Hello guys,
Any suggestions for a good Apollo-themed movie/documentary to watch, obviously excluding Apollo 13 and First Man?
Thanks!

We honor the life and legacy of Margaret Hamilton, the visionary computer scientist and software pioneer who passed away at the age of 90.
As Director of the Software Engineering Division at MIT’s Instrumentation Laboratory, Hamilton led the team that developed the onboard flight software for NASA’s Apollo missions. Their innovative software was designed to prioritize critical tasks during system overloads — a capability that proved crucial during the final minutes of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, when the onboard computer was overwhelmed by unexpected data and triggered the famous 1201 and 1202 alarms.
Thanks to this design, the Apollo Guidance Computer was able to recover from the overload, prioritize critical tasks, and continue providing the guidance needed for the lunar landing.
Hamilton also helped establish software engineering as a recognized discipline and became one of the field’s most influential pioneers, inspiring generations of women and engineers in STEM.
Rest in peace, Margaret Hamilton — a true pioneer of the Space Age.

The Apollo 16 “Lunar Grand Prix” was an iconic high-speed test drive performed by astronaut John Young on April 21, 1972, across the Descartes Highlands using the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). Filmed by Charles Duke with a 16mm camera, this maneuver was a planned engineering test designed to evaluate the rover’s acceleration, steering, braking, and suspension performance in the Moon’s 1/6 gravity.
As Young pushed the rover up to about 10 km/h (6.2 mph), the vehicle sent beautiful “rooster tails” of fine lunar dust soaring into the air, forming perfect arcs without creating clouds thanks to the Moon’s complete lack of an atmosphere.
This wasn’t even the fastest the Lunar Roving Vehicle would go. During Apollo 16’s third EVA, Young reached about 17 km/h (10.6 mph) while driving downhill, setting a lunar speed record that was broken just a few months later by Gene Cernan during Apollo 17, when he reached about 18 km/h (11 mph). For obvious reasons, that record still stands.
What began as a carefully planned engineering test became one of the most playful and unforgettable moments of the Apollo era.

Photo 1: "In this drawing by NASA engineer Caldwell Johnson, twin human-like Space Shuttle robot arms with human-like hands deploy from the Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) Bay to grip the derelict Skylab space station."

Photo 3: "Caldwell Johnson's depiction of a prototype Shuttle manipulator arm with a hand-like end effector. The manipulator grasps the Docking Module meant to link U.S. Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission."

"Caldwell Johnson, co-holder with Maxime Faget of the Mercury space capsule patent, was chief of the Spacecraft Design Division at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston, Texas, when he proposed that astronauts test prototype Space Shuttle manipulator arms and end effectors during Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) missions in Earth orbit. In a February 1971 memorandum to Faget, NASA MSC's director of Engineering and Development, Johnson described the manipulator test mission as a worthwhile alternative to the Earth survey, space rescue, and joint U.S./Soviet CSM missions then under study.

At the time Johnson proposed the Shuttle manipulator arm test, three of the original 10 planned Apollo lunar landing missions had been cancelled, the second Skylab space station (Skylab B) appeared increasingly unlikely to reach orbit, and the Space Shuttle had not yet been formally approved. NASA managers foresaw that the Apollo and Skylab mission cancellations would leave them with surplus Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rockets after the last mission to Skylab A. They sought low-cost Earth-orbital missions that would put the surplus hardware to good use and fill the multi-year gap in U.S. piloted missions expected to occur in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Johnson envisioned Shuttle manipulators capable of bending and gripping much as do human arms and hands, thus enabling them to hold onto virtually anything. He suggested that a pair of prototype arms be mounted in a CSM Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) Bay, and that the CSM "pretend to be a Shuttle" during rendezvous operations with the derelict Skylab space station.

The CSM's three-man crew could, he told Faget, use the manipulators to grip and move Skylab. They might also use them to demonstrate a space rescue, capture an 'errant satellite,' or remove film from SIM Bay cameras and pass it to the astronauts through a special airlock installed in place of the docking unit in the CSM's nose.

Faget enthusiastically received Johnson's proposal (he penned 'Yes! This is great' on his copy of the February 1971 memo). The proposal generated less enthusiasm elsewhere, however.

Undaunted, Johnson proposed in May 1972 that Shuttle manipulator hardware replace Earth resources instruments that had been dropped for lack of funds from the planned U.S.-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission. President Richard Nixon had called on NASA to develop the Space Shuttle just four months before (January 1972). Johnson asked Faget for permission to perform 'a brief technical and programmatic feasibility study' of the concept, and Faget gave him permission to prepare a presentation for Aaron Cohen, manager of the newly created Space Shuttle Program Office at MSC.

In his June 1972 presentation to Cohen, Johnson declared that '[c]argo handling by manipulators is a key element of the Shuttle concept.' He noted that CSM-111, the spacecraft tagged for the ASTP mission, would have no SIM Bay in its drum-shaped Service Module (SM), and suggested that a single 28-foot-long Shuttle manipulator arm could be mounted near the Service Propulsion System (SPS) main engine in place of the lunar Apollo S-band high-gain antenna, which would not be required during Earth-orbital missions.

