[NASSP 8][Apollo 9] Realtime simulation Debriefing

[STS]

Hello all,
It´s again time for another Real Time Simulation debrief, this time for Apollo 9, wich we started on January 7th and concluded on January 17th. I continue to do these debriefs as I think that they provide usable feedback for NASSP´s users and the dev team.
For Apollo 9 I considered the flight days as follows:

• FD1 (07/01/2023) GET -04:45:00 to GET 10:45:00
• FD2 (08/01/2023) GET 19:00:00 to GET 30:00:00
• FD3 (09/01/2023) GET 39:00:00 to GET 58:30:00
• FD4 (10/01/2023) GET 66:30:00 to GET 79:00:00
• FD5 (11/01/2023) GET 86:30:00 to GET 105:00:00
• FD6 (12/01/2023) GET 112:30:00 to GET 130:00:00
• FD7 (13/01/2023) GET 138:30:00 to GET 154:00:00
• FD8 (14/01/2023) GET 162:00:00 to GET 177:00:00
• FD9 (15/01/2023) GET 184:20:00 to GET 201:00:00
• FD10 (16/01/2023) GET 207:40:00 to GET 223:00:00
• FD11 (17/01/2023) GET 232:00:00 to [EOM]

For this Apollo 9 flight I used a joystick and a wireless numerical keyboard as an improvised THC/TTCA. I was able to place this improvised THC/TTCA vertically on my left hand.

Flight day 1:
For the first day of the flight of Apollo 9, the following activitied were to be performed:

1. Startup checklist and backup crew prelaunch procedure
2. Prime crew prelaunch procedure
3. Saturn V Boost procedure
4. Post insertion checks and config
5. Pre CSM/LV sep, transposition and docking checks
6. CSM/LV sep and transposition and docking
7. Tunnel pressure verification & equalization
8. LM ejection
9. First S-IVB restart observation
10. SPS-1 burn
11. Daylight star check
12. G&N power down

Startup checklist and backup crew prelaunch procedure:
Procedures were started at L -3:59:13, and this time I used the Checklist MFD. I took a pitstop to the bathroom between L -3:11:00 and L -03:01:00, as I waited for the next procedure to start at L -03:00:00. Procedures were complete at L -02:56:10.

Prime crew prelaunch procedure:
Crew ingress started at L -02:39:55 and the hatch was closed by using the clickspot on the VC at L -01:39:32.

Saturn V Boost procedure:
The fourth Saturn V to fly lifted off at 11:00:00 local time. Cabin pressure decrease was observed at GET 71 seconds, "Slowly but going". Suit temperature was high already (85ºF around GET 73 seconds, not noted yet by crew). SIC inboard engine shutdown occured at GET 2 minutes 15 seconds. SIC staging occured at GET 2 minutes and 47 seconds. SII engines ignition occured at 2 minutes and 49 seconds. Tower jett was done at 3 minutes 19 seconds. Suit temperature was 88ºF at GET 3 minutes and 41 seconds. Suit temp was started to be observed by crew at GET 4 minutes. Still GO at GET 5 minutes. And 6 minutes. Suit temp was 90ºF at 6 minutes 25 seconds. GO at 7 minutes. PU shift occured at GET 00:07:32. GO at 8 minutes, crew reported concerned about the suit temp at 8 minutes, as never noted that on trainings. 90ºF at 8 minutes. GO at 9 minutes. SII staging ocurred at 00:09:07 GET. S-IVB ignition occured at 00:09:11 GET. Go at 10 minutes, MCC said "No action" on suit temperature. SECO ocurred at 00:11:22 GET. Insertion data was as follows:

N44 HA +01050
N44 HP +00985
N44 TFF -59 59
N62 VI +25554
N62 H DOT +00015
N62 H PAD +01041

Post insertion checks and config:
Steps for post-insertion were started at 00:12:45 GET. Checklist MFD was also used for these procedures. MCC came up with troubleshooting for Suit high temp at around 00:17:25 GET. GLYCOL EVAP TEMP OUT was above 50.5ºF. Suit temperature was observed decreasing at 00:19:35 GET, after doffing helmet and gloves and changing the ECS config. Said temperature stabilized at around GET 00:30:00, at 75ºF.

@GET 00:36:00
H2 QTY %: 97
O2 QTY %: 97

@GET 00:38:00
FC1: 19.7A
FC2: 24A
FC3: 16A
MNA: 28.5V
MNB: 29V

SCS ATT Comparison check:
DSKY (IMU): +18000 +02678 +00145
ATT Set dials (IMU): 180 27 1.4
-------------
DSKY (GDC): +17984 +01667 +00137
ATT Set dials (GDC): 180 17 1.4

SPS Monitoring check:
@GET 001:31:50
Oxid QTY: 88.5%
Fuel QTY: 88.5%
Unbalance: 0
Rest of meters, OK

Optics dust cover jett was performed at GET 00:42:30.
Transcription of launch debrief performed by crew at 01:07:30:

"I think It was a nice launch, everything pretty nominal. Could see the yaw maneuver, and then the roll maneuver and the pitch maneuver went... went good, Uhm... Staging went... went OK from the SIC uhmmm... went on time. No problems there. And then during Stage 2 we saw that the suit temperature was high, or... that was... what at least it seemed like, it was around 95 degrees, pretty high, didn´t saw that on the simulations ahh... concerned a lot, a bit but continued uhhh... and on orbit when we were preparing the ECS for orbit stay the temperature normalized so we are okay there. So yeah, the launch went smooth, the S-IVB ignition... scared us a little bit because when you are doing this for real the time that the engine one light stays out scares you, scares you a little bit. But it was everythiong pretty nominal. Ahh. We had an apogee of 105 miles and a perigee, ahhh..., of 98.5 miles, an insertion velocity of 25554 feets per second at an altitude of 104.1 miles. And that was our launch."

Post insertion checklist was completed at 001:34:50 GET.

Pre CSM/LV sep, transposition and docking checks:
Stayed on Checklist MFD (on the previous missions, as I used the good old Word checklists now it would be the time to go to Checklist MFD)Docking probe extension occured at 01:50:15 GET. Nominal extension, two gray talkbacks. Primary Glycol Evaporator was disabled at GET 002:00:00.
Cabin purge was also terminated there. Cabin pressure was increased to 5.7 PSIA. Auto RCS switches were all set to MNB as per checklist. Crew saw two V46´s around 002:29:00 GET and was confused about that. MCC said no issue there, and crew did them. SM RCS was tested at 002:25:26 GET.

CSM/LV sep, transposition and docking:
Pyro arm for separation was performed at 002:45:09 GET. Before separation crew asked if the pitch error needle was all right. Crew was nervous and human factors related things started to kick in. Crew set the event timer to +20 seconds, to have time to synchronize with a timer I had on hand and that I would activate at the same time that I pressed the "6" key on my improvised THC. Separation ocurred on time at 002:47:02 GET but crew forgot to put EMS mode to normal. Pitch rate for pitcharound was 1.5º per second and it was started at T+38 seconds. EMS was corrected to -100.8 at T+75 seconds, but it was not clear if we were moving away from S-IVB at the planned speed of 0.8 fps. DSKY showed +00006 -00001 +00005 at T+80 seconds.
S-IVB was observed thru side hatch at 002:49:25 GET, T+ 2:26, DSKY showing -00006 -00001 +00006. SLA panels were seen jettison correctly and docking target was clear, Spider seemed to be sleeping peacefully on her nest.
Keepstation was started at T+3 minutes. Due to the EMS mistake earlier, it was harder to determine if closing in to the LM or drifting away from it during keepstation.
Approach to LM was started at T+14:14, with the GDC align 30 seconds earlier. 1 fps was the initial closure rate, applied to +X. During approach the S-IVB and LM were never outside the COAS indicator. Final approach and soft docking speed was a little bit fast. Attitude was very well aligned before capture. Translation was a little bit off to the right before capture.
Capture occured at GET 003:07:22, T+20:23. Retract commanded at T+20:48, hard dock occured at T+20:51.
State vector update and NAV CHECK PAD were received at GET 003:15:00. Nav check PAD was:

NAV CHECK
N34 HRS +00033
MIN +00045
SEC +00001
N34 LAT -02795
LON +04062
ALT +01004

P21 agreed with NAV CHECK PAD after the state vector update.

