Apollo Lunar Surface Journal Banner

 

This Apollo Glossary compiled by Garry Kennedy.
Astronaut switch details provided by Thomas Schwagmeier.
Last revised 25 October 2016.

 

Reference to the About Space website may also be fruitful.

 

A
One of four Omni Directional Control Antennas, known as Omni Alpha

ACA
Attitude Control Assembly

ACQ
Acquisition

AELD
Ascent Engine Latching Device

AGC (1)
Apollo Guidance Computer
AGC (2)
Automatic Gain Control, which is part of the TV system flown on Apollos 15-17, see Ground Controlled Television Assembly Manual. An AGC output meter is located on the LCRU.

AGS
Abort Guidance System

ALHT
Apollo Lunar Hand Tools

ALM
Alarm

ALSCC
Apollo Lunar Surface Close-Up Camera, also known as the Gold Camera after its developer, astronomer Tommy Gold

ALSD
Apollo Lunar Surface Drill; flown on Apollo 15, 16, and 17

ALSE
Apollo Lunar Sounder Experiment

ALSEP
Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package; collection of experiments flown to the lunar surface by Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17; see ASE, CCG, CPLEE, HFE, LACE, LDD, LSG, LSM, LSP, PSE, SIDE, and SWS

ALSRC
Apollo Lunar Sample Return Container

ALT
Altimeter

ALIGN
Alignment or Altitude or Alternate

AM
Ammeter or Amplitude Modulation

AMP
Ampere or Amplifier

AMP-HR
Ampere Hour

ANNUN-NUM
Annunciator/Numerics

ANT
Antenna

AOS
Acquisition Of Signal or Acquisition Of Site

AOT
Alignment Optical Telescope, which is basically just a sighting scope, with no magnification and a 60-degree field-of-view. The AOT is ceiling-mounted above the forward instrument panels and can be seen in Apollo 12 training photo KSC-69PC-0594. There are six fixed viewing directions (the "detents"). The astronauts looked through the AOT and, using two sets of marks called the spiral and cursor, measured star locations so that the computer can determine LM orientation. A discussion of the AOT has been assembled by Journal Contributor Adam Bootle.

AP
Alpha Particle (spectrometer)

APS
Auxiliary Propulsion System (S-IVB) or Ascent Propulsion System (LM)

AR
Relay Mode, Communications Mode of the Space Suit Communicator

ARIA
Apollo Range Instrumentation Aircraft

ARM
Armed

ARS
Atmosphere Revitalization System

ASA
Abort Sensor Assembly

ASAP
As Soon As Possible

ASC
Ascent

ASE
Active Seismic Experiment; part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 14 and 16

ASP
Apollo Simple Penetrometer; flown on Apollo 14

ASR
Area Surveillance Radar

ASSY
Assembly

Astronaut Switches
These switches were located at bottom of the ALSEP Central Station at the back.
For Apollo 12 and 15, there were three switches
For Apollo 14 and 16 there were five switches.
For Apollo 17, there were two switches.

ATCA
Attitude & Translation Control Assembly

ATT
Attitude

AUTO
Automatic

AUX
Auxiliary

AVAIL
Available

Average G
A computer program for dealing with gravitational acceleration that permits an accurate trajectory calculation.

AZ
Azimuth

 

B
One of Four Omni Directional Control Antennas, known as Omni Bravo

BAT or BATT
Battery

BB
A BB is a shot pellet 0.175 inch ( 0.44 cm) in diameter, usually used in an air rifle.

BCN
Beacon

BEF
Blunt End Forward

BIP
Bipropellant

BMAG
Body-Mounted Attitude Gyro

BP
Barber Pole

BPS
Bits Per Second or Bits Per Sample

BRA
Bag Restraint Assembly. "BRA" is probably an after-the-fact, made-up acronym. It was a mesh bag with two compartments that was used to keep the helmets out of the way during in-cabin operations. The name undoubtedly comes from its resemblance to a brassiere.

