An Uncluttered Path to the Moon

Uncluttered Path to the Moon

BY the time they splashed down in the Pacific last week, Apollo 10 Astronauts Tom Stafford, Eugene Cernan and John Young had erased just about all doubt that the U.S. can meet its goal of landing men on the moon before the end of 1970. Even as the astronauts were being welcomed aboard the recovery carrier Princeton, American space officials were looking confidently ahead to the Apollo 11 lunar-landing mission now scheduled for July. Said Thomas Paine, head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Houston: "Today, this moment, with the Apollo 10 crew safely on board, we know we can go to the moon. We will go to the moon."

In addition to clearing the way for a summer landing on the surface of the moon, the exploits of the command module Charlie Brown, the lunar module Snoopy and the Apollo 10 crew brought the nation and the world the most revealing views of space flight that have ever been available. Remarkable as they were, however, the televised pictures that came across nearly a quarter of a million miles could not begin to match the quality of the movie and still photographs taken by the astronauts.

Awesome Views. Shots of the moon taken from Apollo 10 in its 69-mile-high orbit clearly showed that some areas of the moon have a brownish tint, confirming the astronauts' description. There were awesome views of rugged mountains, long canyons and deep craters with white walls glinting starkly in the sunlight. By contrast, the cloud-swirled earth looked warm and hospitable as it was seen rising above the moon's horizon. Shots of alternate landing sites in the Sea of Tranquility gave support to Stafford's observation that they were "very smooth, like wet clay." The cameras also caught views that were not televised during the mission: Charlie Brown and Snoopy each shown against the background of the moon as they were preparing to dock.

On its return to earth, Apollo 10 scored a near bull's-eye landing just three miles from the recovery carrier. TV camera crews aboard the Princeton first caught a spectacular view of what probably was Apollo 10's jettisoned service module, glowing like a blazing meteor as it streaked across the predawn sky before being completely consumed by the more than 5,000DEG F. heat of reentry. Then, silhouetted against the lightening sky, the bulbous command module came into view, dwarfed by the trio of 83-ft.-wide parachutes that slowed its descent. As the module drifted down, the sky brightened enough for viewers to see the orange-and-white segments of the parachutes and pick out details of the rescue helicopters hovering protectively like giant fireflies, their bright running lights flashing on and off. Finally, precisely eight days, three minutes and 25 seconds after its lift-off from Cape Kennedy--a scant 35 seconds less than the total time calculated for the entire mission by planners six months ago --Charlie Brown splashed safely into the warm waters.

On the deck of the Princeton, Stafford, Cernan and Young looked remarkably fresh as they emerged from the recovery helicopter. Clean-shaven, clad in neat, light blue flight overalls (they had changed aboard the helicopter), the astronauts were greeted by cheers from the Princeton's white-suited sailors and the shrill welcoming notes of boatswain's pipes. Then Stafford summarized the feelings of the crew with a sentence that a few years ago would have been appropriate only in science fiction: "It's really great to be back from the moon."

Earthy Language. "This is a proud moment for the country," President Nixon told the astronauts in a three-minute phone call from his White House office to the Princeton, and other congratulations came in from all the world. But the acclaim was not universal. In a telegram to the President and to NASA, Larry Poland, 29, president of Miami Bible College Inc., complained that the Apollo 10 astronauts had carried "the language of the street" to the moon and called on the crew to repent their "profanity, vulgarity and blasphemy." Each astronaut, said the minister, should be required to issue a public statement of apology.

The language of the Apollo 10 crew was indeed more earthy than any previously broadcast from space. But the lapses were understandable. When Snoopy began gyrating wildly after its descent stage had been jettisoned, an alarmed cry of "Son of a bitch!" escaped from the startled Cernan. As Astronaut Stafford was preparing to take black and white pictures during Snoopy's low pass at the moon, he suddenly shouted: "You know, this goddam filter has failed on me." Finally, at the end of the day, a ground controller asked: "How are you guys doing?" The reply: "The crew status is at tired, and happy and hungry and thirsty and horny and all those other things."

