What Happened to the Spent Lunar Modules?
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
- NASA spent billions on each lunar module. So why did it smash them unceremoniously into the Moon?
For more on the ALSEP and seismic activity on the Moon, check out my latest blog post over on Vintage Space at Popular Science: www.popsci.com/how-apollo-luna...
And there's loads of olde timey space to dig into on my blog, Vintage Space, too! www.popsci.com/blog-network/vi...
Like even older space? "Breaking the Chains of Gravity: the Story of Spaceflight Before NASA" is available now! You can order your copy on Amazon: www.amazon.com/gp/product/1472...
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Amy- you may not believe this, but I've been waiting nearly 50 years for an answer to that question. In 1967 or 1968, when I was seven or eight years old, my Cub Scout troop had a dinner event where a NASA representative was the guest speaker. He was going to talk about the Apollo program. I was beside myself with excitement. I'd read all about the plans for the lunar missions, and I could identify the CSM and the LM and describe the purpose of each. But I wanted to know what happened to the ascent stage after undocking from the CSM. I asked the NASA rep after the talk was over - wanting to make contact with someone actually from NASA as much as I wanted an answer to my question. I must not have phrased the question clearly. I remember he said the descent stage stayed on the lunar surface. Well, I KNEW that- duh! I tried to rephrase, got the same answer, and at that point, my parents decided I'd pestered the nice man quite enough. I went to bed a little sad that night.
So- THANK YOU!
+James Bolton-Higgins How did they not tell you what happened to it!? Well, glad I can help! The corresponding blog post just went live and there's a link at the bottom to a NASA site that lists the impact sites if you want all the details!
+Amy Shira Teitel (Vintage Space) I've always just assumed I couldn't articulate the question clearly enough. I was a very shy kid. Most likely I was too star struck and nervous to get him to hear what I was actually asking. I've entertained the possibility that he was just punting, too.
It's possible that there was a wee bit of frustration for the precocious space fan who already knew everything he talked about. Maybe a bit of, tell me something I didn't already know. So who knows? Such a long time ago.
I think part of the reason I love Vintage Space is that it lets me feel like I'm a kid again. Thanks so much for everything you do!
+James Bolton-Higgins Cheers! Thanks for such kind words!
+James Bolton-Higgins DURN PARENTS!!! «grin»
Is it possible that in '67 or '68 they still hadn't finalised the plans for the ascent stage? Things were moving pretty quickly at that point.
I just want to pass along a word of encouragement to you, Amy. These videos are very informative, well-made, and obviously required much effort, research, and knowledge of the NASA programs. Thanks for the great videos!
Imagine what it looks like inside apollo 10s ascent stage right know. The silence, the old instrument panel. The equipment the astronauts used. All completely alone and nodoby knows where it is. Really incredible to think about.
+Joachim Voldseth Wonder if any micro meteors have punched holes in it yet.
Woody615 I’d think so.
@@Woody615 it should look like a colander.
A filthy contaminated piece of junk floating in space. A comforting though for any a weary space traveler
they test landed?
It would be an interesting diversion to discuss the Rocketdyne facility that is north of Sparks, NV where the Gemini engines, as well as the lunar lander engines, we're tested. The facility shut down in 1973, but the hardened stucture remained intact until the late 1990's. . . . A vital piece of history almost totally forgotten.
Hello. I discovered your videos yesterday and have watched several already. As a space nut from way back (I remember watching the Shephard flight in school!) I'm thrilled to see all of this really cool information. Thanks!
Very well done. I always wondered what happened to the lunar module ascent stages
Nicely presented, Amy. Thanks
A fully operational Saturn V is gigantic and truly awesome! But it's weird how only the tiny cone at the tip is all that is left when the mission is over. The Saturn V keeps getting smaller and smaller as the mission progresses.
The cone is called a capsule :D
Well the Saturn V even to this day is the biggest rocket ever
@@TravTrevTV or command module :))
This is some of the best content on all of you tube. Very professional . A great topic extremely well presented. Thank you.
Im glad this video was made! A common question among me and probably many others! Thanks Amy, love your book btw!
