Apollo 14 Remastered (50th Anniversary) [4K]

eight years before the flight of Apollo 14 Alan B Shepard jr. z' career as an active astronaut was over NASA's first man to fly into space had a total spaceflight experience of just 15 minutes now it seemed the short flight of freedom seven would come to be his only trip above the atmosphere he had many years disease a disorder of the inner ear in which a buildup of fluid causes a rapid onset of symptoms in the form of anxiety vertigo extreme dizziness and nausea tinnitus and in some cases a debilitating headache these attacks last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours and completely incapacitate the victim little is known about the exact cause for Meniere's and there is no completely effective cure the disorder generally begins affecting people over the age of 35 and if untreated evolved over 15 years towards poor overall coordination and moderate hearing loss Shepard was already on thin ice with NASA management having made a personal appeal to President Kennedy when his scheduled second mercury flight m8n was canceled in 1963 now grounded indefinitely Al Shepard is made chief of the astronaut office by fellow mercury astronaut deke Slayton also grounded who then becomes the director of flight crew operations throughout Gemini and early Apollo Shepherd and Slayton oversee astronaut selection training and crew assignments and watch as younger less-experienced rookies embark on bigger and bolder missions in late 1968 Gemini astronaut Tom Stafford refers Shepard to a dr. William F house in California who had devised a new cochlear implant a thin metal tube placed within a hole drilled in the endo lymphatic sac that would drain excess fluid inside the ear the downside being a 40% chance of total hearing loss however the risky and experimental surgery is a complete success and Al Shepard who had conducted little to no training in the intervening years is suddenly restored to flight status in May of 1969 immediately picking out two rookie astronauts edgar mitchell lunar module pilot and stu rusa command module pilot and pushing for command of the first available mission Apollo 13 when NASA finally said I could fly again I went to deke and said we have not announced publicly the crew assignment for Apollo 13 I have a recommendation to make they said oh no way that wait a minute now Shepards gonna be at least as smart as the rest of these guys maybe a little smarter and they said well we know that but it's a real public relations problem here this guy has just gotten ungrounded and all of a sudden boom he gets premiere flight assignment so the discussion went on for several days and finally said I will make a deal will let Shepherd have a ball of 14 give us another crew for Apollo 13 and so that's what happened much to the dismay of the other astronauts the IC commander had pushed himself to the front of the line and suddenly but can you remember in your mind what your was there fear at the time I suppose there was thinking that this possibly could be a fatal thing that could happen and he would could be possibly stranded or that the whole unit would would explode or something that is that moment of saying that happens this this is it the the percentages of caught up well I guess everybody kind of you know faces that situation where they say gee anyplace but here anybody but me and but there's only one thing to do in a situation like that as we talked about it that is you have to just keep charging forward and you know do everything possible to get back home again [Music] Apollo 13 changed everything a program that had been chugging along smoothly without incident was now on the brink of collapse almost overnight what little political support Apollo had left evaporated Apollo's 18 and 19 are canceled by Congress and manned lunar missions are put on hiatus until Hardware changes could be implemented that would eliminate the possibility of another Apollo 13 Apollo 14 was no longer just another routine science mission it now represented a crossroads for NASA al and his crew faced enormous pressure to conduct a perfect mission in order to save the legacy of Apollo and allow the remaining moon missions to continue as a result of what happened on 13 several things are being changed concerning the physical hardware the service module will see the addition of a third cryogenic oxygen storage tank physically isolated from the other two tanks nominally protected from any sort of explosion each take now no longer has D stratification fans previous missions relied on these fans to stir up the oxygen content in order to obtain precise quantity readouts it is decided to eliminate the fan system entirely by this time in the program enough flights had occurred that statistics from prior missions would be enough to make quantity estimates the entire tank heater system was redesigned and all wiring concerning the cryogenic system was shifted from a Teflon based insulation to a magnesium oxide and stainless steel based one in addition an auxilary battery with a 400 amp hour capacity was also installed in the service module dozens of other minor changes are made as well as Apollo 13 is the perfect excuse for NASA to invest money into chasing down minor glitches and kinks in the original design the new command and service module facelift had brought about changes almost as radical as those made in the wake of the Apollo 1 fire a whole new spacecraft redesigned for safety and utility concerning mission planning and procedures NASA refuses to give up on the scientific potential of the Fram moral Highlands originally scheduled to land inside littrow crater apollo 14 s landing site is changed to what was originally apollo 13's fram ora lies within the ejecta blanket surrounding the massive moiré Imbrium and a specific young crater in the area named cone may have excavated material from as much as 100 feet below the surface possibly material left over from the original crust of the moon also as a result of the cancellation of 18 and 19 it is decided that Apollo 14 will be the final h mission in the original NASA plan Apollo's 12 through 15 would have a surface stay time of just under two days with the astronauts exploring their landing site on foot 16 through 20 would be Jay missions with a surface stay time of three days and various upgrades and tools to help facilitate landing site exploration a dream which eventually materializes into the lunar roving vehicle but now that 18 19 and 20 are cancelled Apollo 15 will be the first Jay mission but before NASA is willing to take the risk of radically redesigning lunar surface exploration al