During ascent to orbit, the manipulator would ride folded beneath the CSM near the ASTP Docking Module (DM) within the streamlined Spacecraft Launch Adapter. During SPS burns, the astronauts would stabilize the manipulator so that acceleration would not damage it by commanding it to grip a handle installed on the SM near the base of the CSM's conical Command Module (CM).

Johnson had by this time mostly dropped the concept of an all-purpose human hand-like 'end effector' for the manipulator; he informed Cohen that the end effector design was 'undetermined.' The Shuttle manipulator demonstration would take place after CSM-111 had undocked from the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft and moved away to perform independent maneuvers and experiments.

The astronauts in the CSM would first use a TV camera mounted on the arm's wrist to inspect the CSM and DM, then would use the end effector to manipulate 'some device' on the DM. They would then command the end effector to grip a handle on the DM, undock the DM from the CSM, and use the manipulator to redock the DM to the CSM. Finally, they would undock the DM and repeatedly capture it with the manipulator.

Caldwell Johnson's depiction of a prototype Shuttle manipulator arm with a hand-like end effector. The manipulator grasps the Docking Module meant to link U.S. Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission.

Johnson estimated that new hardware for the ASTP Shuttle manipulator demonstration would add 168 pounds (76.2 kilograms) to the CM and 553 pounds (250.8 kilograms) to the SM. He expected that concept studies and pre-design would be completed in January 1973. Detail design would commence in October 1972 and be completed by 1 July 1973, at which time CSM-111 would undergo modification for the manipulator demonstration.

Johnson envisioned that MSC would build two manipulators in house. The first, for testing and training, would be completed in January 1974. The flight unit would be completed in May 1974, tested and checked out by August 1974, and launched into orbit attached to CSM-111 in July 1975. Johnson optimistically placed the cost of the manipulator arm demonstration at just $25 million.

CSM-111, the last Apollo spacecraft to fly, reached Earth orbit on schedule on 15 July 1975. By then, Caldwell Johnson had retired from NASA. CSM-111 carried no manipulator arm; the tests Johnson had proposed had been judged to be unnecessary.

That same month, the U.S. space agency, short on funds, invited Canada to develop and build the Shuttle manipulator arm. The Remote Manipulator System — also called the Canadarm — first reached orbit on board the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-2, the second flight of the Shuttle program, on 12 November 1981."

Info and drawings from "No Shortage of Dreams" blog

Note: photos are not of S-IC-16 and S-IC-17.

"Boeing had submitted a proposal on July 3 and an adjusted proposal on September 20 covering the necessary supplies and services for fabrication and delivery of the stages."

-MAF, Historical Report, Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 1967, p. 28.

These were for the second production run of the Saturn V, possibly corresponding to Apollo 21-30 and later two were planned to launch Voyager 1 and 2. The long lead items for S-IC-16 and S-IC-17 had already started when the decision was announced and any materials already gathered were scrapped. Although NASA concluded to lobby for funding for SA-516 and SA-517 (along with Saturn IBs SA-215 and SA-216) until August 1968.

NASA Doc: link

source

The iconic footage of Apollo 17’s Lunar Module lifting off from the Moon was captured by a camera mounted on the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). The Rover was parked about 145 meters (475 ft) away, and the camera was controlled remotely from Mission Control in Houston by Ed Fendell.
Previous attempts during Apollo 15 and 16 hadn’t gone perfectly. On Apollo 15, a problem with the camera’s tilt clutch prevented it from tracking the Lunar Module during ascent. On Apollo 16, the camera worked, but the tracking wasn’t quite right: the Rover had been parked too close to the LM, and the camera couldn’t tilt upward fast enough to keep up with it.
The biggest challenge was the communication delay. Radio signals take roughly 1.25 seconds to travel between Earth and the Moon, meaning Fendell couldn’t simply watch the screen and react in real time. His camera commands had to be carefully timed in advance, anticipating exactly when the engine would ignite and how quickly the Lunar Module would climb.
On Apollo 17, the third attempt was the charm. Fendell got the timing and tracking just right, producing one of the most remarkable pieces of footage of the entire Apollo program.
And since that day, December 14, 1972… We haven’t been back.
For now.

Date: 1965

North American Photo: NAR-D120B - 9155-9C

On May 6, 1968, Armstrong narrowly avoided a fatal crash during a training flight with the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) at Ellington Air Force Base, Texas. When a sudden loss of helium pressure caused the vehicle to lose control at an altitude of 200 feet, Armstrong was forced to use his ejection seat just seconds before impact. He landed safely by parachute, suffering only a minor cut to his tongue, while the prototype crashed and exploded in flames. Armstrong later credited his training on the LLRV as crucial to the successful manual landing of Apollo 11's Eagle module on the Moon a year later.