New Apollo Quiz Game

[PhantomWolf]

Me either. The Apollo 16 Flight Journal only gets to the Translunar Burn, so doesn't include the Translunar coast and goggle had no hits for "Gimble Lock" and "Apollo 16" and since I don't have the Apollo 16 DVD's yet I'm out of resources on my slow connection (downloading .PDF debriefing mannuals takes forever.)

Oh, and 300!

[EvilBob]

Actually, I think it should be 'Gimbal Lock'. That may be why you're not finding any references....

[EvilBob]

From http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_16a_Summary.htm

It was suspected that the gimbal lock indication was an electrical transient caused by actuation of the thrust vector control enable relay when exiting the IMU alignment program. A program was uplinked to the crew and entered into the computer. The program would allow the computer to ignore gimbal lock indication during critical periods.

Whatever that means. I think it means that it was an electrical fault rather than an actual gimbal lock.

[PhantomWolf]

Bleah. That helps.

At 038:18:56, the command module computer received an indication that an inertial measurement unit gimbal lock had occurred. The computer correctly downmoded the IMU to “coarse align” mode and set the appropriate alarms. Due to the large number of LM panel particles floating near the spacecraft and blocking the command module pilot’s vision of the stars, realignment of the platform was accomplished using the Sun and Moon. It was suspected that the gimbal lock indication was an electrical transient caused by actuation of the thrust vector control enable relay when exiting the IMU alignment program. A program was uplinked to the crew and entered into the computer. The program would allow the computer to ignore gimbal lock indication during critical periods.

[PhantomWolf]

And bleah again, bob beat me by a matter of seconds, lol.

[EvilBob]

You take it, PhantomWolf. I can't think of a good question anyway!

[ajv]

Sorry about the gimble/gimbal mistake.

I think it means that it was an electrical fault rather than an actual gimbal lock.
Yes. I carefully only said that the warning light came up.

realignment of the platform was accomplished using the Sun and Moon
According to both the air-to-ground transcript and the technical debrief, Mattingly used the Sun and the Earth and that it was something that people hadn't done before. As you mentioned it was necessary because of the particles from the LM panel.

And as for what the Commander was doing during the alarm and realignment ...

Young I don't want to tell you this but it's the truth. I went to sleep one night just before Ken did. While I was asleep the platform realined itself into coarse aline. Ken fixed it and I never woke up. I never knew anything about it until the next day. Couldn't believe it.

Mattingly [...] About that time, the master alarm came on and the world turned upside down. We talked to the ground for an hour about it. We realigned the platform. John never batted an eyelash. I finally reached over and turned all the floodlights out, wrote him a note and stuck it in front of him and went to bed.

Go for it, PhantomWolf.

[PhantomWolf]

Okay. The Apollo 15 LM was jettisoned late because of two problems and a skittery crew and command due to a serious event that had occured just prior to the Apollo 15 flight. Soooo..... Several parts to this.

1) What was the event that had occurred and meant that the crew and command jittery?

2) How did this event affect the protocol for the jettison of the LM?

3) What was the first problem they encountered because of this change while preparing for Jettison? How did they fix it?

4) What was the second problem to occur?. It was this one that finally caused the delay. How did they fix it?

[JMV]

1)Soyuz #something (was it 11?) accident. Three cosmonauts died when their spacecraft depressurised some time before re-entry.

2)Crew had to wear their spacesuits during jettison. This was because some kind of explosives were used to cut the tunnel between LM and CM and they feared the explosions could damage CM pressure hull similar manner to what happened to that Soyuz.

3)Of course suit integrity had to be checked before the jettison and there was a problem with this. The suits didn't keep oxygen in satisfactorily. They checked their connection and all and it worked fine the second time around. Actually they had the same problem twice but more on that later.

4)There were some problems with the tunnel pressure integrity too, a leak somewhere perhaps. They reopened the hatch and checked the seals but found nothing wrong. It worked fine after that. But because of this they had to do the suit integrity chech again and apparently someone had forgotten to lock his pressure glove this time. Fourth pressure integrity check went OK.

[PhantomWolf]

Excellent. All right and a bonus point for the glove, which was the part of the question I deleted before posting, but you answered anyways.

And all the HB's go on about how all the missins went so perfectly :roll:

All yours JMV.

