Re: How far from abort?

On Sep 23, 6:47 pm, P...@xxxxxx wrote:
Apollo 12 was struck by lightning and the capsule went dead.
Apollo 13 had problems with a second stage (?) inboard engine.
Apollo 14 had some problems with docking.

Were any of them close to aborting their mission? It might have been
better if 13 DID abort.

Had any of their problems gotten worse, aborts were possible. On
Apollo 12, the electrical discharge that affected the Command Module
did not affect the Saturn V Instrument Unit, which is what was then
controlling the stack during boost phase. This gave Mission Control
time to consider the problem, and correct it with some leisure.

On 13, the outboard engines of the S-II stage burned for longer to
help compensate for the failure in the centre engine. After attaining
parking orbit, that problem was fully behind them, and thus, could
not further affect the mission.

As well, 14's docking issues allowed for time to work the problem.
There were also two possible abort causes during the LM descent
to the Moon. A switch kept activating an abort mode, a fast software
patch fixed that, but the patch kept the landing radar from locking
onto the Moon at the right time. A breaker cycling fixed that.

Also, after 13's explosion, was it possible to stop and back up,
instead of circling the moon then coming back?

No. The only way to have done that required firing the Service
Module's Service Propulsion System, and with the damage and the
very rapid failure of the power coming from the SM, this was not
possible. Plus, it could not be known how much damage there
was inside of the SM, and if there would be any catastrophic
further failure as a result of trying to operate the SPS.

The thruster quads could not have provided the velocity change
required to return to Earth without looping the Moon.

Andre

.

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