Posts: 4014 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 10-24-2019 07:55 AM
Was the slide wire emergency egress system in place at the 320-foot level of the launch umbilical tower (LUT) at Pad 39A when Apollo 16 had to be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Jan. 27, 1972?
Was the slide wire system installed once (after rollout 2), or twice (after rollout 1 and again after rollout 2) at the pad?
LM-12 Member
Posts: 4014 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 10-24-2019 11:01 PM
Here is some film footage of the rollback to the VAB. Nice footage.
LM-12 Member
Posts: 4014 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 10-26-2019 01:38 PM
These Apollo 16 rollout photos in the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal have the wrong dates:
Photo KSC-72P-66 shows rollout 2 and is dated Feb 8, 1972. The second rollout was actually on Feb 9.
Photo S72-19795 is described as the second rollout and is dated Feb 9. It is actually the first rollout on Dec 13, 1971.
LM-12 Member
Posts: 4014 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 10-29-2019 06:12 AM
The Apollo 16 rollback did not delay the launch. The launch date was changed from March 17 to April 16 before the command module RCS fuel system leak on Jan 25. From the January 12, 1972 news release:
Apollo 16 was rescheduled from a March 17 launch after problems were discovered with a suit fitting, a lunar module battery, and the docking ring jettison device on the command module.
LM-12 Member
Posts: 4014 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 10-29-2019 11:43 PM
The first 45 seconds of this film clip show scenes of the rollback and the command module with the heatshield removed in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building.
LM-12 Member
Posts: 4014 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 10-31-2019 02:35 PM
The slide wire cables can be seen in this December 1971 photo of Apollo 16 on the pad, so the emergency egress system at the 320-foot level of LUT-3 must have been installed twice.
LM-12 Member
Posts: 4014 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 11-01-2019 09:43 PM
The National Archives has these relevant films (not available online):
KSC - Apollo 16 Rollout
KSC - Apollo 16 Vehicle Rollback to the VAB for Fuel Tank Installation in the CM
KSC - Apollo 16 Spacecraft De-Mating and Move to Workstand
KSC - Apollo 16 Spacecraft 113 Re-Work Activities, Reinstalling Heat Shield and Rollout from MSOB to VAB
KSC - Apollo 16 Spacecraft Re-Stacking and Docking Ring Modifications, High Bay, VAB
KSC - Apollo 16 Vehicle Rollback to the Pad (Rollout 2)
LM-12 Member
Posts: 4014 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 11-14-2019 04:51 PM
At what point in the Pad 39 processing schedule did the Apollo 16 rollback occur?
LM-12 Member
Posts: 4014 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 10-31-2024 11:14 PM
From a January 2022 NASA History article:
Above: The Apollo 16 spacecraft exits the Vehicle Assembly Building on its way to the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB) at Kennedy Space Center.
On Jan. 25, during a test at Launch Pad 39A, workers accidentally over pressurized a fuel tank in the Command Module’s reaction control system. The resulting damage required a replacement of the tank, an activity that could not be performed at the pad. On Jan. 27, the entire Saturn V rolled back from the pad to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), only the second time a Moon rocket returned to the VAB while at the pad for testing – the first took place in June 1966, to keep the Saturn 500F test vehicle out of harm’s way of an approaching hurricane – and the one and only time with a flight vehicle.
Once in the VAB, workers first removed the Launch Escape System tower and then destacked the spacecraft from the Saturn V rocket, trucking it to the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB). In the MSOB, technicians demated the Command Module from the Service Module, removed its heat shield, and replaced the damaged fuel tank. The repair completed, workers reversed the process to reassemble the spacecraft, stacked it on top of the Saturn V rocket, and rolled the assembled vehicle back to the pad in two weeks, in time to support the April 16 launch date.
LM-12 Member
Posts: 4014 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 11-01-2024 07:43 AM
The fuel tank was damaged during the final portion of the combined systems test. From Spaceport News:
The teflon bladder inside the tank was damaged during the helium pressurization test. There was no propellant aboard the spacecraft at the time.
Also, pyrotechnic modification to the CM docking ring will be made while the spacecraft is in a protected area.
posted 10-24-2019 07:55 AM
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