I wonder how Apollo astronaut spend their time during their way to moon

[Pawelk198604]

I known that Apollo flight to moon last for 4 days, i wonder does their

I wonder how they struggled with boredom, in so far as being on the moon's surface had to be an unforgettable experience, a flight that lasts four days had to be boring.

By the way, I wonder how NASA or ESA had made a flight to Mars would make that astronaut will not be bored to death

[Ikaneko]

I known that Apollo flight to moon last for 4 days, i wonder does their

I wonder how they struggled with boredom, in so far as being on the moon's surface had to be an unforgettable experience, a flight that lasts four days had to be boring.

By the way, I wonder how NASA or ESA had made a flight to Mars would make that astronaut will not be bored to death

Any mars missions will probably include an entertainment module packed full of games consoles, books etc.

As for Apollo, they had NASA, two other astronauts and probably countless journalists to talk to. Four days isn't that long a time.

[Sampa]

First of all, the astronauts actually had one thing to look at that never got old (except for Apollo 13's return)....the Moon! Also, they always did a little show for the public in what we would now call Livestreams. On their way back from the moon, they had personal cassette player so they could listen to music as they wished!

[Dkmdlb]

Insert joke about nagging wives here.

No but seriously, going to Mars is going to be very similar to staying on the ISS. There would be lots of experiments, observations, and work to do, as well as a lot of PR stuff. And then they could watch movies and dink around on the cached version of yesterday's social media site.

Plus, just think about the quiet time - sitting there alone by the window with nothing but an endless field of stars, knowing that you are on a tiny little lifeboat in the middle of the void farther from the rest of humanity than any humans ever have been before. I mean, with the transit time to Mars, you could write a book.

[Xannari Ferrows]

They spin the ship to create artificial gravity through Centrifugal effects. [Now don't come running at me and screaming it's Inertia. I know it is, but that's kinda what Centrifugal forces are].

They can then play Xtreme poker, with the cards and chips plastered to the wall.

...Okay, I jest. They had communication with Earth, so that to look forward to. No doubt they also had some games to play as well. I sometimes wonder if they contemplated sending up a golf ball and a couple of clubs in order to play the first game of Space Golf.

Space Golf on the moon would be harder than here on Earth because of the lower gravity. It would go miles away, and end up getting it's own rescue mission for having gone half of the circumference of a Riemannian circle found within the moon. Of course, the longest drive in history was done on the ISS, when a ball was struck and ended up falling away for many many kilometers, and I'm not exactly sure where it ended up. So, be sure to only bring a wedge and a putter with you if you ever go to the moon. You'll save so much time.

Don't even get me started on Asteroid Golf.

[Sampa]

Oh yeah, and some astronauts, like Fred "Freddo" Haise, liked to play practical jokes on their fellow astronauts!

[LABHOUSE]

Fooling around in microgravity is entertainment. Personally, if I were chosen for such a mission would just do aeroponic or hydroponic gardening, making the roots be in a centre of a sphere of green, and doing neat tricks with surface tension (and posting it on YouTube) and trying to prove to all those idiots that we went to the moon, and that I was not in some movie set.

Since that is what I would want to do, something like .00001 % of the world is the same (weirdest part).

[kStrout]

They spin the ship to create artificial gravity through Centrifugal effects. [Now don't come running at me and screaming it's Inertia. I know it is, but that's kinda what Centrifugal forces are].

They can then play Xtreme poker, with the cards and chips plastered to the wall.

...Okay, I jest. They had communication with Earth, so that to look forward to. No doubt they also had some games to play as well. I sometimes wonder if they contemplated sending up a golf ball and a couple of clubs in order to play the first game of Space Golf.

Space Golf on the moon would be harder than here on Earth because of the lower gravity. It would go miles away, and end up getting it's own rescue mission for having gone half of the circumference of a Riemannian circle found within the moon. Of course, the longest drive in history was done on the ISS, when a ball was struck and ended up falling away for many many kilometers, and I'm not exactly sure where it ended up. So, be sure to only bring a wedge and a putter with you if you ever go to the moon. You'll save so much time.

