Reply to post: Re: But NASA still haant found....

Sorry, Neil Armstrong. Boffins say you may not have been first life-form to set foot on the Moon

cray74

Re: But NASA still haant found....

When you read it you'll notice that they spend around 11 hours (there + back) in the Van Allen distances of earth. With a 90 minute (IIRC) orbit that's impossible to miss the belts, so they'd be fried.

You recall incorrectly. The Apollo missions completely dodged the inner Van Allen belt and only passed through the fringes of the outer belt. During that time, the astronauts were restricted to the thick-skinned Apollo capsule. All that ablative heat shield - mostly carbon and hydrogen - does a great job of soaking up Van Allen electrons.

I'm sure you know Earth's magnetic field is substantially tilted compared to the moon's orbit. Between the tilt of the field and Luna's orbital inclination, there's almost a 30-degree difference between the two, which allows a low-orbiting Apollo stack to dodge the inner belt.

Diagram of the dodge around the belt

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