[JMV]

Thanks PhantomWolf.

I'll ask something simple: Who was the only Apollo astronaut who gained weight during Apollo flight and how much weight did he put on?

[Bob B.]

Who was the only Apollo astronaut who gained weight during Apollo flight and how much weight did he put on?

According to this table two astronauts gained weight. Al Shepard, who gained 0.4 kg, and Edgar Mitchell, who gained 0.5 kg.

[JMV]

Mitchell! How did I miss him?
Of course you're right.
You know what to do, Bob B.

[Bob B.]

Which missions erected Laser Ranging Retroreflector experiments, and which mission erected the largest LRRR?

[PhantomWolf]

11, 14 and 15

15 had the largest

linkie here

[Bob B.]

11, 14 and 15

15 had the largest

linkie here

Correct.

[PhantomWolf]

On Apollo 15 David Scott had a little trouble drilling a hole for one of the experiments they were doing. What was the experiment, what was the problem, what was the cause of the problem eventually decided to have been, and how was it solved for the final two missions?

[PhantomWolf]

No bites yet? You guys in neeed of a clue?

[ottawan]

I know it was the Heat Flow Experiment and that the drill bit got stuck part way down. They managed to pull it out but I'm not sure what the fix was for 16 & 17.

It was moot on 16 when Young accidentally broke the connector.

[PhantomWolf]

Getting pretty close. Definately in the ball park. It is believed that something about the way the bit was made made it do something that help cause the jamming.

[ottawan]

Bob!

Help me out on this.

[Superluminal]

The drill flutes weren't carrying the cut material to the surface causing the drill to bind up.

The problem wasn't fixed until Bruce Willis came along in the movie "Armegedon"

[PhantomWolf]

Okay well since there isn't any movement on this one.

According to the Apollo 15 ALSJ, the belief is that because the drill bit was made in sections that where then locked together, the trouble they had trying to drill the hole for the HFT Experiment as deep as wanted was caused by the end section of the drill snapping off and remaining in the ground. Then when Dave tried to drill it again, the bit was hitting and jamming on the part of the bit that was broken off in the ground, thus preventing him from drilling any deeper. For 16 and 17 they replaced the drill bit with one that was only a single piece.

Ottawan got the closest, so I'll toss him the ball.

[ottawan]

Thanks PhantomWolf,

I will work on that tonight and have something for tomorrow.

[ottawan]

Okay, maybe a little earlier than tomorrow . . . . .


On the 11 manned Apollo missions, who was the Shift #1 Flight Director the most times, and how many?

And . . . .

What were the surnames of the 10 men listed as Apollo Flight Directors?


And as a finale . . . . not counting the "open the hatch to dump gear onto the lunar surface EVA's", or the "CDR & LMP helped the CMP retrieve film canisters from the Simbay EVA's" what astronaut went EVA the most times?

How many, and when were they?



Eeditt for speeling!

[Superluminal]

Dave Scott, Apollo 15 CDR. Stand-up EVA, + the 3 regular EVAs.

[Bob B.]

And as a finale . . . . not counting the "open the hatch to dump gear onto the lunar surface EVA's", or the "CDR & LMP helped the CMP retrieve film canisters from the Simbay EVA's" what astronaut went EVA the most times?

How many, and when were they?

I think the answer is Dave Scott, who performed a total of 5 EVAs. On Apollo 9 he did a stand-up EVA through the CM hatch while Rusty Schweickart tested the PLSS backpack. On Apollo 15 he did another stand-up EVA through the LM’s top hatch to perform a site survey. He then performed three lunar surface EVAs with Jim Irwin.

If you don’t want to count stand-up EVAs, then the answer should be a tie between Gene Cernan and Pete Conrad with 4 each. Cernan performed an EVA on Gemini 9 and three on Apollo 17. Conrad performed two on Apollo 12 and two on his Skylab mission.

[ottawan]

Dave Scott is the correct answer with 5 as Bob pointed out . . .

Now on to the Flight Director portion of the question.

[Count Zero]

No offence, but I object to the multiple-question format.

- In this case, question #3 is unrelated to the previous questions.
- It muddies the waters when deciding "who answered correctly."
- I think it slows down the game.

[ottawan]

Point taken Count Zero.

You're away Bob B.