Page 29 - The Appollo Story

.-------------1 The Apollo Story t---- - - - ---.......

Apollo 10 (AS-505) We Are Close
Less than two months later and another lunar module was flying through space, this time within a hair's
breadth of the Moon.
Apollo 10 had no room for rookies, just three experienced space travellers; Tom Stafford in command,
John Young as CM pilot and Gene Cernan as the LM pilot. This was a dress rehearsal for the first land-
ing, flying within 47,000ft (15.6km) of the cratered surface of the Moon to test navigational equipment
and reconnoitre potential landing sites. The launch from Cape Kennedy on the afternoon of 18 May 1969
was mostly routine stuff; although the ride into orbit had been an exceptionally bumpy one.
Below is a launch cover signed by Gene Cernan and Tom Stafford with a Cape Canaveral post-
mark.

The shield-shaped emblem for the
flight shows a large, three-
dimensional Roman numeral X sit-
ting on the moon's surface, in Staf-
ford's words, "to show that we had
left our mark." Although it did not
land on the moon, the prominence of
the number represents the significant
contributions the mission made to the
Apollo program. A CSM circles the
moon as an LM ascent stage flies up
from its low pass over the lunar sur-
face with its engine firing. The earth
is visible in the background. A wide,
light blue border carries the word
APOLLO at the top and the crew
names around the bottom. The patch
is trimmed in gold. The insignia was
designed by Allen Stevens of Rock-
well International.

Man's Second
APOLL0-10 Flight To The Moon

ASTRONAUT GENE CERNAN ~...2£......
ASTRONAUT JOHN YOUNG /f.h
~~tJ-~11 ASTRONAUT TOM STAFFORD /.!- /' ~
JOHN f. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER ·FLORIDA ~