Shepard and his crew on 14 must first restore confidence in NASA's manned lunar landing capability but the mission itself is not without its upgrades that includes a brand new tool called the modular equipment transporter or met built by General Electric the met is a two-wheeled hand pulled rickshaw light cart that functions as a portable workbench storing hand tools spare camera magazines rock sample bags a portable magnetometer and even a spare battery pack for the 16-millimeter data acquisition camera which will be taken outside onto the lunar surface for the first time in the Apollo program the Met rests on two nitrogen filled rubber tires inflated to 1.5 pounds per square inch also being deployed to the lunar surface is again an Alsip experiments include another passive seismometer a super thermal ion detector and cold cathode ion gauge for measuring ion flux density and energy in the lunar environment and a charged particle lunar environment experiment similar to the one left by Apollo 12 also a laser ranging retro reflector similar to the one left behind by 11 flying for the first time are a portable magnetometer for local magnetic field measurements on the geologic traverse and an active seismic experiment which will provide data on the physical structure and bearing strength of the lunar surface two artificial methods of generating seismic waves are a part of this experiment first is the thumper which can fire 21 pyrotechnic charges onto the moon and is manually operated by the astronauts second is the mortar which contains four grenade light projectiles to be launched remotely from Earth after the crew leaves these artificial seismic waves will help a network of geophones on the lunar surface map underground structures to depths of 500 feet as before the alsep is powered by an RTG and controlled from a central computer while al and edy are exploring the surface stew in the command module has his own experiments to perform the primary objective is to map the area north of the crater Descartes for a possible landing on a future Apollo mission at least three different kinds of cameras will be used to determine whether or not a suitable landing site can be found in an area that has already been determined to be scientifically attractive other orbital experiments include mapping the lunar gravity field with the s-band antenna observing my new changes in frequencies thanks to the Doppler effect that will help euston identify mass cons or mass concentrations points on the lunar surface of higher density that in turn impart a higher gravitational effect on any object orbiting above over long periods of time this can cause the orbit of a spacecraft to migrate dim light photography will also be carried out with long exposures being utilized to study low brightness light sources in the depths of the celestial sphere part of this experiment is to capture the GIGN shine which is a fairly bright spot in the night sky at the anti-solar point thought to be the backscatter of sunlight by interplanetary dust this patch of faint nebulous light is the image of the Sun reflected from gas and dust in space minor experiments that utilize microgravity will be conducted during the trans Earth Coast period on television on January 31st 1971 after a delay of 40 minutes due to clouds and rain a constraint implemented after the lightning strike on Apollo 12 Al Shepard Edgar Mitchell Stewart derisively known as the rookie crew blast-off on Saturn 5 a s 509 with the hope honor reputation and future of the Apollo program at stake command module Kittyhawk with lunar module in Terry's in tow spearhead Apollo's return to flight counting we are going pollo 14 this is Kennedy launch control unsaturation manager now has told Helen Shepard we are go and on behalf of the lunch team which Tim which is him Godspeed Alan Shepard came back and said thank you very much we'll give it a good ride three minutes 13 seconds and counting will be coming up on the automatic sequence shortly mark we have lunch sequence start the automatic sequence is in coming up in three minutes t-minus three minutes and Counting we are still go at this time of Apollo 14 skip Chauvin is just as lunar module pilot ed Mitchell to bring on the tape recorder onboard the spacecraft we are at 2 minutes 46 seconds and counting as we're on the automatic sequence the various tanks in the saturn v launch vehicle those propellant tanks in all three stages begin pressurizing so that the propellants can be forced into the engine chambers at the appropriate time coming up two minutes 30 seconds and counting at Shepard has been alerted that he will be making his final guidance checks shortly second stage launch tank beginning to pressurize at 2 minutes and 20 seconds and counting still go at this time [Music] two minutes and Counting we are still going and thanks and they sat in five still continuing to pressurize the sequential for the admission of those five engines in the first stage of the Saturn five will begin at eight point nine seconds when out one minute 45 seconds and will power in the saturn v launch vehicle at the 52nd mark in the count at ignition and lift-off will have more than seven and a half million pounds of thrust pushing the space vehicle off the launch pad this is the heaviest Saturn 5 space vehicle to be launched so far coming out from a one minute 20 second mark one minute 20 seconds and counting and still go at design first today's tank now a pressurized running right Bennett born here [Music] County this is Kennedy less control coming up in 60 seconds my t-minus 60 seconds and counting still first stage tanks are now pressurized as our status board gives us a rundown on the automatic sequence 50 seconds and counting we've now got an internal power on the internal batteries of the Saturn 5 account continues 40 seconds and telling Alan Shepard reports it is performing his final guidance alignment the final manoeuvre the astronauts performed before liftoff 30 seconds and counting students of DISA thanks it's been equipped le 25 seconds and coming we are still goal 20 seconds to learn the value system not going internal 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 ignition sequence start 5 4 3 2 zero right but watch out now cut off the console Apollo 14 is the sixths manned mission to the moon and the fourth to attempt a landing as on previous flights just half an hour after translunar injection the crew are now preparing to separate their command and service module from the now empty third stage turnaround dock with the lunar module and extract the apollo docking system is the first in the history of space