Orbital Operations
- Select “Orbital” Mission and Flight
from the startup dialog.
- You are starting a few feet away from the Command
Module in lunar orbit about 60m.
You can practice rendezvous procedures with roll, pitch, yaw and
translation.
- One interesting exercise is to align the LM in a
docking orientation with the CM by looking through the overhead docking
window, (Virtual View 3).
Normal rendezvous procedure had the LM as a passive target and the
CM the active spacecraft. The
Command Module Pilot (CMP) docked with a ‘stationary’ LM. Of course in an emergency the LM
could be active as well. This
would involve docking with the CM while looking up through the docking
window. All the controls would
be 90deg from ‘normal’.
Try it and see.
- Try different modes of RCS. (See Switch Positions). In normal
Attitude Hold you can select minimum and maximum Deadband. This means that the calculated
attitude will be held within the Deadband. At Max Deadband the attitude is
held within 5 degrees. In
minimum Deadband it is .5 degrees.
Of course the accuracy is less in Max, but RCS fires less too.
- Select Minimum Impulse Mode. Enter V76E through the DSKY (Learn how to use the computer). Now every time you move the
controller a short burst of 14ms occurs. This is used for star sightings and
very small and precise maneuvers.
To return to normal enter V77E.
- You can manually stage the LM. Hit CTRL+A and the two stages
separate and drift apart.
Watch the LM descent stage tumble slowly beneath you. Of course you
just blew any chance of landing…..