CHAPTER 1-S3 - BLACK OPS on the MOON & MARS

When researching the literature about the spacecraft and objects that are around the Moon now, or that were in selenocentric orbit during the Apollo project, you have to be careful and not depend on just one source. Here are a few examples.

If you go to the UN registry using their online site search engine looking for only objects in selenocentric orbit today you will get a hit returning only the following 14 objects:

International Designator	Name of Space Object	State	Date of Launch	UN Reg	Document of Registration	Status
[1966-027A]	Automatic station "LUNA 10"	USSR	31/03/1966	Yes	A/AC.105/INF.134	[selenocentric]
[1966-078A]	Automatic station "LUNA 11"	USSR	24/08/1966	Yes	A/AC.105/INF.143	[selenocentric]
[1966-094A]	Automatic station "LUNA 12"	USSR	22/10/1966	Yes	A/AC.105/INF.150	[selenocentric]
1967-070A	LUNAR EXPLORER 35 (IMP 6	USA	19/07/1967	Yes	A/AC.105/INF.179	[selenocentric]
[1968-027A]	Automatic station "LUNA 14"	USSR	07/04/1968	Yes	A/AC.105/INF.189	[selenocentric]
1969-059C	APOLLO 11-LM ascent stage	USA	16/07/1969	Yes	A/AC.105/INF.216	Selenocentric
1971-063D	IRW subsatellite	USA	26/07/1971	Yes	A/AC.105/INF.242	Selenocentric
[1971-082A]	LUNA 19	USSR	28/09/1971	Yes	A/AC.105/INF.241	[selenocentric]
1972-031C	APOLLO 16-LM ascent stage	USA	16/04/1972	Yes	A/AC.105/INF.257	Selenocentric
1973-039A	LUNAR EXPLORER 49 (RAE 2)	USA	10/06/1973	Yes	A/AC.105/INF.279	[selenocentric]
[1974-037A]	LUNA 22	USSR	29/05/1974	Yes	A/AC.105/INF.296	Selenocentric
[1990-007B]	[HAGOROMO]	[Japan]	[24/01/1990]	No		[selenocentric]
[2007-039A]	SELENE (KAGUYA)	[Japan]	[14/09/2007]	No		[selenocentric]
[2007-051A]	CHANG'E	[China]	[24/10/2007]	No		[selenocentric]

Now two things jump out at me about this chart which is troubling. One, Japan and China seems not to be registering their spacecraft and their parts which could be quite a problem as everyone starts going to the Moon and Mars as everyone is saying about all of the proposed projects coming online over the next 50 years. But as you will see this may not be the case. The UN search engine in most cases is almost useless for complete accurate information. And second, the number of objects returned with the UN search engine about objects still in Moon orbit does not even match the documents on file with the UN itself. So remember that the UN registry search engines alone cannot be trusted as a definitive source. This is not even taking into account the fact that most of the highly classified military spacecraft put into orbit around the Earth, Moon, and Mars by most of the space faring countries still are not being registered with the UN, DOD/NASA, or even in any of the public docs available from NORAD.

Here are some of the objects (as of January 2008) that are still in orbit around the Moon or that are in highly eccentric orbits that take a spacecraft into the vicinity of the Moon and that are not in the above UN chart.

