1. Summary
The crews of the first two Apollo missions - the checkout flight
of the Command and Service Modules (CSM) in Earth orbit on
Apollo 7 and the CSM flight to lunar orbit on Apollo 8 - did not
get adequate sleep primarily because it was deemed necessary on
these pioneering missions that at least one crewmember be awake
at all times. Along with other factors, the need to fit
two sleep periods into each day produced large disruptions to
the crews' circadian work/sleep cycles. Although the crews
- particularly on Apollo 8 - were able to fulfill mission goals,
it was clear that careful attention would have to be paid to
work-sleep schedules on subsequent missions to ensure adequate
rest.
During the next two flights - checkout of the LM in Earth orbit
on Apollo 9 and the final landing-mission rehearsal in lunar
orbit on Apollo 10 - all three crewmembers slept simultaneously
and were able to get good rest. On Apollo 10, the crew had
a 14-hour rest period prior to lunar orbit insertion and a
shorter rest period prior to LM operations. Unlike the
first two crews, they did not show any signs of post-flight
fatigue.
Generally, the subsequent crews arrived in lunar orbit well
rested. Whenever possible, flight plans were organized to
minimize shifts of the sleep cycle. The only notable
exception was Apollo 14. That crew had to deal with the
largest sleep-cycle shift in Apollo and got relatively poor
sleep.
The first three LM crews did not obtain adequate sleep on the
lunar surface because they did not remove their suits for the
single rest period scheduled for each crew. In part, the
lunar stays were too short to allow the crews to doff their
suits before the rest period and don them again
afterwards. In addition, NASA and the crews weren't
confident that the zippers would seal properly if the suits were
taken off and put on again.
On Apollo 11, Armstrong and Aldrin did not have hammocks and
tried to make themselves comfortable on the floor (Aldrin) and
the ascent engine cover (Armstrong) for a four-hour rest.
Neither was able to sleep because of (1) the suits were
uncomfortable, (2) the cabin was cold, (3) there was noise from
a glycol pump in the Environmental Control System, and (4)
sunlight was leaking into the cabin around the window shades and
through the Alignment Optical Telescope.
On Apollo 12, Conrad and Bean had hammocks but obtained only
about 3 hours fitful sleep. Conrad experienced significant
shoulder pain due to improper suit fit and had to wake up Bean
to let out the laces on Conrad's lower legs.
On Apollo 14, Shepard and Mitchell got very little sleep because
of suit discomfort and because of a sensation that the LM was
about to tip over. Inadequate sleep obtained on the trip
out to the Moon may have been a contributing factor.
The last three mission each included a lunar-surface stay of
roughly 72 hours and three rest periods. From the
experiences of the prior crews, it was clear that they would be
unable to complete the ambitious schedule of lunar surface
activities they had planned unless they got adequate rest.
Doffing the suits for the rest periods was essential and,
generally, all three crews slept well.
Some of the astronauts took Seconal (Eli Lilly branded
Secobarbital, a barbituate) sleeping tablets on occasion during
their missions.
2. Lessons
Adequate sleep in the small volumes available in the Apollo
Command Module and Lunar Module was most easily achieved if (1)
there was minimum disruption to the pre-flight circadian rhythm
of the crew members; (2) all crewmembers in the spacecraft slept
at the same time; (3) crewmembers were able to doff their suits
before sleeping; (4) work schedules were organized - and
revised as needed - to provide an undisturbed (radio quiet) 6-8
hour rest period during each 24-hour period; (5) in
zero-gravity, loose restraints were provided to keep the crewmen
from drifting; (6) on the lunar surface, a hammock or other form
of bed was provide; (7) there was an adequate combination of
cabin temperature and sleepwear for comfort; (8) the crew could
dim instrument lights and either cover their eyes or exclude
sunlight from the cabin; and (9) equipment such as pumps were
adequately muffled.
The last three LM crews - those that spent three days on
the Moon and were able to doff their suits for the rest periods
- reported that they slept very well. On Apollo 15,
Jim Irwin said that his first sleep on the Moon was his best
sleep of the mission, despite being awakened an hour early to
investigate a water leak in the cabin.
3. Non-Landing Missions
3.1 Apollo 7
Launch: 15:02:45 GMT, 11 October
1968
Splashdown: Ground Elapsed Time 260 hr 09 min 03 sec
CDR - Wally Schirra
CMP-Donn Eisele
LMP-Walt Cunningham
Apollo 7 has been described as Apollo's 'shakedown cruise' in
Earth orbit, the first flight of the Command and Service
Modules (CSM) with a crew onboard. Because NASA had only
13 1/2 months to complete the task of completing a successful
landing mission "before this decade is out", the flight plan
was full. If at all possible, NASA wanted to be able to
next fly the CSM on a far more ambitious mission. Because this
was the first crew to fly a CSM, at least one of them would be
awake at all times; the need to fit two sleep periods into
each 24 hours made the flight plan even tighter. And,
finally, all three crewmembers developed head colds early in
the flight, which didn't help their productivity and probably
contributed to the bad relations that developed during the
flight between Apollo 7 Commander Schirra and Houston.
The crew removed their suits not long after reaching Earth
orbit and these were stowed under one of the couches.
Sleeping bags were secured under the other two couches with
straps and the sleeping crewmembers slept in the bags,
floating in zero-gravity. The crew did not have to cover
the spacecraft windows during sleep but, rather, covered their
heads with sleeping bag fabric and were not bothered by the
sunlight. Biomedical data, including heart rate, were
available from only one crewman at any one time. A
switch on the instrument console could be set at one of three
positions. The crew made regular reports on water
consumption and any medication taken. Reports on the
amount and quality of sleep were made occasionally. Crew
status reports became more formalized, starting with Apollo 9
and becoming part of the daily routine with Apollo 11.
(Adapted from the
Apollo
7 Mission Report) Like prior (Mercury/Gemini) crews, all
three crewmembers experienced a sensation of fullness of the
head shortly after achieving orbit. After the flight,
the Commander stated that he became aware of head cold
symptoms within an hour of launch, but did not report his cold
to Houston until about 15 hours. Twenty-four hours
later, the other two crewmembers reported having head
colds. "The crew reported poor sleep for about the first
three day of the flight and experienced both restful and poor
sleep after that period." Late in the mission, at 214 hr
40 min. Apollo 7 Commander Schirra recommended that
Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman immediately begin a review of
his mission's timeline from liftoff onward "for sleep (and)
work cycles, and for food periods."
Mission Report Figure
7-1
gives an approximation to the rest periods. See, also,
Sleep Notes derived from
the Apollo 7 Technical Air-to-Ground transcript (
26 Mb
PDF ). There seem to be only minor differences
between the figure and the information gleaned from the
transcript. There is no mention that any of the crew
took any sleeping tablets.
3.2 Apollo 8
Launch, 12:51:00 GMT, 21 December 1968
Lunar Orbit Insertion, Ground Elapsed Time of 69:08:20
Ten revolutions were completed in lunar orbit in 20 hours 11
minutes.
Transearth Injection, 89:19:17
Splashdown, 146:46:14
CDR - Frank Borman
CMP - Jim Lovell
LMP - Bill Anders
Apollo 8 was a circumlunar mission flown out of the planned
Apollo sequence because of intelligence information that the
Soviet Union was preparing send a crew of its own on a
circumlunar flight. The success of such a mission would
diminish the geopolitical impact of the first lunar landing;
and, confident that the Soviets were not in a position to make
a landing in 1969, NASA wanted to make sure that an American
crew was the first to fly around the moon. Although
planning for what became Apollo 8 first focused on a flight
that would go out to the Moon, circle around the farside and
return to Earth without entering lunar orbit, the final plan
included ten lunar orbits. The twenty hours spent in
lunar orbit would be the most challenging of the mission and
the flight plan was designed to get a well-rested crew into
lunar orbit. Once the crew was circling the Moon, there
would be much opportunity for sleep until they were on their
way home.
As with Apollo 7, the pioneering nature of the mission meant
that at least one crew member would be awake at all times.