flight to allow for intra vehicle er transfers between two spacecraft in other words the crew doesn't have to go outside in order to move between one ship and another the central pieces of the docking system can themselves be removed opening up an internal tunnel between the two vehicles the docking system is a male-female design the command and service module sports an imposing spike on its nose known as a probe on the very tip of this probe are three lights which style capture latches which are held outward under spring pressure when this tip is guided through a hole on the drogue which is located on the lunar module these capture latches are depressed and then pop outward on the other side at this point the crew has now achieved a soft dock the crew can then retract the probe 12 docking latches then clamp on to an outer ring that surrounds the drogue only three of these outer docking latches are required to perform a pressure tight seal loud snaps and vibrations reverberate throughout the spacecraft as the docking latches automatically engage those that don't can be manually set by the crew inside at this point the two spacecraft have achieved a hard duck and the central probe and drogue are no longer relevant after the pressure between the two spacecraft is equalized they can be removed and the crew can enter the lamb [Music] stew Russa slowly guides command and service module Kittyhawk towards lunar module Antares [Music] probably they diligence to foot out them okay then sure looks like we're closing fast enough I'm gonna back back out here try it again well we better back off here now think about this one Roger sir I've able to go to capture then last time I hit it pretty good and not getting getting the capture legend we forget that the visual contact if you hold my sex for three seconds they elevate okay we tried it before but not quite Rebecca it appears that the three capture latches on the tip of the probe are not depressing far enough to allow the head to fit through the hole in the center of the drogue these three latches are held outward by spring pressure but something is preventing them from being pushed inward at all something far stronger than the springs themselves [Music] about your staying at all on TV here [Applause] [Music] I into 14 I'm sure you're thinking about the possibility of thine heart suit freeze from inside look at this we are that's a family may have one more the figures a try prior to go into that step by one out [Music] Russa attempts a second third fourth and fifth docking every subsequent attempt is met with the same failure the command and service module for some reason is unable to dock with the limb only three hours after launch Apollo 14 is already threatening to become yet another failure over the course of nearly two hours Mission Control and the crew troubleshoot the situation as the command and service module continues station keeping with the aging third stage itself venting off the remains of its rapidly boiling fuel four hours 56 minutes and 44 seconds after launch stew Russa attempts one more docking after the initial contact he will use the RCS Jets to maintain positive pressure for a whole 15 seconds [Music] seven seconds go by and suddenly [Music] it works to this day NASA is still uncertain as to why the capture latches were so stiff during the initial docking attempts of Apollo 14 the most likely cause is ice that had built up in the internal spring cavities of the probe head or possibly even foreign object contamination throughout the rest of the mission the docking system will perform without incident future flights will see the installation of a probe head cover as part of the launch escape system none of the later moon landings ever suffers from this anomaly again yeah my recovery I didn't status on the broke situation we have no further queries on the docking probe at this time the conclusions of our ground analysis are that the system is now working nominally and our current intention is that you'll be go for the lunar landing and all subsequent events the coast out towards the moon is a three day period of organization system checks and consumables budgeting after a mid-course burned 30 & a half hours after launch the crew begin a planned television broadcast [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] I was looking through the section that depend to go in there all of that occurred around the cart and the Highlands stood up real well and that Terminator just just moved on over just pass [Music] okay fear of information and the audience in the back here we have the most of the family in the night on this morning down here I should say 3:15 good time at night to have a TV [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay and the big board now here's your the past I don't know if any of the backup crew is down in there tonight or not but okay I bet that they've left their calling card okay we have a pretty good picture too and they are here [Music] don't with your brigade ever compartment do we open up heaven one of income floating on him inside every compartment in each spacecraft they discover patches left behind by the backup crew pranks such as this are actually nothing new to the Apollo program but the apprehension riding on the success of Apollo 14 leaves little in the way of humor for a crew whose shoulders bear the burden of future American manned spaceflight [Applause] could be the lamp will have more light they'll be able to get better [Applause] [Music] Paula 13 gave us more time to Train no question about it not that we would not have had enough but you gave us a little higher level of comfort with that extra training time I think obviously the changes to the spacecraft were good ones not only the changes which related directly to the explosion but others that were made as well there was a lot of confidence as I said as I said we I picked a couple of bright guys to go along with me and it was really a lot of confidence minor issues with the Lunar Module batteries are encountered but the trip out towards the moon is largely uneventful coasting on Apollo 14 passes the fifty-five hour mark without incident it was at this point nine and a half months earlier that the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission experienced its crippling failure after a second mid-course burn at 77 hours apollo 14 passes behind the far side of the moon and 82 hours after launch inserts itself into lunar orbit both Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 came to within under a minute of running out of fuel during landing to prevent this a slight alteration is made to the