The following wonderful extracts provide information regarding CM-007/007A, the first specifically pertaining to the circumstances of the photograph. I highly recommend reading both in their entirety:
From an article by Amy Shira Teitel for Popular Science magazine online:
”Spacecraft 007 arrived at NASA’s Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston on April 18, 1966. Designed to test the spacecraft’s post-landing systems – the crew egress, survival, communications, location, power, and ventilation systems astronauts would rely on after returning from the Moon – this test article was a Block I version of the command module with the same configuration as flight articles. There was just one key difference: in place of the ablative heat shield, spacecraft 007’s was made of cork.
The first test in a natural body of water was the first delayed recovery test and it took place in the Gulf of Mexico. It was a run through to see what would happen if, after splashdown, adverse weather or rough seas kept recovery forces from collecting the crew from the ocean. The spacecraft’s systems could give engineers technical data, but they needed human factors data as well and this meant the test had to be manned. In this case, the crew was three volunteer “astronauts” associated with the Apollo program: Texas M. Ward, head of the Apollo egress training program, fellow Apollo astronaut trainer Louis DeWolf, and member of the Apollo Landing and Recovery Division Harry Clancy. Each of these three men knew that sitting in for astronauts on this test would give them a unique perspective on their work, but none were sure what lay in store sitting in a spacecraft at sea for two days.
The test started on Friday, September 30 at 4pm once the main test requirement was met: the water was rough enough to produce the desired three-to-four-foot waves. The three volunteers were strapped into their couches, the hatch was closed, and spacecraft 007 was lowered from the deck of the Motor Vessel Retriever.
The first part of the test was a test of the spacecraft’s ability to right itself. Spacecraft 007 was immediately flipped upside-down to its Stable-Two position (the thin end of the cone was facing down into the water and the heat shield was facing the sky), which left Ward, DeWolf, and Clancy suspended from their harnesses. Before long, the spacecraft’s two electric air compressors inflated the three uprighting bags, flipping the command module to its Stable-One position, the upright (heat shield down) position that had the stand-in astronauts lying comfortably in their couches.
This first objective achieved, the less exciting duration test began. Spacecraft 007 drifted south for 24 hours before starting to move parallel to the coast while a weather front moved through the test area generating waves 12 feet high. All the while, the Retriever was nearby keeping an eye on the spacecraft and establishing voice communication with the crew at least once an hour on the hour. As would be the case on the first two manned Apollo missions, one man out of three men was awake at all times to monitor the spacecraft systems and keep the test operators in the loop.
The test ended on Sunday night, and for the crew this meant a very welcome shower, shave, and steak dinner. The three men unanimously agreed that the test had overall been quite a ride. Especially when things got rough during the flip to Stable-Two and when the waves picked up; during these dynamic moments there was little for the volunteer astronauts to do but hang on. But more importantly, the spacecraft had weathered the rough waves and lengthy float very well. Ward noted that the Apollo spacecraft was a far better boat than the Gemini spacecraft, more stable and comfortable. All in all, the test subjects agreed it was a “pretty seaworthy craft.”
At:
www.popsci.com/blog-network/vintage-space/when-astronauts...
Along with:
“CM-007/007A is a North American Aviation production-line Apollo Command Module (CM) spacecraft designated as a ground test vehicle for water impact, acoustic and vibration, and postlanding tests. The CM was skinned with cork on the aft and crew compartment heat shields to simulate the flight ablator. CM-007 was in the Block I configuration and initially used in impact and acoustic testing at the manufacturer in Downey, California. It was the first Apollo Command Module delivered to the NASA-Manned Spacecraft Center (NASA-MSC) and was assigned to be used in manned postlanding tests to be conducted by the Landing and Recovery Division. These tests included systems operational and crew compatibility tests for uprighting, postlanding ECS, postlanding communications systems and recovery.
After delivery to Houston in April, 1966, CM-007 was prepared for open water tests in the Gulf of Mexico to operationally qualify the Block I CM postlanding systems. The manned Block I 48-hour open water tests in the Gulf of Mexico were successfully conducted with a NASA test subject crew (Harry Clancy, Tex Ward, Lou DeWolf) onboard CM-007 on September 30-October 2, 1966. Following completion of the Block I tests, CM-007 was shipped back to North American Rockwell in 1967 for modification to Block II (CM-101/Apollo 7 had a two-hatch configuration in the tunnel as compared to subsequent missions which had a single unified tunnel hatch configuration.) After modification, CM-007 was designated CM-007A and returned to NASA-MSC for testing. After the modifications, the manned Block II 48-hour open water tests in the Gulf of Mexico were successfully conducted with an astronaut crew (James A. Lovell, Jr., Stuart A. Roosa, and Charles M. Duke, Jr.) onboard CM007A on April 5-7, 1968. After returning to NASA/MSC, the tunnel hatch was reconfigured to the single unified hatch by a contractor team. Additional static water testing of the uprighting system bag failure modes continued in 1968 in NASA-MSC Building-260 water tank.”
At:
www.jonessite.net/upload/LRD/stories/CM007A.pdf
Credit: Coye Mac Jones' website
I wish I had more information regarding Mr. Jones! Other than:
“Welcome to Broomfield in the Denver/Boulder Colorado area. We moved here from Pagosa Springs Colorado almost three years after CMJ retired from NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston TX on 1/3/03 after 38 years of service, including the historic Project Apollo and Space Shuttle Program. We love our cats Rusty and Berry.”
Also:
photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPBNJ4rFImUqIJsn2mpVVvFrwZr0...
Credit: Coye Jones/Google Photos
Finally:
www.museumofflight.org/spacecraft/north-american-aviation...
Credit: 'The Museum of Flight' website
Tangential but pertinent:
ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19730010171/downloads/1973001...
