Highways Into Space: A first-hand account of the beginnings of the human space program (40 page)

Cutaway of Docked Configuration

As part of our look back, it was also clear that our working groups were operating at a higher level of productivity and autonomy. As a measure of that autonomy, a compilation of our total meeting schedule to launch clearly showed the trend.

Besides being an indicator of the strong Working Group ownership of their respective domains, it is also true that the project formation years of 1971 and 1972 were behind us. The number of individual working groups splinter meetings had matched and would soon be the predominant feature of working group engagement.

The larger plenary meetings with all or most of the working groups represented remained at two to three per year, throughout the project. By 1972, the splinter meetings exceeded the number of plenary meetings. Rather than a mere count, the rapid uptake of splinter meetings was a reflection of being at the point in the project where the “grinding out” of all the necessary work becomes the main operating mode. Dealing with the big options of how to configure the project was basically over by the end of 1972. What remained was implementation, execution and vigilance. There were thousands of details to be mastered. This was now where the project succeeds or fails. Sometimes, the need for a disciplined approach to this stage of the project life cycle can weaken or get lost. Grinding it out well made the earlier choices look good. Grinding it out with our partners created the common understanding that would hopefully prevail in case we faced an emergency. It was gratifying to see how quickly the team jumped into splinter meetings. They saw what was needed and did it.

Meetings Leading up to ASTP Launch

There are now physical models, breadboard systems, development units and testing, qualification tests and flight units in production. There are tests and checkout procedures and operational plans to be put in place, from PAO plans to docking module pressurization. Software is everywhere and must be configured to this mission. Technical arrangements are needed with the launch vehicle, launch site, recovery forces and weather services.

NASA started a new year of 1973 with a late January announcement of the names of the U.S. crews for ASTP. This was a real up-tempo step for our whole team. Now, we had a prime and back up crew, as well as a support crew, which always adds a strong sense of moving toward a launch. Tom Stafford was the commander of the prime crew, Deke Slayton would be the docking module pilot, and Vance Brand would be the command module pilot. Slayton had been grounded since early 1962, when he was expected to fly in the second Mercury orbital flight, after John Glenn. That was not to be and the NASA-wide team celebrated his return, just as was the case for Al Shepard. Tom Stafford had flown two landmark Gemini flights and Apollo X, the precursor to the moon landing.

Brand had been backup CMP for Apollo XV, and was still the backup commander for the last two Skylab flights scheduled for the second half of 1973. The backup crew for ASTP was Alan Bean, Jack Lousma and Ron Evans. Bean and Lousma were also assigned to the forthcoming second manned flight for Skylab. Ron Evans had just finished Apollo XVII. ASTP offered an opportunity for a full support team. Bob Crippen, Dick Truly, Bob Overmeyer and Carol Bobko, joined the program in 1969 after cancellation of the DOD program, known as the Manned Orbital Laboratory.

Bob Obermeyer would prepare and be the technical advisor in the Soviet MCC during the flight. Crippen, Truly, and Bobko would be capcoms. All of them would serve in many other ways over the course of the next two-and-a-half years.

As a first for me, I introduced the crewmen assigned to ASTP at a February first press conference. This was a full load of very talented pilots and they would add considerable value across our technical team. The press conference also gave Slayton the opportunity to recognize Dr. Berry, of MSC, and Dr. Van Camp, of Mayo Clinic, for their efforts leading to his return to flight status.

1973 brought name changes to two institutions, very close to my everyday work life. President Johnson died on January 22, 1973. The Manned Spacecraft was renamed in his honor, the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. This was made effective in February and celebrated in August 1973. President Johnson had been a very key participant in the startup of the manned space program, the Apollo XI goal and in the locating of MSC in Houston. People were proud to have the name Johnson Space Center, JSC. During the same year, North American Rockwell changed its name to Rockwell International. North American Aviation had a long and illustrious run in the history of aviation, producing forty-two thousand military aircraft between 1935 and 1945.

Later in May, the Soviets introduced their crews, Alexi Leonov and Valerie Kubasov as the prime crew. Leonov had flown one Voshkod flight and conducted their first EVA. Kubasov had served in back up roles in Soyuz 5 and 6. The prime crew for a precursor mission was Anatoly Filipchenko and Nicolai Rukavishnikov. Filipchenko was back up for Soyuz 4 and flew as the command pilot for Soyuz 7. Rukavishnikov flew on Soyuz 10. The Soviets also had a support team of cosmonauts who had not yet flown – Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Yuri Romanenko, Aleksandr Ivanchenkov and Boris Andrea. All combined, this was a very competent “A” team of highly skilled crewmembers.

