Talk:Apollo 9

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Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 14:32, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Trim some from prime and backup crew information?

In the Crew and key Mission Control personnel subsection: is it really necessary to include the prime crew's birth dates and places, education, and combat experience? This seems to me to be an interruption of flow here; what really counts is their spaceflight (Gemini) experience. (The reader can always navigate the wikilinks to get complete biographical details.) I'd like to strike the following:

McDivitt was born June 10, 1929 in Chicago. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan in 1951. That year, he joined the Air Force, flying 145 combat missions over Korea. [, s]elected as a member of the second group of astronauts in 1962, McDivitt was command pilot of Gemini 4 (1965).[24] Scott, born June 6, 1932 in San Antonio, Texas, earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point,[25] and later received two advanced degrees from MIT.[26] Scott, selected as a Group 3 astronaut in 1963, he flew alongside Neil Armstrong in Gemini 8 (1966), on which the first spacecraft docking was performed.[27] Schweickart[,] was born October 25, 1935 in Neptune, New Jersey. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees in aeronautics from MIT, and served in the Air Force and Air National Guard from 1956 to 1963, when he was selected as a Group 3 astronaut[, was not assigned a Gemini flight and had no previous spaceflight experience]].[28]

Perhaps this was lengthened to provide more balance with the following paragraph about the backup crew, which doesn't contain this info but is inflated with info about how Conrad's crew aquired Alan Bean. This is interesting info, but again not really relevant to Apollo 9 and should be moved to Apollo 12 (which should also have similar Gemini spaceflight experience).

@Wehwalt: @Kees08: would it be acceptable if I made these changes? JustinTime55 (talk) 22:19, 24 July 2019 (UTC)

I'll go with whatever people want.--Wehwalt (talk) 22:23, 24 July 2019 (UTC)

I do not have strong feelings, your proposed change seems fine to me. Kees08 (Talk) 22:54, 24 July 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, guys. I just wanted to discuss my changes before making them, in light of the fact this article just passed FAR. JustinTime55 (talk) 12:17, 25 July 2019 (UTC)

Red helmets during EVA of Apollo 9

Don't know if this question was already asked and answered, perhaps by someone else on the web (??). Anyway, what was the purpose of the vivid red (or deep orange?) colored helmets of both David Scott and Rusty Schweickart during their Extra Vehicular Activities? DannyJ.Caes (talk) 16:59, 26 July 2019 (UTC)

http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum29/HTML/000596.html has some insight here: "They both wore red helmets, in fact all the Apollo astroanuts who performed EVA's wore red helmets, its just that only the Apollo 9 crew didn't have the white thermal covering on them." That's not a WP:RS, but may give some insight that would help track one down. TJRC (talk) 19:01, 26 July 2019 (UTC)

Thank you!!! By the way, the movie Marooned (with Gregory Peck and others) also show red helmets during the EVA performances (it's still an interesting movie which shows the Apollo Applications Program, aka Skylab!). I also remember a painting from Don Davis of an early manned lunar landing, with Apollo-astronaut during LEVA, wearing a red helmet. DannyJ.Caes (talk) 20:02, 27 July 2019 (UTC)

I confess to watching the MST3K version of Marooned recently. It really isn't a bad movie.--Wehwalt (talk) 20:05, 27 July 2019 (UTC)

For what it is worth, I found a more reliable source (a tech news website I think) that cited one of Pickering's photo books that says the same (did not have the thermal covering on it). I have since closed the tab, but you could probably find it if determined :). We could always put something about it in the article if we wanted I suppose. Kees08 (Talk) 21:40, 27 July 2019 (UTC)

Maybe say something in one of the image captions?--Wehwalt (talk) 21:52, 27 July 2019 (UTC)

Was there a special meaning? (the color Red). It could have been Blue, or Green, or Yellow... or not? DannyJ.Caes (talk) 07:00, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

DannyJ.Caes, Given that the commander's stripes beginning on Apollo 13 were similarly red, I'd guess visibility. In the photo of Scott doing the stand-up EVA, the red helmet is striking. Wehwalt (talk) 10:59, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

Mmmmm... I see... More-or-less related: the skyblue colored spacesuits of Chesley Bonestell's astronauts on the surface of rusty colored planet Mars (contrast-colors). DannyJ.Caes (talk) 15:54, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

Unused reference

@Wehwalt: Looks like we do not use Compton, William D. (1989). Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. OCLC 1045558568. SP-4214. Should we make an effort to use it, move it to further reading, or remove it? Kees08 (Talk) 15:04, 27 August 2019 (UTC)

I think we should make an effort to use it, if possible.--Wehwalt (talk) 17:34, 27 August 2019 (UTC)

Interior photo

@Wehwalt: Can you think of any reason not to use the version I created which was later reverted? I assume it was reverted and the file name was reverted for...historical reasons? Even though the file name is against Commons policy..I can always upload as a new file though. File:AS09-20-3104 (21315590814).jpg Kees08 (Talk) 16:50, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

That sounds fine.—Wehwalt (talk) 17:29, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Done. If anyone thinks I did a horrible job correcting the image, let me know, I am not a professional by any means. Kees08 (Talk) 18:33, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Sometimes the NASA number in the file name is the only means by which I can be certain of its identity.--Wehwalt (talk) 19:17, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

I leave the ID in there but add a descriptor to it like I did with the photo that I added it. That is the Commons policy as I understand it. I also usually add the NASA-image template but often forget (there isn't a good way to search Commons with the ID number using that template anyways). Kees08 (Talk) 19:40, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Parameters of SIVb stage - NASA typo?

The stated parameters of the solar orbit of the SIVb stage of approximately 80 x 44 million miles matches what I see in NASA’s mission report for Apollo 9, which is cited as a reference. However, unless NASA had this stage make another engine restart months later, which seems very unlikely, I would think that one of those two values would have to be the distance of the Earth to the sun, about 93 million miles. Indeed, the number 93 appears in this parameter, just after the value of 80, as “80 093 617 miles”. Perhaps the first pair of numbers were accidentally switched, and should have read, “93 080 617 miles”. Also, I think that the stated orbital period of 245 days is close to the orbital period of a 93 x 44 million mile solar orbit, but is much greater than the orbital period of a 80 x 44 million mile orbit. Using an orbital calculator, it appears that an orbit of 93 x 49 million miles would have an orbital period of 245 days, so perhaps the second “4” in the “44” was also a typographical error, and the correct estimate is 49 million miles. As an aside, I doubt that NASA could know the orbital parameters so precisely as it appears, given as though it were known down to the mile, which would require a precision of about one part in a hundred million. 2A01:6500:A101:8106:D006:182:2B7:A658 (talk) 09:29, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

Orloff & Harland, at p. 227, give a slightly different figure, 80,280,952 x 69,417,732 nmi, with a period of 325.8 days. Hawkeye7, do you have some thoughts on this? Wehwalt (talk) 14:44, 26 March 2024 (UTC)