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Some Abort Techniques and Procedures for Manned SpacecraftThis paper is concerned with our present state of knowledge on the procedures and effectiveness of aborts from manned orbital and lunar missions. By abort is meant a deliberate or unintentional termination of the primary mission followed by an expedient return to earth of the payload (spacecraft and crew). A deliberate abort may be initiated if a critical component failed and thus impaired the probability of mission success or the crew's safety. Examples of this kind of abort are failure of the launch guidance system or the oxygen and cabin pressure system. Also, an unintentional abort may occur during the launch phase due to the complete or partial failure of one of the launch-vehicle stages to operate. For each mission every conceivable set of circumstances must be considered and evaluated to see if an abort of the mission is called for and to determine what sequence of events should occur to bring the spacecraft and crew safely back to earth with the highest probability of success. Factors which must be considered are: how to specify and sense an abort condition, how much fuel should be put onboard the vehicle for abort purposes, what size and kind of rocket engines are best suited for each mission, and what compromise is incurred due to other mission requirements? If an abort occurs, the optimum time of application as well as the magnitude and direction of the velocity changes must be determined beforehand and the crew must be clearly informed of what action is required or what the situation is so that they can decide the proper action.
Document ID
19620002834
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
John M Eggleston
(Manned Spacecraft Center Houston, Texas, United States)
Date Acquired
August 1, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1962
Publication Information
Publication: Proceedings of the National Meeting on Manned Space Flight (Unclassified Portion)
Publisher: Institute of the Aerospace Sciences
Subject Category
Space Transportation And Safety
Meeting Information
Meeting: National IAS Meeting on Man''s Progress in the Conquest of Space
Location: St. Louis, MO
Country: US
Start Date: April 30, 1962
End Date: May 2, 1962
Sponsors: Institute of the Aerospace Sciences, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Accession Number
62N12834
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Maneuver
Manned spacecraft
Abort trajectory
Guidance
Spacecraft
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