discussed. Myers said thathe woul a get with Donian "and they would get a policy to Dr. Rees oil this, hopefully

by Monda y or Tuesday" [694].

On March 10 the first flif ,nt model LRV that would be lofted into space by a Saturnvehicle was tbrmally delivered to NASA in a ceremony at the Boeing Company's Space

Center at Kent, Washington. MSFC Director, Dr. Eberhard R ees, accepted this first ofthree flight models from Boeing Company Group Vice-Presi dent for Aerospace, O.C.Boileau. This model would be shipped to arrive at KSC on Mart .n 15 for final checks andinstallation ahard the Apollo 15 LM. This delivery would be two weeks before the Aprilt contract delivery date [6951.

On March 10 MSFC modified a contract with Chrysler Corporation to authorizeadditional work in the Saturn IB program. Chrysler was the prime contractor for the firststage of the Saturn IB, which it assembled at the Michoud Assembly Facility in NewOrleans. Under the current $29 136 622 modification, the company would maintain nineSaturn IB boosters in storage. Three of the nine vehicles were for the Skylab programand would be launched in 1973. Those three, plus a fourth that would serve as a backup,would be maint_ .ined and modified as necessary under terms of this contract. Prelaunchcheckout of the Skylab vehicles would also be accomplished under this modification. Theperiod of performance was from January 1, 1971, to August 15, 1973. Six of thevehicles were located at the Michoud Facility, and the other three were at MSFC inHuntsville [6961.

The first lunar roving vehicle arrived at KSC on March 16, 1971. During the deliveryceremonies Boeing personnel presented Dr. Eberhard Rees and MSFC with a license platefor the vehicle [6971.

MSFC announced on March 31 that NASA had modified its contract wi;h the BoeingCompany, Huntsville, Alabama, for the design, development, manufacture, and delivery ofthree lt, nar roving vehicles lbr the Apollo Lunar Exploration Program. Total estimated

cost to contract completion was $37.8 millionl The contract included procurement t,:three lunar roving vehicles and a number of test articles, plus subsystems t or a fo.i,thvehicle to be used as spares. The lunar roving vehicle would be sent to the moon on ,"eApollo 15 mission , scheduled for Jmy 26, and again on Apollos 16 and 17 in 1 ,"_Boeing delivered the first flight vehicle on March 15, two weeks ahead of schedule, , w'.!deliveries of the remaining two flight models were anticipated earlier than .,Jntr;.,requirement. Tile tour-wheel v ehicle would pr ovide transpo rtation for two as tronauts ,rod

279



1971

III

St._tte with fuel drop -tanks (concept) Spacecraft com munications modes

', .: : "_._.

In addition to its role in t he SkylabConcept of Skylab crew rescue Progra m the S-II stage , shown here, is

command module envisioned as servicing the S pace Shuttle

" Xz /Rese_..ch Applicati ons Module .,

Stacking oj ' Skylab pa .:Smd asse mblyat MSC for acoustic testi ng

280



MARCH - APR IL 1971

their tools, scientific equipment, and lunar sampl es collected duri ng several traversesacross the luna r sur face. The astronauts arid equipment would weigh 1000 pounds -twice the weight of the vehicle itself. Boeing had been selected in October 1969 as the

vehic!e development contracto, _ for MSFC [6081.

On Arril I MSFC awarded to Ai_ Preducts and Chemicals Corporation, a contract for the_upply and delivery of liquid hydrogen for all government aerospa, ,e use in the easternUnited States. The 1-year cont ract would end March 31, 1972. It was valued at$2 249 700. NAS A's Saturn i."-unch vehicles were the prime users of liquid hydroge ,-.,which was the propellant for the second (S-ll) and third (S-IVB) stages of the Saturn ¢"vehicle and for tile _cond (S-IVB) stage of the Saturn IB vehi cle. NASA, through MSFC,supplied liquid hydrogerl for "allGovernment agencies in the eastern U.S., including theAtomic Energy Commission and the U.S. Air ,"_¢ ,-e Air Products and Chemicals washeadquartered in Allentown, P ennsylvania , but i_ f_q uid hydro gen sup ply and d eliverywork for NASA would be done from a pla nt at New Orleans, Lou isiana [6991.

Dr. Eberhard Rees, Director; Richard Smith , Saturn Program Manager; and several othersfrom the Marshall Center attended a Design Certi fication Re view of the Apollo 15 andother "J" missions i n NASA Headquarters on April 5 and 6. Also attending the reviewwere representatives from MSC, N ASA Headquarters, and the DCR Board. The purposeof the review was to certify the ch aa ges on Apollo 15 that had not been on previousmissions to the moon. These included nev, experiments, use of the lunar roving vehicle ,and changes to the spacecraft [700 ].

Abot :t 400 person s from aerospace companies and Government agencies attended aconference at MSFC on April 6 and 7. Approximately 50 of these w ,'re from foreigncountries - mostly Europe. The conference participants discussed space vehiclepropulsion s ystems with an operational life requirement of I00 flight missions. This wasone in _ series of space shuttle technology conferences being conducted by NASA atseveral locations from March through May 1971. The theme of the conference was thatthe Shuttle would he a more economical approach to a var iety of space missions. All thelaissions would be manned, but d ,_rint; some flights unmanned satellites coul d bedepos ited in o r r etr ieved from ear th ,'fLit. Cha irman of the conference w as J erryThomson, chief engineer for the Space Shuttle main engine at MSFC. Thomson pointedout that the Shuttle would demand major advancements in propulsion technology beyondthose applied in the Apollo program. The Shuttle was projected as a vehicle about 250feet long which would take off vert;cally. The booster would have a swept wing and 12engine s. During launch, the booster would have another airplane-like vehicle - called anorbiter - riding p iggyback. At an altitude of about 250 000 feet, the orbiter wouldseparate from the booster and continue to fly into space under the power of two engines

in the ta il. Once in orbit, it could delivery carg9 or could be used as a space laboratoryfor up to a week. It normally would carry a two-man crew, but it could also carryadditional passengers in the cargo or passenger compaltment, which would be about 15feet in diameter and nearly 6 0 feet Iol:g. After separation, the booster would return toearth and land Ilk ,; any large airplane. It, too, would have a two-man crew. Following thespace mission, the orbi ter would also re turn to earti l and land like an airplane. NASAhoped tt , have an operational Space Shuttle by 197 9 [701].

281



282

l



APRIL 1971

MSFC a nnounced on April 9 fllat NAS4. ha d asked i ndustry to pr opose me thod_ fordetermining long-li fe mechan ,cai cc ,mponents for r et;sable vehicles, suc h es the SpaceShuttle, sa tellites, Space S tations, and o ther space-r elated equipmen t. S.B. Wynn of

MSFC's As tronau tics Labora tory said, "We' re looking fo r components that can ope ratefor many years.' He said that t ile Sa turn rocke t developmen t effo rt called fo r extr emely

high reh ability of componen ts , but no t necessar ily long l ife: Saturns were expended witheach iatmcb. Indus trial fi rms we r e asked to submi t proposals concerning short te r m tes tmethods to prove the long lift' of mechanical componen ts [702].

On April !2 space en_nee r s and as tronau ts studied Sk ylab Wo r kshop s towage facili ties

during a re view a t MSFC. As trr. nauts taki._g par t per formed Workshop ac tivationproced,tres, reviewing each c_:," artmer , storage areas and running through deactiva tionproc,_dures. Astronat , ts part ,tip, . '_g included Alan Bean, Charles Conrad, Joseph Kerwin,Paul Weitz. Wal ter C _zin_" , ,. Gerald Car-, Russell Schweickart, William Lenoir. andRichard Truly i 7 .')3I.

Or, April 13 NASA published "Skylab Launch Readiness and Delivery Schedule ML-20.' "which moved th e scixeduled Skylab laum.h date from No vember I. 1972 , to April 30.1973.

P/ Apld 15 the proposed Skylab rescue mission profile requirements were: the trajectoryplamling for a rescut mission would l:e the same as the -aominal Skylab mission nomin zlmission duratit fr m:a launch to recovery would be limited to 5 days; the orbitalassemo ly would .aneuver tosprovide acquisition ligh t _ppor: ,or the rescue Commandv,ld ., ;"_ Mfdule tC SM): file rescue ( 'SM would be capa' Ae of rendezvous without• ;2t7" - ing; lailding and recovery w uuld be planned for the primary landing area;t,wsl,.. :f the crew from the MDA _o the CSM would be in shirt_leeves (no

extravehicular activi ty); the KSC rescue launch response times would vary from i0 to

45;A days de pending on the transpir ed time into the normal checkout flow [704].

MSFC announced on April 17 that 15 taxicabs bad replaced the Center's shuttle busesfor a trial period. This was an._ther example of reducing costs because of budgetaryrestrain ts [ 705 I.

As _,Jorkmen at KSC installed the first fligh; run nel lunar roving vehicle abo ard theApo :i,J 15 lunar mod ule, MSF C scientists an ., te_.hnicians con*inued preparations forMSFC 's closest c oordina Oon of activities with any moon lantnng to date. MSFC preparedto simulate in its Computation Labora tory the three exploration trave rses to be made bythe Apollo 15 LR V..ks a contir, g, .._cy measure, MSFC would use its computer resourcesto simula te every inch of tire plogress ot me LRV occurr ing simul taneously on d_ e moon17961.

At KSC on April 25 workmen installed the world's first flight model lunar rowng vehL :leaboard the _ molio !5 lun_ ' r module. The LRV would transpor t astronauts on three•xoloration, tr_velses of tL_ , :looi_"s tladley-Apennine area ddring the Ap ollo 15 mission.sci_cduled to begi r , Juiy 2,3. Workmen ;a staded tht: LRV in a triangular s torage bay of thelunar nl odtlle's descen t stage [ /071.

283



1971

r .,.Hadl ey-Apennme. landing LR V on Hadl ey rille _"7"_

site of Apollu 15 duri ng Apollo 15 missio,l __.]"_ " "4.

First deep -space EVA wasperformed during Apollo

• 15 mission

_!C'

AT r ototenit at MSC

____'.,__ Airlock payl oad shroud flig ht

_! _ti_. _ unit biconic section be ing Payload shroud flighttransferred from final unit in final assembly

.. ' . _ subassembly fixture to final at MDAC -WDP .,.i_a-._. ' assembly reasse mbly.

t . "ql, a_ \ r° . 2 "

Angus L . Bevt.. threatened io slap her hand if Linda . , .(Mrs . Chester) Foreman "_

o, CCtriedtoabscond i:_'_ :__with one of the small

packages decorat :g his "Chri stmas tree in ,lie

lobby of Building 4200 Skylab/MD ,_ NASA trainer - interior viewduri ng Christ mas 19 71 .

284

d



APRIL - M AY 1971

MSFC anrl ounced on April 3 0, 1971 , tile retirement of Lee B. James, Direct or ofProgram Management at MSFC , the retirement to become effective on May 31.Succeeding him as Acting Director of Program Management would be J. T. Shepherd. In1963 James had b ecome manag er of tile Sa turn 1 an d IB Program, th en had joined

General Phillips in OMSF for i year as Deputy Director of the Apollo Program. Upon hisreturn to MSFC he was appointed Saturn V Launch Vehicle Manager and later becameManager of the Saturn Program. James was appointed the Director of ProgramManagement at MSFC upon the transfer from MSFC of General Edmund F. O'Connor onJuly 28, 1 969. As Dilector of Program Management James had directed both the Saturn 1and Saturn V projects. Program Management under James also ilad charge of the SkylabProgram, Mission Operations, as well as the management of the Michoud Assembly

Facilit y and the Mississi ppi Test Faci lity [708].

In a prominent front-page story Huntsville's largest paper, The Huntsville Times .sub-headlined on Ma y 9, 19"71, "'Plan gives Shuttle to Houston." The article went on tostate, " Marshall Space F light Center wo uld have a subsi diary role in the proposedearth-to-earth orbit Space Shuttle under a current plan being studied by the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration. Houston's Manned Spacecraft Center appears tobe emerging as the lead center with a lion's share of the anticipated effort headingthere." The article added that tl -e decision was still under discussion and not final."Marshall Center and the Manned Spacecraft Center had been in a foot race for monthsto try to win either sin_e center management or a 50-50 split. While the plans bei ngreviewed lays [sic] heavily in Houston's favor, some experts emphasize that discussionscould alter the plan to be more compatible with Marshall Center's capabilities."

On Ma y 10 the first segment of an LRq qualification test un it was de livered to MSFC,with the last segment arriving on May 26. The first fli v,ht LRV would go to the moon onApollo 15 in July 1971 , as reported previously. The quahfication unit was a replica offlight LRV's. it would be at the Marshall Center through the Apollo 15 mission, where itwould be used for possible troubleshooting while the fi rs t flight LRV was making threeexplorati on traverses of the hmar surfac e. The second flight LRV w ould remain atBoeing's Ken t Space Center near Seattle until after Ap ollo 15. It w ould be joined intemporary storage by the tnird flight m c,Jel, due for delivery to NASA in June. Thequalification uni t would u ndergo sever al tests at MSFC before it was prepared for usedu_mg Apollo 15, when it would be deployed and checked at MSFC as its counterparttransport ,-d two astronauts on the moon [709].

In a M'jy 13 news conference at MSFC , NASA Administrator Dr. James C. Fletcherannoun ,.ed that no decision had been made concerning the location of hcadqu' :rtcrs forthe sought-after Space Shu tt le system con tract. D r . Fletcher told newsmen that he co_idnot understand the apparently deep local concern about the Shuttle beca rse "no matterhow the decision is ma de , the Marshall Cente r will get a sizable, if n ot a major

responsibili ty." He said fur ther, " there is no way to predic t at this time" where themanagement will be headquartered. Until word could be received flora Congres_ aboutnext year's funding, wh ich was expec ted to be "small, $100 milli on or so," no detailswill be fo rt hcoming, D r . Fletcher said. "i think flla t 's coming too," D r . Fletcher added,r eferr ing to potential Cong ressional app ropr iations. Fu ture manpower reduc tions we r e notexpec ted to be a pa rt of MSFC's fu ture, he pr edicted. Af ter t he las t announced d rop of

285



! ii i

197,

m, .* ,' %', , :"_T " ._ _

o • 2

1 . li *

Th_ Apollo 15 cre w cra mmed a lot o f _._: ' _._,,,,_activity i nto the six ho urs th o' spent at

MSFC in October of 1971 . They thanked Commonalily of Satttrtt hardwareemployees for t he Saturn V and [ unar

Roving Vehicle t hey used o n their lunarlanding mission . Some reoresentative scenes

appear here . David Scott (top left) sig nsautographs o utside BuiMmg 4619. crewand Dr . Rees (top right) examine LR V

model; a ,zd Irwin signs attt ographs as prettyfan watches and others wait in li ne

(botto m photo) .

:¢¢r"_ Worksho p l-g trainer deli vered to MSC

from MSFC (cre w quarters view)

View of Satur n ! Works/top mockup _x_ )" M-

4

Airport _'oncept f.'_r ShuHle

Astronaut Ed Gibson (ce nter)

practices EVA in NeutralBuoyancy Simulator at MSFC

286



MAY - J UNE 1 971

297 emplo yees flora the pay r oll, to be completed by July 1971 , no more reductionswere expected to b e announced toe MSFC , Dr. lZletcher said. fillS was consider ed to beanotl;er indication that MSFC would have a major Shuttle role 17101.

On May 24 Director Rees reminded MSFC employees of his January 29 letter concerningthe President's budg et to Congress and the probability ol personnel redu'tion at MSFC.Dr. Rees wrote, "I can tell you now that the effective date, NASA-wide, of thereduction-in-force has been set by Headquarters as October t, 1971. This means thatnotices to tile affected employees will be distributed on or before tile 16th of August."NASA's agency-wide reduction rate would be 5 percen t for each Center [7!11.

MSFC ann ounced on June I tilat a recent rocket engine test firing at MSFC had led toextension of the "certified lifeti me" of seals, O rings, an d gaskets in all t ypes of rocketengines and stages of Saturn IB ard Saturn V vehicles. In effect this extended the storagelifetime of the 2'- ) Saturn stages then in existence from 8 years to 10. Nin e S-IB (first)stages and seven S-IVB (second ) stages of the Saturn IB, plus five S-IC (first) stages, fiveS-II (second) stages, and three S-IVB (third) stages of the Saturn V , were awaiting use atthe time of this test. More than half were scheduled for use before the end of 1973, butsome were presently unc ommitted and were in in definite st orage. As part of a conJnuingtest series, engineers at MSFC took a single H-I engine, number H-2033, from storagewhere it had been "hibernating" for almost 9 yt lrs. The engine had been kept in itsoriginal conliguration. The test consisted of three starts of the engine and a full-durationrun of 140 seconds. The engine performed as well as it did when it received its initialqualification test firing. The tests were conducted by the Test Division at MSFC, andexamination of engine components was by the Materials Divisi on of MSFC's AstronauticsLaboratory. The Quality and Reliability Assurance Laboratory performed complete,_re-test and post-test examinations of the engine [712].

On lune 2 MSFC awarded a contract modification to the Rocketdyne Division of NorthAmerican Rockwell Corporation for continued support work on rocket engines for Saturnlaundl vehicles. The $26 228 158 contract modification covered the period from July 1,1971, through December 31, 1972. At the time of this modification, Rocketdyne hadbuilt and delivered file F-I, J-2, and H-I engines that powered the Saturn IB and Vlaunch vehicles. This contract modification allowed the continued analysis of engineperlbrmance, field engineering, logistics, and retention of a Rocketdyne problem-solvinggroup [713].

On June 3 the United States House of Representatives breathed new life into theblossoming U.S. Space Shuttle Program when members shouted down efforts to cut outtwo Apollo moon llights and the proposed Space Shuttle program. Instead, the Houseapproved a $3.4 billion authorization for the space p cogram. Attempts to cut $400million for the final Apollo 16 and 17 flights scheduled for 1972 and $125 million tostart d;v Aopment of the Space Shuttle to ferry passengers and equipment to spacestations were overwhehningly defeated by voice votes. NASA's authorization for the fiscal

year star tit _g Ju ly I then passed the House 302 to 64 and wen t to the Sena te [7141.

287



1971

_tt " | ._.'2 "_'--t

Installatio n into Workshop fligt:t unit Saturn V/Skylab lau nch configurationprior to start of checkout

SPA CE_ :i:] _'_s'

..._, F AClU_: . "k-..,'Y_S: Seven astronauts were at the Marshall

"_._" " '_ ,_._ " , Center in November 1971 to inspect the'_.__-- _'__"" Lunar R ,,.'ing Ve.hielea nd participate i n

Artist's concept showing facility deployment exercises . Four of the group" are sho wn here . They are (I to r): Johnfor space astr onomy Young. commander for A pollo 1 6, ;Eugen e

C,.'rna n, commander fi)r Apolk J 1 7,"FredHaise , Apollo 16 backup comma nder; and

Charles Duke , Apollo 16 lunar module

pilot. The LR V shown here was a(" , qualifi catio n test model use d in ti_e' deployment exercises .!

w• | . •

Rollout of Apollo 1 6

288

.r \r ' • °



JUNE 1971

O:_.June 3 a Sk ylab Works hop test unit a rrived at MS FC a board t he NASA barg e Orion .It cam e from MSC where i t had been t hroug h vibra tion and a cousti c tes{ilJg. Th is testunit was a ground t est ver sion of the Wo lkshop [715].

On Jun e 7 in a st ep to,x,ard building orbi tal Spa ce Station , the Soviet Union's mannedSoyuz i l link ed up with the spac e labo r atory. Sa lute laun ched 7 weeks ear lier , and thr eecosmonau ts went a board. The two craft tog ether form ed a ve hicle 60 feet Ion _, 12 feetin diameter , and weighing 25 ton s. Portending an era of or biting Spac e Sta tions in whichMSFC hoped to play a ma jor rol e, the R ussian ne ws agency declar ed , "'A Soviet mann edorbita l scienti fic sta tion is f unctioning ." The linku p clima xed a chase throug h spac elas ting mor e than 25 hour s. Soyuz I I str eake d into or bit the mor ning o f June 6 andbegan purs uing Salute , lauoched April 19. Aboard S oyuz 11 were three cos monauts:Victor Pa tsayev, Viadimir Volkov, an d L t. Col. George Dobovolsky [716].

On June 10 N ASA ou tlined its managemen t plans for the Space Shuttle Program. Over a llmanagement of the Space Shuttle P-ogram would be in the He adquarters Office v,Manned Sp ace Flight which would be responsible for detailed assignment ofresponsibilities, basic performance requirements, control of major milestones, and fundingallocatio ns to the various NASA field centers. Dale D. Myers, Associate Administr ator forManned Space Flight . assigned responsibilities to the three Manned Space Fligh t centersfor the Space Shuttle Program as follows:

1. Manned Spacecraft Center would have program managemen_ responsibility forprogram control , overall systems engineering and system integration, and overallresponsibility and a athority for definition of those elements of the total s ystem whichwould _nteract with other elements, such as total configuration and combinedaerodynamic loads. MSC also would be responsible for the orbiter stage of the SpaceShuttle.

2. MSFC w ould be responsible f or the b t;oster stage and t he main engines f orthe Shuttle.

3. KSC would be responsible for design of launch an ,_.recovery facilit ies.

All three cen ters would have pers onnel located at MS C as part of the overal l systemsengineering and systems integration activit y.

Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator , had the following additional commentwhich was of interest to MSFC:

in reaching the decision on the man:_gement of tile Spacc Shuttle program ,

we have also decided that future programs under the Office of MannedSpace Flight will be managed in a similar way, wherein a ce at er will begivel: a major integration responsibili ty com mensurate with its experience,skills and workloa d. It is currentI y planned , for example, that thisintegrating responsibilit y will be assigned to the Marshall Spa ce Fhght

289

tl

_,..



1971

t '_=-L " _

_ql _, •F

_ _ .,

Preparation of MDA fli ght unit]br shipment to MDA C- ED

39-hot diameter vacuum chamher aslid is being secured J br test

290

j,



JUNE 1971

Center for the Research and Applications Module studies now underway,and for any otiler Space Station studies at the end of the current Phase 1 tstudies.

In a large headline Huntsville's major morning newspaper, the Hun"s t,illeNews , declared:

Reactions vary here today in file wake of hhe announcement that whileHuntsville gets the Shuttle booster Houston gets the leading managementrole, but all seem to agree on this: Huntsville's glad it's been given thech_ce to develop the booster for the reusable Shuttle craft, but the cityhad certainly hoped for more. Says county commission chairman JamesRecord: "The space program here got the low end of tile totem pole. Thiswill probably maintain the current level of employment here, but what wehad really hoped to see was growth. If we had gotten the managementposition , employment certainly would have increased in Huntsville andMadison County."

The paper quoted one MSFC official as saying:

Tile way the responsibilities have been _..otted is going to cause MSFChere considerable difficulties. In the past, Houston had handled thespacecraft, Huntsville the actual rockets, and Cape KenneJy the launchdetails. But Thursday afternoon is an unlooked for shift in policy, NASAdecided that the t_zree centers would no longer work autonomously as inthe past. During previous operations, Huntsville's MSFC has answereddirectly to the Apollo office at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.But now Huntsville will answer to Houston.

The paper further quoted the Marshall employee, who preferred to rep'ain unidentified,as stating that Ma_.'shall"will find it very hard to develop :he booster part of the Shuttle.NASA is now asking one center to make distribution to the other centers and to itself. Ifit com ,_, to a choice of giving funds to Houston or one of the other centers, Houston isgoing to get it." The paper added that the Marshall employee is among ranking men inthe administration of the space flight center here. He said, "the situation could evencause the center te dwindle if enough [ sic] funds are cut." HuntsviUe's job, he said , "willbe ten times tougher than it was under the Apollo system." The paper quoted Mayor JoeDavis as saying, "We had hoped that the headquarters would be here in Huntsville, butthis will be a boost to the city's economy, and will help to keep the space program herefrom dying out" [ 717, 7181.

In a June 11 lead editorial entitled "The Shuttle Pie," The Huntsville Times wrote:

The organizational pie for management of the U.S.A. Shut tle Program hasnow been officially sliced by the powers in Washington, and we cannotsay we are pleased with how the pieces of the action were partialed outamong the space agenc y's field centers. According t o the NASAannouncement yeste rday, Mar shall Space Flight Cen ter here will beresponsible for developing the booster portion of the proposed 2-stage

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Shuttle, but the smaller Manned Spa cecraft Center in lt ouston has w onoverall ............... '..... _g....... r c:;pon_ibility fo r fftc cJ_tire program as we ll as the jobdevelopment of the Shuttle 's orbiter craft... One ca r. definitely question

the efficacy of the decision to make NASA's Houston installation "thelead center" for the Shuttle program. This step marks an unexplaineddeparture from the highly successful approach following the projectApollo , in which no lield center was to serve in another but all answerdirectly to a central project office at NASA Headquarters and one canquestion the wisdom ot assigning to the Houston C, .nter the responsibilityfor the so-called integration of so large a space vehicle as the 2-stageShuttle. This is precis ely the kind of challenge that Marshall Centerlaced.., and successf, dly met.., in overseeing the development of thegargantuan , multistage Saturn V launch vehicle for Apollo, while MSC inHouston handled the st ,ace ' :raft end .... The space center in populousTexas did not win its new, pre-eminent role on the basis of in-houseexperience and e×isting res ources alone. We can only c onclude that fact orsother than merit fi gure promi nently in this de cision.

NASA announced on June 16 that it was examining the advantages and disadvantages ofa "phased approach" to the development of a reusable Space Shuttle system in whi ch theorbiter vehicle would b e developed first and initially tested with an interim expendablebooster. In a "phased approach," full scale hardware developme nt of the reusable boosterwould be started la ter, but some design and preliminary development work for it wou ldproceed concurrently with development and test of the orbiter. For the interim boosterNASA and its industrial contrac tors would study the use of a modified Saturn S-IC (firststage of the Saturn V that launched Apollo flights to the Moon) , a booster based on theTitan I!1, and a booster system using solid rockets. The c ontractor studies nearingcomplet ion as of the date of th is announcement confirmed the feasibility and desirability

of a reusable Space Shuttle as .the key element of the space transportation system whi chwould meet the continuing needs and long-term objectives of the Uni ted Stated in space.

In making the June 16 announcement, NASA Administrator Ja mes C. Fletcher said:

The preferred configuration which is emerging from these studies is atwo-stage delta-wing reusable system in which the orbiter has externalpropellant tanks that can be jettisoned. Although our studies to date havemos tly been based _ n a "concurren t approach" in which devel opmen t andtesting of b oth t_'._ ,_rbi ter and the boos ter stage_ would pr oceed at thesame time, we have been stu uying, in parallel, the idea of sequencing thedevelopmen t , test , and verification of cri tical new technology features ofthe system. We now believe that a "phased approach" is feasible and mayoffer significant advantages. We belie ve that the additiomd studies we arenow undertaking, together with those previously undertaken and nowbeing completed, will put us in a position to make a decision this fall onthe technical and programmatic approach to be followed in the SpaceShuttle p rogram [7191.

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_" In a leading front page story, tile Huntsville Times oq June 17 , 1971, expressed fu.rtheralarm concerning MSFC's prospects in what it considered the MSFC /MSC competition _.'the Shuttle program. Under the headline "NASA eyes plans for expendable ShuttleBooster ," the story declared , "the possibility of a phased approach to the development ofa reusable Space Shuttle system ... with already available engines being used ... is beingseriously considered by the National Aero nautics and Space Administration. Under theplan, the orbiter vehicle w otdd be develope d first _'nd initia lly tes ted with an expendablebooster, probably a modified first stage of a Saturn V moon rocket, a booster based onthe Titan 111,or a booster system using solid rockets." The article went on to express thefear that this likely "decision would highly strengthen Houston's job in systemsintegration for both vehicles, sources here contend, as well as increase Houston'sresponsibility as the lead center for the Shuttle development." The paper quoted NASA'snew administrat or, Dr. James Fletche r , as stating, "we n ow believe tile 'phased appr oach'is feasible and may offer significant advantages." The paper indicated that such a decisiondid not bode well lbr MSFC.

After asking 19 companies with experience in communkatk, ns aqd navigation to bid on a10-month study eftbrt fllat would define experiments and instrumentation necessary for a;nanned communications attd navigation research laboratory, NASA awarded the contractto TRW on June 18. Such a laboratory could be launched late in the decade by a SpaceShuttle. The laboratory was envisioned as one of a class of Research ApplicationsModules that would bc flown aboard the Shuttle. Such a iabora.ory would be used forvarious demonstra tions, measurements, and tests. Generally, it would be oriented towardimproving communications and navigation on earth. Some of the experiments discussedincluded laser commu ,tcations, satellite navigatton techniques , terrestrial noisemeasurements, transmitter breakdown tests, noise identification , and autonomousnavigation systems for space. MSFC would monitor this contract valued at $288 000[7201.

On June 21 four MSFC engineers took part in discussions with Russian counterpartsregarding the possibility of developing compatible space docking equipment. Tile meetingbetween U.S. space agency officials and about 20 Russian officials occurred at theManned Spacecraft Crater. Attending from MSFC were George ttardy of the Skylab.",..gram "-?.ffice,Joe Cremin of the Aero-.,otrodynamics Laboratory, Melvin Brooks of theAstronautics Laboratots', and Robert G. Eudy of the Astrionics Laboratory. Hardy hadbeen in a group of five Americans who initiated these discussions in Moscow duringOctober 1970 _' 1211 ,

On June 23 NASA awarded a contract to North American Rockwell Corporation , SpaceDivision , Downey , California, for studying the feasibility of developing a low-cost ,reusable chemical propulsion stage that could be !aunched front earth on the Space

Shuttle boos ter and then subsequently refueled in space for up to i0 space missions. The10-month "phase A" contract was for $250 000. This vehicle could be used for a high-liftcapability to low earth orbit, the placement of large payloads of the order of 100000pounds to geosynchronous orb it , and even tually for lunar and unmanned p hmctarymissions. At tile time of this contract, engineers at MSF( ' were rquiring that theinterorbitai stage ha ve a lifetime el" thr ee years or 10 uses in space , whichever came firstfrom the cutoff period. It ¢¢ould be designed so that maintena nce could be carried out in

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earth orbit and for a quiescent _tatc in orbit fo, periods of up to 180 days. Theinterorbital stage would utilize many of the components and systems of the Spa ceShuttle; for example, it would bt_rn liquid hyd ,ogen and liquid oxygen and the engineswould be the same as those to be used on the Space Shuttle [722].

On June 23 NASA announo:d receipt of more than 600 proposals from potentialdomestic and i nternational use,s of oata expected from the Earth Resources ExperimentPackage to be carried on Skylat. It was file greatest number of proposals for experimentsever received by NASA in response t_ , announcement of opportunity for analysis ofspace-deriv ed data [72_].

In mid-summer 1971 MSFC officials felt it necessary to reassure MSFC employeesconcerning the extent of the proposed RIF at MSFC. Director Eberhard Rees wrote, "OnMay 24 my letter discussing the reduction-hl 4orce scheduled to be effective on October 1of this year was distributed to all employees .... In view of the recent news story I want

to inform you that what I said in that letter is still valid. Your management has noinformation from any source that in anyway changes or increases the plan for theNASA-wide reduction-;n-tbrce previously announced. The MSFC's share of this reductionis approximately 300 positions. We are not aware of any additional reduction-in-force"[7241.

On June 30 MSFC selected Rocketdyne Division of _; crth American RockwellCmporation to develop tu vbopump assemblies for a hydrogen and oxygen Space Shuttleauxiliary propulsion system (APS ) technology program. Rocketdyne was being asked todevelop the technology and supply the Shuttle APS turbopump assembly "breadboard"for the space agency's technology advancement program. The term "breadboard" wasapplied to a nonflight, working model used for repeated ground tests. There was no flighthardware called for in the con tract. To tal co__ of the 16-mon th contra .zt was $1 016 636.

Rocketdyne w,.s being asked to de ,e lcp three major turbopump components. Theseincluded the turbine, gas generator, p ump, and r:'m ired control valves [725].

On June 30 Russia's worst space tragedy to date brought quick reassurance from NASA

that NASA's Skylab and Space Shu ttle programs ,should no t be affec ted. The tragedyoccuned when the three 3oyuz I 1 cosmonauts died as their spacesuip brought them backto earth from the world's first m3nned orbital space laboratory and a _ecc_ I of nearly 24days in space. An official armouncement said the three spacem en ,L_ _,'olonel GeorgeDobrovolsky, Flight Engineer Vladislav Volkov, and Test Engi_,'_ ,,_ '; ' ,.tor Patsayev)completed their flight program the day before a nd communicated wi_*',,: :,-,und contro a o,their wa y down . Soyuz 11 made a smooth landing where i t was supposed to, th e

announcement said, but the res cue crew that opened the hatch found the men dead. Tile

annruncement published by Tass the official e 'wiet new agency, said the cause of thedeaths was being investigated. It gave no indication what that might be. In a NASA ne ws,_onference called on this same date b y Dr. George M. Low at ':30 p.m., Huntsville time ,NASA expressed condolences over the death of the three cosmonauts and speculated thatit must have been • ,achi ne failure rather than human f_ilure that caused the accident. Dr.Low indicated that a failure i o the environment',l control system was one of the primesuspects. He sta ted that it was eery unlikely th, thir. problem in the Sovie t 's spacec raftwould cause a delay in NASA's _huttle or Sky lab programs [7261.

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The CDDT for Apollo 1 5 began a t 6 p.m. CDT o n July 7. The first hold in the CDDTwould be tor !2 hours and would occur at T-48 hours. The next hold would be for 9hours 34 minutes at T-9 hours. Schedules called for the wet CDDT to begin on July 13

and th e dry CDDT on July 14 [7271.