Luna 10 1966-27 [Molniya 8K78M N103-42]	1966 Mar 31.45	(This object is in the UN list above.) (In Moon orbit)
Luna 101966-27 E Control unit	1966 Mar 31.45	Separated from 1966-27 G before it fired. In high eccentric orbit
Luna 10 1966-27 F Control unit	1966 Mar 31.45	Separated from 1966-27 G before it fired. In high eccentric orbit
Luna 10 1966-27 G Retrorocket	1966 Mar 31.45	Cylinder, in orbit similar to 1966-27 A (This is in a Moon selenocentric orbit.)
Luna 11 1966-78 A [Molniya 8K78M N103-43]	1966 Aug 24.34	(This object is in the UN list above.) (In Moon orbit))
Luna 11 1966-78 D Rocket	1966 Aug 24.34	Orbit unknown in earth-moon system Indefinite orbit?
Luna 12 1966-94 A [Molniya 8K78M & N103-44]	1966 Oct 22.36	(This object is in the UN list above.) (In Moon orbit)
Luna 12 1966-94 D Rocket	1966 Oct 22.36	In highly eccentric orbit
Centaur 9 stage 1966-95 B Surveyor Model 3 1966-95 A	1966 Oct 26.47	In highly eccentric orbit.
Surveyor 3 1967-35 B Centaur 12 stage	1967 Apr 17.30	In highly eccentric orbit. Period about 10 days.
Surveyor 4 1967-68 B Centaur 11 stage	1967 July 14.50	In high eccentric orbit, - period of 11 days. Passed 23000 km from moon 1967 July 17.42
Surveyor 6 1967-112 B Centaur 14 stage	1967 Nov 7.32	In high-eccentricity orbit -- Indefinitely Passed 28000 km behind moon 1967 Nov 10
Luna 14 1968-27 A [Molniya 8K78M Ya716-58]	1968 Apr 7.42	(This object is in the UN list above.) (In Moon orbit)
Luna 14 1968-27 D Rocket	1968 Apr 7.42	Orbit unknown
Apollo 10 Lem 4 1969-43 C Descent stage	1969 May 18.70	Entered selenocentric (Moon) orbit 1969 May 21.87 Indefinite orbit
Luna 15 1969-58 D 4th stage	1969 July 13.13	Orbit unknown
Apollo 12 Saturn IV B 1969-99 B Stage	1969 Nov 14.68	In high-eccentricity orbit(period 42 days). Indefinite orbit
The Saturn IV B passed 5728 km behind moon 1969 Nov 18.26

From just the above information, which is incomplete as we shall see, we find that multiple sources are required to determine what is in orbit around the Moon even now .Remembering that this chapter is only about objects that were in space and might create a hazard to manned flight during the Apollo project to the Moon, and that had orbits that were selenocentric or were highly eccentric orbits that will reach the area surrounding the Moon, I felt the best way to convey this information would be to create a timeline of all of these recorded objects. Then to see what the records say or don’t say about these spacecrafts. This timeline is below. This timeline shows all recorded spacecraft and their parts that were in selenocentric orbit around the Moon, cislunar orbit, or highly elliptical orbit that reached to the area around the Moon, i.e. above 150,000 kilometers from the Earth, during the time of the Apollo project from the launch of Apollo 8 through the end of Apollo 17.

Before we can get to the really interesting parts of this chapter we must first understand what was in orbit around the Moon during the Apollo missions. We will do this by looking at just a few of the items a little closer.

This will give the reader a small sampling of how they can verify all of the information in the timeline table. In the future an appendix may be published with actual copies of all supporting documents verifying everything claimed in the timeline table. But for know the sources have all been given and a researcher can, with a little legwork verify each item. Every item in the timeline must be verified though multiple sources to determine the true location of these objects. The items in the timeline below had more then one source for the information for its inclusion. There are many documents that describe in great detail everything about every spacecraft and its mission, but this document is not the place or time to go into that great a detail about every mission.

The analysis to determine the actual location of each object in the timeline during the Apollo missions or even of its actual location today is very complicated and uses very advanced orbital mechanics and is not suitable for this type of publication. Only generalized locations will be used in this book. Don’t you think, as everyone else did during the Apollo 11 mission, that an object that was just in the vicinity of the Apollo spacecraft might put them in danger? There will be much more on Apollo 11 later.

To make it easier to get a grasp on the information being presented I have added tables based on each mission. I know that sometimes when information is presented in different ways it can be easier to understand.