Tunnel pressure verification & equalization:
At GET 003:25:15, surge tank pressure was checked and was at around 895 PSI. At GET 003:25:57, air was started to be introduced to the LM, thus equalizing the pressure between the CM and the LM. At GET 003:28:25 Delta pressure between CM and LM was 3.1 PSI. No leaks were detected. At GET 003:31:25 pressure equalization valve was opened again. CM Repress O2 valve was opened for the first time at GET 003:33:33, and closed at 003:34:05. Second cycle of repress was between GET 003:42:20 and GET 003:43:39. Procedure was complete at GET 003:45:35. Surge tank pressure was "refilled" as last step of the procedure.

LM Power to CSM was activated at GET 003:46:42.

LM ejection:
Cabin purge was resumed at GET 003:58:10. DAP was reconfigured for CSM/LM flight and pyros were armed at GET 004:00:10. LM separation from LV occured at GET 004:08:00, and a -0.5fps was gained on the +X axis. Auto maneuver to evasive maneuver attitude was started at T+35 seconds. Evasive maneuver was performed at T +02:58, and a -0.5 fps was applied to the +X axis, firing -X for 3 seconds.
Visual contact with S-IVB was maintained without issue. At GET 004:14:00 crew estimated distance to be 70 feet. As expected, a little bit of pitch rate was required, and also a monitoring of attitude to not enter gimbal lock.

First S-IVB restart observation:
S-IVB attitude change to RPY 0,0,0 was noticeable at GET 004:26:00. S-IVB Restart was observed at GET 004:45:28 GET.

SPS-1 burn:
PAD for SPS-1 burn, wich was intended to change to a 128*113 orbit was received at GET 004:50:00. Was as follows:

MANEUVER UPDATE (P30)
SPS-1 PURPOSE
+00005 HR TIG N33
+00059 MIN
+000.00 SEC
+0036.8 DVX LOCAL VERT N81
+00000 DVY
+00000 DVZ
+0036.8 DVR N42
+0032.4 DVC
0:05.0 BT
+58867 CSM WT N47
+001.05 PTRM N48
-000.23 YTRM
15 SXTS
26.59 SFT
10.633 TRUN
+000.00 LAT NAV CHECK
+000.00 LON
+000.00 ALT
000 R
356 P
001 Y
Remarks: Gimbal angles with PAD REFSMMAT

SPS-1 burn prediction was obtained at GET 004:52:23 and was:

HA +0125.1
HP +0102.8
DVR +0036.8

Spacecraft control mode was set to FREE around GET 005:15:00 for the P52 option 3 realign. At GET 005:18:15 DAP config was verified with MCC, it was 21111 11111 on N46.
Alignment check was started at GET 005:21:20, and completed at . Crew did a mistake at GET 005:24:30, by changing again CMC mode to FREE and maneuvering to a different attitude. What I wanted to do was to select another couple of stars. That caused the held burn attitude to be lost. MCC reported the problem, as crew didn´t notice it at all. P40 wanted to burn at RPY +304.86, +356.54, +000.97, because it was the attitude the spacecraft was at when calling P40. Also, P40 was called from P00, causing that, by following the checklist too correctly, an F50 25 with code 00204 was shown early, when I was to move the optics to the star check angles. Solution given was go back to P00, and V49 again to the burn attitude. Auto maneuver to burn attitude was reperformed at GET 005:40:00. After auto maneuver was complete, P40 was started again at GET 005:42:00, now with a more adequate attitude and then continued the checklist with star check, but star check failed as I was 13 minutes behind and V41 N91 was entered at the F50 25 again. As of that, another P40 reselection was done at GET 005:47:17.
Burn was performed using SPS at GET 005:59:00. Burn duration was 5.some seconds. Both banks were used. Residuals as follows:

+00004
+00003
-00000
EMS Counter: -4.1

Not nulled as per mission rules.
Post SPS-1 orbit was:

HA +0124.3
HP +0102.9

SPS Oxid and fuel were 87.7% and no unballance after SPS-1. No ullage was used. SPS-1 was declared a good burn.
Daylight star check:
Star check PAD was as follows, received at 06:15:00 GET:

STAR CHECK UPDATE
006 HR GET
49 MIN
045.00 SEC
+068.0 R FDAI
+291.1 P
+330.2 Y

Most visible star was 23 (Denebola), at Sunrise, Sunrise + 5 minutes and Sunrise + 10 minutes.

G&N power down:
At GET 008:55:00 G&N was powered down for the first proper sleep cycle of the Apollo program.
Crew started an sleep cycle between GET 010:25:00 to GET 018:10:00.

 

[STS]

Flight day 2:
After completing the first "proper" sleep period of the Apollo program, flight day 2 started. The following activities were to be performed:

1. G&N power up
2. SPS-2 burn
3. SPS-3 burn
4. SPS-4 burn
5. G&N power down

G&N power up:
Procedures for G&N power up started at GET 18:50:00, with a CMC power up without issue at 18:50:25. Rest of procedures were complete, including a P51 IMU orientation at GET 19:52:47.

SPS-2 burn:
PAD for SPS-2 burn, wich was intended to change to a 192*113 orbit was received at GET 020:37:00. Was as follows:

MANEUVER UPDATE (P30)
SPS-2 PURPOSE
+00022 HR TIG N33
+00009 MIN
+002.48 SEC
+0099.1 DVX LOCAL VERT N81
-0851.3 DVY
-0000.2 DVZ
+0857.0 DVR N42
+0852.1 DVC
1:52.6 BT
+58504 CSM WT N47
+001.50 PTRM N48
-000.23 YTRM
21 SXTS
208.78 SFT
14.529 TRUN
-029.22 LAT NAV CHECK
-170.37 LON
+0117.5 ALT
000 R
000 P
000 Y
Remarks: None
Click to expand...

An state vector was uplinked from MCC, and P21 agreed with the NAV Check portion of the SPS-2 maneuver PAD.
SPS-2 burn prediction was obtained at GET 020:45:27 and was:

HA +0190.0
HP +0102.8
DVR +0857.0

An alignment check was performed prior to the burn, starting at GET 021:23:50. 4 stars were used, 4 and 6, and 42 and 34. Alignment check passed.
Burn was performed using SPS at GET 22:09:02. 40% stroking was applied at T+66 seconds. It was observed that DAP was slow to correct yaw and pitch error. Burn duration was 1 minute and 52 seconds. Both banks were used. Residuals as follows. Crew nulled Y residuals by mistake:

+00000
+00000
+00002
EMS Counter: -5

Not nulled as per mission rules.
Post SPS-2 orbit was:

HA +0188.1
HP +0102.8

SPS Oxid and fuel were 69.6% and no unballance after SPS-2. No ullage was used. SPS-2 was declared a good burn.

SPS-3 burn:
PAD for SPS-3 burn, wich was intended to change to a 270*115 orbit was received at GET 023:55:00. Was as follows:

MANEUVER UPDATE (P30)
SPS-3 PURPOSE
+00025 HR TIG N33
+00014 MIN
+047.14 SEC
+0015.3 DVX LOCAL VERT N81
-2549.6 DVY
-0000.1 DVZ
+2549.6 DVR N42
+2543.2 DVC
4:43.8 BT
+51136 CSM WT N47
+001.28 PTRM N48
-000.29 YTRM
22 SXTS
046.01 SFT
16.143 TRUN
+021.00 LAT NAV CHECK
+170.46 LON
+0151.4 ALT
000 R
000 P
000 Y
Remarks: None
Click to expand...

