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College Station, Texas
Thursday, September 9, 19f7i
THE BATTALION
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402 West 25th — 823-0939
Engineers puzzled about Apollo parachute failure
SPACE CENTER, Houston <A>)
—Spacecraft engineers remain
puzzled, after a month of study,
about what caused the collapse
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of a parachute during the final
descent of Apollo 15 last month.
Space agency officials said the
probable causes were narrowed
down to two, but now these have
essentially been eliminated, leav
ing behind a mystery.
One of Apollo 15’s three para
chutes opened properly and then
collapsed during the final 23,500
feet of the spacecraft’s descent
to splashdown in the Pacific
Ocean.
forward heat shield which is jet
tisoned just before the parachutes
pop out of the falling spacecraft;
and corrosion by oxidizer from
the spacecraft’s small rocket
thrusters. The oxidizer is jettison
ed while the spacecraft is on its
parachutes.
Failure of the chute caused
the spacecraft to hit the water
about 2 miles per hour faster
than it would have with all three
chutes functioning perfectly.
None of the astronauts, complet
ing man’s longest and most pro
ductive lunar voyage, was injur
ed.
Engineers thought the forward
heat shield, which pops away
from the spacecraft automatically
could have hit the chute that
failed after the falling spacecraft
was slowed by the parachutes.
However, an official said, “It
looks like the heat shield was
about 700 feet below the com
mand module when the parachute
collapsed.”
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR
ELECTRONIC TECHNICIANS
INSTITUTE
Swimmers were able to recover
only one of the three parachutes
for post flight analysis. The only
other clue engineers had were
films taken of the final descent.
The experts first narrowed the
possible causes of the failure
down to two: Recontact with the
North American Rockwell,
which builds the Apollo space
craft, used a heat shield and a
mock up of the spacecraft and
its parachutes in attempts to
duplicate the failure. The tests,
however, showed the heat shield
would bounce harmlessly off the
parachutes.
The oxidizer, a chemical called
nitrogen tetoxide, “eats nylon like
crazy,” said an engineer. The par
achutes and shrouds are nylon.
The oxidizers normally com
bines with a fuel, monomethyl
hydrazine, in the small thruster
engine to create a rocket action.
During the final descent, the
chemicals are burned away so the
rockets will be disarmed when the
spacecraft is on the water.
Sometimes, an engineer said,
the fuel runs out before the ox
idizer, causing the highly cor
rosive chemical to be released
without being burned. This, he
said, has caused small, pinhole
burns in the parachutes of past
Apollo missions.
If this happened during Apollo
15, he said, there would have
been at least some small burns
on all three parachutes, including
the one which was recovered.
“No such burns were found,”
he said.
Engineers still haven’t decided
what must be done to assure that
later Apollo missions don’t have
the same problem.
OF
ELECTRONIC SCIENCE
ENGINEERING EXTENSION SERVICE
Texas A&M University
18 Mos. of Training
Next Class Begins — Sept. 13, 1971
TEXAS A&M RESEARCH ANNEX
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A LARGE PARACHUTE lowers a four-seat airplane safely to earth after the plane’s
wings were blown off. The incident was a test of a device invented by Dario Manfredi
and Angelo Raiti. The men say they are still trying to market their safety system and
have received no action on their 1967 request that the Federal Aviation Administration
fund a study to apply it to use in heavier craft. (AP Wirephoto)
IBflBU
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COLISEUM
FRIDAY, SEPT. 10, 1971
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at the Door.
-
“No hardware changes are like
ly,” said an official. “Any change
will probably be in procedures.”
This could include not discharg
ing the rocket propellant until
after the spacecraft is aboard
the recovery ship, and delaying
deployment of the parachutes for
several seconds after the heat
shield is jettisoned.
Failure of just the one para
chute caused only a teeth-jar-
ring bump, an official said.
But if two parachutes failed,
the result could be much more
serious.
“With only one parachute, you
would hit going about 34 miles
an hour,” said an official. “If
they caught an ocean wave just
right, the astronauts might sur
vive without injury. But it would
be nip and tuck. You’re approach
ing the structural limitations of
the spacecraft.”
Which means that if the space
craft caught a wave moving up
as the craft came down, the space
ship could break apart and very
likely injure the crew.
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BEST
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BATTALION CLASSIFIED
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humpty dumpty
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nnnouncea their staff for 197M!
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SBISA HALL
CASH CAFETERIA
<
Please excuse the inconvenience. Due to Renovation of TfY
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through Friday in the Sbisa Hall Annex, just above the; L ent j
basement. Sexas i
justify
vhich <
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jy ven*
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The MSC Barber Shop Now Has A New Shine
Very Experienced With All Types of Shines.
Would Appreciate Your Business.
Man
bSVOYCf f?#i) i
ROBERT FREELEN
Shine Man
The
Ijtrom 1
Won a c
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carried
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agreed
Defore
term t<
sion.
If tb
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Open: Monday thru Friday
8 a. m. - 5:30 p. m.
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ably a!
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islative
rite a
The
is at w
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day m<
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The
that t
any 1
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first i
publica
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trictin;
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Jone
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Mar
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conflic
preme
vote”
distric
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North Gate
846-9973
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attorn
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in the
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ATTENTION . . . ALL FRESHMEN!
MAKE SUKE YOUR PICTURE WILL BE IN THE 191! |
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AGG1 ELAND YEARBOOK PICTURE SCHEDULE
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OCTOBER 4-8
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Bring Poplin Shirt and Black Tie
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NOTE: Bring Fee Slips
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Phone: 846-8019
If
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