USA Manned Apollo flights
Mission	Launch date	Lunar landing	Earth Recovery	Duration	Crew
Apollo 7	Oct. 11, 1968	-	Oct. 22, 1968	10 days 20 hr	Schirra Eisele Cunningham
Apollo 8	Dec. 21, 1968	-	Dec. 27, 1968	6 days 3 hr	Borman Lovell Anders
Apollo 9	Mar. 3, 1969	-	Mar. 13, 1969	10 days 1hr	McDivitt Scott Schweickart
Apollo 10	May 18, 1969	-	May 26, 1969	8 days 3 hr	Stafford Young Cernan
Apollo 11	July. 16, 1969	July. 20, 1969	July 24, 1969	8 days 3 hr	Armstrong Aldrin Collins
Apollo 12	Nov. 14, 1969	Nov. 19, 1969	Nov. 24, 1969	10 days 4 hr	Conrad Gordon Bean
Apollo 13	Apr. 11, 1970	-	Apr. 17, 1970	5 days 23 hr	Lovell Swigert Haise
Apollo 14	Jan. 31, 1971	Feb. 5, 1971	Feb. 9, 1971	9 days 0 hr	Shepard Roosa Mitchell
Apollo 15	Jul. 26, 1971	Jul. 30, 1971	Aug. 7, 1971	12 days 17 hr	Scott Worden Irwin
Apollo 16	Apr. 16, 1972	Apr. 29, 1972	Apr. 27, 1972	11 days 1 hr	Young Duke Mattingley
Apollo 17	Dec. 7, 1972	Dec. 11, 1972	Dec. 19, 1972	12 days 14 hr	Cernan Evans Schmidt

USSR	Launch date	Launch vehicle	Mass (kg)	Notes
Luna 1	Jan. 2, 1959	Luna	361	Missed Moon by 6,000 km
Luna 2	Sep. 12, 1959	Luna	387	Crashed on Moon Sep. 13
Luna 3	Oct. 4, 1959	Luna	279	Photographed Moon’s far side
Luna 4	Apr. 2, 1963	Molniya	1,422	Fell back to Earth
Luna 5	May 9, 1965	Molniya-M	1,474	Attempted soft-landing; crashed
Luna 6	Jun. 8, 1965	Molniya-M	1,440	Attempted soft-landing; missed Moon
Luna 7	Oct. 4, 1965	Molniya	1,504	Attempted soft-landing; crashed
Luna 8	Dec. 3, 1965	”	1,550	Attempted soft-landing; crashed
Luna 9	Jan. 31, 1966	”	1,580	Landed in Oceanus Procellarum Feb. 3
Luna 10	Mar. 31, 1966	”	1,597	Entered lunar orbit Apr. 3
Luna 11	Aug. 24, 1966	”	1,638	Entered lunar orbit Aug. 27
Luna 12	Oct. 22, 1966	”	1,620	Entered lunar orbit Oct. 25
Luna 13	Dec. 21, 1966	”	1,700	Landed in Oceanus Procellarum Dec. 24
Luna 14	Apr. 7, 1968	”		Entered lunar orbit Apr. 10
Luna 15	Jul. 13, 1969	Proton	5,600	Attempted sample-return; crashed
Luna 16	Sep. 12, 1970	”	5,600	Landed in Mare Fecunditatis Sep. 30; returned to Earth with 100-g sample Sep. 24
Luna 17	Nov. 10, 1970	”	5,600	Landed in Mare Imbrium Nov. 17; carried Lunokhod 1 rover
Luna 18	Sep. 2, 1971	”	5,600	Attempted sample-return; crashed Sep. 11
Luna 19	Sep. 28, 1971	”	5,810	Entered lunar orbit Oct. 3
Luna 20	Feb. 14, 1972	”	5,600	Landed in Mare Fecunditatis Feb. 21, returned to Earth with 30-g sample Feb 25
Luna 21	Jan. 8, 1973	”	5,567	Landed in Mare Serenitatis Jan. 15; carried Lunokhod 2 rover
Luna 22	May 29, 1974	”	5,835	Entered lunar orbit Jun. 2
Luna 23	Oct. 28, 1974	”	5,300	Landed in Mare Crisium Nov. 6; damaged drill prevented sample return
Luna 24	Aug. 9, 1976	”	5,306	Landed in Mare Crisium Aug. 18; returned to Earth with 170-g sample Aug. 23

USA	Launch	Imaging	Mass (kg)
Lunar Orbiter 1	Aug. 10, 1966	Aug. 18-19, 1966	386
Lunar Orbiter 2	Nov. 6, 1966	Nov. 18-25, 1966	390
Lunar Orbiter 3	Feb. 5, 1967	Feb. 15-23, 1967	385
Lunar Orbiter 4	May 4, 1967	May 11-26, 1967	390
Lunar Orbiter 5	Aug. 1, 1967	Aug. 6-8, 1967	389

