Last Man on the Moon recalls US era of courage to do the impossible

In 1972 Apollo 17 astronaut Captain Eugene Cernan became the last man on the moon. Cernan, a US Navy fighter pilot handpicked by Nasa in 1966 despite not applying for the space programme, nor having gone to test pilot school, went on to fly three space missions. He is the only person to have descended to the moon in a lunar module twice and holds the world record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle after the crew of Apollo 10 reached 24,791 mph during re-entry.

Cernan's story is told by director Mark Craig in Last Man on the Moon, a documentary screening at this year's Sheffield Doc/Fest. Craig shows the Apollo astronauts – now in their 80s – recalling an era when America had a presidential mandate to be daring, a license to venture into the unknown.

"When Kennedy challenged us to go to the moon we didn't know beans about it," says Cernan, now aged 80. "We had 16 minutes [of space experience]. Al Shepard [the first American to go into space] went up and came down. I was just a young lieutenant flying out in the West Pacific off aircraft carriers, and at that time I believed – and I think most other people did too – that they were asking us to do something that was impossible. And then all of a sudden we got involved – all of us. And the rest is history. Don't tell me I can't do it: I think that's the America I grew up in."

It's this faith in imagination that Cernan suggests the US space programme lacks today. Nasa has seen its funding decline over the decades since he left the moon. It now receives less than half a percent of the total federal budget.

"It's unfortunate – a half century ago Americans were walking on the moon," says Cernan. "Today we've been told it's going to take a trampoline to get us back to our own space station. That hurts quite frankly."

There's a tangible sadness to the film. We're shown Cernan walking around an abandoned launch site. Grass is growing through the concrete and rust is creeping up the tower. The hope of an era was shot into the sky and allowed to dwindle.

"I wonder how [Americans] feel about the film?," says Mark Craig. "When they look back and see what they did then and maybe reflect on what's not happening now. There are no manned missions being launched from America. I think that's sad to see from a nation that once led the way."

The film depicts the glamour of the Apollo astronaut's lifestyle. It shows crowds of people cheering the heroism of these new pioneers. The knights of the sky who conquered space. At the same time Last Man on the Moon shows us the effect on the astronaut's families. One scene shows Gene sitting with his grown-up daughter on a bench outside his ranch. "I remember when I came back, you said: 'You've been to the moon, NOW will you take me camping?", he says. Today Cernan admits that the astronauts' competitiveness, their drive to be the best, came at a personal cost.

"I cheated my family and friends out of a big chunk of my life," he says. "Particularly my daughter when she was growing up. I – like a lot of my colleagues – was so focused on the challenge that was placed in front of me. Our families suffered because of our selfishness."

The astronauts were unprepared for celebrity, while 1960s society – having watched the moon landings live on television – was getting a taste for it. Cernan had to learn how to sell the hero image, even if he himself didn't particularly believe in it.

"You – the press – made us sometimes holier than thou," he says. "And Nasa wanted to protect their image."

He remembers the Apollo 10 mission where his lunar module spun out of control. Cernan, temporarily panicked, shouted "Son of a bitch! What the hell happened!" on live television, prompting complaints to Nasa and the television networks.

"I didn't know I'd said it," he says. "I'm driving home from the airport with my wife and she said 'You were pretty salty, weren't you?'. And I said 'What are you talking about?' She told me what I said and that was the first time I heard it.

"I went into the office the next morning and I listened to the tapes and sure enough – that was me and I couldn't deny it. Nasa put the screws to me and said 'You gotta apologise'. But I needed to find my own way of apologising, so I said 'To those of you who I offended I'm sorry, to those of you who understand I thank you'.

"Then you get 50 letters that say 'Thank you – we would have said much worse. Nice to know you put your pants on one leg at a time just like everybody else'. And a bunch of other letters that say 'Thank you. You made us proud to be American. But how could you use such language in front of my kids?' It was a no-win situation."

Mark Craig says the Apollo astronauts were ill-prepared for what would happen to them after the mission was over.

"They spent a decade of their lives going for this massive goal, but when they achieved it, what were they to do next?," he says. "There are some comparisons to be drawn with the way we deal with war veterans. Certainly in previous wars they were expected to come back and keep a stiff upper lip and get on with their lives, whereas now we understand post-traumatic stress disorder and there is some kind of support available. I don't think there was much in the way of post-mission counselling."

Last Man on the Moon deals in nostalgia for space exploration, for the America of the time, and even – whether Cernan likes it or not – for brave people that we can idealise. All of these have become twisted in the years since the space race, but Cernan believes we can – and will – recapture that sense of romanticism.

"I can look kids in the eye and say 'You're going to take us back to the moon and then on to Mars'. I can say that with a straight face because I believe it. All we need to do is give them the same opportunities given to me.

"Curiosity is the essence of human existence: Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? Was there life on Mars? Was there water? Is there life out there? The frontier of space is just a follow-on – we're following on in the footsteps of those who preceded us, and hopefully we'll give those that follow-on in our footsteps the same opportunity that we had.

"The press have labelled me The Last Man to Walk on the Moon. I'd like to think of it as the last man of Apollo to walk on the moon. We're going to go back again."

