Apollo 10
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| Mission Insignia | |
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| Mission Statistics | |
| Mission Name: | Apollo 10 |
| Call Sign: | Command module: Charlie Brown Lunar module: Snoopy |
| Number of Crew: | 3 |
| Launch: | May 18, 1969 16:49:00 UTC Kennedy Space Center LC 39B |
| Lunar Orbit: | May 21 20:44:54 UTC- May 24 10:25:29 UTC |
| Splashdown: | May 26, 1969 16:52:23 UTC 15° 2' S - 164° 39' W |
| Duration: | 8 d 0 h 03 min 23 s |
| Number of Lunar Orbits: | 31 |
| Time in Lunar Orbit: | 61 h 37 min 23.6 s |
| Mass: | CSM 28,834 kg; LM 13,941 kg |
| Crew Picture | |
 Apollo 10 crew portrait (L-R: Cernan, Stafford, and Young) | |
| Apollo 10 Crew | |
Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program, and the first mission to launch from pad 39B. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon, and the test of the lunar module in lunar orbit. The module came to within 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) of the lunar surface during practice maneuvers. According to the 2001 Guinness World Records Apollo 10 has the record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle: 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph). The speed record was set during the return from the Moon on the 26 May, 1969.
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Crew
- Thomas Stafford (flew on Gemini 6A, Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, & Apollo-Soyuz), commander
- John W. Young (flew on Gemini 3, Gemini 10, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, STS-1, & STS-9), command module pilot
- Eugene Cernan (flew on Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, & Apollo 17, lunar module pilot
Backup Crew
- Gordon Cooper, commander
- Donn Eisele, command module pilot
- Edgar Mitchell, lunar module pilot
Support Crew
Mission Parameters
- Mass: CSM 28,834 kg; LM 13,941 kg
- Perigee: 184.5 km
- Apogee: 190 km
- Inclination: 32.5°
- Period: 88.1 min
- Perilune: 111.1 km
- Apolune: 316.7 km
- Inclination: 1.2°
- Period: 2.15 hours
LM - CSM Docking
LM closest approach to lunar surface
On May 22, 1969 at 20:35:02 UTC, a 27.4 second LM descent propulsion system burn inserted the LM into a descent orbit of 112.8 km by 15.7 km so that the resulting lowest point in the orbit occurred about 15° from lunar landing site 2 (the Apollo 11 landing site). The lowest measured point in the trajectory was 15.6 km above the lunar surface at 21:29:43 UTC.
See also
Mission Highlights
This dress rehearsal for a Moon landing brought Stafford and Cernan's lunar module, nicknamed "Snoopy", to 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) from the lunar surface. Except for that final stretch, the mission went exactly as a landing would have gone, both in space and on the ground, where Apollo's extensive tracking and control network was put through a dry run. Shortly after leaving low Earth orbit, the command/service module separated from the S-IVB stage, turned around, and docked its nose to the top of the lunar module still nestled in the S-IVB. The CSM/LM stack then separated from the S-IVB for the trip to the moon. Upon reaching lunar orbit, Young remained alone in his command module "Charlie Brown," while Stafford and Cernan flew separately in the LM. They checked out the LM's radar and ascent engine, rode out a momentary gyration in the lunar lander's motion (due to a faulty switch setting), and surveyed the Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquillity. This test article of the lunar module was not equipped to land, however. Apollo 10 also added another first-broadcasting live color TV from space.
On May 22, 1969 Apollo 10's lunar module flew within 15.6 km of the Moon's surface.
- Launched: May 18, 1969 from Pad 39B
- Returned: May 26, 1969
- Crew members: Tom Stafford, commander; John Young, command module pilot; Gene Cernan, lunar module pilot
- Command module: Charlie Brown
- Lunar module: Snoopy
The command module is displayed at the Science Museum in London. The lunar module is in heliocentric orbit, thus making it the only intact lunar module ascent stage out of all of the lunar modules sent into space (Apollos 5, 9, 13 LM ascent stages burned up in Earth's atmosphere, Apollo 11 LM ascent stage left in lunar orbit - eventually crashed on moon, Apollos 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 LM ascent stages deliberately crashed into moon) .
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Reference
- NASA NSSDC Master Catalog (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/sc-query.html)
- APOLLO BY THE NUMBERS: A Statistical Reference by Richard W. Orloff (NASA) (http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_00a_Cover.htm)
- Apollo 10 Characteristics - SP-4012 NASA HISTORICAL DATA BOOK (http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4012/vol3/table2.38.htm)
External link
- Apollo 10 entry in Encyclopedia Astronautica (http://www.astronautix.com/flights/apollo10.htm)
- The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4009/cover.htm)
- Apollo Program Summary Report (http://history.nasa.gov/apsr/apsr.htm)
- Mission Report: Apollo 10 (http://vesuvius.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/Ap10.html)
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