An state vector was uplinked from MCC, and P21 agreed with the NAV Check portion of the SPS-3 maneuver PAD. P21 had to be run twice as on first run crew did a mistake that consisted on pressing PRO before ENTR when entering the TIG-30 at R3, so that caused that P21 was searching for a solution "backwards".
SPS-3 burn prediction was obtained at GET 024:13:53 and was.:

HA +0268.5
HP +0104.0
DVR +2549.6

Star check was passed at TIG-30 minutes.
Burn was performed using SPS at GET 25:14:47. Full stroking was applied at T+63 seconds. It was observed that DAP was slow to correct yaw. Pitch was coming to the center. MTVC was taken at T +3:59. Control was controllable, attitude went a little bit off right at MTVC takeover, expected and correct actions taken by crew. Burn duration was 4 minutes and 43 seconds. Both banks were used. Residuals as follows:

+00001
-00008
-00010
EMS Counter: -6.4

Not nulled as per mission rules.
Post SPS-3 orbit was:

HA +0266.7
HP +0105.8

SPS Oxid and fuel were 24.2% and no unballance after SPS-3. No ullage was used. SPS-3 was declared a good burn.

SPS-4 burn:
PAD for SPS-4 burn, wich was intended to change to a 271*115 orbit was received at GET 026:50:00. Was as follows:

MANEUVER UPDATE (P30)
SPS-4 PURPOSE
+00028 HR TIG N33
+00020 MIN
+058.08 SEC
-0001.7 DVX LOCAL VERT N81
-0299.7 DVY
-0000.0 DVZ
+0299.7 DVR N42
+0293.4 DVC
0:28.5 BT
+32591 CSM WT N47
+001.47 PTRM N48
-000.81 YTRM
23 SXTS
005.10 SFT
15.271 TRUN
-017.36 LAT NAV CHECK
+140.50 LON
+0198.6 ALT
000 R
000 P
000 Y
Remarks: None
Click to expand...

An state vector was uplinked from MCC, and P21 agreed with the NAV Check portion of the SPS-4 maneuver PAD.
SPS-4 burn prediction was obtained at GET 026:58:08 and was:

HA +0266.2
HP +0105.6
DVR +0299.7

Star check was passed at TIG-30 minutes.
Burn was performed using SPS at GET 28:20:58. Burn duration was 28 seconds. Both banks were used. Residuals as follows:

-00001
+00027
+00013
EMS Counter: -6.7

Not nulled as per mission rules.
Post SPS-4 orbit was:

HA +0264.9
HP +0105.6

SPS Oxid and fuel were 19.6% and no unballance after SPS-4. 4 jets 18 seconds ullage was used. SPS-4 was declared a good burn.

G&N power down:
At GET 028:53:35 G&N was powered down for the second night in space.
Crew started an sleep cycle between GET 030:12:00 to GET 039:02:00.

 

[STS]

Flight day 3:
With a wake up at 39:02:00 and another proper but this time not very restfull sleep cycle, flight day 3 started, finally featuring the first LM activities to be performed on LM-3 "Spider" in space:

1. Tunnel pressure verification & equalization
2. G&N Power up (CM)
3. Tunnel & LM hatch opening, IVT to LM
4. LM activation (LM EPS Activation and Checkout & LM to internal power)
5. Tunnel & LM hatch closure. (CMP stays on CM, LMP & CDR stays on LM)
6. Continue LM activation & Daylight AOT star visibility check
7. LM Landing gear deploy
8. LM / CSM comm checks
9. TV Transmission (from LM)
10. LM G&C Systems turn on (LM PNGS turn on, AGS self check, IMU docked coarse align, LM RCS Pressurization and Cold Fire, LM Gimbal drive check, Throttle check, RCS Hot Fire
11. DPS pressurization and DPS Docked burn
12. LM & Tunnel hatch opening
13. LM initial power down and final deactivation
14. IVT to CM, LM & tunnel hatch closure
15. SPS-5 burn
16. G&N power down

Tunnel pressure verification & equalization:
As the first step before entering to enter the LM for the first time in space, Tunnel press was verified at GET 39:27:58, showing 1 PSI differential pressure between CM and LM.

G&N Power up (CM):
Procedures to power up the guidance system of the CM were started at 40:51:40 GET, and completed at 41:05:00 GET. CMC power up went without issue.

Tunnel & LM hatch opening, IVT to LM:
State vector and desired REFSMMAT was uplinked at GET 41:10:46. NAV check PAD agreed with state vector on AGC, by using P21. After the uplink was completed, AOT Star observation PAD was received. I´ll quote it later.
Tunnel hatch was removed at 41:58:15 GET.
LM overhead hatch was opened at 41:58:45 GET. (For NASSP team: I needed to F3 to Spider to open the overhead hatch. Can we open the LM hatch from the CM? That would be cool)
IVT to LM started at 42:00:00 GET, and initial LM inspection passed. Everything was installed and seated correctly, no debris of any kind was found.

LM activation (LM EPS Activation and Checkout & LM to internal power):
Initial activation procedures and checklists were started at 42:05:11 GET. Completed without anything special to comment, and LM was switched to internal power (CSM LM power OFF) at 42:12:50 GET.

Tunnel & LM hatch closure. (CMP stays on CM, LMP & CDR stays on LM):
Procedures and checklists continued to run without anything special to comment. LMP was switched to LM´s ECS at 42:37:40 GET. CDR was switched to LM´s ECS at 42:38:45 GET, and IVT´d to LM, and tunnel hatch was closed. LM overhead hatch was closed at 42:42:40 GET.

Continue LM activation & Daylight AOT star visibility check:
LM activation continued, crew condition was shown CRITICAL on Project Apollo MFD, for the crew that was on the LM. I experienced that on training, and considered no issue, but keeped and eye on things.
PAD for AOT daylight star visibility check was:

LM AOT STAR OBSERVATION
043 HR
055 MIN
000 SEC
2 AOT DETENT
15 NAV STAR
056 R
044 P
341 Y

CSM started an auto maneuver to the star observation attitude at 43:40:55 GET.
Explosive Devices Battery voltage was recorded as per checklist before the observation check and was as follows:

43:56:45 GET
ED A volts: 36.5V
ED B volts: 36.5V

Dimmest star seen through AOT was Procyon (15). Observation was done at 44 hours GET.

LM Landing gear deploy:
With an activated LM (but yet without the guidance part) comm modes were checked and landing gear was put down at 45:00:40 GET, with "gear down, 1 gray" indication. Deployment could be partially seen from the front windows and the CM.
Crew observed that the suit temperature increased on the LM, and that it was required to operate the valve a few clicks to the HOT position to put the temperature down.

TV Transmission (from LM):
Checklist for configuring LM communications for TV transmission started at 46:25:57 GET, and TV circuit breaker was closed at 46:27:29. And a live picture of the LM interior was shown:

Transmission concluded by pulling the TV circuit breaker at 46:34:39 GET.