MSFC announced on July 12 that NASA had selected it to take the integration r ole inmanaging two proposed earth orbital projects currently in the planning stage: The SpaceStation and the Research and Applications Modules (RAM). This action followed asimilar decision to assign the integration role in the S pace Sh,Jttle pr ogram to MSC.Under this announcement MSF C would be resp onsible f or the Shuttle booster design andfabrication, and lbr the mai n engines for both tb _ orbiter and the booster of the Shuttle.Dale D. Myers, Associate Administrator for Mar n_'d Space Flight, made both assignments.

The Space Station had been under study for nearly 2 years. The current concept calledfor a semipermanen_ faci lity in earth orbit which would be carried to orbit b:, the SpaceShuttle• Development of the Space Station would follcw the development of the Shuttle.RAM , a newer concept, would be a family of space payload carrier modul es to bedelivered to earth orbit by the Shuttle. RAM's would be capable of supporting thediverse technological and scientific inves tigations and pra ctical applications. CertainRAM's would remain attached to the Shuttle during short duration missions: otherswould be rel, ased from the Shuttle i, orbit and operate as free-flying, unmanned,automated spacecraft. These free-flying 1__,M's would be designed for long-term usage;they would be serviced and maintained m orbit during subsequent Space Shu ttle missions.

• When the Space Station w ould become available, some RAM's would operate directlyattached to the Station; others would operate it , the free-flying mode and be supportedby the Space Station.

In nlal_ing his announcement, Myers called attention to the present "maj or effort" MSFC

was directing to determine a preliminary design of the RAM. "This study isa

veryimportant effort because it will not only define the early sortie payloads for the Shuttle,but also bec euse it will be one of the first detailed looks at Shuttle payload interfaceproblems and operational reqmrem ,nts [7281.

Confirming NAS A's speculation that the Soviet's space tragedy resulted from a failure inenvironmental control, the Soviet government announced on July 12 tha t a pressure leakkilled the Soyuz 11 cosmonauts one-half hour t_.fore their landing on June 30 and

indicated that huma n er ror rather than a fault in the space shin was responsibl_. Therewas specula tion in the Sovie t Press tha t the men died because they did not seal thelanding craft's hatch properly , and that prolonged exposu.'e t o weightlessness sometimescauses "a false feeling of complacency." This later warning was of special interest toNASA as NASA itself prepared for longe_ flights in space [729].

Or_ July 20, the second anniversary of man's first lunar landing, the countdown began fora fourth American expedition to the l, mar surface. The Apollo t5 iau_ team startedthe c'_untdown clock at 7:30 a.m. EDT, preparatory to their July 20 Jilt-elf. The clockstarted at 104 hours 30 minutes, it would b e halted at several preplanned poi_:s toprovide crew r-_st periods and catchup time on any item tha t might fall be hind schedule(7301.

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A " July 21, 1971, developmen t of ',:.e Lunar Roving Vehicle had utilized the work ofeng;ne z_, technicians, and administra :ive people a_ MSFC, a production tha_ would reachits big test ._r,a little lnore than a week wh en the first LRV woul d be used by the Apollo15 astronauts on the moon. Several M SFC laboratories cop " ibuted to the LRV ProgramOffice during the 17-,nonui LRV development program. Two groups in particular meritedspecial recognition for their work: The Astrionics Laboratory engineers who helpeddesign the LRV system, and the Astronautics Lab oratory people who designed the ve_qclemanual deployment system.

The navigation system first desisned fcr the LRV was very sophistica ted - ar, ,_ _lso verycompli_ ,ated, fragile, _ad expensive. The Astri onics Laboratory Guida nce a_d Cor ztrolsDivision was asked to devise a better system, and the job was given to the .'J ep'orsBranch. Engineers developed a simple, rugged, and cheap n avigati on system base,i oq dea dreckoning navigation, m a s_ ,ries of tests that lasted several months, zqd moved At, m theMarshall Center to Flagstaff, _riz ona, and back again, the Sensors peo ple ran a protJ vl..vehicle to prove that their system w ould work. It did and was made a part of the LRV.

The deployment system ,vas a devel ,_pment of the Astronautics Laboratory. E._gineeringDiJision. A manual system Ihat was or ginally intended as the backu p deployment systemto be used if the primary automatic system failed was devis ed by the Div ision. Problemswith the automatic system led LRV program managers to decide that the backup mant .,alsystem wa_ the most reliable, so ,:he MSFC-developed system became the primary mefl 'odof deployment [731].

It wa_ reported on July 25 that the KSC launch complex where the Apollo 15 sFacecraftand Satt_rn V booster stood ready for lift-off had been struck by lightning Ii time_during the past 6 weeks. Th, . first strike, on J vne 14, had been almost three times aspowerful as the average lightning strike and twp-thirds as stron_ as the biggest lightningstrike ever recorded in ]lorida. On JUly 20 five separate lightning bolts with totalamperage of almost 100e. ,0 amns had been reco ,..Jed. Neither the space_raft nor the

launC_ vehicle had been dam aged . Apollo 15 was the first spacecr aft to have e ve'l anear-miss from ligh tning strikes while beiug prepared for launch [7321.

At 8:34 a.m. CDT on July 26, 1971, Apollo 15 (AS-510) r ose into space from ! ..SCLaunch Complex 39, Pad A. Aboard were Astrona_,ts David R. Scott (con :manuer) ,Alfred M . Worden (CM pilot), a t,_ James B . Irwin (. ' _ pilot). Approximatel, , 1 milliontelevision viewers watched as the Saturn V booste, 6tarted this fourth hmar landingtaissic'a on th_ way t o the moon. Astronaut David Scott commented shortly afterreaching earth crbit, "Okay, she wa_ a smooth ride all tht_ way." Sc ott a J crewmates

_ James Irwin and Alfred Worden seemed to be unusua lly rela: ;ed. There was littleunnecessa ry conversation.

After the spacecraft and S-I VB c_mbination ent,:red parking orbit and translunarinjection was achieved, file docking of th, CSM _ ,i:_: :he LM was shown clearly byonboard color television. One a_.d then a second S-IVB A TS bum sent me s tage towardthe moon. Shortly after the CSM-L M docking, te le:,_e_ry data revealed a n electrical ._ liortin circui try. After troub leshoat i,g isola ted the problem, ground techr, icia ns fel t t hat theSPS bank c ottld be safely oper ,.,+ed manually and modified procedures for b m_k bu_us

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were developed and relayed to tile crew. Sc ott and Irwin entered tile LM 50 minutesearlier than planned, to check out LM communications and other systems. TV pictt,res of.he CSM and LM interiors were shown. During checkout the crew discovered tllat therange /range-rate exterior glass cover had broken, and the crew began LM housekeeping1!3 hours earlier than scheduled and vacuumed the broken glass. During preparations forwater chlorina tion, a water leak de veloped and the cr ew stopped the leak, followingrepair instructions from the ground, and the water was absorbed with towels. Apollo 15entered hmar orbit on the afternoon of July 29. On the afternoon of the following day,at 5:16 p.m. CIr'' v, the LM Falcon touched down on the moon's Hadley-Apennine regionnear the Salyut Crater. The first EVA began the following day, July 31, at 8:1 ,I a.m.CDT. Scott climbed down the ladder, deployed a camera which recorded his dcscet : , andstepped onto the lunar surface; Irwin followed. They had difficulty deploying th_ LRV;during checkout they f otmd that the front steering mechanism was inoperative, and thedecis:Jn was made to perform EVA-I without any LRV front wheel steering. Stops atslat" ns where they collected lunar samples and made photographs were broadcast on

telev .i on _ith excellen t t ransmissi on. Scot t and Irwir,_ r eentered the LM after 6 h ours 33mir.,'.es exploring the surface, 28 minutes sooner than pl.'mned because Scott used upmore oxygen than an ticipa ted.

Beginning their seco ad EVA, the y left the LM at 6:4 9 a.m. CDT on August i. This tim ethe LR V front stee ri ng was found to be completely operational. During this second EVAthey obtained numerous samples and photog.aphs, and "IV transmission was good. After7 hours 12 minutes on the surface d uring the second EV A-2, the astronauts reentered theLM. The third EVA began at 3:52 a.m. CD T on Aug 'ist 2. During this third EVA Scotttripped over a rock and fell, but he ex oerienccd no dif ficulty in getting up. After 4 hours50 minutes on the lunar surface during this fllird EVA, the astronauts reentered me LM,making a total EVA time of 18 hours 35 minutes. While the LM was on the moon.Worden orbited the m oon in Endeavor. To meet him, Sco tt and Irwin lifted off the hmarsurface with 180 pounds of lunar samples on Augusl 2, 66 hours 55 minutes afterlanding on the moon. The lift-off, accompanied by tahcUSAF anth,,m, "Off We Go IntoThe Wild Blue Yon der," was t aped and br oadcast b y the astronauts from the LM, andwas photographed in color by a camera left on the moon and was seen by millions of TVviewers. The spacecraft docked successfully as TV viewers watched, and Scott and irw!ntransferred from the LM to the CSM with samples, equipment, and fihn. The transearthinjection maneuver put file CSM on its trajectory for home after 85 hours 18 minutes(74 rzvolulions) in lunar orbit. The CM, Endeavor, separa:cd from the SM, the drogueand main parachutes deployed, but one of the three main parachutes partially closedduring descent, causing a h arder landing than expected. The CM splashed down in themid-Pacific about 5.5 nautical miles from the recovery ship USS Okinawa at 3:46 p.m.CDT on August 7 - 12 days 7 hours 12 minutes after lift-_ ,ff. The astronauts were

carr ied by helicop ter to tile biomedical area on the reco v,,-ry ship for post -flightexamina tions. Af ter being declared in ve ry good shape, the as tron_luts were flown on thefollowing day t o Hickam AFB, Hac caii, and to Elling ton AFB, Texas. Tile CM wasretrieved and placed on board the recovery ship. The lunar samples, data, and equipmentwere flown to Ellington AFB, and the CM was off-loaded at San Diego. Apol:o 15 hadbeen the 12th Apollo miss;on to date, the 9th manned Apollo mission , and the 4thsuccessftd lunar landing mi ssion 1733-7371.

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JULY - SEP TEMBER 1971n July 30 NASA ¢-_......... ,_u Rocketdyne Di vision of Nt, rth Amer ican R ockwellCorporation. Canoga Park, California . for negotiat ions le_ding t o tile award of acost-plus-award-fee c ontract for the Space Shut tle mai,_ engine. NAS A had recei vedproposals for this program from three firms on Ap ri l 2!, 1971. Tile contractor's proposedcost for the desigrl, development, and delivery of 36 engines by 1978 would beapproximate ly $500 mill ion. MSFC w ould manage the program and w ould supp ort SpaceShuttle orbital fli r,hts begi nning in 1978. The selection followed a 12-month Phase Bcompetition during which contractors conduc ted preliminary design s tudies and producedprogram definitic , n documents for this ensuing phase. The Space Shuttle main enginewoul4 be a hydrogen-oxygen engine employing a high-pressure staged combustion cycle inwhich all of the fuel would be used in the main combustion process to produce thehighest po_ible impulse. The engine, producing 550 000 pounds of thrust a t sea le vel,would be used as the primary propulsion for both the booster and orbiter of the reusableSpace Shuttle. The engine and the Shuttle ve hicle itself would be designed for multiplereuse as in ai r line operat ions. Rocketdyne w ould do this wor k at its Canoga Par k,Cali fornia, pla_.q. In a ddition, engine system development testing w ould be at NASA's

Mississippi Test Facility near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and at the Air F orce's ArnoldEngineerin g Development Center , Tul!ahoma, Tennessee [7381.

GAO investiga lion of NASA's selection of North American Rockwell Division for theSpa '.e Shutt le con tract work was reques ted by Presiden t Bruce N. T orell of Pratt andWhi tney Division of United A ircraft Corpora tion in an A ugust 3, 1971, telegram to U.S.Comptroller General Elmer B. Staa ts. Basis for this protest was tha t source selection haddisregar ded the objective of the RF P, that NASA had failed to conduct "w r itten or oral

discussi ons" on pr oposals, that Pratt and Whitney felt tha t its propos',d was "clearl yentitled to a _ ;uperior technical e valuation to the techni cal proposal of Rocketd yne," andthat NAS A bad failed to give proper c onsideration to "Pratt and Whi tney's test-provenflight weigh t design and greater expe ri ence." In a let ter to Dr. James C. Fletcher, N ASAAdm inistrator, nine sena tors requeste d that no award of the Spa ce Shuttl e engine

contract he ma de until GAO investigati on had been c ompleter, [739].

On August 1 3 , 197 1, Pratt and Whi tney filed a f ormal protest agains t NASA's award of a$500-milli on Space Shu ttle main engine c ontract to North American Rock etdyne Divisionand asked the Federal G overn ment t o reverse th is award . In a !e tt er to GAO, Pratt andWhitney cnar[ed that selection of Rocketdyne was "illegal, arbitrary and c,:pricious, andbased on un: und decisi ons" and reitereated complaints cited August 3 to the G AO[7401•

• On Augus t 31 MSFC s igned a level-of-effor t contract with North American Rocke tdyneDivision for the design of the Space Shuttle main engin e. The interim contract , for 4

• months at $1 milli on per month, had been signed pending GAO review of the pro test of• the contr act award b y the Un ited Aircraf t C orpor ation, Pratt & Whitne y Division [741].

: On Se pt ember 1 the Boe ing Co mpa ny delivered a secon d flight m odel of the LunarRoving Vehicle to KS C for the Apollo 16 mission [7421.

Apollo 15 Astronauts David R. Scott, Alfred M. Worden, and James B. Irwin spent 6hours at MSFC on September 30. The y thanked MSFC employees, shook hands, signed

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autograpi _s, and m ade silart speeches durin g their stay . They madb stop s at Mor risAuditori um ard Building 4707 befor e going to l unch at the Officer 's Club_ an affairattended by 500 pe r sons. In the a fter noon t hey stopped at Building 4619 whe r e theywer e gre eted by the Gr issom High School Band and at Building 4201 wher e Snoopy

award s wer e pr esente d 17431.

in a Sep tember 9 mem or and un_, MSFC s ought t o clarif y for i ts emp loyees t ile rol e ofsupport contr actor s in an MSFC r eduction-in-for ce. Deputy Dir ector, Management , R .W .Cook wrot e, "! feel that it i s an app ro pri ate time to r eaM r m NASA/MSFC p olicyconcern ing the ut ilization of suppor t contr actor s. The work pr eviously per tbr med by anyof our C ivil Ser vice employ ees be ing affected by the reduction-in-force w ill not beassigned to a support contr actor . The C ivil Serv ice emp loyee's duties mus t be elimi natedor absorb ed b y other Civil Servi ce pe r sonne l, if necessary " 17441.

On Sep tember 13 the S-IC- 511 first st age for the Saturn V launch vehicle that wouldlaunch A pollo 16 , next to the last fl ight in t he Apollo flig ht ser:es , was shipped by barge

from the Michoud Assembly F acility , to a rrive at KSC on Sept ember 17 [7451 .

Furt her reduction s in M SFC's R&PM budg et requi red drastic measu res for reducingMSFC' s overall ope rating co st in o rder to stay within t he revised Center budget. Wit h thisin mind, MSF C scheduled a p lan ned reduc tion in moto r pool ::e rvices to be effectiveOctober i, 1971, "as one step in o ur efforts to cu rtail ove rall R&PM cost s." Thiscu rtailment would mean that on- Cente r taxi se rvice would be e liminated , leaving a few

• cabs availa ble for emergency service only [7 46].

On Septem ber 24 NASA ac cepted t he Skylab payload shroud (nosecone) f rom t heMcDonn ell Douglas Ast ror, auti cs Company. This shroud, 60 feet lo ng with a 22-footdiameter, w eighed al most 26 000 pound s and was t he first majo r piece of S kylabhardwa re to be delive red to NASA [7 471.

As of Se pt ember 30 concep tu al drawings of the s tructur al arrangemen ts for t he 156 -inchdiameter, solid-cluster Space Shuttle booster had been completed [7481.

On October 7 N ASA announce d a 6-mon t_q delay in the development of the SpaceShuttle to give con tractors more time to study concept s. Under this new schedule Nor thAmerican Rockwell Co rporation, McDonnell Dou glas Comp any , Lockhee d Miss iles andSpace Company, and Grumman Corporation would study Shuttle designs until April 30,1972. Preliminary design studies were to have been completed by the end of OctoberI749].

On October !1 training mockups of two Skylab spacecraft components (the Orbit al

WorkshoI , and Apollo Telescope Mount) arri ved at MSC aboard the NASA barge Orionfro,_l MSFC. The shipment also included the multiple dock ing adapter exterior shell andport'on of the airlock module mockup. Trainers and hardware would be used by MSC fortraimng prospective Skylab crewmen for missio ps scheduled to begin in early 197317501.

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On October 15 NASA announced tha t Skylab astronau ts would begin extravehiculartraining in pressurized suits in the MSFC Neutral Buoyancy Sp ace Simulator later in1971. Mockups of the Skylab space la boratory modules had been submerged in a watertank 40 feet deep and 75 feet wide, which simulated the weightlessness of spaceenvironment.

On October 19 the Saturn IB first stage for the first manne : Skylab launch vehicle wasremoved from the environmentally controlle: enclosure at Mi_hottd Assembly Facilityafter 3 years in hibernation. This booster, on e of nine IB stages stored there in December1968, would begin a 10-month refurbishme.d program in preparation for launch in the

Sprin g of 1973 [7511.

On November 2 Dr. Fletcher. NASA Administrator, approved the Sk ylab Studen t Project,a joint effor t between NASA and the National Sc ience Teachers Associa tion to stimulateinterest in science and technolog y by directly involvi ng students in spa ce research. In thisproject, experimen ts proposed by students would be conducted by the as tronau ts onboard Skylab in the cou r se of the three planned missions. MSF C was direc ted by theSkylab Program Di re ctor t o per form the developm ent and in tegration effor ts and to bethe NASA int erface wi th the students. Upon selection, MS FC would design and fabrica tethe exp eriments [752].

On Novembe r 10 MSFC issued a $64 389 contrac t to Waldemar S. Nelson and Compan y,New Orleans, Louisiam,, f or a feasibility study of a Space Shuttle fly-away airport [753].

Amid rising speculation as to what the Space Shuttle would eventually prove to be,NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher explained the Space Shuttle current situation in aspeech before the Na tional Space Club in Washing ton on November 18, 1971. He

explained that the baseline Shuttle (two fully-reusable, hydrogen-fueled stages)remainedNASA's preferred app roach, but NASA ha d been stu dying for the past seve r al mont hs anumber of options to the baseline Shuttle. NASA might possibly develop the orbiter andthe boo ster in two phases. The Mark I orbit er could be flown in orbit in 1978, and theMar k II or biter in the early 1980's . Developm ent of the firs t booster could be completedm time to fly th e Mark I orbiter. Studies had been extended for 4 months beginning July1 and th en extended again for up to 6 months beginning on November I in order toreview the above options. As the result of studies to date, NASA's thinking was nowreasonably firm on the orbiter. It would ha ve an external, expendable tank carrying bothhydrogen and oxygen. The main orbit er engine would initially be either an improvedversion of th e J-2 engine used in upper stages of the Saturn V (called the J-2S), or a newhigh pressure engine. For the booster, four major concepts were still under s tudy: Oneconcept would use the F-I engines developed and proved in th e first stage of the Saturn

V. This boos ter would be m anned and would fly back to the lau pch site. The second andthird concepts w ould be unmanned and the bo oster would be recovered fr om the oceanafter a parachute landing. The second concep t would be a single, pre ssure-fed boos terwhich would requi re development of a new engine. The thir d concep t would use tw in,pre ssure-fed boost ers firing simultan eously vdth the orbiter; developm ent of a new en ginewould be r equired. The fourth bo oster concep t would be unmanned an d the boosterwould not be recover ed fro m the ocean [7541.

300

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NOVEMB ER - DE CEM BER 1971

On November 19 MSFC awarded a contrac t to Chrysler Corporation , Space D wlsIon, NewOrleans, Louisiana, for further study of Space Shuttle booster concepts. The contract wasfor $765 000. It would continue through February 29 , 1972. NASA Izad asked Chrysler

to define recove rable booster concepts for the Space Shuttle program. Results from thisstudy and o ther def inition (Ph ase B) stud ies would be used by NASA to select apreferred Space Shu ttle design. Earlier studies had called for a two-stage vehicle, eachstage powered by high-pressure hydroge, engines. I_oth stages would return to the launchsite and land horizontally, like airplanes. In the alternative that Chrysler was studying,the orbiter stage would operate as described, but the booster stage would land in theocean and lye recovered at sea. Chr ysler had also conducted work under a recentl i-month, $750 000 contract for a Shuttle feasibility (Phase A) study. MSFC awardedth_ contract and was directing the work [755].

The Manned S pacecraft Cen ter on November 22 issued RFP's to 10 firms for a $150 000firm-fixed-price R&D contract to study space walking requirements in the Space Shuttleprogram. The proposal called tor an investigation of emergency, contingency, and normalextravehicular and intravehicular activities (EVA /IVA) while outside the earth'satl;. _sphere and calle d also for a stud y of pro tective equi pment needed t o perlbrmEVA /IVA. The'proposals were due on December 6, 1971 [7561.

On November 24 MSFC selected the Itek Corporation to perform a large space telescopedefinition study under a $400 000, 12-month contract. This high-resolution opticaltelescope would be placed in orbit aboard a research and applications module (RAM) by

.a reusable Shdttle vehicle or T itan I :1 launch vehicle in the late 1 970 's as a na tionalfacility for use by many astronomers [757].

On November 30 Dr. Rees was so impressed by a speech flint NASA Administrator Dr.Fletcher made before the Nati onal Space Club in Washington on November 18, 1971,that he sent the following memorandum to all key MSFC officials:

Your attention is invited to the enclosure an address by Dr. Fletcher tothe National Space Club. This addr ess, entitled "The NASA Space Pr ogramToday - and Tommorrow," is an excellent work, dealing clearly andconcisely wi th mat ters per taining to the Shutt!e. in defining the currentstatus and in announcing p lans lor the future, the document stabilizes theNASA course in clear and unmistakable terms. The address is of greatinterest and value to everyone at Marshall. Accordingly , ! ask that yougive it the widest possible distribution within your office or directorate.

One of the points made by Dr. Fletcher was that in the immediate future , NASA's space

efforts should center in space around the earth, and that with programs such as Skylaband t he Space Shu ttle, NASA would have an ideal opportun ity to bring space dividendsback to earth [7581.

On December 13 an estimated 10000 persons watched the rollout of the Apollo 16spacecraft and launch vehicle at KSC. Some 40 members of the news media were onhand. This Saturn V launch vehicle (AS-51 I) left the Vehicle Assembly Building at 7 a.m.EST as planned. The vehicle and its launch tower rode the transporter at a speed of

301

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DECEMBE R 1971

between 0.5 to 0.75 miles per hou r. KSC personnel had originally estimated a trip timeof 7 hours , but the operation wen t so smoothly that it required only 6 hours 5 minu tes[7591.

On Decem ber 15 an _ nter-Cenl.er agreeme nt was approved between the Manned SpacecraftCenter and Marshall S oace F!ight Center detai_iag the responsibilities of the two Centersfor Skylab flight crew training in the Neutral Buoyan cy Simula tor at MSFC. Theagreement was approved by Kenneth S. Kleinknecht for the Manned Spacecraf t Centerand by L eland F. Belew for 1h e Marshall Spa ce Flight Center [760].

Dr. Rocco A. Petronc, Apollo Program D_re ctor, visited MSFC on December 16 and 17.He reviewed the status of the Saturn V and Lunar Roving Vehicle programs with programmanagement offi cials and discussed changes to Saturn vehicle SA-511 and LRV -2, both of,vhich would be in tegral parts of the Apollo 16 mission [761].

As 1971 neared the end, MSFC ann ounced that among the highlig hts of 1971 a t MSFCwere the following: A successful Lunar Roving Vehicle mission, launch of twoApollo /Saturn V v ehicles, a Stratoscope II balloon -borne telescope flight, and continuedwork on th e Skylab, Space Shuttle, and High Ene r gy Astronomy Observatory. The LunarRoving Vehicle mad e its successful debut on the Apollo 1 5 mission in July of 1971. TwoSaturn V vehi cles performed flawlessly on the Apollo 14 and Apoll o 15 missions.Str atoscope II was a cilange-of-pace for MSFC when launched on Sep tember 9; the36-inch astronomical telescope photographed scientific targe ts from an operating altitudeof 82 800 feet. Skylab flight hardware began to take shape at various si tes across thecoun try, wi th Skylab missions sched oled to s tart in the early 1973. The Space Shut tle orthe reusable space transportation system continued to be an important project at MSFC.NASA had made the decision in October to have five contractors or aerospace teamsexplore in detail various alter vatives resulting fr om previous Space Shuttle studies, and

NASA had selected TRW Sy ,,tems Group, Redondo Beach, California, in N ovember of1971 as the spa cecraft con trac.tor for the High Energy Astron omy Observatory (HEAO )project which MSFC was directing 1762].

On December 17 MSF C accep ted t he fligh t mc!tiple docking adapter for Sk ylab at theMartin Marie tt a Cor-_ora tion facility in Denver , Colorado. Five days later, the flight MDAwent from Denver to the McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Compan y facili ty in St. Louis,Missouri, aboard the Super Guppy aircraft [ 763].

t

i' 3 0 2

ill

b _



JANUARY 19".,2

i 972

As prepara tions for the Ap ollo 16 launch continued at KSC, MSFC officials annouqced

that the following would be among the highhghts of NASA 's predic;ed 1972 space fqghtprogr am: two manned Apollo missi ons to the moon , the launch of a P ioneer 2-yea r flightto Jupiter. and tile first Earth Resources Technology Satellite [764].

On Janua r y 5 President Nixon anno vnced the decision to "proceed at once" with thedevelopment of the Space Shuttle. A* a news conference following the announcementNASA Administrator Dr . James C. Fle tcher said that by tile end of the decade theUnited Stated will have "a means of gett ing man and equipment t o and from spaceroutinely on a moment's notic e if necessary, and at a small fraction of today's cost."MS(' had been designated the lead center with program management responsibility.overall engineering and systems integra tion, and /_,,_.:icperformance requirements for theShuttle. MSFC had been given responsibility tbr the booster stage and the Space Shuttle

main engine. KSC would be responsible for the design of launch and recovery facilities.Development costs were estimated at $5.5 billion over a 6-year period, or aboutone-fourth the cost of the Apollo program. In commenting upon President Nixon'sannouncement, tile Huntsville Times in a lead front page story on January 6 said,

President Nixon's approwd of a $5.5 billion Space Shuttle Wednesday has

opened a new era in the U.S. space agency and promises years of workahead for Marshall Space Flight Center here. The President gave the greenlight during a conference a t the Western White House with chiefs of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration. Spokesmen at MarshallCenter said today that the Presidential action is not expected to cause anysignificant increases at the center , but should relatively stabilize theworkload ...unlike earlier considerations, both the orbiter and fileboostel will be developed in parallel. Both are expected to be ready to_flight before 1980... with the Presidential go-ahead, tlie space agencyintends to issue final design p,-oposal requests to industry within two orthree months , with hardware contracts expected to be let this summer.

At tile news conference, Dr. Fletcher said , "This decision by the President is a historic

step in the nation's spa ce program, it will change the nature of what man can do inspace" [7651.

On January 10 NASA Administrator Fletcher approved the establishment of the ShuttleProgram Office as one of a number of changes to the Marshall Space Flight Centerorganization [7661.

On January 12 NASA announced that the Apoll o mission to tile n:oon w ould not occuruntil April 16 , 1972. Apollo 16 was rescheduled from a March 17 launch af ter problemswere discovered w ith a sui t fitting, a lunar module bat tery, and tile dock ing ring jettisondev!ce on the command module. Spacecraf t commander would be Navy Capta in John W.Young, command module pilot would be Navy Lieutenant Commander Thomas K,Mattingly _i, and the It ,nar module pilot would be Lieutenant Colonel Charles M. Duke[7671.

303

Xt



Skylab pr ime crews

304



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J ANUARY 1972

On January 13 MSFC added a Phase I11 modification to its contract with the NationalBureau of Standards in Washington , D.C., under which the Nation ',d Bureau of Standardswas conducting cryogenic testing at its Boulder Facdity to determine dynami c

performance of the pressur, : sensors at cryogenic temperatures. This modificationincreased to a total of $105 000 the contract to the National Bureau of Standards for itswork with a Space Shuttle pogo pressure measuring system [768].

On January 18 an d 19 Dale D. M yers, NASA Assoc iate Adm inistra tor for Manned SpaceFlight, visited MSFC for briefings and discussions relating to a number of MSFC projects ,including the Space Shuttle, Skylab , and HEAO. Accompanying him were Harry H.Gorman, Deputy Associate Administrator, OM_qF, and Rober t C. Littlefield, executiveassistant to Myers [7691.

On January 18 NASA na med tile Skylab astronaut prime and backup crews: f or SkylabMission 1, Charles Cor._ad , Jr., Joseph Kerwin and Paul Weitz; for M ission 2, Alan Bean ,Owen Garriott , and Jacl_ Lousma; and for Mission 3, Gerald Cart , Edward Gibson, andWilliam Pogue. Backu '_ astronau ts for M ission 1 wou ld be Russell Schweickart, StoryMusgrave, and Bruce McCandless , backup as tronauts for Missions 2 and 3 would be VanceBrand, William Lenoir, and Don Lind [770].

On January 25 and 26 MSFC issued four contracts for the study of solid rocket motorsfor the Space Shuttle booster. On January 25 a $150000 contract went to LockheedAircraft Corporation, Redlands , Calilbrnia , a $150 000 one went to Aerojet General

•Corporation, Sacramento, California; and a $145 200 contract went to Thiokei Chemical,Bringham City, Utah. On January 26 a $147 565 contract went to the United AircraftCorporation, Sunn yvale, California [7 7 ! 1.

"March 23 . lq -,.., marks Dr. Wernher von Braun's sixtieth birthday," wrote MSFC

Director Eberhard Rees to MSFC Employees. "We believe it would be appropriate toobserve the occasion wi th an in teresting and lasting momento of tiie anniversary from theformer Director"s erstwhile co-workers .... We have decided that this remembrance shouldtake the f orm of a bound volume of letters from people with whom Dr. von Braunworked closely through out his years in tile United States. The volume is to be entitled,'X+60 and C aunting.' This is your invitation to participate if you so desire by writing aletter for inclusion in the book." Understandably this request brought a response fromhundreds of workers in the space program [772].

On January 31 MSFC extended the interim contractual arrangements with NorthAmer icar, Rockwe ll Corpo ration, Rocketd yne D ivision, Canoga Park, California, for Imonth. NASA hoped that this ex ten._ion, c overing the per iod February 1 thr oughFebrua:'y 29, w ould assist North American R ockwell in holding t ogether the pool ofskilled manpower it had been utilizing in desil_ning the Space Shuttle main engine. Thecontract extension cost $1 million. This action was pending completion of a GeneralAccounting Office review of a "Contract award protest" by Pratt and Whitney Divisionof United Aircraft Corporation, East Hartford, Connecticut [7731.

On January 3t and February ! nearly 50 persons participated in a series of HEAOra eetings at MSFC relating to the experiments scheduled to fly on the firsl HEAO in

305

t



,dII

1972

Four p rize winners amo ngthe 300 Marshall Center

employees' childre n whosearc hed for Easter eggsand rabbits in the 19 72

Mating of Airlock a nd Easte," hu nt were . leftAirlock Module flight unit pri_r MDA flight units at to right: lna Gall Pierce ,to mati ng with MDA ]light unit MDAC-ED Tracy Stevens, Tommy

Morris . and Greg 7'ashbar .t

• ,,. ,,,,,,.h., _. I_,,_, I

, .._

_, .. , t, . Apollo 16 crew , (i to r) Astro nauts_ •

John Young . Charles D uke, andShuttle launch traje ctory Thomas MaHi ngly

• Launch Control Center at KSC

Satur n V in fhght asviewed [rom KSC

Launch of Apollo 16

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JANUARY - FEBRUARY 1972

I O_e,,.,. tt ans Fic iltner was cll_ arman during the first session, and Joe Jon es, Jr., waschairman du ri ng the second session. Othe r s pr esent included Richard Halpern , HEAOprogr am manage r in NASA's O ffice of Spac e Scienc es: Dr. AI Opp. a p r ogr am scien tist i,-OSS: and Dr. Fran k McDonald, project scien tist of Go ddard Space Flight Center [7, z.

Several personalities known to many MSFC personnel were in the' news at the star_ of1972. In mid-January Dr. Robert R. Gilruth. Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center,_'as appointed to the newly created position of Director of Key Personnel Developmentfor NASA. Dr. Christ opher C. Kraft, Jr., Deputy Director of MSC, succeeded Dr. Gilrt:thas Center Director. On January 17 burial services were held at Arlington NationalCemetery for Lt. Gen. August Schomburg who died in Phoenix, Arizona, after a briefillness; he was 63 . He commanded the U.S Army Ordnance Missile Command,predec essor to the Army Missile Co mmand, fro.., February I, 1960, to Marcl: 24, 1962.On January 19 NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight Dale D. Myersvisited MSFC for briefings and discussions on a number of Marshall Center projects,including Space Shuttle , Skylab, and HEAO [7751.

After NASA's selection in late 1971 of the TRW Systems Group for negotiations leadingto a $70 million contract for development of the High Energy Astronomy Observatory,TRW submitted an updated proposal on Febru_ry 14, 1972. This updating wasnecessita ted because of a change in h,unch dates and in order to correct deficiencieside;it ified during the selec tion process. N ASA was expected to , complete negotiations withTRW by April l, 1972, for this 7-year contract for two spacecraf t, a contract scheduled

. to exten d thr ough la unch an d m_issionsup port for orbi tal opera tions 17761.

On February 18 v ibration testing began on the ATM pro totype a t MSFC. After vibra tiontesting, the prototype was scheduled for disassembly and refurbishment to become thebackup ATM flight unit _7771.

