What specific dosimetry readings were recorded for each Apollo mission and where are those records archived?
Executive summary
Apollo-era dosimetry produced mission-by-mission personal and passive dosimeter readings (reported as millirads or rads) that are summarized in NASA technical reports and mission reports and discussed in peer‑reviewed papers; however, complete raw readout logs for every personal radiation dosimeter (PRD) on every flight are not fully published in a single accessible table in the sources reviewed here [1] [2] [3]. The best‑available specific numbers are scattered: some missions have final PRD totals published in mission reports or biomedical summaries and others are reconstructed in journal articles using helmet/plastic track detectors and heavy‑particle experiments archived in journal literature and NASA’s technical report server [4] [5] [6] [7].
1. What kinds of dosimetry were used and how readings were reported
Apollo dosimetry relied on multiple systems: real‑time visual readout personal radiation dosimeters (PRDs) carried by crew, passive foil and nuclear‑track detectors in helmets and stowage, and dedicated Van Allen belt dosimeters and ALSEP particle instruments; NASA summarized instrumentation and computed average mission doses in Apollo biomedical reports, noting individual readings varied roughly ±20 percent because of shielding and position differences [1] [8].
2. Specific mission readings that are explicitly reported in NASA sources
Some Apollo mission reports give explicit PRD totals: Apollo 14 mission report cites final PRD net integrated (uncorrected) values of about 640 and 630 millirads for two crewmen and states total skin and 5‑cm depth doses (approximately 1.15 rads skin, 0.6 rad at 5 cm) [4]. The Apollo 15 mission report lists final PRD values of 360 millirads for Commander Scott and 510 millirads for Lunar Module pilot Irwin [5]. Separate NASA summaries and the Apollo “Protection against radiation” experience report tabulate average mission doses for missions but do not always reproduce every individual PRD log in full [2] [1].
3. Measurements from passive and scientific experiments (helmet and heavy‑particle dosimetry)
Peer‑reviewed experiments complemented PRD totals: helmet plastic nuclear‑track counts and heavy‑particle dosimetry experiments produced per‑mission track counts and position‑dependent dose estimates for missions such as Apollo 8, 11, 12, 14, and 16, with results published in Science and Radiation Research and showing solar modulation effects and intra‑module variations [9] [6] [3]. These studies provide the particle‑specific and heavy‑ion dose components that PRDs alone did not resolve.
4. Gaps, reconstructions and secondary analyses
Some efforts have reconstructed phase‑by‑phase dose rates (e.g., belt crossing, lunar orbit, surface) by comparing pre‑mission PRD zero settings and first/last readouts; third‑party aggregations (e.g., WorkingOnTheMoon) illustrate the method and give examples such as Apollo 10 PRD first readout 26029 ≡ 0.29 rads, but note that missing post‑splashdown PRD readings for certain missions (Apollo 10, 16, 17) prevent full inbound/outbound belt dose breakdowns from being published in those secondary sources [10]. Science reviews also emphasize that Apollo crews recorded cumulative mission exposure, not the high‑time‑resolution lunar surface dose rates now obtainable by modern instruments [8] [11].
5. Where the records are archived and how to access them
Primary archival locations for specific dosimetry data and analyses are NASA’s technical reports (e.g., the Apollo Experience Report “Protection against Radiation,” NTRS) and individual mission reports (for example the Apollo 14 mission report) which contain PRD totals and dose summaries [2] [4]. Peer‑reviewed dosimetry studies and helmet/heavy‑particle experiment results are archived in journals (Science, Radiation Research, Radiat. Res.) and indexed in bibliographic aggregators and OSTI [9] [6] [3]. Secondary compilations and reconstructions are available online (for instance WorkingOnTheMoon) but they rely on published mission readouts and are incomplete where original readouts are missing [10]. Where the reviewed sources do not enumerate every PRD log for every flight, the implication is that the definitive raw readout logs are either dispersed across mission archival files or not all been digitized and consolidated in a single public dataset within the cited repositories [1] [2].