The following is an extract from the Apollo 8 Mission Report:
"Work/rest cycles.- The very busy flight schedule precluded
simultaneous sleep and resulted in large departures from
normal circadian periodicity, thus causing fatigue. The wide
dispersions of the work/rest cycles are given in figure
8-2. A 'practical shift' of 3 hours before or 8
hours after the start of the usual Cape Kennedy sleep period
is shown for the Command Module Pilot and Lunar Module Pilot.
The Commander experienced a 'practical shift' of 11 hours
before to 2.5 hours later than his assumed Cape Kennedy sleep
time."
Rest periods
Apollo 8 Mission Report Figure 8-2 showing the large
variations in the times of planned sleep periods
relative to a 'normal' start of sleep at 2300 at the
Cape. These variations were due to the work load
of this first voyage to lunar orbit.
From the Apollo 8 Mission Report: "The scheduled sleep and
that actually obtained are compared in figure 8-3. Real-time
changes to the flight plan were required because of crew
fatigue, particularly during the last few (lunar) orbits
before the transearth injection maneuver." As can be
seen in
Sleep Notes
derived from the Apollo 8 Technical Air-to-Ground transcript (
39 Mb
) , at 31:40:49 Apollo 8 Commander Frank Broman told Houston
"We would like to see, in looking over the flight plan -
perhaps we ought to put the rest periods a little bit shorter
and more frequent. It seems it might work out
better. We got all out of kilter on it yesterday.
We are sort of trying to get back in a normal cycle." As
can be seen in the following comparison of the planned and
actual sleep periods, by and large the crew did switch to a
pattern of shorter, more frequent sleep periods.
planned and actual sleep periods
Apollo 8 Mission Report Figure 8-3 compares planned and
actual sleep periods for the three crewmembers.
During the 20 hours spent in
lunar orbit, the crew had planned only short naps and, except
for timing variations, this is what they got. In
addition to engine burns, tests of
navigation/guidance/landmark tracking procedures that would be
used by later crews, preparations for the engine burn that
would take them back to Earth, and general spacecraft
operations, the crew spent a lot of time taking photographs
and providing television broadcasts for a global television
audience. On this landmark voyage, with support from
Houston, the crew was ready to find a way to get sufficient
rest within the context of mission requirements. CDR
Frank Borman took a 100-mg sleeping tablet before the first
rest period.
3.3 Apollo 9
Launch: 16:00:00 GMT, 3 March
1969
Splashdown: 241:00:54
CDR - Jim McDivitt
CMP - Dave Scott
LMP - Rusty Scheickart
Apollo 9 was flown in earth orbit primarily to allow two
members of the crew to fly the LM as an independant spacecraft
and check out systems and procedures that would be used during
the early stages of descent from lunar orbit and during the
final stage of the return to orbit on landing missions.
For the first time in Apollo, all three crewmen had the same
rest periods. They reported getting 6-8 hours of sleep
per period, except for the fourth. Prior to that rest
period they had fallen behind in preparations for the LM
flight. They shortened the rest period so that they
would be able to start LM operations at the scheduled time,
primarily in the interest of preserving the schedule of
planned passes over ground stations.
The launch was postponed 3 days to let the crew recover from
head colds. Launch at 11:00:00 a.m. EST on 3 March 1969.
Splashdown at a Ground Elapsed Time of 241:00:54.
Initial fullness of the head, that was "of short
duration". CMP and LMP both had problems adapting to
weightlessness, especially the LMP who vomited "after donning
his pressure suit for transfer to the lunar module" and,
again, four hours later "shortly after transfer to the lunar
module". "Until the sixth day...he subsisted exclusively
on liquids and freeze-dehydrated fruits."
Extract from the Apollo 9 Mission Report (
16
Mb ): " Work/rest cycles.- This mission was the first in
which all three crewmen slept simultaneously. A definite
improvement over the previous two flights was observed in the
estimated quantity and quality of sleep. The lack of
postflight fatigue was correspondingly evident during the
physical examination on recovery day. It should be further
recognized, however, that crew work load during the last 5
days of flight was significantly lighter than on previous
missions. The flight plan activities for the first half of the
mission resulted in excessively long work periods for the
crew, and the time allocated for eating and sleeping was
inadequate. Crew performance, nonetheless, was outstanding.
Departures from the crew's normal circadian periodicity also
contributed to some loss of sleep during this time. The crew
experienced a shift in their sleep periods, which varied from
3 to 6 hours from their assumed Cape Kennedy sleep time."
A
table from the Mission
report summarizes crew sleep reports. Apparently, the
LMP was able to sleep despite his difficulty adapting to
weightlessness. He took a Seconal for the Flight Day 4
sleep, one for Day 5, one for Day 6, one for Day 10; he had
generally good sleep.
Details in
Sleep Notes
derived from the Apollo 9 Technical Air-to-Ground transcript (
27 Mb
). LMP Rusty Schweikart took one Seconal sleeping tablet
before seven of the rest periods.
3.4 Apollo 10
Launch, 16:49:00 GMT, 18 May
1969
Lunar Orbit Insertion, 75:55:54
CSM/LM undocking, 98:11:57.
Rendezvous docking, 106:22:02
Transearth injection, 137:36:29
Splashdown, 192:03:23
CDR- Tom Stafford
CMP - John Young
LMP - Gene Cernan
Apollo 10 was a final test of procedures and equipment prior
to the first landing mission. Once in lunar orbit, the
two-man LM crew entered their spacecraft and flew the descent
profile down to 50,000 feet (15,000 meters), jettisoned the LM
Descent Stage, and then performed a rendevous and docking with
the CSM.
From the Apollo 10 Mission Report (
10
Mb ): "The three crewmen were scheduled to sleep
simultaneously, and in general, they slept very well during
the nine periods. Estimates of the quality and quantity of
sleep were based entirely on subjective reporting by the crew.
In postflight debriefings, the Commander commented that the
sleep stations and sleeping bags were satisfactory."
During the last day of the translunar coast, Houston scheduled
a 14-hour rest period for the crew in preparation for lunar
orbit insertion and, then, after another, relatively-short
rest period, the LM flight.
Details in
Sleep Notes
derived from the Apollo 10 Technical Air-to-Ground Transcript
(
27
Mb ). No sleeping tablets were taken.
3.5 Apollo 13
Launch, 19:13:00 GMT, 11 April
1970
SM Accident, 56 hours
Splashdown, 142:54:41
CDR - Jim Lovell
CMP - Jack Swigert
LMP - Fred Haise
The landing planned for this mission had to be abandoned
because of an explosion in an oxygen tank in the Service
Module that made the crew totally dependant on the limited
resouces of the LM prior to re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.
From the Apollo 13 Mission Report (
8
Mb ), "The crew reported sleeping well the first 2 days
of the mission. They all slept about 5-1/2 hours during
the first sleep period. During the second period, the
Commander, Command Module Pilot, and Lunar Module Pilot
slept 5, 6, and 9 hours, respectively. The third sleep period
was scheduled for 61 hours, but the orygen tank incident
at 56 hours precluded sleep by any of the crew until
approximately 80 hours. After the incident, the command module
was used as sleeping quarters until the cabin
temperature became too cold. The crew then attempted to
sleep in the lunar module or the docking tunnel, but the
temperature in these areas also dropped too low for
prolonged, sound sleep. In addition, coolant pump noise
from the lunar module and frequent communications with
the ground further hindered sleep. The total sleep obtained by
each crewman during the remainder of the mission after
the incident (about 87 hours from the incident to
splashdown) is estimated to have been 11, 12, and 19 hours for
the Commander, Command Module Pilot, and Lunar Module Pilot,
respectively."
4. Landing Missions
4.1 Apollo 11
Launch, 13:32:00 GMT, 16 July
1969
Lunar Orbit Insertion, 75:49:50
Lunar Landing, 102:45:40
Lunar Liftoff, 124:22:01
Transearth Injection, 135:23:42
Splashdown, 195:18:35
CDR - Neil Armstrong
CMP - Mike Collins
LMP - Buzz Aldrin
From the Apollo 11 Mission Report (
12
Mb ): "It is interesting to note that the crewmen's
subjective estimates of amount of sleep were less than those
based upon telemetered biomedical data, as shown in
Table 12-I. By either count,
the crewmen slept well in the command module. The simultaneous
sleep periods during the translunar coast were carefully
monitored, and the crew arrived on the
lunar surface well rested. Therefore, it was not necessary to
wait until after the first planned 4-hour sleep period before
conducting the extravehicular activity. The crewmen slept very
little in the lunar module following the lunar surface
activity. However, the crewmen slept well during all three
transearth sleep periods."