mission procedures up to now once the combined spacecraft stack is in lunar orbit the lunar module would then undock and use its descent propulsion system to burn into an elliptical one 10 by 15 kilometer orbit known as the descent orbit while the command module would remain in a circular 110 by 110 parking orbit this burn is known as DOI or descent orbit insertion the new procedures call for the command and service module to use its SPS engine to insert the entire stack into this descent orbit then the command and service module undocks andrey circular eise's into the parking orbit later saving a small margin of extra fuel for the lem descent stage 103 hours into the flight and terry's and Kittyhawk undock Allen ed prepare to land on the moon and Antares Houston you're go for from our own good girl better hugger but suddenly Mission Control sees a signal no one had expected the lunar module guidance computer is receiving frantic abort commands from inside the cockpit the Apollo guidance computer is one of if not the single greatest innovation that allowed humans to walk on the moon before 1970 what sets it apart is its ability to store what was at the time a large amount of data in a physically small space it does this by utilizing a revolutionary kind of memory storage called core rope memory software for the guidance computer all the various programs that monitored system States and antenna angles and vehicle telemetry and even controlled the spacecraft during burns was physically woven into the computer itself the physical bits were small solid rings of ferrite wires that pass through the core of a ring would represent a1 wires that passed around a ring would represent a zero each wire weaving in and out of these small metal rings that in turn produce a string of ones and zeros perfect binary code a single cubic foot of this core rope memory could store approximately 72 kilobytes of ROM which stored the 36864 16-bit words worth of programs and data this kind of memory is exceptionally reliable and even resistant to cosmic rays what's more the sixteenth bit in each word is not a data bit but a parity bit existing only to ensure that the total number of bits and a string is even or odd this is an early form of error detection written into the very code itself also revolutionary is the fact that the Apollo guidance computer is among the first ever design to actually prioritize tasks small priority tasks such as display updates or the onboard clock will take a second seat to large priority tasks such as vehicle guidance or radar tracking if the processor is lagging behind the computer also has 2048 words of magnetic core random access memory that can be altered by the crew the design and development of this computer was conducted by hal landing richard benton Margaret Hamilton and their respective teams at MIT the computer weighs 70 pounds and draws 55 watts of power it would be nearly 10 years until comparable computers would be introduced to the public such as the trs-80 or Commodore pet both spacecraft have their own Apollo guidance computer on the lunar module it is referred to as the pings or primary guidance navigation and control system Apollo 14 s pings is constantly monitoring vehicle States aboard and Terry's including switch positions and what it sees is not good the abort switch is flickering on and off the astronauts are able to reset the switch by physically tapping on the panel but after a few minutes it comes back it is clear that there is a piece of contamination within the housing itself that is bridging the contacts and short circuiting the switch if an abort signal was received while the engine was firing more specifically while the guidance computer was an active control of the vehicle then it would automatically stage the limb and return it to orbit NASA had three and a half hours until the planned ignition time to solve this problem the burden would fall squarely on a young software engineer serving as technical advisor to Mission Control on half of the Draper laboratory at MIT it would be up to him to find a way to reprogram the computer to ignore one of its highest priority functions aborts this software engineers name was Don Isles and so now it's a couple of hours before the landing is due to start and they notice on the ground that there's a signal indicating that the abort switch has been pushed the abort switch was a switch on the limbs in the limbs cockpit that enabled them the astronauts very quickly to command an abort to go back to lunar orbit if something went wrong ground control asks the astronauts you know did you press the abort switch no we didn't tap on the panel play as they did and the indication went away so it became pretty clear at that point that what had happened was there was a piece of contamination in the switch I'd written the code in the computer that looked at that switch they was sensitive to that switch and so the problem became which was mine to solve how do I make it insensitive to the switch otherwise if that had occurred at that short-circuit in the switch had occurred during the lunar landing before anybody could have done anything about it the limb would have started scooting back to lunar orbit the first thing was to look at the software look at what the actual code said eyal's recognizes that there is a variable that can be changed inside the computer itself to make it ignore aboard signals the bit known as let abort could be changed to zero using a bit manipulation program noun seven the fix seemed easy enough until closer analysis revealed that this bit would be automatically reset by the master ignition routine in the middle of all the excitement of engine start the crew would have to quickly enter the reset sequence and for nearly a minute be vulnerable to the abort signal the program known as abort monitor routine in the process of aborting a lunar landing would switch the guidance computer from the descent breaking burn known as program 63 to an emergency reinsertion into lunar orbit known as program 70 Don Isles comes up with an ingenious solution what if the astronauts could somehow trick the computer into thinking it was already running program 70 by changing a bit called mode register or mode rig if the computer believed it was already in an abort state it would not check for new abort signals the new plan is this al Sheppard and Ed Mitchell will continue aligning the guidance computer for lunar landing precisely four minutes before PDI or powered descent ignition they will manually change the major mode of the computer to program 70 when the descent engine does light as on any other mission it will