RoundupReads 50 Years Ago: Preparations Continue for Apollo 16 and 17, Skylab

50 Years Ago: Preparations Continue for Apollo 16 and 17, Skylab

by John Uri | 2021-10-19

In late 1971, NASA was preparing to fly its last two Apollo Moon-landing missions the following year, with an emphasis on conducting as much science as possible. The Apollo 16 crew of Commander John W. Young, Command Module (CM) Pilot Thomas K. Mattingly, and Lunar Module (LM) Pilot Charles M. Duke, and their backups Fred W. Haise, Stuart A. Roosa, and Edgar D. Mitchell, were training for their 12-day mission in March 1972 to the Descartes landing site in the lunar highlands.

The recently announced Apollo 17 crew of Commander Eugene A. “Gene” Cernan, CM Pilot Ronald E. Evans, and LM Pilot Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt, a trained geologist, were in the initial stages of their training, awaiting a formal decision on the landing site for their December 1972 mission.

As America’s first lunar landing program was beginning to wind down, preparations were underway for its first space station program, Skylab.

Left: Apollo 16 astronauts John W. Young, left, and Charles M. Duke arrive in a vacuum chamber in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to conduct an altitude test of their Lunar Module. Right: Apollo 16 astronaut Thomas K. Mattingly about to enter the Command Module with Young and Duke to conduct an altitude test. Credits: NASA
Left: Apollo 16 astronauts John W. Young, left, and Charles M. Duke arrive in a vacuum chamber in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to conduct an altitude test of their Lunar Module. Right: Apollo 16 astronaut Thomas K. Mattingly about to enter the Command Module with Young and Duke to conduct an altitude test. Credits: NASA

Part of the preparations for the mission included testing of the spacecraft that would take the astronauts to the Moon and return them safely to the Earth. In vacuum chambers in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Apollo 16 crew conducted altitude tests of its spacecraft to verify its space worthiness. After simulated altitude runs in early October, Young and Duke conducted vacuum tests of their LM on Oct. 15, followed by Haise and Mitchell four days later. On Oct. 20, Young, Mattingly, and Duke successfully completed the altitude test of their CM, followed two days later by Haise, Roosa, and Mitchell.

Left: Apollo 16 astronauts Charles M. Duke, left, and John W. Young examine a rock outcrop during the November 1971 geology field trip to the Coso Hills in California. Right: Duke, left, and Young ride in the GROVER, a ground-based trainer for the Lunar Roving Vehicle, in the Coso Hills. Credits: NASA
Left: Apollo 16 astronauts Charles M. Duke, left, and John W. Young examine a rock outcrop during the November 1971 geology field trip to the Coso Hills in California. Right: Duke, left, and Young ride in the GROVER, a ground-based trainer for the Lunar Roving Vehicle, in the Coso Hills. Credits: NASA

The last two Apollo missions, like the July to August 1971 flight of Apollo 15, emphasized science as a primary objective, using the additional capabilities of three-day stays on the lunar surface and the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) to enable the astronauts to traverse greater distances and explore areas of geologic interest near their landing sites. As part of their geology training, Young and Duke, along with backups Haise and Mitchell, conducted monthly field trips to geologically interesting sites around the United States. They simulated the planned lunar traverses using a ground-based version of the LRV called the GROVER — short for Geologic Rover — built by the U.S. Geologic Survey.

From Oct. 27 to 28, they studied craters formed by nuclear explosions at the Atomic Energy Commission’s Nevada Test Site. The next month, Nov. 17-18, they explored volcanic terrain in the Coso Hills of California, with Apollo 17 astronauts Cernan and Schmitt observing the traverses in preparation for their subsequent geology training. Mattingly and his backup, Roosa, practiced the orbital geology they would conduct from lunar orbit to complement the surface studies by flying over geologically interesting terrain — first at high altitude in T-38 Talon training aircraft, followed by low-altitude passes in light planes for a different perspective. Mattingly conducted such flights from Oct. 14 to 15 over Northern California and Oregon.

