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Apollo CM Sextant and Scanning Telescope Exterior Dimensions


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Hello to all,

 

Can anyone share the diameter of the Sextant and Scanning Telescope cylinders on the exterior of the CM? Also, the dims of the cutouts for the optics would be helpful...

Surprisingly, neither the Weeks drawings, or the Mackowski book have them.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my request.

R2yOC.png

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You may hafta eyeball those dimensions ... but here's the Apollo CM Operations Manual.

I got it from the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal's website

 

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/SM2A-03-BK-II-%281%29.pdf

 

Look in the Guidance and Navigation Chapters for your info. The PDF is almost illegible for me, but here's a screenshot of a Page ...

 

Hope this helps ya!

Pete

 

2145820734_ApolloCMSextant.thumb.png.cc4499b13c609794356abc2ca2e43a90.png

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Here's another Eyeball clue ... this is Adam Savage's visit to the Apollo CM ... at 4:47 you can see the Sextant and Adam's hand for scale ... 

In this short video, if you also know the sizes of some of the access panels, the Sextant's diameter should be easy to guesstimate.

Pete

 

 

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I was looking through my Virtual Apollo CSM book and while there are no dimensions, I realized that the Sextant diameter is quite close to the circular window on the hatch. Look at another head-on photo of the CSM and measure the diameters ... that'll give you a great starting point.

 

Pete

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Thanks to Pete and habu2 for the responses. I captured some good shots of the Sextant and I'm looking for something of a known size to compare it with. I enjoyed the Adam Savage video immensely - his enthusiasm is always infectious. Unfortunately, he didn't put his left forearm next to the Sextant/Telescope optics. He has a ruler (scaled in inches and centimeters) tattoo on the inside of his forearm.

 

The Apollo 14 CM was displayed for quite a while with only a plexi cover, and it was accessible from all sides. I'm hoping some fanatic (like me) made actual measurements...

 

Tom

 

 

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I photographed Apollo 6 (CM-020) and some of my pics are posted here:

 

https://historicspacecraft.com/Apollo_Capsules.html#CM-020

 

There are pics of the sextant/scope without the external panel in place.  If you assume the internal diameters are the same you might be able to scale them against the bulkhead spacing in one of the interior shots.

 

Caveat: -020 was a Block 1 / Block 2 hybrid but I don't think this area changed. 

 

.

Edited by habu2
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