Don't even get me started on Asteroid Golf.

Alan Shepard did. He brought a golf club head and attached it to a sample collecting stick, then he hit two golf balls on the moon during Apollo 14.

[Xannari Ferrows]

Alan Shepard did. He brought a golf club head and attached it to a sample collecting stick, then he hit two golf balls on the moon during Apollo 14.

...Hold on... Hold on! What!? No way! I don't know too much about the Mercury 7 team, but... That is awesome! Okay, I need to meet this guy. Afterlife or not, we are going to play Space Golf.

But now... What if you accidentally let go of the handle after swinging? Would it fly into orbit? [Not even close, but still. A mile at least]

[Kerbart]

Was there time to get bored? I can imagine that a million measurements had to be taken, ensuring their trajectory continues to be what it was planned to be, monitoring life support, etc. Without considerable automation a lot had to be left to manual work, I'd guess.

[lincourtl]

There was a lot less downtime than you might think. You can read the mission transcripts for yourself at the Apollo Flight Journal: http://history.nasa.gov/afj

The transcripts for the surface operations are available too at the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal: http://history.nasa.gov/alsj

[Sampa]

Was there time to get bored? I can imagine that a million measurements had to be taken, ensuring their trajectory continues to be what it was planned to be, monitoring life support, etc. Without considerable automation a lot had to be left to manual work, I'd guess.

It is possible, but EXTREMELY unlikely (How can you get bored looking when you can look at either the Moon on one side or the Earth on the other!) To be honest, They had a lot of work to do preparing for the landing on the way OUT to the Moon. The hard part was on the way home. To help fight this, NASA provided its crews with personal cassette tapes to listen to on the way back. (information taken from retired Apollo 8/13 astronaut James "Jim" Lovell's book: Apollo 13 or Lost Moon)

[Wallygator]

...Hold on... Hold on! What!? No way! I don't know too much about the Mercury 7 team, but... That is awesome! Okay, I need to meet this guy. Afterlife or not, we are going to play Space Golf.

But now... What if you accidentally let go of the handle after swinging? Would it fly into orbit? [Not even close, but still. A mile at least]

Yes, history is real.

I remember seeing this live - quite funny at the time.

[Pawelk198604]

Also, they always did a little show for the public in what we would now call Livestreams.

At first but latter interest in moon mission faded out and form what i know American tv station stopped to show live from transmission from Apollo mission because they

"going

to the Moon about as exciting as taking a trip to

Pittsburgh"

That was before Apollo 13 accident of course.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh yeah, and some astronauts, like Fred "Freddo" Haise, liked to play practical jokes on their fellow astronauts!

I wonder why no one of Apollo 13 doesn't return to space flight

[Scotius]

I wonder...those golf balls...are they still on the surface of the Moon? Or did they decay to nothingness after being exposed to vacuum, radiation and hundreds of day\night cycles - when they first baked in the sunlight, then got frozen to the core during two-weeks long nights?

[kStrout]

I remember seeing this live - quite funny at the time.

Feel old yet?

[PuppetZ]

I known that Apollo flight to moon last for 4 days, i wonder does their

I wonder how they struggled with boredom, in so far as being on the moon's surface had to be an unforgettable experience, a flight that lasts four days had to be boring.

By the way, I wonder how NASA or ESA had made a flight to Mars would make that astronaut will not be bored to death

Wonder no more my friend. They had no time to be bored. They were kept very busy with the operation of the very exotic machine that was an Apollo CSM. They had to monitor the systems that kept them alive, navigate and care for their inertial plateform by regularly sighting on the stars, engaged in scientific experiments, took pictures and much more. The computers couldn't take care of but a few systems, all related to guidance and control. All the other systems like comms, environmental control and power were all managed more or less manually. Also the mission planners made a point of keeping them busy. Each launch was an expensive affair and there was no point in keeping these guys idle.

if you want to know more have a look at the Apollo flight journal http://history.nasa.gov/afj/

Very interesting stuff to be learned about these flights.