USA Spacecraft	Launch	Lunar impact	Impact site	No. of photos	Mass (kg)
Ranger 1	Aug. 23, 1961	-	-	-	306
Ranger 2	Nov. 18, 1961	-	-	-	304
Ranger 3	Jan. 26, 1962	-	-	-	327
Ranger 4	Apr. 23, 1962	Apr. 26, 1962	far-side	-	328
Ranger 5	Oct. 18, 1962	-	-	-	340
Ranger 6	Jan. 30, 1964	Feb. 2, 1964	Sea of Tranquility	-	362
Ranger 7	Jul. 28, 1964	Jul. 31, 1964	Sea of Clouds	4,316	362
Ranger 8	Feb. 17, 1965	Feb. 20, 1965	Sea of Tranquility	7,137	366
Ranger 9	Mar. 21, 1965	Mar. 24, 1965	Crater Alphonsus	5,814	366

USSR	Launch date	Launch vehicle	Mass (kg)	Notes
Zond 1	Apr. 2, 1964	Molniya	890	Venus flyby, contact lost en route
Zond 2	Nov. 30, 1964	Molniya	890	Mars flyby, contact lost en route
Zond 3	Jul. 18, 1965	Molniya	959	Lunar flyby, continued into solar orbit
Zond 4	Mar. 2, 1968	Proton	5,390	Circumlunar; destroyed during reentry
Zond 5	Sep. 15, 1968	Proton	5,390	Circumlunar; returned Sep. 21, 1968
Zond 6	Nov. 10, 1968	Proton	5,375	Circumlunar; returned Nov. 17, 1968
Zond 7	Aug. 7, 1969	Proton	5,975	Circumlunar; returned Aug. 14, 1969
Zond 8	Oct. 20, 1970	Proton	5,375	Circumlunar; returned Oct. 27, 1970

USA	Launch	Lunar landing	Location	Mass (kg)
Surveyor 1	May 30, 1966	Jun. 2, 1966	Ocean of Storms	269
Surveyor 2	Sep. 20, 1966	Sep. 22, 1966 (crashed)	Sinus Medii	292
Surveyor 3	Apr. 17, 1967	Apr. 20, 1967	Ocean of Storms	283
Surveyor 4	Jul. 14, 1967	Jul. 17, 1967 (lost contact)	Sinus Medii	283
Surveyor 5	Sep. 8, 1967	Sep. 11, 1967	Sea of Tranquility	279
Surveyor 6	Nov. 7, 1967	Nov. 10, 1967	Sinus Medii	280
Surveyor 7	Jan. 7, 1968	Jan. 10, 1968	Tycho north rim	280

Satellite Name	NSSDC ID	Identification	Launch Date	Contact
Explorer1	58-001A	Explorer1	02/01/58	US
Explorer2	EXPLR2	Explorer 2, Failed	03/05/58	US
Explorer3	58-003A	Explorer 3	03/26/58	US
Explorer4	58-005A	Explorer 4,1958 Epsilon	07/26/58	US
Explorer5	EXPLR5	Explorer 5, Failed	08/24/58	ARPA
Explorer 6	59-004A	Explorer 6	08/07/59	USAF-NASA
Explorer7	59-009A	Explorer 7	10/13/59	NASA
Explorer8	60-014A	Explorer 8	11/03/60	NASA-GSFC
Explorer9	61-004A	Explorer 9, Balloon	02/16/61	NASA-LARC
Explorer 10	61-010A	P 14	03/25/61	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 11	61-013A	S 15	04/27/61	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 12	61-020A	EPE-A	08/16/61	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 13	61-022A	S 55A	08/25/61	NASA-LARC
Explorer 14	62-051A	EPE-B	10/02/62	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 15	62-059A	EPE-C	10/27/62	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 16	62-070A	S 55B	12/16/62	NASA-LARC
Explorer 17	63-009A	AE-A	04/03/63	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 18	63-046A	IMP-A	11/27/63	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 19	63-053A	AD-A	12/19/63	NASA-LARC
Explorer 20	64-051A	IE-A	08/25/64	NASA-NBS
Explorer 21	64-060A	IMP-B	10/04/64	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 22	64-064A	BE-B	10/10/64	NASA-APL
Explorer 23	64-074A	S 55C	11/06/64	NASA-LARC
Explorer 24	64-076A	AD-B	11/21/64	NASA-LARC
Explorer 25	64-076B	Injun 4	11/21/64	SUI-GSFC
Explorer 26	64-086A	EPE-D	12/21/64	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 27	65-032A	BE-C	04/29/65	NASA-APL
Explorer 28	65-042A	IMP-C	05/29/65	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 29	65-089A	GEOS 1	11/06/65	NASA-OSSA
Explorer 30	65-093A	SOLRAD 8	11/19/65	NASA-NRL
Explorer 31	65-098B	DME-A	11/29/65	NASA-APL
Explorer 32	66-044A	AE-B	05/25/66	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 33	66-058A	IMP-D	07/01/66	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 34	67-051A	IMP-F	05/24/67	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 35	67-070A	IMP-E	07/19/67	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 36	68-002A	GEOS 2	01/11/68	NASA-APL
Explorer 37	68-017A	SOLRAD 9	03/05/68	USN
Explorer 38	68-055A	RAE-A	07/04/68	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 39	68-066A	AD-C	08/08/68	NASA-LARC
Explorer 40	68-066B	Injun 5	08/08/68	SUI
Explorer 41	69-053A	IMP-G	06/21/69	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 42	70-107A	Uhuru	12/12/70	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 43	71-019A	IMP-I	03/13/71	NASA-GSFC
Explorer 44	71-058A	SOLRAD 10	07/08/71	USN-NASA
Explorer 45	71-096A	S-Cubed A	11/15/71	NASA-GSFC

