Apollo Glossary (original) (raw)

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 photoKSC-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 theAOT 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 following104:41:54.

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 photoKSC-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 theinterior of LM-9 and from theexterior. 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 aphoto 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-9photo 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