LM G&C Systems turn on (LM PNGS turn on, AGS self check, IMU docked coarse align, LM RCS Pressurization and Cold Fire, LM Gimbal drive check, Throttle check, RCS Hot Fire:
Guidance systems for LM-3 were started to be turned on for the first time in space at 47:16:25 GET. LGC self check passed at 47:24:40 GET. AGS was switched to Operate at 47:26:15 GET. IMU coarse align was completed at 47:35:15 with the following gimbal angles: R: +24043 P: +24013 Y: +00030. PIPA BIAS check, at GET 47:38:00, showed all balls for 1452, 1454 and 1456 (Noun 1).
RCS pressurization started at 47:39:10. Helium pressure for RCS (Explosive devices) was fired at 47:39:36.
RCS cold fire was started at 47:42:15 GET, completed at 47:46:40, so it was determined that Spider could fly.
At 47:50:00 GET, the DAP PAD was copied:

+31953
+30678
+00642
+00695

At 48:00:00 GET, an uplink was received, containing CSM and LM state vectors.
Gimbal and throttle were tested and passed tests, starting at GET 48:02:00.
RCS hot fire was performed, also with A+ score between GET 48:06:00 and GET 48:09:30. Spider can fly!

DPS pressurization and DPS Docked burn:
At GET 48:10:00 the DPS Docked burn and a uplink was performed to the LM. Uplink contained LM state vector, a V66 and a REFSMMAT.
Pad for the LM P30 maneuver was as follows:

LM MANEUVER (P30)
DOCKED DPS PURPOSE
+00049 HR 33
+00034 MIN TIG
+04516 SEC
-0057.7 DVX 37
-1742.9 DVY LOCAL VERT
-0000.6 DVZ
+1743.9 DVR 42
000 R FDAI INER 18
000 P
-000563 DVX AGS
-1742.9 DVY
-0012.6 DVZ
Remarks: None

IMU gyro torquing angles were received at 48:15:00 GET and with those an IMU fine align was performed:

+00091
-00058
-00023

Landing and Rendezvous radar tests were performed.
At GET 48:28:54 a bump on the road was hit as the spacecraft showed a gimbal lock warning. CSM was left in FREE by mistake, and it was drifting. A quick check if the CSM attitude showed that indeed we were close to that attitude, so a maneuver from the CSM was performed to get out of there, while carefully monitoring LM´s FDAI ball. Situation was back to normal at 48:30:48.
Maneuver to AGS calibration attitude was performed by the CSM at 48:32:08 GET. AGS was initialized with a 40h BIAS, and @rcflyinghokie ´s spreadsheet was used for the time calculations to be inputted on the DEDA. After AGS/PNGS were aligned, addresses 540, 541, 542, 544, 545 and 546 were checked and showed all balls.
At GET 48:47:20, addresses 544, 545 and 546 were checked again, and were -00005, -00001 and -00009 respectively.
DPS Pressurization and checkout were performed starting at GET 49:00:37. Descent propellant isolation valve was fired at 49:01:15. He press descent start was fired at 49:01:22.
At 49:05:00 another gimbal torquing PAD was received:

-00002
-00016
-00021

CSM started an auto maneuver to the burn attitude at GET 49:10:00.
A post burn prediction was obtained on the AGC at GET 49:17:22 and was:

HA +0265.6
HP +0105.3
DVR +1743.4

LGC obtained its prediction at GET 49:21:42 GET and was the same that with the AGC.
LM performed the maneuver to burn attitude at 49:27:43 GET.
DPS engine ignited at 10% power at GET 49:34:45. Burn time vs power went as follows:

T+ 5 s: 40% manual throttle, achieved at T+ 7 seconds
T+ 26 s: FTP auto throttle, achieved at T+ 27 seconds
T+ 310s: 40% manual throttle, achieved at T+ 310 seconds
T+ 312s: 10% manual throttle, achieved at T+ 318 seconds
T+ 320s: 40% manual throttle, achieved at T+ 323 seconds
T+ 333s: 25% manual throttle, achieved at T+ 334 seconds
T+ 341s: 40% manual throttle, achieved at T+ 343 seconds
T+ 369s - Shutdown

Shutdown was commanded at -3 seconds to auto shutdown. Residuals were as follows:

LGC:
+00082
-00000
-00001
AGC:
-00084
+00042
-00043
EMS Counter: N/A

Attitude was very stable through the burn, and Gumdrop didn´t separate.

At GET 49:51:10 the following registers from the AGS were read. They showed:

544: -00005
545: -00001
546: -00009

LM & Tunnel hatch opening:
Tunnel hatch was opened from Gumdrop at 50:03:55 GET. LM overhead hatch was opened at 50:31:58 GET. CDR and LMP switched to CM´s ECS system. CDR IVT´d to CM at 50:33:00 GET.

LM initial power down and final deactivation:
Explosive Devices Battery voltage was recorded as per checklist and was as follows:

51:06:35 GET
ED A volts: 35.3V
ED B volts: 35.3V

LM was put into CSM power at 51:10:20 GET.
Procedures for the deactivation of the lunar module as completion of today´s activities were completed at 51:10:45 GET.

IVT to CM, LM & tunnel hatch closure:
LMP performed an IVT to the CM at 51:10:50 GET, and the overhead and tunnel hatches were closed at 51:11:05 GET.

SPS-5 burn:
PAD for SPS-5, that was intended to circularize the orbit for the FD5 rendezvous, was received at 52:50:00 and was:

MANEUVER UPDATE (P30)
SPS-5 PURPOSE
+00054 HR TIG N33
+00019 MIN
+036.83 SEC
-0175.3 DVX LOCAL VERT N81
-0355.6 DVY
+0425.2 DVZ
+0581.4 DVR N42
+0573.3 DVC
0:44.4 BT
+30635 CSM WT N47
+001.23 PTRM N48
-000.86 YTRM
30 SXTS
30.77 SFT
-04.859 TRUN
-000.43 LAT NAV CHECK
-137.49 LON
+0160.0 ALT
000 R
000 P
000 Y
Remarks: None

An state vector was uplinked from MCC, and P21 agreed with the NAV Check portion of the SPS-5 maneuver PAD.
SPS-5 burn prediction was obtained at GET 053:07:11 and was:

HA +0138.9
HP +0131.7
DVR +0581.4

Star check was passed at TIG-50 minutes.
Burn was performed using SPS at GET 54:19:37. Burn duration was 45 seconds. Both banks were used. Residuals as follows:

-00006
+00042
+00012
EMS Counter: -8.3

Not nulled as per mission rules.
Post SPS-5 orbit was:

HA +0136.9
HP +0132.6

SPS Oxid and fuel were 12.5% and no unballance after SPS-5. 4 jets 18 seconds ullage was used. SPS-5 was declared a good burn.

G&N power down:
At GET 055:50:10 G&N was powered down for the third night in space.

Crew started an sleep cycle between GET 058:37:00 to GET 066:41:30. First seen on this FD, it was discovered that the "stuttering issue" that I start to get while being on the CM´s VC goes away if you switch to the LM and then back to the CM.

 

[STS]

Flight day 4:
With a crew leaving the sleep station at 66:41:30 GET, the day featuring the first EVA of the Apollo program is starting. Need to test those PLSS backpacks! Activities for FD4 were as follows:

1. Tunnel pressure verification & equalization
2. G&N Power up (CM)
3. Tunnel & LM hatch opening, IVT to LM
4. LM activation
5. Tunnel & LM hatch closure
6. Depressurization of LM and CM and hatches opening
7. EVA (Performed by LMP and CMP)
8. Hatches closure and repress of LM and CM
9. LM deactivation
10. Tunnel & LM hatch opening, IVT to CM.
11. G&N Power down (CM)

Tunnel pressure verification & equalization:
Tunnel pressure was verified and pressure equalization was started at 67:01:30 GET. The differential pressure was 0.3 PSI.

G&N Power up (CM):
Prodedures to bring up the CM´s guidance and navigation after the night were started at 68:00:00 GET and completed at 68:15:30 GET. CMC power up went without issue.

Tunnel & LM hatch opening, IVT to LM:
Tunnel hatch was removed at 69:00:45 GET, and LM overhead hatch was opened at 69:20:15 GET, and LMP IVT´d to LM.