Details in
Sleep Notes
derived from the Apollo 11 Technical Air-to-Ground transcript
(
16
Mb ).
From the Apollo 11 Mission Report, Pilots' Report (Section
4.12.6): "The rest period was almost a complete loss. The
helmet and gloves were worn to relieve any subconcious anxiety
about a loss of cabin pressure and presented no problem. But
noise, lighting, and a lower-than-desired temperature were
annoying. It was uncomfortably cool in the suits, even with
water-flow disconnected. Oxygen flow was finally cut off, and
the helmets were removed, but the noise from the glycol pumps
was then loud enough to interrupt sleep. The window shades did
not completely block out light, and the cabin was illuminated
by a combination of light through the shades, warning lights,
and display lighting. The Commander was resting on the ascent
engine cover and was bothered by the light entering through
the telescope (Alignment Optical Telescope, AOT). The Lunar
Module Pilot estimated he slept fitfully for perhaps 2 hours
and the Commander did not sleep at all, even though body
positioning was not a problem. Because of the reduced gravity,
the positions on the floor and on the engine cover were both
quite comfortable."
There was never much spare room in the LM cabin and, after the
EVA, two rock boxes added to the clutter. After taking
photographs out the windows to further document their EVA,
Armstrong and Aldrin had a meal and then jettisoned the PLSSs
and other gear, primarily in the interest of reducing the LM
weight for the return to orbit, but also to give them more
elbow room. Lunar gravity is weak enough that there is
no discomfort in standing for hours at a stretch but, for
their rest period, Aldrin tried to make himself comfortable on
the floor across the front of the cabin and Armstrong got up
on the engine cover farther aft. Later crews had
hammocks, which made sleeping much more comfortable; and the
last three crews were able to remove their suits for the rest
periods, which allowed them to sleep well.
LMP Buzz Aldrin took aspirin on occasion to help him sleep. No
other sleeping tablets were taken.
Sleep Comments in the Apollo 11 Lunar Surface
Journal
Ground
Elapsed Time (hh:mm:ss)
Notes
112:22:06
Armstrong, from the
1969 Technical Debrief - "There was still a full
truckload of equipment inside that cockpit at the end
of the EVA. It's just a bunch of stuff, and I
was glad that we were able to get rid of a lot of it
and finish the jettison before we started our sleep
period. With all that stuff in the cockpit,
there's really no place left for people to relax."
114:52:28
CapCom wishes the crew
a "good night". At 115:50, NASA's Public
Affairss commentator reports that the Surgeon doesn't
believe that Neil is closer to sleep than
'dozing'. Output from Buzz's biomedical sensors
are not being monitored during the rest period.
Armstrong - "I think it was my position (that) was
bothered by the noise (of the glycol pump) more than
yours, because you were on the floor - right? - and I
was on the engine cover with a loop that'd I rigged up
(using a waist tether) to hold my legs, hanging from
(the AOT guard) up there (at the front of the
cabin). And my head was back to the rear of the
cabin and there was a glycol pump or a water pump or
something very close to where my head was. But the
temperature control was probably the most
troublesome."
[A muffler was installed in the glycol pump for
subsequent missions. It reduced pump noise to
acceptable levels.]
Armstrong - "(The quality of the rest) was poor in my
case."
Aldrin - "I'd say the same thing."] <p>
[Armstrong - "And for a lot of physical reasons that I
mention (in the tech debrief extract, next); and also,
I'm sure, just the (problem of) getting unwound from
the excitement of that day was contributing, too."
Tech.
Debrief Extract
Armstrong - "We cleaned
up the cockpit and got things pretty well in
shape. This took us a while, and we planned to
sleep with our helmets and gloves on for a couple of
reasons. One is that it's a lot quieter with
your helmets and gloves on, and then we wouldn't have
any mental concern about the ECS and so on having two
loops working for us there."
Aldrin - "We wouldn't be breathing all that dust."
Armstrong - "That was another concern. Our
cockpit was so dirty with soot, that we thought the
suit loop (filtered oxygen going directly from the ECS
to the suit and then back again) would be a lot
cleaner."
Armstrong - "A couple of comments with respect to
going to sleep in the LM. One is that it's
noisy; and two is that it's illuminated. We had
the window shades up (that is, covering the windows)
and light came through those window shades like
crazy. They're like (photographic) negatives and
a lot of light will shine through."
[There is no discussion of the window shades in the
Apollo 11 Mission Report. However, the fact that
none of the other crews reported problems with light
coming in suggests that the shade design was modified
to use a more opaque material.]
Armstrong - "The next thing is that there are several
warning lights that are very bright and can't be
dimmed. The next thing is that there are all
those radioactive illuminated display switches in
there. Third, after I got into my sleep stage and all
settled down, I realized that there was something else
shining in my eye. It turned out to be that the
Earth was shining through the AOT (Alignment Optical
Telescope) right into my eye. It was just like a light
bulb. If I had thought of that ahead of time, we
could have put the Sun filter on or something that
would have cut that light out. The next problem we had
was temperature. We were very comfortable when
we completed our activities and were bedded down. Buzz
was on the floor and I was on the ascent engine
cover. We were reasonably comfortable in term of
temperature. We had the (LM cooling) water flowing and
the suit (oxygen) loop running. We had to have
the suit loop running because our helmets were closed.
After a while, I started to get awfully cold, so I
reached in front of the fan and turned the water
temperature to full up - Max increase. It still
got colder and colder. Finally, Buzz suggested that we
disconnect the water (flow into the suits), which I
did. I still got colder. Then, I guess, Buzz
changed the temperature of the air flow in the suit."
[The cabin temperature through the rest period was in
the range of 61 to 62 degrees Fahrenheit or about 16
degrees Celsius. During the EVA prep at
108:38:36, Public Affairs reported to the press that
the cabin temperature at that time was 61 degrees
Fahrenheit, a comfortable temperature while they were
working in the suits, but not when they were trying to
sleep. For subsequent missions, ECS operating
procedures were modified to produce a comfortable
cabin temperature of about 71-72 degrees Fahrenheit.]
Aldrin - "Yes. We fell victim to a time
constant. Once we noticed it going bad, there
wasn't anything we could do about it. In addition,
because we were trying to minimize our activities and
stay in some state of drowsiness, we didn't want to
get up and start stirring around, because it would be
that much harder to get back to that same state
again. So we tried to minimize our
activity. We underestimated how much light was
coming in through the windows. There must have
been a significant amount of light and heat coming in
and just being reflected off the surface. We had no
feel for what gas-flow setting we should have had,
because we'd been on the cooling all the time up to
that point while moving around I'm not sure that
there's much control over that anyway. We
finally disconnected the oxygen flow."
Armstrong - "But that requires that you take your
helmet off, so that you can breathe when you turn the
suit disconnects (that is, shut off the flow from the
ECS into the suits). This means that it gets noisy
again, and all you hear is a glycol pump and stuff
like that. This was a never-ending battle to obtain
just a minimum level of sleeping conditions, and we
never did. Even if we would have, I'm not sure I
would have gone to sleep."
Aldrin - "I don't know who was on Biomed at the time
(it was Neil), but I feel that I did get a couple of
hours maybe mentally fitful drowsing. I'll have
to say that I think I had the better sleeping
place. I found that it was relatively
comfortable on the floor, either on my back with feet
up against the side, or with my knees bent (and his
feet on the floor, the cabin width being insufficient
for him to stretch out). Also, I could roll over
on one side or the other. I had the two OPSs
stacked up at the front of the hatch, so there was
ample room on the floor for one. But there
wasn't room for two."
Aldrin - "To cut down on the light level, we're just
going to have to do something with the window shades
to make them more effective. I think sleeping
with the helmet on will keep the cooling down and is
probably a good, reasonable way to go as long as
you're going to keep the suit on. Unless some change
is made, we'd never even think about taking the suits
off."
Collins - "Apollo 12 is planning to take their suits
off. With the longer stay-time and a couple of
EVAs, they're planning to take their suits off."