The March 1973 meeting was a full meeting including all the working groups and it was held in Houston from March fifteenth to thirtieth, 1973. As a result of the crew announcement in January, General Shatalov, now the head of the Cosmonauts at Star City, joined this meeting to begin to define the crew training process. He and Bob Overmeyer started the development of the “Crew and Ground Personnel Training Plan” ASTP document numbered 40 700. This document would define the training content for each of the three training exercises in each country, a total of six sessions. The cosmonauts would visit in July based on the assumption that the Soyuz crew assignment would be made before that time. The astronauts were to visit Star City in the fall. I had met General Shatalov earlier in the October 1970 meeting. He did the familiarization ride with me in the Soyuz simulator. He was impressive and with a ready explanation of the workings of Soyuz. Most recently, he and two other cosmonauts had flown together in Soyuz 10, docked and flew around the Salyut station.

WG 1 had some solid accomplishments and they agreed to:

• Exchange of specialists to observe and participate in the MCCs before and during the mission.
  

• Conduct the joint work of medical doctors
  

• Prepare the crew and build the crew activities plan
  

• Review the scientific experiments and training schedule was conducted with the technical directors.
  

• More study was needed for the contingency return of a mixed crew and a decision was planned at the next meeting, during the summer.
  

Pete Frank, WG1, confirmed the guidelines for mission planning, specifically timing of orbital events for rendezvous, Soyuz propulsion maneuvers, docking orbit, inclination of the orbit, and time of the US launch at seven-and-a-half hours after the Soyuz launch. And confirmed that both sides would use the same math models for the atmosphere and gravity field. Development of the new control center interaction plan would contain all of the necessary voice and data traffic between the control centers.

The Technical Directors agreed that, during the mission period, the Flight Directors would be primary for decisions and the Technical Directors are in an advisory role. We also agreed to have a scheduled phone call between the Technical Directors every two weeks starting on April twenty-fourth. This is a reflection of the growing amount of traffic between all the working groups and provides a regular opportunity to engage.

WG2 discussed the tracking orientation requirements. This lead to a planned exchange of external materials to test for unwanted reflections in the optical tracking phase and added spacecraft lights to the planned exchange. They also conducted the PSR (preliminary systems review) of the docking targets on Soyuz and for the NASA fixture that would assure correct target placement.

WG3 worked the subject of the interface seals for the docking systems and then on to testing of the exchanged interface seals. The seals were specified to work over a wide range of temperatures and were giving our side some difficulties in meeting the specs. One action item from the docking system PSR, regarding inadvertent release of structural latches was reviewed and some further analysis was planned. WG4 continued discussion of signal characteristics for the radios and compatibility testing. The plans for communication lines and networks between control centers were regularly reviewed as the requirements definition matured over time. The preliminary design review of the VHF/FM radio was conducted. Training for the Soviet specialists involved in the testing of the VHF/AM radios at the Grumman Aerospace Company in Bethpage, New York, was scheduled to begin on April thirtieth.

WG5 made progress on life support compatibility, flammability safety and crew transfer procedures. The Soviets discussed the changes being made in the Soyuz oxygen regeneration system. And because of the higher O2 concentration in the docking module, all of their camera equipment, flight suits and electrical equipment exposed to the environment would have to be retested for safety in a fifty percent oxygen environment. We sent some of the material that we had developed for our space coveralls to assist the Soviets in their design to protect against flammability of their unpressurized clothing. In the end, they developed their own flight coverall material.

This was a full agenda and all of the subjects were advanced if not yet completed.

Earlier in this text, I outlined some of the differences and mysteries about how the Soviet side was organized and performed their work. In our programs, it is an integral part of our regular routine to visit the contractor plants where the hardware is being fabricated and tested. It allows the importing of those insights into our everyday consideration of decisions. It is always refreshing to look at the growing and evolving machinery. It is especially mandatory for the men who will strap on these machines to see, touch and feel the specific hardware they will fly in. More than mockups, more than “just like,” it must be the real thing. The arrival of the crews made that discussion imminent. Opening that discussion required a first move and we offered a tour of the Downey plant to Bushuyev and his delegation. Once opened, we asked about a reciprocal visit.

It became clear that a visit to his factory was a problem for Bushuyev. He could not make that happen. I don’t recall the sequence but, at either this meeting or the next one, he offered a visit by our delegation and the crews separately to the Soviet launch site where the spacecraft would be open to the crew. We would still tour the Downey plant, and the schedule was set for July. We added a visit to the KSC launch site for our delegation and separately one for the crews. This “compromise” satisfied our goal of access to the real flight hardware.

Somewhere in these few months, Chet Lee and I opened up the subject of a mid-term review by the senior leadership in NASA and the Soviet academy. We had already introduced the subject of a joint Flight Readiness Review (FRR) in June before the July 1975 flight. The idea of a mid-term review was to keep senior leadership on both sides engaged in a face-to-face project assessment, about halfway between the April 1972 meeting and the joint FRR, estimated to be in late June 1975. Without a mid-term, it would be more than three years between senior leadership face-to-face engagement. Too long a time. After more discussion of the value to both sides, Chet Lee took the initiative to propose it to our NASA HQ. It was soon agreed and was proposed to Academician Keldysh for a fall 1973 meeting.

Full Scale Apollo/Soyuz Mockup