MEMO FOR (Sanitized) FROM DAVID WILLIAMSON, JR.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP71R00510A000300190013-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 10, 2005
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: February 28, 1968
• Content Type: MF

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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20546
2 8 FEB 1968
Following up on our discussion of Monday, February 26,
I am forwarding a short paper on the upcoming Apollo 6
mission.
I believe it covers all the points of interest
to your Committee, but if you have any questions or
comments we will be glad to respond. Mr. Krueger can
be reached on Code 13-24707, and my number is Code 13-37297.
David Williamson, Jr.
NASA review completed
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PHOTOGRAPHIC ASPECTS OF NASA
MANNED SPACE FLIGHT MISSIONS
'1. Background
The Project Mercury and Project Gemini manned flight programs
were characterized by a large volume of significant space photography
acquired for engineering, scientific, and public information purposes.
Photographic subjects ranged from equipment functions to meteorological
conditions, from astronaut activities to terrain, from astronomy to
oceanography.
Terrain photography experiments have been particularly important
in the Gemini series, identifying the potential values of small-scale
color coverage of very large areas of the world for earth resources
survey applications. While the hand-held cameras used by the Gemini
astronauts were not highly sophisticated, these instruments-had the
advantages of light weight, flexibility, and low cost; their publicized
use from orbit resulted in no unfavorable international reactions.
With Project Apollo now beginning its flight phase in earnest,
it is timely to review the photographic elements of the upcoming missions.
2. Apollo
The flight program calls for several unmanned earth orbital test
flights to qualify the flight systems, followed by manned earth orbital
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flights of increasing difficulty to qualify and train the flight crews
and their ground support elements. The lunar mission attempts would
then follow.
It is expected that, in Apollo as in the earlier missions, photo-
graphy from space of the earth, moon, and stars will be continued,
although at a lower level of activity commensurate with the lunar mission
orientation of the program; the Mercury and Gemini projects were only
earth orbital in capability.
Apollo 5
The first unmanned Apollo missions were reentry and guidance
tests using "boiler-plate" spacecraft; the first of these to carry
engineering photography equipment was the first Saturn V mission flown
last year in a highly elliptical orbit. The unmanned Apollo 5 had on
board a fixed, automatically operated Maurer multi-exposure camera
focused through the spacecraft window. The camera was activated near
apogee, at an altitude of some 10,000 nautical miles, and exposed its
film during the entire terminal phase of the mission. The film was
routinely recovered from the spacecraft after its parachute descent,
sea landing, and subsequent pick-up by the aircraft carrier Bennington.
The purpose of the Maurer photography was to verify the actual
response of the spacecraft to the pre-programmed altitude control
commands by comparison of the film record with the theoretical performance.
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The film records actual spacecraft attitude changes and rates from
the fixed camera within the spacecraft in terms of angular motion
of the imaged earth being photographed through the window.
Apollo 6
The unmanned Apollo 6 mission scheduled for March 21, 1968,
will also carry a Maurer camera to record engineering data on
spacecraft orientation. Apollo 6 will first fly two circular orbits
at an altitude of 100 nautical miles and then begin the high altitude
portion of the mission. The background of the spacecraft window
through which the fixed camera is focused will be the earth sub-
satellite track for the majority of one complete orbit. In order
to make maximum use of the mission, it is expected that the engineering
film data will also be used by the earth resources survey program
participants to provide an insight into the value of this class of
photography for each of their disciplines. It is expected that the
more interesting photographs will have a significant public information
value.
Apollo 6 Photography
The on-board Maurer camera timer is automatically activated
by the acceleration of the spacecraft at launch. The interval between
timer activation and first exposure is approximately 90 minutes, or
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at the beginning of the second orbit. The camera then operates
automatically at the rate of one frame (or exposure) every 8.5 seconds
until the full 180-foot film supply is exhausted, or about 2 hours.
The orbital inclination of 32.5? means that the spacecraft will
encounter both day and night locally as it moves eastward around the
earth. Because the camera operates continuously, some 50% of the
photography will be of un-illuminat:ed areas.
With an 8.5-second interval between exposures, there will be an v
overlap of approximately 55% between the individual frames; this will
permit stereo analysis of the imagery. Each frame covers an area
approximately 75 nautical miles on a side. Because of the overlap,
each fram actually includes an advance cf 34 nautical miles along
the satellite's ground trace. A continuous strip 75 nautical miles
wide can be photographed around the globe, but because of spacecraft
attitude changes, only approximately 21,000 nautical miles of the
earth trace will be covered.
The trace on the enclosed map indicates the nominal path of the
spacecraft in the low-orbit phase. The trace is marked to indicate
the initiation and termination of photography and the local day-night
condition. The attached table provides the list of significant areas
over which the spacecraft will pass while recording photography; the
approximate times of passage are given in both Eastern Standard (EST)
and Local Standard Times (LST), using the 24-hour notation.
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In summary, the major photographic coverage of interest will be
from the northwest to southeast swath across Africa, starting with
Mauritania and ending with Malagasy.
The fine grain color film proposed for use is either S0121
(preferred) or S0368. The maximum angular resolution of the system
is expected to be on the order 0.3 milliradians; under the best
conditions of sun angle and atmospheric calm, an object on the order
of 125 by 125 feet might be detected but could not be identified.
Average ground resolution for detection is expected to be on the order
of 150 to 200 feet; identification is limited to objects several times
larger than the detection threshold. For earth resource survey
experimentation, this photography should provide a first approximation
of the data quality that future experimental satellites may provide
on a systematic, longer duration basis.
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APOLLO 6 SUBSATELLITE TRACE DURING EARTH PHOTOGRAPHY
Initiation of photography
EST LST
New Orleans,'La.
0835
0735
Savannah, Ga.
0837
0837
Bermuda
0843
0943
Nouakchott, Mauritania
0854
1254
Bamako, Mali
0855
1355
Batie, Upper Volta
0858
1358
Lake Volta, Ghana
0858
1358
Lome, Togo
0900
1500
Porto Nove, Dahomey
0900
1500
Gulf of Guinea
Bata Rio Muni )
Libreville, Gabon)
0900
1500
Congo
0902
1602
Banningville, Kinshasa
0902
1602
Tshikapa, Kinshasa
0905
1605
Lubumbashi, Kinshasa
0907
1607
Zambesi River, Zambia
0908
1708
Zomba, Malawi
0909
1709
Antonio Enex, Mozambique
0910
1710
Belo, Malagasy
0912
1712
Australian Coast (north of Perth)
0928
2228
Ayr, Australia
0935
2435
Gilbert Islands
0947
0347
Hawaii, U. S.
0954
0454
Baja California, Mexico
1004
0704
Tuscon., Arizona
1005
0805
End'of earth photography
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