LM activation:
LM activation for EVA started at 69:21:30 GET. LM was switched to internal power at 69:35:16 GET. CDR IVT´d to LM at 70:12:20 GET.

Tunnel & LM hatch closure:
LM overhead hatch was closed at 70:13:15 GET. Tunnel hatch was reinstalled at 70:13:50 GET. Tunnel was unpressurized after the closure. Unpress finished at 70:19:30 GET.

Depressurization of LM and CM and hatches opening:
After having lunch and completing some additional ECS checkouts, LM was started to be depressurized at 72:49:40 GET, completing the depress at 72:56:35. Forward hatch was opened at 72:57:05 GET, from the 2D view. I was clickling on the wrong clickspot on the VC.
CM was started to be depressurized at 72:57:56 GET, completing the depress at 73:08:55 GET. CM hatch was opened at 73:09:07 GET.

EVA (Performed by LMP and CMP):
LMP started his EVA at 73:09:31 GET.
CMP started his stand up EVA at around 73:15:00 GET.
LMP ingressed the CM at 73:28:00, completing the emergency crew transfer demo.
A TV transmission from the LM, practising for the first steps on the moon, started at 75:04:42 GET. Some audio tests from Rusty´s equipment were performed. TV transmission was completed at 75:17:04 GET.
EVA was completed at 75:24:20 GET, with an EVA duration of 2 hours, 15 minutes and 7 seconds.

Hatches closure and repress of LM and CM:
LM forward hatch was closed at 75:25:00. LM cabin repress started at 75:26:55 and completed at 75:28:07 GET.
CM side hatch was closed at 75:28:41 GET. CM repress started at 75:30:09 GET with the Repress O2 valve up to 3 PSI. Tunnel pressure equalization valve was opened at 75:31:04 GET, and it was observed that the CM cabin press was increasing again. LM overhead hatch valve was put into the open position at 75:32:12 GET, and back to AUTO at 75:33:30 GET, wrongly assuming that the tunnel was already pressurized (was still depressed):

This caused confusion on the crew as CM cabin pressure was increasing slowly, don´t understanding what was wrong (when putting the overhead hatch back to auto, the valve closed so the air flow was much reduced). Crew took a corrective action at 76:17:41 GET, of putting the overhead hatch to Open for 3 seconds, then back to Auto (tunnel was now pressurized, not knowing yet). Another corrective action was taken at 76:23:36, by setting said valve to Open, and returning it to Auto at 76:43:25.
CM repress was completed at 76:30:00 GET, so we were behind flightplan. (No much issue, just needed to do procedures faster).

Tunnel & LM hatch opening, IVT to CM:
After completing LM deactivation steps, LM overhead hatch was opened at 76:43:07 GET, CDR IVT´d to CM at 76:46:20 GET.

LM deactivation:
LM deactivation started at 76:50:00 GET. LM was put into external power at 77:53:40 GET. Deactivation was complete at completed at 77:56:00 GET.

G&N Power down (CM):
At GET 078:03:40 G&N was powered down for the fourth night in space.

Crew started an sleep cycle between GET 079:20:00 to GET 086:30:00.

 

[STS]

Time to continue this debriefing thread.
The previous days were debriefed during the reform of the kitchen and both bathrooms on the flat where I live. It was tedious because I was using my laptop for that. After the reform was complete, and back on my main PC, during the month of march, I did a practise run of Apollo 10 because I have the intention to embark on the Apollo 10 Real Time Simulation on may 18th, and clock is ticking. Yesterday I splashed down on that, and was the most smooth practise run I did. Just struggled a little bit, as expected, on Lunar operations with the LM-4, during the PDI simulation and rendezvous with the CSM, but could complete that on just one seating.

I had thoughts about this debrief threads and one of them is that I am complicating myself too much, I can´t take between 6 or 8 hours to debrief each FD, because I wanted to add a lot of small and irrelevant details (and I can´t put so much time into this because I have a life ), so from now on I will write them in a more simple and summarize them more.

Flight day 5:
The big day of the mission started at 86:31:50 GET, when crew left the sleep stations. Activities were as follows:

1. LM Activation for rendezvous
2. LM Undocking and inspection
3. Rendezvous and active docking
4. LM Closure
5. APS Burn to depletion

LM Activation for rendezvous:
LM was started to be activated at 87:10:00 GET and an RCS cold fire (90:51:30) and hot fire (91:20:50) were performed as on FD3, but this time the Spider would fly on her own.

LM Undocking and inspection:
Having completed the activation and all the required checklists, LM undocking was performed at 92:36:53. LM was kept at 50 feet from the CSM, keeping distance actively on both the CM and LM.

LM performed its inspection attitude changes between 92:38:32 GET and 92:49:54 GET. With the CSM performing the separation RCS burn of -5 fps at 93:01:54, vehicles begun to separate.

Rendezvous:
Some of the first tests before the phasing burn were rendezvous radar tests. A good lock was obtained, and CSM´s tracking light was visible. The first P52 to be run on the LM was completed at 93:32:45. That also included the first auto maneuvers by Spider.
Phasing burn was performed with the DPS engine at 91:46:13 GET, with AGS guidance, so the Abort pushbutton was used to light the engine. Burn duration was 24 seconds. Residuals were as follows:

-00016
-00007
+00007

A "TPI simulation" was done and maximum closure to the CSM was 12000 ft at 95:15:50 GET.
Insertion burn was performed with the DPS engine at 95:37:52 GET, with PNGS guidance. Burn duration was 7 seconds, at 40% thrust.
Residuals were as follows:

+00002
+00004
-00003

For CSI burn, high workload, stress and tiredness (in sort, human factors) started to do things. This was the most challenging burn during the rendezvous because it required to prepare for staging, and to fire the ascent stage RCS thrusters through the feed lines, so much checklist items to be performed. A paper checklist was used to help with that.
Crew arrived late at the planned TIG for CSI (96:16:00) (expected but didn´t want it to happen), so staging was performed at 96:18:37 and CSI was started at 96:18:38. (In my mind I was thinking that i was like 6 minutes late so I was upset and nervous) Wrong switches were thrown at the following part of the checklist so a master alarm was triggered, associated with flags on quads 1 and 3, thus creating crew confusion. CSI was interrumpted at 96:18:53 and resumed at 96:19:43 after resetting the CWEA circuit breaker and having a deep breath and throwing again the correct switches. CSI was complete at 96:20:20 without residuals.

STAGE – FIRE(8)

MASTER ARM – OFF

BURN +X WITH TTCA

SYS A&B ASC FEED 2 – OPEN(2)

SYS A&B MAIN SOV – CLOSE

Before thrust termination

SYS A&B MAIN SOV – OPEN

SYS A&B ASC FEED 2 – CLOSE​

As of this, Apollo 10´s CSI will be performed wearing sunglasses, to not be fooled again
CDH burn featured the first manned firing in space of the APS engine. It was performed with the APS engine, and PNGS guidance at 96:58:46 GET. Burn duration was 4 seconds.
Residuals were as follows:

-00031
-00003
-00002

Crew described that the ascent stage was sporty, and sometimes hard to maintain roll with zero rate.
Next up was preparation for TPI, by running P34 on the LM a TIG was targeted around 98:00:41. After various recycles of P34, with marks taken by the rendezvous radar, TIG ended being 98:01:14. Using RCS, 20 fps were applied to the +X axis. Burn was performed with various bursts of translational RCS.

MCC-1 was calculated with P35, and got the following DVs:

+00018
+00014
+00010

Burn was performed at 98:11:30 with RCS thruster bursts.

Visual contact with Gumdrop was obtained at 98:17:24 GET, at a distance of 36000 ft.

MCC-2 was calculated with P35, and got the following DVs:

+00028
-00021
+00005

Burn was performed at 98:23:27 with RCS thruster bursts.