Quelle: theguardian

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Apollo-10

Mission Objective
The Apollo 10 mission encompassed all aspects of an actual crewed lunar landing, except the landing. It was the first flight of a complete, crewed Apollo spacecraft to operate around the moon. Objectives included a scheduled eight-hour lunar orbit of the separated lunar module, or LM, and descent to about nine miles off the moon's surface before ascending for rendezvous and docking with the command and service module, or CSM, in about a 70-mile circular lunar orbit. Pertinent data to be gathered in this landing rehearsal dealt with the lunar potential, or gravitational effect, to refine the Earth-based crewed spaceflight network tracking techniques, and to check out LM programmed trajectories and radar, and lunar flight control systems. Twelve television transmissions to Earth were planned. All mission objectives were achieved.

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Mission Highlights
Apollo 10 launched from Cape Kennedy on May 18, 1969, into a nominal 115-mile circular Earth-parking orbit at an inclination of 32.5 degrees. One-and-a-half orbits later, translunar injection occurred. The S-IVB fired to increase velocity from 25,593 to 36,651 feet per second on a free-return trajectory. Twenty-five minutes later, the CSM separated for transposition and docking with the LM, similar to the maneuver performed on Apollo 9. The orbital vehicle was comprised of the S-IVB stage, and its payload of the CSM, the LM and spacecraft-lunar module adapter, or SLA, shroud. The Apollo 10 crew members were Commander Thomas Stafford, Command Module Pilot John Young and Lunar Module Pilot Eugene Cernan.

The first live color TV transmissions to Earth began three hours after launch when Apollo 10 was 3,570 miles from Earth and concluded when the spacecraft was 9,428 miles away. The transmission showed the docking process and the interior of the CSM. About four hours after launch, Apollo 10 separated from the S-IVB sage, which was followed by another telecast from 14,625 miles out. A third TV transmission of pictures of Earth was made from 24,183 miles out, and a fourth telecast of the Earth was made from 140,000 miles.

The launch trajectory had been so satisfactory that only one of four midcourse corrections was needed. This was accomplished 26.5 hours into the flight. About 76 hours into the mission, lunar-orbit insertion occurred with the firing of the service propulsion system, or SPS. A second firing of the engine 4.5 hours later circularized the lunar orbit of Apollo 10 at approximately 69 miles, which was followed by the first color TV pictures to Earth of the moon's surface.

Stafford and Cernan entered the LM and prepared for the undocking maneuver that occurred on the 12th revolution, a little more than 98 hours into the flight. At about 100 hours, on May 22, the vehicles separated and briefly flew a station-keeping lunar orbit of 66.7 by 71.5 miles. To achieve a simulation of the future Apollo 11 landing, the LM descent engine fired for 27.4 seconds, with 10 percent thrust for the first 15 seconds and 40 percent thrust for the rest. This brought the LM to a new orbit of 9.7 by 70.5 miles.

The LM flew over Landing Site 2 in the Sea of Tranquility. During this run, the LM landing radar was tested for altitude functioning, providing both "high gate" and "low gate" data. Following a 7.5-second firing of the LM reaction control system, or RCS, thrusters, the descent engine fired in two bursts for 40.1 seconds - at 10 percent and at full throttle - placing the LM into an orbit of 13.7 by 219 miles. On the 14th revolution, it reached a pericynthion of 12.7 miles and was "staged." The descent stage jettisoned on a second attempt and an uncontrollable gyration of the ascent stage occurred. It was later attributed to an error in a flight-plan checklist, causing an incorrect switch position.

The ascent engine fired for 15 seconds, lowering the LM apocythion to 53.8 miles, 230 miles behind and below the CSM. The RCS thrusters fired for 27.3 seconds when the LM was 16.9 miles below the CSM and 170.4 miles behind, yielding an orbit of 54.5 by 48.1 miles. To prepare for the terminal phase of rendezvous, the RCS fired again, resulting in an orbit of 17.2 by 81.7 miles.

Stafford sighted the CSM's running lights at about 48 miles. The 15-second terminal phase initiation firing reduced velocity as the LM entered an intercept trajectory and the two vehicles achieved station-keeping of the 16th lunar revolution. With Young in the CSM taking on an active rendezvous role, the vehicles were re-docked on May 23, slightly more than 106 hours into the mission. The LM ascent stage jettisoned and its engine fired to depletion.

The rest of the time in lunar orbit was spent on landmark tracking and photography. On the 31st orbit, the SPS restarted. Apollo 10 was on the back side of the moon when it was injected into a trans-Earth trajectory.

After a midcourse correction, and command and service module separation, Apollo 10 re-entered Earth's atmosphere May 26. The module splashed down 165 degrees west, and 5 degrees, 8 minutes south in the Pacific Ocean. It's landing was within television range of its primary recovery ship, the USS Princeton. Apollo 10 completed a flight of 192 hours, three minutes, 23 seconds - one minute, 24 seconds longer than planned. The Apollo 10 S-IVB third stage and LM ascent stage went into solar orbits. The LM descent stage went into a selenocentric orbit.

