NM facility remembers Apollo days

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KRQE) - 40 years ago, the crew of Apollo 11 became the first manned mission to land on the moon, but before that, many of their spacecraft systems were tested in southern New Mexico.

Now, scientists at NASA's White Sands Test Facility are working on the next generation of spacecraft that will replace the shuttle and take us back to the moon.

In the early 1960s, Apollo hardware poured into a new NASA site at New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range.

The race to the moon was on, and there were sky high expectations.

"So we worked 24/7, a lot of overtime, a lot of pressure getting the tests off, and we had great people and they were really dedicated," Kenneth Schaaf with NASA White Sands said.

A rocket tower was bolted to the Apollo command module, so the tower could fire and carry the crew to safety in an emergency.

At White Sands, unmanned Apollo capsules were put on boosters and launched to verify that escape crews would propel crews away from any disasters.

Other Apollo systems were also tested in the state, like motors for the lunar landers and space shuttle systems.

The sprawling NASA White Sands facility used all of its many test chambers and laboratories.

Now the shuttle's replacement, Constellation, which borrows a lot of Apollo's design, must prove its escape system.

A new launch facility is going up at White Sands and new capsules called "Orions" will test the new escape tower.

"Which will take a roughly 20,000 pound capsule downrange about 0.7 nautical miles in two and a half seconds. I mean a city bus going a mile downrange in two and a half seconds," Sean Michael Gates with NASA White Sands said.

The control motors for Constellation's boosters were also tested in New Mexico.

To save money and time, NASA took motors off old nuclear missiles, White Sands Staff made sure they worked.

The New Mexican facility is also set to test rocket motors for the next lunar lander named Altair.

The moon will be used as a testing ground for systems that will later take humans as far as Mars.

NASA wants to manufacture methane fuel on Mars for trips back to Earth, but methane has never been used before.

So, NASA White Sands is testing methane fuel designs that Altair can try out on the moon.

However, space is not always smooth sailing. Constellation spacecraft will face micrometeorites and space debris that travel at several miles per second.

The facility at White Sands uses big guns to blast simulated space debris at layers of metals and composites designed to protect spacecraft.

"The ordering, the space distance between the various layers, what's in between those layers, makes a difference. When a projectile hits the first layer, it slows down significantly," Karen Rodriquez with NASA White Sands said.

Not every test can be done with computers. Some require human beings, like the odor panel.

Volunteers who have certified noses must smell and approve anything that goes inside any spacecraft.

"They're in a confined space. You can't roll down the window or you can't open up your visor if there is something that's making you ill," George Aldrich with NASA White Sands said.

At NASA White Sands, an Apollo command module sits out in the rain, and an old Apollo lunar module still rests in a hangar.

Those who worked on Apollo at the facility said that the return of some of those design concepts has some worthy advantages.

They also sometimes point that out to younger folks working on Constellation.

"They don't like to hear that. They think this is really a totally different program and I guess you know it is going to be bigger than a Saturn 5," Kenneth McCardle with NASA White Sands said.

At its Apollo Peak, the facility had around 1,200 employees. Now, around 650 people work at NASA White Sands.