Left: Apollo 16 astronauts Charles M. Duke, left, and John W. Young practice getting in and out of a Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) trainer in simulated lunar gravity aboard the KC-135 training aircraft. Middle: Using mock-ups, Young practices deploying the LRV from the LM at Kennedy in Florida. Right: At Kennedy, engineers preform a fit check with the flight versions of the LRV and the LM as Apollo 16 backup astronauts Edgar D. Mitchell and Fred W. Haise look on. Credits: NASA    
Left: Apollo 16 astronauts Charles M. Duke, left, and John W. Young practice getting in and out of a Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) trainer in simulated lunar gravity aboard the KC-135 training aircraft. Middle: Using mock-ups, Young practices deploying the LRV from the LM at Kennedy in Florida. Right: At Kennedy, engineers preform a fit check with the flight versions of the LRV and the LM as Apollo 16 backup astronauts Edgar D. Mitchell and Fred W. Haise look on. Credits: NASA

Left: Apollo 16 astronauts John W. Young, left, and Charles M. Duke train for their lunar surface spacewalk, including deploying the American flag, at Kennedy. Middle: Duke, left, and Young practice driving the LRV on Kennedy’s simulated lunar surface. Right: Duke, left, and Young practice deploying the scientific instruments. Credits: NASA   
Left: Apollo 16 astronauts John W. Young, left, and Charles M. Duke train for their lunar surface spacewalk, including deploying the American flag, at Kennedy. Middle: Duke, left, and Young practice driving the LRV on Kennedy’s simulated lunar surface. Right: Duke, left, and Young practice deploying the scientific instruments. Credits: NASA

A significant portion of the astronauts’ training involved the three planned lunar surface traverses and the deployment and use of the LRV. During these exercises, the astronauts used a ground-based training version of the LRV and mock-ups of the experiments and other hardware. The Boeing Company delivered Rover 2, the flight LRV for Apollo 16, to Kennedy’s MSOB on Sept. 1, where engineers completed preflight checks. The astronauts, wearing their spacesuits, conducted fit checks with Rover 2 from Nov. 2 to 3. Ground crews installed it on the LM two weeks later.

Left: Technicians observe as Apollo 16 astronauts practice deploying the instruments of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package. Right: In the MSOB at Kennedy, Apollo 16 astronauts Charles M. Duke, far left, and John W. Young, far right, listen as Principal Investigator George R. Carruthers, center, describes the far ultraviolet camera and spectrograph they will deploy as the first observatory on the lunar surface. Credits: NASA
Left: Technicians observe as Apollo 16 astronauts practice deploying the instruments of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package. Right: In the MSOB at Kennedy, Apollo 16 astronauts Charles M. Duke, far left, and John W. Young, far right, listen as Principal Investigator George R. Carruthers, center, describes the far ultraviolet camera and spectrograph they will deploy as the first observatory on the lunar surface. Credits: NASA

The astronauts rehearsed the deployment of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP), four scientific instruments designed to return data from the Moon for months after the astronauts departed. They practiced the deployment during several suited spacewalk training sessions using mock-ups of the instruments. On Nov. 23, they rehearsed with the actual flight units before ground crews packed them aboard the LM in preparation for flight.

In addition to the ALSEP experiments, Young and Duke planned to deploy a far ultraviolet camera and spectrograph, the first observatory setup on the Moon, designed by Principal Investigator George R. Carruthers of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

Left: Apollo 16 astronauts Charles M. Duke, left, John W. Young, Stuart A. Roosa, Edgar D. Mitchell (partially obscured), and Thomas K. Mattingly receive a briefing from NASA geologists. Right: In the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Duke, left, and Young examine Moon rocks returned by Apollo 15. Credits: NASA
Left: Apollo 16 astronauts Charles M. Duke, left, John W. Young, Stuart A. Roosa, Edgar D. Mitchell (partially obscured), and Thomas K. Mattingly receive a briefing from NASA geologists. Right: In the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Duke, left, and Young examine Moon rocks returned by Apollo 15. Credits: NASA

In addition to learning geology during the field trips to rehearse the lunar traverses, the Apollo 16 astronauts received hundreds of hours of lectures and briefings by geologists, including examination of lunar photographs taken by Lunar Orbiter robotic spacecraft and earlier Apollo missions. On Nov. 29, 1971, Young and Duke received “hands-on” experience through a glovebox in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Building 37 of the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center, by examining samples returned by the Apollo 15 astronauts.