BSLSS
Buddy Secondary Life-Support System, a set of hoses and connectors which allowed the astronauts to share cooling water in the event that one of the PLSSs failed

BTH
Both

BTU
British Thermal Unit

BUSS
Biomedical Urine Sampling System

 

C
One of Four Omni Directional Control Antennas, known as Omni Charlie

CAB
Cabin

CAL
Calibrate or Calibration

CALC
Calculate or Calculated

CAPCOM
Spacecraft Communicator

CB
Circuit Breaker

C-BND
C-Band

CBL
Cable

CC
Contact Closure

CCFF or C Squared-F Squared
Crew Compartment Fit and Function

CCIG
Cold Cathode Ion Gauge experiment; was part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 12, 14, and 15

CDR
Commander

CDH
Constant Delta Height

CDU
Coupling Data Unit

CES
Control Electronics Section; controls LM attitude and translation about all three axis

CG
Center of Gravity

CHAR
Character

CIR
Circuit or Circuit Breaker

CIRC
Circularization

CL
Close

CLSD
Closed

CM
Command Module

CMC
Command Module Computer

CMD
Command

CMDED
Commanded

CMP
Command Module Pilot

CNTL
Control

CO2
Carbon Dioxide

COAS
Crewman Optical Alignment Sight. Discussion.

COMM
Communications

COMP
Compare or Component

COND
Condition, Conditioning or Conditioner

Config
Configuration

CONT
Continue

COOL
Coolant

CP
Command Pilot or Control Point

CPLEE
Charged Particle Lunar Environment Experiment; part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 14

CPS
Cycles Per Second

CRD
Cosmic Ray Detector; flown on Apollo 16 and 17

Cross-pointer or X-Pointer
Article. See, also, the Apollo 15 discussion following 104:41:54.

CRSFD
Crossfeed

CRT
Cathode-Ray-Tube

CRYO
Cryogenic

CSC
Close-up Stereo Camera or Contingency Sample Collection

CSI
Coelliptic Sequence Initiation

CSM
Command and Service Module

CSQ
Call sign of NASA tracking ship Coastal Sentry Quebec which according to the authors of On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini ( Appendix F ) was "originally a C1-M-AVI class freighter, considerably modified as tracking ship."

CSRC
Contingency Sample Return Container

CTG
Cartridge

CTV
Color Television

CUR
Current

CWEA
Caution and Warning Electronics Assembly

CWG
Constant Wear Garment, the Long-Johns

D
Downward Thrusting RCS Engine or One of Four Omni Directional Control Antennas, known as Omni Delta

DAC
Digital to Analog Converter or Data Acquisition Camera

DAP
Digital Autopilot

DB
Decibel

DC
Direct Current

DCA
Digital Command Assembly

DECA
Descent Engine Control Assembly

DECR
Decrease

DEDA
Data Entry and Display Assembly

DEG
Degree

Delta H
Height Difference

Delta P
Pressure Difference

Delta T
Time Difference

Delta V
Change in Velocity

DESC
Descent

DET
Detent or Detector or Digital Event Timer

DF
Direction Finding

DFI
Development Flight Instrumentation

DIFF
Difference or Differential

DIG
Digital

DIR
Direct

DISCH
Discharge

DISP
Display

DIV
Diverter

Dixie Cup
This nickname refers to the cup-shaped, individual sample bags that were used on Apollo 12, 14, and 17. The nickname derives from a brand of wax-coated, paper drinking cups which, like such brands as Kleenex and Xerox, became a generic name because of widespread popularity. The following is a brief history. The first disposable, individual drinking cups were developed by Lawrence Luellen in 1907-8 and, in the next decade, gained market acceptance due to increasing concerns about disease spread by use of common-use dippers and glasses. The company was later headed by Hugh Moore and, in 1919, the cup, which had been known as the Health Cup, acquired the Dixie Cup brand-name and national prominence as a result of the Influenza Epidemic that struck after World War I.