Aldrin - "I think they ought to think a little more
about it. I don't know what the temperature
would be in there. I got the impression that it was a
lot cooler outside the suit than it would have been
inside. I don't feel that having the suit on in
one-sixth g is that much of a bother.
It's fairly comfortable. You have your own
little snug sleeping bag, unless you have some
pressure point somewhere. Your head in the
helmet (which has a pad at the back of the head)
assumes a very comfortable position. Even out of the
helmet, you don't have to worry about what you're
leaning against. Your head doesn't weigh that
much, and will very comfortably pick just about any
position. I just don't see the real need for
taking the helmets off."
Armstrong - "I didn't mind sleeping on the engine
cover. I didn't find it that bad. I made a
hammock out of a waist tether - which I attached to
some structure handholds - to hold my feet up in the
air and in the middle of the cockpit. This kept my
feet up about level with or a little higher than my
torso."
Aldrin - "Well, you were back out of the mainstream of
the light, except for the AOT. I think we could
fix that up and obtain a more horizontal position or
the capability to roll from one side to the other.
That's just something that has to be worked out.
It wasn't satisfactory. If we had known then
what we know now, we could have preconditioned the
cabin a little bit better (in terms of
temperature). We needed to start at a warmer
level by turning the water off, thereby storing a
small amount of heat."
Armstrong - "That's just one of those areas that
didn't occur to us. It clearly needs some more
work."
[Ultimately, the Apollo 12 crew decided not to take
their suits off between the two EVAs. However,
they took their helmets off, kept the flow of cooling
water off, connected the hose bringing oxygen from the
ECS to the suit O2 outflow connector (which put warm
oxygen from the ECS into the suit at the feet and
wrists) and the outflow hose to the inflow connector
(which returned air to the ECD from the
neckring), and strung up hammocks to sleep in.
They did not report any problems with noise, excess
light, or cold temperatures keeping them from
sleep. Neither of them slept more than three
hours, but the brief sleep was due to a poor fit of
Pete Conrad's suit that was causing him sufficient
discomfort that he and Al Bean had to get up early to
fix it. The Apollo 14 crew had the same sort of
arrangements as the 12 crew but found that they had
trouble getting their heads into comfortable
positions, perhaps because of the rigid neckrings. In
addition, their spacecraft had landed with a
significant tilt and, when they were in a drowzy
state, the tilt produced a sensation that the LM was
about to tip over. That sensation kept them both
awake. Starting with Apollo 15, the astronauts got out
of their suits after each EVA and it made a world of
difference. They were able to get comfortable in the
hammocks and, on the whole, they slept soundly.
Some of them felt more excitement about the situation
than the others did and had trouble falling asleep
but, all of them slept soundly for at least a few
hours each rest period, and woke up refreshed and
ready to go back to work. Neil and Buzz and the other
early crews demonstrated the obvious - that it was
possible to accomplish a great deal with limited
rest. And the later crews demonstrated that
simple additions to the equipment list - and
confidence in the suit that let them take it off and
put it back on three times - made it possible to get
adequate rest at a small cost in lunar surface stay
time.]
4.2 Apollo 12
Launch, 16:22:00 GMT, 14
November 1969
Lunar Orbit Insertion, 83:25:23
Lunar Landing, 110:32:36
Lunar Liftoff, 142:03:48
Tranearth Injection, 172:27:17
Splashdown, 244:36:25
CDR - Pete Conrad
CMP - Dick Gordon
LMP - Al Bean
This was the first mission with two scheduled EVAs and the
first use of hammocks during the rest period between the
EVAs. In preparing for the rest period, the crew put the
Commander's hammock up fore-and aft about halfway between the
top of the ascent engine cover and the ceiling.
Deployed LM hammocks
View aft of the deployed LM hammocks.
From the Apollo 12 Mission
Report (
13
Mb ): "Sleep periods during translunar coast began
approximately 7 to 9 hours after the crew's normal bedtime of
11 p.m. The crew reported that they had no particular trouble
in adapting to the shifted sleep periods. However, the
first flight day was extremely long, and the crew was
thoroughly fatigued by the time the first sleep period began
17 hours after lift-off. The crewmen slept well in the command
module during the translunar and transearth coast phases, and
the Lunar Module Pilot took at least two unscheduled naps
during transearth coast. However, they reported their sleep
periods were longer than necessary, since they would
invariably awaken about 1 hour ahead of time and would usually
remain in their sleep stations until time for radio contact.
The lunar module crew slept only about 3 hours on the lunar
surface prior to the second extravehicular activity period. In
the next sleep period, following rendezvous and docking, all
three crewmen in the command module slept only 3 or 4 hours,
which was less than desirable. Biomedical monitoring
during sleep periods was very limited. The crew complained
that it was inconvenient to hook up to the biomedical harness
while in the sleeping bags ; hence, very little data were
received."
The short sleep the LM crew had between their two EVAs was due
to signifcant pain Apollo 12 Commander Pete Conrad had in his
shoulders because the suit was too short. After about 3
hours of fitful sleep, Conrad woke LMP Alan Bean so that Al
could undo the laces on Pete's lower legs, let it out to
relieve Conrad's pain, and re-lace them. A full
discussion can be found in the Apollo 12 Lunar Surface Journal
after
122:37:27.
The short sleep after rendezvous and docking was due to the
need to control the large quantity of lunar dust the LM crew
brought up on their suits and gear that was to be transferred
to the Command Module for the trip back to Earth. They
also had to prepare for and perform the Transearth injection
burn. They made up for the two short sleeps with a
12-hour marathon once they were on the way home.
Details in
Sleep Notes
derived from the Apollo 12 Technical Air-to-Ground transcripts
(
28
Mb ). LMP Alan Bean took a Seconal tablet before
each rest period "throughout most of the mission".
Sleep Comments in the Apollo 12 Lunar Surface
Journal
Ground
Elapsed Time
(hh:mm:ss)
Notes
118:29:43
During the EVA-1
close-out, Pete says that, because of the long day
(17.5 awake at that point), he's "not going to have
any trouble sleeping tonight."
122:13:49
Capcom asks how they
are going to configure their suit hoses for
sleep. Pete says Al feels hot and will leave his
air hose connected. Pete thinks he'll probably
leave his disconnected.
122:18:37
Pete indicates that he
is eager to start the second EVA as early as possible
that they may get up early and call Houston.
122:31:39
In 1991, Al believed
that using hammocks has always been part of the Apollo
12 planning. Hammock discussion.
122:37:27
Discussion of the
hammocks, the value and problems of sleeping tablets,
and the importance of a good sleep. Extensive
extract from the Technical Debrief about Pete's
shoulder discomfort due to poor suit fit, for which he
takes responsibility, and the re-lacing Al had to do
to relieve Pete's discomfort. During the
Technical Debriefing, Pete mentions that "the cabin
temperature remained good all night. He did
notice his lower legs getting warm and wet
inside the suit and, episodically hooked up the hoses
to circulate dry air to remove any collection of
perspiration.
128:51:00
NASA Public Affairs
reports that the Flight Surgeon has indications that
the crew is awake. During the post-flight
Techical Debriefing, Pete said that he slept for 4 1/2
hours, woke Al, and that the suit adjustment took
about an hour. It seems likely that they
finished the adjustment at about the time they make
their first call to Houston, at 129:01:50.
132:15:19
There are subtle
differences between Al's performance on the second EVA
compared with the first. "I'm not surprised. I
think I'm more tired on this EVA, because of the lack
of sleep."
133:11:45
About 1 hour 40 minutes
into the second EVA, Pete says "I've got the decided
feeling I'm going to sleep tonight." Part of his
tiredness is due to the difficulty of bending the suit
so he can run, but most is probably due to the lack of
sleep.
138:35:58
During the lead up to
LM liftoff, Pete mentions that the cabin has been
warmer than Neil's. ECS (Environmental Control System)
operation procedures were changed to raise the
temperature from 61-62 F (16.1 - 16.6 C ) on Apollo 11
to "the low 70s" (about 22 C) on Apollo 12.
