"When something goes wrong, don't feel ashamed to click 'Revert Flight' and do that all again."

Excellent and extremely detailed explanation of Apollo 14's docking problem. They came very close to abandoning their attempt to be the third mission to land on the moon.

Best depiction of this event that I've ever seen.

Great video, and very informative! My dad worked on a couple systems in the Apollo program, and I recall as a kid, he took me into work and showed me around, and pointed out the Apollo Docking Simulator that he was working on. It wasn't until I was in my 30's that I saw a documentary about the Apollo 14 docking problems, and thinking "Wow, my dad worked on that!", and I wondered (worried?) if he was involved in causing the problem at all. I knew my dad was a well-respected engineer by all his co-workers, and wasn't sure how to bring up such a potentially embarrassing question. I don't recall exactly how I brought it up, but I do recall it was awkward. When my dad finally figured out what I was trying to get at, he laughed, and assured me he didn't cause the problem. He explained that he got called into the project after the Apollo 14 flight to fix the problem. I've always admired my dad, and was relieved that my admiration for him wasn't tarnished. I always took pride in not only his contributions to space exploration, but the 100's of thousands of people who made it possible. And thanks to you Kevin, for your contribution to make sure theirs are not forgotten.

Back in the day, Ed Mitchell's website had a forum where you could talk with Dr. Mitchell himself. When I asked him about the docking incident he speculated that the probe latches had iced up, and that stopped the latches engaging, and that the ice broke after a few docking attempts attempts, releasing the latch and allowing the docking to succeed. He also said that if all the docking attempts had failed, they had a last resort plan that involved donning suits, depressurising the CM, opening the hatch and manually pulling the two craft together. This seems to validate what Ed said on the subject in that forum.

I remember that night when ABC's Jules Bergman broke into regular programming to break the news of Apollob14's docking problem. Was watching with my Dad, and thinking not again! The coverage stayed with the mission until docking finally happened. It was backup Commander Gene Cernan that talked the 14 crew through the procedures that caused success. What many people don't know is that after being thoroughly tested, the Apollo 14 docking probe was again certified as flight worthy. Four and half years later, the docking probe flew on the Apollo/ Soyuz mission, making it the only one to fly twice!

Thanks for making this video. I’d never heard most of the details involved. BTW, that part with the golf club flooring up into the LM was genius.

OMG! Please make more of these CAD videos!!! This is an amazing visual representation. If you had 1000 of these videos on youtube, I would binge watch all of them. And I would imagine thousands of others would too. Thank you for your hard work. I cannot wait for the next instructional video.

I was 12 and as I was going to bed, I heard on the hourly radio news that docking attempts were unsuccessful. Finally an hour later the news reported they had docked. Whew! I turned off the radio and slept peacefully!

Allan Shepherd will always be my favorite astronaut. He was also a great Navy jet-pilot. He could land a fighter on a carrier in a storm at night.

Lol, perfect ending. What a great video! It's so interesting to see the nitty-gritty of how these missions progressed

"...Sheppard made sure all the essentials were packed for the lunar surface!" Priceless comment 😆😆😆

I remember watching this live as it was happening. Certainly added more interesting drama to the Apollo - 14 mission, along with the LEM abort threat issue prior to landing. Made my staying up late nights/early mornings watching the events as they were happening. RIP to the crew of the Apollo - 14.

...and; there was another huge problem just before separating for the lunar landing. They were getting an abort signal from the lander, which would end the mission. Nothing at current, would have caused problems, until;....they were separated and the lander was going through touchdown procedures. Not to mention; a huge problem with one of the pressurized tanks, possibly leading to over-pressurization, and explosion, which was solved within a 15 min. time by an Earthbound engineer, who developed a fast computer program and had the Astronauts program it into their computer, and solved the problem. It seems life was making it extremely difficult for Shephard to venture a moon landing. NASA and Alan overcame the challenges.

I feel like you and JaredOwen would make a great team making these kinds of videos.

Love your dedication for this topic. Amazing videos

An impressive video!!!! Very detailed. When I read about this docking problem during Apollo 14, the information itself was quite vague. Thanks!!!

Excellent and accurate description and explanation of the Apollo docking probe. I remember being glued to the radio and TV during the docking maneuver and thinking "oh, no! not another problem" At least this time the astronauts were in no danger.