On February 22 Skylab Program Director William C. Schneider outl ined the program'sprogress: "Manufacture is largely complete, test and checkout are progressingsatisfactonly, de livery of certain components has occurred with delivery of the remainderin sight, and opera ting of Skylab in orbit will begin before the end of the coming FiscalYear. "

Skylab offered "an Ear th observa tion capabil i ty never before available" to U.S. mannedspacec r aft. Dur ing an 8-month mi ssion, Skylab would fly over en tir e U.S. excep t A laska,over much of Eu r ope, all of Africa , Austr alia, China, and ahnost all of Sou th Ame ri ca --covering 75 percent of earth's surface and passin g over each point every 5 days. By theend o f 1971, 388 inves tigations requi r ing Skylab data had been submitted, 249 U.S. and39 fore ign. Of these, 164 had been identified for fur ther s tudy . Skylab was " fir st mannedspace fl ight pr ogr am d esigned specifically to, carry ac tivities and equipmen t explicitlyaimed a t improving man's life on earth. It will con tribute significantly to the increase ofknowle dge of pu re sc ience and is also a pri mitive Spa ce S tation, a forerunne r ofpermane nt Space S tations of the fu ture." Ear th -oriented sensors would te st te chnologyfor synopt ic surv eys of many envir onmen tal and ecological factors and give p r eliminarydata for management of ecological systems. Solar and astronomical observations andother scienc e experiments would expand knowledge of solar system , universe, and

307

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7t 1972

,o

i .___ _ , : _ . .:..... , '-? c,? t? .! /-._ ...... , .

J,

Apollo 16/ ,4 S-511 mission profile LR V co ntrol anddisplay console

' , ,_.

Lunar science stati ons set up Astronaut C harles M. Duke, LM pilot forduri ng Apollo missions Apollo 16 , collec ting took sa mples in theDescartes area o f the moon

. _............. Sam Hobbs (holding ca mera) ,head o f the Photographic

Apollo 16 CM Ap ollo 16 Astronauts Joh n Young, Lab at the Mar shall C enter ,desce nt Charles Duke, and T ho,nas K . retired April 18 , 1972 , after

Mattingly aboard re covery ship USS 25 year s of federal service .Ticonderoga f ollowing splashd _;wn Mr. ttobbs su ccumbed to ain the Pa cific Ocean heart attack a f ew days later .

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FEBRUAR'i 1972

near-earth space. Biomedi_ ,,d experiments would h_form how man 's well-being an_i abili tyto function were affected by living in space [7781.

By February 24 deployment tests of Skylab Workshop meteoroid shield were under wayat Marshall Space Flight Cen ter. The meteoroid shield, a thin sheet of aluminum wrappedaround the outer wail, would protect Skylab crewmen front micrometeoroids and ensureconfortable temperatu -e in space 1779].

The dedication of MSFC employees and manage ment was indicated in a February 28letter written by a '.'oung engin,'er to Dr. yon Braun:

On the night of February 9, 1966, Mr. Gillespie and 1 flew with you andother key MSFC personnel to MSC on the Guifstream. The purpose of ourtrip was to make a presentation to MSC on a new program bei_lg discussedby NASA en titled the 'S-IVB Spen t Stage;" this project eventually evolved

into our present Skylab Program. It wa s a very rough and stormy eveningwhen we took off for MSC , the same night the plane carrying RyanDeGraffenreid, candidate for governor, crashed because of the badweather. During our flight 1 was told to brief you on my presentation ,entitled 'Suggested Experiments for the Spent Stage.' ! was very nervous,and during my dry run told you that because of time 1 had not seen myviewgraphs. You just looked at me and said that was okay, just don't tellMSC and do your best. Since that night 1 have made o ther presenta tionswhere time was critic_d and have always remembered your advice. On thishappy occasion I want to thank you for your help and guidance, andknow that you will be help ing other young engineers duri rg the yearsa;lead [7801.

The U.S. Dep artment of Agriculture began m oving approximately 1000 employees int6Buildings 35 0 and 103 at the Michoud Assembly Fac i'. _ty in February 1972. Theagricultural department began occupati on of 175 000 square feet of Build ing 350, andthe engineering office building , and an additional 20 000 square feet in the mtm' .;lacturingarea, Building 103 [78i 1.

"... We will again be involved in a reduction-in-for ':.e to achieve an on-board count of5341 by June 30, 1972," wrote Dr. Ree,_ to MSFC employees on March 3, 1972. "Basedon our curren t strength, the necessary reduction-in-force will total approximately 190people. This reduction, together with normal attrition, will bring us to the required 5341on-board str ength o_l June 30, 1972. Concurrent w ith the RIF , each NASA ( 'enter hasbeen directed to reduce its average grade .... The FY-72 reduction of 190 will b eeffec tive June 30, 1972. N otices will be s ent to affected employ ees on or berber May 15 .Personnel actions for all permanent personnel involving hiring, promotions , andreassignment will be frozen effective March 6, 1972. A_ I have said in previous letters ofthis type, this is one of the most unpleasan t duties imposed upon me.... unsettledsituatio ns like thi s cause everyone much concern. They give rise to rumors and haif tr uthswhich can cause unnecessary anxiety .... I ask that all of you continue to carry on ourprograms in ,'he excellen t manner that we have in the past."

309



1972

..... - . -_t,_, ,,i.._--_ - '_'-._- : r ..... _ _ : "-/,-'_

• '7.... .__ -.----_ . _..- .. t i

Skylab sttuh'nt experinlent project. The 25 students whose propose d experiments forlocation ef t 25 national wi nners Skylab were selected fr ,,m among more tha n 3600

submitted posed Jhr a gr oup portrait in the springof 1072 on the st,ps of Building 4200 • The

: students were at ""'FC for briefi ngs, tours , and• ° "f

discussion s with NASA personnel on how their

e.v_erime nts c,guld be set up on Skylab ande

_" " conducted duri ng the missio:t in 19 73 ,

_i . °

• lJ

In the spring o] " 19 73 a tc _t model o]the (?mlmand Mod:de a rrtved at MSFC

from JSC fi _r u,_c m the Neut ralBuo.vanc .v Sim..'.ttor . It was used in NASA "sfirst 1973 Skylab flight was on the

testing hard uare proposed f or providing I ,orizon as the U .S. and U .S.S.R. sign th cba s .lar shieM arou nd the Skylab . Idstoric May 24 , 1972 , space

agree nlent in Moscow

• 1. " ,I • ,." ' _,"_ ',,

_¢" .., . _:; A TM flight unit i n sllipping contai ner i n

Pnst -Apnlh_ milestone .s" of ttle 19 70 _" prep uration j br delivery to MSC

310



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t

i MARCH 19 72

i Ten days after Dr . Rees wro te MSFC employee s concerning the forthcoming RI F , he felt: it necessary to put down a new rumor. " The Houston Post publishe d a story on Sa turday

morr :ng which cl aims to quote a Manned Spac ecraft C enter source about a change in

Space Shu ttle p lans which would affect Marshall Sp,_ce Fligh t Center employees," wro teDr. R_ ?s to MSFC employees on March 13. " The story quotes ' the source" as estimatingthat 10 P_,OMSF C employees will be transferred from MSFC to MSC. I want to assure allof you that no such plans have been made .... When the Space Shu ttle configuration isdecided , and we expect it in the very near f uture, 1 will inform you about the exten t ofthe MSF C roles in this program. Un til then i intend to regard all reports of Shuttleconfigurations and personnel impacts as speculat ion and rumors, i hope you will do thesame."

Aiso on Marc h 13 the MSFC Manpower Of fice issued a memorandu m relat ive to C ivilServic e retirement possibili ties. The memorandum stated, "'The Ci vil Service Commissionhad incorporated in file Federal Personnel Manual (Supplement 831-1, Subchapter S-I l ) apolicy and procedure statement providing more flexibilit y in permitting retirement insituations where those retirements will help meet needed reduc tions in personnelstrength." The memorandum went on to outline the possibilities of early retirement for

MSFC employees [7821.

Frith W. Neubert , for Dr. Eberhard Rces , sent the following special announcement to allMSFC employees on March 15 , !972: "Because of the high interest in the Shuttleconfigu ration decision , I thought you migh t like to have your own cop_ of the

, information released this morning. " T he MSFC ,renouncement was as f ollows:

NASA announced today that the Space Shu tt le boos ter stage will bepowered by solid r ocke t motors in a pa rallel burn con figuration. Thebooster stage will be recove rable. Reques ts for pr oposals f or design a ,*d

development of the Space Sh utt le are ex pected to be issued to industryabout March 17. The boo ster decision settles the principal qucstion leftopen for further study at the time the decision to proceed with thedevelopment of the Space Shu ttle was announced by President Nixon inJanua ry. In announcing this decis ion, NASA Administra tor, James C .Fletcher, stated that it means tha t the Space Shuttle will cost less todevelop than forecast in Januar y. Devel opment cost is now estima ted at$5.15 billion compared to the earlier estim ate of $5.5 billion. While tMsreduction is accompanied b y some increases in the estimated cost permission, the estimate of $10.5 million for the configuration selected iswell within the acceptab le range for econom ical use of the Spa ce Shu ttlesystem , Dr. Fletcher said.

This booster decisi on settled the princ ipal question left open for fur ther study at thetime the decision to pr oceed with the developmen t of the Space Shutt le had beenannounced by President Nixon the pre ceding January. NAS A's booster studies sinceJanuaq_ had shown that both solid and liquid propelled configurations would have beenfeas ible from a technical point of view. Dr. Flet cher's decision was based on the lowercost and lower t echnica l risks shown in the stud ies for the sol id rocket syst em. A t thetime of Dr. Flet cher's announcement, schedules called for a Space Shuttle to be

311

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1972

_---..---.-.-._ : , ; . ........ _ ............. t-,,

- _'m."_;_1 11 _ _ _ _;_

A TM flight u nit leaving Quality Works hop turn over cere mony at MDA C -hlLaboratory prior to d elirer r to MSC [h'J 't to righ t W. Shaph'y , C. Weinberger , Dr ." " J. Fletclu'r , Dr. E. Rees, 1¢. Burke , and D . Myers)

• ;_-' : - "'g_'" - '_' Removing A TM from transportatio n_ .... - container at O&C Bldg

_,INi

-,Jll. ,. ,,. ::__TS..._._ww" • • J=

Transfer of OWS , payload s hroud , and : '°"_.,_m r ." "". : '__aft interstage f rom Point Barrow lh_- _w_ . : • .. • - .

toxsc dockat VaS :

,' ._ " . %%

:? .;_

"An you boys be care ful, you heah " - SheriffD_ioad ing A M/MDA from Joe H iggins of televisio n fame was tai ghtycommercial Guppy at KSC upset whe n he heard that a bu/ .'h of boys had

been speedi ng to the moon and back , hittingspeeds up to 25 000 miles per hour . Strikinga fa miliar pose , he ad monishes an "aslronaut "

that he can get in "a heap of tro uble if youain 't careful ." Higgins was in Hunt sville to

promote t he Jaycee fair .

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MARCII - APRIl, 1972

dcvclui'td o;,:r the;-+i_.xt 1, ycaJ>, lio ri /ontai test fil gllts WOtlkl be._in it+ It)'Tb . and :ll;l'llletlorbi tal lest i lights in Iq78. The comp lete Shutde system would be opennti ona l b:foreltJ_O. Ov_' rall nlatlageme ult oI the Space Shutt le progr am would be in tilL ' lleadt !u.Irtc rs

Office of Manned Space Flight whirl1 woul d b e n:sponsible for detailed assignm ent o1 "r esponsibilities, basic per forma nce n:quir enlents, contr ol of maior milestones, and fundingal locat ions to the vari ous NASA field cent er s. MS (." wotn id I na,e progr am m anagen lcn tresponsibility for progra m c, mlrol , overal l systems engineering and systems int egration,and ove rall reSl_On ls ibility and autho rity fi)r de fini tion el" those elements o f tilt" to talsystem which would inler l, ice w ith other element s, such as total configura tion andcombined ae r odynan fi¢ loads . MSC"w ould also be responsibl e tier the orbiter stage of tileShu ttle. Ken nedy would be respons ible for d r:sign o f launch and r ecovery facili ties. MSF Cwt+u ld be n :sponsible for th e develo pm en t, pr oduc tion a nd de live ry e l tile o rbiter ma inengine, the solid boos ter , and tllu hydr oge"-oxygen i+ropellant lank. MS FC would alsoaccomplish and/or m anage cer tain Shuttle task s where the Ce nter wo uld haw: un iqu ecapa bilities 1783-785 I.

By Marc h 27 mor e than 87 t)4¢+appl ica tion form s for p ar ticipation m the Skylab Stud entPr oject had bee n r equ ested of Ihe Natio nal Science reacher s Ass,)ciation, which witsmahag ing the activity for NASA , NASA estima ted t hat app roximah:ly 50 000 applicant swere reqve._ting theses I't+ rms . I:rtml th is num l_,r NASA n.,ceived 340 t) p roposals. TheSky lab Student Pr oject was designed to stimula te interest in science and technology bydnrectly involving U.S. school students in grad es 9 thr ough 12. I+ntnies consisted ofpropO ,_lls by student s or gr oups oI" student s for exper iments, delno nslt-ations, or aeliviliesto be i+e r fornued b y astronauts dur ing Sky hlb raissi ons i ll 1973 178hj.

"Copi es o f tile MSF(" rete n tion t_. 'gtsl e r be ing u se d It + c ond u.'t t ile .re nounc e dredu ction- in-f.r, :e will be made a vailable t o all MSF C e mp loy ees be g inn ing Mo nda y. Ap ril3 , It) 72, ' ' wr ote MS["C 's Deputy l)in.'ctor o f Man ,lgement, R.W. Cook, to MSFC

emldoyees Oil March 30, 1972 J78 7].

Fa ced w ith the cont inuing problem of the fort hcoming RIF, MSF (' I)ir _'ctor Rees w r oteemployees on Ap ril 3, 1972 , its follow. ,,:

Tile Manp ower Off'ice has inl'o rm ed me tlla l late last week lilt" r etentionr egister s in connection wi th our f ort hcom ing direc ted r educt ion-in-lbreehad been (listri buted It) all nmjo r elements of tile ( 'ent er . This will give

employees a ch, .ulce to learn where t hey stm,d in r ehltion t o others in thesame compe titive level. I hope this will serve t ,+ resolv e some of tileun certainty that m any of you hav e felt. if you feel that t he register nlightbe in e rr or ill any way, yo u a-e, of cour se, at l iberty to call it t o tileatte ntion of t ile Mmlpower Olfice. It wt_s hear tening to learn t also f romyour SUl_2r iors that despite uncert ainties you are doing your customar ygood j ob ill a mos t pr ofessiona l way .

On Apr il 3 :t n ew s taff office , the I'q ual Oppo rt unity Office, wlns e._tab!ishe d at MSFC ,reportin g dir ectly to Dr . Rees. Creat ion of the of fice wa s subtract t o form al appr oval ofNASA lteatt +tuarters. Art hur Sander son, De puty D in2ctor of ti le MSF C Matlpower Office,

313

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I

_ k



APR Il, 1972

was s chedule d to become director of ti le new ,_f tice i:l J une !o72, w!:en he returned toMSF C from post-gr ad uate study at file University of Oklahoma 17881.

On April 4 NASA awarde d a 90-da y letter contract to the Ro cketdyne D ivision of NorthAmeri can Rockwell Corporation, Canoga Park, California, for t he initiation ofdevelopment and produ ction of the ro cket engine for the Spa ce Shuttle orbiter stage.NASA estimated file value of this l etter contract at $9 800000. The contract wouldpermit work to begin while NASA and Rocket dyne negotiate d a cost-plus- award-feecontra ct for the engine. NASA estimated that the total cost of the negotiated contra ctwould be in the vi cinity of $450000000. This contract award followed a March 31decisic,_ by the General A ccounting Offi ce upholding NA SA 's disputed s election of NorthAmeri can for this contract 17891.

NASA Administrator Dr. James C. Fletcher announced on April 14 the sele ction of KS Cand Vanden_rg A ir Force Base in Calilbmia as the sites from whi ch the Spac e Shuttlewould be operated. Th e initia l launch and landing site would be at the Kenne dy SpaceCenter. This site woul d b e used for resear ch and development launch es, expe cted to beginin 1978, an d for all operational flights laun ched into easterly orbits. NASA woul dprovi de the facilities for all Shuttle utilization at KS C and would do so prim arily throughmodifying the existing ¢ ac ilities use d in the Apollo and other programs. The r ole ofVandenberg Air For ce Base in file Shuttle program would begin near the end of thedecade with NASA sche duled to phase in the base for Shuttle operations at that time.Shu ttle Iligh ts from the base woul d be those requ iring high inclina tion o rbits. According

• to schedules, the Department of Defense would providc the basic Shuttle facilitiesreqaired at Va ndenberg. The Depa r tment ot Defense h ad concurre d in the decisionsannounced on this date by Dr. Fletcher. in referring to Dr. Fletcher's decision, theiluntsHlie Times headlined that "Shuttle B ases Were Te clmical Choices Alone." TheTimes went on to state that geography, not politics, led to the decision for West Coast

and East Coast launch sites. The paper stated that the decision came as no real sur priseto those persons who were techni cally versed , "'although during the earlier battle to selecta site for Shuttle launchings the label of political favoritism had been loosely banteredabout. But t ile facts are irrefutable that neither C_pe Kennedy nor Vandenberg alonewould have been satisfactory lbr launchings. Togetller they are unbeatable. Two bases ,bluntly, ar e a teclmical ,nus t"1790, 791 1.

The Apollo 10 mission began on April 16, 1972, and ended i l-days later on April 27with splashdown in the Pacific. Astronauts for the flight were John W. Youn g, Charles M.Duke, Jr. , and Thomas K. Mattingly. Preparations for the flight had pointed to a highlysuccessful mission. A mot:ut , ;arlier NASA Headquarters officials and officials from NASACenters had attended a successful Flight Readiness Review for Apollo 16 held at KSC.This had b een followed by the dry portion of tile Countdown Demonstration Test

(CDDT ), held on March 20, three weeks before tile April 1 6 lift-off. Two days later sawthe beginning of the wet po rtion of the CDDT, and cotmtdown preparations began onApril 7, nine days prior to launch. The Apollo 16 mission began at !1:45 a.m. Sunday,April 16, when the Saturn V (AS-51 I ) vehicle lifted off from Launch Complex 39A atthe Kennedy Space Center. All three sta ges performed as expected, and the Apollospacecraf t entered tr anshmar trajectory about 2 hours 35 m inu_es after launch. The _spacecraft t rans;,_ sition and d ocking took place as sche duled . On t lleir way to the mo on

315 I



." )"

q

• /, -, " 'd.

........... - . , •A total of 72 twenty kil owatt Xenon T his photo, taken by t he Apollo 11 cre w

searc hlights and 2 sixty kilo watt Xenon on t heir way home from the moon . showssear chlight banks produ cing ap proximately both tit(" first lunar landing site and t he last225 foot candh's of lig ht were set tip J br one in the Apollo program . The firstthe night launc hing of Apollo 1 7 from manned lunar landing . Apollo 11 on Jul .v

Comph'x 39 . The final lunar la; zding mission 20 . 1969. was made in t he sout hwesternin the Apoih_ Program was t he first mi ssion part of the Sea of Tranquility . Apollo ! 7

to require a nig httime launc h of the giant landed in t he Taun_s-Littrow area . aSaturn 5 launc h vehich' , combination of mounta inous highland and

h_wlands va Uey region . This view of the........ I .. Moon from a distance of 1 6 000 km was

__'_ p/ mtograp hedaftert heApollolle rewhad

J_red their engines on t he ba ck side of theMoon to plac e them in t he correct trajectoryfor return to Eart h. Approximately one -halfof the Moon "_far side ( which cannot be seen

,_,wn_ ,,_u,,, _ from Eart h) is the lighter s haded , right s ideIlIPI_AWONI _ INI I I_

_,,,._,. of the sphere to the right of the Seas of,_,,,_,,**m, ,,,,,_,, ,,,,, Cr ises and Fertilio, . To the left. of thell 11_11¢III0 I lla _ll Il q Atl _l_ll_ll

dotted l ine. the dark er side of t he sphere_.Q._.,, ¢7_.tgd"_ ,f._.y.z_. is visibh' from Eart h as the right half

.............................,-.-. ., ,,.,.,. .,.._,,., of the Moon .

• i iIII I

This is a p hotogra phic replica of the plaqu ewhich the Apollo ! 7 astronauts h 'ft behind

at t he Taurtts -Littrow landing sit ('. Theplaque is made o f sta inless steel measuring

9 by 7 5/8 inc hes, and 1/1o inch thick.

316



I

, .'kP I{II, 1972

: on the first da y of their mi ,c_i,_n, the Apollo I {_ crew discovered that _onlc pa int wasflaking off the Lunar Module. NASA officials a t Hous ton made the decision to allow thecrewmen t o move into the Lunar Module a day earlier than scheduled to check their

landing vehicle. Commander Young r eported that the v ehicle was operating well. TheApollo 1 6 cr ew seemed we ll on its wa y to per for m its mission that would find Youngand l)uke dr iving th eir Lun ar Roving Veh icle about 16 miles on the hmar sur face,depl oying scientific exper iments , l_hotographing lunar landmarks, and return ing soi l androck ,_mlple s for analysis on Earth. Meanwhile , according to sch edule. Mattingly would I x'condu cting experiment s in hmar orbit while pr eparing the spa cecraq for the r eturn triphome during the 3 days he wotdd spend alone in orbit.

It was on April 20, fl_e fourth day of the Apollo 16 flight, that problems developed thatalmost aborted the $400 million dollar Apollo 16 mission. It began quietly and rou tinelysoon after 1: 00 p.m. Mattingly was running d own his check list before firing up hisspacecraft engin e when he discovered that his backup system for swhcling the 20 000pound-thrust-engine was not w orking properly. The spacecraft engine _. ,)zzle showed onhis cabin indi cator that it worked fi_le enough in the upward and d ownward moti on, butit wobbled from lef t to r ight. Tha t was enough to ab or t the lantlirlg at that time, and itsent NASA engineers hurrying to simulators to try and work out the problem on Casper.

At North American R ockwell at D owney, Californ ia, space scientists hur r ied aboardsimulators there. F or more than 4 h ours, Mattingly aboard Casper, and Yc;,mg and I)ukeaboard Orion , looped file moon in their same positions and waited. Meanwhile, prospectsfor a lunar landing seemed dimm er by the hour, although space oMciais refused to give

. tip, but oMcials were equally determined that they would not send Young and Dukeonto Descartes unless there was certainty that Mattingly aboard Casper had both anoperative primary and secondary guidance system |'or his spa cecraft engine. H owever, ai5:55 p.m. on April 20 oMcials at thc MSC Control Room decided that the oscillationwas a "limited" one rather than a "divergent" one and would stay within an a cceptablemaximum of i degree , and therefore it was sal_' t o go for the hmar l anding.

Duke and Young touched down on the mountain-ranged plateau in the highest region onthe front side of the moon at 9:24 p.m. on April 20 , and Duke exclaimed, "Orion isfinally here H ouston! Fantastic! " They originally we r e to h,,ve started thei r fir st of three7-hour excursions 4 h ours after t ouchdown. But the l ong exhaustive day was taking itstoll, and mission control told them to start a sleep period, delaying the exploration untilFriday, April 21. During the thr ee EVA 's that followed on the moon the astronautsgathered a record 245 potmds of moon rocks, ex citing earthbotmd s cientists apparentlymore than any "moon haul" to date. In addition to their record scientific haul, theastronauts ,set some kind of a record for animated and intriguing conversation betweenthemselves and Mission Control as they performed three forays of scientifi c exl;erimentson the moon. They stayed on the moon longer than any previous group -a total of 71

hours 2 minutes. The Lunar Roving Vehicle performed satisfactorily during all threeApollo 16 extravehicular activities. The LRV was driven a to tal of 3 hours 17 minutesduring the more than 20 hours the crewmen spent outside the Lunar Module, The totaldistance traversed was 16.7 miles. Astronauts You og and l)uke reported that a maximumspeed of 10.5 miles per hour was achieved while the two men were descendint_ : a steep._!,_pe around North Ray Crater. The two astronauts lifted off from the lunar surfa ce .at7:26 p.m. on Sunday. April 23. The Lunar Module docked with tl;e Apollo spacecraft at

317



1972

APOLLO MISSION EMBLEMS- Apollo, the Greek God of the Sun, dominates theemblem designed for the final lunar landing mission in the space program which bears his

name. The Apollo 17 cre w, in oelecting their mission emblem , chose not to emphasizefinality but rather the begi nning of the golden age of space flight that their flight would

usher in . In the emblem . Apollo gazes toward Sat urn and a galaxy which sy mbolixes man 'sgoals in space will someday incl ude the pla nets and per haps even the stars . The crews for

the Apollo missions , beginning with Apollo 7 are ."

Apollo 7 Apollo 11 Apollo 15Cmdr , Walter M . Schirra , Jr . Cmdr , Nell Armstrong Cmdr , David R . ScottCMP , Donn F . Eisele CHIP ,Michael Collins CMP, A lf, ed M . Worden

LMP, Walter Cunning ham LMP . Edwin A Idrin LMP , James E . Irwin

Apollo 8 Apollo 12 Apollo 16Cmdr , Frank Borman Cmdr . Charles Co nrad Cmdr , John W. Young

CMP , James A . Loveli, Jr . CMP . Richard Gordon CMP, Thomas K . Mattingly , HLMP, William A . Anders LMP , Alan Bean LMP , Charles M . Duke

Apollo 9 Apollo 13 Apollo 17Cmdr , James ,:. McDivitt Cmdr , James A . Lovell Cmdr , Eugene A . CernanCHIP , David R . Scott CMP , John L. Swigert , Jr . CMP , Rona ld E. EvansLMP, Russell L. Schweickart LMP , Fred W . Haise , Jr . LMP, Ha rrison H . Schmitt

Apollo 10 Apollo 14

Cmdr . Thomas P . Stafford C mdr , Alan B. Shepard , Jr .CMP , John W. Young CMP , Stuart A . RoosaLMP, Eugene A . Cernan LMP , Edgar D . Mitchell

318



APRIL - MAY 1 972

9:17 p.m. The Apollo 10 crewmen .ic,:tison e,':ltheir Lunar Mod u le ascent stage at 2:53p.m . tile following day, April 2 4. "l'ran_arth Inj ection (TEI_ occurr ed at 8:16 p.m.

Mo

nday,

April 24, astile Ap

oll

o16 space

craft came from behind

tile m

oo

n. En routehome to Earth, Casper's hat ch was opened , and Mattingly walked in spa ce and retrieved

film cassettes from high resolution and mapping cameras he h ad operated while orbitingtile mo on as Yeung and Duke made t P ,eir lunar surfa ce exploration. Young, Duke, andMattingly splashed down in the Pacific on Thursday , April 27 . 1000 miles south ofHawaii and just 3300-fee t from the carrier Ticonderoga . After talking with doc tors onboard ship, Dr. Charles A. Berry , NASA's direc tor of life sciences , told newsmen inHouston that the three spacemen were in excellent health. "They wele in mu ch bettershape than the Apollo 15 crew." The physician said that each had lost between 5J Aand7_4 pounds and that their heart beats du ri ng exercise and other tests on the ship wereonly slightly eleva ted. Preliminar y reports indi cated that the 245 pounds of materialsbrought home b y the as tronauts represented perhaps the oldest and most significantsamples yet coll ected on the lunar surface. L oct,ed inside were s ecrets of how the m oonwas born more titan 4 billion years ago [79 2-7951.

The matter of retirement of MSFC employees received tragic prominen ce with the deathof a popular MS FC employee. Samuel H. Hobbs, 61, head of the PhotographicLabora tory at MSFC un til he retired on Ap ri l 28, was honored by about 70 close friendsand co-w orkers a t a far ewell re tiremen t party a few days before his tmexF ::te2 dea th. Hehad completed 25 years of federal service [796].

. On May 1 MSFC announced completion of the larges t solar- ceil-array system for electricpower ever devised for spa cecraf t. Two arrays, with almos t 236 square me ters (2540square feet) of surfac e area, would use sunlight to power electrical systems of OrbitalWorkshop, Apollo Telescope Mount, and other major components of Skvlab clusterscheduled for launch in 1973. Each array could provide 10 500 wa tts of power - more

than twice the average level needed for a three-bedroom house - at 328°K (130°F )during the 58- to 69-minute portion of each 94-minute orbit [797].

On May 8 NASA officials met with 25 national winners in the Skylab Studet_t projectcompe tition at Marshall Spa ce Flight Center to discuss design of student's spaceexperiments and demonstrations. During tile visit students toured MSFC laboratories andtile Alabama Space an d Rocket Center [7981.

On Ma y 15 Dr. Rees wrote the following to MSFC employees:

Toda y it is my most unpleasant t ask to inform you of the details of thereduct ion in force requ ired of Marshall Space Flight Cent er. I have tried tokeep you informed of the progress of the RIF in my letters of January

25, March 3, and March 30 .... The NASA /Marshall Space Flight Centertoday notified employees of the details of the current reduction-in-forceand delivered n ot ices to all who were af fected . One hun dred andninety-eight notices of separation w ere issued. They become effect ive J une29. Ig ,,.7_... Tw o hundred an d twel ve MSF C employ ees received noticesof reduction in grade. This is mainl y the result of employees a ccepting

lowe r grade positions by exerc ising their righ ts t o "bump" ia to other

319



1972

,+..= ++-_+_?_ _

, ]._. .._._+ ,, +o+, ,e_,_,,oo+o,Mars hall Space Flig ht Center!

&

" _+,,_+7F "-'.-'."-i---'--':-.'..-- - " _,2 _;_

attract ive Christmas tree in the lobbyBuilding 4200 at MSFC in ! 9 72 . Those who " "_.+'"tspent a da y working on t he pro/ec t are (left) ' _+_Mary Helen Smith and Betty Strickla nd andon the ladder (from toF to bottom) Roberta

Landers, Betty Smith , Faye McPeak , _[

and Mar y Driver .

m m

+ •

NASA officials by SL-I launch vehicle

320

,1¢



i

MAY - JUI,Y 1 972

i positions for wh ich they are qualifie d; or "retreating" into posit ions7, previously h eld .... 1 fully real ize and deeply regret that affected

employees will suffer everything from inconvezdcnce to anguish. I wish itwere in my power to change things. 1 only hope that as a matter of prideand principle you will continue to do your very best work.

On May 19 Skylab statistics were released by NASA. Spacecraft, to be launched by atwo-stage Saturn V rocket in spring 1973, would contain 370 cubic meters (13 O00 cubicfeet) of working and living space. More than 13 000 individual items weighing a total of5090 kilograms (11 000 pounds) for long-duration space mission would be stowed,including 910 kilograms (2000 pounds) of food; more than 2700 kilograms (6000pounds) of water; 60 changes of astronaut jackets, shirts and trousers; 210 pairs ofshorts; 30 constant-wear garments; 15 pairs of boots and glo ves; 55 bars of soap; 96kilograms (210 pounds) of towels; 1800 urine and fecal bags; 156 rolls of teleprint paper;104 film magazines; medical kit; 108 pens and pencils; and vacuum cleaner [799].

On May 22 the MSFC Manpower Office reminded personnel, "Employees involved in thecurrent reduction-in-force will be separated on June 29, 1972, and if eligible forretirement, they will receive [a] cost of of living increase" [8001.

On May 24 in Mescow, President Richard M. Nixon and Premier Alexei N. Kosyginformally signed a 5-year agreement oetween the Government of the United States ofAmerica and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist R zpublics on coeperation

. in the fields of science and technology. The Space Agreement included t he rendezvousand docking in earth orbit of an American and a Sov'_et spacecraft and a coord;natedeffort to explore and share information on space [801].

NASA Administrator James Fletcher and Deputy Administrator George Low joined

Apollo 16 astronauts John Young, Thomas Mattingly, II, and Charles Duke, Jr., on June22 for the presenta tion of 50 aw ards a t MSF C in connec tion w ith last A pril's successfullunar landing mission. The visitors made short talks and the astronauts signed autographs.Dr. Fletcher and other NASA officials observed Skylab mockups through a viewing portat the Neu tral Buoyancy Simulator during the visit [802].

On June 23 the ATM flight unit was delivered to MSC by the Super Gupp y aircraft forthermal vacuum testing. A configuration turnover review was conducted prior to delivery[8031.

On June 29 the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., issued a TemporaryRestraining Order which had the effect of preventing MSFC from implementing the

reduction-in-force scheduled for June 29. The order was issued on the petition of theAmeric an Federation of Govern men t Employees [804].

On July 1 Dr. Wernher yon Braun, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator, retired fromNASA to join Fairchild Indust ri es as corporate vice-president for engineering anddevelopment. Dr. yon Braun had ser ved as MSFC Director from July 1960 to March 197018051.

321



I JUL Y 1972s a furt her indication of budge ta ry restraints M SFC announced on J uly 7 that it h adreceived $700K for tr avel fi the first quarter of FY 1973. "Ba_ed on NASA's FY 1973Budget subm ission and discuss ions with MSF represen tatives, MSF C will be all ocate ,,/

$2.6(}4 milli on for the year. These levels are fa r below projected or ganizationalrequirements wh ich means MS FC or ganizational un its mus t instit ute travel controls nowand confor m strictly to the attache d M SFC travel pri orities.., to assure maximumutilization of trave l funds available" [8 06].

On July 11 MSF C infor med its empl oyees tha t "The Federal Distr ict Court, inWashing ton, late Monday declined to issue an injuncti on to p revent the Marshall Cent erfrom carrying o ut the planned reduct ion-in-force. The cour t dissolved the temporaryrestraining ord er issued June 29, 1972, fr eeing MSFC to continue as pr eviously planned.The RIF actions will be effective at the close of business, July 12, 1972. Thos e who ar ebeing reassign ed, or changed to a low er grade, should report to their new organization atthe beginning of business , July 13, 1972" [807].