DLAY
Delay

DOI
Descent Orbit Insertion

DPLY
Deploy or Deployed

DPS
Descent Propulsion System

DR
Dead Reckoning or Descent Rate

DRT
Dome Removal Tool. Used to remove the dome from a plutonium fuel cask mounted on the side of the LM next to the Scientific Equipment Bay (SEB). Removal of the dome gives access to the plutonium fuel element used to power the RTG (Radio-isotope Thermo-electric Generator). The fuel element is removed from the cask with the Fuel Transfer Tool (FTT). On the lefthand side of the illustrationAl Bean is shown with the Apollo 12 DRT attached to the cask dome.

DSE
Data Storage Equipment

DSEA
Data Storage Electronics Assembly

DSKY
Display and Keyboard Assembly (LM photo and diagram)

DSN
Deep Space Network

 

EASEP
Early Apollo Surface Experiment Package; collection of experiments flown on Apollo 11; see ASE and LRRR

ECA
Electrical Control Assembly

ECOM
Electronics Communications

ECS
Environmental Control System

ED
Explosive Device

EDS
Emergency Detection System

E-DUMP
Erasable-Memory Download from Spacecraft; also known as E-MOD

ELS
Earth Landing System

EMI
Electromagnetic Interference

E-MOD
Erasable-Memory Download from Spacecraft; also known as E-DUMP

EMU
Extravehicular Mobility Unit; Space Suit and Backpack combination

EPS
Electrical Power System

ETB
Equipment Transfer Bag. Apollo 11 training photo S69-31080 showing the ETB attached to the near side of the MESA.

EV
Extravehicular

EVA
Extravehicular Activity

EVCS
Extravehicular Communications Systems

 

F
Fahrenheit or Forward Thrusting RCS Engine

FAIL
Failure

FAM
Familiarization

FDAI
Flight Director Attitude Indicator

FDO or FIDO
Flight Dynamics Officer

Fiducial
The various Hasselblad cameras had a plate next to the film that superimposed references marks (reseau crosses) on the film. In the text, the location of an object in an image is sometimes indicated by reference to the reseau crosses=fiducials. Details linked here.

Filling a Square
Charlie Duke provided the following explanation at 148:06:03 Duke - "Well, in the military, you have a set of requirements you've got to do to, like, stay current in an airplane. You need so many landings, you need so many approaches, you need so many whatevers. So they have a matrix, you know; and across the top you have columns and the horizontal axis it might be the dates or something like that. And when you get one, you filled the square; you'd make a check mark and that was called 'filling the square'."

FITH
Fire In The Hole

FL
Flag

FM
Frequency Modulation

FP
Flight Progress

FRAG
Fragment

Fremantle
Port city in Western Australia at the mouth of the Swan River estuary; about 15 kilometers from the Western Australia capital, Perth, which is also on the Swan.

FREQ
Frequency

FTT
Fuel Transfer Tool. Used to extract the plutonium fuel from the cask mounted on the side of the LM next to the Scientific Equipment Bay (SEB) and then to load the fuel element into the RTG (Radio-isotope Thermo-electric Generator). On the lefthand side of the illustrationFred Haise is shown attaching a training version of the DRT attached to the a mock-up fuel element.

FUS
Far-Ultraviolet Spectrometer

FWD
Forward

 

GASC
Gas Analysis Sample Container

GASTA
Gimbal Angle Sequencing Transformation Assembly

G&C
Guidance and Control

GCA
Ground Controlled Approach

GCTA
Ground-Command Television Assembly

GDA
Gimbal Drive Actuator

GDC
Gyro Display Coupler

GDO
Guidance Dynamics Officer

GET
Ground-Elapsed Time

GETI
Ground-Elapsed Time of Ignition

GLY
Glycol

GMBL
Gimbal

G&N
Guidance and Navigation

GNCS
Guidance, Navigation and Control System

GND
Ground

Gnomon
Tool consists of a weighted staff suspended on a two-ring gimbal and supported by a tripod. The staff extends 12 inches above the gimbal and is painted with a gray scale. The gnomon is used as a photographic reference to indicate local vertical, sun angle, and scale

