Capability of spacecraft navigator to make in-flight navigation measurements from onboard spacecraft using hand-held sextant was studied at NASA Ames Research Center; tests were conducted in Ames Midcourse Navigation and Guidance Simulator and in Convair 990 research aircraft and onboard orbiting Gemini XII spacecraft; results show that hand-held sextant measurement performance is excellent, providing standard deviation of measurement error less than plus or minus 10 arcsec; spacecraft rotational motion and actual spacecraft operational environment had little effect on sextant performance and is critically dependent on adequate crew training.


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    Title :

    Hand-held sextant -- Results from Gemini XII and flight simulator experiments


    Additional title:

    J Spacecraft Rockets


    Contributors:
    Smith, D.W. (author)

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1968


    Size :

    8 pages


    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English


    Keywords :