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Document of the Week

Letter
From: Robert F. Allnutt, NASA Assistant Administrator for Legislative Affairs
To: James J. Gehrig, Staff Director, Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences...
Date: June 5: 1969
Subject: Apollo 10 Incident

Apollo 10 was the final planned “test flight” before Apollo 11 would attempt to land on the moon. During that May 1969 mission Commander Tom Stafford and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Gene Cernan undocked from the command module (CM) in lunar orbit and went through all the maneuvers for landing except for the final powered descent to the surface. After maneuvering down to an altitude of about 14 kilometers (47,000 feet) they dropped the descent stage of the lunar module (LM) to head back to the CM. Unfortunately, a guidance system switch was not in the right position, and this caused the LM to gyrate wildly. Stafford was able to bring the LM under control and rendezvous with the CM was uneventful. However, the event (which took place during a live broadcast) and the understandably colorful language used by the astronauts during the gyrations worried the Congressional committees that oversaw NASA. In this letter, NASA Associate Administrator Allnutt explains the incident and what measures NASA planned to take before the lunar landing mission to avoid similar problems. NASA still writes such letters to Congress when incidents arise today.

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Happy Birthday to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center!

Originally known as the Beltsville Space Center, the facility located in Greenbelt, Maryland, was redesignated the Goddard Space Flight Center on May 1, 1960. On the outskirts of Washington, DC, it is one of the least known of NASA's 10 Centers. But, with a staff of 13,000 (including NASA's first Nobel prize winning scientist, Dr. John Mather), Goddard is one of the biggest Centers and is the home of many critical agency f...unctions.

The Goddard staff lives up to a quote from their namesake, rocket pioneer Robert Goddard, "It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."

Want to know more? Check out this great 5 minute video montage about Goddard Space Flight Center.
https://go.nasa.gov/2vx43tL

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Goddard at 60
On July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. When it...
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Videos
Deep Space 1's revolutionary use of ion propulsion made it a trailblazer for a generation of space probes. First we had to get it to orbit though. On this date (October 24) in 1998 the probe launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral. (see clip) Unlike the fireworks of most chemical rockets using liquid or solid fuels, once in space the ion drive of Deep Space 1 emitted only an eerie blue glow as ionized atoms of xenon were pushed out of the engine. The almost imperceptible thrust from the system is equivalent to the pressure exerted by a sheet of paper held in the palm of a hand. Yet while the ion engine is very slow to pick up speed, over the long haul it can deliver 10 times as much thrust per pound of fuel as liquid or solid fuel rockets. Deep Space 1 would go on to travel over 163 million miles and make flybys of asteroid Braille and comet Borelly with just a fraction of the fuel it would have taken to make that trip with chemical rockets. Watch more of the launch and learn about this historic mission to test a new engine at https://go.nasa.gov/2CFmAJt
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“We need to fail down here, so we don't fail up there.” This line from the movie "First Man" is fictional, but does accurately reflect Neil Armstrong's views on the topic of training and reliability. On this date in 1968 two review boards released their findings from Neil Armstrong's May 6, 1968, Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) crash. (shown in the clip below) The boards concluded that the main cause of the accident was a loss of attitude control stemming from a loss of helium pressure to the propellant system. Gusty winds exacerbated the problem and Armstrong didn't receive enough warning from the vehicle's systems to respond quickly enough to avoid a crash. (In other words, there was no warning system for the failure of the pressurization of the fuel system.) Armstrong was forced to eject moments before impact. In real life, his only injury was that he bit his tongue during the ejection. The NASA Safety Center has written an excellent and detailed review of the LLRV and LLTV accidents (there were 3). See: https://go.nasa.gov/2pTofn0
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On this date in 1968 an Apollo 7 post-flight press conference took place at President Lyndon B. Johnson's ranch in Texas. The president took the opportunity to present recently retired NASA administrator James Webb the agency's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal. The commendation read by the president in this image praises Webb for his “clear vision, driving energy, and management skill which... moved the United States forward to a position of leadership in space and aeronautics.” Apollo 7 was the first crewed flight of the Apollo program.
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