+Deandre Edwards Thanks so much; so glad you enjoyed it!
+Amy Shira Teitel (Vintage Space) I did! You should make a video on why some cryogenic tanks were orange! Thanks again!
+Deandre Edwards Orange is the color of the heat insulator that is used on cryogenic tanks. Heat isolators are required for liquid hydrogen tank attachments to preclude the liquefaction of air on exposed metal, and to reduce heat flow into the liquid hydrogen..
+Damminh Khoi Okay wow. Thx! Ive always wondered that.
Damminh Khoi why orange? I understand the need for the insulation, is it just the natural coloration of the compound used to make it, or is it colored orange for a specific reason? I know that the early sts flights had the et painted white to reduce thermal load on the et itself. the hot Florida sun heats up the cryo fuels making it boil off and gas out more. they determined that white paint in that quantity reduced payload in the orbiter.
The one I have most wondered was Aquarius, the Apollo 13 LM. This one did not leave a descent stage on the Moon, as we all know, but stayed in one piece and helped save the astronauts after the oxygen tanks on the Service Module exploded. Even today, the last words directed to it make me choke up: "Farewell, Aquarius, and we thank you."
Thanks for another great episode! It was very interesting to learn that the spent S4 stages were guided to a specific spot on the moon.
Thanks for that! A question I'd always wondered about. Keep up the great work :)
Thanks for the memories and well done!
I appreciate your work Amy, very interesting info.
Interesting? It's all a Fantastic Lie!
@@hotheadedjoelhaha What meds are you on 🤣
Hello Vintage Space, I just discovered you channel today, great work!
I enjoy watching your videos, always enjoy learning more about space and NASA. Might I suggest a topic for you to cover in one of your videos if you haven't covered it already? How about Kittenger's amazing free fall jump from about 19.47 miles above the earth in 1960. Should be vintage enough I hope. (His full name is Joseph William Kittinger II and truly has a remarkable biography). Best regards.
I love the way you address to those little mistakes hahaha. Those annotations are just priceless, you seem so guilty on them!
It would be cool to do a piece on how NASA deliberately only gave Snoopy's ascent stage a half-tank of propellant (or at the least, not enough to achieve orbit from the lunar surface) just to make sure Stafford and Cernan didn't get any ideas in their heads about "accidentally" forgetting it was only a dress-rehearsal and not an actual landing mission!!
I used to think all those ascent stages were up there circling forever. When I was in high school, I wrote a bad sci-fi novel that involved astronauts going to the moon, recovering one of the Apollo descent stages, reuniting it with the spent ascent stage, and bringing it back to Earth.
I guess I'll have to rewrite that story to feature Apollo 10. :)
To be fair, the Apollo 10 ascent stage IS still up there circling forever lol
I think they Hollywood imagined something like that in a TV series from the late 70's called SALVAGE -1 starring Andy Griffith
@@chadcastagana9181 Interestg salvage-1 ? never heard of it, how many episodes?
My first moon show was Space-1999,
& if you have one of the origonal merch. toy shuttles, well.. they're not cheap.
You are very knowledgeable about this stuff. Very nice job.
Hi Amy, I love your videos and the subject of vintage space. As we know most of the tech we used going to the moon was archaic by today's standards. Sometimes the simple tech was better, sometimes not.
Try to imagine CAPCOM telling the astronauts, "Ok, we're going to need you to reboot the computer into 'safe mode...'"
But seriously, it might be an interesting exercise to review what Apollo tech would be much easier (besides just the computer) to do today and what would need to be exactly the same.
Amy, National Air and Space Museum Docent , here. One more thing worth mentioning. Armstrong left Eagle's BATTs ON after he and Aldren moved over to Columbia, this gave a Mission Control an idea how long they would last. This info was used in Apollo 13 mission home! When in D.C. be sure to stop in and see Columbia's new display, it's Naked (no more plastic covering). . .Showed it to my visitor's today!Keep on keeping on!
Thanks for this video!
A great channel. Thanks for the explanations
Hahaha! I liked that wink at 03:51 when she asked "What else do you wanna know about Apollo missions?".