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Apollo-17

Mission Objective

The lunar landing site was the Taurus-Littrow highlands and valley area. This site was picked for Apollo 17 as a location where rocks both older and younger than those previously returned from other Apollo missions, as well as from Luna 16 and 20 missions, might be found.

The mission was the final in a series of three J-type missions planned for the Apollo Program. These J-type missions can be distinguished from previous G- and H-series missions by extended hardware capability, larger scientific payload capacity and by the use of the battery-powered Lunar Roving Vehicle, or LRV.

Scientific objectives of the Apollo 17 mission included, geological surveying and sampling of materials and surface features in a preselected area of the Taurus-Littrow region; deploying and activating surface experiments; and conducting in-flight experiments and photographic tasks during lunar orbit and transearth coast. These objectives included deployed experiments, such as the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP, with a heat flow experiment; lunar seismic profiling, or LSP; lunar surface gravimeter, or LSG; lunar atmospheric composition experiment, or LACE; and lunar ejecta and meteorites, or LEAM. The mission also included lunar sampling and lunar orbital experiments. Biomedical experiments included the Biostack II experiment and the BIOCORE experiment.

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Mission Highlights
At 9:15:29 a.m. GMT Dec. 7, 1972, the command and service module, or CSM, was separated from the S-IVB. Approximately 15 min later, the CSM docked with the lunar module, or LM. After CSM/LM extraction from the S-IVB, the S-IVB was targeted for lunar impact, which occurred Dec. 10, at 8:32:43 p.m. The impact location was approximately 84 nautical miles northwest of the planned target point and the event was recorded by the passive seismic experiments deployed on the Apollos 12, 14, 15 and 16 missions.

Only one of the four planned midcourse corrections was required during translunar coast. A midcourse correction made at 5:03 p.m. Dec. 8, was a 1.6 second service propulsion system burn resulting in a 10>:5 feet/second velocity change. Lunar orbit insertion was accomplished at 7:47:23 p.m. Dec. 10, placing the spacecraft into a lunar orbit of 170 by 52.6 nautical miles. Approximately four hours, 20 minutes later, the orbit was reduced to 59 by 15 nautical miles. The spacecraft remained in this low orbit for more than 18 hours, during which time the CSM/LM undocking and separation were performed. The CSM circularization maneuver was performed at 6:50:29 p.m. Dec. 11, which placed the CSM into an orbit of 70.3 by 54.3 nautical miles. At 2:35 p.m. Dec. 11, the commander and lunar module pilot entered the LM to prepare for descent to the lunar surface. At 6:55:42 p.m. Dec. 11, the LM was placed into an orbit with a perilune altitude of 6.2 nautical miles. Approximately 47 minutes later, the powered descent to the lunar surface began. Landing occurred at 7:54:57 p.m. Dec. 11, at lunar latitude 20 degrees, 10 minutes north, and longitude 30 degrees 46 minutes east. Apollo 17 was the last lunar landing mission. Three extravehicular activities, or EVAs, lasted a total of 22 hours, four minutes on the lunar surface. EVA No. 1 began at 11:54:49 p.m. Dec. 11, with Eugene Cernan egressing at 12:01 a.m. Dec. 12. The first EVA was seven hours, 12 minutes long and was completed at 7:06:42 a.m. Dec. 12. The second EVA began at 11:28:06 p.m. Dec. 12, and lasted seven hours, 37 minutes, ending at at 7:05:02 a.m. Dec. 13. The final EVA began at 10:25:48 p.m. Dec. 13, and ended at 5:40:56 a.m. Dec. 14.

The LM ascent stage lifted off the moon at 10:54:37 p.m. Dec. 14. After a vernier adjustment maneuver, the ascent stage was inserted into a 48.5 by 9.4 nautical mile orbit. The LM terminal phase initiation burn was made at 11:48:58 p.m. Dec. 14. This 3.2 second maneuver raised the ascent stage orbit to 64.7 by 48.5 nautical miles. The CSM and LM docked at 1:10:15 a.m. The LM ascent stage was jettisoned at 4:51:31 a.m. Dec. 15. Deorbit firing of the ascent stage was initiated at 6:31:14 a.m. Dec. 15, and lunar impact occurred 19 minutes, seven seconds later approximately 0.7 nautical miles from the planned target at latitude 19 degrees, 56 minutes north, and longitude 30 degrees, 32 minutes east. The ascent stage impact was recorded by the four Apollo 17 geophones, and by each ALSEP at Apollos 12, 14, 15 and 16 landing sites.

Ronald Evans performed a transearth EVA at 8:27:40 p.m. Dec. 17, that lasted one hour, six minutes, during which time he retrieved the lunar sounder film, as well as the panoramic and mapping camera film cassettes.

Apollo 17 hosted the first scientist-astronaut to land on moon: Harrison Schmitt. The sixth automated research station was set up. The lunar rover vehicle traversed a total of 30.5 kilometers. Lunar surface-stay time was 75 hours, and lunar orbit time 17 hours. Astronauts gathered 110.4 kilograms, or 243 pounds, of material.

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Quelle: NASA