4.3
Apollo 14
Launch, 21:03:02 GMT, 31 January
1971
Lunar Orbit Insertion, 81:56:41
Lunar Landing, 108:15:09
Lunar Liftoff, 141:45:40
Transearth Injection, 148:36:02
Splashdown, 216:01:58
CDR - Al Shepard
CMP - Stu Roosa
LMP - Ed Mitchell
This mission was similar to Apollo 12 in that the crew did two
EVAs with a rest period between them. The Apollo 14 crew
spent two hours (one Command Module orbit) more than the
Apollo 12 crew on the Moon.
From the Apollo 14 Mission Report (
9
Mb ): "The shift of the crew's normal terrestrial sleep
cycle during the first four days of flight was the largest
experienced so far in the Apollo series. The displacement
ranged from 7 hours on the first mission day to 11-1/2 hours
on the fourth. The crew reported some difficulty sleeping in
the zero-g environment, particularly during the first two
sleep periods. They attributed the problem principally to a
lack of kinesthetic sensations and to muscle soreness in the
legs and lower back. Throughout the mission, sleep was
intermittent; i.e., never more than 2 to 3 hours of deep and
continuous sleep. The lunar module crewmen received little, if
any, sleep between their two extravehicular activity periods.
The lack of an adequate place to rest the head, discomfort of
the pressure suit, and the 7-degree starboard list of the
lunar module caused by the lunar terrain were believed
responsible for this insomnia. The crewmen looked out the
window several times during the sleep period for reassurance
that the lunar module was not starting to tip over. Following
transearth injection, the crew slept better than they had
previously. The lunar module crewmen required one additional
sleep period to make up the sleep deficit that was incurred
while on the lunar surface. The crewmen reported during
postflight discussions that they were definitely operating on
their physiological reserves because of inadequate sleep. This
lack of sleep caused them some concern; however, all tasks
were performed satisfactorily."
The suit contributed to the lack of sleep in the Apollo 14 LM
because the neckring made it difficult to position the head
comfortably. The last three crews removed their suits
for each rest period, which eliminated this problem.
It is interesting to note that the Apollo 15 LM sat on the
lunar surface with a larger tilt but that the crew did not
report any feeling that the LM was about to tip over.
The Apollo 14 tilt was 7 degrees to the right (LMP's side of
the cabin down), the Apollo 15 LM was tilted back 6.9 degrees
and left 8.6 degrees, with a total tilt of 11.0 degrees.
In a 9-day mission, CDR Al Shepard only got about 41 hours of
sleep, LMP Ed Mitchell got about 46, and CMP Stu Roosa got 44
hours. In contrast, during the ten days of Apollo 12,
each crew member got about 70 hours of sleep. Although
none of the first three crews who landed on the Moon got much
sleep while they were on the surface, the Apollo 14 crew was
the only crew - since the adoption of all-crew rest periods
for Apollo 9 - to get inadequate sleep in the Command Module.
Details in
Sleep Notes
derived from the Apollo 14 Technical Air-to-Ground transcript
(
26
Mb ). No sleeping tablets were taken.
Sleep Comments from the Apollo 14 Lunar Surface
Journal
Transcript
Time*
(hh:mm:ss)
Notes
118:10:12
During the EVA-1
Close-out, Ed Mitchell wants to get as much dust as
possible off Shepard's suit because Al was going
to be in the hammock over Ed's and Ed didn't want dust
raining down on him during the rest period. Al's
feet were going to be over Ed's sleep station, they
removed his overboots - and Ed's - because of all the
dust that had collected in them. As Alan Bean
discovered at the end of the first Apollo 12 EVA,
stomping your feet on the ladder rungs on the way up to
the cabin helped remove dust from the legs and boots.
121:13:18
Because they are already
1 hr 15 min past the planned start of the rest period
and still have about a half hour of tasks to accomplish
before getting in the hammocks, Houston shortens the
planned EVA debriefing. Houston won't wake them
early, but if the crew wants to start the EVA early,
Houston will support them. Shepard says "Okay,
that sounds good. We'd like to plan on an early
egress anyway, so that we'll be in a position to get the
full EVA-2 and still get back in at the regularly
scheduled timeline.
121:31:11
Shepard requests wake-up
an hour earlier than planned "so that we'll be able to
get in a 30-minute (EVA) extension and still have
time after we get back in (the LM) to have a leisurely
re-stowage." Houston tells him they will support an even
earlier start, so they agree on wakeup 1 1/2 hours
early, which is transcript time of 128:20. Shepard
says, "I don't think we're going to sleep more than 6
hours anyway. And we'll be in bed so that we have
6 1/2 hours." Last comm from the LM is at
121:34:52. During the rest period, the Flight
surgeon had indication that Shepard was alseep by about
121:58. Mitchell was not being monitored.
121:41:39
In 1991, Ed Mitchell
talked about getting the hammocks up and getting into
them. They slept without helmets, gloves, or EVA
boots. Getting the hammocks properly routed thru
the various suits hoses was tricky; they had rehearsed
the procedure a few times. They did not use
earplugs. A muffler had been installed in the ECS
pump to reduce to an acceptable level the noise that had
disturbed Neil's sleep. They woke several times
because they both had a feeling that the LM was about to
tip over. Ed describes the hammocks as being
uncomfortable and realized that it was the suits that
were causing the discomfort. There wasn't time in
a 32-hour lunar stay to doff and don them between EVAs;
and, perhaps more importantly, there was concern about
jeopardizing suit integrity. Removing the suits
for comfort during the 3-EVA misisons was imperative to
avoid crew exhaustion, which Ed thinks was a bigger risk
to the mission than the possibility that loss of suit
integrity would force cancellation of one or more EVAs
and an early return to orbit. Experience with the
suits gained from Apollos 11, 12, and 14 made it
possible to decide to remove the suits for the Apollo
15, 16, and 17 rest periods.
128:26:47
Shepard reports,
"Okay. We're up and running this morning.
We're assuming we have a Stay for EVA-2 and our crew
status report is we've had no medication." CapCom
requests a sleep report a few minutes later.
Although they both report 4 to 4 1/2 hours, in Shepard's
case, the mission report statement above, that they got
"little or no sleep", may reflect the view of the
Surgeon, who was monitoring Shepard's biomed data.
128:30:50
Debrief discussion of the
problem of finding a comfortable position for the
head. Neckring part of the problem. Also, a
pillow would have helped. There is no mention of
pillows in the A15-A17 LSJ. Nor any significant
weight difference between hammocks listed in the Apollo
14 stowage lists and those of the later mission that
could be ascribed to a pillow.
*There was a 40-minute delay in
the Apollo 14 launch. Mission clocks in Houston and
onboard the spacecraft are relative to the planned time of
launch. Times in the transcript are relative to the
actual time of launch. Similar problems arise for Apollo
17 because of a launch delay.
4.4 Apollo 15
Launch, 13:34:01 GMT, 26 July 1971
Lunar Orbit Insertion, 78:32
Lunar Landing, 104:42:29
LM Liftoff, 171:37:23
TransEarth Injection, 223:49
Splashdown, 295:11:53
CDR - Dave Scott
CMP - Al Worden
LMP - Jim Irwin
This was the first of three missions during which the crews
each spent 67 or more hours on the Moon and performed three
EVAs. Because of confidence in the suits gained during
prior missions, a decision was made the the LM crew would doff
their suits before each rest period so that they would have a
better chance of getting adequate rest. They were the
first crew to use earplugs during the sleep periods; to
make sure they would hear any calls from Houston, Dave Scott
wore an earpiece during the rest period.
From the Apollo 15 Mission Report (
15 Mb
): "Very little shift of the crew’s normal terrestrial
sleep cycle occurred during the translunar and transearth
coast phases of this mission. As a result, all crewmen
received an adequate amount of sleep during these periods.
Displacement of the terrestrial sleep cycle during the three
lunar surface sleep periods ranged from 2 hours for the first
sleep period to 7 hours for the third sleep period. This shift
in the sleep cycle, in addition to the difference between the
command module and lunar module sleep facilities, no doubt
contributed to the lunar module crewmen receiving less
sleep on the lunar surface than was scheduled in the flight
plan. However, the most significant factors causing loss of crew
sleep were operational problems. These included hardware
malfunctions as well as insufficient time in the flight plan
to accomplish assigned tasks. During the first sleep period,
the crewmen went to sleep one hour later than planned and had
to arise one hour early to fix a cabin oxygen leak. The
crewmen again were an hour late in getting to sleep for the
second lunar surface sleep period. The final sleep period was
changed so that the beginning of the period was 2 1/2 hours
later than originally planned. The period, which had been
planned to last 7 hours, was terminated after 6 1/2 hours to
begin preparations for the final extravehicular activity. Lengthening the work days and reducing the planned sleep periods on the lunar surface coupled with a significant alteration of the lunar module crewmen's circadian rhythm produced a sufficient fatigue level
to cause them to operate on their physiological reserves until they returned to the command module."