I met Ed Mitchell in Tucson during SpaceFest 2013, and he told me that it was "touch and go" throughout, along with his worrying that the LM wouldn't dock successfully with the Command Module after returning from the Moon.

How have I missed these?! This and the docking video are rediculously wonderful!!! Hope you continue to keep these vids coming!!!

Fascinating story. Never heard about this ! Great video and through research. Great work

Great explanation and graphics! Thanks and keep up the good work!

Great animation! Thanks for your detailed description!

My Geordie in Space!!! Thanks for doing this. Al, Stu and Ed would be proud!! (Just watched the whole video. Simply beautiful including the six iron at the end. You even included the detail of an EVA to fix the problem- great visualisation of how that could look in cis-lunar flight)

Thanks! That really helps to visualise the problem. I didn’t realise that they had so many retries. It must have been looking a bit bleak in the end.

Thank you for this very detailed video about this mechanism and the story about this docking attempt. Absolutely amazing! 👍👍👍 Grüße aus Deutschland 🤗🤗🤗

Excellent video, topped off by an unexpectedly funny finish! 👍

As others have said......this was TOTALLY fascinating. Never heard these details before. And in such a succinct video too.

The models are beautiful man! Thank you for sharing this!

Excellent work. 🙌🏼 This is the kind of space content we need more of.

Great breakdown. I've heard this problem described before but only briefly. They made it sound like just ramming it was the solution. This explained the actual solution in much more detail. Thank you.

Excellent explanation! These are the real details that fascinate those of us of a certain age! 👍🏻🙂

You should do more videos. Incredibly well done. Thank you.

So well done!

Super interesting. Didn't know about this. Thank you for sharing!!

Thanks for this clear technical and visual explanation.

About time Apollo 13 got a sequel

Very insightful and interesting!

I wasn't aware of the docking problem, nor that Shepard had Meniere's disease (which my wife has). I am reminded of the cartoon in MAD Magazine that shows an astronaut hitting a golf ball on the moon, and it flies all the way around and hits him.

Thanks for the behind the scenes story. I recall one mission where achieving "hard docking" was an important achievement - this could have been that mission. I like the reference to Alan Shepard's personal items. In fact, Alan decided to use the grabber pole for picking up rocks for his golf demonstration.. So all he needed to pack in his personal items was the head of an iron (to be fixed to end of the pole using the claw grabber), and a golf ball.

