Apollo 10: Mission Details

spacecraft to operate around the Moon. Objectives included a scheduled eight-hour lunar orbit of the separated lunar module, or LM, and descent to about nine miles off the moon’s surface before ascending for rendezvous and docking with the command and service module, or CSM, in about a 70-mile circular lunar orbit.

The first live color TV transmissions to Earth began three hours after launch when Apollo 10 was 3,570 miles from Earth and concluded when the spacecraft was 9,428 miles away. The transmission showed the docking process and the interior of the CSM. About four hours after launch, Apollo 10 separated from the S-IVB sage, which was followed by another telecast from 14,625 miles out.

Stafford and Cernan entered the LM and prepared for the undocking maneuver that occurred on the 12th revolution, a little more than 98 hours into the flight. At about 100 hours, on May 22, the vehicles separated and briefly flew a station-keeping lunar orbit of 66.7 by 71.5 miles. To achieve a simulation of the future Apollo 11 landing, the LM descent engine fired for 27.4 seconds, with 10 percent thrust for the first 15 seconds and 40 percent thrust for the rest.

The ascent engine fired for 15 seconds, lowering the LM apocythion to 53.8 miles, 230 miles behind and below the CSM. The RCS thrusters fired for 27.3 seconds when the LM was 16.9 miles below the CSM and 170.4 miles behind, yielding an orbit of 54.5 by 48.1 miles. To prepare for the terminal phase of rendezvous, the RCS fired again, resulting in an orbit of 17.2 by 81.7 miles.

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