GOX
Gaseous Oxygen

GROVER
Geological Rover; an alternate name for the 1-g training version of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV)

GUID
Guidance

 

H
Height (altitude)

Handover
"'Handover' basically means handover from one ground station to another of 'uplink' voice, command and ranging. 'Downlink' signals can be taken from any station in view and configured, regardless of uplink. And, of course, telemetry, voice, and TV could all be selected from different sites. Also bear in mind that there could be three uplinks - CSM, LM and EASEP/ALSEP. The 9m stations (CRO, HAW, GWM on this longitude) were generally used for the EASEP/ALSEP support." (Mike Dinn, Deputy Director of the Honeysuckle Tracking Station during Apollo)

HBLAD
Hasselblad Camera

HBR
High Bit Rate

HCEX
Highspeed Color Ektachrome Film

H-Dot
Time derivative of height (H); Descent Rate or Ascent Rate. In mathematical notation, the time (t) derivative of height (H) can be written as dH/dt or as Ḣ

HE
Helium

HEDC
Hasselblad Electric (Electronic?) Data Camera

HFE
Heat Flow Experiment or Heat Flow Electronics; part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 15, 16, and 17

HGA
High Gain Antenna

H/H
Altitude or Altitude Rate

HI
High

HL
High Level

HLD
Hold

H2O
Water

HSD
High-Speed Data

HTC
Hand-Tool Carrier

HV
High Voltage

HVR
Hover

H/X
Heat Exchanger

 

IAU
International Astronomical Union

ICS
Intercommunications System

ID
Identification

IFR
Instrument Flight Rules

IG
Inner Gimbal

IGA
Inner Gimbal Angle

IGN
Ignition

ILS
Instrument Landing System

IMU
Inertial Measurement Unit

IN
Inlet

INCO
Instrumentation and Communications Officer

INCR
Increase

INJ
Injector

INST
Instrumentation

INTEG
Integrity

INVTR
Inverter

IP
Initial Point

IPI
Integrated Position Indicator

IRIG
Inertial Rate Integrating Gyro

ISA
Interim Stowage Assembly. As indicated in the diagram, the ISA is a set of stowage bags on a framework that fits over the Commander's PLSS when the latter is mounted on the wall behind the CDR's left shoulder. An ISA can be seen on the left at Neil Armstrong's back in Apollo 11 training photo KSC-69PC-319. When the PLSS is in use, the ISA is put somewhere out of the way and, for the return to lunar orbit, it is attached to the aft bulkhead. Journal Contributor David Woods notes that after rendezvous with the Command Module, the ISA is transferred over, probably without the framework, for return to Earth.

ISOL
Isolation

ISR
Infrared Scanning Radiometer

ISS
Inertial Sensor System or Interim Stowage Shelf

IU
Instrument Unit

IV
Intravehicular

IVA
Intravehicular Activity

 

JETT
Jettison

JD
Jet Driver

JPL
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

 

K-bird
KC-135 aircraft

K factor
Ground elapsed time is defined as the time difference between current Greenwich Mean Time and Greenwich Mean Time of Apollo liftoff from the Earth. Because of the AGS computer word size, Ground Elapsed Time cannot be used for AGS time. Instead, a time bias (K-factor) is subtracted from Ground Elapsed Time and the resulting time used as AGS time. The bias used equals the Ground Elapsed Time when the AGS computer time is initialized at AGS time zero. (Section 9.1 in LM/AGS Operating Manual, Flight Program 6, 36Mb)

KEY REL
Key Release. Frank O'Brien writes, "There is both a key, and a light on the DSKY for the Key Release function. As the AGC is a multiprogrammed computer, just like your PC/Mac/Linux/whatever, there are times when one program wants to get your attention while you are working with another program (ex: you are listening to music, and your appointment calendar program needs to alert you to a meeting starting in five minutes). The program, recognizing that another program has control of the DSKY, will flash the "KEY REL" light, asking the astronaut to allow the program access to the display. Pressing the "KEY REL" key transfers control to the program requesting attention.
KSC
Kennedy Space Center

 

L&A
Landing and Ascent facility; which consisted of a site model mounted upside down over a moveable TV camera. The TV picture was then fed to displays in the windows of the LM simulator.

