Apollo and America's Moon Landing Program: Catalog of Apollo Experiment Operations (NASA Reference Publication 1317) ALSEP, Geology and Microgravity Experiments

This official NASA document - converted for accurate flowing-text ebook format reproduction - provides comprehensive information on the lunar and microgravity experiments on the Apollo moon missions, including the ALSEP experiment package. This ebook is an invaluable addition to the library of anyone interested in the Apollo moon landings.

The author writes: "This catalog reviews Apollo mission reports, preliminary science reports, technical crew debriefings, lunar surface operations plans, and various relevant lunar experiment documents, collecting engineering and operation-specific information by experiment. It is organized by discrete experimental and equipment items emplaced or operated on the lunar surface or at zero gravity during the Apollo missions. It also attempts to summarize some of the general problems encountered on the surface and provides guidelines for the design of future lunar surface experiments with an eye toward operations. Many of the problems dealt with on the lunar surface originated from just a few novel conditions that manifested themselves in various nasty ways. Low gravity caused cables to stick up and get caught on feet, and also made it easy for instruments to tip over. Dust was a problem and caused abrasion, visibility, and thermal control difficulties. Operating in a pressure suit limited a person's activity, especially in the hands. I hope to capture with this document some of the lessons learned from the Apollo era to make the jobs of future astronauts, principal investigators, engineers, and operators of lunar experiments more productive."

Contents include: Part I - Lunar Surface Experiment Operations During Apollo Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) * Active Seismic Experiment * Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) - General Information * Cameras - General Information * Charged Particle Lunar Environment Experiment * Cold Cathode Gauge Experiment * Cosmic Ray Detector Experiment/Lunar Surface Cosmic Ray Experiment * Dust Detector Experiment * Early Apollo Surface Experiments Package (EASEP) - General Information * Far Ultraviolet (UV) Camera/Spectrograph * Gravimeter, Lunar Surface * Gravimeter, Traverse * Heat Flow Experiment * Laser Ranging Retroreflector * Lunar Atmosphere Composition Experiment * Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites Experiment * Lunar Geology Experiment - General Information * Lunar Geology Experiment - Tools * Lunar Neutron Probe Experiment * Lunar Rover Vehicle - General Information * Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment * Magnetometer, Lunar Surface * Magnetometer, Portable * Miscellaneous Tools and Equipment * Passive Seismic Experiment (Package) * Soil Mechanics Experiment * Solar Wind Composition Experiment * Solar Wind Spectrometer Experiment * Suprathermal Ion Detector Experiment * Surface Electrical Properties Experiment * Surveyor 3 Retrieval * Thermal Degradation Sample * Part II - Experiment Operations at Microgravity During Trans-Lunar and Trans-Earth Coast * Composite Casting Demonstration, Apollo 14 * Electrophoresis Demonstration, Apollo 14 * Electrophoresis Demonstration, Apollo 16 * Heat Flow and Convection Demonstration, Apollo 14 * Heat Flow and Convection Demonstration, Apollo 17 * Light Flashes Experiment * Liquid Transfer Demonstration, Apollo 14 * Part III - Summary of Lessons Learned and Guidelines for Future Experiments