As indicated in the table (below) of Sleep Comments from the
ALSJ, the crew decided early in the planning processes that
they were going to build the mission on a 24-hour Houston
day. Despite the Mission comments quoted above, Dave and
Jim believed that they'd gotten adequate sleep.
Certainly, they got more quality sleep on the lunar surface
than any prior crew.
From the Pilot's Report in the Apollo 15 Mission Report: "The
crew was able to sleep fairly well. Noise was minimized by
configuring the environmental control system in accordance
with the checklist and by using earplugs. The temperature was
ideal for sleeping in the constant-wear garment and sleeping
bag, or in the constant-wear garment and coveralls. A wider
hammock would improve the conditions for sleeping. A slight
light leak through the stitching on the window shades
interfered with getting to sleep."
Details in Sleep Notes
derived from the Apollo 15 Technical Air-to-Ground transcript
( 38
Mb ). No sleeping tablets were taken.
Sleep Comments from the Apollo 15 Lunar Surface
Journal
Ground
Elapsed Time (hh:mm:ss)
Notes
106:50:01
Full discussion of
reasons for doing the Stand-up EVA (SEVA), including the
value of not disturbing their circadian rhythm.
109:08:23
During the post-mission
debriefing, Dave said that one advantage of doing the
SEVA and then sleeping before going out for the first
EVA is that their first sleep was in a clean cabin.
109:30:39
In 1992, Dave did not
remember that the LM tilt was a problem. In 1989,
Jim remembered that the hammocks "were adjustable to a
certain degree ... I didn't notice any problem at
all." During the post-mission debriefing, Dave
said "I was afraid I would be feeling like I was
sleeping heads down with that pitch angling there, but I
didn't at all. " Dave and Jim suggested
modifications to the feet end of the two hammocks to
improve comfort and prevent accidental contact with
switches.
109:58:36
Discussion about the
quality of the sleep and the pre-flight decision to doff
the suits for the rest period. In 1989, Jim said
that he thought the sleeping arrangements in the LM were
better than what they had in the Command Module.
He also thought that the familiarity gained by sleeping
in the simulators was very valuable. He said that
he had the best sleep of the flight that first night on
the Moon, in part because "it was kind of an exciting
day, a satisfying day." Dave took an alarm clock
along on the flight, just in case. (One scenario that
comes to mind is losing comm while they were asleep.)
First Lunar Surface Rest Period
115:30:54
Houston wakes the crew an
hour early to have them locate and close an oxygen
leak. The cause was the urine transfer valve and
was found quickly. At 115:50, Parker notes that
Jim's biomed data indicated he was sleeping well.
Jim replies, "best sleep of the flight". Dave
comments that he, too, was "way down in sleep when you
gave us a call."
115:51:47
Debrief extract in which
Jim says the cabin temperature was very comfortable for
sleeping. He slept in his "Constant Wear Garment in the
sleeping bag and did not use the coveralls." Dave
slept in his coveralls "without a sleeping bag. So
I guess we each had two layers on, and it was very
comfortable." They used earplugs, "so noise was no
problem". Dave wore an earpiece, too, in case
Houston needed to wake them. Commented on the
value of a pre-flight vacuum chamber run in the LM to
find-tune the ECS configuration for noise
reduction. Some light leakage through the
stitching around the window covers.
116:00:38
Houston tells the crew
they are convinced that the urine valve was the only
leak source and is now tight. Dave says they'll
sleep better knowing that Houston will wake them to take
care of any other problems that arise."
116:02:31
Discussion of the
earpiece. Dave says that there never any problems
with the earpiece used in Apollo coming out of the
ear. CapCom then offers them to option of going
back to sleep for the remaining 22 minutes of the rest
period. Dave and Jim decide to use the time to get
organized for the EVA. There was a pre-flight
agreement to start the EVAs on time, perhaps because of
the fatigue problems on Apollo 14.
116:35:51
They both got about 5
hours sleep and took no medication.
130:55:31
Before the second rest
period, CapCom says Houston will try not to wake them
early, as happened in previous rest period because of
the oxygen leak. CDR replied, "Well, if you see
something that you'd like to look at, we'd rather have
you wake us up."
131:43
Jim's biomedical data
indicates that he is sound asleep. At 134:53, NASA
tells the press the cabin temperature is 56 degrees
Fahrenheit (13.3 C). During the post-flight debrief,
Dave was briefly awakened by a call from Houston to the
Command Module. He was wearing the earpiece, but
the fact that he heard the call was due to a mistake in
Houston; someone keyed the wrong comm channel.
Second Lunar Surface Rest Period
138:03:43
Wake-up call from
Houston. The wake-up was scheduled at
137:55. At 138:53:40, Jim reports that "we both
slept for the full time".
138:20:37
Dave describes a
simulated rest period he and Jim did in one of the LM
simulators before the flight. They "got a lousy night's
sleep. When you get to one-sixth g, it's just
terrific; but you try to sleep in those hammocks in one
g: not terrific." They did the session in part
because they were the first crew who were going to doff
the suits and they wanted to do that in the confines of
a LM cabin.
141:04:15
Dave comments on building
the mission around the circadian rhythm and the value of
having the crew all resting at the same time. He
also comments on the value of the Flight Directors and
other managers observe training, so they could
make better real-time decisions that influenced the
timeline. Dave and Jim are currently about an hour
late in starting EVA-2.
150:32:15
Dave and Jim are running
late - about 1 1/2 hours behind the timeline - and
Houston is anxious to get them to bed. At
151:35:06,
CapCom tells them that the EVA debrief won't be done to
help make up some time. During the rest period,
Houston will assess the tasks for EVA-3.
151:13:45
Dave tells Houston, "I'll
tell you, the secret to living up here is getting out of
these suits. It
really makes the
difference." Dave discusses the need to get the
suits off to get some good rest between EVAs.
152:01:46
CapCom re-inforces early
statement about the importance of rest. Houston
will insist on a 7-hour rest period starting when they
get into the hammocks. However, there is an
unstated understanding between CapCom and the crew that
the 7-hour clock will start when the crew calls to say
they are in their hammocks, whether they really are or
not. In 1992, Dave thought they did get in the
hammocks about the time they said they were getting in
them.
153:14:27
Dave calls Houston to
"Start your clock" for the rest period. They were
planned to start the rest period at 151:25, so they are
1 hr 50 min behind. the Surgeon is monitoring
Jim's biomedical data and, at 154:04, reports that,
although is heart rate is beginning to fall, he is not
yet soundly asleep. At 155:03 Jim was
dozing. At 156:00, Jim was not sound asleep.
Third Lunar Surface Rest Period
160:03:40
During the post-mission
debriefing, Dave and Jim remembered getting sleep on the
third night as good as on the second and that they were
both well rested. Discussion about the value of the
biomed data.
4.5 Apollo 16
Launch, 17:54:00 GMT, 16 April 1972
Lunar Orbit Insertion, 74:28:28
Lunar Landing, 104:29:35
LM LIftoff, 175:31:48
TransEarth Injection, 200:21:33
Splashdown, 265:51:05
CDR - John Young
CMP - Ken Mattingly
LMP - Charlie Duke
From the Apollo 16 Mission Report (
8
Mb ): "In contrast to the Commander's Apollo 10
experience, he slept well during all the scheduled sleep
periods. Typically, the Commander's sleep was uninterrupted
for 4 to 5 hours after which he would awaken, get a drink of
water, and return to sleep for the rest of the night. The
Lunar Module Pilot slept well during all sleep periods except
the first. However, the Command Module Pilot reported that he
slept uninterrupted only two nights of the mission and,
characteristically, would awaken about once every hour. He
also stated that he never felt physically tired nor had a
desire for sleep. On this mission, displacement of the
terrestrial sleep cycle ranged from 30 minutes to 5 hours
during translunar coast, and from 3 1/2 hours to 7 hours
during the three lunar-surface sleep periods. This shift in
the sleep cycle on the lunar surface contributed to some loss
of sleep; however, this was the first mission in which the
lunar module crewmen obtained an adequate amount of good sleep
while on the lunar surface. This assessment of the amount of
sleep is based on a correlation of heart rate during the
mission sleep periods with preflight sleep
electroencephalograms and heart rates. The estimates of sleep
duration made by ground personnel were in general agreement
with the crew's subjective evaluations."