LACE
Lunar Atmospheric Composition Experiment; part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 17

LAD
Lunar Atmosphere Detector

LAM
Landing Area Map (???)

LAT
Latitude or Lateral

LBR
Low Bit Rate

LCG
Liquid-Cooled Garment

LCRU
Lunar Communications Relay Unit

LDD
Lunar Dust Detector; part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 12, 14, and 15

LDG
Landing

LEAM
Lunar Ejecta And Meteorite (experiment); part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 17

LEB
Lower Equipment Bay

LEC
Lunar Equipment Conveyor - drawing courtesy of Karl Dodenhoff. The LEC attachment point in the cabin overhead is the yellow bar in Apollo 15 photo S71-40773, courtesy Gary Kitmacher, John Duncan, and Gary Neff.

LEVA
Lunar Extravehicular Visor Assembly; a polycarbonate shell and two visors with thermal control and optical coatings on them. Details and diagrams are linked here.

LGC
Lunar Module Guidance Computer

LHSSC
Left-Hand Side Stowage Compartment

LIM
Limit or Limits

LiOH
Lithium Hydroxide

LLTV
Lunar Landing Training Vehicle. See the discussion at 113:43:49 in the Apollo 17 Journal. John Osborn has provided an extensive set of photographs of the one LLTV that survived to the end of the Apollo program.

LM
Lunar Module

LMP
LM Mission Programmer or Lunar Module Pilot

LMS
Lunar Mass Spectrometer or Lunar Module Simulator

LNP
Lunar Neutron Probe (experiment); flown on Apollo 17

LO
Low

LOI
Lunar Orbit Insertion

LONG
Longitude

LOPC
Lunar Orbit Plane Change

LOS
Loss Of Signal or Loss Of Site

LPD
Landing Point Designator. The Commander can look through a set of scribe marks on his window and the LPD angle, which LMP gives him from the PGNS, will tell him where to look along the vertical scale to find the place where the computer thinks they are going to land. If the CDR doesn't like the spot, he can move his handcontroller to tell the computer that he wants to change the landing spot up or back or to either side. A single movement of the handcontroller, which moves the landing point by a half degree or so, is usually referred to by the astronauts as a "click". Journal Contributor Randy Attwood has provided views of the scribe marks from the interior of LM-9 and from the exterior. Note that there are scribe marks on both the innermost window surface and on the outermost. The CDR positions himself so that the two sets of marks are lined up.]

LPI
Lunar and Planetary Institute

LPM
Lunar Portable Magnetometer; flown on Apollo 14 and 16

LR
Landing Radar

LRL
Lunar Receiving Laboratory

LRRR, LR Cubed, or LR3
Lunar Ranging Retro-Reflector; flown on Apollo 11, 14, and 15. Further information can be found at the McDonald Observatory Website http://almagest.as.utexas.edu/~rlr/mlrs.html

LRV
Lunar Roving Vehicle; flown on Apollo 15, 16, and 17

LSB
Least Significant Bit

LSCRE
Lunar Surface Cosmic Ray Experiment

LSG
Lunar Surface Gravimeter; part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 17

LSM
Lunar Surface Magnetometer; part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 12, 15, and 16

LSPE
Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment; part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 17

LSUC
Lunar Surface Ultraviolet Camera; flown on Apollo 16

LTC
Lunar Topographic Camera

LTG
Lunar Traverse Gravimeter (experiment); flown on Apollo 17

LV
Low Voltage

LVL
Level

 

MA
Master Alarm

Mafic Minerals
Mafic minerals are rich in magnesium and iron and are usually dark colored.

MAG
Magazine

MAL
Malfunction

MAN
Manual or Manifold

MAP
Message Acceptance Pulse

MAX
Maximum

MCC
Mission Control Center or MidCourse Correction

MCCH
Mission Control Center Houston

MDC
Main Display Console (CM)

MESA
Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly

MET
Mission Elapsed Time, Mission Event Timer, or Mobile Equipment Transporter. The Apollo 14 transporter was a two-wheeled rickshaw vehicle used to carry tools, containers, spare film, etc.

