Re: LM question

From: Henry Spencer (henry_at_spsystems.net)
Date: 03/09/05 

Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 15:48:20 GMT

In article <MPG.1c984e81a16c36ff9896da@news-server.mn.rr.com>,
Doug... <dvandorn1@NOSPAM.mn.rr.com> wrote:
>Um, not quite. There is one actual error in the above statement -- the
>back-up landing site was retained for Apollo 12. Yes, they did a lot of
>site-specific training on 12, but that flight officially retained a
>back-up landing site. It was ALS-5, in fact.

Hmm, right you are, I'd forgotten that...

>...One of
>the main reasons that Wilhelms states NASA gave for the change was that
>the Flamsteed site was too far west to allow for a back-up site in case
>of a one- or two-day launch slip.

Careful here. It's one thing for the site to be selected with an eye on
having a backup site; it's another thing for the crew to actually train
for both. Wilhelms's comments aren't definitive.

However, Apogee's Mission Reports series comes to your rescue. :-) Yes,
the option of going to the backup site really did figure in the final
Apollo 12 mission plan as well as the original site selection.

In fact, given how hasty the training of the Apollo 11 crew was, quite
likely the Apollo 12 crew was the only Apollo crew which ever properly
trained for a backup site. 

-- 
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend."    |   Henry Spencer
                                -- George Herbert       | henry@spsystems.net

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