Braking phase started at 98:27:39, by nulling the errors on the X-Pointers, now set to "Lo Mult".
Spider reached Gumdrop at a distance of 50 feet at 98:36:32, and entered keepstation.
Various attitude changes were performed and photos were taken from the CSM:

Maneuvering to an LM active docking was started at 98:48:25 GET. The challenge of finding the CSM through the LM´s overhead window was made easier due to this little early maneuvering as some knowledge of previous trainings were used.
However, LM active docking was very incorrectly fast due to human factors (P47 was slow to show data, misread R1 of 16 83, and mixed the +X thrust forward technique for LM active docking with that of CSM active docking). Docking was complete at 99:08:13. (Hard dock)
Before starting the LM closeout procedures, a LM Docked P52 was performed, using stars 15 and 25. Score was 00002.

LM Closure:
Procedures for LM closure were performed starting at 100:04:55. LM overhead hatch was opened at 100:05:10 and completed at 100:52:55.

APS Burn to depletion:
This burn was performed remotely by @indy91 , who connected to Spider through the LM telemetry client, and performed the burn just as MCC did back on the actual mission.
Spider was undocked from the CSM at 101:23:19 GET, by using for the first time the CSM/LM Final Sep switches. A keepstation was maintained from the CSM and Spot light was required to observe Spider´s ascent stage. Auto maneuver to the separation attitude was driving the CSM right into Gimbal Lock so a manual maneuver around was performed. Visual contact with Spider was lost after maneuvering to separation attitude. Separation burn was performed at 101:33:22 GET, applying a 3 fps -X burn. Visual contact was restablished and maintained, around 101:36:10 GET.
APS ignited at 101:53:19 GET, sending Spider to her final adventure.

At 103:16:00 GET, a G&C powerdown was performed, concluding FD5. Crew went to sleep for 8,5 hours at 105:06:10 GET.

 

[rcflyinghokie]

CDH burn featured the first firing in space of the APS engine.

First MANNED firing in space

 

[STS]

Flight day 6:
Crew woke up for the first "mega-cruise" day of the mission at 113:34:00 GET. Activities of the day would be the following:

1. G&N power up
2. SPS-6 burn
3. S-065 pictures (Houston, SW US, Mexico)
4. G&N Power down

G&N power up:
Procedures to power up the guidance and navigation systems of the spacecraft after the night were started at 117:45:00, and completed without issue at 118:02:00 GET.

SPS-6 burn:
PAD for SPS-6 burn, wich was intended to change to a 130*95 orbit was obtained at 119:40:00 GET and was as follows:

MANEUVER UPDATE (P30)
SPS-6 PURPOSE
+00121 HR TIG N33
+00057 MIN
+018.17 SEC
-0066.4 DVX LOCAL VERT N81
+0000.0 DVY
+0015.3 DVZ
+0068.1 DVR N42
+0055.7 DVC
0:02.7 BT
+27457 CSM WT N47
-000.89 PTRM N48
-001.19 YTRM
07 SXTS
318.02 SFT
14.700 TRUN
-001.30 LAT NAV CHECK
+003.50 LON
+0134.2 ALT
000 R
000 P
000 Y
Remarks: None

An state vector was uplinked from MCC, and P21 agreed with the NAV Check portion of the SPS-6 maneuver PAD.
SPS-6 burn prediction was obtained at GET 119:52:30 and was:

HA +0129.9
HP +0102.3
DVR +0068.1

Star check was passed at TIG-18 minutes.
Crew set the DET incorrectly on one minute, before the burn, but it was no problem.
Burn was performed using SPS at GET 121:57:18. Bank A was used. Residuals as follows:

+00025
+00001
-00002
EMS Counter: -10.1

Not nulled as per mission rules.
Post SPS-6 orbit was:

HA +0130.2
HP +0104.3

SPS Oxid and fuel were 12,1%, and no unballance after SPS-6. 2 jets 20 seconds ullage was used, SPS-6 was declared a good burn.

S-065 pictures (Houston, SW US, Mexico):
(Houston, SW US):
Maneuver for S-65 photography was started at 123:51:25 via V49, and completed via manual maneuver with RHC. Attitude was R359.95, P318.76, Y359.74. Procedure to enable auto orbital rate maneuver was completed at 123:58:25 and maneuver was started at 123:58:31.
Auto orbital rate maneuver was stopped at 124:50:13.
Orbital rate was kept succesfully during this S-065 photography pass.

(Mexico):
Maneuver for S-65 photography was started at 125:31:43 via V49 and completed via manual maneuver with RHC to be able to increase the pitch rate. Attitude was R000.21, P356.91, Y359.47. Procedure to enable auto orbital rate maneuver was completed at 125:38:52 and maneuver was started at 125:38:52.
Auto orbital rate maneuver was stopped at 125:51:11.
Orbital rate was kept succesfully during this S-065 photography pass.

G&N Power down:
Procedures to power down the Guidance and control systems of the spacecraft in preparation for the next night in space were started at 127:02:00.
Crew started an 8 hour sleep cycle starting at 130:31:00 GET.

 

[STS]

Flight day 7:
Crew woke up for the second, but a little bit more busy "mega-cruise" day of the mission at 138:33:30 GET. Activities for the day would be the following:

1. G&N power up
2. Landmark tracking
3. G&N power down

G&N power up:
Prodecures to power up the guidance and navigation systems for the spacecraft started at 139:50:10 and completed at 140:06:30.

Landmark tracking:
At revolutions 91, 92, 93 and 94, P22 landmark tracking was exercised, with much better technique than on Apollo 7 and using the learned knowledge from Apollo 7 and 8. It was observed that the format MCC prints on screen does not match the format on the flightplan document, so a picture of the PADs was taken:

Data for the landmark tracking is as follows:
Revolution 91:

GET (T2 35º)	Landmark	DR	DV	SV Updated (Y/N)
143:03:55	21 (Corpus Christi, Texas, US)	+00044	+00000	Y (Not stored)
143:22:31	207 (Punta Dumford, Spanish Sahara at that time)	+00026	+00187	Y (Not stored)
143:35:46	255 (Ruzizi River, Burundi)	+00006	+00037	Y (Not stored)

Revolution 92:

GET (T2 35º)	Landmark	DR	DV	SV Updated (Y/N)
144:34:06	10 (Punta Yoyameko, Mexico)	+00002	+00000	Y (Not stored)
144:41:49	42 (Cape Fear, North Carolina, US)	+00010	+00151	Y (Not stored)
144:58:05	212 (Pt. Hunier, Guinea)	+00007	+00073	Y (Not stored)
145:06:27	222 (Punta de Ilha, Angola)	+00003	+00031	Y (Not stored)

Revolution 93:

GET (T2 35º)	Landmark	DR	DV	SV Updated (Y/N)
145:57:10	2 (Cape Halawa, Hawaii, US)	+00001	+00000	Y (Not stored)
146:06:27	5 (Santa Catalina, California, US)	+00004	+00061	Y (Not stored)
146:14:33	44 (Mc Kinnon Airport, Georgia, US)	+00011	+00119	Y (Not stored)

Revolution 94:

GET (T2 35º)	Landmark	DR	DV	SV Updated (Y/N)
147:40:08	6 (Pt Loma, California, US)	+00003	+00000	Y (Not stored)
147:45:08	20 (Scholes Field, Texas, US)	+00023	+00531	Y (Not stored)
147:51:19	67 (Point Chimanche, Dominican Republic)	+00013	+00172	Y (Not stored)
148:01:21	139 (Punta de Mucuripe, Brazil)	+00002	+00027	Y (Not stored)

G&N power down:
Procedures to power down the guidance and control of the spacecraft for another night in space were started at 149:00:00 and completed at 149:05:45.
After various housekeeping procedures (for example, fuel cell purges, and finding ways to kill time), crew started an 7 and a half hours sleep period at 154:25:00.