Kevin, Just came across your video on Apollo 14 spacecraft docking issues. A great video and it got me thinking back to my days as a NASA engineer working at KSC on the Apollo Spacecraft. One of my areas of responsibilities was the Apollo docking system. While the Command Module and Service Modules (CSM) were in the Altitude Chamber, we performed actual docking test with the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) Accent Stages, Skylab Docking Module, and the ASTP docking module/airlock. The only exception was Skylab Missions 3 & 4. The Skylab Docking Module was in orbit and thus the reason why we couldn’t perform the test. The first CSM to LEM docking test at KSC was Apollo 9. I, along with my North American Aviation contractor engineer and a Grumman Aircraft Corporation engineer developed the first docking procedure at KSC. These tests were performed for each Apollo mission with the participation of the prime/backup flight crews. The object of these test was to demonstrate the compatibility of the two mated vehicles. We verified the docking probe capture latches worked, the 12 docking ring latches worked, the docking ring seals held pressure, as well as the structural integrity of the two pressurized vehicles. In addition, the astronauts were able to witness for the first time the actual docking of the flight hardware. Once docked, they did a final adjustment of their Crew Optical Alignment System (COAS) to the docking target on the LEM. The COAS is placed in the Commanders forward looking window during all mission dockings. Lastly, we did not retract the docking probe using the GN2 gas bottles. There are only four bottles and using one would require the docking probe to be sent back to the manufacture for replacement. Instead, we lowered the suspended LEM to retract the probe until engaging the 12 ring latches. As I have already stated, your video is well done along with your narration. I do have some comments, corrections and opinions about your video. First, Gene Cernan’s idea on solving the docking issue could have worked. Pushing the two vehicles together with CSM thrusters until the docking latches fired was the same way we did the docking test at KSC. However, there would have to be enough thrusting power to overcome the extension spring in the docking probe shaft. Second, having only one ring latch fired is insufficient to maintain pressure in the CSM during tunnel hatch removal. Flight requirement was a minimum of 3 docking latches engaged. Forth, you cannot have just one latch to fire. These latches have a clamping force of 2,000 pounds each. The latch that is triggered first will pull the two vehicles together at such a high rate that it will trigger the other latches to fire in sequential order resulting in a violent oscillation of the two vehicles. By accident, we demonstrated this reaction during the first Apollo 9 docking teat. The LEM accent stage was not level to the CSM docking ring causing one latch hook to fire before the others. In an extremely fast motion, the other 11 latches fired one after the other. This resulted in a violent oscillation motion of the LEM (cable suspended) and the CSM sitting on a support ring in the altitude chamber. I do believe that the CSM slightly lifted off the support ring as it was not bolted to the ring. I can still hear today the flight crew’s reaction over the net. “What the hell just happened.” Luckily this did not damage the two flight vehicles. Fifth, the comment that the flight crew pushed the two laches to properly seat them on the docking ring is incorrect. There is absolutely no way an astronaut can overcome the 2,000-clamping force of the latch by hand. When latches do not totally engage with the docking ring, flight procedure is to re-cock the latch and then fire the latch. At KSC during testing of the docking latches, we had quite a few times when the latch hook was not totally on the docking ring. What happens is the latch goes thru two motions as it is fired. The first motion of the latch is to pivot forward or rotate towards the docking ring. The second motion is to then clamp down on the docking ring. What we experienced many times was the forward motion is so rapid that the latch hits the docking ring with such force that is bounces back before the latch starts its downward motion. It happens so fast the human eye cannot see these motions. We spent many hours talking to the design engineers back in California trying to fix this issue. We were never able to completely eliminate this problem during Apollo. Finally, at the time of the Apollo 14 mission, NASA concluded it was “space ice” that caused the docking issues. Having some type of liquid in the probe head, in my opinion, is not possible or likely. The Apollo docking systems were never exposed to the outside environment at KSC. After the docking test, the docking system was always covered in plastic until the Launch Escape System (LES) was installed in the VAB. As part of the LES, it contains the Bost Protective Cover (BPC) which sits over the Command Module. Inside the BPC at the apex of the cover is a “tension tie” which forms a connection between the BPC and the docking probe head. Its function is to keep the docking system (docking ring & docking probe) attached to the BPC during an abort. With a normal lunch, the tension tie is pulled out of the probe head as the BPC is jettisoned. It appears that the tension tie is inserted in the area of the probe head where the button is pushed by a LEM astronaut to release the three latches from the LEM drogue. It is not clear how the tension tie is physically connected to the drogue head other than it is not a mechanical connection. It’s possible it could be a hollow tube with three or more fingers that slide over the button head and grab the head from underneath. Its conceivable that one of these fingers could have broken off thus jamming the spider mechanism; or the tension tie could have been pulled off at an angle jamming the spider. This is a more plausible explanation than space ice. I hope my comments give you a better understanding of the Apollo Spacecraft docking system.

Awesome video Kevin! You should make more!

8:26, I'm sure there are some individuals who do not immediately understand what Alan Shepard's "essentials" were for landing on the lunar surface! BTW, this is an excellent video! Well done.

Very interesting. Good info in this. Thanks 😉

Great video, thanks!

I'm old enough to remember this incident, although I wasn't old enough to completely understand it. I'm a bit surprised this isn't discussed more these days. Great graphics and explanation.

Yeaaaaaah... Another great vidéo 👍 it is much easier to understand the flight incident with ! Again, again... Best wiches for 2022 PS : I think the graphics (more detailed) are better than your first video

Great explanation, thank you!

Another great Video!

Superb work

Hadn't heard this one before. Thanks.

Absolutely amazing work!!! This answers questions I had after reading about the missions….. wish you had more to watch!! ❤🙌

Keep videos coming man!

Impressive. Thank you!

Nice work with this presentation.

Fantastic episode! LOL, the "essentials"...🤑💥🚀

Good animation, and good explication.

Very interesting! Thanks!

I'm surprised they weren't worried about docking at the moon.

Neat! Thanks for sharing. 🙂

Very well done.

Interesting stuff. I'd love for you to do one on Skylab's troubles docking too.

They almost had to abort during decent to the lunar surface too. During the decent the radar went out, and protocol would’ve required them to abort had it not come back on before 10,000 feet. Luckily they got it back on, as many at mission control believed Shepherd would disobey the order to abort and try to land without the radar. Upon landing Edgar Mitchell said to Shepherd “what would you have done if the radar didn’t come back on?” Shepherd replied “you’ll never know.”