You should do an episode on the Lunar Ranging Experiment with the retroreflectors left behind. The 13GW laser at Apache Point is really incredible too
Great video Amy, as usual. Just a minor note: you forgot to mention the fate of Spider, the first Lunar Module ever flown on Apollo 9, a test of the full Apollo stack in Earth's orbit. As Apollo 13, it eventually reentered Earth's atmosphere and burned up.
Amy, thanks for another good video! Perhaps people will be interested in a video on how the astronauts and the lunar module's environmental system dealt with floating moon dust once the ascent module got to lunar orbit. Thanks!
You are awesome!! Great stuff!!
Love the Apollo info! Very cool. Nice cat.
Amy, I’ve enjoyed your many educational videos. Thank you.
I’ve always been interested in space, especially the Apollo program-as it was prominent in my childhood years. (I remember gathered around the black & white TV with my family...watching Walter Cronkite report on NASA missions, moon landings...).
The space program was reinforced because I’m from Jackson, Michigan-hometown of Apollo 15’s Al Worden. I attended Jackson Community College about 20-years after Gemini & Apollo astronaut Jim McDivitt also attended the small college (there’s a building named after him).
Another connection to astronauts: My children attended Kalamazoo Central HS, McDivitt’s alma mater.
Best to you. Keep up your great work (ignore the creepy subs). Tony in Kalamazoo, MI
Very interesting. It is important that space history is kept to the forefront of human knowledge. You do a magnificent job of it and I thank you for that.
SHE IS SO CUTE! ❤ It's so good to hear space info from her :3
Amy’s content is outstanding.
Love Everything Apollo so love your videos.
Topic suggestion-
alternative scenarios planned and train for. Examples-loss of radio contact with Houston. Crash landing, rover crash, suit damage etc.
I wonder if the junkyard on Naboo have old Apollo parts for sale. Thanks Amy for some of the coolest mundane stuff about NASA. I'm enjoying it a lot!
my new fav channel!
@The Vintage Space I would love to see a video on the artifacts that astronauts took from the LMs before jettisoning them. For example Lovell supposedly ripped off some of the webbing from his hammock and brought it back. I have seen various other bits of Lunar Modules have popped up for sale on the web. It would be cool to see a compilation of these types of artifacts and maybe hear some of the stories behind them. Thanks!
This video is so informative
Dear Capt. Amy; You do great stuff! I too think that the Gemini Program was largely forgotten. It is amazing how much NASA learned about space flight in such a short time with very few missions. I have 2 ideas for future videos: First, there is tremendous history and importance about the Soyuz R7 series of boosters. Of course an early version of the R7 launched Yuri Gagarin and the R7 is the primary "shuttle" for the ISS and at this time the only man rated available launch vehicle. A true space workhorse. Lastly, (and I'm sure this is not a new idea) how about you and Neil de Grasse Tyson doing some programs together? Your space history is excellent and would be a great compliment to his space science. Oh, sorry, one more thing. You are much better at the "tech" of space science than you think. Your descriptions are spot on and loaded with detail. Good Going---a fan----
Capt. Mikey
Amy a couple of recommendations for future videos.
Apollo-16, Cover how the lunar landing was almost aborted because of the CSM SPS issues
The Apollo TLI Burns and how starting with Apollo 12 to allow a wider range of landing sites on the Moon they to a hybrid TLI burn instead of a free return trajectory as used on the earlier Apollo missions.
It also might be interesting to cover how Gemini 10 and 11 used the Agena to raise their orbits and actually orbited in the Van Allen Belts
Thank you for this post! There are so many was to admire the Apollo astronauts. Very few think about the return. Talk about claustrophobic conditions without the ascent stage. Yeesh!
Wow you looks amazing.... it actually disturbs my science visions
I was just reading the Popular Science article "How the Apollo lunar modules were smashed for science" you wrote in 2016 and I'd kinda forgot about about these UA-cam shows!? What ever happened to them, I use to get the occasional popup notification maybe 1-2x per month? Did you stop making these? I also liked the ones you did with Scott Manley and the Kerbals too. Well, I hope you all start them up again, they were always so good!