Locations of all Apollo - Surveyor - Luna spacecraft that landed on the Moon.
(Drawing courtesy of DOD/NASA)

1959-008 B Luna 3 Rocket USSR Launched 1959 Oct 4 Orbit Unknown

“The orbit of the automatic interplanetary station was chosen in such a manner as to assure the station's passage near the Moon and around the Moon. The automatic interplanetary station will pass near the Moon at a distance of about 10,000km, and after rounding the Moon on its course it will return to the region of the Earth. The automatic interplanetary station was installed on the last stage of the rocket. The last stage of the rocket follows in an orbit close to the orbit of the station. The automatic interplanetary station is designated for a broad scientific investigation. After the orbit was entered, the station was separated from the rocket.”

(Courtesy of Pravda, October 5, 1959, USSR)

(1) Position of Moon and rocket at moment of injection into orbit
(2) Position of Moon and rocket at moment of closest approach
(3) Position of Moon and rocket at rocket's closest approach to Earth

(Tass communiqué about the launching of the third cosmic rocket by the Soviet Union)
(Courtesy of Pravda, October 5, 1959, USSR) and (Courtesy DOD/NASA)

The US did not monitor the Luna 3 flight; it was monitored at Jodrell Bank. The diagram below shows the path of both the satellite and the third stage rocket, according to the record above. This orbit is very similar to and looks the same as most highly elliptical orbits. The Moon is in a near circular orbit so if you were to draw a circle using the Earth as the center and the Moon as the radius and overlay it on this diagram, like was done here with the orange circle, you would see that the orbit of Luna 3 goes a long way past the Moon. This orbit that goes far past the Moon on part of its orbit is also shown in the drawing from the USSR.

But as you can see it also comes near the Moon on each orbit. This orbit is constantly changing because of the gravity fields of the Earth and Moon.

(Original diagram courtesy of Sven Grahn)
(Orange circle lunar orbit added by the author)

>(Photo of Luna 3, Courtesy USSR)

1963-008 A Luna 4 USSR 1963 Apr 2 Cislunar

1963-008 B Luna 4 Rocket USSR 1963 Apr 2 Cislunar

Luna 4 was the USSR's first successful spacecraft of their "second generation" lunar program. Communications were maintained, but Luna 4 missed the Moon by about 8400 km (sources give reports of 8336.2, 8451, and 8500 km) at 13:25 UT on 5 April 1963 and entered a 89 250 x 694 000 km equatorial Earth orbit.
(Courtesy DOD/NASA)

Luna 4 * 1963-08A and 1963-08B are in orbit indefinitely. Orbit 89,250 X 694,000

* In the US, Luna 4 has been designated as 1963-08 B [00566] and the rocket, as 1963-08 A [00563]. There may be a rocket in the Luna 4 orbit.
(Courtesy RAE)

1964-041 B Ranger 7 Agena B 6009 USA 1964 Jul 28 Cislunar

Ranger 7 - 1964-41 B (Agena B stage) [00843] is believed to be in a highly eccentric orbit.

