1975-066A
ASTP Crew
- CDR Commander: Thomas P. Stafford, Brig-Gen USAF
- CMP Command Module Pilot: Vance Brand, NASA
- DMP Docking Module Pilot: Donald K. Slayton, NASA
Apollo CSM 111 was used for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.
The ASTP Apollo was launched from Kennedy Space Center on 1975 Jul 15 at 1950 and inserted into a 155 x 173 km orbit. It separated from the Saturn at 2104, and completed the transposition and docking maneuver, which in this case involved docking to the ASTP Docking Module attached to the S-IVB rocket. At 2224 the combined CSM 111/DM-2 spaceship pulled away from the rocket stage.
Apollo spent the next two days maneuvering to approach the Soyuz-19 spaceship. By 1550 on 1975 Jul 17 the two were stationkeeping and at 1609 Apollo docked with the Soyuz. The special `androgynous' docking mechanism consisted of 3 petals on the end of the DM which locked with another 3 petals on the nose of Soyuz. At 1916 the final hatch between the two spaceships was opened and Tom Stafford and Aleksei Leonov shook hands. Stafford and Slayton transferred to the Soyuz in the first of a series of crew exhanges.
The crews were back in their own ships by 2100 on Jul 18. At 1203 on Jul 19, Apollo and Soyuz undocked. Apollo moved between Soyuz and the Sun, creating an artificial solar eclipse for Soyuz, which allowed the Soviet crew to photograph the solar corona. Apollo moved back in and docked with Soyuz at 1233. This time Soyuz extended its docking mechanism simulating the active role (although Slayton aboard Apollo actually performed the docking). At 1526 on Jul 19, Apollo undocked from Soyuz again and flew around the ship shining beams of light at reflectors mounted on Soyuz, and measuring the ultraviolet spectrum of the reflection. This experiment would provide information on the composition of the thin upper atmosphere present at the spaceship's 210 km altitude. At 1842 Apollo fired its RCS jets to move away from Soyuz.
At 1947 on Jul 23 Apollo undocked from the Docking Module, leaving it in a 211 x 219 km orbit. Two SPS burns put Apollo at a stable distance of 300 km from the DM. A VHF receiver on Apollo tracked the frequency of the DM's signal, and analysis of the Doppler shift as a function of time would allow high resolution gravity mapping of the Earth's potential.
The last Apollo mission came to an end on Jul 24 in the most dangerous reentry to date in a US space mission. The SPS engine fired to deorbit the CSM at 2037, and the SM separated at 2044. During reentry, Brand failed to throw two switches which would have jettisoned the parachute cover and turned off the thrusters. The parachute cover was jettisoned manually a little late, but the thrusters continued firing. Stafford switched them off, but residual nitrogen tetroxide propellant was sucked in through the air vents. Stafford deployed the main parachute early as the astronauts began to cough and become nauseous. The parachute deployed successfully and splashdown was at 2118. The crew at once put on emergency oxygen masks - Brand had lost consciousness during the descent. CM-111 was winched aboard the USS New Orleans. It was not until the crew were on the carrier deck that Mission Control became aware that the emergency had occurred.
