Apollo-The Last Few Miles Home - AIAA Info

Lessons Learned
• Be wary of programs that think
– Vehicle is stable
– Weight will not increase and volume will not decrease
– Wake is understood
• Its mostly about deployment
– Simplicity, neatness=reliability
– Rounded corners/ no snags
– HiFi mockups required
– Installation training/closeout photos
• How to live with steel risers
• Drop tests—important but difficult
– Need lots of tests to “wring out” system
– Get to system level as soon as possible
– Skipped stage/structural/attitude hard to do
– Free-fall is dangerous
– Must budget for significant retests & lost vehicles
• More Ringsail development needed re lead/lag
• Pilot riser dynamics
• Better analytical tools needed
• Many failures materials & processes
• Intra-system influences can be serious
50