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!colspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FFDEAD"|Apollo 10 Crew
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'''Apollo 10''' was the fourth manned mission in the [[Project Apollo|Apollo program]], and the first (and only manned Saturn V) mission to launch from pad 39B. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon, and the test of the [[Apollo Lunar Module|lunar module]] in lunar orbit. The module came to within 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) of the lunar surface during practice maneuvers. According to the 2001 [[Guinness World Records]] Apollo 10 has the record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle: 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph).
'''Apollo 10''' was the fourth manned mission in the [[Project Apollo|Apollo program]], and the first (and only) manned [[Saturn V]] mission to launch from pad 39B. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon, and the test of the [[Apollo Lunar Module|lunar module]] in lunar orbit. The module came to within 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) of the lunar surface during practice maneuvers. According to the 2001 [[Guinness World Records]] Apollo 10 has the record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle: 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph).
The speed record was set during the return from the Moon on [[26 May]] [[1969]].
The speed record was set during the return from the Moon on [[26 May]] [[1969]].


Revision as of 00:38, 22 October 2006

Apollo 10
Mission insignia
Mission statistics
Mission Name: Apollo 10
Call sign: Command module:
Charlie Brown
Lunar module:
Snoopy
Number of
Crew:		 3
Launch: May 18, 1969
16:49:00 UTC
Kennedy Space Center
LC 39B
Lunar orbit: May 21 20:44:54 UTC-
May 24 10:25:29 UTC
Splashdown: May 26, 1969
16:52:23 UTC
15° 2' S - 164° 39' W
Duration: 8 d 0 h 03 min 23 s
Number of
Lunar Orbits:		 31
Time in
Lunar Orbit:		 61 h 37 min 23.6 s
Mass: CSM 28,834 kg;
LM 13,941 kg
Crew picture
Apollo 10 crew portrait (L-R: Cernan, Stafford, and Young)
Apollo 10 crew portrait
(L-R: Cernan, Stafford, and Young)
Apollo 10 Crew

Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program, and the first (and only) manned Saturn V mission to launch from pad 39B. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon, and the test of the lunar module in lunar orbit. The module came to within 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) of the lunar surface during practice maneuvers. According to the 2001 Guinness World Records Apollo 10 has the record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle: 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph). The speed record was set during the return from the Moon on 26 May 1969.

Crew

*Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual, prior to and including this mission.

Backup Crew

Support Crew

Flight Directors

  • Glynn Lunney, Black team
  • Gerald Griffin, Gold team
  • Milton Windler, Maroon team
  • Pete Frank, Orange team

Mission parameters

  • Mass: CSM 28,834 kg; LM 13,941 kg

Earth Orbit

Lunar Orbit

LM - CSM Docking

LM closest approach to lunar surface

On May 22 1969 at 20:35:02 UTC, a 27.4 second LM descent propulsion system burn inserted the LM into a descent orbit of 112.8 km by 15.7 km so that the resulting lowest point in the orbit occurred about 15° from lunar landing site 2 (the Apollo 11 landing site). The lowest measured point in the trajectory was 15.6 km above the lunar surface at 21:29:43 UTC.

See also

Mission highlights

This dress rehearsal for a Moon landing brought Stafford and Cernan's lunar module, nicknamed "Snoopy", to 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) from the lunar surface. Except for that final stretch, the mission went exactly as a landing would have gone, both in space and on the ground, where Apollo's extensive tracking and control network was put through a dry run. Shortly after leaving low Earth orbit, the command/service module separated from the S-IVB stage, turned around, and docked its nose to the top of the lunar module still nestled in the S-IVB. The CSM/LM stack then separated from the S-IVB for the trip to the moon. Upon reaching lunar orbit, Young remained alone in his command module "Charlie Brown," while Stafford and Cernan flew separately in the LM. They checked out the LM's radar and ascent engine, rode out a momentary gyration in the lunar lander's motion (due to a faulty switch setting), and surveyed the Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquillity. This test article of the lunar module was not equipped to land, however. Apollo 10 also added another first - broadcasting live color TV from space.

On May 22 1969 Apollo 10's lunar module flew within 15.6 km of the Moon's surface.

Launched: May 18, 1969 from Pad 39B
Returned: May 26, 1969
Crew members: Tom Stafford, commander; John Young, command module pilot; Gene Cernan, lunar module pilot
Command module: Charlie Brown
Lunar module: Snoopy

The command module is displayed at the Science Museum in London. The lunar module is in heliocentric orbit, thus making it the only intact lunar module ascent stage out of all of the lunar modules sent into space (Apollos 5, 9, 13 LM ascent stages burned up in Earth's atmosphere, Apollo 11 LM ascent stage left in lunar orbit - eventually crashed on moon, Apollos 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 LM ascent stages deliberately crashed into moon) .

Mission insignia

The shield-shaped emblem for the flight shows a large, three-dimensional Roman numeral X sitting on the moon's surface, in Stafford's words, "to show that we had left our mark." Although it did not land on the moon, the prominence of the number represents the significant contributions the mission made to the Apollo program. A CSM circles the moon as a LM ascent stage flies up from its low pass over the lunar surface. The earth is visible in the background. A wide, light blue border carries the word APOLLO at the top and the crew names around the bottom. The patch is trimmed in gold.

Trivia

  • Of the three backup crew members, only Edgar Mitchell would get a space flight after this mission, which would have originally been on Apollo 13, but because of nearly 10 years since Alan Shepard's Mercury 3 flight (due to a medical disqualification), Mitchell and Shepherd would fly on Apollo 14, swapping flights with Jim Lovell and his crew, who were the backup crew for Apollo 11 at the time of the Apollo 10 flight.
  • While not included in the official mission logo, due to the use of their names as callsigns, the Peanuts characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy became semi-official mascots for the mission, as seen here [1] and here [2]. Peanuts creator Charles Schultz also drew some special mission-related artwork for NASA.

Images

  • The S-IC first stage in the VAB
    The S-IC first stage in the VAB
  • Apollo 10 during rollout (NASA)
    Apollo 10 during rollout (NASA)
  • CSM "Charlie Brown" (NASA)
    CSM "Charlie Brown" (NASA)
  • Apollo 10 view of Earth rise. (NASA)
    Apollo 10 view of Earth rise. (NASA)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Apollo 10.
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