Apollo 13 Objectives

Apollo 13 Objectives

 

Detailed Objectives

 

B.     Television coverage. Not attempted following accident.

 

C.     Contingency sample collection. Not attempted.

 

D.     Selected sample collection. Not attempted.

 

E.      Landing accuracy improvement techniques. Not attempted.

 

F.      Photographs of candidate exploration sites. Not attempted.

 

G.     Extravehicular communication system performance. Not attempted.

 

H.     S-200: Lunar soil mechanics. Not attempted.

 

I.        Dim light photography. Not attempted.

 

J.       Selenodetic reference point update. Not attempted.

 

K.    CSM orbital science photography. Not attempted as planned following accident.

 

L.      Transearth lunar photography. Not attempted as planned following accident.

 

M.   EMU water consumption measurement. Not attempted.

 

N.    Thermal coating degradation. Not attempted

 

 

Experiments

 

1.      ALSEP III: Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package. Not Attempted.

 

a.    S-031: Passive seismic experiment.

 

b.   S-037:Heat flow experiment.

 

c.    S-038: Charged particle lunar environment experiment.

 

d.   S-058: Cold cathode ion gauge experiment.

 

e.    M-515: Lunar dust detection.

 

2.      S‑059: Lunar field geology. Not attempted.

 

3.      S‑080: Solar wind composition. Not attempted.

 

4.      S‑164: S‑band transponder exercise. Not attempted.

 

5.      S‑170: Downlink bistatic radar observations of the Moon. Not attempted.

 

6.      S‑178: Gegenschein from lunar orbit. Not attempted.

 

7.      S‑184: Lunar surface close‑up photography. Not attempted.

 

8.      T‑029: Pilot describing function. Achieved.

 

 

Launch Vehicle Objectives

 

1.      To launch on a flight azimuth between 72° and 96° and insert the S‑IVB/instrument unit/spacecraft into the planned circular Earth parking orbit. Achieved, despite premature shutdown of the S-II inboard engine.

 

2.      To restart the S‑IVB during either the second or third revolution and inject the S‑IVB/instrument unit/spacecraft into the planned translunar trajectory. Achieved.

 

3.      To provide the required attitude control for the S‑IVB/instrument unit/spacecraft during transposition, docking, and ejection. Achieved.

 

4.      To perform an evasive maneuver after ejection of the command and service module/lunar module from the S‑IVB/instrument unit. Achieved.

 

5.      To attempt to impact the S‑IVB/instrument unit on the lunar surface within 350 kilometers (189 nautical miles) of latitude 3° south, longitude 30° west. Achieved.

 

6.      To determine actual impact point within 5.0 kilometers (2.7 nautical miles) and time of impact within one second. Achieved.

 

7.      To vent and dump the remaining gases and propellants to safe the S‑IVB/instrument unit. Achieved.

 

 

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