From the Pilot's Report : "The crew slept exceptionally well
although the cabin temperature varied. The ear plugs were not
used; it was felt that they were unnecessary. For the first
sleep period on the lunar surface, the Commander donned only
his sleeping bag, whereas the Lunar Module Pilot wore his
liquid cooled garment while in his sleeping bag. For the
second and third sleep periods, both crewmen wore their liquid
cooled garments while in the sleeping bags. The intravehicular
garments were never used. There was some light leakage into
the cockpit ; however, it did not prevent the crew from
sleeping. The Lunar Module Pilot aided his first sleep period
by taking Seconal; however, he was awakened three times - the
first two times by master alarms caused by the reaction
control system 'A' problem, and the third time by an apparent
loss of communications lock during a handover which produced
noise in his earphones. The first sleep period lasted about 8
hours. In general, the cabin configuration is acceptable to
get a good night 's sleep."
Details in
Sleep Notes
derived from the Apollo 16 Air-to-Ground transcript (
50 Mb
). Charlie took one Seconal for the rest period before the
lunar landing and one before each of the first two lunar
surface rest periods.
Sleep Comments from the Apollo 16 Lunar Surface
Journal
Ground
Elapsed Time
(hh:mm:ss)
Notes
Landing
Delay
A technical problem in
the Comand Module resulted in a 6-hour delay in
landing. John and Charlie had awakened at about
91:30 and had planned planned to do an EVA before their
first rest period. They would have started that
first rest period at about 113 hours, after a 21 1/2
hour day. If they had tried to do an EVA after the
delayed landing, they would have had a 27 1/2 hours day
and, in Houston, Flight Director Gerry Griffin was
unwilling to test their endurance to that extent.
104:51:43
After the landing, CapCom
tells them that he has extensive changes to the Surface
Checklist, which he can read up when it's
convenient. Charlie sums up the general feeling in
both the LM and Houston, "Jim, I feel exactly like I
thought I was (going to feel). I really want to
get out, but I think that discretion is the better part
of valor, here." John adds, "Man, it's really
tempting, though. It really looks nice out
there." By the early 1990s, Charlie had changed
his mind. He said he was so pumped up with
adrenalin and enthusiasm, that "I had a tough time
getting to sleep." The Apollo 17 crew decided to
do an EVA after landing, planning to wake up in lunar
orbit at 105 hour 45 minutes and, after landing and
doing an EVA, starting their first lunar surface rest
period at about 128 hours, after a bit more than a
22-hour day, similar to what the Apollo 16 crew had
planned. Except for some timing differences,
that's what they did.
106:35:45
CapCom gives them some
Surface Checklist changes including wake-up at 115:53
and suit donning at 117:03.
107:21:07
CapCom tells them they
will see an RCS warning light at about 108 hours, which
is when they should be starting to sleep. They
should do a reset. And, then, just before they
wake up, they will get a different warning and will need
to change a control setting. John complains that
they're going to have to wake up at least twice and
wants to know, "How much sleep from the time when we
start to bed do you want us to get?" He is told
"eight hours".
107:31:39
Charlie is disappointed
that the surgeons will monitor him. Discusses the
problems the cable biomed cable caused in trying to get
comfortable.
107:47:52
Charlie comments about
the light leaking into the cabin. CapCom Tony
England wishes them a good night a couple of minutes
later. However, three minutes after that, Charlie
wants to share an observation about the thickness of the
soil he will drill into during EVA-1. John calls
Houston at 108:00 to say that the warning light had come
on.
First Lunar Surface Rest Period
112:32:45
Charlie calls Houston to
confirm that an alarm he's just heard is the second one
Houston was expecting. Comments about the shock of
the noise and that he "almost jumped out of my
skin". Comments about sleeping in the
hammock. The only problem with getting to sleep
was "to get your mind in idle."
114:00:00
The Public Affairs
commentator gives the press start time for what are
hoped to be three 7-hour EVAs: EVA-1 start,
119:28; EVA-2 start, 141:43; EVA-3 start, 165:30; and
liftoff at 177:28, which nearly six hours later then the
original time of 171:45.
115:49:37
Charlie calls Houston and
tells them, "We're up." Charlie was awakened by a
burst of static in the earpiece, "and that's why I
pegged out the EKG about 20 minutes ago."
(Confirmed to CapCom by the Surgeon.) During the
post-flight debrief, John mentioned that the suits piled
on the engine cover "were up into the hammock about
three inches"and the support under his back made it feel
like he was "sleeping on a bed". Charlie took a
Seconal tablet before each of the first two rest periods
to help him overcome his excitement.. John said he
was 'warm' at the start of the rest period, took
everything off and "slept in the sleeping bag with
nothing on. I woke up in the middle of the night
and my feet were freezing. So I turned around (putting
his feet toward the back of the cabin) and put the ISA
(Interim Stowage Assembly, a set of cloth bags) over my
feet and went right back to sleep. Worked like a
charm. But the next couple of nights, I slept in
the LCG (Liquid Cooled Garment, but without water flow)
because it was really cold at night." Charlie
agreed that they needed to wear the LCGs and use the
sleeping bags, because it was "chilly at night".
He, too, didn't use the bag when he first went to sleep,
but used it later after he cooled down. Because of
the 6 hour landing delay, they needed to conserve
battery power, so Houston had them power down more
equipment than would have normally been the case.
This may have contributed to the cool conditions.
115:51:19
Charlie reports that he
slept 6 1/2 to 7 hours and that, John "was sleeping so
great that I just woke him up just a second ago
... I couldn't stand it any longer (and wanted to
get him up and get going)." John slept 7 1/2 hours.
128:16:27
CapCom reads up some
checklist updates. The rest period after EVA-1
will start at 130:15 and is scheduled to last 8
hours. "Tomorrow is pretty relaxed; we encourage
you to get a lot of sleep tonight. You've got plenty of
time; no need to feel like you've got to press (meaning
'hurry') in the morning."
128:57:37
Deke Slayton tells them
that EVA-2 will be seven hours, EVA-3 five hours, launch
and rendezvous after EVA-3, but postpone the LM jettison
till after a rest period so they'll only have an
18-hour work day. Re-iterates that Houston wants them to
get a good sleep before EVA-2
130:21:47
The Surgeon wants to
watch Charlie's biomed during the rest period.
John says he is going to wear the earpiece: "I'm going
to get Charlie some good sleep." Charlie says,
"Couldn't ever believe we'd go to sleep (because of the
excitement of being on the Moon), Deke; but, man,
this guy John sleeps like a baby up here. I've
never seen it." Although they are slightly behind
schedule, Deke reads up some checklist changes to save
time in the morning.
130:41:08
They are about to
configure the Environmental Control System (ECS) for
sleep.
Second Lunar Surface Rest Period
139:07:43
John calls to ask "What
time are we supposed to get up?" CapCom says they
are 3 1/2 minutes early. Fifteen minutes later,
before giving his estimate of how much sleep he got,
Charlie asks Houston how much the surgeons think he
got. The surgeons say six hours; Charlie says his
estimate was 7 hours. John got 7 1/4 hours.
Charlie provides a description of the sleeping bag,
which he had to use when he got cold in the middle of
the night.
131:21:52
About eight minutes after
what was to have been the final 'good night', John calls
to ask if they can change the Alignment Optical
Telescope (AOT) pointing because they've got sunlight
streaming in. Houston tells them to put it in any
position that solves the problem. Comments follow
about sleepwear, the urine collection system,
noise. No problems.