(Courtesy RAE)

1965-010 B Ranger 8 Agena B 6006 USA 1965 Feb 17 Cislunar

Ranger 8 - 1965-10 B (Agena B stage) [01087] is believed to be in a highly eccentric orb1t.

(Courtesy RAE)

1965-036 D Luna 5 Rocket USSR 1965 May 9 Unknown

Luna 5 - 1965-36 D, there may have been a rocket, orbit unknown.

(Courtesy RAE)

1965-064 A Surveyor SD-2 USA 1965 Aug 12 Cislunar

1965-064 B Centaur AC6 USA 1965 Aug 12 Cislunar

Surveyor SD-2 and Centaur AC6 missed the Moon, orbit 417,524 x 822,128.

(Courtesy RAE)

1969-043 C Apollo 10 Lm 4 Descent Stage USA 1969 May 18 Selenocentric

(Courtesy of UNOOSA)

1969-059 C Apollo 11 Lm Ascent Stage USA 1969 Jul 16 Selenocentric
(Courtesy of UNOOSA)

1969-099 B Apollo 12 Saturn IV B USA 1969 Nov 14 Cislunar (period 42 days)
(Courtesy of UNOOSA)

1971-063 D Apollo 15 IRW Subsatellite; was still in moon orbit in 1984

Particle and Fields Subsatellite 1 [05377] 1971-63 D.
Ejected from SM-bay 1971 Aug 4 at 10:10; was still in moon orbit in 1984.

(Courtesy RAE)

(Courtesy of UNOOSA)

Each of the Apollo space flights was a little different and in a few cases they were much different. Here is a list of the major differences of the Apollo flights to the Moon as told by DOD/NASA.
	Apollo 8 went to the Moon but did not carry a Lunar Landing vehicle, or Lunar Module.
	Apollo 9 did not go to the Moon, it stayed in Earth orbit.
	Apollo 10 was the full dress rehearsal it went to the Moon and included both stages of the Lunar Module vehicle. It went to about 50,000 ft from the surface of the Moon, but did not land.
	Apollo 11 landed on the Moon.
	Apollo 12 landed on the Moon.
	Apollo 13 did not land on the Moon but went around the Moon bringing the Lunar Module back with it to Earth orbit.
	Apollo 14 landed on the Moon.
	Apollo 15 landed on the Moon. Apollo 15, 16, and 17 included the Lunar Rover Moon buggy.
	Apollo 16 landed on the Moon.
	Apollo 17 landed on the Moon. This was the last of the Apollo spacecraft that went to the Moon.

Here are the parts of an Apollo mission that would need to be located and tracked because they might pose a danger to the Apollo missions and possibly to future manned missions to the Moon.
	Apollo 8: This mission did not carry a Lunar Module.
	The S-IVB The four panels covering the Lunar Module bay
	Apollo 10: This mission was the full dress rehearsal that went to the Moon and it included the complete Lunar Landing vehicle, both the Ascent and Decent Stages. It went to approximately 50,000 ft from the surface but did not land on the Moon.
	The S-IVB. The four panels covering the Lunar Module. The Decent Stage of the Lunar Module. The Ascent Stage of the Lunar Module.
	Apollo 11: This is the first mission to land on the Moon.
	The S-IVB. The four panels covering the Lunar Module. The Ascent Stage of the Lunar Module.
	Apollo 12: This mission landed on the Moon.
	The S-IVB. The four panels covering the Lunar Module. The Ascent Stage of the Lunar Module.
	Apollo 13: This mission did not land on the Moon but went around the Moon bringing the Lunar Lander Stages back with it to Earth orbit.
	The S-IVB. The four panels covering the Lunar Module.
	Apollo 14: This mission landed on the Moon.
	The S-IVB. The four panels covering the Lunar Module. The Ascent Stage of the Lunar Module.
	Apollo 15: This mission landed on the Moon. This was the first of three missions that had a photography module in a special bay of the Service Module. It had a blow-off panel covering this equipment.
	The S-IVB. The four panels covering the Lunar Module. The photography bay panel in the Service Module. The Ascent Stage of the Lunar Module. IRW Subsatellite.
	Apollo 16: This mission landed on the Moon.
	The S-IVB. The four panels covering the Lunar Module. The photography bay panel in the Service Module. The Ascent Stage of the Lunar Module.
	Apollo 17: This mission landed on the Moon.
	The S-IVB. The four panels covering the Lunar Module. The photography bay panel in the Service Module. The Ascent Stage of the Lunar Module.