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| Apollo CSM 111 Mission Log |
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| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
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| 1975 Jul 15 | 1950:01 | Launch from KSC LC39B |
| 1975 Jul 15 | 1952:16 | S-IB inboard engine cutoff |
| 1975 Jul 15 | 1952:22 | S-IB outboard engine cutoff |
| 1975 Jul 15 | 1952:22 | S-IB separation |
| 1975 Jul 15 | 1952:23 | S-IVB ignition |
| | 1952:34 | Ullage rockets sep |
| | 1952:53 | LES sep |
| 1975 Jul 15 | 1959:46 | S-IVB main engine cutoff (MECO) |
| 1975 Jul 15 | 1959:56 | Earth orbit insertion | 155 x 173 km |
| 1975 Jul 15 | 2104:01 | Separated from S-IVB | 87.68 152 x 166 x 51.8 |
| 1975 Jul 15 | 2128 | Docked with DM-2 |
| 1975 Jul 15 | 2224 | Separated from S-IVB, with DM-2 attached |
| 1975 Jul 15 | 2224:01 | AEM (RCS Apollo Extract Maneuver) | 150 x 168 km |
| 1975 Jul 15 | 2331 | ACM (SPS Apollo Circ Maneuver) | 167 x 167 km |
| 1975 Jul 16 | 0128:30 | NC-1 (SPS burn) | 169 x 233 km |
| 1975 Jul 16 | 0420 | Apollo probe removed | 88.51 164 x 236 x 51.7 |
| 1975 Jul 16 | 1546 | DM-2 hatch open, crew entry |
| 1975 Jul 16 | 2018:00 | PCM (RCS phasing correction) | 168 x 226 km |
| 1975 Jul 17 | 0833 | | 88.37 162 x 224 x 51.8 |
| 1975 Jul 17 | 1251 | NC-2 (SPS orbit lower) | 166 x 197 km |
| 1975 Jul 17 | 1334 | NCC (SPS corrective combination) | 190 x 203 km |
| 1975 Jul 17 | 1412:05 | NSR (SPS coelliptic sequence) | 205 x 205 km |
| 1975 Jul 17 | 1516:42 | TPI (Terminal Phase Initiation) | 205 x 224 km x 51.8 deg |
| 1975 Jul 17 | 1530 | TPM1 (RCS rendezvous burn) |
| 1975 Jul 17 | 1540 | TPM2 |
| 1975 Jul 17 | 1550 | Stationkeeping with Soyuz-19 |
| 1975 Jul 17 | 1609:09 | Docked with Soyuz-19. Hard dock at 1609:30 | 88.96 218 x 227 x 51.8 |
| 1975 Jul 17 | 1916 | Hatch 3 open for crew transfer. CDR, DMP to Soyuz (CMP on Apollo) |
| 1975 Jul 17 | 2247 | CDR, DMP from Soyuz to Apollo (CDR, CMP, DMP on Apollo) |
| 1975 Jul 18 | 1000 | CDR, CMP from Apollo to Soyuz (DMP on Apollo) |
| 1975 Jul 18 | 1030 | CDR, KDR from Soyuz to Apollo (CDR, DMP, KDR on Apollo) |
| 1975 Jul 18 | 1700? | CDR, KDR to Soyuz, CMP and BI to Apollo (DMP, CMP, BI on Apollo) |
| 1975 Jul 18 | 2100 | CDR to Apollo, BI to Soyuz (CDR, CMP, DMP in Apollo) |
| 1975 Jul 19 | 1203:20 | CSM 111 undocked from Soyuz-19, | 219 x 220 km x 51.8 |
| 1975 Jul 19 | | Solar occultation experiment |
| 1975 Jul 19 | 1233:39 | CSM soft dock with Soyuz-19 (hard dock 1240) |
| 1975 Jul 19 | 1526:12 | CSM undocked from Soyuz-19 |
| 1975 Jul 19 | 1600 | Fly around Soyuz-19 |
| 1975 Jul 19 | 1725 | Burn for UV absorption expt |
| 1975 Jul 19 | 1842:47 | SEP (RCS burn) |
| 1975 Jul 20 | 0906 | | 88.91 216 x 225 x 51.8 |
| 1975 Jul 21 | 1458 | ATM (RCS Apollo Trim) | 211 x 219 km |
| 1975 Jul 23 | 0042 | | 88.76 203 x 222 x 51.8 |
| 1975 Jul 23 | 1658 | | 88.76 200 x 225 x 51.8 |
| 1975 Jul 23 | 1947:00 | Undocking from DM-2. |
| 1975 Jul 23 | 2022 | DM-1 (SPS burn) | 218 x 227 km |
| 1975 Jul 24 | 0033:42 | DM-2 (SPS burn) | 207 x 220 km |
| 1975 Jul 24 | 0150 | | 88.72 200 x 221 x 51.8 |
| 1975 Jul 24 | 2037:47 | ADM (SPS Apollo Deorbit), 6.6 s burn 57.9m/s |
| | 2037:54 | ADM cutoff 202 km | 86.78 27 x 201 x 51.77 |
| 1975 Jul 24 | 2044:09 | SM-111 separation 193 km |
| 1975 Jul 24 | 2059:00 | Entry interface 121 km |
| 1975 Jul 24 | 2118:24 | Splashdown at 22 00 36N, 163 00 54W, 500 km west of Oahu |
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| 1975 Jul 24 | 2159 | Recovered by USS New Orleans |