Nice! I'm glad you did a video on this and glad I mentioned it.
Hey! I mentioned it, too! :-)
Sweet! Great minds man!
+James A +MrWATM This is a very common question so I'm glad more than one person is happy to have an answer!
+Amy Shira Teitel (Vintage Space) personally, I wanted to know what happened to Snoopy. when I met Gene Cernan in Afghanistan he mentioned it and I have always wondered being the space nerd that I am.
Can you do a show on Robert Goddard? Love your show's detail on how everything works. Keep up the fantastic work.
Great explanation
just yesterday I was wondering if there would've been any advantage in leaving the ascent stages in orbit like as satellites or something.
+William Jakespeare Due to lunar mascons, it is extremely difficult to achieve stable low orbit around the moon. Without a way to autonomously maintain their obit, any ascent stage left in low lunar orbit would mostly likely eventually deorbit anyway. At least this way NASA could use the ascent stage to perform a useful experiment with the discarded spacecraft.
+Uejji Yeah I figured it was something like that and the primary mission superseding an idea like "hey why don't we make it more complex for a secondary mission?"
+Uejji Mascons?
CaribSurfKing1 Sorry. Mascon is short for "mass concentration." Because gravity is a function of mass and distance, pockets of higher density matter in a body have more mass and thus higher gravitational pull than other matter around them. This tends to create a "lumpy" gravitational field that can interfere with the orbits of satellites.
+Uejji Oh, I always thought it was because much of the Moon's mass was concentrated on one side, due to the pull of Earth's gravity on the tidally locked "face" side of the Moon.
Very informative, Amy. While I myself did not learn anything new I'm sure some of your younger viewers have found it helpful. Now if you could just do something about the conspiracy theorists that fill the comments sections of all sites and channels that have anything to do with NASA or space exploration in general. I did however enjoy listening to your interpretation and explanation of the FACTS and REALITY of space travel. Thank you Amy, I'm subscribing.
Very interesting...I had never heard that...and btw you are looking quite stunning Amy...
i noticed the apollo astronout decanter in the background. where did you get it? ive been looking for one because i have the CSM, and a CM decanters.
Wow. I'm a retired ME who was lucky enough to design parts for simple little things like satellites and fighter planes. You are the bomb. Carry on soldier!
I had no idea the final stage and the LM's ascent stage were used to aid the seismic experiments. That's quite inventive, really ! 8-) Thank you for making me learn something new every now and then. :-)
+ZemplinTemplar Considering that the science experiments were a bit of an afterthought, it is impressive how they tried to wring out as much scientific information from the program as possible. I only found out a few years ago that Apollo 16 brought a UV telescope with them and set it up in the LM's shadow.
As a Comp Sci major, I'd be interested in hearing about the software Nasa has used. It would be cool to hear your take on such a topic. =]
Yeah something on Margaret Hamilton would be cool.
+Trooper Z Exactly! Excellent choice!
+Trooper Z Wasn't she the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz?
+Garland English Same name but diff person. =]
+Rave Yoda I was just joking.
Very interesting! Ya got yourself a sub! :D
Wow learned something new
Have you done any videos or research into AAP (the Apollo Applications Program) which called for extended stays on the Moon of up to 30 days using modified Lunar Modules? I've only found bits and pieces on the subject, but it seemed there were two variants on the Lunar Module that were being considered, the LM Shelter and the LM Truck. The Shelter was supposed to allow crews to stay longer and in better comfort, while the Truck was supposed to carry additional supplies. These were in addition to the "standard" LM which would still be used by crews for landing and taking off from the surface.
Amy, where did you get that uncut video of astronauts deploying the ALSEP?
I thought it might be interesting to watch whole uncut EVA footage of the Appolo missons.
Plus, at 0:37 - 0:48 the ascend module wobbles so strange, must be an on-earth training video
I love your cat in the background Amy. :)
Didn’t know that. Thanks.
amazing channel! wow !
love the cat behind u, luv u 2. :D
Great video... What happened to Apollo 10's Decent stage? I'm sure they didn't bring it back. So, is it out there chasing snoopy around?