Coming back up from the moon to dock with the CM had to be a pensive journey.

More content please. This could be made into a monster.

Nice, thanks!

"Problem, problem, come in, we has a Houston!!!"

Need the trilogy. 'Houston, we have too many problems.'

Never heard of that before

It's always sobering to think how close these missions came to failure.

Was there any docking problems when the LEM redocked with The CM after blasting off the moon surface?

Lol nice touch at the end there.

I wonder if there were worries about docking again after taking off from the moon. I thought they would have aborted anyway due to a potential docking failure causing astronauts to get stuck in the lunar module to perish.

Браво!

This wasn't their only glitch, there was also the abort switch problem on the LEM. Although nothing like as bad as Apollo 13, 14 was still full of drama.

Shepard and his crew were originally assigned to Apollo 13 but swapped with Jim Lovell to allow more training time….

Al Sheppard...astronaut and holder of the world record longest drive. :)

Wasn't the last time they had docking problems though. They had issues docking to Skylab a few years later too. Granted that the station was damaged during launch, but it just goes to show how critical such a mechanism is to the success of such a mission.

I'm wondering how they were able to keep thrusting into the LEM without the whole third stage and structure moving (bouncing) away from them every time it was hit. Was the third stage also thruster stabilized to hold its position without drifting? Or was it heavy enough on it's own to take the repeated docking attempts?

Hello Mr. Hughes, thank you for posting this most informative and instructional video regarding Apollo 14's issues with the Docking probe. I'm aware this video is 7 mouths old as of the time of my comment. I would like to ask if you have any information as to how the Apollo Service module (SM) was attached to the Spacecraft-lunar module adapter (SLA). As I've come across Video of Apollo 12 being bolted to the SLA from SM aft bulkhead. Any help would be appreciated

I’ve always wondered, how did they keep it from malfunctioning when they docked on return from the lunar surface?

Don't forget the golf club and the golf ball.......lol

Shepard said he'd do an EVA out the tunnel of the CSM to latch the two craft together.

Kevin Bacon explained this "docking procedure" very eloquently to a female guest at Jim Lovell's Apollo 11 party at his house, as he demonstrates using a bottle to insert into a cup, and lets it slide right in.

That was interesting

As a man I can completely relate to difficulties hooking up like this

Great strange that the first 2 didnt have problems, usually its age and usage that cause a plane to start having problems.

If you like this sort of thing, and especially if you are a late 50s boomer like me, I encourage you to read Gene Kranz’s book “Failure is Not An Option”. Epic. Giants walk/walked among us

Can't believe I haven't heard about this until now. I'm curious if the docking probe ended up in a museum, or did they just disassemble it and discard for the investigation?

You did a Great job! Can I use this video in my KZfaq Channel for korean viewers to explain the 14's problem?? I will credit if you want.

I was in the 2nd grade by the time Apollo 14 launched. I remember quite clearly the entire wing gathered in the library, sitting on the floor eyes staring up at that large industrial black white school TV and seeing Alan Shepard hit a golf ball on the Moon and thinking, "This is so silly, what a waste of time" The reason the moon became so boring so quickly to the American public is that we went all that way and when we got there we didnt find anything or even make an attempt to really explore. The most uninteresting areas were chosen for landings. The most rudimentary science is carried out, which bores the laymen, and then they leave. The moon landings should have opened new vistas of exploration and instead it was, "Nothing to see here, folks, just move along" Just another boring trip to a boring place.

Pero cuando hacia el empuje,el contra empuje quien lo dirigia? Y la accion reaccion donde quedo?

My brain throughout the vid: *snickering* Me, to my brain: "stfustfustfustfu..."

Neat

There must have been some concern after that that the ascent stage of the LM might fail to dock with the CM on the return from the moon. What would they have done then? Spacewalk?

This was great - just wondering, wouldn't there have been a [huge] concern at the time, about re-docking after lunar landing/assent?

I always wondered how astronauts could get to the LM with an Umbrella in the passageway.

After all that thrust, did they correct their encounter orbit?

On each failed attempt the Lem stage must have been accelerated away by each impact, accelerating faster and faster away. I wonder how it didn't start to tumble out of control?

Yes beautifull