Changes in MSFC's roles and missions as w ell as increasing budgetary restraints led torealignment of MSFC pe r sonnel. MSFC officials announced on July 17 that "Th e recentchanges in Cent er organization and establishm ent of new functions will r equire th erelocation of a significant number of employees. Due to the i_mitations on outsid e hiringand promotions , the majori ty of actions would nec essarily be within-grad e reassignments ,although th ere will be a limited number of opportunities for promotions" [808].

Dn July 18 the Skylab menu , in addition to being the most palatable menu carried int o

space, was also designed to meet the requirements and objecti ves of _n imp ortant seriesof medical investigations. There were a number of prefl ight, infligh t, and postflightmedical experiments which would be dependent on a detailed, quanti tative knowledge ofwhat each crew member consumed throughout his exposure to orbital flight. The food

system for Skylab was designed to maintain a calorie level of betw een 2000 and 2800calories. It was baselined to provide at least the minimum dietary allowances of protein,carbohydrate, fat, minerals, and vitamins recommended by the National Academy ofScience. The menu included such items as tomato soup, scrambled e ggs. turkey andgravy, prime rib of beef, lobster Newburg, desserts, and beverages [809].

On July 26 NASA selected the Space Division of North American Rockwell Corporationof Downey, California, for negotiation of a contract to begin developm ent of a SpaceShuttle Syst em. This was a major contract award in tenn_ of manpower and money, andthe Associated Press aviation writer Vern Haugland headlined his story in papers acrossthe country, "Shuttle Contract to Mean 60 000 Jobs in California." As prime contractor,North American Rockwell Corporation would be responsible for design, development, andproduction of the orbiter vehicle and for integration of all elements of the Space Shuttle

System. The contractor's proposal estimated cost of orbiter development and shuttleintegration at $2.6 billion over a period of about 6 years. The contractor's estimate ofthe cost of the first incremen t covering a period of approximately 2 years was $540million. NASA Administrator James C. Flet cher made the selection f, ,llc ¢¢ing an intensiveevaluation by NASA of proposals submitted by fo ar major aerospace corporations:

, Grumman Aerosp ace Cor por ation; Lockh eed Mis siles and Spa ce Company, inc.;, McDonnell Douglas Corpo rat ion; and North American R ockwell C orpora tion. Overall

322



JULY - OCTOBER 1972

progra,n manag ement r esponsibility for the Space Shuttle System within N ASA wouldremain with the Office of Manned Space Flight and its Manned Spacecraft Center,Housto o, Texas. Project offices would be ot MSC for the orbiter vehicle; at MSFC for theshuttle main engine, the external ta nk, and the solid rocket boosters; and at KSC for thelaunch , landing, and turnaround operafiops. NASA estimat,_d that employment _ leratedby the orbiter development and shuttle integration portion 9f the project would build upto a maximum of roughly 15 900 by 1975 .::'711936 _,nd would gradually decreasethereafter [81 O, 811 ].

a,s a followup to its selection of North American Rocl, well Corporation for develop ment_f the Space Shuttle System, NASA on August 16 . i972, awarded a definitive ceatracto that firm for development and production af the main engine of the Space Shuttle3rbiter. MSFC's Space Shuttle Main Engir,e Project Office wotdd manage the project[812, 8131.

On September 7 the Skylab Program reached one of its fiJ: ,:, miles tones with thecompletion of the Orbital Wor kshop, the main section of the Skylab Space Station. As ofthis date, the Workshop was ready for shipment to Cape Kennedy from the McDonnellDouglas Astronautics Company , Huntington Beach, California. For the previous sevcra!days, NASA inspectors had been busy in California making last-minute inspection of the9550-cubic-foot Workshop , in final configuration resembling that of a Saturn V moonrocket third stage, which is 22 feet in diameter and 48 feet long. A special ceremony atMcDonnell Douglas commemorated completion of this largest manned space -raft

. component the U.S. had p coduced to date , a flying laboratory witll a volume equivalentto that of a five-room house [8141.

The Communications Division, Management Services Office, on September 14 completedthe Huntsville Operation Support Center (HOSC) changeover from the Apollo to theSkylab configuration in support of the Center's mission operation. Estimated c ost ofequipment involved in this changeover was $1 million [8151.

A crowd of more than 3000 MSFC employees, retirees, and their fa milies turned out forthe annual MSFC picnic and awards ceremony on September 16, according to Ed House,chairman of tile picnic committee. Dr. Rees presented Director's CommendationCertificates to a r epresentative g r oup of aw ard r ecipients at the awards ceremon y [816].

On October 6 the Airlock Module-Multiple Docking Adapter flight units reached KSConboard the commercial Guppy from MDA;"-F in St. Louis. This was the final majorpiece of Skylab hardwa re to be delivered to KSC in prepara tion for the April 30, 1973 .launch 18171.

President Nixon on October 9 announced a po licy whereb y the United States wouldprovide launch assistance to other countries and internatio oal organizations for satelliteprojects which were f ur peaceful purposes and which would be co,lsistent withobligations under relevant international arrangements. Launches would be prodded on anondiscriminatory, reimbursable basis This global launch asstirance policy furthermanife sted United States faith that, ,, the language of the 1967 Ou ter Space Treaty ,"... the exploration and use o f oute_ space shall be carried out for the benefit and in theinteres t of 'all coun tri es.., and shaU be the province of all m:mkind" [8181 .

323



.

!

DEC EMBEE !97 2

Climax of the succ essful Apo ilo program came with y et anothe r successful Saturn launchas Apollo 17 (AS-512) r ose from the ear th on De cember 7, 1972. A board for this si:.:h

and last flight in the Ap ollo program were Astr( ,.,auts Eug ene A. Ceman (Command er),Ronald E. Evans (Command Module P ilot), and Dr. Har r ison H. Schmitt (Lunar Modul ePilot and Ge ologist, the first scie ntist-astronaut in space). T he three astr onauts had waitedfor lift-off during 2 ,tours 40 minut es of holds at the K ennedy Sp ace Center, Laun chComplex 39, Pad A. Reason for t he holds had beer: failu re of the tei,ninal count downseque, .er to command p res surization of t he S -IVB liquid oxygen tank. But after probleminvesugation by MSFC personnel, wo rk men at KSC used a jumper to byp ass theinter lock, an d the rocket once more w as space-worthy. C eman, Evans, a: :d Schm itt leftthe earth at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7 as huge Saturn engines illuminated the night• y. An estimated crowd of half a million observed the lift-off from the Cape, and it wasalso vlsL t'le to the naked eye as far as South Carolina to the north and Cuba to the south.In addition to the view ers who wa tched the climactic launch l ive, there we re television,hewers nationwide and o verseas.

CSM separation from the LM /S-IVB-IU came at 3:4 2 ground elapsed time (GET), anddocking with the LM at 3:47 GE T as shown on TV. Bt,t docking maneuvers revealed apossible ring la tch malfunction when it was discovered that three latches were unlocke d.La',er, one of the la tches was l ocked by pushing on the han dle, and the two others we r elocked and manually fired to lock the h_dles. The CSM/LM combination was ejectedsuccessfully from the S-IVB stage at 4:45 GET_ leaving the S-IVB targeted to strike themoon's surface on December 10, 1972. The pla nned trajectory of the CSM /LM wa smodi fied continually because of the late lift-off, and tlae coast toward the moo n wasaccelerated to ensure the arrivm of the spacecraft at lunar orbit insertion at the scheduledtime. Meanwhile, Cernan reported continuing gas pains during private consultation byway of separate radio link with Dr. W. Royce Hankins, MSC Deputy Director for Medical

Operations, and was told to continue taking an ti-gas pills and to alter his diet.

Evans described the crew's excitement at reaching the vicinity of the moon: "We'rebreadfing so hard, the windows P_e fogging up." Cernan, who had orbi ted the moonduring the May 18-26, 1969, Apollo 10 mission, described the site as "s till just asimpressive." The CSM an d LM undocked and separated, leaving E vans to orb it the moonas Cernan and Schmi tt in Challenger descende a to the moon. Challenger touched down a t2:55 p,m. ES T December 11. Cernan descended the LM ladder 4 hours later and said,"As I step off at the surface of Taurus-Littrow, I'd like to dedicate the first step ofhpollo 17 to all those who made it possible."-Cernan unfurled the U.S. flag.

While preparing to traverse to the Apollc, lunar surface experimen t package site, Cernaninadvertently kr'ocked the extension off the LR V right rear fender, and repairs weremade with tape. During two E VA's Cernan and Schmitt visited several lunar stations anddeplo}ed explosive packages, obtained pl ,otos, and collected and documented soilsamples. At Slior ty Crater, Schmitt shouted, "There is orange soil! It's all over!" Schmittdescribed the soil to Mission Co ntrol scientists on the ground, and they immediatelyspeculated that the soil might have originated from volcanism on the moon as recently as100 million years earlier. If so, it would contradict the "dead moon" theory that themoon had always been c old and iner t. During E VA-3 by astr onauts on the m oon Evans,

324

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' DECE MBER 1 972

orbiting in file CSM above tile hmar su r lhce , identified a series of volcanic dcmes inAitkcn Crater, on the moon's far side.

Before ente ri ng Challenger f or the last t ime Cernan and Schmitt unc overed a plaque thatread, "'Here man completed his first exploration of tile moon, December 1972 A.D. I siclMay the spirit of peace in wlfich we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind." Asthe astronauts boarded tile LM, Ceman said, "1 believe history will record that America's

challenge of toda y has forged m an 's destiny of tom orrow. An d, as we leave the moon atTaurus-Lit trow we leave as we came, an d God willing, as we sh',dl re tur n with peace andhope for all mankind. God speed th e crew of Apollo 17." Total time for the three EVA'swas m ore than 22 hours during which Cernan and Schmitt traveled 22 miles in tile LRV,collected 230 pound s of samples , and took 2120 photos. Good quality TV tr ansmiss ionwas receive d throughout the E VA 's. The astronauts in tile LM lifte d off tile lunar su r faceat 5:55 p.m. ES T, December 14.

The CSM and the LM docked in lunar orbit, and Ceman and Schmitt rejoined Evans,transferring to the CSM with samples and equipmenl. During the trip back to earth Evansleft the CSM at 3:27 p.m. EST on December 18 for a i hot tr 7 minute inflight EVA toretrieve the hmar s ounder fi lm, panoramic camera, and the mapping camera cassettes inthree trips. F ollowing that space walk, the astr onauts settled d own for the final 2 days ofthe mission. Tile drogue and main parachutes deployed normally, and the CM splasheddown in the mid-Pacific precisely 4 miles from the prime recovery ship USS Ttconderogaat 2:25 p.m . EST December 19. A recover3" helicopter dropped swimmers , who installed

. tile pro tection collar an d attached a life raf t. The astr onauts were transp -,rted to therecovery ship for post-flight examination. AccompIishments of Apollo 17 included thesixth manned lunar landing and return, first geologist-astronaut on tile lunar surface,longest lunar surface stay (74 hours 59 minutes 38 seconds ), longest single lunar surface

._ (,._ hours 5VA ( 7 hours 37 minutes "_'_seconds), longest total lunar surfa ce EVA time " _'_minut es 4 seconds ), longest total hmar dista nce traverse d with an LRV (, ,.2 miles), an dmost samples returned to earth (250 pounds). Apollo 17 was the 14th an o last scheduledmission in the A pollo series an d the 1i th manned Apollo mission [819-8221.

On December 15 the last two ATM flight solar array wings went to KSC from MSFC bySuper Guppy. The first two wings went on December 13. These wings were s cheduled forinstallation on the A TM in rain-January 1973 [8231.

Equal Employment Opportunity continue d to receive increasing emphasis at MSFC aselsewhere in the Government. On December 22 MSFC Director Rees wrote to MSFCemployees , "This is to inform you that the U.S. Civil Service Commission will begin anevaluatio n survey of the Equal Opportunity Program at Marsha ll Space Fligllt Center on

January 8, 1973.T

he period to be covered;n this evaluation will be January I

,1972

,through December 31, 1972" 1824].

A major artifacts and exhibits program at MSFC gave way to a new major program inDecember 19 72. The o ld Space Ori entation Center in Building 4471 was renovated intooffice space to house Sk ylab cont r actor personnel. M SFC's Spa ce Or ientation Center hadbeen the first major space exhibits center in the South. it was closed after much of thegovernment equipment was moved out of it and placed in the Alabama Space and Rocket

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DECEMBER 1972

Cent er outsid e the Arse nal . The Skylab Pr ogra m was destined to be MSFC 's majorpr ogram b etween the Saturn and the Spa ce Shut tle [8251 .

William Schneid er , Skylab Progra m Director, and a group of Mars hall Center offi cials,headed by Dr. Re es, rev iewed the Skylab c heckout ac tivity at KSC in early D ecemb er. inthe group wer e Dr. William Lucas , Hermann We idner , James Shephard, L eland Bele w,Jack L ee, Har ry Jo hns tone, Eric h Neub ert , Ed Willia ms, and Ri chard Smit h [826].

326



_! r,

| .... I

JANUARY 1973

_: 1973

MSF C beg an 1973 faced with new p rogram reducti ons. On J anuary 5 Dr. Rees wr o teMSFC empl oyees , "Quoted below is a st a tement rele ased by NASA He adquarters t oday.Your Center man ag ement is studying the imp act o f the adjustments reflected in it t odeter mine the ir effect on this Center . We will keep you informe d." The Hea dquartersstatement referenced by Dr. Rees stated:

NASA is starting today (January 5 , 1973) to make a number of programreductions to adjust i ts activit ies in space an d aeronautic s to a lowerspending level. These redq ctions are necessary as part of all the actionsrequired to reduce total Government spending to the $250 billion targetset by the President for fiscal year 197 3 .... The following is a list ofmajor actions being taken by NASA:

in Manned Space Flight , the manpower buildup on the SpaceShuttle will be slowed down, with some resul ting delay in theShutt le's firs t orbital fligh t .

in Space Science, work on the HEAO project is being suspendedfor the time being.

in Research and Technology, work on nuclear propulsion will bediscontinued and work on nuclear power will be sharply curtailed.The Plum Brook station will be closed.

In Aeronautics, an experimental Short Takeoff and Landing(STOL) aircraft will be cancelled. However, STO L technology willcontinue to be developed [8271.

Impending red actions in NASA programs c ,-- ,reed to claim a ttention from MSFCofficials. Acting Direc tor David H. Newby ,vro te on January 10, "The recentlyannounced reductions in NASA programs are bei_,g reviewed to determine the mlpact onthe Marshall Center civil se rvice personnel ... . As previously announced , the Center mustreduce to a strength of permanent civil service personnel of 5214 by June 30, 1973. Thepresent Center strength is 5348. This reduction will be obtained through a combinationof attrition and reduction-in-force procedures. Whatever reduction-in-force is required isnow pl anned for tile month of June 1973. We will keep you advised, as we have in thepast, of information as it becomes available that will have a bearing on the futureoperations of the Center" [8281.

MSFC began 1973 wi th the arrival of its third Director in 13 years. An organizationalannouncement stated, "Dr. Rocco A. Petrone , currently Di,ector of tile Apollo /ASTPPro gram, Office of Manned Space Flight, bec omes the Di rector of MSFC upon Dr. R ees'retirement on January 26, 1973" [8291.

327



1973

SL-I on launch pad.,_,_ at KS(

328

, J



._ JA NUAR Y - FEBRU ARY 1973

An early un pleasant ta sk of n ew MSFC Di rectol Rocco A. Petron e was diss emination of: informati on concerning til e reductio n-in-force. Dr. Petrone wrote M,q_C em p!oyees on

January 29, 1973,

1 want to c ontinue the past practice of MSFC m anagement keeping you allinformed promptly of condition_, situa tions, or events which directlyaffect you. In "all case s I want to be sure that you get the straight storyofficially from man agement. My only regret is that this firs t opportunityfor communicating with you officially b ri ngs unpleasant news. ThePresident presented his Fiscal Year 1974 budget to the Congress at noontoday. The NASA portion of the budget is significantly below the 1973budget .... Of more immediate concer n to all of us is that the 1974budget will require a major reduction ill the personnel ceiling throughoutthe agency. To us, it means a r eduction in the authorized ceiling forMSFC of 650 personnel sp aces by the end of FY 74. This is in addition tothe adjustment wi fich must occur this fiscal year in order to reach thepersonnel ceiling of 5214 by June 30. 1973. Achieving the new FY 74ceiling will , of course, take advantage of normal attrition fromresignations, transfers, and retirem ents to reduce the number. Additionalpersonnel actions required to reach "_ new ceiling will be initiated in thesecond half of FY 74 or betwe en January I and J ane 30, 1974. This willinsure that the Skylab Program will be properly supported by the Centeras we go into the operational pha ._ of this most importa nt program. Iplan on a series of mem ora_'_ :_.a_u ch as this t o keep you cur rentlyinformed on the subjec t, of our budget, cost ceiling, and personnel ceiling_18301.

At the February 14 Managemen t Council Meeting it was decided that the SL-1 and SL-2

launches would not mee t the April 30 and May 1 launch dates due to delays caused by! unexpected checkout activities involving the modules at KSC. Tentative launch dates were

set for May 14 and 15, respectively [8311.

On February 21 Dr. Pe tr one informe d M SFC emplo yees of the impcJld ing visit of Apo llo!7 Astronauts.

On February 21, 1973, the Apollo 17 astronauts will arrive at MSFC tooffer their thanks for the support employees provided to the mission. 1think this will provide an excellent opportunity for MSFC to pay tribute,in return, for the fine job these three astronauts did in successfullydrawing the Apollo Program to a close .... MSFC played a major role inproviding several pieces of major Apollo hardware and critical supportduring the Apollo Program. The success NASA has enjoyed from thiseffort is one in which we can be very proud. An enthusiastic response tothe Apollo 17 astronauts will be a fitting end to the program [8321.

329



f!

1973

j!

MSFC Skylab press con ference b riepngPart o f the press corp in the Neut, al

Buoyancy Simulator at MSFC during a

:_ .__, . .-' Skylab press conference1=q....

,mII I

Reporters in engineering mockup There were a number of "old timers " atarea duri ng press co nference MSFC b y 1973 . In April Dr . Rocco A.

Petrone presented a certificate for 35 yearsof service to John C . Goodrum , Adva, cedProjects Office , Program Development , and

30 year awards to 17 other M SFC employees .Left to right are Dwight J . Locke,

Astronautics Lab ; Leonard A . Smith, ProcessEngineering Lab; Hollis B . McElyea , ASTN;

William W. Clough. Technical Services Office;Frederick J . Beyerle, PE: Robert E . Smith,

Aero-Astrodynam ics Lab; Foc h P. Bruce . Sr.,Satur n Program Office; Edmund F . Ogozalek ,

Pla nning and Resources O ffice; Good rum;Dr . Petro ne; C urtis E . Lee, Quality and

Reliability Ass ura nce Lab ," James G . Sidick,TSO; bred L . Moffitt, QUAL; Edward S .

An estimated 500 MSFC emplo yees attd Schorste n, Public Affairs Office ," Marv in L.family member s turned out for t he 1973 .lensen, Astrionics Lab ," Owen E. Hitt,

, Easter egg h unt at t he MSFC picnic area . 3.,npower Office ," Eugene B . Collier andThe Shriner clowns were also on hand toJ,_hn D. McLemore , TSO; and Alex IL

help make the day a su ccess . Dorche , Pro curement Office.

330



FEBRU ARY - APRIL 1973

The Ap ollo 17 crewmen, America's last men to the moon in the Apollo pro gram, visitedMSFC on February 21 mainly to tell employees abou t their trip and to say thanks forthe role MSFC played. Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans, and Harrison H. Schmittarrived at the Redstone Airstrip, following a visit earlier in the day to the MichoudAssembly Facility. At MSF C the astronauts made brief talks and later signedautographs [83 _1.

Oil February 26 the SL-2 Saturn IB vehicle was moved at KSC to the LC 39B from theVAB. The vehicle would remain on the pad undergoing final checkout activities untillaunch [8341.

On April 5 the last S tudent Experimen t fligh t hardware ED31, Bacteria and Spores, forthe SL-I and S L-2 missions was delivered to KS C. The 25 experiments selected to fly inthe Skylab mission were [835,836]:

Experiment Student Hom e

EDI I* Atmosph eric Ab sorp tion of H eat Joe Zmo lek O skosh, WlED 12" Volca nic Stu dy Tro y Cr ites Kent, WAED2 ! * Lihration Clouds Alis on Hopfield P ri nceton, NJED22* Obj ects Withi n Mercur y' s Orbit D aniel Boch sl er Silv erton , ORED23* UV From Quasar s Jo hn Hamilto n Aiea, HIED24* X-Ray Stellar Class_ Jo e Reihs Baton Rou g e, LAED25* X-Ray s from J apiter Jeanne Leventhai Berk eley, CA"1.'D26" UV F_om Pulsars Neal S hannon Atlanta, GAED31** Bacteri a and Spor es Rober t Staehle Rochester, NYED32** I n-Vitro Immunology Todd M eister Jack son Heights, NYED4 l** M otor Se nsory Perform ance Ka thy Jackson Hous ton, TXED52** W eb For mation Judit h Miles Lexington, MAED61 ** Plant Grow th Jo el Wordeke mper W est Point, NBED62** P lant Pho totropi sm Donald Schla ck Downey, CAED63** Cytoplasmic Str eaming Cheryl Peltz Lit tleton , CO

ED72** Capil lary Study Roger John s ton St . Paul, MNED74 ** Mass Mea sur emen t Vicent Conv e rse Rock ford, I LED76** Neutro n Ana lysis Terry Quist San Antonio, TXEDT8** Liquid Mot ion in Zero- G Bri an Dunlap Yo ungstown , OHED33*** Microorg anisms in Var ying G Keith Stein Westbury, NYEDSI*** Chick Embryology Kent Brand t Gr and Blar, c, MIED71*** Colloidal St ate Keith McG ee Garland, TXED73*** Powd er Flow Ki rk Sh erhart B erkl ey, MIED75 *** Brownian Motio n Gr egory M erkel Springfi eld, MAEP77*** Univ ersal Gravity J ames Healy Baypo rt, NY

• Data o nly from existing hardwar e.

• * New hardwar e develop ed.• ** Could not b e developed in tim e or mad e compatibl e to Skylab environm ent in tim e. Stud ent r eassigned to

another experim ent.

D_. James C. F letcher and Apollo 17 Ast r onauts Eugeile Cern dn , Ron Evans, and J ack

Schmitt returned to MSFC, this time on April 6 for an Apollo 17 Awards Ceremony.More than 40 MSFC and contractor employees received awards [ 837].

On April 16 one of the last major milestones prior to launch occurred a t 7 a.m. EST,when the United States first space station, SL-I, left the VAB and started roll out toLaunch Complex 39 A. Final checkout would be continued on t he pad until the May 14launch. The Skylab payload m ounted on the first two stages of a giant Saturn V rocketwould be launched into a 270 statute mile orbit. Astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr., Paul J.

331



I

.... _ ,t _ " '1"4 '

• _,.Crowds a t Cape Kenned y observed the .. ,

first Skylab launch , May 14, 1973 . ..

, • . .,P"_

Skylab astronauts Conrad , Kerwin, and Weitz lift;. off aboard the Saturn IB rocket from Complexr" ! 39B on May 25 . Among the cargo was a parasol

thermal shieM to cool onboard temperatures ofthe ailing Skylab Workshop . Also included were

tools which might be used to free theundeployed solar array .

5a,

Personnel in the Huntsville OperationsSupport Center (HOSC) stayed busy

before , during, and after the launchesof Skylab I and Skylab H

Dr . William R. Lucas wouldsucceed Dr . Petrone as Dire ctor

of MSFC in Ju ly 19 74

332



i n • NNI_

/!_ APRIL - MAY 1973

Weitz , and Dr. Joseph P. Kerwin aboard a Saturn IB rocket would be launched into spaceon May 15 for rendezvous and docking to the Skylab [838].

MSF'C Direc tor Petrone infornled MSFC employees of a new reduction-in-force. On April23, 1973 , he wro te as fbllows:

As you know from past announcements , file Marshall Space Flight Centermust undergo a reduction-in-for ce before the end of this fiscal year. Todayit becomes my unpleasant task to inform you of the details. I belie ve thebest way of doing this is to give you the attached informati on which weare releasing today to the news media .... "The Marshall Space FlightCenter today announced a number of personnel actions necessary toreduce the total onboard coun t of civil service personnel to 5 214 by June

30 of this year. This reduction in manpower at Marshall was assessed inearly 1972 and announced to Marshall employees on January 25 of thisyear. A total of 108 separation notices were [ sic] delivered to NASAemployees this morning. Eighty-seven of these notices affectedHuntsville-based employees and 21 were issued at MSFC installationselsewhere. Those leaving civil servi ce positions at Marshall as a result ofthe reduction-in-force will ha ve their employment terminated June 1,1973. In addition to the reduction-in-force notices, 67 Marshall employeeswill receive notices of change to a lower grade. Of these 67, 52 will sufferno reduction in salary for the statutory period of two years. The balance,15, will lose some salary as a result of the reduction. Reassignment of 57Mar shall empl oyees will be m ade concurr entl y with the reduction-in-force .... Based on current plans, no additional reduction-in-force for MSF C

is ,,nticipated until after January 1, 1974 " [8391.

MSFC continued its pol icy of inform ing employees c oncerning retiremen t advantages. OnMay 2 Manpower Office Director Howell R. Riggs issued Retirement Bulletin 73-5 inwhich he stated, "A cost-of-living increase of at least 5.4% in tile civil servi ce annuities isin prospect f or July 1, 1973 .... If you meet th e age in s ervice requi ,ement for v oluntaryretirement (age 62 or more with fixe or more years of service; or age 60 or more with 20or more years of service; or age 55 or more with 30 or more years o f service) and wishto take advantage of this increase contact the Retirement Coordinator at 453-3398"[840].

MSFC's phenomenal Saturn V moon rocket that successfully lofted man to the moon

nine t imes -- six times f or landings - m. '_e hist ory again on May 14. It was a t r iumphantclhnax to a succes sful Saturn V program. Sattlrn V rose from the Kermedy Space Centerat 12:30 p.m., Huntsville time , lofting Sk ylab into a 270-mile, near-circular orbit , inclined50 degrees to the equator. The Sa turn V that launched the burgeoning Skylab flightprogram was the 13th Saturn V to fly since the Saturn V program began with anunmanned mission in N ovember 1 967, In cold storage in case of any future NASA needwere the two remaining Saturn V rockets in the 15-Saturn-V flight program. Meanwhile ,

i as Skylab rose in to ear th orbi t on May 14, abou t a mile awa y the coun tdown continuedfor IB, the Sa turn that would ca rry t ile crew.

333

s



MAY 1973

Within an hour, however, after Saturn V's May 14 launch of Skylab, optimism lessened inrelation to the mission. The world became aware of Skylab problems when a bulletin

from the Associated Press stated that mission controllers at Johnson Space Center inHouston, Texas, "are studying indications that solar panels on the Apollo TelescopeMount or the main panels on the space station have not fully deployed, The solar panelssupply all the electrical power to the space station. What effect this might have on themission, or how the situation might be corrected, is not known at this time."

The bulletin was correct. Telemetry data flowing back to earth from the orbitinglaboratory told engineers of serious problems. Trouble had struck just 63 seconds afterlaunch. At the instant of maximum stress and vibration, a girdle of aluminum that waswrapped around the Workshop exterior had ripped off. Normally the aluminum wouldprotect the Laboratory shell from punctures by micrometeoroids, and normally it wouldalso serve as insulating paint to help stabilize temperatures inside the spacecraft. As the

shield ripped away, it apparently damaged the mechanism that was to convert sunlightinto electricity and thus provide the laboratory with about half its power. With theinsulating shield gone, engineers reported that temperatures inside the laboratory wereranging up to 120 ° Fahrenheit and beyond as it passed from the dark to the sunny sideof the earth.

Hard-working space agency officials increased their efforts to find solutions to theproblem. One solution to the temperatur_ problem might be for astronauts to envelopetile spaceship with a giant sheet of Mylar insulation. This would block heat fi'om the sunand allow the orbiting station to cool off. It was speculated that if the insulation shieldwas used, the Skylab II crew might have to install it. The tedious operation might requireextensive training , and there was time before the Skylab I1 launch in August for such

training. In this event, according to this speculation, the Skylab I flight of Conrad, Weitz,and Kerwin would probably be limited to an inspection trip lasting only a few days.Skylab Program Director Schneider acknowledged in a news conference Tuesdayafternoon, May 15, that many options were being considered. Schneider, however,remained optimis tic.

May 16 there was much speculation in Huntsville that the mammoth "in-doo r swimmingpool" Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at MSFC might hold the key to salvaging the crippledSkylab space station and makin_ the orbital laboratory habitable for crewmen. Becausethe Neutral Buoyancy Simulator housed a full-scale mockup of the Skylab station underwater, it could be used by the Skylab 1 c rew .to learn space walk procedures if they wereasked to repair the ripped thermal ._kin on the station. Director of NASA's Office ofManned Space Flight, Dale Myers, ,qkylab Director Schneider, MSFC Director Petrone,and MSFC Skylab Manager Leland Below led teams at MSFC, JSC, and KSC working onthe problem. The four involved themselves in in-depth discussions aimed at solving thedilemma.

Astronaut Joseph Kerwin arrived at Redstone Arsenal at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May16, preparatory to practicing his planned repair job on the sun-seared orbital lab - not inspace - but deep under water in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator. Already trained for aspace walk to retriev e film from the station's sun telescope, this first physician slated tofly in space could put his space-walk training to unexpected use. Also arriving at

334



1

MAY 1973

Redstone Arsenal airport Wednesday evening was backup astronaut Ru ssell Schweickartwho arrived in a separate jet at the same time. Kerwin and Schweickart, both under amodified quarantine, departed the Redstone Army aii_.ield, with Schweickart driving aNASA van. The pair immediately was briefed by top space agency experts on the "suebonnet" planned to be used to shield a portion of the Workshop wall from the sun tolower the desert-like heat inside the station. The astronauts later moved to the NeutralBuoyancy Simulato r to inspect t he sail-type a wning. Tla_y were to unfurl it under waterin order to place it in proper position on the mockup.

At 12:30 p.m. Thursday, May 17, NASA Assistant Skylab Director John H. Disherinformed NAS A personnel via closed circuit radio that Saturn IB SL-2 would fly at 8:00a.m., Huntsville time, May 25, and that aboard SL-3 would be various proposed solutionsto the Skylab problem. One of the solution devices accompanying the SL-2 astronautsinvolved deployment of a rectangular, 22 by 24 foot parasol sun shade, a deploymentprocedure already being practiced by Kerwin and Schweickart in the Neutral BuoyancySimulator at MSFC.

By adjusting the unmanned laboratory's position each time that it rotated around theearth, space agency engineers were able to cool the cabin to an average temperature ofabout 100 degrees.

By May 18 a two-part salvage plan seemed to be the best solution:

I. Try to fr. ._ethe jammed solar panels. !2. Rig a make-shift awning to protect the craft from the sun's heat.

The Skylab Astronau,;s would have their work cut out for them. The Workshop still didnot have its full power-_enerated capacity. Two of the electricity-producing solar panelsstill had not deployed. Temp eratures inside th e craft were still rising, at times reachi_.gthe blistering 120° Fahrenheit and beyond [841-843].

Don Lakey of the MSFC Historical Staff was elected to a full 2-year term as President ofthe Local 3434, American Federation of Government Employees, f ormed at the MSFCwith 1196 members. Lakey thus became the first president of MSFC's largest local[8441.

On May 22 NASA officially established a Skylab I investigation board for the purpose ofdetermining the cause or causes of the anomalies that occurred during the launch andinitia! earth o rbit of Skylab I and to recommend appropria te preventive measures forfiiture NAS A launches. Bruce Lundin, Director, Lewis Research Center, was namedchair man of the board, with other m embers to be designated subsequently, in the courseof this investiga tion the board would visit .MSFC for extensive discussions, review ofrecords, and inspection of equipment and facilities, and other efforts pertinen t to thestudy . To assure maxim ,tm coordina tion of thi s interchange, MSF C Di rector Petronena med James T . Shepherd a s the MSFC point of contact for the Sk ylab I investigat ionboard. I n this ro!z Sh epherd would report directly to th e Director, and would haver esponsibilit y for arr anging the "timely and orderl y presentation of all data and verbaltestimony and coordinating other matters relating to the investigation as requested by t he

335



I

MAY 1973

Board. Pursuant t o tile NASA Adminis trator's directio n.,, and to as._urc :! comp lete :lt ttl

imp; ,rtial assessment of Skylab 1 anonmlies, ;ill invoh , cd MSI- :(" cremcnts ;,re expected to

cooperate fully with Mr. Shepherd t n the Skylab I I nvestigati on I_t)artl" 1845 , 84(_J .

Skylab's crewmen had been o r iginally scheduled to blast off o n May 15 for a linkup withthe laboratory ort .ited the previous day. But then came the problems with the laboratory.So it was not until May 25 that the l trst nlan,ed Skylab in crement loll_wed an ,_ilin;SL-I into space as Satur n IB lof ted Sky htb ( 'omma ndcr ("harles ( 'onrad , lkr. ,Io,,_'phKerwin, and Paul Wei:z t tpwald precisely at 8:00 a.m. Htmtsvillc tune. '|",Hs $1.,-2 lz_t_ tl_hwas the start of a 17 000 mile per-hour chase through space to link up with the ttlpplctlspace s tation and att empt to salvage the entire Skylab program. 'File Skylab "lepalllll Cll'"

hoped to save not only their 28-day mission but th e two later 56-day missions as well. Asthis first Skylab crew left the earth, they carried w;th them the tools and k tlow-howgained from the most historic repair project in the an nals of the space program. AI

MSFC, as throughout NASA, this involved stre nuous effort by htHlttreds of governme,ltand contractor emplo yees. At MSFC many hundreds of workers had worked and _,, '_'reworking ar ound the clock in an i ntegrated effort to overcome th e problc ,us of the Sl- ,_I._1_Space Station. Most of the activity was in the development of nlalcrtal,,, for the prol; ¢),',c¢lsolar shields, design of shie hts, tool developme nt, ;rod mission ,pcratio,_s. Act_c c_launch d ay was a recently activated special task te;lln [ornaed within Itt¢ ][tl_:ts,,Jll,.,Operations Support Center (ltOSC) at MSFC.