NASA officials refused to be shocked.

"Those are human beings up there, and they acted like human beings," one said. "That's all, no more and no less."

Gobs of Cream. After the exhilarating--and occasionally harrowing --experiences with Charlie Brown and Snoopy in the vicinity of the moon, the return flight of Apollo 10 last week could not have been smoother. On the day before splashdown, the astronauts chalked up a space first. Stafford explained to ground controllers that the crew was about to conduct "scientific experiment Sugar Hotel Alpha Victor Echo"--or SHAVE. NASA had spent $5,000 trying unsuccessfully to perfect a small electric razor with a vacuum attachment that would suck up bristles --which otherwise might float freely and clog up instruments in the weightless environment of the spacecraft. The Apollo 10 astronauts had a simpler solution. They broke out a razor and a tube of brushless shaving cream and attacked their week-old beards in the traditional manner. The bristles were successfully contained in gobs of shaving cream that were scraped from their faces and collected in a towel. Said Cernan: "That's one of the most refreshing things that's happened in the last couple of days."

As Apollo 10 approached to within 50,000 miles of earth, ground controllers awakened the crew with a radioed bugle call. "Hello, Apollo 10," called Capsule Commentator Joe Engle. "Reveille. All hands heave out and face up. Sweepers, man your brooms, clean sweep down fore and aft. Take all trash and garbage to the fantails." Grumped Navy Commander Cernan, "Where did you learn that sound? Besides, it's 30 minutes early." Replied Engle: "It's your last day out there. We don't want you to miss anything. Why don't you guys come home today?"

Vivid Hues. At a distance of about 40,000 miles, the astronauts turned on their versatile color TV camera for the last time and provided a startling look at the earth, half in darkness, half glowing in vivid hues. Stafford described some of the colors: "India appears to us to be purplish tan. The Gulf of Oman is nearly a yellowish bronze. Saudi Arabia to us looks a sandy orange. Most of the world is covered by clouds."

Then the astronauts turned the camera on themselves, proudly showing off their clean-shaven looks, giving thanks to the "hundreds of thousands of people who have made the manned space-flight program so successful," and offering viewers one last glimpse of the Snoopy and Charlie Brown dolls they had taken along on the flight. The telecast was the 18th of the flight and extended the total TV programming from space to 5 hr. 46 min.

Several hours later, Charlie Brown hit the fringes of the atmosphere 400,000 ft. above the earth at a speed of 24,791 m.p.h.--faster than any previous mission --and began its successful reentry. Had the angle of re-entry been off by as little as one degree, the vehicle would have either ricocheted back into space or been incinerated by too swift a descent.

Age-Old Question. In the next few weeks, NASA officials will examine Apollo 10's telemetry data and review its problems. Despite some concern during the flight, none of the difficulties proved to be serious and most have already been explained and solved. The fiberglass insulation that clogged a vent and irritated the crew's skin will not be used on Apollo 11. A radar transponder on Charlie Brown that momentarily failed to work proved to be in good shape after all. The switch that caused Snoopy's wild gyrations near the moon was in the wrong position simply because a floating astronaut viewed it from an odd angle and mistook its position.

If no unforeseen difficulties emerge from the review and there are no delays in the training of the Apollo 11 astronauts--who are now practicing maneuvers on flight simulators at Cape Kennedy--Apollo 11 will lift from its launch pad on July 16, and two U.S. astronauts will land on the surface of the moon on July 20.

Though the moon is the immediate target, NASA is already looking far beyond it. "The real goal is to demonstrate the capability for interplanetary travel," Administrator Paine said last week. "We are providing the most exciting possible answer to the age-old question of whether life as we know it on earth can exist on the moon and planets. The answer is yes. Man can extend the domain of terrestrial life throughout the solar system." If Paine's flat assertion sounded somewhat premature, or unduly optimistic, there was good cause. Apollo 10 was the sort of flight that can inspire even cautious men to let their words take wing.

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