Left: In the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy, workers construct the pedestal, or “milkstool,” used to launch the Saturn IB rockets from Launch Pad 39B during the Skylab program. Middle: A prototype of the Skylab Apollo Telescope Mount is placed in Chamber A of the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory in Building 32 at MSC. Right: A training model of the Skylab Multiple Docking Adapter arriving in MSC’s Building 5, the Mission Simulation and Training Facility. Credits: NASA    
Left: In the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy, workers construct the pedestal, or “milkstool,” used to launch the Saturn IB rockets from Launch Pad 39B during the Skylab program. Middle: A prototype of the Skylab Apollo Telescope Mount is placed in Chamber A of the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory in Building 32 at MSC. Right: A training model of the Skylab Multiple Docking Adapter arriving in MSC’s Building 5, the Mission Simulation and Training Facility. Credits: NASA

As NASA prepared to conclude the Apollo lunar-landing missions, the agency’s preparations for the next phase of human spaceflight — the Skylab space station, planned for launch in 1973 — were well underway. In Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building, workers constructed the pedestal, also known as the “milkstool,” to be used to launch the crews on Saturn IB rockets from Launch Pad 39B. A decision in 1970 to close Launch Complexes 34 and 37 and use Launch Complex 39 instead necessitated the pedestal to launch the shorter Saturn IB rockets from a pad and umbilical tower designed for the larger Saturn V. Engineers conducted thermo-vacuum testing of components of the Skylab space station, such as the flight backup for the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM), beginning in October 1971 in the large Chamber A of the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory (SESL) in MSC’s Building 32. Engineers later tested the flight ATM in the SESL in May 1972. To train future Skylab astronauts, in October 1971, workers installed training versions of the Skylab space station’s components in MSC’s Building 5, the Mission Simulation and Training Facility.

Left: Future Skylab astronaut Joseph P. Kerwin, left, taste testing proposed food and drink items for Skylab, as fellow astronaut William R. Pogue looks on. Right: Posing in the Mission Operations Control Room at MSC are four deputy flight directors named for the Skylab program. Seated in the front row are Charles R. Lewis, left, Donald R. Puddy, Neil B. Hutchinson, and Philip C. Shaffer. Also in the photograph are Chief of the Flight Control Division Eugene F. Kranz, far right, and in the back row, Flight Directors Milton L. Windler, left, Gerald D. Griffin, M.P. “Pete” Frank, and Glynn S. Lunney. Credits: NASA
Left: Future Skylab astronaut Joseph P. Kerwin, left, taste testing proposed food and drink items for Skylab, as fellow astronaut William R. Pogue looks on. Right: Posing in the Mission Operations Control Room at MSC are four deputy flight directors named for the Skylab program. Seated in the front row are Charles R. Lewis, left, Donald R. Puddy, Neil B. Hutchinson, and Philip C. Shaffer. Also in the photograph are Chief of the Flight Control Division Eugene F. Kranz, far right, and in the back row, Flight Directors Milton L. Windler, left, Gerald D. Griffin, M.P. “Pete” Frank, and Glynn S. Lunney. Credits: NASA

In late September 1971, several potential Skylab astronauts joined program managers and MSC’s Chief of Food and Nutrition Malcolm C. Smith in taste testing food items being considered for the long-duration missions. Among the astronauts present were Joseph P. Kerwin, William R. Pogue, Karol J. Bobko, Robert L. Crippen, and Bruce McCandless.

On Nov. 23, 1971, to provide the needed support in the Mission Control Center for the long-duration Skylab missions, NASA selected four deputy flight directors — Charles R. Lewis, Donald R. Puddy, Neil B. Hutchinson, and Philip C. Shaffer. To prepare them for their duties in supporting Skylab, Shaffer and Puddy were assigned as flight directors for Apollo 16, and Hutchinson and Lewis for Apollo 17.

To be continued …

World events in October 1971:

  • Oct. 1 – Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida.
  • Oct. 7 – The film “The French Connection” premieres.
  • Oct. 8 – John Lennon releases “Imagine.”
  • Oct. 12 – The musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” opens in New York.
  • Oct. 24 – Texas Stadium opens in Irving, Texas; the Dallas Cowboys beat the New England Patriots 44-21.
  • Oct. 25 – The United Nations votes to admit The People’s Republic of China, replacing the Taiwan-based Republic of China.
  • Oct. 28 – The United Kingdom becomes the sixth nation to orbit a satellite with the launch of Prospero.
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