After the 8:00 a.m. launch, a 7 Vz hour chase t hrougla space foll owed, which ended ,isastronaut Conrad cited his objective and shouted, "Tallyho. the Skylab." Th e crew ptdlcdup alongside the crippled space station and surveyed the damage. The tnctc oroid slucld,which also was to serve as ;l st ,_shatle, was completely ripped away. So was t mc of theelectricity-generating solar panels, leaving severed pipes and wi,es tl;mghl:g m spa ce. Asecond solar pa nel had swung only about 10 degrees away from t he side of tile Worksh opand appeared to be jammed in that positio _. The astronauts transmitted color-televi,;ionpictures of the damage back to the St;ace Center in Houston, th en pulled in behindSkylab lbr a "soft dock" and dinner.

Conrad flten undocked the Apol h) craf t and flew it a h_l]gsltlc tilt, .,,tttck ,¢_lar p, tz_'l whilcWeitz tried to free it with special tools. It dill IIJ,H work. The a._tu,ulat ,ts tt'llltllc_l to II Whatch for another docki ng with Skyhtb. Afte r ('Oltl'ad i ; .it[ioct] that hc _,_uld It,,t _cd_ckwith Skylab, grotmd c_ ntrollers radioed advice while lilt' a .stroi_,t/tl.., tl_,,,_ ,,s_'_lq,.'d tht'Apollo docki ng device an ,t "hot-w;red" it lor another _ry. As tht' ,,p, ,tccr:.tfl al_tl ,,p,!,_ 't.,station whirled across the earth's mght side, ('t)[ll';ld iil,l_!o a nother It\ al tlock_lg by thelight of the Apollo ship's powerful sp._tlighl, lie succccdcd. After sl) enthng [hc mt,.ht _l_the Apol!o craft, the astronauts climbed into th e Multiple I)ocking Adapter at I 13 ('1 a.,nSaturda y iliorliillg, May 20. ,'kS SOOII as the y elllelt'tl *,11¢W tuksl',op ; tt 3 5(._ _'.m.Huntsville time that afternoo n, they began p.reparal_o ns tt_ tltllllrl Ihe S ,l_l., ,h,ltlt ' ll:a[ wz|sexpected to cool tile station down. The deploymen t of thi._ tlllll_tt' ll,l-lypC .sh_ltl¢ \va._comple ted at 8:00 p.m., Hu ntsville time, May 2¢). Ahl_o.,, t tt_Ht,t ' diatcly tempcratt tre,;

inside the station, which often had been above 120 U Fahre nheit. bcg,m dropping, illslc; itlof a rectangular 22 by 24 foot parasol sunshade , ht)wevc l, tile paras ol took th e sh,tpc ,,Ia trapezoid, and tile as tronauts said they believed i t wa.s dcp h,yed ;ibt_ut 12 to I -I leer ttathe back, and perhaps 18 to 20 at the end.

336



MAY - JUNE 1973

Activat ion of the Worksh qo continued as temperatures conti wled to drop. During the 2

weeks following their M_y 26 en try into the Workshop, the a onauts began a strenuousprogram of Workshop repair, experimentation in space, and routine living in space thatculminated in a Lazardo us space walk to free the jammed solar panel outside th eWorkshop. Problems within the Workshop, st,;mming from the accident of the jammedsolar panel outside, ranged from loss of power to inadequate temperature control. For awhile the Workshop _ _s runuing on just a little over half power. For days, also, th etemperature ipside th e Workshop refused to drop much !ower t'_an 80 degrees.

As Workshop probl ems continued, the as tronauts made preparation for their hazardousspace walk. Inside the Workshop they went through the "dry run" for freeing the panel,even as Astror_aut Russell Schweicka :t and others at MSFC went through the samesimulation in MSFC's Neutral Buoyan cy Simulator. Meanwhile, the space ridingastronauts went through the routine of daily living, sometimes before the eyes of 'aillionsof television viewers. They ate_ shaved, and showered. They exercised, boundingsometimes as high as 40 feet up or down, as the case might be. Medical Doctor Weitztook a blood sample from Astronaut Conrad. The astronauts conducted almost all oftheir scientific experiments as programmed.

On Monday, June 4, top NASA offi cials, meeting in an all -day review and evaluationsession at MSFC, gave a go -ab.ead for the Skylab crew to attempt an EVA to deploy thestuck solar array hardware. "The EVA would be conducted no earlier than Thursda ',June 7," NASA officials announ ced.

On Wednesday, June 6 , there was a full final rebearsal prior to the ¢ _y of scheduledoutside repair. Also at MSFC Astronaut Russell Schwci ckart and others pra cticed more inthe Neutral Buoyancy Simulator. At the end of We dnesday's "dry -run" pr._ctice session,Schweickar t and others a t MSFC sounded more confident of tomor r o.,'s walk thanperhaps did the a stronauts aloft in Skylab. But plans for the schedt, l cd walks continuedas programmed. Then at 10:30 a.m., Thursday r, orning, June 7, Hun_ 'ville time, Kerwinand Conrad left the Workshop and be,an mankind's first major repair mission in spac e.At the end of 2 V2hours - at 1:09 p.m. - they had successfully cut the angle iron withtheir bolt cutter, thus permitting the stuck hardware to approach more normaldeployment. The astronauts then went to the ATM to pry open the door on the S0-54experiment. Approximate!y li,/2 hours after the 1:00 p.m. deployment ,;f the solar winghardware, the astronauts reentered the Workshop. In a spectacular manner they hadperformed as nearly as humanly possible mankind's first major repair work in space.Meanwhile, NAS A controllers on the ground were maneuvering Skylab so that the sun's

rays could thaw the solar wing hardware completely and thus permit completedeployment of the solar array.

During their 28 days in space the Skylab I astronauts became known a s the "fix-it" crew.Yet, while they carried out the_Jrsalvage operation, the astrorauts apparently remair ted inexcellent heal th. Mission commander Conrad told rep orters in a June 20 Space-ll pressconference: "The doc tor's may make me eat my words , but 1 h ave the feeling that at theend of 28 days, I am going to be in bette r physical shape than when I came back l'romany of my first three previous flights." For the first time doctors were able to monitorclosely deterioration of muscles and the heart caused by weightlessness. Medical experts

337



1

J UNE 1973

expressed sm pri3e c oncerning h ow we!l the crew seemed to have hel d up in spite of thefact that they had to l ive in temperatur es ranging up to 125 degree s at times .

¢

After a record brcaking time in space, 28 days compared to 24 days set by the Sovietcosmonauts in 1971, tile Skylab I astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 8:59a.m., H untsville time, on June 22. The astronauts had tra veled 11 million miler ar , d made

395 revolutions a r ound the earth. They had performed the first major repair job in space- tile erec ting of a sunshield to cool tile in_e r ior of Skylab, then the dislodging of the

jammed panel in a daring space walk, a fea t t hat r enewed the power supply of thecapsul. _. Pe rhaps mo re t.hart anything else _qASA's firs t "We Fix An ything" a str onau t crewhad demons tr ated the value of man in handling the unce rt ainties of spac e tr avel, givingnew hope for manned journe ys to Mars and o ther distant poin ts in space .

Lift-off fo r t he Sk ylab II c rew was schedu led, as of June 30, 1973, fo r July 27. TheSatur n IB rocke t that would lof t them in to space was al r eady poised a t its Cape Kenned ylaunch pad. This second three-man crew would spend 56 da ys aboa rd the space s tation,acco rding to schedule . Then, in Oc tober 1973, acco rding to schedule s, tile third Sk ylabt_am would r ide ano ther Saturn in to space fo r t he final linkup wi th the Wo r kshop. Tha tfligh t also was scheduled to run 56 da ys [84"_-8501.

After tile Ma y 14 latmch of Sk ylab, news media bc a supplying Hu r qsville a r ea ci tizenswith the time du r ing which they could see Sk ylab as . t crossed the Hun tsville sk y. Over aperiod of sever al mon ths the sighting times varied from da y to nigh t [851].

in a June 8, 1973, MS FC Organiza tion Announcemen t MSFC Direc tor Petr one w rote asfollows conc er ning the cu rr ent Skylab inves tigation: "On May 22, 19 73, the NASAAdminis trator established file Sk ylab I Inves tigation Board, wi th Mr . Bruce Lundin asChairman. On Ma y 31, M r. Jame s T Shepherd wa s named as the MSFC poin t of con tactto the Boa r d. Effective Jun e 8, Mr . John C. Good rum is named as deput y to Mr .Shephe r d for the du ration of this special as signment ."

Because several majo r compor:.en ts of the Sk ylab space station we r e jett ison,;d in o rbit, as

i planned, these compon ents were still visible on occasions to observers on the ground,MSFC announced on June 1 5. Flying in s!milar orbits to tile Skylab were the S-ll

(second) s tage of the Saturn V rocke ts and several shrouds (protec tive coverings) [852].i

As of June 15, 50 MSFC employ ees had filed re tiremen t applications wi th the PersonnelOffice, all to b e effec tive the la tt er part of the month. Heading the hst of re tirees wasErich W. Neubert, Office of the Direc tor, MSP 'C [853] .

MSFC informed its emplo yees on June 15, "The C ivil Service Commission ha s authorized

NASA to use the Voluntary Retiremen t - Major Reduction In F orce provisions of Public il.aw 9 3-39. The authority, extends thrt:lgh Au gust 13 , 1973. Any emplo yee who is asleast 50 years of age wi th at least 20 years of se,wice_ or wh o has a t least 25 years of

service, regardless of age may volun tarily re tire during this period" [85 4].

' In a June 1 5 memorandum to HSF C E mployees, Di rector Petrone s:a ted , "The Re questfor Propo_ls (RFP) for the Spac x, Shut tle Solid Rocket Moto r (SRM) will be released to

338r_

it





1973

Postscript

Although this chronology en ds on June 30, 1 973, := tseems appr opriate to add a fewwords abou t Skylab a fter that date and prior to chronology publ ication. On July 28,

1973, Skylab II as tronau ts (SL-3 Second Mann_. d Mission) wen t into space an d after asuccessful 59-day fl ight returned sa fely to earth on September 25. F inally, Skylab 111(SL-4) astronauts, in the las t flight mission in the Skylab p r ogram, rose success fully fr omearth on November 1 6. As of January 1 , 1974, Sky lab I11 astronauts had success fullycomple ted 6 weeks in space and were scheduled to stay aloft at least until January 11,1974, (56 days) or possibly as long as Febr uary 8 (84 days) before r eturning to earth toend t he Skylab fl ight missions. The irmal Skylab m ission pro ved t o be the longe r one -84 days.

A final postscript concerns ma jor changes a t MSFC subsequent to i ts fir st 13 yea r s. OnMar ch 5, 1974, NASA ann ounced .that Dr. Rocco Petrone w ou ld go to Washin gton tobecome NASA associate administra tor, the agency's third highest ranking official.Replacing Dr. Petrone as MSFC director would be Dr. William R. Lucas. Dr. Petronewould begin his new NAS A duties in mid-March, although the official MSFC changeoverfrom Petrone to Lucas was not scheduled until July 1, 1974. Concurrent with theannouncement of these major personnel changes at MSFC, NASA also announced a majorreorganization of MSFC to become effective May 30, 1974, p aralleling an MSFCreduction-in-force that would be effective that date. The Center issued layoff noti ces to397 persons and downgrading notices to 259. This new pared-down MSFC work forcewas considered a m ore efficient organization for carrying on the future MSF C roles.

pRECEDI NGAGEBLr K

341

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APPEN DICES

343



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APP ENDX A

OOCUMENTATION

PRECEDING PA GE BLANK NOT FILML2)

345 1t

T

'. v



t

I. Army Ballis tic Missile Agency, Depar tmen t of Defense: Propos al: A NationalIntegr ated Missile and Space Vehicle Developmen t Program. Dec. 10. 195 7.

2. Advanced Resea r ch Projec ts Agency: ARPA O r der 14-59. Aug. 15, 1958, p. I.

3. Geo r ge C . Mars hall Space Flight Cen ter : Saturn Illu str ated Ch r onolog y. Jan. 20,1971, p. 3.

4. Ar my Ordnance Missile Command: Qua rt erly Progress Repo rt on ARPA Orde rs14-59 and 47-59 Fo r F ir st Qua rt er CY 1959. Ap r . 7, 1959.

5. Ar my Resear ch Pr ojec ts Agenc y: ARPA O rder 47 -59. Dec. 11, 1958.

6. MSFC Histor ical Office: His torical Origin s of the George C. Ma r shall Space F lightC_.nter . Dec. 1960, p. 63.

7. ,_Jeeno te 6.

8. See no te 6.

9. Na tional Ae r onautic s and Space Admini str ation: A Na tional Space VehiclePr ogram; A Repo rt t o the Pr esiden t. Jan. 2 7, 1959.

10. U.S. Congress, House Comm. on Science and A stronautics: Hearing on HR 9675,Te stimon y of Roy W. John son. 86th Congle ss, 2nd Se ssion, GPO, Wa shington,D C., 1960.

I1. Eugen e M. Emme: Ae r onau tics and A str onautics: An American Ch r onolog y of

Science and Technolog y in the Explora tion of Space: 19 15-1960. NASA HHR-3 ,Washing ton, D.C., 1961, p. 109.

12. See no te 3, p. 5.

13. See no te 3, p. 5.

14. See no te 3, p. 6.

15. See no te 3, p. 6.

16. Geo r ge C. Ma r shall Sp,,, 'e Fligh t Center: Sa turn D& F Plan FY 61. p. 2.

17. See note 3, p. 8.

18. See note 6.

PRECEDING PAGE BLANK NO T FILMED347



J l • i _ ill - - -

-

19. Dwight D. Eisenhower: Executive Order 10870• Mar. 15, 1960.

20. Sec note I I, p. 121.

- 21. See note 6.

_ __."_ MSFC Hist orical Oflice" itist ory of th e George C. Marshall Space F light Center ,Jan. I-June 30, 1963. p. 109.

.t 23. Morto a J. Stoiler: The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration 's

Space Flight Program. NASA, Sept. 12, 1960, pp. 4-5.

_4. See n ote 6 , p. 21.

' 25. See note 22, p. 9./

: 26. See note 3, p. 18.

i 27. Sec n ote 6, p. 17.iI 28. MSFC Historical Office: Hist ory of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Cen ter,

July i-Dec. 31, 1960. p. 19.

_9. See note 6, p. 9 "_

i 30. See no te 6, pp. 1-22.

31. MSFC: Preliminary Evaluation of Mercury-Redstone Launch MR-IA. TPR-M-61-1,Jan. 13, 1961, p. 21.

i 32. MSFC Historical Office: History of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center,Jan. l-June 30 , 1961 p. 1

i " "

! 33. See note 3 , p. 13.

34. See note 3, pp. 17 and 18.I35. MSFC Test Division: Contribution to Saturn Semiannual Technical Report, Jan. i

through June 30, 1961. Unpublished Report, pp. 16 and 17.36. MSFC Saturn Systems Office: Saturn Quarterly Progress Report, Apr.-June 1961.

p. 25.

37. See note 32, p. 3.

348



i mm I

)

)F

_ 38. See nnte 3, p _98.

39. See note 32, p. 24.

40. See note 36, p. 63.

41. MSF C HJ_;ori cal Office: H istory of the G eorge C. Marshall Spa ce Flight C enter,July l-D ec. 31, 1961. p. 1.

42. See note 41.

43. See note 22, p. 186.

44. MSFC S a turn Systems Offic e: Saturn Quar terly Progress Repor t, July-S ept. 1961.

p. 9.

45. See note 44, p. 2.

46 See note 3, p. 34.

47. See not e 44, p. 49.

48. See note 41, p. 3.

49. See note 3, p. 34.

50. Interview with Frances Pendergast , Public Affairs Office, Michoud Operatiol,s,Oct. 23, 1961.

51. See note 41, p. 3.

52. A Picture History, Rockets and Rocketry. 1966 , pp. 218 and 219.

53. See note 41, p. 5.

54. MSFC Memo, Subject: Weekly Report of Significant Events. Propulsion Projec tsOffice, P&VE Div. to Chief, Engine Management Office, P&VE Div., Nov. ii,1961.

55 MSFC: Marshali Star. Nov. 8, 1961 , p. I.

56. Interview with Joe M. Jones, Public Information Office, MSFC, Feb. 8, 1962.

57. See note 3, p. 35.

349



1

• 58. Col. W . Scott Fellows: Tile RIFT P ro gram (Dra tt). Nuclear Vehicl e Project Office,i MSFC, Jan. 25, 1962, p. 1,

59. MSFC Press Release, Dec. 15, 1961.

60. See note 3, p. 38.

: 61. MSFC Saturn Systems Office: Saturn Quarterly Progress Report, Jan.-Mar. 1962.i p. 23.

;_ 62. See no te 61, p. 27.

63. John Glenn: First American in Orbit. p. 67.

64. See note 52 , pp. 219 and 220.

65. MSFC Historical Office: History of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center,Jan. l-June 30, 1962, pp. 1-26.

66. See note 3, p. 39.

i 67. Vivian S. Whi tley" Visitors Program Record. Public Affairs Office, MSFC, Apr. 16,1962.

68. NASA Letter, Subject: Apollo Program Priority. Priorities and RequirementsBranch to all field installations, Apr. 18, 1962.

69. Teletype, Subject: Post Firing Repor t, Saturn Vehicle SA-2. Dr. Kurt Debus toDir. MSFC et al. , Apr. 25, 1962.

70. MSFC Saturn Systems Office: Saturn Monthly Progress Report, Apr. 12-May 12,1962. pp. 2 and 3.

71. MSFC P&VE Div.: Saturn SA-2 Data Book, SA-2 Flight Report Supplement.MTP-P&VE -E-61-5, May 11, 1962.

72. MSFC Memo, Subject: Saturn SA- 2 Flight Report Supplement. Vehicle SystemsIntegration Office t_ , D;_tribution, May 11, 1962.

73. See note 61, p. 38.

74. Interview with C. J. Bowen of MSFC Satiarn Systems Office, June 13, 1962.

75. See note 22, p. 69.

350



76. MSFC Satt, r n System s Office: Saturn Monthly Progress Report , May 14-June 12,1962. p. 12.

77. Intervi ew with P. H. Satterfield, MSFC Space Museum, July 5, 1962.

78. See not e 3, p. 39.

79. Int erview with Frances Pend ergast, Public Affairs Office, Mi choud Op erations,July 5, 1962.

80. NASA News Rel ease, July 11, 1962.

81. Se e note 3, p. 44.

82. MSFC Saturn Offic e" Summary of C-5 Development Plan. Jan. 15, 1963, p. 42.

83. MS FC Historical Office: History of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Cent er,Jan. i-June 30, 1964. pp. xxi and xxii.

84. MSFC T est Div.: Monthly Progress Report, July 12-Aug. 12 , 1962. p. 12.

85. MSFC Michoud Operations: Hislorical Report, Michoud Operations , July I-Dee.31, I962.

86. MSFC Saturn O._fice: Saturn Monthly Progress Report, July 13-Aug. 13, 1962. p.13.

87. MSFC 'r est Div.: Monthly Progress Report, Aug. 12-Sep t. 12, 1962. pp. 10 and11.

88. MSFC Historical Office: History of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center ,July l-Dec. 31. 1962. p. 3.

89. MSFC Saturn Office: Saturn Monthly Progress Report , Aug. 14-Sept. 14, 1962. p.12.

90. See note 3, p. 44.

91. See not e 83, pp. 118 and 119.

92. See note 3, p. 45.

93. MSFC Press R elease, Oct. 5, 1962.

94. MSFC Saturn Offic e: Saturn Monthly Progr ess Report , Sept. 15-Oct. 15, 1962. p.9.

351



95. MSFC P&VE Div.: Satur_l SA-3 Flight Report Supplement. Dec. 7, 1962.

96. Teletype, Dr. Kurt H. Debus to Director, MSFC, Nov. 16, 1962.

97. MSFC Saturn Office: Saturn Monthly Progress Report, Oct. 16-Nov. 12, 1962. p.3.

98. Douglas Aircraft Co." 1965 Manned Space Laboratory, Briefing Manual. SM42587,Nov. 1962, pp. 1-10.

i

l 99. Douglas Aircraft Co." S-IVB as M_med Space Labora tory. SM-43257, Feb. 1963,

I pp. 1-67.

100. MSFC Memo, Subject: Appointment of Manager, Mississippi Test Facility•

! Wernher van Braun to Directors and Chiefs of Divisions and Offices, Dec. 14,i 1962, p. !.

101. See n ote 3, p. 5 0.I

102. Interview with John Chambers of MSFC Saturn Systems Office, Sept. 19, 1963.

103. MSFC Saturn Office: Saturn Monthly Progress Report, Feb. 16-Mar. 18, 1963. p.8.

: 104. See note 103, p. 9.

105. MSFC Press Release, Feb. 8, 1963.

106. MSFC Saturn Office: Saturn MPR, Jan. 17-Feb. 15, 1963. p. 6.

; 107. See note 103, p. 6.

108. MSFC Test Div.: MPR, Feb. 12-Mar. 12, 1963. p. 3.

109. Interview with Frances Prendergast, Public Affairs Office, Michoud Operations,Mar. 12, 1963.

110. MSFC Saturn Office: Saturn Monthly Progress Report, Mgr. 19-Apr. 15, 1963. pp ,2 and 3.

1 i 1. MSFC Test Div.: MPR, Apr. 12-May 12, 1963, pp. 4 and 5.

112. MSFC Test Div.: MPR, May 12-June 12, 1963. p. 5.

i13. MSFC: Marshall Star. May 22, 1963.

352



114. MSFC P&VE Div.: Engine Management Office MPR, June 16-July !5, 1963. pp.15 and 16.

115. See note 22, p. 6.

116. MSFC Saturn Office: Saturn MPR , July 18-Aug. 14, 1963. p. 5.

117. MSFC Memo, Subject: Reorganization Study - Announcement No. 2. Dr. vonBraun to Distribution B, Aug. 12, 1963.

118. MSFC Memo, Subject: Reorganization Study - Announcement No. 3. Dr. vonBraun to all MSFC Employees, Aug. 30, 1963.

119. MSFC Historical Office: History of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center,July 1-Dec. 31, 1963. p. 3.

120. NASA: NASA Administrator's Progress Report, Oct. 1963. p. B..6.3.

121. MSFC Saturn Office: Saturn MPR, Oct. 21-Nov. 15, 1963. p. 2.

122. NASA: NASA Administrator's Progress Report, Sept. 1963. p. E-20.2.

123. MSFC Engine Project Office: MPR, Oct. 16-Nov. 15, 1963. p. 6.

124. See note 3, p. 67.

125. MSFC Saturn Office: Saturn MPR, Nov. 16-Dec. 12, 1963. pp. 5 and 6.

126. MSFC Engine Project uffice: H-1 Engine Projcct Development Plan. Dec. 1, 1963,pp. 33-38.

127. NASA Launch Operations Center: Progress Report. Nov. 19, 1963, D. 12.

128. U.S. Congress, House Comm. on Science and Astronautics: AuthorizingAppropriations to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Report No.1240, 88th Congress, 2nd Session, GPO, Washington, D.C., 1964, p. 15.

129. See note 3, p. 71.

130. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. Public Affairs Office, MSFC, Nov.29-30, 1963.

1_1. MSFC P&VE Lab.: MPR, Dec. 12, 1963-Jan. 11, 1964. p. 35.

132. MSFC Test Lab.: MPR, Nov, 12-Dec. 12, 1963. p. 8.

353



133. MSF C Michoud Operations: His torical Report , July 1-Dec. ql , 1963. pp. 16 and17.

134. NASA: NASA Administrator's Pr ogless Repor t, Dec. 1963. p. 3-12.2.

135. Chrysler Corp. Space Div.: Sixth Quarterly Review, Satt,.m S-I /IB Stage - SaturnI/IB Vehicle Program. Dec. 5, 1963, p. J.M.L.-2.

136. MSFC: Results of the Fifth Saturn I Launch Vehicle Test Flight.MPR-SAT-FE-64-15, Apr. 1, 1964, p. 5.

137. See note 3, p. 73.

138. See note 83, p. 4.

139. MSF

C Histori;al Office: History of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center,Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 1965, p. 310.

140. See note 83, p. 6.

141. MSFC Press Release, Apr. 20, 1964.

142. MSFC P& VE Lab.: Saturn SA-6 Vehicle Data Book, Flight Report Supplement. p.VI-I.

143. MSFC: Marshall S tar. May 20, 1964, p 4.

144. Interview with Howell Riggs of the MSFC Personnel Office, J une 16, 1964.

145. Interview with Frances Prendergast , June 22, 196 4.

146. Interview with Hugh King of MSFC Manag ement Services Office, June 29, 1964.

147. MSFC Engine Project Office: Quarterly Progress Report, Apr.-June 1964. p. 21.

148. See note 3, p. 88.

149. See note 3, p. 89.

150. MSFC Micho ud Opera tions: Historic al Repork Jul y l-Dec. 31, 1964. pp. 2 and _10. _

151. MSF C Saturn I /IB Office: Progress Report, Mar. 16-Sept. 30, 1964. pp. 19-21.

152. KSC: Technical Progress Report, Third and Fourth Quarter, CY 1964. p. 4.

354



I

i

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t

153. MSFC Memo, Subject: Pegasus Schedule. Lee P James of Saturn I /IB ProjectOffice to Dr. von Braun et al., Dec. 15, 1964.

154. NASA Letter, Subject: Saturn I Development Fligh t Test, SA-7. George E.Mueller of NASA's Office o5 Manned Space Flight to NASA Administrator, Sept.14, 1964, . ith enclosure Report M-931-67-07, Mission Operation Report, p. 1.

: 155. F.A. Speer: Sat arn SA-7 Flight Resume. Report of the MSFC Saturn FlightEvaluation Working Group.

156. MSFC Historical Office: Histo.ry of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center ,July 1-Dec. 31, 1964. p. 2.

157. Don Adams: Saturn Stage S-l-10 Final Static Test Report. Chrysler Corp. SpaceDiv., pp. 1 and 2.

158. MSFC Test Lab.: Historical Report, July l-Dec. 31, 1964. pp. 1 and 2.

159. Interview with Dr. von Braun, Director MSFC, Oct. 22, 196_.

169, Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. Public Affairs Office, MSFC, Oct. 28,1964.

161. See note 156.

162. MSFC: Results of the Seventh Saturn I Launch Vehicle Test Flight.MPR-SA T-FE-64-17, Nov. 25, 1964, p. 250.

163. MSFC P_VE Lab. MPR, Dec. 12, 1963-Jan. 11, 1964. p. 48.

164. MSFC Saturn V Of fice: Qt'R, J nly l-Sept . 30, 1964. pp. _ and 5.

165. MSFC Saturn V Office: QPR, Oct. l-Dec. 31, 1964, p. 7.

166. KSC: Technical Progress Report, First Quarter CY 1965. pp. 9-13.

167. MSFC Michoud Operations: Historical Rep ort, Jan. 1-June 30, 1965. _p. 10-14.

168. U.S. Congress, H ouse Subc ommi, tee on Manne d Space F light of the Comm. onScience and Astronautics: Hearing on H.R. 12718 (Superseded by H.R. 14324),No. 4 , Part 2. 89_ Congr css, 2nd Session , GPO, Washington , D.C., Feb. 18 and24, Mar. I-3 an d 31, 1966.

169. See note 3, p. 102.

170. Douglas Aircraft Corp.: Saturn S-IVB Monthly TPR, Feb. 1966. p. 2.

355



!

!7!. Te !ety,:-, Sulzjcct: S A-9 Flight R esults. F .A. Speer to Dr. G. E . Muellel et al. , Feb.19, 19o._.

172. T eletype, Sub ject: SA-9 Fligh Results. F .A. Speer to Dr. G.E. Mueller, Feb. 26,1965 .

173. MSFC Saturn I [IB Project Office: Pr ogress Rep ort, Oct. 1, 1964-Mar. 31, 1965. p.!I.

174. See note 167, pp. 5 a,ad 23.

175. See note 167, pp. 5 and 23.

17-J. See note 3, p. 10 5.

177. Inter view with Wilb or E. Thompson of MSFC Prog r am Development Office, Sept.I 1, !972.

17& iBM Spzce Systems Center: Saturn IU Program Plan. Apr. 5, 1966, pp. 1.1 and1.2.

179. Teletype from Maj. Gen. Samuel C. Phillips, NASA ,_ 7ollo Program Office to StanReinar tz, MSFC Saturn IB /Centat, r Program Office, Apr. 7, 1965.

180. MSFC: Marshall Star. May 5, 1965, p. I.

181. See note ._, pp. 109 and 110.

182. MSFC Saturn V Progra m Office: QPR, Apr.-June 1965. p. 15.

'. 183. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Prog ram Record. Public Affairs Office, MSFC, June 8,!1965.

I

! 1_4. MSFC Test Lab.: Historical Report, Jan. l-Dec. 31, 1965. pp. ! and 2.

185. interview with Erich W. Neubert, July 20, 1965.

i 186. Leland Belew: A IAA Paper 65- 303. pp. 12-14.!

i 187. MSF_2 Engine Project Office: Semiannual Pro gress Report, July- Dec. 1965. pp.; 21-23.!i 188. M SFC Saturn V Program Office: QPR, July-Se pt. 1965. pp. 26 and 27 .t

189. See n ote 184, Addendu m , pp. 1-_.

i: 356t,



I

190. NASA Memo fiom Dr. G.E. Muel ler to Code AA, Aug. 6, 1965.

191. MSFC Memo, S ubject- Marshall's Changing Role in the S pace Program. Wernher

vt,n Braun to all MSFC employees, Aug. 13, 1965, p. 1.

192.s See note 139, p. 14 .

193. S ee note 173, p. I.

194. IBM: Saturn Inst r ument Unit Mission Monthl y Progress Report-for Septemb er. pp.i, 7, 22, and 30.

195. See note 1. 84, Addendum, pp. !-3.

196. See note 184, pp. 8 and 9.

197. N.C. Miiwee: Quarterly Report, July -Sept. 1965 (Draft). ManufacturingEngineering Lab., M SFC.

198. Chr ysler Corp.: Saturn S -iB Stage Final Stati c Test Report, Stage S -IB-3. pp. 3 -5.

199. Vivian S. Whifley, Visitors Program Record. Public Affairs Of fice, MSFC, Nov. 5,1965.

200. MSFC: Results of the Fi r st Saturn IB Launch Vehi cle Test Fligh t AS-201.MPR-SAT -FE-66-8, May 6, 1966, p. 13.

201. MSFC P&VE Lab.: MPR, Dec. 1-31, 1965, Supplement. pp. 1 -3.

202. See note 134, pp. 8 and 9.

203. MSFC Press Release 6602, Jan. 4, 1966.

204. MSFC Press Release 66-3, Jan. 4, 1 966.

205. See note 3 , p. 130.

20b. MSFC Saturn V Prog ram Office: QPR, Jan. i- M.'r 31, 1966. p. 11.

207. See note 206, p. 27.

208. NASA Headqua r ters Schedule ML-4, Mar. 23, 1966.

209. NASA Histori cal Office: Astronautics and Aeronauti cs. NASA SP -4007, 1966 , p.107.

3 5 7



it"

210. See note 3 , p. 138.!

i 21 I. MSFC Pre ss Re lease 66-69, Ap r . i, 1966.

212. MSFC Histori cal S ta ff: A Chr onology of t he George C. Marshall Space Flight, Center, Jan. l-Dec. 31, 1966. p. 27.

213. MSFC: Marshall Star. Apr. 20, 1966, p. !.

214. MSFC Pres s Release 66-83, Apr. 21, 1966.

215. See note 3, p. 140.

216. MSF C Saturn V Program Office: QPR, Apr. I-June 30, 1966. p. 19.

217. See note 216.

218. See note 212, p. 35.

219. See note 212, p. 1.

220. See note 216, p. 14.

221. Letter from Dr. G. M aeiler to Dr. yon Braun, July 1, 1966.

222. MSFC Press Release 66-142, June 30, 1966.

223. MSFC Michoud Operations: H istorical Report, Jan. l- Dec. 31, 1966. f 4.

' 224. NASA Memo, Subject: Management Responsibilities for Future Manned FlightActivitie s. R .C . 3eamans, Jr. to Dr. Adams, Mr . Buckley, Dr. Mueller, and Dr.Ne wo ll, t..,--.... ,,x 26, i966.

225. MSFC Saturn V Program Office: Semiannual Pro gress Report, July 1-Dec. 31,1966. p. 56.

226. Post Apo llo Manned Spacecraft Center and Marshall Space Flight Center Rolesand M issions in Manned Space Flight. Au g. 23, 1966, pp. 1-16.

227. MSFC Press Release 66-18 2, Aug. 1 0, 1966.

228. See note 212.

229. See note 3, p. 151.

358



230. MSFC: Resul ts of the Third Satu rn IB Launch Vehicle Test F light AS -202.MPR-SAT-FE-66-1 3, pp. 1-3.

231. See note 3, p. 152.

232. See note 212, p. 85.

233. See note 225, p. 72.

_34. See note 209, p. 350.

