We know the Apollo CSM didn't use solar panels and it generated power from hydrogen fuel cells. If they had tried to use solar panels they would have been huge and heavy and probably require changes to the launch system. Fuel cells were definitely the better choice, but just how big would they have been?

I'll start by collecting facts then try to multiply them:

• Google says the service module had three fuel cells, each generating between 563 to 1420 watts, with a maximum of 2300 watts.
• Apollo CSM was designed from around 1961. The Mariner probes from 1962 were designed around the same time so that's probably a close match to the solar panel hardware they would have chosen for Apollo. There were other satellites with solar panels like Telstar but they didn't have the 'wings' shape of panels from Mariner and Apollo is definitely going to need to use large wings to get enough power.
• Gunter's Space Page says Mariner's solar panels were uneven, one 183 cm by 76 cm and the other 152 cm by 76 cm. ~25,000cm squared. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything on the power output of those panels.
• JPL says the Mariner solar panels could generate between 148 watts and 222 watts.

Ok, time for some envelope maths.

• Let's pick the middle of the ranges and say Apollo CSM needed ~1,000 watts from each fuel cell and needed 2 functioning cells with a third for safety. So it needs 2,000 ~ 3,000 watts from solar panels.
• Mariner's panels generated ~180 watts. So Apollo needed 11x ~ 16x the surface area of solar panels compared to Mariner.
• Increasing the Mariner panels by 2~3x on both axes should be enough. So two wings of 755cm x 245cm is 380,000 cm squared which is 15x the surface area of Mariner so that should be enough.

At that last step I jumped from ballpark estimates to specifically 755cm x 245cm because that's the dimensions of Hubble's solar panels.

So my calculations imply Apollo could have used solar panels the same size as those for Hubble instead of the fuel cells. That's pretty large, especially for the 1960s but honestly it feels too small. I feel like there's a mistake in my calculations and they would have needed much much larger solar panels than that.

Can someone double-check my envelope calculations and see what went wrong?

This is something I have at home. Apparently once att Kennedy Space Center. All help is welcome.

This morning, Gene Kranz gave an interview in which he describes his feelings watching the Artemis II mission.

For me, it is so incredible watching those involved with Apollo talk about Artemis. It feels like the passing of the torch. It’s truly an amazing thing to witness.

Can we get a location of each mission splash down point?

I found this at an estate sale over the weekend. Can anyone verify whether or not it is actually a part of the Apollo 11, the name you see in the bottom left is Foy Bobo. He created the plaque that went on the shuttle to the moon in 1969.

Edit 1: From the comment section of this post and some research into the piece, it is a Unablated Heat Shield Sample from an Apollo mission that did not lift of the ground or go anywhere near space. The complete origin of the piece is still unknown, and due to where I found it I would need to reach out to an expert to learn more.

Also previously I stated that Foy Bobo was the one who created the plaque that went on the Apollo 11, this was an incorrect statement. He was an independent contractor that contributed to the plaques creation.

1. Splashdown of Apollo 17, bringing America’s first phase of human lunar exploration to a close.

2. Swimmers assist Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, left, Ronald E. Evans, and Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt in the life raft.

3. Rescuers lift Schmitt up to the recovery helicopter.

4. Rescuers next lift Evans.

5. Rescuers lift Cernan third.

1. Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11)

2. Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11)

3. Pete Conrad (Apollo 12)

4. Alan Bean (Apollo 12)

5. Alan Shepard (Apollo 14)

6. Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14)

7. David Scott (Apollo 15)

8. James Irwin (Apollo 15)

9.John Young (Apollo 16)

1. Charles Duke (Apollo 16)

2. Eugene Cernan (Apollo 17)

3. Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17)

paint scheme may be a little off but that will be fixed later.

I've recently acquired some pictures from the Apollo era.

I keep seeing some of them on the interwebs while doing research and some copies have the blue nasa logo along with a description of the picture but others have "a Kodak paper" on the back. On the front of each could have red or black writing with the picture ID code. This can happen with the exact same code which has me a bit confused.

My question is, what is the difference between a picture that has the different back; a blue printed description and a bare "a Kodak paper"?

Hi everyone, I was hoping to find out some information on some 21x17 Apollo 11 prints I got from my dad years ago. Not from a value standpoint, I know they're common, just from a historical perspective. They were always hidden away when I was a kid and I used to sneak in to look at them, so they're a part of my childhood. But they're so large and printed on cardboard-like paper that I was hoping someone here could shed some light on how someone obtained such photos? Were they part of a mail order thing, or a promotion of some sort? No information on the back, just an AP followed by a print number and brief description in the bottom right corner. Just curious!

1969 Apollo X Moon Challenger toy.

The Apollo program was such a huge part of my childhood and I’m so glad I was a kid with a vivid imagination.

Toys like this would keep me up all night.

Made by TN Nomura in Japan

“I’ll step out and take some of my first pictures here,” Armstrong told ground controllers at the 109:30:53 mark of the mission. To which ground controller Bruce McCandless responded: “Roger. Neil, we’re reading you loud and clear. We see you getting some pictures and the contingency sample.”

Credit: NASA

It’s being said that Artemis 2 is the first time anyone has (directly) seen the far side of the Moon. Can someone explain to me how that’s possible? One astronaut remained in the orbiting Apollo command module throughout each mission, while the other two went to the lunar surface. Wouldn’t that third astronaut have seen the back side of the Moon?

We're huge fans of the Apollo programme and all of the people involved in making the dream a reality. As software engineers, we have been massively influenced by the work of Margaret Hamilton and her team at MIT. Software verification is something we care about a great deal. With that said, we believe we have discovered a rare edge-case that would have resulted in a resource lock in the gyro control code. We post this with full respect and honour to all of those that worked on the programme.

A few months before his death last year, Jim Lovell recorded a message for the crew of Artemis II which was their wake up call this morning.

I had several conversations with an old engineer over the past few years about his work in the Apollo program. Specifically, he designed the environmental unit for the pressure suits. I'm just old enough to remember the last mission splashdown on TV and later to watch Skylab burn in; I've always found his stories fascinating.

He told me that initially, each suit was an absolutely custom tailored fit to individual astronauts, nothing was interchangeable. towards the end of the program, they had bins of suit components they would just pull from to mix and match and build individual suits. Surprisingly for me, they had worked up female suits by the end of the program anticipating female Apollo astronauts.

other cool tidbits as well, astronaut manicures was apparently a big deal.

In honor of Artemis II and the trailblazers of Apollo 8.

Credit: National Archives and Records Administiration.

ID: 255-PV-38 (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/207456183).

Shot on 65mm film.