do so at 10 percent thrust this is to give the guidance computer an idea of the spacecraft center of mass and thrust to weight ratio at this point ed Mitchell will set the let abort flag to zero since the computer is in program 70 and thinks it's doing an abort it is not actively steering the vehicle or providing guidance during this time once let abort is set to zero and Mitchell will once again have to change the mode register bit this time back to program 63 lunar lander simultaneously Al Shepard will have to manually throttle the engine back up to a hundred percent exactly 26 seconds after ignition Edie would then re-enable the computer to have control of the throttle and Al will bring his thrust controller back to minimum to let the guidance routine take over the engine thereby bypassing the automatic ignition routine entirely preventing the led abort flag from being reset finally if the crew did experience an emergency during landing and had to abort ed would have to enable the abort program manually through the computer by punching the keys verb 25 noun 7 enter 1:05 enter 400 enter 1 enter this procedure could take precious time [Music] 108 hours after launch and terry's begins the perilous descent down towards the Fra Mauro Highlands minutes away from landing another problem develops the landing radar is not blocking on to the surface of the Moon we still have our food philosophy like they called us up and said you're landing radar is not working good thank you very much we're aware that finally some right young man over in the corner setting the lining Raider is working but it's locked up on infinity have them pull a switch and reset it [Music] [Music] - I won't have graduate with rebound beat 27 feet right on schedule right on schedule some hay algun for 550 feet game 16 feet per second 550 good the fuel is good and get with them 40 feet and three people second contact now dude stop great throw auto auto we're on the surface okay I hope that with great shade of light on the wedding night after an agonizing three hours lunar module Antares is finally resting peacefully on the lunar surface 113 hours and 40 minutes after launch Al Shepard America's first man in space sets foot on the moon [Music] and on purpose [Music] as your pasta [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] the specific geologic target for the Apollo 14 mission is cone crater a fresh and deep impact crater nearly a kilometer across at 76 meters or 250 feet deep one of the primary objectives of the surface phase is to directly example the crater rim cone crater is behind the lunar module Alan Eadie flew over it it is uphill to the east largely obscured by the blinding Sun which hangs low in the lunar sky cone crater we'll have to wait for the geologic traverse this first spacewalk will be dedicated to the installation of the alsep experiments and the deployment of the met well we hadn't been told about the difficulties of the docking probe and we're told about what happens when the abort button gets stuck and what happens in the landing radar gets hung up in the wrong place and sure yeah whatever how do you fix the hike on camera but but here again I think this really and as in the past it indicates that the little problems we had indicates that the maturity of the program how the ground and the spacecraft worked together they overcome these these problems in really I guess the answer basically is we didn't come upon anything that wasn't been expected I feel that this a lack of support for the space program is primarily a as a result of a lack of understanding I think if people really know what this technology is doing for them that they'll be willing to do support it on a more vigorous basis you see everybody feels that the things like television and communications and you know direct phone calls to Tokyo and all these great things that our country is is so sort of fall out of the sky you know all of us here know that's not the case I think that's that we need to try to to emphasize the contributions of the space program is making to the country in addition to the excitement of the glamor and the prestige and all these things are involved and the answer the last part of your question is yes I hope to be able to help sell this point of view I've always felt that perhaps someday I'd be able to make more of a contribution than I had originally made that turned out to be the case fortunately that's basically the reason I stayed and as a land edie to work on the moon Stu makes observations from lunar orbit including dim light long exposure photography and orbital mapping of the lunar surface near the crater Descartes for a potential future manned moon mission of course the first feeling was one of a tremendous sense of accomplishment I guess if you will tremendous sense of realizing that hey not too long ago I was grounded now I'm on the moon there was that there was that sense of self-satisfaction we think immediately but then that went away because we hid a lot of work to do and I'll never forget that moment another moment which I will never forget is read a few moments to look around so look up in the black sky totally black sky even though the sun is shining in the surface it's not reflected there's no diffusion you know reflection totally black sky and seeing another planet why not Earth a planet Earth is only four times as large as the moon so you can really still put your thumb and your forefinger around it at that distance so it makes it look beautiful lonely fragile you think to yourself just imagine the millions of people are living on that planet and don't realize how fragile it is I think this is a feeling everyone's head and expressed it in one fashion or another [Music] for the first time in history high-resolution video is filmed from outside on the surface of the Moon okay Alan ed if we could get you both in the field of view there for a minute we got a message for you okay okay we're very pleased a few minutes ago to receive the phone call here in the in control for President Nixon I guess to extend to you and to best congratulations he said that like millions of people all over the world he is an astronaut watcher at this time the picture is coming in very well at the White House he said the president said you knew how many thousands of people had worked on this mission without whom men would not be watching to safely on the moon again that I wish the Apollo entire team well the president said he was proud of you and proud of them he sent you a wire just before the flight wishing you Godspeed and he wishes you well on your return flight the president also asked me