Ye Olde Rocket Forum

Go Back   Ye Olde Rocket Forum > The Golden Age of Model Rocketry > Model Rocket History
User Name
Password
Auctions Register FAQ Members List Calendar Today's Posts Search Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 03-07-2012, 12:45 PM
falingtrea falingtrea is offline
Old Rocketeer
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 135
Default Intersting article about Grumman and LEM design

I got a link to an interesting article about Grumman and LEM development . Lot of stuff I never new, like the legs were designed to be compressed on landing. But since they had such good pilots, the legs never were fully compressed so they had to jump to the lunar surface.
__________________
Tim Barr
NAR 51403 SR
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-07-2012, 01:15 PM
Earl's Avatar
Earl Earl is offline
Apollo Nut
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 4,893
Default

Yes, instead of developing some type of (probably) heavier shock absorbing system, they placed a honeycomb compressable struture material inside each leg 'shaft' that would compress some amount upon touchdown and absorb any landing shock loads.

Turns out (as you mention) that landings (in general) were fairly calm events (though one or two astros mention in their autobiographies that it felt like they hit with a pretty decent thump at touchdown).

In turn, the compressible material did not compress quite as much as they thought and therefore it left a bit longer of a 'drop' from the last rung of the ladder down to the footpad at the base of the landing leg.

Conrad on Apollo 12 even famously quipped "Man, that may have been a short one for Neil, but it was a long one for me!" (Conrad was one of the shorter of the Apollo astronauts and word was he even had a bet that he'd say something fairly less dignified than Neil did with his first step).

His first step comments were somewhat comical but also true due to the long step between that last rung and the footpad.

Earl
__________________
Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-07-2012, 03:31 PM
chrism chrism is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Greenville, PA
Posts: 1,291
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by falingtrea
I got a link to an interesting article about Grumman and LEM development . Lot of stuff I never new, like the legs were designed to be compressed on landing. But since they had such good pilots, the legs never were fully compressed so they had to jump to the lunar surface.


In the mini-series, "From the Earth to the Moon"by Tom Hanks, there was a great episode about the design and building of the LM. The engineers has to invent the tools to build it. This is a great series to watch.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:37 PM.


Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.0.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe © 1998-2024