Let’s look at some parts of the design of the lunar spacecraft that was used on all of the Apollo missions with minor variations of course. When an Apollo spacecraft left Earth orbit heading for the Moon it was composed of four different spacecraft all connected together. The four spacecraft were the LM descent craft, LM ascent craft, Command module, and the Service module. The two LM craft were factory joined together and was called the LM, and the Command and Service modules were factory joined together and when together were called the CSM. After obtaining a lunar trajectory out of Earth’s orbit, the CSM was reversed and joined together with the LM. See the diagram and photos in section III. Reference also the spacecraft construction photos in section V.

Here is a diagram of the four spacecraft as they were configured
for the final leg of the trip on out to the Moon.
(Apollo 11 Mission Operation Report)
(Courtesy of DOD/NASA)

Here is a diagram of the four craft after they separated into the LM and the CSM above the Moon, with the LM on the way to the surface of the Moon.
(Apollo 11 Mission Operation Report)
(Courtesy of DOD/NASA)


Installing CSM into the Saturn Rocket (Courtesy of DOD/NASA)	Apollo 11 CSM above the Moon (Courtesy of DOD/NASA)


Apollo 11 Mission Op Report. (Courtesy of DOD/NASA)	Apollo 11 CM after recovery. (Courtesy of DOD/NASA)


Apollo 11 LM after separation from the CSM. (Courtesy of DOD/NASA)	Apollo 11 LM ready to be stacked. (Courtesy of DOD/NASA)


Apollo 11 LM on the lunar surface. (Courtesy of DOD/NASA)	Apollo 11 LM ascent stage in lunar orbit. (Courtesy of DOD/NASA)

Next we will look at the records concerning the use and location of the major parts not mentioned in any official records of orbiting spacecraft and parts. These are the SIM bay covers and the SLA panels.

First we will look at the SIM bay door used on the Apollo 15, 16, and 17^th missions, using information from the Apollo 15 mission, but this part of all three missions was the same, except for minor changes.

Each of these doors were ejected before the lunar orbit insertion so the doors, just as the SLA panels would go into a hybrid Earth/Moon orbit. Since one was from Apollo 17, that means there were only two of these doors that might even be a hazard at all. Not such a hazard as the 36 SLA panels.

(Apollo 15 SIM Bay Door Jettison Flight Plan Procedure Card)

The above diagram shows the separation of the SIM bay door during the translunar coast.

The following transcript has been extracted from the Apollo 15 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcript. This transcript is for the time period covering the SIM Bay door jettison and is typical of this procedure.

073:52:46 CDR Scott: Okay. Suit pressure integrity check is okay. The flow was about .3 or .4. And we're proceeding into the setup for the SIM bay door jettison, and we'll give you a call when we get everything ready before we blow it.

073:53:03 CC Allen: Roger, Dave. Sounds good.

........................

074:04:13 CDR Scott: Okay.

074:04:41 LMP Irwin: Houston, would you like the SM sector AC POWER off for the SIM door jettison?

074:04:48 CC Allen: That's right, Jim. Per the checklist, the first one in step 4.

074:05:31 CDR Scott: Go ahead, Houston,

074:05:34 CC Allen: Roger, Dave. We're ready for PAN CAMERA POWER to BOOST. On your step 2 there, you are Go for SIM door jettison. And we want you to watch the FUEL CELL REACTANT valves after the jettison, per the checklist - just a reminder of that. Over.

074:05:58 CDR Scott: Okay; understand. And we are in boost, and we'll give you a mark when we blow the door.

074:06:07 CC Allen: Roger. And we will be standing by for a description.

074:06:12 CDR Scott: Roger.

074:06:43 LMP Irwin: Okay, Houston; 15. SIM door JETT. - 3, 2, 1...

074:06:48 LMP Irwin: Mark.

074:06:52 CDR Scott: Felt a little shudder, but not too much.