to invite you to the White House for dinner and to spend a weekend at Camp David with your families after the mission was completed over I'm fine thank you very much and we appreciate the kind words I could become convey our thankfully Roger will do I don't think do got this but will for you get to layer American astronauts are once again bouncing around on the lunar surface without a care in the world making the experience even sweeter for Mission Control is the perfect color television signal being transmitted live on Apollo 12 just minutes after setting up the camera the tubes were burned out by reflected sunlight this time the astronauts take extra precaution to ensure the health of the camera as it records every precious moment of their time spent on another world [Music] [Music] Shepard and Mitchell now began setting up the automated scientific laboratory a small nuclear generator to power the array the Central Station to transmit data to earth a seismometer to detect and measure activity on and within the moon a series of three experiments to measure charged particles near the lunar surface an independent experiment to reflect laser beams from Earth enabling extremely precise measurements of such things as earth to moon distance the wobble of the Earth's axis continental drift and shifts of the Earth's crust and a mortar to be fired by a signal from Earth sometime within the next year the impact of its charges would be picked up by Apollo 14 seismometer as a final exercise Mitchell used the thumper a device to explode a series of controlled shotgun like charges the vibrations from these detonations were picked up by a series of instruments he had previously deployed with the instruments set up and operating they headed back toward Antares pausing on the way to collect samples four and a half hours after setting foot outside the astronauts had successfully constructed their alsep tested the manoeuvrability of the met gathered preliminary surface samples and performed seismic experiments after all they had been through lunar surface exploration seemed almost effortless at this point they returned to lunar module Antares climbing inside andrey pressurizing the cabin allen edy prepare for their first and only rest period on the lunar surface tomorrow would be the day of their geologic traverse the mysteries of cone crater and the fram moral formation beckoned it seemed like it was all uphill from here [Music] 131 hours and eight minutes after launch 3:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time February 6 1971 Allen Eadie emerged onto the lunar surface for a second time today they're under the gun the objective reach cone crater at all costs the imposing hilly terrain of Fra Mauro stood before them as it had for hundreds of millions of years and now an address forget about pendants left now to complete the mat mode [Music] okay federal declivity in wintertime - they need all we get me okay will a man up Georgetown exam is really cool too son I jumped me laugh [Applause] [Music] okay okay the Apollo a7l pressure suit worn by each astronaut is a near miracle of 20th century engineering when the contract went out in 1962 for the lunar exploration suit many entrenched aerospace companies like Boeing Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics companies used to thriving off of large government contracts responded with large and bulky hard suit designs a relatively smaller garment company the International latex Corporation submitted a different design this suit was soft flexible but durable using their prior experience in designing clothes that were tight-fitting but comfortable ILC unexpectedly won the contract to build the suit that would eventually fly to the moon there are two configurations for the a7l lunar spacesuit the IV a or interior configuration consists of a pressure garment and bubble helmet able to provide life in a depressurized environment though dependent on suit loops being hooked up to external life support consumables this interior suit weighs around 62 pounds or 28 kilograms for astronauts performing a spacewalk a second suit is then worn over this IV a suit known as the integrated thermal micrometeoroid garment this outer suit alone consists of 13 layers of materials ranging from rubber coated nylon to aluminized Mylar in beta cloth many materials in the suit including Chrome LR and Captain were developed specifically during the research and development phases of the Apollo program this outer layer bulks the overall suit weight up to 76 pounds or 34 kilograms for lunar explorers who have little need for life-support umbilicals or tethers the entire suit is then connected to the PLSS backpack life-support system developed by hamilton standard this 90 pound or 40 kilogram battery-powered backpack is essentially a miniature spacecraft all its own with everything needed to maintain a healthy atmosphere inside the suit from cooling water to oxygen the backpacks on Apollo 14 can operate for just under five hours this will be extended to eight hours and future missions thanks to the installation of extra batteries and consumables the trade-off being extra weight trudging uphill Alan ed began to feel the strain of fighting against gravity as they painstakingly pull their hand cart into the lunar foothills it doesn't take long for them to realize that there's a problem they don't know where they are it seems silly but all training to familiarize the astronauts with the landing site is based on orbital photos where craters are the primary recognizable feature on the surface even minor changes in elevation can render craters entirely invisible thanks to modern analysis we know that Alan Eadie begin deviating to the south misjudging the location of cone crater based on what they perceived to be the highest point of elevation as they top Ridge after rich they are met not with the grandeur of cone crater but with the revelation of even more ridges time after time the astronauts are let down as they push the limits of their bodies and burn through their spacesuit consumables that create a crater up this door right here all right behind you but crater is that payroll up there that traitor traitor would collect of it pleasingly is I think these ones we just passed right over we were talking all right and here's a little idea here's a little double crater Rhett decided okay I can't do this but this this crater but I think I know where our what a close works fuse everywhere is Jo unreadable co-wallow [Music] go far both Shepherd Mitchell heart rates going up to about 120 while they were traveling uphill Mission Control can do nothing but