APOLLO 11 AND RELATED
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APOLLO 11 AND RELATED
What with the 50 anniversary of Apollo 11 coming up thought some related stories by bit players might be in order.
So here is mine
Worked for Boeing (Renton) in the early 60's- and as a test engineer doing aerospace- missile- type tests of unique items- not production tests.
One test involved RFNA and Hydrazine at simulated high altitude via use of massive steam powered ejectors. Purpose was to verify a possible choice of propellants for a proposed moon lander. That combination had promise because at altitude, the exhaust plume was essentially transparent unlike most carbon based propellants. Made a target of steel plate with aluminum strips painted a medium green color . test was very short due to nozzle issues- but enough to verify that exhaust was transparent with minimal visual distortion.
Another test involved a gaseous oxygen distributor at top of Saturn 5 tank . About the size of a 35 gallon wastebasket. original design was with side panels of ' rigimesh' to distribute ox flow in such a direction to reduce impingement on tank dome. We used compressed air from a large accumulator such that about 30 seconds of flow at rate could be accomplished - Impingement was section of an aluminum covered ski jump representing the tank dome.
For a varietyn of reasons, we had difficulty measuring/photgraphing the impigements. So the test was run about 5 times- on them fifth time, the rigimesh failed and the upside down distributor part were launched up to 50 yards away. We had two medium speed camera focused in the area.
I notified the designers in New orleans of the failure and all hell broke loose. That was on a friday- I ordered 3 prints of the cameras be made on 16 mm. By monday afternoon i was in the seattle office of the Boeing saturn program manger with film, projector, and a few designers.
The failure was due to fatigue of the rigimesh as confirmed by a few pieces we found. The result was a total redesign. Seems that under launch conditions, the Saturn 5 was to run for about 2 1/2 minutes - my total test time at failure was slightly less than 2-1/2 minutes...
had that happened on the test stand small parts running thru the turbopumps may well have resulted in an major unplanned event called a big boom ??
So here is mine
Worked for Boeing (Renton) in the early 60's- and as a test engineer doing aerospace- missile- type tests of unique items- not production tests.
One test involved RFNA and Hydrazine at simulated high altitude via use of massive steam powered ejectors. Purpose was to verify a possible choice of propellants for a proposed moon lander. That combination had promise because at altitude, the exhaust plume was essentially transparent unlike most carbon based propellants. Made a target of steel plate with aluminum strips painted a medium green color . test was very short due to nozzle issues- but enough to verify that exhaust was transparent with minimal visual distortion.
Another test involved a gaseous oxygen distributor at top of Saturn 5 tank . About the size of a 35 gallon wastebasket. original design was with side panels of ' rigimesh' to distribute ox flow in such a direction to reduce impingement on tank dome. We used compressed air from a large accumulator such that about 30 seconds of flow at rate could be accomplished - Impingement was section of an aluminum covered ski jump representing the tank dome.
For a varietyn of reasons, we had difficulty measuring/photgraphing the impigements. So the test was run about 5 times- on them fifth time, the rigimesh failed and the upside down distributor part were launched up to 50 yards away. We had two medium speed camera focused in the area.
I notified the designers in New orleans of the failure and all hell broke loose. That was on a friday- I ordered 3 prints of the cameras be made on 16 mm. By monday afternoon i was in the seattle office of the Boeing saturn program manger with film, projector, and a few designers.
The failure was due to fatigue of the rigimesh as confirmed by a few pieces we found. The result was a total redesign. Seems that under launch conditions, the Saturn 5 was to run for about 2 1/2 minutes - my total test time at failure was slightly less than 2-1/2 minutes...
had that happened on the test stand small parts running thru the turbopumps may well have resulted in an major unplanned event called a big boom ??
Last edited by CONSO; 24th Mar 2019 at 14:18. Reason: fat finger typing
My recollections are of a very different kind. I was on a Westabout to Hong Kong that transited McClellan/Hickam/Wake to Guam in the 3 days before the Launch and was taken aback at the exotic varieties of C-135 that were to be seen along the way - odd antenna protrusions on most, plus one with a droop nose. We gathered that they were NASA and USAF support aircraft for the Apollo flights and I'd not seen anything of the kind before then. Fascinating stuff at the time, I must say!