 

[STS]

Flight day 8:
Crew woke up for the third day on the "Earth cartography" phase of the mission at 162:01:00 GET. Activities for the day would be as follows:

1. G&N power up
2. SPS-7 burn
3. Jupiter and Uranus observation through Optics
4. S-065 pictures (SW US, Mexico, Brazil)
5. G&N power down

G&N power up:
Prodecures to power up the guidance and navigation systems for the spacecraft started at 166:10:10. CMC didn´t wake up properly, displaying F 50 25 and code 00062 after the DSKY came up after keeping pressed the PRO button. As this was known that could happen, as it did on previous missions, the following was done:

• V69E
• (Master Alarm, F 37, PROG and RESTART lights)
• 00E
• V05 N09E (07777)
• RSET
• V16 N38E (Monitor propagation)

Procedures were complete at 166:30:00.

SPS-7 burn:
PAD for SPS-7 burn, wich was intended to change to a 210*97 orbit and prepare it for the deorbit burn was obtained at 168:07:00 GET and was as follows:

MANEUVER UPDATE (P30)
SPS-7 PURPOSE
+00169 HR TIG N33
+00047 MIN
+019.61 SEC
+0134.9 DVX LOCAL VERT N81
+0000.0 DVY
+0125.8 DVZ
+0184.5 DVR N42
+0169.4 DVC
0:07.3 BT
+27221 CSM WT N47
-000.89 PTRM N48
-001.24 YTRM
24 SXTS
203.39 SFT
23.506 TRUN
-012.94 LAT NAV CHECK
+146.84 LON
+0128.5 ALT
000 R
000 P
000 Y
Remarks: None

An state vector was uplinked from MCC, and P21 agreed with the NAV Check portion of the SPS-7 maneuver PAD.
SPS-7 burn prediction was obtained at GET 168:31:15 and was:

HA +0212.9
HP +0095.1
DVR +0184.5

Star check was passed at TIG-38 minutes.
Burn was performed using SPS at GET 169:47:20. Both banks were used. Residuals as follows:

-00001
+00007
-00014
EMS Counter: -14.8

Residuals were trimmed, ending in:

-00000
-00002
-00002

Post SPS-7 orbit was:

HA +0213.9
HP +0095.0

SPS Oxid and fuel were 10,9%, and no unballance after SPS-7. 2 jets 18 seconds ullage was used, SPS-7 was declared a good burn.

Jupiter and Uranus observation through Optics:
Crew experimented with P52 and a vector to observe Jupiter and Uranus. This was also done on the actual mission. To make the observation, P52 was started in Option 3, star code 0 was entered after the F 50 25, so that it asked for the vector with F06 N88. The following vector was entered:

-49931
-02599
+00363

However, this same procedure had to be repeated as the OPTICS ZERO switch was not put in off so we got a F51 after entering the vector.
Some maneuvering of the spacecraft on roll was required, as optics were ot of range when I entered the vector. Observation was achieved at 170:51:18 GET:

Jupiter and 5 moons were visible, and a planet whose name cannot be pronounced.

S-065 pictures (SW US, Mexico, Brazil):
(SW US):
Maneuver for S-65 photography was started at 171:01:01 via V49, and completed via manual maneuver with RHC. Attitude was R180.12, P063.48, Y000.17. Procedure to enable auto orbital rate maneuver was completed at 171:08:17 and maneuver was started at 171:11:43.
Auto orbital rate maneuver was stopped at 171:35:25.
Orbital rate was kept succesfully during this S-065 photography pass.

(Mexico, Brazil):
Maneuver for S-65 photography was started at 172:24:37 via V49. Attitude was R180.29, P024.83, Y000.30. Procedure to enable auto orbital rate maneuver was completed at 172:32:10 and maneuver was started at 172:51:52.
Auto orbital rate maneuver was stopped at 173:14:28.
Orbital rate was kept succesfully during this S-065 photography pass.

G&N power down:
Procedures to power down the guidance and control of the spacecraft for another night in space were started at 174:18:20 and completed at 174:22:40.
Crew started a 6 and a half hours sleep period at 177:54:00.

 

[STS]

Flight day 9:
Crew woke up for another day of Earth observations at 184:24:00 GET. Activities for the day would be as follows:

1. G&N power up
2. S-065 pictures (Mexico, South East US, Africa, South West US)
3. HGA Antenna testing
4. G&N power down

G&N power up:
Prodecures to power up the guidance and navigation systems for the spacecraft started at 187:01:33 and completed at 187:18:00. No issue this time.

S-065 pictures (Mexico, South East US, Africa, South West US):
(Mexico, South East US, Africa):
Maneuver for S-65 photography was started at 190:18:08 via V49. Attitude was R179.68, P358.63, Y000.18. Procedure to enable auto orbital rate maneuver was completed at 190:26:00 and maneuver was started at 190:29:24.
Auto orbital rate maneuver was stopped at 191:15:50.
Orbital rate was kept succesfully during this S-065 photography pass.

(South west US):
Maneuver for S-65 photography was started at 191:45:08 via V49. Attitude was R179.91, P352.27, Y000.09. Procedure to enable auto orbital rate maneuver was completed at 192:03:00 and maneuver was started at the same time.
Auto orbital rate maneuver was stopped at 192:18:04.
Orbital rate was kept succesfully during this S-065 photography pass.

HGA Antenna testing:
As the Service Module of the Gumdrop spacecraft featured an HGA a test was performed using Canarvon and Hawaii tracking stations. Here are the angles of the HGA at AOS and LOS for each station:

Canarvon AOS: 193:04:23, Pitch -30 Yaw 90
Canarvon LOS: 193:12:34, Pitch 0, Yaw 360

Hawaii AOS: 193:31:23, Pitch -30 Yaw 100
Hawaii LOS: 193:37:49, Pitch -30, Yaw -180

G&N power down:
Procedures to power down the guidance and control of the spacecraft for another night in space were started at 198:51:21 and completed at 198:55:20.
Crew started a 7 hours sleep period at 200:49:00.

 

[STS]

Flight day 10:
Wake up for the final full day on orbit occured at 207:40:30. Activities for this FD would be as follows:

1. G&N power up
2. S-065 pictures (Northern Mexico, Southern United States, Southern Africa, Southern United States)
3. PTC test
4. Lunar module ascent stage observation
5. G&N power down

G&N power up:
Prodecures to power up the guidance and navigation systems for the spacecraft started at 211:00:28 and completed at 211:16:00.

S-065 pictures (Northern Mexico, Southern United States, Southern Africa, Southern United States):
(Northern Mexico, Southern United States, Southern Africa)
Maneuver for S-65 photography was started at 214:14:26 via V49. Attitude was R179.81, P327.23, Y000.30. Procedure to enable auto orbital rate maneuver was completed at 214:22:37 and maneuver was started at 214:41:10.
Orbital rate was NOT kept succesfully during this S-065 photography pass. Manual intervention was required to keep the required attitude.
Orbital rate maneuver was stopped at 214:53:00, where procedure for auto orbital rate was restarted, with successful rate at 214:55:59.
Orbital rate maneuver was stopped at 215:16:00.

(Southern United States/New Mexico)
Maneuver for S-65 photography was started at 215:50:48 via V49. Attitude was R179.63, P339.91, Y000.47. Procedure to enable auto orbital rate maneuver was completed at 215:59:27 and maneuver was started at 216:05:00.
Auto orbital rate maneuver was stopped at 216:19:08.
Orbital rate was kept succesfully during this S-065 photography pass.