listen helplessly as the two determined astronauts continue moving uphill taking periodic breaks and gulping down heaps of water [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah ed bet they'd like you to take another stop here broker yeah we yeah [Music] [Music] Shepherd heart rate rose to 150 Mitchell's wealth not 28 this occasion ii dressed up even after two time extensions granted by mission control the astronauts again out of breath seemed no closer to cone crater Al Shepard begins to realize the futility of their situation they need to turn back before disappointment turns into danger [Music] Kanaka way too high but I'm traveling and I'll protect me Ruby and I are down with the time to get to the top victory it is successful how did we lose there been a little Eve event get on up there [Music] Edie and Al finally stop and collect samples in a boulder field looking back they can see their tiny lamp way out in the distance their only ticket home no more than a petty dot amongst the vast lunar landscape [Music] modern orbital images show Allen at got to within 20 meters or 65 feet from the rim of cone crater had they not deviated off course to the south they would have made it [Music] okay right Oh okay always another mountain I suspect there are many scientists back on earth they are anxiously awaiting that in these white rocks I should certainly think so Frank yeah it's one of those getting a sample of that Island material was perhaps some of that emblem Basin material that's been objective over there is a low rating cos the walk back to Antares is a quiet one with the failure to reach cone crater hanging over their heads Alan Edie make brief stops to collect surface samples as they progress back downhill arriving back at Antares the astronauts now face the task of packing up the ninety two and a half pounds or 42 kilograms of lunar samples collected over the course of their two moon walks that includes one of the more interesting samples collected from the moon landings lunar sample 14 321 called Big Bertha contains within it unbeknownst to the astronauts a meteorite from the earth this fact wouldn't be discovered until January of 2019 when analysis of internal clasts within this rock showed the presence of granite and quartz which do not exist on the moon by determining the age of zircon crystals found in the sample that research team at curtin university discovered that Big Bertha is both the first discovered terrestrial meteorite and the oldest known earth rock having formed no less than four billion years ago for four billion years that rock had sat amongst the hills at Fra Mauro waiting to be discovered that day was February 6 1971 rocks collected at the Apollo 14 landing site are much older than any of the rocks collected at the 11 or 12 sites they are also richer in aluminum and potassium rocks collected nearby cone crater have stories of their own lunar material buried deep within cone ridge was not exposed to cosmic rays until dug out by the impact that formed cone crater it is possible using geochemistry techniques to estimate how long certain rocks had been exposed to the Sun analyzing rocks collected from the boulder field just 65 feet from the rim it was discovered that the impact that formed cone crater happened 26 million years ago with the closeout nearly complete Al Shepard takes a few moments to do something he had wanted to do ever since returning to flight status two years earlier golfing on the surface of the Moon [Music] he had a beam I recognize what I have in my hand is the handle for the rich contingency sample return just until happy together dangerous sixth and the bottom members of my birthday my have a little white pillar that survey the minds of Americans adopted an fortress is a specific enter for two hands but a good rival fans have shot here beautiful day for game problems [Music] they got mortared all the portrait employees go again and look like a twice to be out and being a golfer I was intrigued before the flight by the fact that ball for the same club head speed will go six times is fought [Music] it will it's time of flight I won't say stay in the air because there's no air it's time a flight will be at least six times as long it will not curve because there's no atmosphere to make it slice or hook and I thought a neat place to wagon gone for 33 hours after lunar landing Al Shepard and Edgar Mitchell prepare to leave for a morrow base in the asset stage of Antares for the first time in the programme acent will be filmed out the front window by the 16 millimeter film camera [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] gaiden bucks the onboard guidance is now taken a avail intro go ahead they're now tilting over at an angle speeding up very quickly now it takes just one lunar orbit for Antares to catch up with Kitty Hawk the relaxed crew film each other in lunar orbit okay I've got the thing [Applause] now rusev says he has the station-keeping he's going to hold steady while oil man installation got got ripped the other side is down tight and the fact you're looking at there is is ripped out pretty badly [Applause] all right you think to do and we've got another good TV picture just pick we're locked up how do you read under lock declare at hand we got high pit right there's a lot of data being transmitted on this poker communications link in addition to the voice signal you hear they picked it up or bored into here come here girl for the docking there's the goal for the docking and Rousseau will be active grabbed river culture and Terry's admit sure says Roger we got you and carries will hold to an end that's rooster saying yeah how how about that you'll move in and we'll see if that bogan drove worked at time now it would be the ultimate test of the docking system Mission Control holds their breath as the two spacecraft close in on each other once again their work ethic was absolutely spectacular and I had no doubt that this team was capable of doing the job [Music] his ship bring them together they're very close now we're about to find out if the probe-and-drogue do catch listen carefully for ruses comment and from Mitchell and Shepard they're about to dock here we go standby probe is going into the drogue assembly [Music] inaudible need to confirm we have a hot dog for your brave driver perfect we know that's the way to machine me with just the latest sigh of relief in what seemed by now and endless string going all the way back to the launch Apollo 14 had made and despite several close calls had restored NASA's confidence in the flight hardware a mere six hours later the trio safely inside Kitty Hawk brake