Here is another item you won’t find anywhere online, on the belief that just as we never know where we may end up, it’s best to upload to the cloud while we can.
It’s also food for thought when planning test and shakedown missions to the Moon.
As a launch approached, this quad-fold pamphlet “Apollo 10 The Lunar Module in Lunar Orbit” was likely part of a “press kit” given to employees, the public, and the press. This would date the pamphlet to 1969, as Apollo 10 lifted off on May 18, 1969. The most memorable aspect of the mission is the crew came so close but did not land on the Moon. As NASA again looks to the Moon, this Apollo 10 shakedown of everything, minus landing, can add to the conversation.
NASA’s latest Moon plan includes a Starship as a lunar lander, refueled in low Earth orbit, and a Gateway station in lunar orbit. After the crew arrives at the Gateway on an Orion spacecraft (launched by the SLS) a Starship arrives to provide the ride down to the Moon and back. For a shakedown flight, NASA and SpaceX would land a Starship/lander on the Moon, minus a crew, with no requirement (as of yet) to demonstrate the Starship taking off from the lunar surface and returning to the lunar Gateway. If successful, the flight after this shakedown would be the end-to-end crewed lunar mission.
Update 10/20/2022: A title change, as it was correctly pointed out this is a “Grumman” pamphlet, not a “NASA” pamphlet.
Zapata Talks NASA 