PTC test:
Prodecures for some PTC testing were started at 218:26:00. PTC roll was started with an attitude of R0, P231.7, Y0, at 0.1º per second to the right, at 218:35:55. Deadband was changed to 10º at 218:41:43. Deadband was changed to 20º at 220:10:55 GET. Deadband was changed to 2.5º at 220:23:45. Deadband was changed to 20º at 220:27:20. PTC was stopped at 221:06:00 GET, completing this first test.
Procedure was started again at 221:16:20, with attitude R190, P240, Y0 and deadband 20º. Roll was started at 221:23:08, by deflecting the RHC to force initiate the roll. It was to the left this time. Deadband was changed to 25º at 221:49:00. PTC was concluded at 222:10:10.

Lunar module ascent stage observation:
An attempt to observe Spider´s ascent stage through the optics was done at 222:25:00. Spider was not visible.

G&N power down:
Procedures to power down the guidance and control of the spacecraft for another night in space were started at 222:54:00 and completed at 222:59:40.
Crew started a 9 hours sleep period at 223:30:00.

 

[STS]

Flight day 11
Crew wake up, concluding the last sleep cycle aboard the CSM Gumdrop occured at 232:00:00. Breakfast was taken on the following half hour.
Activities for FD11 would be the following:

1. G&N power up
2. Deorbit preparations
3. SPS-8 burn (deorbit) (on planned orbit, not as actual mission)
4. LEO Entry (Daylight)
5. Post splashdown & crew egress

G&N Power up:
Procedures to power up the guidance and navigation systems, one last time, were started at 232:59:50 and completed by 233:12:35.

Deorbit preparations:
For deorbit preparation, the following procedures were performed:

1. Primary glycol evaporator activation. (234:26:10)
2. P51 IMU orientation and align. (234:46:00)
3. ECS Monitoring check (235:29:00) (Result: Nominal)
4. EPS Monitoring check (235:32:45) (Result: Nominal)
5. SPS Monitoring check (235:38:40) (Result: Nominal; SPS line heater was put on A)
6. SM & CM RTS Monitoring check (235:39:45) (Result: Nominal; CM RCS was not activated yet, but checks passed)
7. C&W system check (235:41:30) (Result: Nominal)
8. CMC Self check and DSKY condition lights check (235:42:00) (Result: Nominal)
9. P52 and GDC align (236:10:00)

SPS-8 maneuver pad was received, also an Entry PAD and were as follows:

MANEUVER UPDATE (P30)
151-1A RETROFIRE PURPOSE
+00238 HR TIG N33
+00021 MIN
+058.62 SEC
-0183.3 DVX LOCAL VERT N81
+0000.0 DVY
+0209.9 DVZ
+0278.7 DVR N42
+0263.0 DVC
0:10.7 BT
+26655 CSM WT N47
-000.89 PTRM N48
-001.35 YTRM
07 SXTS
038.47 SFT
14.720 TRUN
-016.41 LAT NAV CHECK
+044.27 LON
+0119.7 ALT
180 R
180 P
000 Y
Remarks: None

ENTRY UPDATE
PREBURN
151-1A AREA
-15.3 DV TO
000 R400K
026 P400K
000 Y400K
+1192.5 RTGO .05G
+25942 VIO .05G
21:37 RET .05G
+029.74 LAT
-059.90 LONG
22:14 RET .2G
-0308.9 DRE (55º) N66
22:31 RETBBO
25:54 RETEBO
29:54 RETDROG
POSTBURN
(All zeros)

Deorbit preparation checks continued at around 237:22:00 GET, 1 hour to go for the Deorbit burn. CM RCS Preheat was required and was started at 237:23:22 GET. After that, EMS test was performed with succesful result.
To conclude the preparations, CM RCS preheat was concluded at GET 237:42:25.

SPS-8 burn (deorbit):
SPS-8 burn prediction was obtained at GET 137:52:43 and was:

HA +0218.1
HP -0003.9
DVR +0278.7

Burn was performed using SPS at GET 238:21:58. Both banks were used. Residuals as follows:

-00009
+00022
-00006
EMS Counter: -16.3

Residuals were trimmed, ending in:

-00000
-00000
+00000
EMS Counter: -15.4

SPS Oxid and fuel were 9,2%, and no unballance after SPS-8. 4 jets 15 seconds ullage was used, SPS-8 was declared a good burn.

LEO Entry:
Post deorbit burn orbit was:

HA +0218.6
HP -0004.7

After initializing EMS for entry (mistake was done because VIO was set to 24.9 instead of 25.9) and checking the EMS roll and RSI, CM RCS was hotfired at 238:31:25.
SM was separated at 238:32:52 GET. Post-Burn Entry PAD was received:

ENTRY UPDATE
POSTBURN
000 R400k
+1192.2 RTGO .05G
+25942 VIO .05G
21:37 RET .05G
22:14 RET .2G
-0308.5 DRE +/-100NM N66
22:31 RETBBO
25:53 RETEBO
29:54 RETDROG

Crew noted that flying the CM with a joystick was much better than on previous missions where I was using the keyboard.
Gumdrop entered the atmosphere at 238:43:36 GET. Max G during entry was 3.
Drogues opened at 238:52:11.
Mains opened at 238:53:13.
Splashdown occured at 238:58:13.

Post splashdown & crew egress:
After one more time completing the post splashdown procedures, hatch was opened at 239:23:56 and crew egress occured at 239:24:21. I think the only minor mistake done is that I reentered without installing the couches.

Final comments:
Apollo 9 has been a challenge of mission both to train (had to learn the LM and it was a great experience that I couldn´t wait for) and to execute. As you know, on this one I had two extra months of time because the launch had to be pushed forward into january, and in a certain point I could do the mission from memory. When I started training the mission in around june 2022 I didn´t know at all how the mission was, and by the second practise run I did around october I got a very nice idea of how the whole mission fitted together.
I would like to take another chance to give thanks to the NASSP community, who helped me to learn the LM pretty quick, and also during my first series of rendezvouses I did with the LM. During the practise runs and also some of the specific training we found again some obscure bugs or issues that normally don´t trigger, but that is one of the reasons that I do these real-time simulations: to make NASSP even more perfect.
The last four days of the mission were hard in terms of boredom, because the workload was extremely low, but helped me to get experience of how to deal with that and that would help me on future missions (Spoiler, Apollo 10). But that boredom can only happen on these real time simulations, and maybe is one of the things where simulation is harder than real life. (On the real CM I think that you could be entertained more easily than sitting in front of a computer, on those long hours of low workload).
I took an extra time to complete this mission debrief because for some reason that I would have to discuss with myself I felt extremely lazy to complete it, since the reform of my flat was complete in march this year (took around 1 month and a half) and I wrote the first five flight days of the debrief using just my laptop. But after I could use the PC again I had to start training for 10 quickly, because I wanted to launch on may 18th. But I don´t know exactly why I fell on the laziness pit here.
I started posting some screenshots of the mission, and will process the run´s quicksaves this week. Then I will debrief 10 while I train for the big mission.

As I said on 10 on the goodbye (last) TV transmission, I think with these runs we are somehow recreating the experiences from the Apollo program and from an era that should not be forgotten, but that unfortunately I think that is being forgotten (I mean, the great times of space exploration: the good years of Apollo and Shuttle...). But I always talk in plural here because it´s not me who is doing this, I just execute it. It´s you, the NASSP community, the Orbiter community and the viewers and readers that make everything possible, and that helped me push ahead and keep motivated through those long hours, especially on this mission.

See you around and remember: NASSP4Life!

 

[STS]

Well, here are the raw quicksaves, names unprocessed.
Incoming the processed names, around next sunday!

 

[STS]

Mission is finally complete!
Adding processed quicksaves, wich means, more friendly names.
Also sharing the EMS scroll save:

Best regards,