MFC
Main Feeder Contactor

MG
Middle Gimbal

MGA
Middle Gimbal Angle

MIN
Minimum

Minus Y axis
South side of the LM

Minus Z axis
East side of the LM

MOCR
Mission Operations Control Room

M/P
Mortar Pack

MPA
Mortar Pack Assembly

MPX
Multiplex

MSB
Most Significant Bit

MSC
Manned Spacecraft Center; now Johnson Space Center

MSFN
Manned Space Flight Network (pronounced "Miss Finn"); provides reliable, (usually) continuous, and instantaneous radio communications with the astronauts, launch vehicle, and spacecraft from lift-off to splashdown

MSOB
Manned Spacecraft Operations Building at the Kennedy Space Center. The training area that the astronauts used to practice the mechanics of ALSEP deployments and other EVA activities was located behind the MSOB. Other training activities, such as those involving a LM mock-up, were conducted in the building.

MSSC
Magnetic Shield Sample Container

MTR
Meter

MTVC
Manual Thrust Vector Control

 

N204
Nitrogen Tetroxide, oxidizer used in the DPS and APS

N/A
Not Applicable

NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NAV
Navigation

NB
Narrow Band

NORM
Normal

NTS
Nevada Test Site

 

O2
Oxygen

OB
OnBoard

OCS
Organic Control Sample

OG
Outer Gimbal

OGA
Outer Gimbal Angel

OPN
Open

OPR
Operate

OPS
Oxygen Purge System

ORDEAL
Orbital Rate Display Earth And Lunar; displays the computed local vertical in the pitch axis during Earth or Lunar orbit

OTC
Australia's Overseas Telecommunications Commision, which handled all telecommunications traffic with the res of the world. One of its functions, centered at its Paddington facility in Sydney, was to receive signals from the various tracking stations around the country and send them onward to NASA..

OUT
Outlet or Output

OVR
Over

OVRD
Override

OX
Oxidizer or Oxygen

 

P00
Program Zero-Zero, pronounced "pooh"; see a description of P00 provided by Frank O'Brien.

P22
P22 is the LM computer program that uses the rendezvous radar to track the Command Module.

Parker Valves
These propellant isolation valves were made by a U.S. unit of Parker Hannifin PLC and were part of the RCS propellant feed system and the valve switches were cycled open and closed by the LMPs immediately after landing, just in case something had gotten jarred. The control switches were located on the main LMP switch panel. Each of the four clusters of RCS jets was connected to two RCS systems and, consequently, there were eight switches, two for each RCS quad. Each switch had an Open and Close position.

PA
Power Amplifier

PAD
Preliminary Advisory Data: the crew had pre-printed forms on which they could write lift-off times and other data they would need in the event that communications was lost with Houston. Before and after each rest period, the CapCom would read up a list of lift-off times covering the next 10 to 12 hours and, prior to launch, a longer list of data was read up.

PAO
Public Affairs Office

PART
Partial

PCA
Program Coupler Assembly

PCM
Pulse Code Modulation

PCT
Per Cent

PDI
Powered Descent Initiation

PFS
Per Cent Full Scale

PGA
Pressure Garment Assembly

PGNCS
Primary Guidance, Navigation, and Control System

PGNS
Primary Guidance and Navigation System (pronounced "pings")

PI
Principal Investigator

PIA
Pre-Installation Acceptance

PIPA
Pulsed Integrating Pendulous Accelerometer

PLSD
Pulsed

PLSS
Portable Life Support System

Plus Y axis
North side of the LM

Plus Z axis
West side of the LM

PM
Phase Modulation

PM1/NB
Phase Modulator 1??/Narrowband

PM1/WB, see the LCRU documentation
Phase Modulator 1??/Wideband

PNLS
Panels

PO
Power Output

POGO
Partial Gravity Simulator; the name applied to this type of device derives from that of the Pogo Stick children's toy. An example of a POGO facility at NASA Johnson is linked here. Apollo 12 training photo S69-56059 shows Al Bean using a POGO device suspended from the gondola in a large centrifuge at NASA Johnson.
POS
Position