148:47:23
Late in EVA-2, during the
drive back to the LM, Charlie asks in they still have
adequate supplies of consumables: oxygen, cooling water,
and PLSS battery power. CapCom tells them they
have enough "to go on a long time; We just feel
you've put in a good day." John says "Well, why
don't we stay out here and set a new world's outdoor
record?", meaning that he wants to take the record for
the longest lunar EVA away from the Apollo 15
crew." CapCom replies that they should leave
something for Apollo 17 and that, "We're going to set a
new sleep record."
148:58:17
John and Charlie ask for
a ten-minute extension, still eager to to have the
longest EVA. The Flight Director understands their
interest but is reluctant, with the surgeon telling the
Flight Director that he doesn't want to shorten the
sleep period. At 149:00:00, Charlie begs for an
extension. It is granted.
150:30:00
After EVA-2, Houston
tells them "we're not pushing, John, but we would like
to stay fairly close to the timeline so you can get
plenty of sleep tonight. You're going to have a
hard day tomorrow." An hour and a half later, CapCom
tells them that the rest period is to begin at 154:35
and will last 8 hours.
153:00:32
In 1996, EVA CapCom Tony
England provided some comments about making sure that he
had adequate rest during the mission. On the J
missions, the EVA Capcoms were on duty well before the
EVA started and, in Tony's case, virtually until the
start of the rest period.
154:14:38
Tony apologizes to John
and Charlie about letting them get behind in the
EVA. A late end to the EVA means a late start to
the rest period and, because everyone appreciates how
important adequate rest is in the long missions, a late
start to the rest period means a short final EVA.
154:43:07
Last comm before the rest
period. John says they are about 1/2 hour
away from getting in the hammocks. The surgeons
will be looking at John's biomed data.
Third Lunar Surface Rest Period
162:38:32
Charlie responds to the
wake-up call sounding like he's emerging from deep
sleep. Today, it's John's turn to ask the surgeons
how long they thought he slept. 6 1/2 to 7
hours. John was going to say 7.
174:08:20
Back in the LM after
EVA-3, while John and Charlie have a meal, CapCom gives
them some checklist changes for post-docking. They
will defer some of the transfer of samples and other
items till after they have some sleep. Jim says
they've got water and electricity for another 18 hours
on the Moon and, jokingly, asks if they'd like to do a
fourth EVA. Charlie replies "If you'd let me
sleep, I wouldn't mind."
4.6 Apollo 17
Launch, 05:33:00 GMT, 7 December
1972
Lunar Orbit Insertion, 86:14:23
Lunar Landing, 110:21:58
Lunar Liftoff, 185:21:37
TransEarth Injection, 234:02:09
Splashdown, 301:51:59
CDR - Gene Cernan
CMP - Ron Evans
LMP - Jack Schmitt
From the Apollo 17 Mission Report (
26
Mb ) Biomedical Evaluation: "As on previous missions,
displacement of the terrestrial sleep cycle contributed to
some loss of sleep. In addition, changes to the flight plan
occasionally impacted previously planned crew sleep
periods. In general, however, an adequate amount of good
sleep was obtained by all crewmembers. The estimates of sleep
duration made by ground personnel were in general agreement
with the crew's subjective evaluations. All three
crewmen averaged approximately six hours of sleep per day
throughout the mission. Only during the first sleep period was
the amount of sleep obtained (approximately three hours)
inadequate from a medical point of view. The crew reported
that the Seconal effectively induced sound and undisturbed
sleep for a period of four to five hours. Sleep
restraints were used for every sleep period by all three
crewmen. The Commander also emphasized the importance of
programming an eight-hour sleep period each day."
From the the Mission Report's Pilots' Report: "The planning to
include a short sleep period in the first day allowed the crew
to return to a normal work-rest cycle ... (On the lunar
surface) the liquid cooling garments were doffed at the end of
each extravehicular activity and the constant wear garment was
donned for sleep. The crew believed that their sleep was much
more comfortable in the constant wear garment partly because
it was cleaner than the liquid cooling garment. Also, the
constant wear garment removed the general level of pressure
that a tight-fitting liquid cooling garment exerts on the
body."
Details in the
Sleep Notes
derived from the Apollo 17 Air-to-Ground Transcript (
58 Mb
). CDR Gene Cernan took four Seconal tablets, one each
before the first two 8-hour rest periods during TransLunar
Coast, one for the rest period in lunar orbit prior to the
landing, and once for the second lunar surface rest
period. LMP Jack Schmitt took six Seconal tablets; one
each for the three TLC rest periods, one in lunar orbit before
landing, one in lunar orbit after rendezvous and docking, and
one for the last night before splashdown. CMP Ron Evans
took six Seconal tablets, three during TLC and three in lunar
orbit.
Sleep Notes from
the Apollo 17 Lunar Surface Journal
126:10:47
After
confirming with Houston that the Surgeons will be
monitoring Jack, Gene asks permission to remove his
sensors for the first rest period. "The sensors itched,
and it was just generally irritating to have them
on. We had learned to put them on ourselves, so
that we could take them off when we could." The
Apollo 15 crew fought pre-flight to get approval and
training for sensor removal and re-application.
See discussion in the A15LSJ at
109:58:36,
141:00:09,
and
152:35:44.
127:52:09
CapCom Joe Allen asks if
they'd like a 30-minute extension of the rest period
(from 7 1/2 to 8 hours). Cernan replies, "Yeah,
I'd like to try to get the full amount (of sleep).
As I recall, tomorrow's a little bit flexible. If
we get out 30 minutes late, it doesn't really hurt
us."
128:15:23
Discussion of sleepwear
and sleeping bags. In January 2004, they disagreed
as to whether they wore the LCGs or the CWGs and whether
they did or did not have sleeping bags. The Apollo
15 and 16 LM crews used sleeping bags. Their LM
stowage list shows two "sleep
restraint assemblies", each weighing 2.3 pounds. The
Apollo 17 LM
stowage list shows the same items
with the same weights, suggesting that Gene and Jack did
have sleeping bags, whether or not they chose to use
them.
129:02:37
Gene said in the early
1990s that "sleeping on the Moon is the greatest waste
of time a human being can conceive" meaning that they
were on the Moon for only 72 hours and slept for 24 of
those. "But you had to sleep; we were just so tired that
we didn't have any choice but to sleep."
Discussion of the decision to do the EVA before the rest
period, rather than the other way around. Comments
from Jack about the necessity of sleep, about doing the
EVA first, and about getting better sleep on the Moon
than in orbit and, in some ways, than on Earth.
First Lunar Surface Rest Period
137:01:50
Jack was connected to
comm through the rest period and was only awakened once
by comm noise.
140:22:39
Jack describes the
forearm fatigue he experienced during EVA-1 and the fact
that there was no residual soreness after the rest
period. Perhaps
there had been more efficient removal of lactic
acid and other metabolic products in 1/6th gravity than
on Earth.
150:40:20
At the end of the EVA
debriefing, Jack wants to continue; but CapCom Joe Allen
indicates they should finish eating and get ready for
sleep. Making allowances for some padding in the
timeline, they are about an hour behind. Gene
tells Joe "We're working as fast as we can. Best
place in the world to make it up is tomorrow night.",
meaning that he doesn't want to cut EVA-3 short and
would rather have a short second rest period, a full
EVA, and catch up on sleep during the final rest period
before LM launch. More discussion about the need
for rest.
151:39:44
Fatigue can be heard in
Gene's voice. He and Jack have been awake since
136:55:05 and, in those 14 3/4 hours, have been very
active. Last comm at
152:24:15,
followed by more comments about sleep.
Second Lunar Surface Rest
Period
160:27:26
Gene wakes up sounding
groggy. Comments about the difference between the
first day and the third, physically and
psychologically. Houston wants them stay on the
timeline. They are an hour behind. That
isn't a problem, but they shouldn't get an farther
behind. they will actually gain back about 8
minutes in a smooth EVA prep. Jack had six good
hours of sleep. Gene had 3 hours good and 3
intermittent. He'd taken a Seconal sleeping
tablet.
175:20:50
Last comm before the
third rest period.
Third Lunar Rest Period
183:38:48
Jack was awakened during
the night by some comm noise and got himself back to
sleep by composing a variation on "The Night before
Christmas" suitable to Apollo 17. He gave a
rendition after wake-up.
183:46:52
Gene got 5 hours of good
sleep; Jack got "my usual 6". Neither took any
medication.
