Friday, June 25, 1999

Apollo 16 (Casper)

 1972-031A


Apollo 16 crew


  • CDR Commander: John W. Young, Capt. USN

  • CMP CM Pilot: Thomas K. Mattingly, Lt Cdr USN

  • LMP LM Pilot: Charles Duke, Lt Col USAF

Apollo CSM 113, named Casper by the crew, was the Apollo 16 Command and Service Module. It rode into space on a Saturn V in 1972 Apr 16. The S-IVB delivered it onto a translunar trajectory. Once in lunar orbit, the commander and LM pilot entered the Lunar Module (Orion) and undocked. But as the CSM moved away from the LM a fault was detected in its SPS engine. The lunar landing was postponed while the problem was investigated. The LM was only 1 to 2 km away, and resumed stationkeeping at about 200m for a while - it's a bit marginal whether to count this as a separate rendezvous or not. Finally the lunar landing was given the goahead, the circ burn was made, and Orion was given the GO for PDI.

Orion's ascent stage docked back with Casper at 0335 on Apr 24. By 2054 Orion had been jettisoned, and soon after the SIM subsatellite was ejected into lunar orbit. The SPS fired successfully at 0215 on Apr 25 to send Casper back towards Earth.

At 2038 on Apr 25 the CM hatch was opened, and Mattingly retrieved film cassettes from the SIM bay in three trips. The MEC was also exposed. Duke assisted from the hatch area. The CM was depressurized for 1h 24min.

The CSM reentered the Earth's atmosphere on Apr 27, splashdown coming at 1945 UT in the Pacific Ocean. Recovery was by the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga.


CSM 113 Mission Log 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1972 Apr 16 1754:00 SA-511 launch 
1972 Apr 16 1756:17 Center engine cutoff 
1972 Apr 16 1756:41 Outboard engine cutoff  -6013 X 118  
1972 Apr 16 1756:44 S-IC separation, S-II ignition 
 1757:14 Interstage sep 
 1757:20 LES jett 
1972 Apr 16 1801:41 Center engine cutoff 
1972 Apr 16 1803:19 Outboard engine cutoff  -2033 x 168 x 32.5 
1972 Apr 16 1803:20 S-II separation, S-IVB ignition 2:22 
1972 Apr 16 1805:46 S-IVB cutoff T+706s 87.84 167 x 168 x 32.54 
 1825 Optics cover jettison 
1972 Apr 16 2027:37 S-IVB TLI 5:42 3.166km/s 
 2033:18  ECO 
1972 Apr 16 2033:29 Translunar injection  310 x 494260 (s) 
  V = 10.847 km/s  202 x 471165 x 32.51  
 2054  5563 km alt, 8.049km/s 
1972 Apr 16 2058:59 CSM separation from SLA-20, mass 30378 
  Alt 6967 km  203 x 483905  
1972 Apr 16 2109:18 Docked with LM 11/SIVB 
 2115:53  Hard docked 
1972 Apr 16 2153:15 CSM/LM separation from SIVB 
1972 Apr 17  0230  HO to LM to check venting particles 
 0315?  HC to LM 
1972 Apr 17  1014?  Pass EL1:4 
1972 Apr 18 0033:01 MCC2 mid course correction; perilune 131 km 
 0033:03  MCC2 cutoff 
  HO to LM 
1972 Apr 19 0513:45 Equigravisphere 
1972 Apr 19 1553:01 SIM door ejection, range 20634 km vel 1.188km/s 
1972 Apr 19 2022:28 LOI-1 burn (SPS) 854m/s  
1972 Apr 19 2028:43 Lunar orbit insertion 108 x 315 km 
1972 Apr 20 0027:45 DOI/LOI-2 burn (SPS) 24s 18797 kg 62m/s 20 x 108 km 
1972 Apr 20 1600?  Cdr, LMP transfer to LM 
1972 Apr 20 1807:31 LM undocked 
1972 Apr 20 1807:31 Small sep burn  19 x 110 km 
 1934:17  SPS sep burn cancelled 
1972 Apr 20  Fault detected in SPS 
 2000  At 200m to Orion 
 2157  At 1 km to Orion 
1972 Apr 20  Rev 14 re-rendezvous with Orion from 2 km 
 2219  RCS burn 
 2225  At 1.7 km, 1m/s 
 2235  RCS 
 2236  1 km, 1m/s 
 2302  At 216m, 0.6m/s 
1972 Apr 21 0024:00 Sep burn 2, 0.3m/s 21 x 111 km 
1972 Apr 21 0115:42 Circ burn 17733 kg 98 x 126 km 
1972 Apr 23 1859:52 LOPC-1 plane change burn 102 x 120 km 
1972 Apr 24 0335:18 Docking by LM 11 Orion ascent stage 
1972 Apr 24  Cdr and LMP transfer to CSM with cargo 
1972 Apr 24 2054:12 Orion undocked 100 x 126 km 
1972 Apr 24 2057:13 Sep burn 97 x 123 km 
1972 Apr 24 2117:12 Mass spectrometer boom jettisoned 2m/s 
1972 Apr 24 2156:09 Subsatellite ejected 
1972 Apr 25 0215:33 TEI burn (SPS) 1.026km/s 4:02 
1972 Apr 25 0218:15 Transearth Injection 
1972 Apr 25  1435:51  Leave lunar sphere 
1972 Apr 25 1629:03 MCC-5  
 1629:25  MCC-5 cutoff 
1972 Apr 25  EVA for film retrieval 
 2034  Begin depress from 3.5psi 
 2036  At 1 psi 
 2037  At 0.7psi 
 2039  At 0.1psi 
 2041  HO 
 2043  Jett bag 
 2044? CMP egress 
  At 322180 km 
 2051  2 pan camera covers removed (jett?) 
 2101  2 mapping camera covers removed 
 2117  MEED deploy 
 2132  Retrieve MEED 
 2140  CMP ingress 
 2141  HC 
 2145  Begin repress 
 2146  0.7psi 
 2158  3.5psi at 317431 km 
1972 Apr 26   
1972 Apr 27 1631:21 MCC-7 4s 0.4m/s 
 1631:27  MCC-7 CO 
1972 Apr 27 1916:33 SM-113 separation 
1972 Apr 27 1931:31 Entry interface 
1972 Apr 27 1945:05 Splashdown in Pacific Ocean, 5 N 158 W. 
1972 Apr 27 Recovered by USS Ticonderoga 

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