lunar orbit and begin the three-day voyage home onboard the command module are various microgravity experiments that serve as proofs of concept for larger more complex experiments to come experiments that will be flown on the space station known as Skylab and there was one more item a series of scientific demonstrations in zero gravity demonstrations impossible to reproduce on earth these trials looked at basic physical properties of matter in zero-gravity studies that could lead eventually to new materials manufactured in space or the experiments that we're carrying onboard and even though we'd like to think that makes there a major breakthrough essentially what these are are experiments to check out not only the theory involved in the zero-g environment but also the technical problem that we may fade then designing bigger and better experiments for skylights so a course on earth under a 1g feel when you something air so forth why we say air rises in Episode two the influence of gravity on the air that becomes less dense than the cold air comes underneath that you have your convection patter and we're gonna use this to show some experiment then hopefully now in later missions that we can manufacture products and perhaps better phones and so forth [Music] another experiment which we call metal composit now we have a different sample the samples are metal while we have a small canister each one containing a different metal and are a mixture and the purpose of this experiment is to get some data on candy under our wait list of zero-g conditions and here again what you can't medal take them and when they do camp convection currents o play here in our laboratory we can eat these and to them it will have Jesus Julie and also another part of that experiment is some of the metal are mixed with fiber and our various other particles in the theory here to increase the strength of the candy with these fiber now I on earth under a one-eighth field this gets to be a rather difficult process because during the cooling the fibers then laughs and you don't get a homogeneous mix and a pill so you don't have a constraint to solve the problems we're trying to get an act CFD very incorrect and also I work out some of the engineering detail so just what you need apply this bone in your former gas bubbles around and so we have to have a little pump that circulates the fluids is a very low rate quality of this work if it just wraps the travel of the molecule okay steady up the camera and now let's apply some power on the pump and you'll see the liquid now moving out and due to the surface ditch on the baffles it clings to the baffles jump down and filled up the tank in an orderly fashion instead of going up the side walls and leaving that large bubble right in the winter that's a beautiful demonstration is very clear from here okay good yet if you want to move on down the both of that life review mess will put you off the camera your family can see what you've got and all of your face we get targeted more for us to work in it unite open up the land slightly if you're going to a less brightly lit object [Music] [Applause] thank you are you trying to date a dancer that very bright cork [Applause] and again they won't comment on interpretation there's a big conspired against [Applause] he did shave this morning didn't help a bit [Music] [Applause] we can say that none of you look their worst what's worse for wear I Memphis eating yeah three days activities now in your brain great thing I paid your problem I've always been intimating terrain three simply couldn't see more than 150 yards away from you and see land Birds constantly we're never quite sure what land part with a bear when you thought the next ridge and we were very surprised when we top the ridge our post arrangement we thought to be ceramic dog crater to find there was another one beyond it and that was the beginning of the real problem as far as we were concerned our only problem was me about the time allotted for the expression Leah I don't know exactly when a heart rates were up to me they were high as a normal city great but going on operating maximum capacity of our backpacks were pulling over we operating for extensive periods of time and high heart rate to us it was just a matter of working against the clock I think that we had the capability to go mach 0.8 time was our major factor kill another 30 or 40 minutes I think we could reach the topic of crater covered all of our objectives and get back to touch the next question is for Teresa still what did you see in the lunar module from orbit okay the first path that I made on the landmark tracking a big bear dilemma no problem it just showed up as a as a white a white spot obviously something foreign to the lunar surface reflecting light but the ringer with the long shadow but out the the first day that I tracked it by the Sun angle still pretty low and you can see the shadow coming out in the shadow and the and reflection mention it as the lamb now you could see a shape of the lamp as such but there's no doubt that the lamb was there and then on the next day as I was doing landmark tracking it was not on in the schedule to drag the lamp again however I had a landmark just prior to the prowl borrowed region and one after it now it's informants right attitude the lamp are tracking so I looked for the lamb again found at this time without any trouble the shadow diminished damos nothing nerves very small but here again and I could see the plant coming off the out there but this time definite deployed so I can see the plant jumping off yet and Jacqueline run ever later on the enthroned where I thought a world in the agreement that was me out of the pokey Apollo 14 splashes down right on target in the South Pacific exactly 216 hours and 2 minutes from lunch al Shepard and his rookie crew Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa were no longer rookies they were just with the program needed a bridge a bridge to restore confidence a bridge to future more ambitious moon landings to come and a bridge back to normalcy for one I see commander who had been vindicated after 8 long years of being grounded from the one thing he loved to do the most Apollo 14 will forever be the moment in which NASA truly overcame the demons of Apollo 13 and reclaimed a late president's dream of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth [Music] you [Music] [Music]

Channel: Homemade Documentaries

Views: 296,790

Keywords: NASA, Apollo, Moon, History, Space, Spaceflight, Astronaut

Id: HQa-1xyg6Iw

Length: 88min 24sec (5304 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 14 2020