Frank

[Sampa]

At first but latter interest in moon mission faded out and form what i know American tv station stopped to show live from transmission from Apollo mission because they

"going

to the Moon about as exciting as taking a trip to

Pittsburgh"

That was before Apollo 13 accident of course.

- - - Updated - - -

I wonder why no one of Apollo 13 doesn't return to space flight

First of all, Lovell made it quite clear that he was retiring after 13, Fred Haise actually helped test the space shuttle and was supposed to go back to the moon on Apollo 18, but it was cancelled. and poor old Swigert, he died of cancer.

[GoSlash27]

The Apollo missions were packed with activities. No time to be bored and barely enough time to sleep.

Now Gemini 5... *that* was a boring mission! Same flight duration as the Apollo moon shots, but nothing to do.

Best,

-Slashy

Edited February 24, 2015 by GoSlash27

[Pawelk198604]

First of all, Lovell made it quite clear that he was retiring after 13, Fred Haise actually helped test the space shuttle and was supposed to go back to the moon on Apollo 18, but it was cancelled. and poor old Swigert, he died of cancer.

I forget he tried to run to us congress, he won but died before he can took office. I wonder does he was forced to leave NASA astronaut corps, or he get ill after he leave astronaut corps.

I wonder loots of American and Russian astronauts/cosmonauts died of cancer, i wonder does this is because they ware affected by space radiation?

[Sampa]

I forget he tried to run to us congress, he won but died before he can took office. I wonder does he was forced to leave NASA astronaut corps, or he get ill after he leave astronaut corps.

I wonder loots of American and Russian astronauts/cosmonauts died of cancer, i wonder does this is because they ware affected by space radiation?

I think, according to the book, Swigert decided not to press his luck for a second mission so he decided to leave. Regarding the cancer cause by space radiation, i believe it only played a role in causing the cancer. Everything else was just dunb luck. Mind you, this is just my opinion.

[Newt]

I think, according to the book, Swigert decided not to press his luck for a second mission so he decided to leave. Regarding the cancer cause by space radiation, i believe it only played a role in causing the cancer. Everything else was just dunb luck. Mind you, this is just my opinion.

Well, the thing with cancer it seems is that many things, high radiation exposure, contact with carcinogens et cetera increase slightly the odds that a given individual will get cancer, but if and when you get it it cannot really be traced to anything in specific. Astronauts will have higher probability to get cancer, but whether a given astronaut's cancer is caused by their time in space is not a clear thing to answer.

I remember seeing this live - quite funny at the time.

Yeah. Funny, but there are still people angry at him for that. As lincourtl says, there was a lot that needed doing, and the time consuming jokes on EVA time were not always taken well, especially when they got just so close to the goal but barely not there.

[Khatharr]

Yeah. Funny, but there are still people angry at him for that. As lincourtl says, there was a lot that needed doing, and the time consuming jokes on EVA time were not always taken well, especially when they got just so close to the goal but barely not there.

Well, it's good to know that there was at least one person up there with their priorities straight.

[magnemoe]

Any mars missions will probably include an entertainment module packed full of games consoles, books etc.

As for Apollo, they had NASA, two other astronauts and probably countless journalists to talk to. Four days isn't that long a time.

Yes, for an mars trip they will probably do entertainment, exercise and some ISS style experiments, decent chance more of the work monitoring the ship will be done by the astronauts too.

[Tw1]

Yes, for an mars trip they will probably do entertainment, exercise and some ISS style experiments, decent chance more of the work monitoring the ship will be done by the astronauts too.

I imagine it would be a pretty intense role, being one of the first martian visitors. Managing the time delays will make media interaction interesting.