PPK
Personal Preference Kits

PQMD
Propellant Quantity Measuring Device

PRA
Program Reader Assembly

PRD
Personal Radiation Dosimeter

PRELIM
Preliminary

PRESS
Pressure

PRIM
Primary

PRO
Proceed

PROG
Program

PROP
Propellant or Propulsion

PSE(P)
Passive Seismic Experiment (Package); part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16

PSIA
Pounds Per Square Inch Absolute

PSID
Pounds Per Square Inch Differential

PTA
Pulsed Torque Assembly

PTC
Passive Thermal Control; also known as the Barbecue mode, in which the LM/CSM stack was oriented with its long axis perpendicular to the Sun so that, when the spacecraft were put into a slow rotation around that axis, heating and cooling would be relatively uniform.

PTT
Push-To-Talk

PVR
Percent Voltage Reference

PWM
Pulse Width Modulation

PWR
Power

PYRO
Pyrotechnic

 

QD
Quick Disconnect

QTY
Quantity

QUAD
Quadrant

 

R
(Computer) Register

R-Dot
Rate of approach; time (t) derivative of range, which can be written mathematically as dR/dt or Ṙ

RAD
Radiation

Range Rate
Change in range per unit time. In the case of a Rover traverse, if the driver is moving in a straight line away from the last Rover Nav initialization point, then the range rate is identical to the average speed. If, however, the driver has been making turns to avoid craters, then the range rate will be lower than the average speed.

RC/OC
Reverse Current/OverCurrent

RCS
Reaction Control System

RCU
Remote Control Unit

RCVR
Receiver

REACQ
Re-acquire

REC
Recorder

RECD
Received

REF
Reference

REFSMMAT
Reference Stable Member Matrix or, sometimes, Reference to Stable Member Matrix. See Charlie Duke's definition at 104:47:55

REG
Regulator

REL
Release

Reseau Plate
A glass plate fitted close to the film plane in the lunar surface Hasselblads. Details linked here.

RET
Retract or Return

REV
Reverse

RF
Radio Frequency

RFLT
Reflect or Reflected

RGA
Rate Gyro Assembly

RLS
Radius of Landing Site or Reference Landing Site

RLY
Relay

RNG
Range or Ranging

ROD
Rate of Descent

RR
Rendezvous Radar. The Rendezvous Radar was mounted on the top of the LM. The radar dish on LM-9, originally scheduled to be flown on Apollo 15 when that was an H mission, is shown in a photo by Randy Attwood.

RS
Remote Site

RSVR
Resolver

RTG
Radioisotopic Thermoelectric Generator; used to provide power to the ALSEP experiments flown on Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17; also see SNAP-27

RTV
Room Temperature Vulcanizing silicone rubber insulation which was used, for example, on the handles of the Apollo geology hammers and on the tips of the fingers of the EVA gloves.

RUPT
Rupture

 

S
Sideward Thrusting RCS Engine

SAS
Space Adaptation Syndrome

S-BND
S-Band There were two S-band, high-gain antennas used by the LM crew. One was mounted on the top of the spacecraft, as can be seen in close-up in a LM-9 photo by Randy Attwood. The other was a large, umbrella-like antenna erected on the surface by the Apollo 12 and 14 crews. The Apollo 12 antenna can be seen on the righthand side of AS12-47- 6988

SBT
S-Band Transponder

S/C
Spacecraft

SCB
Sample Collection Bag

SCE
Signal-Conditioning Equipment

SCS
Stabilization and Control System

SE
Systems Engineer

SEB
Scientific Equipment Bay

SEC
Secondary, Second, or Special Environmental Container; the container when sealed will retain a high vacuum for study of lunar samples in its original environment