I was under the impression, based on my own reading of books about the Apollo program (I was 10 when the Eagle landed), that the ascent stage of Eagle was shot into space and not back to the moon. I believe they were trying to figure out how long the ascent stage would operate once the coolant was depleted, kind of like how long with an engine run with no water in the radiator. I heard it lasted 2 1/2 hours after it was shot way from the moon.
I had always wanted to know!
Thanks, Amy. I had wondered about this. I just went back to see if the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) had photographed any of the crash sites. I found photos showing the Apollo 13, 14 and 16 S-IVB booster impacts on the LRO's mission page (I can't post the link, apparently). But, I don't see any for the ascent stages. Do you know if they have been spotted?
+Bruce Feingold I looked into this a few years ago and at that time, only the Apollo 14 ascent stage impact had been identified by the LRO but it was originally imaged from lunar orbit by one of the last Apollo missions so was easier to follow up on. Here's a quote from a forum about it:
"As a follow-up, the locations of imapct sites for the LM ascent stages from Apollos XII, XIV, XV, XVI and XVII are known. They are illustrated in Philip J. Stooke's The International Atlas of Lunar Exploration. To my knowledge only the Apollo XIV LM ascent stage impact site crater has been identified. The Apollo XVII LM ascent stage was intentionally impacted on South Massif, about 10 km from its original landing site. I am certain that all LM ascent stage impact are visible on Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter imagery, it is just that no one has sat down and identified them yet."
As mentioned. The book has photos of the locations of the impacts but the actual craters haven't been identified. I actually took the time to download some of the LRO images hoping to try and find the Apollo 12 ascent stage. A bit of a challenging task to say the least. A much smaller impact site then the S-IVB's for one thing. Of course there's also the fact that there's been about 40 years of natural impacts that might obscure anything recognizable.
I have a question. It’s not necessarily a vintage space question, though. In the movie, “The Martian” when Mark Whatney recovered the Pathfinder probe, I noticed there are what appear to be Mylar streamers hanging off of different areas. Later on I noticed these streamers hung from many components surrounding the HAB as well like the solar panels. What are these for?? Thanks for the videos.
With limited remaining resources the module could not have been projected out to any orbit much different than the earth's - concentric and close by (relatively). Never gave a thought before as to what happened to this module. Informative. Thanks.
A question about Gemini. It seemed that over the course of the project, the spacesuits used changed. At first they looked like those from Mercury. Later, the helmets and suits looked larger. Was there a reason or just suit technology improving.
Really enjoy the videos. Thanks!
I'd like to know if there is any way of tracking Apollo 10's Snoopy. Where is it now? Does it still exist?
Are we able to locate the ascent module today? Could we calculate its location?
Hi! I was just wondering if you could explain the light on the moon. I keep looking at various footage, especially the color footage/Photos and am left wondering why the light seems so soft when they are in full sun light without an atmosphere? Where I live in Australia we get the full brunt of he sun esp during summer and the light is blinding at times. How could it be that it looks so soft, almost blue in hue, and not that bright. You would think that it would be blindingly bright when it seems not to be the case. Any info on this would be much appreciated . Thanks in advance.
How does the rotational thingy work, that thing they use to counter a rocket's wavering motion to keep a rocket going straight?
Thanks!
Oh Amy, I noticed that Apollo astronaut whiskey bottle on the table behind you. How do I know it's a commemorative whiskey bottle? I've got one exactly like it! Produced by the Thomas W. Sims Distillery, Stanley Kentucky copyright 1970.
My dear, departed aunt Dorothy collected a couple dozen such liquor bottles and she gave me the Apollo astronaut back in 2010 a little more than a year before she died at the age of 88. Mine still had the whiskey in it. :P My late aunt Dorothy wasn't a drinker, she just liked to collect the bottles.
Did you get yours on Ebay, or is there a more interesting back story? I looked on Ebay recently to estimate the value of mine and discovered there is also a command module commemorative bottle. Do you also have one of those?
Loving your channels, even though I just discovered them yesterday, (9-23-17), and I've been sort of binge watching since. I also admit to being somewhat smitten with you. Oh, if only I were 25 years younger. :D
Live long and Prosper.
