Traces of water have been detected within the crystalline structure of mineral samples from the lunar highland upper crust obtained during the Apollo missions, according to a University of Michigan researcher and his colleagues.
This important and historical meeting took place at the Manned Spacecraft Center MSC in Houston over three days in June 1966. In 19 presentations, members of Joe Shea's Apollo Mission Planning Team presented to 75 members of the government, industry and university Apollo team how the Apollo missions would take place.
INTRODUCTION
The Apollo Lunar Landing Mission Symposium was held at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center on June 25, 26 and 27, 1966. The papers presented during the three days covered all aspects of the lunar landing mission, with primary emphasis on the lunar operations phases of the mission.
General Mission Summary and Configuration Description
By Owen E. Maynard and John R. Sevier
This section of the Symposium will describe the first Apollo lunar landing mission in its entirety - from lift off to recovery. It is intended to provide the general framework for a proper understanding of the subsequent presentations which will explore particular aspects of the mission in considerably greater detail.
The purpose of the guidance system is to control the position and velocity of the vehicle. The navigation process involves the determination and indication of position and velocity, and the guidance process involves controlling these quantities in a closed-loop fashion.
The purpose of this paper is to present the various constraints that affect the Lunar Mission planning, primarily in the form of trajectory shaping and the limitation to launch opportunities.
The landing of the Lunar Module (LM) upon the surface of the moon will be the climax of the Apollo mission, although the importance of the return phases is not to be de-emphasized. The LM landing approach will be the first time that the complete LM system will have been operated in the lunar environment. This also will be man's initial face-to-face encounter with the exact nature of the terrain in the landing area and of the problems of visibility as they may affect the ability to land the LM; although, these aspects of the landing will be simulated many times in fixed-based simulators and partial preflight simulators. These simulations are extremely important in the preparations for the mission; but only after the mission is completed will it be known how adequate the simulations have been.
Samuel C. Phillips was an Air Force general who, in 1964, was lent to NASA to head the Apollo Moon landing program.
Robert R. Gilruth was the director of the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas from 1962 to 1972.
Joseph Shea was the Manager of the Apollo Program.
Owen Eugene Maynard, who died on July 15, 2000 at age 75, was an outstanding leader of the Apollo program and one of Canada's great space flight pioneers.
CONCLUDING REMARKS - DR. SHEA
Dr. Shea concluded the symposium by emphasizing that there are going to be many decisions to be made over the next 18 months, and that we will be in a position to make them as necessary. However, there is not much time for gross changes.