074:08:17 CDR Scott: Okay, Houston. We have negative visual on the SIM door as of yet. And the fuel cells looked okay. The RCS Bravo primary talkback went to barber pole and is reset, and otherwise no reaction in here.

074:08:34 CC Allen: Roger, Dave. We copy. And we assume you didn't notice any debris of any kind either.

074:08:47 CDR Scott: Nothing in particular, Joe, and Jim's got a visual now.

074:09:18 CDR Scott: Okay, Houston. Jim's got it out of his window, and he's taking pictures, and he says it's slowly tumbling.

074:09:26 CC Allen: Roger.

074:09:51 CC Allen: And, 15, just out of interest, we saw a good healthy jolt in our Doppler data down here during JETT time.

074:10:02 CDR Scott: Gee, that's very interesting because I would say that the jolt in here was very minor.

074:10:29 CDR Scott: Houston, 15. I guess the consensus would say that the - the shock was about one-tenth of the other pyros we've seen up to this point.

074:10:42 CC Allen: Roger, Dave. We copy. Can you still see the world's largest lens cap out the window?

074:10:56 CDR Scott: We'll check.

Now Let's look at the four SLA panels that were jettisoned on every Apollo mission to the Moon. Here are photos showing the panels listed in the timeline. As you can see in the last photo Apollo 8 had no LM.

From Apollo 7 From Apollo 8, starting with this flight the panels are blown away.

The four SLA panels were going in an orbit headed towards the Moon but were gradually being separated from the CSM/LM. They also created a lot of small debris which was also in an Earth/Moon orbit.

(Courtesy DOD/NASA)

(Courtesy DOD/NASA, DECLASSIFIED Report) (Courtesy DOD/NASA, DECLASSIFIED Report) (Courtesy DOD/NASA, DECLASSIFIED Report) (Courtesy DOD/NASA, DECLASSIFIED Report) (Courtesy DOD/NASA, DECLASSIFIED Report)

Here are some comments concerning the SLA panels from various missions.

The following transcript has been extracted from the Apollo 8 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcript.

00 03 46 31 CC Collins -- Roger. At Your Convenience. Would you please go P00 and ACCEPT? We're going to update to your W matrix. And also when you get a chance, we would like to know about the SLA panels. Did they all depart? And do you have any comments about the SLA?

00 03:46:43 CDR -- Borman: They all departed, and they worked fine.

00 03:46:47 CC -- Collins: Okay. Thank you.

00 03:46:58 Unidentifiable crew member -- We are in P00 and ACCEPT.

The following transcript has been extracted from the Apollo 10 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcript.

00 05 31 30 LMP Hello, Houston. This is Apollo 10.

00 05 31 34 CC Apollo 10, this is Houston. Over.

00 05 31 36 LMP Okay. Just for information, I don't know how far away, it's far away, but we can tell that there is still a SLA panel out there just spinning around slowly and reflecting sunlight.

00 05 31 50 CC Roger. Do you have any more information on apparent size, range, or anything like this on it?

00 05 31 55 LMP No, it's the size of Venus but it's obviously a SLA panel because you can see it rotating slowly in reflected light.......

00 05 32 05 CC This is Houston. Roger. Out.

The following transcript and drawing has been extracted from the Apollo 10, “PreLaunch Mission Operation Report.”

First Period of Activity

The Saturn V Launch Vehicle will place the following vehicle combination into a 103-NM circular earth parking orbit: S-IVB stage, Instrument Unit (IU), Lunar Module (LM), Spacecraft LM Adapter (SLA) and Command/Service Module (CSM). The ascent trajectory is shown in Figure 4. The launch time and azimuth are chosen to support two translunar injection (TLI) opportunities for an optimized payload. Checkout of the S-IVB, IU, and CSM will be accomplished during this orbital coast period. The earth orbital configuration is shown in Figure 5. The S-IVB J-2 engine will be re-ignited during the second parking orbit to inject the vehicle combination into a translunar trajectory. Within 2 hours after injection, the CSM will be separated from the remainder of the vehicle and will transpose, dock with the LM, and initiate ejection of the CSM/LM from the SLA/IU/S-IVB as shown in Figure 6.

This brings to a close the very brief outline of the various spacecraft used for one of the Apollo missions and the trip to the Moon and back. The spacecraft shown were basically the same for all of the Apollo missions.

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