Could you do a video about the unmanned moon missions (russian and american)?
How long after separation did the appolo 13's lunar module burn up in the atmosphere? Thanks.
we lost track of snoopy, is it possible that 1991VG is snoopy? if so can we retrieve it in the close flyby in 2017?
I've always wondered where they kept the Rovers in the later missions. Those LEMs were so small. Where did they find room for them for be stored in the LEM before they got out and explored?
Hi, Amy. My son and I love your videos. Breaking the Chains was a great read. Here's a question we thought of: Why didn't Gemini have an escape tower?
+dponzi56 Thanks for the answer.
Amy, did the LEM have probes on the landing pads? If so what were they used for?
Yes they did. They were sensor probes to tell the astronauts when they were close enough to the lunar surface to shut down the descent engine and drop the last few feet onto the ground. When the probes touched the ground a blue light in the cockpit labeled "Lunar Contact" would come on, which meant the foot pads were only about 5 feet off the surface. Originally there was a probe on all four foot pads but there were concerns that the probe on the front leg where the ladder was could puncture the astronaut's spacesuits. As such the probe was removed from the front leg, leaving only the other three.
Can you do a video on Project Daedalus? I don't think it qualifies as vintage (1973-1978) but it would still be pretty cool.
Did you know there are two pieces of the Apollo 13 LEM that survived? First is a mirror that they wrenched as a keepsake, and you can see it in the Johnson Space Centre on the Level 9 tour. The other isn't so nice. It was a RTG and they had to conduct a special undock manoeuvre so it would fall (hopefully) into a deep ocean trench. I understand it made it all the way through re-entry, down through the ocean and is still there on the trench floor somewhere.
love the videos... hate that we need a preview and an intro for a 4 minute video... ahh just get to it already
I would LOVE to see a video on the F-1 engine!!!!!
ill come to class everyday, if amy is my personal teacher...you go amy
Speaking of the Apollo 13 mission Amy, do you have any information on how much power Apollo 13 had left in the batteries after it was retrieved after splashdown?
Does anyone know how much audio of the Flight Director's Loop from the Apollo missions still survives? I've only heard about four hours of 13 around the accident and a few minutes of 11's landing.I'm not talking about the Capcom - Astronaut audio which seems to be preserved.
Can you place a map type picture of each Apollo flight showing the outcome of each S-IVB and LM ascent stage. Thanks
would you show a demo of how the Lunar Rover was transported and unfolded, upon landing.
Snoopy is, in fact, the only surviving flown LM ascent stage.
Spider -- the LM from Apollo 9 -- had an interesting life after the mission was done. The descent stage reentered a few weeks later....the ascent stage took 12 years!
Where did you get the model spacecraft Amy???
Where can i get that scale model of the lunar module?
God it must be FUNKY inside Snoopy right now
No O2...and mostly likely vacuum and STERILE due to FREEZE and HEAT cycles.
Nevertheless, life is hardy. Let us be on our guard against invasion by the poo people!
They never vented the ascent module, there is likely air inside
BarryDennen12 Smells do not travel in space. It would all be flash frozen. Whomever finds it may someday stidy it to find out what kind of diet we had. We do it now with Romans' poo.
Mr Hanky is alive and well and circling the Sun.
How about a show on the Apollo Shuttle which was a cross between apollo and shuttle and was one option between the Apollo and The Space Shuttle.
Amy, what do you think of the possibility of Apollo 11’s LM still hanging in there in Lunar orbit.
How exactly did the docking system work?
How do you remove the docking drogue and make a tunnel for the astronauts?
How do you stick the two vehicles together?
Was the ALSEP still on Apollo 13's lunar module when it reentered, and did the RTG stay intact? It if opened on reentry, it would spread radioactive materials over a huge area.
It is believed to have remained intact. Ships were sent to study the area where it entered the ocean; no increase in radiation or other signs of plutonium leakage were ever found.
Are there any photos of the ascent stage crash sites taken from orbit that show any detail of what's left of those spacecraft?
I always wondered what had happened to those modules...