235. MSFC Press Release 66-276, No v. 17, 1966.

236 See note 209, p. 360.

237. MSFC Press Release 66-288, Nov. 30, 1966.

238. N ASA Headquarters Schedule ML-5B, Dec. 5, 1966.

239. Inter view with Willia..l Wright, MARS Project, MSFC, Dec. 17, 1966.

240. MSFC Saturn V Progr' zm Office: Semiannu al Progress Report, July l-Dec. 31,1968. p. 25.

241. See note 209 , p. 383.

242. MSFC Saturn V Program Offi ce: Semiannual Progre :_s Rep ort, Jan.-June 1967. p.52.

243. See note 242, p. 58.

244. Memo, Subject: Saturn V Weekly Report, No. 5. Steed to NAS A Headquarters,Feb. 1, 1967.

245. MSFC Historical Staff: A Chronolo gy of the Geor ge C. Marshall Space FlightCenter, Jan. l-Dec. 31, 1967, p. 10.

246. Interview with Bonnie Holmes, Of fice of Director, MSFC , Jan. 31, 1967.

247. Interview with W.D. P utnam, Of fice of Manned Spa ce Fligh t, NASA Headquarters,Feb. 2, 1967.

248. Do uglas Air craft Co.: S-IVB QPR. Mar. 1967, p. 4.

249. Mississipp i Test Facilit y: Histori cal Report, Jan. l-Dec. 31, 1967. (Draft)

tI

359



' _ 250. Se e note 245, p. 2 1.

251. NASA Histori cal Office: Ast ronautics and Ae ronauti cs. 1967, ,p. 81.

252. See note 248, p. 51.[r 253. J ames R. Bishop: Apollo A pplications Program . MSFC Sky lab Program Office,t Feb. 7, 1972 , p. 4.

254. Interview with Too n Ferreil . MSFC Engine Progr am Office, Aug. 4, 197 0.

255. Interview with David Harris, AMC Publ ic Information Office, Redst one Arsenal,Apr. 19, 1967.

256. Vivian S. Whi fley: Visi tors Program Re cord. Publi c Affairs Of fice, MSFC , Apr .27-28, 1967.

257. Gerald O. Season, McDonnell Douglas Resident Office, Aug. 4, !972.

258. Morton T. Eldridge, McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., Huntsville. Aia., Sept.17, 197 0.

259. Vivian S. Whitle y: Visi tors Program Reco r d. Public Affairs O ffice, MSFC, May2-5, 1967 .

260. Chrysler Corp. Space Div. : S-IB-10 St age Final S tat ic Test Report. June 26, 1967,p.l.

261. Se e note 251, p 164 .

262. NASA Headquarters Schedule ML-6, May 24, 1967.

263, MSFC : Marshall Star . May 17, 1967.

264. Mi choud Ass embly Facility: Histor ical Report , Jan. l-D ec. 31, 1967. p . 2.

265. MSFC : Marshall S tar. June 14, 1967.

266. William A. Gei ger: Daily Log. Project Lo gistics Of fice, MSFC, J une 23, 1967.

267. MSF C Press Release 67-139, 1967.

268. Paul Anderson, Contracts Office, MSFC, lune 30, 1967.

269. See note 251, p. 187.

270. See note 242, pp. 50-66.

360



iI

ti

i

! 271. See n ote 242, p p . 68-72.

272. MS FC Pr ess Release 67-147, July I 1, 1967.

273. MSFC Press Release 67-155, July 26, 1967.

274. See note 251, p. 220.

275. MSF C Memo, Subject: Memorandum of Agreement - KSC Utilization of SelectedMSFC Pers onnel. Harry W. Gorman to Distribution SDL-2, Aug. 2, 1967, withenclosure of same subject signed on July 28, 1967, by G.A. Van Staden, KSC,and on July 31, 1967, by E.D. Mohlere, MSFC.

276. MSFC Pres s Release 67-161, Aug . 3, 1967.

277. MSFC Press Release 67-162, Aug. 4, 1967.

278. MSFC Saturn V Program Office: Semiannual Progress Report, Jul ,,-Dec. 1967. pp.8 and 9.

279. See note 245, p. 71.

280. Memo, Subject: Saturn V Weekly Report, No. 38. Sneed to NASA Headquarters,Sept. 28, 1967.

281. See note 278, pp. 41 and 42.

282. See note 278, p. 41.

283. See note 251, p. 278.

284. See note 245, p. 77.

285. Interview with E.M. Emme, Historical Office, NASA Headquarters, Oct. 4, 1967.

286. NASA Headquarters S ,zhedule ML-7, Oct. 3, 1967.

287. See note 251, p . 28.

288. MS FC Press Release 67-2 03, Oct. 4, 1967 .

289. See note 251 p. 298.

290. See note 251.

291. See note 245, p. 83.

361



292. See note 25!.

293. See note 2_1, p. 331.

294 MSFC: Marsilall Star. Nov. 8, 1967, p. 1.

295. See not e 245, p. 88.

296. NASA: 18th Semi-Annual Report to Congress, July l-Dec. 31, 1967. GPO, p. 3.

297. See no te 278, pp. 11-15.

298. MSFC: Saturn V AS-501 Flight Evaluation. MPR-SA T-FE-68-1, Jan. 15, 1968.

299. See note 251, pp . 339-341.

300. See note 251, p. 341.

301. See note 245, p. 88.

302. See note 245, p. 93.

303. See note 251, p. 350.

304. Memo, Subject: Saturn Weekl y Report, No. 46. Nov. 29 , 1967.

305. MSFC: Marshall Star. Nov. 22, 1967, pp. 1 and 10.

306. See note 245, p. 98.

307. Interview with Paul Styles, Manpower Utilization and Administration Office,MSFC, Dec. 6, 1967.

308. NASA Release 6 7-239.

309. See note 264, p. 1.

310. See note 245, p. 103.

311. See note 264, pp. 30-40.

312. See note 278, pp. 76-79.

313. See note 278, p. 65.

i

362 _



314. Interview with B.H. Aldridge, Contracts Office, Michoud, July 17, 1970.

315. NASA Headquarters Schedule ML-13A, Jan. 9, 1968.

316. Interview with A.J. Oberkirch, Contracts Office, MSFC, July 17, 1970.

317. MSFC His torical Staff: A Chronology of the George C. Marshall Space FlightCenter, Jan. l-Dec. 31, 1968. p. 11.

318. Interview with W.D.Brown, Contracts Office, MSFC, July 17, 19" 70.

319. See n ote 317.

320. Paul E. Anderson, Contracts Office, MSFC, Jan. 11, 1968.

321. Interview with T.B. Burton, Contracts Office, MSFC, July 20, 1970.

322. See note 317, p. 2.

323. Interview with Paul Styles, Manpower Utilization and Administration Office,MSFC, Jan. 16, 1968.

324. See note 317, p. 4.

325. Letter Contract NAS8-24000, Jan. 16, 1968.

326. MSFC Organization Announcement No. 2-1C, Jan. 16, 1969.

327. MSF C Saturn V Program Office: Semiannual Progress Report, Jan.-June 1968.

328. MSFC: Aero-Astrodynamics Bi-Monthly Progress Report, Dec. 1967-Jan. 1968. p.2.

329. William A. Geiger: Daily Lo g. Project Logistics Office, MSFC, Jan. 17, 1968.

330. See note317, p. 12.

331. See note 317, p. 5. /

332. Letter, Dr. von Braun_ MSFC, to Dr. R.R. Gilruth, MSC, Jan. 20, 1969.

333. See note 327.

334. Post Apollo Advisory Committee Report, July 20, 1968.

335. MSFC Press Release 68-20, Jan. 30, 1968.

363



T

336. MSF C Press Release fiS- I_,, lan 30, lq68

! 337. See note 317, Working Paper, p. 9.

i 338. MSFC Historical Office: Historical Sketch of MSFC. June 16, 1968, p. 35.

i 339. Comments t o a draft by J.M. Galbreath, Program Control Office, Engine Pr ogramOffice, MSF 'C,Nov. 25, 1970.

340. See note 327, pp. 1-20.

341. See note 327, p. 7.

342. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod 241 to Contract NAS8-5608 (Schedule 2). Feb. 6,1968.

343. See note 317, p. 13.

344. MSFC C ontrac ts Office: Mod 244 to Contract NAS8-5608 (Schedule 2). Feb. 7,1968.

345. See note 327, p. 7.

346. See note 317, p. 16.

347. See note 317, p. 12.

348. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. Public Affairs Office, MSF C, Feb.12-14, 1968. _

349. Memo, Bill Sneed to NASA Headquarters, Mar. 6, 1968, p 1.

350. See note 317, p. 22.

351. NASA Hist orical Office: Astr onautics and Aer onautics. 1968, pp. 35-36.

352. See note 327, p. 48.

353. North American R ockwell: S-II Quarterly Progress Report, Fi_t Quarter 1968. p. ,_VI-2.

354. Minutes of Combined Staff and Board Meeting. Mar. 12, 1968.

355. See note ? 17, p. 12.

364



356. See note 327, pp. 5-38.

357. See note 3 i 7, p. i 2.

358. See note 317, p. 12.

359. MSFC Press Release 68-45, Mar. 8, 1968.

360. See note 317, p. 30.

361. MSFC, P&VE Lab.: Monthly Progress Report, Mar. 1968. p. 18.

362. MSFC: Ma r shall Star. Mar. 20, 1968, p . 1.

363. See note 317, p. 12.

364. Memo, Gen. Edwin O'Conner To Distrib ution, Ma r . 28, 1968.

365. See n ote317, p. 12.

366. See note 353, p. 1-1.

367. See n ote 317, p. 12.

368 . Memo, Wemer Kuers to David S. Akens, MSFC, Jan.-Mar. 1968, p. 1.

369. Michoud Assembly Facility: Historical Rep f, rt, Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 1968. p. 35.

370. See note 317, p. 12.

371. See note 327, p. 11.

372. McDonnell Douglas: Saturn S-IVB Quarterly Technical Progress Report. JuneI 1968, p. 3.

373. See note 327, p . 13.

374. See n ote 327, p. 15.

i 375. See n ote 317, p. 39.J

376. See vote 327, p. 141.

377. MSFC Press Release 68-79, Apr. 17, 1968, p. 1.

378. MSF C Press F ,elease 68-77, Apr. 1968.

365



3V9. See n ote 317, p. 12.

380. See note 317, p . 45.

381. Bo,. ,g Co." Saturn V First Stage Annua_ Progress Report, Fis cal Year 1968. July1, 1968, p. 8.

382. See note 327, p. 107.

383. Satum V Weekly Rel;art, No. 17, May 2, 1968.

384. Letter, Dr. yon Braun, MSFC to Charles W. Mathews, Apollo ApplicationsProgram, NASA, May 2, 1968.

385. NASA Release 68-82, Apr. 19, 1908.

386. See note 317, p. 12.

387. See note 327, p. 127.

388. MSFC P&VE Lab.: MPR, Apr. 1968. p. 78.

389. Mississippi Test Facility: Historical Report, Jan. l-Dec. 31, 1968. p. I11-2.1i 390. See note 317, p. 50.

i 391. Kennedy Space Center: Apollo /Saturn V Ground Sys tems Evaluation Report,i AS-50 2. May 23, 1968, pp. 5-21.

392. See n ote 317, p. 12 .

393. NASA Headquarters Biographical Summary, Harold T. Luskin, Undated, p. 1.i

i 394. MSFC Press Release 68-94, May 4, 1968, p. 1.

: 395. Letter , Dr. G .E. Muel ler, MSC, to Dr . yon Braun, MSFC, June 10, 1968.

, 396. Memo, Dr. yon Braun to all MSFC Organizational Elements, May 13, 1968, p. 1.

', 397. See no te 327, p. 131.

398. MSFC, Skylab Program Office: Weekly Activit y Report to N ASA Headquarters,May 22, 1968.

399. Memo, Werner Kuers to David S. Akens, Apr.-June 1968.

366

m



400. Interview with H owell Rigg s, Manpower Utilization Office, MSFC , May 22, 1969,p. 1.

401. See no te 317, p. 59.

402. Memo, Lee Belew to H. Gorman, June 7, 1968, p. 1.

403. David M . Brown, Jr.: 17,adne Operati on Log. MSFC Project Logistics Office, June7, 1968.

: 404. Se e note 339, p. 1J

405. See no te 317, p. 7 3.

406. See note 3 17, p. 77.

407. MSF C, P&VE Lab.: MPR, July 1968. pp. 40-41.

408. MSFC Press Release 68-158, July 18, 1968, p. 1.

409. MSFC, Test Lab.: MPR, July 1968. p. 1-1.

410. See note 317, p. 80.

411. MSFC Press Release 68-173, Aug. 2, 1968, p. 1.

412. MSF C, Test Lab.: MPR, Au g. 1968. p. 1-1.

413. Interview with Paul L. Styles, Manpower Utilization and Adminis tration Office,MSFC, Aug. 12, 1968.

414. MSFC Saturn V Program Office: Semiannual Progress Report, July-Dec. 1968. p.91.

415. See note 317.

416. See n ote 414, p. 99.

417. MSFC P&VE Lab.: MPR, Aug. 1968. p. 79.

418. See note 317, p. 93.

419. See note 414, pp. 5-6.

420. MSFC Memo, Werner Kuers, ME Lab. to David S. Akens, Hist. Off.. July-Sept.. 1968, p. 1.

367



i

421. Interview with Paul Anderson . MSFC Contracts Office, Jan. 27, 1972.

422. See note 317 , p. 98.

423. MSFC Press Release 68-212 , Sept. 18, 1968, p. I.

424. MSFC Press Release 78-124. Sept. 18, 1968, p. 1.

425. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-145 to Contract NAS8-13005. Sept. 23, 1968.

426. See note 317, p. 102.

427. See note 417.

428. See note 317, p. 107.

429. See note 317, p. 107.

430. MSFC Saturn Flight Evaluation Working Group: Results of the Fifth Saturn IBLaunch Vehicle Flight Test , AS-205. Jan. 25 , 1969, pp. 1-9.

,431. Interview with Harrison K. Brown, MSFC Astronautics Lab., Sept. 8 , 1972.

432. MSFC Purchasing Office: Contractual Documents Issued. Nov. 1968, ,_. !.

433. MSFC Release 68-260, Nov. 6, 1968, p. 1.

434. Aeroballistics Lab.: Bimonthly Progress Report, Oct.-Nov. 1968. p. 51.

435. Se_' note 317, p. 126.

436. MSFC P&VE Lab .: MPR , Nov. 1968. p. 67.

437. See note 436 , pp. II and 72.

438. See note 414, p. 9.

439. North American Rockwell: Satnrn S-I! Stage l:rogn vss Report, Oct. I968-Jtme1969. pp. 11-1-II-3.

440. James R. Bishop: Apollo Applications Program. MSF( " Skylab Program Office,tmdated, p. 18.

441. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-340 to Contract NAS8-5608 _Schedule Il L Dec. 20,1968.

368



1

442. MSF C P &VE Lab.: MPR, Dec. 1968. pp . 1 and 2.

443. See note 414 , pp. 11-13.

444. See note 439, pp. 2-1-2-4.

445. North American Rockwell: Saturn V Launch Vehicle Flight Evaluation Report.AS-503 Apollo 8 Mission. Feb. 20, 1969, pp. 24-1-B-18.

446. See note 442, p. 61.

447. MSFC Purchasing Office: Contractual Documents Iss ued. Dec. 27, 1968, p. 5.

448. See note 317, p. 141 and Appendices.

449. MSFC: Marshall Star. Jan. 1, 1969, p. 1.

450. See note 44 7, p. 1.

451. MSFC Test Lab.: MPR, Dec. 1968, p. II-4.

452. MSFC Saturn V Program Of fice: Semiannual Progress Report, Jan. 1-_une 30,1969. pp. 9-12 and 13-17.

453. NASA Release 69 -9, Jan. 9, 1969. p. 1.

454. MSFC Historical Office: A Chr onology of the Ge orge C. Marshah Space FlightCenter, Jan. l-Dec. 31, 1969 (Working Paper). p. 12.

455. See note 454, p 17.

456. ln ter'Aew with Dr. Wallace Frierson, MSFC Medical Center, Feb. 3, 1969.

457. See note 4_2, p. 19.

458. Memo, F.L. Williams through Dr. Lucas to Dr. yon Braun, Feb. 10, 1969.

459. Interview with Paul Perry , MSFC Personnel Office, Feb. 17, 1969.

460. Mis sissippi Test Facility: Historical Report. Feb. 17, 1969.

461. See note 452, pp. 5-12.

462. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-455 to Contract NAS8-19.

369



463. Mississippi Test Facilit y: Historic al Rcport. Feb. 24, 1969.

464. Tele con, Dr. yon Braun to Dr. Charles Berry, Feb. 25, 1969.

465. Technical Information Summary Apollo 9 (AS-504 ), Apollo Saturn V SpaceVehicle, Feb. 3, 1969, pp. 3-5.

466. See note 439, pp. 2-5 2-8.

467. NASA Release 69-29 , Mar. 3-13, 1969.

468. NASA Historical Of fice: Astrona,,tics and Aeronau tics. I '_69, pp. 62-65.

469. Interview with E.M. Emme, NASA Historical Office, I V.ar. 10, 1969.

470. See n ote 452. pp. 13-14.

471. MSI 'C Mission Operations Office" Ap ollo 9 Missi on Status Bulletin Final SummaryReport. Mar. 13, 1969.

472. MSFC: Marshall Star, Mar. 26, 1969, pp. ! -4

473. See note 454, p. 39.

474. See note 452,

475. Interview with F.M. Anders on, NASA Hist orical Cffic_, Mar. 28, 1959.

476. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-486 to Contract NAS8-19, Mar. 28, 1969.

477. Memo, Lee B. James to Dr. von l_raun, Mar. 6, 1969.

478. J.L. Splawn and E.F. ?:,_arth: Neutral Buoyancy Simulator Daily Lo g,,.MSFC PELab., Mar. 4, 1969.

479. See note 454, p. 45.

480. See note 439, p. I!_-22.

481. MSFC Purchasing Office: Contractual Documents Is sued. Apr. 9, 1969, p. 4.

482. NASA Release 69-53, Apr . 10, 1969.

MSF" Release 69-116 , Apr. 18, 1969, p. I.

484. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. Publ ic Affairs Of,fi,:c, MSFC , Apr. 24,1969.

370



485. See note 4 52, p. 14.

486. Vivian S. W hitley: Visito rs Program Record. Pu blic Affai rs O ffice, MSF C, Apr.

29-May !, 196 9.

487. Interview wit h R.W. Hunte r, MSF C Pu rchasin g Office, Jan. 24, 1972.

488. MSF C: Ma rshall Sta r. Apr. 30 , 1969, p. 2.

489. No rth American Roc kwell: S-II Stag e Progress Report. July 1969, pp. 111-22,1II-23, and IV-5.

490. MSFC Release 69-125, May 2, 19 69, p. I.

491. Sa m E . Sloan: Fl ight Operati ng Log . MSFC Proje ct Logist ics Office, M ay 2, 1969.

492. Memo, J.T. Shephe rd to Dr . yon Br aun, May 3, 1969, p . !.

493. Telecon, Dr . yon Br aun to Geor ge Stoner , Apr . 29, 1969, p. 1.

494. Letter , Dr . W .R. Lucas to Dr . yon Br aun, May 1, 1969, p. I.

495. NASA Release 69-70, May 7, 1969, p . I.

496. MS FC Contr acts Of fice: Mod-108 to Contr act NAS8-4016. May 16, 1969.

497. Datafax Tr ansm ission, H .F . Kurt z to G. Hage, May 18, 1969.

498. Technical Inform ation Summar y Apollo 10 (AS-505) , Apollo Saturn V SpaceVe hicle. May 1, 1969, pp. I-5.

499. See note 4 52, pp . 10-18.

500. Lett er, G.H. Hage to Distribution, May 26, 1969.

501. See note 468, pp. 1 42-145.

502. See note 468, pp. 179 and 180.

503. Da ily Status Report, May 20, 1969. Orfic,e of Associate Dire ctor forO_.,rations.

504. NASA R elease 69-83, Ju ne 2, 1969, p. 1.

505. Vivian S. W hit ley: V isitors Pr ogram R ecord. PAP, MSFC, J une 9 , 1969.

371

iK



i 506. Letter, Dr. yon Braun to Dr. Mueller, June 9. 1969, pp. I and 2.i

507. MSFC Release 69-153, J une 24, 1969, p. i.7

' 508. MSFC Project L ogistics Office: Marine Operating Log. June 16, 1969.

509. See note 454, p. 83.

i 510. MSFC Release 69-156, June 27, 1969, pp. 1 and 2.

5!!. MSFC Purchasing Offi_:e: Contract NAS8-24714, Contract NAS8-24715, andi Contrac t NAS8-24975. June 30, 1969.

' 512. Letter, H.H. Gorman to all MSFC Employees, June 4, 1969, p. !.z

513. See note 489, p. i11-23.

514. MSFC Saturn V Program Of fice: Semiannual Progress Report, July l- Dec. 31,1969. p. 6.

515. See note 468. p. 24 I.

516. KSC: Daily Status Report, July 10, 1969. Office of Associate Director for

Operations.

517. MSFC Release 69-161, July i !, 1969, p. i.

518. See note 468, pp. 257-258.

519. Saturn V Flight Manual (SA-506). June 10, 1969, pp. I-i-i-10.

520. See no te 514, pp . 5-12.

521. North American Rockwell: Saturn S-il Stage Progress Report, July 1969-June

1970. pp. 2-5-2-7.

522. Mo r e detailed infor mation ma y be obtained from Astron auti_ and Aeron autics,1969, pp. 260-268. _

523. See note 454, p. 99.

524. NASA Release 69-105, J uly 22, 1969, p p. !-3.

525. Ken Sowell, MSFC Skylab Program Office, Aug. 3, 1972.

372



526. !nt eiview w. h Ross Hun ter, MSFC Pu rcha ¢ing Office, J an . 24, 1972 .

527. See no te 454, p. iOi.

528. See note 454, pp. lOI and 102.

529 . MSFC Organiza tion Announcem ent , June 26, 1969.

530. MS FC Pur chasing O ffice: Contrac t NAS8-24713 . Aug. I, 1969.

531. NASA R elease 69-12 4, Aug. 2, 196 9. o. I.

532. See no,._ 454, p. !07.

533. NASA Relea_ 69-115, Aug. 6, 1969, p. 1.

534 MSFC Pu r chasing Office Con tract NAS 8-25051. Aug. 7, 1969.

535. MSFC Con tr,,'to r,c_-... •_ ,,,_,e: Mod-365 to Contract NAS8-5608 (Schedule 11). Aug. 7,1969.

536. MSFC Contrac ts Office: Mod-9 to Contract NAS9-6555. Aug. 8, 1969.

537. HSFC Contracts Office: Moa-8 to Cont ;act NAS9-6555. Aug. 8, 1969.

538. Missis s;.ppi Test Facility: Historical Report. Aug. 28, 1969.

539. See note 454 , p. 121.

5d9. MSvC Purchasing Office: Contract NAS 8o24901. Apr. 16, 1969.

541. MTF: Historical Report. Apr. 21, 1969.

542. MTF: Historical Report. May 5, 1969.

543. MTF: Historical Report. Aug. 28, 1969.

544. MSFC Skylab Program Office: Ap oollo Applica tions Program. Feb. ; 72, p. 7.

545. See note 526.

546. See note 454, p. 127.

547. MTF: In put lor 196 9 Historical Report, Notes - 9/22/69 - Balch. July 16, 1970.

548. MSFC Contracts Office: Moo-1353 to Contract NAS8-14000. S ept. 19, 1969.

373



(

540. See note 4 54, p . 132.

550. See note 454, p. 137.

551. Interview wit h W.P. Foxwo rta, MSF C Cont racts Office, Jan. 26, 1972.

552. Interview with Paul Satte rfield, MSF C Space Orie ntation Cente r, Oct. 15 , 1969,

553. Letter, Dr. Mueller t o Dr . yon Braun, O ct. 20, 1969, p. 1 .

554. M TF: Historical Report. Oc t. 3, 1969,

555. MSFC Co ntracts Office: Program Ma nagement Contr acts Status Report. Jan . 1,1972, p. 7.

556. See note 544, p. 9.

557. See note 454, p. 150.

558. See note 514, p. 66.

559. See note 454, p. 152.

5'60. MTF: Input for 1969 Hist orical Report, Notes - 11/10/69 - Balch . July 16,1970.

561 . See no te 454, p. 15 3.

562. See n ote 468, pp. 452-457.

563. See no te 521, pp. 20 8-210.

564. Saturn Flight Ma nual SA-507, Ma y 20, 1969, pp. 1 -1-1-10.

565. Technical Information Summary Apollo 12 (AS-507), Apollo /Saturn V SpaceVehicle, N ov. 1, 1969, pp. 6 -17.

566. Memo, M A/Apollo Mission Director to Distribution, Nov. 24, 1969.

567. See note 544.

568. MSFC Release 69-250, Nov. 20, 1969, p. 1.

569• MSFC T echnical Services Of fice: Go vernment Bill of Lading E- 8226851,E-8226852. Nov. 24, 1969.

374

t

¢ i_ _ 41



570. See note 454, p. 169.

57!. See note 468, p. 491.

572. Teletype, Dr. yon Braun to Dr. Mueller, Dec. 18, 1969.

573. See note 514, pp. 35-68.

574. MSFC Release 69-170, Dec. 22, 1969, p. 1.

575. MSFC Project Logistics Office: Flight Operating Log. Jan. 2, 1970.

576. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. PAO, MSFC, Jan. 7, 1970.

577. NASA Release 70-4, Jan. 8, 1970, p. 1.

578. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-980 to Contract NAS_-5609. Jan. 14, 1970.

579. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-138 to.Contract NASS-5609(F). Jan. 23, 1970.

580. MSFC Contracts Office: Contract NAS8-25154(F). Jan. 23, 1970.

581. MSFC Contracts Office: Contract NAS8- 25153(F). Jan. 23, 1970.

582. Dr. T.O. Paine: Key NASA Personnel Change. Jan. 29, 1970.

583. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. PAO, MSFC, Jan. 28, 1970.

584. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. PAO, MSFC, Jan. 28-29, 1970.

585. FEWG 24-Hour Report AS-509, Feb. 2, 1970.

58t,. MSFC Mission Operations Office: AS-509 (Apollo 14) Infligh t Cr ew DebriefTranscript. Feb. 2, 1971.

587. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. PAO, MSFC, Feb. 10 and Feb. 20,1970.

588. MSFC: Marshall Star. Feb. 18, 1970, p. 1.

589. Carl E. Hall: Contract NAS8 -25181. Aero -Astrodynamics Lab., MSFC, Feb. l l,

1970.

590. Interview with C.H. Brown, MSFC Purchasing Office, Jan. 20, 1972.

375

,t



5vi. Interview with E.H. Eubanks, MSFC C ontrac ts Office, Jan. 26, 1972.

592. McDonnell D ouglas Astronautics C o.: Space S tation, MSF C-DRL-160 Line Item 8Space Station Program Definition. Aug. 1970, pp. 1-19.

593. See note 582.

59_. North American Rockwell Corp.: Space Station Program Phase B Definition,Second Quarterly Progress Report. Mar. 13 , 1970.

595. NASA Release 70-41 , Mar. 13, 1970.

596. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. PAO, MSFC, Mar. 31, 1970.

597. NASA Release 70-49, Mar. 31, 1970.

598. NASA Historical Office: Astronautics and Aeronautics. 1970, p. 131.

599. MSFC Release 70-61 , Apr. 1, 1970, p. 1.

600. MSFC Purchasing Office: Mod-1 to Contract NAS8-24957. Apr. 6, 1970.

601. MSFC Purchasing Office: Mod-I to Contract NAS8-24714. Apr. 19, 1970.

602. MSFC Purchasing Office: Mod-I to Contract NAS8-24715. Apr. 22, 1970.

603. MSC Release 70-41, Apr. 10, 1970, p. I.

604. See note 521, pp. 214-216.

605. Saturn V Flight Manual AS-508, Mar. 1, 1970, pp. 1-1-1-10.

606. Saturn V Launch Vehicle Flight Evaluation Report AS-508 , Apollo 13 Mission,June 20, 1970, pp. XVIII-XXIV.

607. Report of Apollo 13 Review Board. June 15, 1970, pp. 5-1-5-40 withAppendices A-H.

' 608. See note 598, pp. 146-150.

609. MSFC Key Personnel Announcement , Dr. Rees to Distribution, Apr. 16, 1970, p.• 1.

610. MSFC Contracts Office: Memorandum of Contract Action. Apr. 23, 1970.

376

t, j. ..,



611. Memo, Roy E. Godfrey to Dr. Rees, Apr. 30, 1970.J

612. See note 591.

613. MSFC Release 70-92, May 15, 1970, p. 1.

614. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-1701 to Contract NAS8-14000. May 21, 1970.

615. MSFC Release 70-102, May 26, 1970, p. 1.

616. MSFC Release 70-106 , June 1, 1970, p. I.

617. MSC Release 70-61, June 4, 1970.

618. MSC Release 70-62, June 4, 1970.

619. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-144 to Contract N AS8-24000. June 9, 1970.

620. Memo, Lee B. James to Dr. Rees, June 10, 1970, pp. 1 and 2.

621. See note 590.

622. NASA Release 70-97, June 15, 1970, pp. 1 and 2.

623. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. PAO, MSFC, Apr. 16-17, 1970.

624. NASA Release 70-99, June 18, 1970.

625. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-145 to Cont-act NAS8-24000. June 18, 1970.

626. MSFC Contracts Office: Contract N AS8-25156. June 23, 1970.

627. MSFC : Marshall Star. J u ly 1, 1970, p. 4.

628. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Progr am Record. PAO, MSFC, June 29-30, 1970.

629. MSFC Purchasing Office: Contract NAS8-26283. June 30, 1970.

630. MSFC Release 70-132, JuTe 30, 1972, pp. 1 and 2.

631. V ivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Rec ord. PAO, MS FC, July 7, 197 0.

632. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-150 to Contract NAS8-24000. Jul_ 8, 1970.

633. MSFC Organization Announcement, E.W. Neubert for Dr. Rees to Distribution,July 13, 1970, p. 1.

377

#



634. MSFC Release 70-138, July 10, 1970. pp. 1 and 2.

635. MSFC Contracts Office" Mod-55 to Contract NAS9-6555 (Schedule I). July 23,

1970.

636. Memo, Jewel W. Moody to Addressees, Aug. 10, 1970.

637. MSFC: Apollo 13 Review Repolt Recommenda tion No. 9, Aug. 12, 1970.

638. Interview with Lee B. James, May 21, 1971.

639. MSFC Release 7 0-162 , Aug. 17. 1970, p. I.

640. MSFC Contracts O._fice: Mod-32 to Contract NAS8-20899. Aug. 21, 1970.

641. See note 591.

642. MSwC Release 70-168, Aug. 27, 1970, p. 1.

643. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-84 to Contract NAS9-6555 (Schedu_ II). Aug. 27,1970.

644. MSFC Release 70-169, Aug. 28, 1970, p. I.

645. MSFC Purchasing Office: Contractual Documents Issued. Sept. 1970, p. 2.

646. Interview with E.H. Eubanks, MSFC Contlacts Office , Jan. 24 , 1972.

647. MSFC Release 7d-181, Sept. 8, 1970, pp. 1 and 2.

648. MSC Release 70-98, Sept. 8, 1970,

649. Letter, Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger to Dr. Rees, Sept. 12, 1970.

650. MSFC Release 70-184, Sept. 10, 1970, pp. 1 and 2.

651. The Associa ted Press, Apr. 15, 1970.

652. MSC Rel ease 70-101, Sept. 15, 1970.

653. Letter, Leland Belew t o W.C. Schneider, Oc t. 21, 1970.

654. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record, PAO, MSFC, Sept. 22_ 1970.

655. MTF Release 70-35, Sept. 30, 1970.

378

a



I

656. See note 521.

657. FR C Release 18-70, Oc t. 12, 1970.

658. MSFC Purchasing Office: NAS8-26468. Oct. 13, 1970.

659. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. PAO, MSFC, Oct. 20, 1970.

660. MSFC PE Lab.: Neutral Buoyan cy Simulator Daily Log. Oct. 21. 1970.

661. See n ote 598, p. 424.

662. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-I i00 to Contract NAS8-5608. Oct. 28, 1970.

663. MSFC Release 70-225, Oct. 29, I970, pp. 1 and 2.

664. Interview with Ross Hunter, MSFC Purchasing Office, Jan. 24, 1972.

665. Janie Jones: MTF Agenda for the Day . Nov. 5, 1970.

666. See note 598, p. 442.

667. MSFC Release 70-192, Nov. 12, 1970, pp. 1 and 2.

668. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. PAO, MSFC, Nov. 16-19, 1970.

669. MSF C Release 70-236, Nov. 17, 1970, pp. 1 and 2.

670. MSFC Pr oject Logistics Office" F light Operating Log. Nov. 18, 1970.

671. MSF C Project Logistics Office: Marine Operating Log. Dec. 2, 1970.

672. MSFC Space Shuttle Task Team: Calendar of Events. Dec. 1970.

673. Sidney P. Saucier: S-II Stage Inter-Orbital Shuttle Capability Analysis. N AS7-200,Change Order 2021, MSFC Program Development Office, Dec. 15, 1970.

674. Sidney P. Saucier: Chemical Inter-Orbital Shuttle Capability Study. N AS7-101,TA9, MSFC Program Development Office, Dec. 15, 1970.

675. Interview with Ronald J. Harris, Advanced Systems Anal ysis Office, Jan. 17,1972.

676. MSFC Release 70-266, Dec. 18, 1970, pp. 1 and 2.

379

• °



": 677. MSFC Release 70-267, l_ec. 22, 1970, p. 1

678. MSFC Memo, Subject: Work Policy During Severe Weather. R.W. Cook toEmployees, Dec. 23, 1970. _

679. Configuration Change Board Directive 076, Apr. 9, 1971.,

680. See note 664.t

681. James B, Bramlet: 33-Foot Diameter Space Station Mockup Brochure. SpaceStation Task Team, Jan. 22, 1971.

682, Saturn V Launch Vehicle Flight Evaluation Report AS-S09, Apollo 14 Mission,Apr. 1, 1971, pp. XV-XXVI.

