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Apollo 10 (AS-505)
Man's Nearest Lunar Approach

The Apollo 10 spacecraft was launched from Cape Kennedy at 12:49 p.m., EDT, on May 18, 1969. This liftoff marked the fourth manned Apollo launch in the short space of seven months. After the spacecraft completed one and a half revolutions of the Earth, the S-IVB booster stage was reignited to increase the speed of the spacecraft to the velocity required to escape the gravitational attraction of the Earth. Three days later, the spacecraft was placed in a 60- by 170-nautical miles orbit around the Moon. After the spacecraft completed two revolutions of the Moon, orbit was circularized to 60 nautical miles by a second burn of the service propulsion system.
Nineteen color television transmissions (totaling 5 hours 52 minutes) of remarkable quality provided the world audience the best exposure yet to spacecraft activities and spectacular views of the earth and the moon.
On the fifth day of the mission, Astronauts Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene A. Cernan descended in the lunar module to an altitude of less than 47,000 feet (14,326 meters) above the Moon. At this altitude, two passes were made over the future Apollo 11 landing site. The ascent and descent stages then completed a successful rendezvous with Astronaut John W. Young in the command module.
During the mission, the astronauts obtained hundreds of still photographs and exposed many reels of motion-picture film.
On May 24, the service propulsion system was reignited, and the astronauts began the return journey to Earth. Splashdown occurred at 12:52 p.m. on May 26, 1969, less than 4 miles (6.4 km) from the target point and the recovery ship.
From NASA SP-232, Analysis of Apollo 10 photography and visual observations.
Mission patch
Factoids
  • Lunar Module - Snoopy ; Command and Service Module - Charlie Brown
  • Demonstration of color TV camera.
  • The eight-day, lunar orbit mission marked the first time the complete Apollo spacecraft had operated around the Moon and the second manned flight for the lunar module.
  • Two Apollo 10 astronauts descended to within eight nautical miles of the Moon's surface, the closest approach ever to another celestial body.
  • All aspects of Apollo 10 duplicated conditions of the lunar landing mission as closely as possible--Sun angles at Apollo Site 2, the out-and-back flight path to the Moon, and the time line of mission events. Apollo 10 differed from Apollo 11 in that no landing was made on the Moon's surface.
  • The mission was the third space flight for Stafford (Gemini VI and IX) and Young (Gemini 3 and X), and the second for Cernan (Gemini IX).
  • The backup crew was Commander L. Gordon Cooper, Command Module Pilot Donn F. Eisele and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar D. Mitchell.
  • Apollo 10 was the only Apollo mission to launch from Launch Complex 39B.
  • Maximum separation between the LM and the CSM during the rendezvous sequence was about 350 miles (563 km) and provided an extensive checkout of the LM rendezvous radar as well as the backup VHS ranging device aboard the CSM, flown for the first time on Apollo 10.
  • Mission Duration: 192 hours 3 minutes 23 seconds.

    • Images from mission
    Standard figures from Press Release package.

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    Michael J. Tuttle, June 16, 1995