SECS
Sequential Events Control System

SEF
Sharp End Forward

SEL
Select

SENS
Sensitivity

SEP
Separation, Separator, or Surface Electric Properties (experiment). The SEP experiment was flown on Apollo 17

SEQ
Sequence or Scientific Equipment Bay

SESC
Special Environmental Sample Container

SET
Set or Setting

SHE
SuperCritical Helium

SIDE
Suprathermal Ion Detection Experiment; part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 12, 14, and 15

SIG
Signal

SIM
Scientific Instrument Module or Simulation

SLA
Spacecraft Launch Adapter or SM/LM Adapter

SM
Service Module

SME
Soil Mechanics Experiment

SNAP-27
System for Nuclear Auxiliary Power, Model 27

S/O
Shut Off

SOL
Solenoid

SOV
Shut Off Valve

SP
Spare

SPEC
Specification

SPS
Service Propulsion System

SRC
Sample Return Container; the rock boxes

SRP
Self-Recording Penetrometer; flown on Apollo 15 and 16

S/S
Samples per Second

SSC
SpaceSuit Communicator

SSD
Sun Shadow Device

SSR
Staff Support Room

ST
Static

STGE
Stage

STBY
Standby

STR
Strength

STRB
Strobe

SUP
Supply

SUSP
Suspension

SVO
Servo

SW
Switch

SWC
Solar Wind Composition Collector; flown on Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16

SWIP
Super Weight Improvement Program

SWS
Solar Wind Spectrometer; part of the ALSEP instrumentation flown on Apollo 12 and 15

SYNCH
Synchronization

SYS
System

 

TB
TalkBack

TCA
Thrust Chamber Assembly

TCP
Thrust Chamber Pressure

TCU
Television Control Unit

TDS
Thermal Degradation Sample; flown on Apollo 14

TEC
Transearth Coast

TEI
Transearth Injection

TELEMU
Telemetry

TEMP
Temperature

Tephem
Time of Ephemeris

T/G
Thumper/Geophone Experiment

TGE
Traverse Gravimeter Experiment; flown on Apollo 17

THROT
Throttle

TIG or Tig
Time of Ignition

TJM
Tower Jettison Motor

TK
Tank

TLC
Translunar Coast

TLI
Translunar Injection

TLM or TM
Telemetry

TOL
Tolerance

TPI
Terminal Phase Initiation

TR
Transmit/Receive

TRANS
Translation

Travono (possibly Travano)
A gray-brown plastic used in the LM to protect surfaces where metal could not be used. See Jim Irwin's discussion at 121:19:30. Also mentioned by John Young in a portion of the Apollo 16 Technical Debrief quoted after 106:48:11.

TRUN
Trunnion

TSB
Temporary Stowage Bag

TTCA
Thrust/Translation Controller Assembly

TTHR
Tether

TTY
Teletype or Teletypewriter

TVC
Thrust Vector Control

 

U
Upward Thrusting RCS Engine

UCTA
Urine Collection and Transfer Assembly

UDMX
Unsymmetrical-Dimethylhydrazine, part of the fuel for the DPS and APS

UHF
Ultra-High Frequency

UHT
Universal Handling Tool

UVC
Ultraviolet Camera; flown on Apollo 16

 

V
Volt

V sub I
Inertial Velocity

VAC
Volts Alternating Current

VAR
Variable

VDC
Volts Direct Current

VEL
Velocity

VHF
Very High Frequency

VLV(S)
Valve(s)

VOX
Voice Activated Transmission

VPI
Valve Position Indicator

VR
Vector Ranging

VRMS
Volt Root Mean Square

 

W
Watt

WB
WideBand

W/B
Water Boiler

WILCO
Will Comply

 

X
Cross

X Axis
Vertical Axis

XMTR
Transmitter

X-Pointer
See Crosspointer

XPNDR
Transponder

 

Y Axis
Left to Right Axis

 

Z Axis
Fore/Aft Axis

Z Bag
Storage Bag stored at the minus Z Bulkhead

 

Journal Home Page