683. MSFC: Marshall Star. Feb. 3 , 1971, pp. 1 and 4.

684. MSFC Purchasing Office' Contracts NAS8-26839, NAS8-26840, NAS8-26841, "NAS8-26842, and NAS8-26845. Feb. 1, 1971.

685. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. PAO, MSFC, Feb. 8-9, 1971.

- 686. KSC: Scheduling and Review Procedure. Mar. 31, 1971.

687. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-2084 to Contract NAS7-200. Feb. 12, 1971.

688. MSFC Mem o, Subjec t: Civil Service Retirement-Discontinu ed Servic e Annuity.Paul Styles to All Employees, Feb. 18, 1971, pp. i and 2.

689. Mod-1915 to Contrac t NASS-14000, Feb. 23, 1971.

690. MSFC Release 71-36, Mar. 1, 1971, pp. 1-3.

691. MSFC Release 71-106 , June 22 , 1971.

_' 692, Interview with James H. Goldsmith, MSFC Contracts Office, Jan. 19, 1972.

' 693. NASA Historical O ffice: Astronauti cs and Aerona utics. 1971, p. 77.

694. Telecon, Dr. Rees to Dale Myers, Mar. 5, 1971 .

695. NASA Release 71-38, Mar. 10, 19 71.

; 696. MSFC C ontracts Office' M od Mich-425 to C ontract NAS8-4016 (Schedule I). Mar.,: 10, 1971.

380



697. M inutes of *,he Staff and B oar d Meeting, Mar. 29, 1971, p. 2.

698. MSFC Release 71-56, Mar. 31, 1971, pp. 1 and 2.

699. MSFC Release 71-55, Mar. 31, 1971, p. 1.

700,. MSFC Director's Office: Daily 'Journal. Apr. 5-6, 1971.

701. MSFC: Marshall Star. Apr. 7, 1971, pp. 1-4.

702. MSFC Release 71-61, Apr. 9, 1971, pp . 1 and 2 .

703. MSFC Skylab Office: Final Review Board Minu tes of the Crew CompartmentStorage Review. PM-SL-SW-508-71, May 7, 1971.

704. MSC Weekly Progress and Program Summary Report for the Administrator -Skylab Program, Apr. 15, 1971.

705. MSFC: Marshall Star. Apr. 7, 1971, p. i.

706. Interview with Carl Prince, MSFC Computation Lab., Apr. 25, 1971.

707. MSF C: Marshall Star. Apr. 28, 1971, p. 1.

708. MSF C Organization Announcement, Apr. 30, 1971.

709. MSFC Technical Services Office: Government Bill of Lading. May 10, 1971.

710. News Conference at MSFC, Dr. James C. Fletcher, May 13, 1971.

711. MSFC Memo, Dr. Rees to all Employees, May 24, 1971, p. 1.

712. MSFC Release 70-91, June 1, 1971, pp. 1 and 2.

713. MSFC Contracts Office: Mod-45 to Contract NAS8-25156, June 2, 1971.

714. Associated Pres_, Huntsville News, June 4, 1971, p. 1 .

715. MSFC Project Logistics Of fice: Marine Operating Log. June 3, 1971.

716. Moscow Associated Press, The Huntsvihe 'Times, Jtme 7, 1971, p. 1.

717. MSFC Release 71-102, June 10, 1971, pp. 1-3.

718. The Huntsville News J une 11, 19 71, pp. 1 and 2.

381



"r19. MSFC Release 71-1 04, June 16, 1971, pp. 1 a ad 2.

720. MSFC Purchasing Office: Contract NAS8-27540. J one 18, 1971.

721. MSFC Press Release 71-105, June 21 , 1971, p. 1.

722. MSFC Purchasing 3ffice: Contract NAS8-27670. June 23, 1971.

723. NASA Release 71-114.

724. Menlo, Dr. Lucas for Dr. Rees, Jan. 25, 1971, p. 1.

525. MSFC Purchasing Office: Contract NAS8-2779 L June 30, 1971.

726. The Huntsville Times, June 30. 1971, pp. 1 and 2

727. KSC: Daily Sta:_ s Report. Office of Assoc. Director for Operations, July 7, 1971.

728. MSFC Releast 71-118. July 12, 1971, pp. 1-3.

729. The Huntsville Times, July 12, 1971, p. 17.

730. KSC: Daily Status Report. Office of Assoc. Director fol Operations, July 20,1971.

731. MSFC Release 71-135, July 21, 1971, p. 1.

732. See note 693, p. 256.

733. See note 693, pp. 256-261.

734. Datafax Transmission, Apollo 15 (AS-510), HOSC Report, July 2._, 1971, pp. 2-5.

735. Memo, Apollo 15 Daily Operations Report No. 4, July 30, 1971, pp. 1-3.

736. Apollo 15 Daily Operations Report bro. 8, Aug. 3, 1971. pp. 1-6.

737. Saturn V Launch Vehicle Flight Evaluation Report - AS-510 Apollo 15 Mission,C: t 28, 1971, pp. XVI-XXVI.

g

738. James C. Fletcher: Selection of Contractor for Design, Development, andProduction of the Space Shuttle Main Engine. NASA Headquarters, July 30, _1971.

,.,9. See n ote 693 , p. 274.

l

382 1



740. See note 693, p. 292.

741. MSF C Contr acts Office" C ontra c_ NAS8-27759. Aug. 31, 1971.

742. KSC" Daily Status Report. Office of Assoc. Director for t ,perations, Se ct. 1,1971.

743. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Record. PAO, MSFC, Sept. q0, 1971.

744. MSFC Memo, R .W. Cook to David H . Newby, Sept . 9, 1971, p. 1.

745. MSFC _-'roject Logistics "ffice: Marine Operating Log. Sept. 13, 1971.

746. MSFC Memo, Sub ject: Peduction in Support Contrac t Vehicle Services. David S.Newby to Distribution, Sept. 14 , 1971, p. 1.

, 7. MSFC Schedules and Status Summary_ Sept. 30, 1971.

748. MSFC Astronautics Lab.: QPR, July l-Sept. 30, 1971, p. 81 .

749. NASA Release 71-199, Oct. 7, 1971.

750. MSFC Project Logistics Office: Daily Operating Log, Oct. 11, 1971.

751. :."SFC Press Release No. 71-183, Oct. 19, 1971.

752. Letter, ML /Director Skylab Program to MSF(' Skylab Program Manager, Nov. 21971.

753. MStzC Purchasing Office: Contract ual Docur.,en ts Issued. Jan. 1972, p. !.

754. MSFC: Marshall Star. Dec. 1, 19 71, pp. 1 and 4.

755. MSFC Purchasing Office: Contractual Documents I_sued. Nov. 1971, p. 6,

756. MSFC Release 71-83, Nov. 22, 1971.

757. See note 755, p. 1.

758. Dr. James C. Fletcher, S veecb at National Space C" 'b Luncheon, WashinglonHotel, Washington, D.C., Nov. 18, 1971,.p. !- 18.

759. MSFC: Marshall Star. Dec. 15, 1971 , p. !

760. MSCM 801C, Program Management Guide, Dec. 15, 1 9,71.

383



761. Vivian S. _ ,qlitiey" Visitors Program Record. PAO, MSFC. Dec. 16-17. 1971.

"-",,.,_. MSVC ,,,c,,:d_c.......... , :-,__• Dot .. 17. I""'_: , pp. 1-_.

763. MSFC Projec : Logistics Office: Flight Operating Log. Dec. 17, 1971.

764. MSFC: Marshall Star. Jan. 5 I t Y_" p. I

765. S tatement of the President. Office of *he White House, Pres: Secretary (SanClemente, Calif.), Jan. 6, 1972 . pp. 1-9.

766. Eberhard Rees: MSFC Organization Announcement. May 8. 1972.

767. NASA Release 72.8, Jail. 12, 1972, p. 1.

"768. MSFC Purchasing Office: Contractual Documents Issued. Feb. 1 972, p. 2.

769. MSFC Office of the Director: Program Agenda. Jan. 18-19, 1972.

770. MSFC: Marshall Star. Jan. 26. 1972, p 4.

711. MSFC Purchasing Office: Cortr_ .ai D o, relents Issued. Jan. 1972. pp. 6 and 7.

772. iVlSFC Letter, Dr. Rees t. Emp _yees, Jan . 31, 1972.

773. M_ ,FC Contracts Office: Iq od-3 to Cgntract NAS8-2775 9. Jan. 31 , 1972.

?74. NASA Release 72 6, Feb. ! , 1972, p. I.

775. MSFC: _Parshall Star. Jan. 19 , 1972 , p. !.

776. Interview with FW_vd Clark, MSFC HEAO Office . Feb. 17 , 1972.

77 7. MSFC c"_ ,tab Pr_ j:'.m Office: Weekly Activity Report t Headquarters. Feb. 22 ,i(s ,

778. Mb FC: Skylab, Preliminary Chronology Comment Draft. Mar. 16, 1973.

779. MSC Release 72-1_ L

780. Letter, Walter F. GilLspie /Carmine E. DeSanctis to L_r. von Braun, Feb. 28, 1972,

I..l.

781. Inter ,,iew with Frances Prenderga_t, PAO, M AF_ Feb. 11, 1972.

782. MSFC Memo, Subject: Civil Sen , ice Retlrement-Disc ,-,ntinued Serv. ,-e or Option':lAnnui ty. Paul L . Styles• M,,r. 13, 1972, pp. I an d 2.

384



I

783. Dr . James C. Fletcher, Dr. Geor ge M Low, and Dale Hyers, News Conferen ce onSpa ce Shutt le, Mar. 15, 1972.

784. NASA Release 72-61, Mar. ! 5, 1972, pp . 1-4.

785. MS FC Memo, E.W. Neubert f or Dr. Rees t o All Fmployees, Mar. 15, 1 972.

786. Jack Wa Re, MSFC Skylab Pr ogram Of fice, Mar. 27, 1972.

787. MSF C Memo, David Newby f or R.W. C ook to Employees, Mar. 30, 1972, p. 1.

788. Dr. Eberha rd Rees: Personnel -An nouncement. Apr . 3, 1972.

789. MSFC Contracts Office: Contract NASg-27980. Apr. 4, 1972.

790. NASA Release 72-81, Apr. 14, 1972, pp. 1-4.

791. Huntsville Times, Apr. 16, 1972, p. 19.

792. Int erview with Scott Simpkinson, Apol lo Spacecraft Program Office , MSC, May 4,1972.

793. Inter view with W.L. Cushman, Saturn Assurance Office, MSFC, May 4, 197 2.

794. MSFC: Saturn AS-511 Apollo 16 Mission M Plus Five Day Report. May 3, 197 2.

795. MS C: Apollo 16 Mission Five Day Report. May 3, 1972.

796. MSFC: Marshall S tar. May 24, 19 72, p. I.

797, MSFC Press Release 72-54, May 1, 1972.

798. NASA Release 72-9 a.

799. NASA Special Release, May 19, 1972.

800. MSFC Manpower Bulletin, Howell Riggs for Paul Style_, May 22, 1972, pp. 1 and2.

801. NASA Historical Office: Ast r onautics and Aeronautics. 1972, p. 240.

802. Vivia n S. Whitley: Visttors Program Record. PAO, MSFC, June 22, 1972.

803. MSFC Skylab Program Office: Weekly Activity Report to Headquarters. June 27,1972.

385



804. MSFC Memo to Employees, J une 29. 1972, p . I.

805. Associated Press, July 1, 1972.

806. MSFC Menlo, Subject: MSFC FY 1973 Travel Priorities and Policies. R.W. Cookto Directors, Managers, :: ld Chiefs of Basic Organizations, July 7, 1972, pp. 1 and2 plus attachments.

807. MSFC Memo, R.W. Cook , to Employees, June i I, 1972.

808. MSF C Memo, Subject: S taffing of New and Revised Cen ter Organiza tions. Dr.Rees to Distribution, July 17, 1972.

809. MSFC: Skylab Preliminary Chronology Comment Draft. Mar. 16, 1973.

810. James C. Fletcher: Selection of Contractor for Space Shuttle Program. Sept. 18,1972, pp. 1-12.

811. Hun tsville Times, Associated Press, July 27, 1972, pp. I and 2.

812. MSFC Press Release 72-167, Aug. 16, 1972, pp. 1-3.

813. MSFC: Marshall Star. Aug. 23, 1972, p. I.

814. MSFC Skylab Program Office: Weekly Ac tivity Repor t t o Headquar ters. Sep t. 12,1972.

815. Interview with E.D. Hildreth, MSFC Management Services Office, Sept. 14, 1972.

816. MSFC: Marshall Star. Sept. 20, 1972, p. I.

817. MSFC Skylab Program Office: Weekly Activity Report to Headquarters. Oct. I0,1972.

818. The White House Fact Sheet, United States Policy Governing the Pro vision ofLaunch Assistance, Oct. 9, 1972, pp. I and 2.

819. Saturn V Launci ,, Vehicle Flight Evaluation Report -AS-512 Apollo 17 Mission,Feb. 28, 1973, pp. XIX-20-12.

820. See note 801, pp. 510, 516.

821. Apollo 17 Daily Operations Report No. 9, Dec. 15, 1972, pp. 1- 5.

822. Datafax Transmission: Apollo 17 (AS-512) Daily Status Report. Sept. i i , 197 7,pp. I-3.

386

t |



823. MSF C Skylab Program Offi ce: Weekly Activity Report to Hea dquarters, Dec. 19,I (I _'1_"1I s I _...

824 . MSFC Mem o., Sub ject : U.S. Civil S ervic e Comm :=si on Equ a l Emplo ymentOpp o rthn ity P rog ramat MSF C. Dr. R ee s to Emp loyee s , De c. 22 , 1972 , p. 1.

825. Interview wit h Br ian Pitre, MSFC Histori cal Office, Dec. 6, 1972.

826. M SFC: Mars ilall Star. Jan. 10, 1973.

827. MSFC Letter, Dr. Rees to Employees, Jan. 5, 1973, pp. 1-4.

828. MSFC Letter, David Newby to Employees, Jan. 10, 1973, p. I.

829. MSFC Organization Announcement, R.W. Co ok, Jan. 23, 1973, p. 1.

830. MSFC Letter, Dr. Rocco Petrone to Employees, Jan. 29, 1973, p. 1.

831. MSF Management Council Meeting, Feb. 14, 1973.

832. MSFC Memo, Subject: Visit of Apollo 17 Astronauts. Dr. Petrone to Employees,Feb. 16, 1973, pp. 1 and 2.

833. Vivian S. Whitley: Visit or's Program Record. PAO, MSFC, Feb , 21, 1973.

834. MSFC: Marshall Star. Feb. 28, 1973.

835. MSFC Schedu les and Status Summary, Apr. 30, 1973.

836. MSFC Skylab Student Project Summary / Description, Feb. 1973.

837. Vivian S. Whitley: Visitors Program Receld. PAO, MSFC, Apr. 6, 197 :"

838. Huntsville Times, Apr. 16, 1973. p. 2.

839. MSFC Letter , Dr. Petrone to Employe._ _, Apr. 23, 1973, pp. ! and 2.

840. Howel l Riggs: MSFC Manpow e, _,!ie.;n. May 2, 1973.

841. MSFC Communication s Div., Closed Circuit, h_ternal Audio-Video Coverage ofNASA Skylab I Launch at KSC, May 14-24 , 1973.

842. Huntsville Times, May 14-18, 1973.

843. Associated Press Dispatches, May 14-24, 1973.

387

J¢



844. Interview with Don Lakey, MSFC ilist orical Office, May 14, 1973.

845. MSFC Organization Annot.ncement , Subject: MSFC Par,.cipation in Skylab 1lnvestigat;on. Dr. Petrone, May 31 , 1973, p. i.

846. NASA Notice 1154 , May 23, 1973, p. !.

847. MSFC Communications Div. , Closed Circuit, Internal Audio-Video Co verage ofNASA 3kylab Launch at KSC , May 25-July 1, 1973.

848. A Narrative AccoLmt of tile Role Played by the NASA Marshall Space FlightCenter and tile Sky lab SL-I and 2 Emerg ency Operat ions, May 14-Jun e 22, 1973 ,pp. i-96.

849. Interview with Guy Jackson , PAO , MSFC , May 30, 1973.

850. Sky lab Daily Mission Report , Nos. 1-36 , May 14-June 19 , 1973.

851. Huntsville Times. May 15-July i, 1973.

852. MSFC Press Release, June 15, ;973 , p. 1.

853. Interview with Howell Riggs , MSFC Manpower Office. June 15 , 1973.

854. MSFC Manpower BuUetin , Jerald D. Fox lbr Itowcll Riggs. Jtme 15 , 1973 , p. 1.

855. MSFC Memo. Subject: Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor Procurement Sensitivity.

Rocco Petron e to All Employees , Jtme 15. 197,_ , p. 1.

856. Interview with J.W. Herring , MSFC Management Services Office, Junc 29 , 1973.

857. MSFC Management Services Office Staff Meeti.l g, June 25 , 1973.

858. Rocco A. Petrone: There is no Barrier. Specch to the Sons of Columbus ofAmerica, Pittsburg , Pa,, Oct. 9 , 1971 , p. 5.

859. Interview with Dr. Rocco Petrone , Dec. 14 , 1973.

860. Letter , Denator Frank Moss to Dr. James Fletcher , June 8 , 1973; and Letter , Dr.

James Fletcher to Dr. Rocco Petrone , May 30 , 1973.

388



APPENDIXB

ABBREVIATIONSNDACRO NYMS

389



AA Apollo Appli cations (Program )

AAP A pollo Applications Program

ABMA Army Ballistic Missile Agency

ACE automati c checko ut equip ment

AEC Atomic Energy Commission

AEDC Arnold Engineering Development Center

AEROJET Aerojet General Corporation

AF Air F orce

all-systems vehicle nonflight stage used to check out flight-wGrthiness of_ystems

AIAA American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics

ALSA astronaut life support assembly

AM Airlock Module

_. AMR Atl antic Missile Range

AOMC Army Ordnance Missile Command

Apollo Project designation for m anned lunar landing, also: spacecraft for manned lunar landing

APS auxiliary propulsion system

ARA Automatic Retai h ;s of Americ "

AS Apollo /Saturn (specific payload and vehicle with a numberas AS-203)

: AS&E American Scienceand Engineering

ATM Apollo Telescope Mount

!,

: 391PRECEDING P AGE BLANK NOT FILM ED

?



B

battleship stage nonflight stage replica for engine tests

BP boilerplate

"Bug" Lunar excursion module, landing _mit of the Apollospacecraft

C

C-1 Saturn C-l, earl y nomenclature for Sa turn I

C-3 Saturn C-3 , Saturn configuration considered but not used

C-5 Saturn C-5 , configuration adopted for lunar Apollo flights(renamed Srturn V in February 1963 )

C-IB Salurn C-IB, vehicle selected in 1962 for manned earthorbital flights with full Apollo spacecraft (rename,.i SaturnIB)

Cape Canaveral launch site in Flor ida, name changed to Kennedy SpaceCenter in 1963

CCSD Chrysler Corpora tion Spac e Divisi on

CBTT common bulkhead test tank

CDDT countdown demonstration test

CDR critical desig n r eview

CDT central dayligh t time

Chance-Vought Saturn tank manufacturer , Dallas, Texas

Centaur vel- .icle for sup port of unmanned m oon probes and othermissions

C2F 2 crew co

mpartm

ent fit and functi

on t

est

CM ,;ommand mot, de

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(



I

!

CMG cont rol moment gyro

Compromise later changed to Promise -barge transporter f or Saturnboosters

CPFF cost-plus-fixed-fee contract

CPIF co st-plus-incentive-fee contract

CSM Command /Service Module

D

DA deployment assembly

DAC Douglas Aircraft Corporation

DOD Department of Defense

Downey S&ID-SII _tage co mponent fabrication and testing fac;litylocation

Douglas Douglas Aircraft Corporation

Dyna Soar Air Force spacecreft for earth or bital flight fea turing"glider reentry"

DX r ating highest nati onal priority

E

ECS environmental control system

EDS em_zrgency detection system

EFL Edwards Field Laboratory

EPCS experiment pointing and co ntrol subsystem

EPS electrical p ower s_ ,stem

EREP Earth Resources Experiment Package

393

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I

i

ESE electrical support equipm ent

EST eastern standard time

EVA extravehi cular activity

EVA /IVA extra :ehicular and intravehicular a ctivity

FAA Federal Aviati on Agency

Fairchild Stratos meteoroid satellite contractor

FAS fixed airlock shroud

F-1 engine Saturn V bo oster (S-IC stage) engine

FRT flight ratin_ tests

G

GSE ground support equipment

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center

H

HAO High Altitude Observatory

HCO Harvard College Observatory

ttEAO High Energy Astron omy Observat ory

HOSC Huntsville Ope r ations Support Cent er

H-i engine Saturn ! bo oster (S-I stage) e ngine

High Wa ter Pro ject SA-2 :_ ,_ldSA- 3 flight experim ent in which wat er trom thedun;.a ._ second stage was re! eased into tbc ionosphere

Hunti ngton Beach D AC S-IVB assembly site in California

394

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I

I

1

IBM Interna tional Business Machines Corpora tion

10 MSFC Industrial Operations organization

IU instrument unit

IVA intravehicular activity

J

J-2 Liqt_id hydrogen engine for S-IVB and S-II stages

JPL Jet Prop 'dsion Laboratory

K

K thousands

KSC Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, was Cape Canaveral untilNovember 28, 1963

Kiwi-B nuclear reactnr

L

LaRC L an_: ley Research Cent er

LBNP lower body negative pressure

LC launch complex

LH2 liquid hydrogen

u,_l Lunar M odule

LM-A Lunar M odule ascent s tage

LN liquid nitrogen

LOC Launch Ope r ations Centel

39"

a

J



lox liqt'id oxygen

Lockheed Lockheed Airc.aft CompanyLR-! 15 first Liquid hydrcg ,;n type engine (Pral.t & Whitne)L early

designation of RL 10-A3 engine

LR-I 19 proposed uprated LR-II5 engine (project was cancelled)

LRV lunar roving vehicle

LSSM Local Scientific Survey M odule

LTV Ling-Temco :rougll t

LV launch vehicle

LVDC l aunch vehicle digital computer

M

McDonnell Douglas Corp. Dougl as Aircraft Company Merged wi th McDonnell AircraftCorporation, April 19 t_7, to become McDonnell 1)ouglasCorporation

MAF Michoud Assembly Fa cility (formerly Miclloud ()perati ons)

MARS Marshall Athleti c Recreation-Social Ex. change

Martin Martin Company

'_DA mul tiple docking atlapter

MDAC-E Mcl) onnell D ouglas Aircraft Corpora tion, Eastern l)ivision

MDAC-W McDo,mell Douglas A ircraft Corporat ion, Western Division

ME MSFC's Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory

Michoud NASA's Michoud Operati_ ,ns

Minqeapolis-Honeywell Min zapolis-Honeywell, Incorporated name changed tol-Ion,yvell , Incorporated

396



I

t

I

• ML mobile launcher

MMC Martin Marietta Corporation

MSC Manned Spacecraft Center (now Lyndon B. Johnson SpaceCenter)

MSFC George C. Marshall S pa ce Flight Center

MSS mobile service structure

MSTS Military Sea Transport Service

MTA mobility test article

MTF Mississippi Test Facility (at one time MTO) in HancockCounty, Mississippi

N

NAA North American Aviati on, Inc.

NAR North American Rockwell Co r poration (name resulting

from me :ger of NAA, Inc. and Rockwell-S tandar d Cor p.,Sept. 22, 1967)

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

n.mi. nautical mile

NERVA nuclear engine for RIFT stage

NOVA prop osed direct flight vehicle to the moon, later cancelledin favor of Saturn V

NRL Naval Research Laboratory

397

I /



OART Office of Adva.ced Research and Technology

O&C Operations and Checkout Building

OMSF Otiice of Manned Space Flight

OSSA Office of Space Science and Applications

OWS Orbi:al Wor_._op

p

PDR Preliminary Design Review

P&VE Propulsio, , and Vehicle Engineering Laboratory at M bFC

PCS :inting co ntrol system

Pegasus meteoroid detection satellite

PFRT preliminary fligt_t rating test

PS payload shroud

P&W Pratt & Whitney Company , a tivi';iou of United Aircraft

R

RAM Research and Applications M odule

R&D research and developmen t

RCA Radio ('orporation ol" America

RFP request for proposals

Roeketdyne Divi..on of r,',orth American Avlatio,i

RIF reduc tion in force

RIFT reactor-.in-l]it"_t test stage (nuch_,ar r,owc_)

398

_r



RP-! a ker osene- type fuel

RLi0-A3 An engine developed b y Pr att & W: :itney for the Saturn

S-IV s tage. Th e stage wa s power ed by six of these engine swhich burned lox and LH . The Pra tt & Wh tney lox/LH2engine produce d 15 00 0 pounds thrus t.

S

&h . Space an d infor mation Systems Division of Nor th Ame r icanAvia tion

S_k solar arr ay

SA Sa turn (wi th numb er s;.gnifie s a : .pecific vehicle a s SA-501)that does no t have the Apollo command mod t:le attache(!

SAL scientific ai r lock

S-I Satu r n 1, originall y Saturn C- I fi._t stage

S-I! Saturn V .second stage

S-IVB Saturn V thir d stage

S-IC Sa turn V fi r st st age

S-IV Sa tur n ! second sta_-:e

SACTO Dougl ,_s Air cr aft 's Sacr amento Test F acili ty

Santa Susana test site for S-ll and S-IVI_ stage and J -2 engine

San ta Monic a Doug las Airc r aft 's fabr ication facili ty at Santa Monica,Californi_

Satur n I A two-s tage vehicl e, with eigh t H-I eng ines pr opel liag firststage and six RL-10 engines p r opelling second stage

Saturn IB a t_,o-stage vehicl e with eigh t H-! engines prop elling firststage and a single 3-7. engine p r opelling second s tage

Satur n V a three s tage vehicle, with five F -I engines propciling firs tstage, five J -2 engine propelling second stage, and a singleJ-2 engine propelling third s tage

399

J



Seal Beach N orth American Avi ation Assembl y plant at St-ai Beaci;.('ali forn ia

SL Skylab

SLA Spacecraft-Lunar Module Adapter

SLCC Satt:rn launch c ontrol computer

Slideil a computer center that serves Michoud in Slidcll, La.

SM service module

SOC Space Orion t ation Center

SP3 service propulsion system

SRM solid rocke t motor

SSFL Santa S asana Field Laboratory

SSESM Spent Stage Experiment Support Module

SSO Saturn Systems O ffice

STS structural transition section

SWS Sa turn Workshop

T

TACS thruster attitude control subsys tem

U

UV ul traviolet

Uprated Saturn nomenclature used for S-IB for a short period of time

V

VAB Vehicle Assembly Building

VCL Vehicle Checkout Laboratory

400



APPS NDIXC

HISTORICALSLMNARYOFMSFC

401



1

TEX AS TO ALABAMA

After W orld War II tile Wltite Sands Pr ov!ng Gr ound had top personnel fr omPeene',luen de, as well a, 300 Creight ,'lr lo ads of V-2 componen ts. White Sands' flat,iso'ated deser t area, abou t 125 by 40 ntes, al so had the world' s most massive b aitding in' ,-)46, the fi r ing site blockhouse. Its concrete walls, fi'om 10 to 27 feet thick, couldwithstand a 2000-mph rocket. The White Sands Proving Ground would be the U.S. centerof rocket development fnr half a decade.

Early in 1946 White , '.;ands readied its first V-2 for launching from American soil, to befollowed by ab out two V-2 iaunchings a month until the last one on June 28, 195C. Or.Wernher yon Braun and his fellow scientists static-fired V-2 Number ! on March 15,1946:V-2 Rocket Number 17, first night firing of _ V-2 tn the United States, reacb 2d arecord-setting altitude of 116 miles and a velocity of 600 mph on Decembe r 17, 1946.From these early firings came much o" the American rocket knowledge of today.

Anot her pioneer rocket project at White Sands was ORDCI T (Ordnance-CaliforniaInstitute of Technology). Thi s project began when Dr. Theodore yon Karman in 1936organized at Ca! Tech a small group of scientists interested in rocketry. Project ORDCITparalleled *.he V-2 and other rocket projects at White Sahds, produr;.r,g newel andimproved rocket models such as Private, Corporal, Wa .c Corporal, and the mo,esophis ticated Bumper-Wac. The Bumper-Wac was a n_ultistage vehicle with a V- 2 firststage the V-2's :,ose Juodifie '.t to accommodate a Wac Corporal rocket. Dr. von Braunand other top s,_ienti_ts from Peenemuende, JP L, Douglas Aircraft Co vlpany, GeneralElectric Com pany, and Army Ordnance led m this Bumper-V_ac multista ge rocketry atWhite Sands. On February 24, 1949, Bumpet-Wac No. 5 sent i As upper stage al:o ,'t 250miles high at a speed of about 5: ,!0 miles per h our. This was the highest velocity andaltitude yet reached with an object made by man.

Those early days at White Sands Pr oving Ground were botn hectic and h'storic. Glle V-2strayed from its preset path, passed ov ,_'r El Paso, Texas, and disrupted a gay fies ta atJuorez, Mexico, before impacting harmlessly nearby. White Sands operations haltedpending adoption of effective safety systems. Despite such growing pains, recordsachieved at Wh ;tr. Sands lasted s_veral years, such as thc February 24 Bumper-Wac flight.Without White £ands, or its counterpart, _he Explorers and Pi o_tee_o:"ight qtill be on thedrawing boar_.

Fort Bliss official,, _eking improved ro cket facilities in September 1949, inspectedHuntsville Arsenal, the A nny's Chemic.'l Corps ,nstallation in Alabama. These officialsproposed th t_ la'ansfer to Huntsville of the White Sands rocket scientists and theirequipment. On October 28, 19_9, the Secretary of the Army appr ,red. By November

1950, 500 military pers onnel, 130 German scientists, 180 General Electric cont cactorpersonnel, and 120 civil service employees bad moved fr om For t Bliss to Redsto neArsenal. They brought along their rocket sc_c,tific equipment. Thus, after traveling 3000miles from r 'eenemuende through Texas to Hun tsville, the nucleus of the present MSFCgroup was ready for business at ,Kedstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, in the fall of1950.

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T

ARMY BALLISTIC MISSILE AGEN CY

At P.edstone Arsenal I fr om April 195t to November io52 Dr. von Braun was technicaldirector of the Guide d Mi_ile Developmen t Group. H_s gr oup included the te_._tnfromPeenemuende. In November 1952 that group became the nucleus of the Guide d MissileDevelopment Division, with Dr. von Bra ,'n as its chief. During these years, pr ior to tileArmy Ballistic Mis:ile Agency, the group began re_earctl and development of theRedstone guided missi.le, an outgrowth of the V-2 and General Elechic's Project I-lermes.To develop a Redstone with 200 miles range the Army awarded North AmericanAviation's Ro,'ketdyne Division a con trz:ct to modify its pr '_mising Navaho engine. In1952 Rocketdyne delivered its first modified Navaho engine to Redstone Arsenal, aRedstone Project milestone. Army personnel began building this an 6 later modifiedNavaho enginer into rocke t bodies and nicknamed this rocket ti le Ursa or Major. OnApr!l 8, 1952, the Army off icially named tile rgcket t!_.eRedstone, after the Arsenal. InJun of 1953 the Army awarded Ch .rysle c Corporation a con tract for Redstone researchand development. Later in 1953 the Redstone Arsenal missilemen headed by Brig. Gen.

H.N. Toftoy and Dr. Wernher voq Brauq, military and cividan chiefs on the Arsenal.completed fabrication and assembly of the first Redstone. On Augu.q 20. 1953, Dr. vonBraun's firing personnel at Cape Canaveral, Florida, launched the first flight Redstone.There were guidance problems in thi_ short flight of 8000 yards, but technicians assessedthe fl ight as satisfactory for developl,.ent purl:oses. These Redstones were 69 feet longand 70 inches in d iameter, we ighed 61 00 0 pounds at latinch , and produced 75 000pounds of thrust at sea level. Yet tl ' e Redstone, however small ., pioneere d this country'shlan-in-space program.

In 1954 Dr, von Bratm published _ plan for orb iting an e z_rth satellite. The Armyadvocated Dr. yon Bratm's proposal, and requested Nava l assis tance. Pr oject Orbiterevolved, a j oi_it Army-Navy c oncept for launching an earth satellite. "fhere was grea tspace iltterest at Redstone , and satellite proposals accompanying Orbiter were ProjectSlug and Proj ect Chu cch Mouse. All of Redst one Arsena l's space pr oposals l ost out whenthe Navy's Project Vanguard won.

However, while Arsenal scientists lost their satellite proposals they won their rocketdevelopment. The Jupiter A and the Jupiter C were improved Redstones. The Jupiter Aprogram began at Redstone Arsenal late in 1955, and from it came the famo' .-. J upiter C.With Jupit er C the Arsenal scient ists perfected an ablatior, re entry hea t shield pr incip le,one of the yon Braun group's major contributit ms to rocketry. A!so , the Army waspreparing to launch impor tant space fligh ts with Jup iter C. The first stage of the J 'lpiterC was an improved Reds tone; tile second and third stages h ad soiid propel lant rocket

motors dev eloped b y Jet Propulsion Laborat ory.I . Redstone Arsenal almost began as Siberl Arser_al , named for Arm y General Sib ert. Instead, t ,n August 4, 1941, theAr my act ivated with the name Hun t_.;ille Ar _nal a C hem ical Corps installa tion occupy ing a lmost 40 000 ac r es south_ estof Hunt sville. "then on October 6, 1 941, 'he Ar my act ivated Redsto ne Or dnance Plan t in con junction with an dgeog r aphically adj oining th e Huntsvi lle A r ser,al chem ical installation. Redstone referred t o the color of rocks and s oil atHunt.wille. On F ebruar y 26, 194.3, the Army redesi gnated the Reds tone Ordn ance Plant as Redstone Arsenal. On Ap ri l I,1950, witll the arri val of the yon Braun Group from Texas, the Army mer ged th e old Hu n ts_'l le Arsenal chemicalinstallation with the s mall R ed stone Arsenal installat ion and called the 40 000-a cre instalk t ion i_,edston e b r_nal.

