Highways Into Space: A first-hand account of the beginnings of the human space program by Glynn S. Lunney

Author:Glynn S. Lunney [Lunney, Glynn S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: General Non-Fiction
Published: 2014-10-21T07:00:00+00:00

Surveyor with LM in Background

In reaction to the lightning strike after the mission, the mission rules for the launch director decision at the launch site were significantly strengthened. Don Arabian lead the activity to build a Faraday shield around the vehicle on the pad with a very high non-conducting fiber glass pole extending tens of feet above the complex and cables from the top of that tower to conduct any discharges/strikes to the ground and protect the enclosed vehicle and ground equipment. Better field instrumentation was put in place to measure conditions around the Cape that might trigger a discharge. Don lead a major effort to get the rules and the protective cage as good as practical and that effort continues to serve through the Shuttle program. The schedule gave us a welcome relax time for birthdays, Thanksgiving and the month before Christmas. We also began to see a flight schedule, more paced by the study of the science results and the validation of the science plans for the upcoming mission. It was more relaxed than the earlier launch schedule of Gemini and Apollo flights during the 60s. That was more like two to three months between launches. The interval as actually flown became: before Apollo XIII – five months; before XIV – nine months due in part to hardware fixes from the Apollo XIII explosion; leading up to XV – six months; before XVI – nine months; and XVII – eight months. Five months between XII and XIII seemed like a grand luxury compared to five Gemini launches in 1966 and four Apollo launches in 1969.

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