404

i



1t

Scientists or military o , ficers named rockets , sometimes leaving the laymen c ont'u_: ',d. TheJupiter A and Jupiter C , improved Re dstones, preceded Jupiter itself. This borrowi og ofna,o.es resulted from the Arse_,al's need to bolTow money from other projects to pay forthe Redstone.

The Jupiter missile _rogram began on November 8, 1955, when Secretary of DefenseCharles A. Wilson at thorized the Army to assist the Navy in developing an intermediaterange ballistic m,ssile. The Army saw in Wilson's directi' ,e a green light for rocketemphasis, and o:l Februa_ , 1. 1956, established the Army Ballistic Missile Agency(ABMA) at Redstone Arsen '_. The nucleus of this new super-streamlined rocketorganization was the former C uided Miss!!e Development Division of the Ordnance MissileLabora tory at Eedstone Arsenal, familiarly "the yon Braun Group." This groupin.erpre_ed rocket en_.phasis to 5nelude space flight, and space proposals mushroom ed,including Project Man Very High a',d Project Adam.

TI_E NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPA CE ADMINIS TRATION WINS

Following Sputnik I on October 4, 1957, Secretary of Defense Charles A. Wilson directedthe Army to prepare to attempt two satellite launchings during March of 1958. Secretaryof the Army Wilbur Brucker recommended to Secretary Wilson that the Army launch thefirst satellite on January 30, 1958, and Wilson accepted.

Within four months after Sputnik I, ABM A's Jupit er C Number 29 on January 31, 1958,sent Explorer I into orbit; bad weather had postpor, ed launching on January 29 and 30.On March 5, 1958, ABMA failed to orbit Explorer II, but on March 26 orbited ExplorerI11. Jupiter Missile 5, on May 18, 1958, launched America's first tactical reentrynosecone, and within 5 hours the Navy recovered it from the sea. The first completelyguided Jupiter ,night, Jupiter Missile 6, was successful on July 17, 1_58. ABMA orbitedExplorer IV on July 26, with four radiation counters aboard. On December 6 , still in1958, ABMA's Pioneer II1 missed its target, the moon, but set an altitude record of66 654 miles. ABMA's final importa nt firing of 1958 was Jupiter Missile 13 carryingGordo, a South American squil Tel moJ:key, though searchers failed to recover the cone orits passenger.

Projc_ t Man Very High was ABMA's plan for Army-Navy-Air Force team-work in flying aliving passenger and instrumentation "upward a hundred er so miles." Failing to enlist ateam, rile Arm y decided to "go it alone," fors ook the name Man Ver y High, and namedthe Project Adam. Project Adam became ABMA's celebrated proposal for placing a manir. space. Project Adam remained earthboultd forever, giving way to the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its far-reaching Froject Mercury.

Meanwhile, ABMA scientists , though io,;ing their go-ahead for man-in-space projects, wereimproving their space potential with large ," vehicles and larger vehicle proposals rangingfrom Jtmo 1 to June V. On February 3, 1959 , the Advance d Research Projects Agency

'_ officially named ABMA's Juno V progra m the Saturn. This was ABMA's most amb Atiousflight program to date.

l 405



ABMA momen tum inc reased in 1959. begin ning wi th Pioneer IV's 3 7 000-mi iz miss .nfthe moon before it continued to orbit tile Sun. Pioneer IV was this country's first so lmsatellite. The next ABMA space shot in 1959, on May 28, carried two monkeys, Able andBaker , intc and back from space. ABMA's last spac e shot in 1959, on October 13,

orbited complex Explorer Vq, the yon Brau1: group's last satellite orbi ting before joiningNASA.

Throughout 1959 the yon Braun group as usual sought more and bigger ways to reachspace. Simultaneously the National Aeronautics and Space Administration sought moreand more of ABMA. Ironically. NASA in 1958 had asked lor, but failed to receive, partof the Development Operations Division of ABMA. In 1959 NASA received, withoutasking for it, the entire division. Later in tiffs year Secretary of Defense Neff McEIr oyapproached NASA Director T. Keith Glennan about NASA's interest in acquiring ABMA.NASA responded warmly. On October 7, 1959, the White House hosted a high-level"'space meeting." As a result NASA fell heir to ABMA 's Development Operations Divisionand the Saturn Project as well.

On January 14, 1960, President Eisenhower submit ,'d a space-team transfer plan toCongress. On March 14, 19, ,0, cam_ Congressio m , concurrence. Mass transfer ofpersonnel t ook place on July 1 , 1960. Many detai led opera ting agreements were s till tobe finalized.

MSFC 's FIRST YEAR

July i , 1960 -- June 30, 1961

The George C. M_,rshail Space Flight Cen ter, named for General Marshall, officially beganon July 1, 1960. On that date, in a ceremony in front oI" th ,_"MSFC-ABMA joint

headquarters, General August Schomburg formally transferred the agreed-upon missions,personnel, and facilities from the Army t o Dr. Wernher von Bra un, Dhector of NASA'snew Center. Because most emp loyees continued to work in the sa_r.e physical area onRedstone Arsenal, the move from ;.he Army to NASA was primarily a "paper transfer."

In the mass transfer , 3989 of 4179 empl oyees lef t ABMA 's l)evclopment OperationsDivision for N ASA. Join ing these 3989 were 311 employees from ABMA's TechnicalMaterials and Equipment Branch (a warehousing operation ). Thus MSFC bega n with 4670employ ees. Then on Ju ly 3 MSFC's pers onnel strength gr ew to 4900 when 41 mor eemployees transferred from ABMA and 178 from the Redstone Arsenal's Post EngineerOffice. After 6 months, MSFC civil service employment was 5367.

MSFC bega n with 14 staff and project offices: Agena and Centaur Systems, Chief

Counsel, Financial Management, Future Projects , Management Services, Opera tionsAnalysis, Paten t Counsel, Procurement and Contracts, Public lnlbrmation, Reliability,Technical Program Coordinatio n, Technical Services, Saturn Systems , and WeaponsSystems.

406



it

It had nine organiz ations resp onsible for technical functions. Aerub,llistics, C umpu tatiull,Fabri cation and Assembly Engineering, Guidance and Control, Launch OperationsDirectolate, Quality, Research Projects, Structures and Mechanics, and Test. The Center's

major programs when it began operation were the Juno and Saturn, the development ofthe Centaur launch vehicle, development of the Agena B stage of the Atlas-Agena B andThor-Agen a B boosters, supervision of the F-I single engine program, and development ofthe Mercury-Redstone vehicle for NASA's Project Mercury.

Climax of the transfer to NASA was President Eisenhower's dedication ceremony onSeptember 8, 1960. Here with President Eisenhower were Mrs. George C. Marshall, Dr. T.Keith Glennan, Alabama Governor John Patterson, and many other dignitaries. Dedicatedwas the $100 O0_q000 MSFC complex occupying 1200 acres.

President Eisenhower praised General Marshall as a "man of war, yet a builder ofpeace.., the symbol of renewed hope for scores of millions of suffe ri ng people through

his great plan for Europe that will forever bear his name." President Eisenhower praisedthe Army missile and space achievements at Redstone Arsenal and pointed to thescientists who today feel "'as it Venus and Mars are more accessible to them than aregimental headquarters was to me as a platoon commander forty years ago."

Highlighting the occasion was the unveiling by Mrs. Marshall and President Eisenhower ofGeneral Marshall's bust, sculptured by Kalervo Kallio. The bust , 21 inches high and 18inches wide, is in red granite. At the date of this chronol o-v publication it was guardingthe main entrance of the MSFC Headquarters Building

In MSFC's first payload launching for NASA, Explorer VIII on November 3, 1960,orbited the earth. But on November 21 MR-1 failed at launch because of improperseparation of elect ri cal connectors between the launching table and the vehicle. OnDecember 19, 1960. the first Mercury-Redstone, unmanned, flew a suborbital trajectoryas scheduled from Cape Canaveral. Then, on January 31, 1961, at Cape CanaveralNASA's Mercury-Redstone MR-2 sent the Chimpanzee Ham on a safe ride 155 miles highand 420 miles down range. But astronaut Alan Shepard_s historic ride on May 5, 1961 ,climaxed MSFC's first year. Shepard went 115 miles high and 302 miles across the ocean,first man in space in NASA's astronaut program.

MSFC's SECOND YEARJuly !, 1961 -June 30, 1962

On July 1, 1961, an estimated 50 000 v isitors at MSFC, includin g NASA Admin istratorJames E. Webb, celebrated the Center's fi,'st birthday. After this auspicious beginning,Mercury astronaut Virgil 1. Grissom on July 21 , 1961, rode "Liberty Bell 7" in ourcountry's second manned space flight. In the fall of 1961 NASA made two significantfacility decisions affecting MSFC. On September 7 NASA selected the Michoud OrdnancePlant near New Orleans as a site for industrial production of Saturn boosters. On October

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25 NASA sele t .ted the Pearl River site i, t southwestern Mississippi, 35 miles from theMichoud plant , as a static test arelJ for Sa turn vehicles. MSF( " would operate bothfacilities. Bu t probably the most historic dil te it. MSFC's second year was October 17,I%i, when Saturn vehicle SA-I "oil a perfect rocket day" flew as planned , pioneeringthe historically succe,_sfal Saturn program. An important adminis trative decision wasNASA's March 7 terrfination of the MSFC Launch Operations Dire ctorate andestablishment of a Laun_h Operations Center a t Cape Canaveral , effective July I, 1962.Fur ther indication of NASA 's expanding programs came later in Mar ch when about 60MSFC management personnel began moving tl-eir families to Michoud Operations. WhenSaturns flew, they apparently flew right. On April 25, Sa turn SA-2 left Cape Canaveralfor a second successful Saturn Ilight in a row.

MSFC's THIRD YEAR

July I, 1962- June 30, 1963

In the fall of MSFC 's third year , on September 11, 1 962, President John F. Kennedy,Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson , and NASA Administrator James E. Webb visited the

Center and highly complimented the Center's Saturn program. Then on November 16 ,Saturn SA-3 flew upward 103 miles and outward 128 miles over the Atlantic Ocean for athird successful Saturn flight mission in a row. On November 28 nine new(second-generation ) astronauts , accompaaied by three of the original astronauts (JohnGlenn , Walter Schirra , and Donald Slayton), vis ited MSFC for a Saturn briefing Early inFebruary of 1963 NASA changed Saturn names. The Saturn C-I became Saturn I; theC-IB became Saturn IB; and the ( '-5 became Satunl V. NASA successes climaxed MSFC'sthird year. On March 28 NASA launched SA-4 for another perfect Saturn launch , thefourth in _J -ow. Further indicating MSFC momentum, some 1200 MSF( ' employees inlate June of 1963 began moving into Building 4200, the Ccntcr's new HeadquartersBuilding. This 10-sto .ry modernistic building was perhaps a symbol of higher penetrationof space.

MSFC's FOU RTH YEAR

July I, 1963- June 30, 1964

Typically MSFC began it, ; fourth year with expansion. In July 1963 the Army transtL'rredto MSFC 202 acres of land adjoining the existing NASA area on Redstone Arsenal, thislatest increment enlarging the MSFC complex to 1786 acres. The following month MSFCcompleted movement of more than 1000 personnel into the new Headquarters Buib!ing4200. MSFC began calendar year 1964 with the fifth Saturn success in five flights. SA-5on January 29 was the first Saturn to t ]y both the first and second stages live.

Appropriate to the Center's expanding importance in space, Mrs. Lyndon B. Jolmsonvisited MSFC on March 24. Accompanied by NASA Administrator Jamcs E. Webb andother dignitaries, Mrs. Johnson toured MSFC, viewed two static firings , :,nd made threespeeches. Then on May 28 , Saturn SA-6 rose from Launch Complex 37B at ('apeKennedy , file six th Saturn success in six flights. SA-6 carried an Apollo spacecraft modelinto earth orbit for the first time.

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MSFC' s FIFTH YEARJuly ! , 1964 -Jun e 30, 1965

In its fifth year M SFC scheduled three Saturn flig hts and other wise expan ded the Satur nIB and Saturn V progr ams. On Sep tember 1 8, 1963, the Saturn SA -7 continued Satur n'ssuccessful recor d. The S-IV stage , instrument un it, and an Apollo model en tered orbit.This seventh Saturn flight transmitted more measurements to earth stations than anyprevious U.S. spacecraft. Ninety-one "ground carroras" photographed the flight and onthe craft were eight more cameras. After ejection from the Saturn these eight fell intothe Atlantic; two were recovered and their valuable films studied by scientists.

MSFC began calendar year 1965 with still another successful Saturn flight, the eighth.NASA launched SA-9 instead uf SA-8 on this date , February 16, 1965, because SA-9 hadprogressed through manufacture and testing more rapidly than had SA-8. Thus SA-9rather than SA-8 orbited the first Pegasus satellite. The Pegasus , still attached to the S-IVstage , deployed its "wings" to a span of 96 feet and began its function of ide ntifying

meteoroid punctures. And MSFC neared the end of its fifth year with still another Saturn1 success from the Cape. SA-8, on May 25, 1965, carried the second Pegasus meteoroidtechnology satellite into orbit in a dramatic predawn launch. SA-8 was the ninthsuccessful Saturn I flight. A week later the final Saturn I booster, second one assembledat Michoud Operations, arr ived at Cape Kennedy aboard the barge Promi =e.

MSFC's SIXTH YEA R

July 1, 1965 --June 30, 1966

Saturn l's successful conclusion, and Saturn IB and V progress , highlighted MSFC's sixthyear. On July 30, 1965, Satu rn SA-IO ended the historic Saturn I program. SA-10 liftedinto orbit the third Pegasus me teoroid techn ology satellite. Sa turn I highlights includedthe la rgest ro cket eng ines to datz and or biting of the heav iest ea r th sate llites - more than37 000 pounds on SA-5, SA-6, an d SA-7. Hun dreds of fir ms contri buted to the Satu r n Ipro gram. Chrys ler Corpor ation, under cont r act to build all Satur n IB booster s, also builtthe last tw o Saturn I booster s. MSFC designed and built the fi r st eight Saturn 1 booster s.Douglas Air cr aft Company bu ilt the S-IV stages. N ort h Ame ri can Aviation built theengines for the booster , and Pr att and Whitney the eng ines for the sec ond stage. Maj orsupp liers of guidance equ ipment inc luded IBM an d Bendix. Fai r child-Hiller built thePegasus satel lites.

After SA-1 0 Dr . yon Braun c ongratulated Center personnel by say ing that the Satu r n 1prov ed that many of his leading sc ientists wer e corr ect in thei r "heavy duty launchvehicle theories." NASA A dministr ator James Webb sent th is congratu lator y ,,nessage:

"Dr . Dryden, Dr . Seamans , and the entire NASA team j oin me in congr atulating youupon the successfu l completion of the Satu rn 1 pro gr am with the launching of the tenthSaturn 1 and it s Pegasus C pay load. The Saturn i marks the f irst !00 per cenz successfulNASA launch vehicle pro gram f or which you and your associates can justly fee l pro ud."

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Appropriately MSFC approa ched the _:J_d of it,_ _ixlh year with Saturn's most lustoncflight to date. On February 2B a NASA Saturn IB successfully pioneer ed a new seri es ofSaturn flights. Tile Saturn IB lift ed a 45 000-pound payload, heaviest launc hed by NASAto date. As mdlio ns watched o n televisi ol,, the Saturn IB sent a ll Apollo spacecr;,,tskyward on a journey 300 m:ies up and 500 miles out from (ape K ennedy. Over . cAtlantic t he Apollo's parachute low ered it ge ntly into th e Aila ntic ocean near J_,sr_:covery carrier, the (/SS Boxer. Asked about the possibility of flyi ng a mann edApollo /Saturn IB in calendar yea r 196o, Ma nn ed Spac e Fligl;t Dir ector l)r. G eorgeMueller said, "It is :dways possible, but the probability is reaso nably good that we willfly the first man next year."

MSFC's SEVENT h fEAR

Ju ly I, 1966--June 30, 1967

Major i tems in MSFC's seve nth year includeu two Satur n t]ights , the worst tragedy in the.dstory of the U.S. space pro gr am, and a Vice-P residenti al visit. The successes came fir st ,and they were landm arks, On July 5 , 1966 , the 12th Saturn v ehic le, AS- 203, flew floraKSC Comp lex 37B. AS-203 pre ceded AS-202 into space in order to allow mo re time forprepara tion and checkout o f AS-202, which flew succ essfully from Launch Com plex 34on August 25. AS-202 w as the 13th Saturn vehicle in a ro w to fly ,_uccessfully thro ughspace. The worst tr agedy in the nation's space pr ogr am occurr ed on Janua r y 27, 1967, asa flash tire at KS(' swep t thro ugh the Apo llo I spacecraft mated to the SA-204 launch_'ehicle on LC-34. Three astro nauts within the capsu le. Virgil I. Gr issom , Edw ard H.Whi te, and Roger B. C haffee, peris hed from smo ke inhalation. Space op timism a t MSFCimprov ed later in tile year wi th tile visit of Vice Pr esident t tu ber t H. ttumphr ey on Ma y22 and 23 , 1067.

MSFC 's EIGHTH YEAR

July !, 1967 -J une 3 0, 1968

Three f lights in the Apollo progra m kighl ighted M SFC' s eighth year . NASA re ached acritical point in th e Apo llo progr am with t he Apo llo 4 flight (AS-501) on November 9 ,an "al l-up" olission from Launch Complex 39 a t KSC. Apo llo 4's fligh t was the first ofthe missions des igned to q: mlify S at urn V for manned l'light. A Saturn IB followed theSaturn V Apollo 4 flight into space as Satur n IB (AS-204) orbited a hmar module onJanuary 22. This was tt,e first of a series of tests of t he LM's asce nt and descen tpropulsio n systems, aga in preparatory to manned space flig ht. Still ano,qler t ]ight leadingto manned missions was tha t of Apollo 6 (AS-502) fro m KSC's Complex 39A on April 4,

1968. Apollo 6 s uccessf ully ended NASA's series of qu,.:ffi_._:do n flights preparatory toman in spac e in NASA's Apollo Lumu" Land ing Progr am. The nex t fligh t in thesApolloLtmar La nding Progra m later in the year wou kl be tha t of NASA's first man ned mission.

410

2



"!

MSFC 's NINTH YEA RJuly !, 1968- June 30, 1969

A Huntsville tribute to thr ee deceased astr onauts , the dea th of a pres idential friend ofMSFC, and four flights in the Apollo program were the most significant events in MSFC'sninth year. The cl ose relationship between Huntsville and MSFC and tile ,'.ation's spaceprogram was shown by the Huntsville Board of Education on October 8, 1969, when itdeci d to name three new city schools for astrcnauts who died in the Apollo 204 flashfire at Cape Kennedy on January 27, 1967. A new high school would be named forVirgil 1 Grissom, a junior high school for Edward H. White, II, and an elementary schooltbr Koger B. Chaffee. The four successful fights during MSFC 's ninth year were theflights of Apollo's 7, 8, 9, and I0. Apollo 7 on October 11, 1968, was NASA's firstmanned mission in the Apollo Lunar Landing Frogram. Manned also was Apollo 8 onDecember 21, i96S; Apollo 9 on March 3, 1969; and Apollo 10 on May 18, 1969.Meanwhile, during this exciting start of the Apollo manned lunar landing mission thenation went into mourning for a famed fan of the space program, General of the ArmyDwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States, who died on Marc il 28,1969. He had dedicated the Marshall (enter on September 8, 1960.

MSFC 's lOt h YEARJuly I, 1969--June 30, 1970

On July 20, 1969, man first set foot on the moon , the most important date in MSFC's10ft" year and undoubtedly in the history of the space program. From July 16 throughJuly 24 the Apollo 11 manned lunar landing mission flown by NASA achieved an 8 yeargoal set by President Kennedy on May 25, 1961. MSFC employees joined in a LunarLanding Celebration at the newly established MARS picnic area at the center, July 26,

1969, celebrating the Apollo I 1 achievement by Nell Armstrong, firs t man on the moon,and his fellow astronauts Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin. On November 16 mankind'ssecond crew to the moon left the earth, this time in Apollo 12. Aboard were Char!esConrad, Richard Gordon, and Alan Bean. The three Apollo 12 astronauts followed theirsuccessful moon mission with a visit to Huntsville on Janua_ 8 , 1970 , where theythanked the many MSFC employees who had helped to make their lunar trip possible.They also established a pattern for astr onaut visits to MSFC , a trend lbllowed bysubsequent manned Apollo crews. With space hearts palpitating af ter two successful lunarlandings, it seer aed appropriate that famed heart specialist Dr. Christian Barnard of theGrotte Shurr Hospital Staff, Johannesburg, South Afr ica, should visit the Center. OnFebruary 25, 1970, Dr. Barnard presented a lecture at the Center and met with Centerleaders befgre touring the MSFC installation.

A str ong heart was especi ally called for in the final Ap ollo flight in MSFC 's 10th yea r .This was NASA 's ill-fated Ap ollo 13 m ission which t,,-,,an with a successfu l lift-off asschedu led but was nea rl y abor ted d uring the fl ight. Va rio us pro blems include d that ofinadequate c rew tempe ratur e. The crew tri ed different ways to keep fr om gett ing too

411



cold: wejri. ng boots carried for w alking; _m tile ninon. ,decping m dlc 3-1"oot-wide tu nn elbetweea the LM and the CM, and wearing extra clotiling. The Apollo 13 missionobjectives wer.: m_t achieved, but the Apollo 13 flight crew perform ,.:,'e proved

oulstanding throughout the mission and the crew returned safely to earth.

MSFC 's I I tll YEARJul y I, 1970 -- J une 30, 1971

MSFC 's I I t h year brga_, end end ed on a down no te. The not- so-good be ginning came onAugus t 14, 197 0, when IYSFC Director Eberhard Rees informed MS,t:(" emplo._;ees of aprobable maj or reduction-i_ :-tZ:ce 0'_,ughout NASA. This reduction-in-force projectioncame within a year after NASA h ad successfully landed the Apollo astr onaut_; on th_moon. An international first at MSFC occurred o n October 20, 1970, when Russian

Cosmonauts Adria n Nikolayev and Vitali Scvastynov, crewmen for the Sower Soyuz 9,arrived lot a two-day visit, acco mpanied by U.S. P ,stronaut Edwin Aldrin. q-he oneApollo flight in this year was that of Apollo 14, the third _ uccessful lunar .landingmission. The down note ending MSFC 's I lth year c ame with a tragedy felt thro aghoutthe space world as Russi a 's w_rst space tragedy to date brought de ath to three Soyuzcosmonauts o n J une 30, 1971. Speaki ng lot NASA l )r. George Low expressedcondolences over the de ath of the three cosmonauts bu t stated that it was very tmlikelythat this tr agedy would cause a delay in NASA's Shuttle or Skyl ab programs.

MSFC's 12 th YEAR

July !, 1971 -Ju ne 30, 1972

Highligh ts of HSFC' s 12th year were tw o of the remaining three fhgh ts in the Apollo

program1. The first of these two remaining flights wa

s that of Apollo 15 on July 2(_

,1971. Apollo 15 continued the succes sful lunar landi ng program, alld was followed onApril 16, 1972, by Apollo 16, also a successful lun ar mission. Meanwhi le, personnelreductions were still in the news, and on the next to the last day of MSFC ' s 12th year.June 29, 19 "72, the Federal Dis trict Court in Washington , D.C. , issued a temporaryrestraining order which had the effect of preventing MSFC from implementing areduction-in-force scheduled for June 20. The order was issued on the petition t )f the

Amer ican Federation of Government Employees.

MSFC's 13T H YEAR

July I, 1 972 -June 30, 1973

Appropriately MSFC's fin al year in this 13-year summ ar_ was climaxed by the end of a

major prog ra m and with two major new sp ace programs looming larger on the horizo n.Space Shuttle, a projected flight program with historic posslbilitics , made major ncw_ onJuly 26, 1972, when NASA selected the Space Division oi North American Rockwell

412

l



Cor poration of Do wney, Ca lifornia, for ne gotiation of a contract to begin "_eveiopmen t ofa Space Shuttle system. An indic_ttion of the projected impact of S : Shuttle came

i with Associated Pres_s tha t the Shuttle shouldan l'e_DOl't program event ually mean "Sixty

thousand jobs in C alifom,:l." Benefits we ;_: p redicted thrc,aghout 'me s pace program .I, M_a nwhi le, midwa y in MSFC 's 3th year crone the final fligh t of the A pollo p rogramI ,,,lth yet ano ther suc cesstul S aturn _aunch as Apo llo 17 rose fr om eart h on December 7,

1972. S pace inte r ests remained high a; ,_nestimated ct /d of half a mi llion observed theli_,t-c,'f from ta_e Cape of this final scc ce_ful lunar landing mission in the Apolloprogram. Then on _a_. '4. 1973, the first Skylab flight occurred st,.ccessfully as a SaturnV iifte 6 Sky!ab i nto a 27 o-_,,_e, near-circular orbit. Skylab's crewmen had been originallyscheduled to b last o'f the nex t d ay, May 15, for a linku p w ith t i_.el"bo ratory orbited theprev ious day, but t hen carat problems wit}-, tk' e laboratory, and :o it was n ot until May25 that the fit_t rearmed Skylab i _em,_ ,nt followed the ,filing SL-! into space. Th econtinuing Skyla b problems taxed the ingenuRy of astronauts an d ech nicians on theground, but out of this adversity came pr r_of wit hin Skylab in space and c._athe ground

and throughout NASA and cc,ntracto_ instal lations that mankind hat, the intell igence a ndability to conquer major prob' ,ems in Sl :ace.

413



h.

APPENDX D

EARLIEST RG ANIZATIONALHARTS

! 415r

d





418

t



APPENDX E

MSFC'sMANPOWER STATUS

;

419



AT EN D OF F IRST YEAR (June 30 , 1961 )

|

COMPILEDY: {)EORUE C. MARSHALLSPACEFL IGHT CE RTEROPERATI ONSNALYSTS MANPOI ER STATUSSU MMARYM-UGA 176.2031 AS of COB June 30, 1961

CivilSerfce Cmtm _A_T_A_ IN*HOUmC PKRiONNII. O NLY

ORGANf ZATION *.wJc c'r ,to IxcLuo co Fml _ .0 O F- **CELLINI _CILINC Ct|L|NQ CiYTg_ N • O IUPPI IET

A•II_IICD! NOOL CC'()P dl gLl_a i_ AU_4 A¢_AL ACTUAL'R

DimclW 6 5

DqmtyOk Kkl_&O 50qmt/l)Im_l_ 4I mll i _l eb U1 01 _ 3 tNASAR nklmet dfilm 6Ch efCOlel 7PI_ 'WlCom _l 7P_ llcWmmtiO mm 2 1 ]._ IO_a_m/Uml_s _ 16 14!Fml ll _tmm l Office I 19 1 04! 2 3 7MmR I_ $e _dmsOmce 27 4 25_ 20 5 3 8 211Tedmk:a l OHko 681 682 2 7 13 4 346Piocmemml _ Olllcl 148 142 3 3

LilM&MMimVddclesGlfke 85 7(_ 4 5FulmPre _b Offi m 20 12htlaumty ffice 20 14 1SMIIm]RIIBIl101f lee 63 52Teds dcal C e@ J 39 35 Igum $ystm 0filer, 4 4

AweOivbio _ 245 226 12 1 9 8 40 40

Clplklien Oivlsi m 135 125 3 7 3 18 5 16 5F&AEOk _km 8 61 8 /,5 5 9 4 13 0 130Gg COiv{alml 82 5 809 26 31 10 170 171La nckOl m timsOk Wim,J 500 458 5 8 17 9 156 163Reua tckloJeclsid ldl 70 57 1 3 5 2S&MDlvbi on 7 37 690 1 3 27 2 6 275 277(_lllly Olviskm 388 378 16, 9 14 153 163TNt DIvlsion 633 610 13 10 1 79 79AIl_Nmtlces 2 1 .. 20

.,. ,,.HAS A ' _88 g/ ¢/ ¢/ ' ' 8 ' 120' _ /

,.-- '////// 2,//,d ,,, ,,,CHN II _ 26.5) [Jr// // / _// // /i¢_ 269 *bcllm k__,_ _ mlI RMIBINmII.Cmd mmmEmm 6) _ /111/i .....- '7 _tocl ,_t_,_t_

TIll 271) V/// //_ filliP, 276 , _IR_D Auth -e o5 6 130 161

¢//////_ ' 1R&De t .. of 5 131161OTAL MSFCSTRENGTH" 59_Support ae of 6 /30 /61

***Ju ly - 92; Aug - 4; Sept - 7.

IliOFO * Foa_ 1114 _leqP. _ 1141)

I>I_'E,iT_DINg PA(_ T ,; T_;T,A_IKNO'q' FI'I,MED 421



ON DATE O F GREATEST EMPLO YS,ENT (April 30. 1965)

I ¢O _D '0k._O _JV,

j MSFC l, NPO WER STATU S S UMk, ,RY ASOF" April 30, 1965E-R 876-1343

mmm

; t ' i'Non:..Perm, mc ou 'rlloc: ORGANIZATION vouc.c.-,o ?ermxnent: P,trsonneI. I Personnel c _.. _to onn, ,, CL...TO. .'V. .LSc a_ u u,* o,.oo Ano u _.oo-no ; /UU"Rr 5m r "- s Tc.

pClq. _.NC.V ce.*,,* _-&Z gn, B_l, On Bd. .n-,.,..: _zt_;&De_t ,e s 28 28 28;,ss.st aat, recto fs 2 2 2;.x,_cutivef_ff 95 83 1 2 84C._le fCnc r.sel 23 20 20"a_ 'orelatio nsffice $ 5 $Pubhcffai lsO ffice 3 0 30 30:_ASAuditOffice 20 1 9 12 7Faciliti osDe signOfhce _08 ?.0 _, 3 2 1 107 2Financial!.anagementffice 197 18d. 3 3 1 19 4l;._naF.e=e nte lvices flice -210 203 _ 176 3 3?etsonnelOf fice 99 97 !. "¢4 27 85P,rch,Js in gffi_.e 224 222 6 31 I 115 1 44Tec _:._lSer, _ice sfhc e 582 S79 2 1 581 _.

UHAL_TE]$'_B-'rO _'L 1623 _ ;,580' ' t4' ,., - 56 ,, ,0 ' _ 1369 "_7 ._ 9

Dllec tm.R&OOpt Ta tions 7 7 7Fut urefoje ct_Olfi,e 33 31 1 32Reso urces_aaa_e _tOfli_ _0 44 44Sy _te=sfi,ce 40 3.5 1 33 3Ae co-As _rcyna micsa _ f 360 357 27 11 1 1 384 1 11Ast rio _ic sab 944 9 48 32 2 936 44 2Co _u: _:,oaab 177 17 4 6 1 I 180 1_nuf actu6n gnit L ab 832 832 1 2 2 80) 22 10P{opuls _oaVehicle.n gtLib $1 ) 828 30 7 7 48 1 12 5QualityRe! _ssu;aac eab 629 62 7 12 3 3.5 5 9 9

; Re s za ;,:, __o ieclsa_ 99 67 .5 1 6 89 4Tes t Lab 741 753 19 _. 77.1

UNALLOCATEO 21 ,SU_-TOTAL._._ _%.,5.Q_ _ _,72) 132 2"_ `5 , 0 10 _ .564 184 "13 ,5

D_rec tor, Ind. Opn8 18 13 1 1 2._zc ;.B Centau r' Ore 8Contractsffic e 148 14,5 12 ' 3 127 3GFa c_:,t ias¢ojectffi c,_ A6 4 4 1 33 11P toiactogisticsf fice 15 14 l 14Rcsc _rces/a nager _n!ffi ce 31 30 2 1 32$atum /IBP(o ua _nlfi ce 1.57 145 .5 2 _06 6 38S a turnPio: _a mffice 208 206 5 `5 19:2 19En gine ;o:(a =Ollice 1 ! 7 110 2 9 78 3Mir.houd_aratio _s 282 260 2 2 _. 284Uississippi estOperatio ns 6 _ $6 4 3 1 _.2 ,51

UNALLOCATEO 20SUO-TOTAL 1116 1043 6 0 31_ _ 0 27 605 '6 469

"OTALt

7489 7346 152 24 94 0 42 6.538 _.63 613ON._OAROTRDIGTHBYTYPE:I_FCClassificatio nctmFCW a_8can

I MSl :C_ilitir /Detail| 48

I $UI,_._,RY: ! PERMANI[_TIOOP, i c_.. [,on Nrmnen_:. Is,.,_ I TOTAL I MILITARY I

On-8oard , 73 70 J 15 ".) 94 7616 48.Co _,,'.tled _ 42 42 10

] '.'_.': _.cits. 77 _ 17 -94 0

422





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!

|,,

MAR SHALL SPACE FLI GHT CENTER

'_ AV ER AGE AGE OF PER MANENT EMPLOYEE S

FY-68 FY-O9 FY-70 FY-71 FY-72

} MSFC 40.4 4 ! .4 42.3 42.8 43.4iMSC 36.1 37.2 38.2 I 38.8 39.8

KSC 39.0 39.8 40 .8 41.4 42. l

GSFC 38.3 38.4 3Q.0 3C)2 40.2

429

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http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/an-illustrated-chronology-of-the-nasa-marshall-center-and-msfc-programs 414/416p



APPENDX G

MSFCFUNDNG

43 !



t

t

MSFC FUNDING;¢"

= Funding LevelsFise_ Year (in millions o f dollars)

: 1961 $ 378.7

1962 630.8

1963 1159.9

1964 1591.2

1965 1701. t,

196o !6 88.2

1967 1471.8

196g 1213.0

1969 682.6

1970 853.6

1971 761.7

1972 754.7

1073 612.5

!974 (Bud geted) 44 0.6