Apollo 11 Anniversary Thread

[bush_cheney2004]

The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing is coming up this week, and there have been many efforts to restore and emulate mission hardware and computer programs (now considered quite ancient by today's standards).    Here is a team working on the guidance computer (AGC) backplane and logic/memory modules.   The logic modules used discreet NOR and other logic gates in DIP packages, with lots of wire-wrap and even magnetic core memory.   This is the kit that helped put men on the moon.

Canada, the USA, and other nations have lots of media on the mission this month, noting contributions and lasting impact of the Apollo Program.

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by bush_cheney2004

[SpankyMcFarland]

It never ceases to amaze me how competent those astronauts were and how calm they managed to sound as they faced numerous glitches and the distinct possibility of death. 

[bush_cheney2004]

11 minutes ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

It never ceases to amaze me how competent those astronauts were and how calm they managed to sound as they faced numerous glitches and the distinct possibility of death. 

 

Indeed....they were all reminded of this reality by the Apollo 1 fire, which killed all three crew (Chaffee, White & Grissom).   This caused a capsule redesign and abandon of pure oxygen to save weight.

[DogOnPorch]

Gemini 8 was the scary one for Neil & Dave Scott...deciding which way is retrograde while doing 60 rpm+ was quite the feat of raw piloting. 

[DogOnPorch]

Talking shop over drinks.

[DogOnPorch]

1 hour ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

 

Indeed....they were all reminded of this reality by the Apollo 1 fire, which killed all three crew (Chaffee, White & Grissom).   This caused a capsule redesign and abandon of pure oxygen to save weight.

 

Yes...while it seemed clever at first, going full oxygen had its extreme dangers. It was a Gemini hold over as well with those remarkable fuel cells that used liquid oxygen and hydrogen to create electricity and drinking water. No room for a nitrogen supply let alone astronauts in those Geminis.

What did Frank Borman call Gemini VII? Two weeks in a garbage can...no room to do nuthin'...and you had to do everything.

Gemini VII crew section...two weeks...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_7

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by DogOnPorch

[DogOnPorch]

...and nobody was going anywhere without these ladies. Playtex and other similar companies were key in designing and producing NASA's first generations of EVA spacesuits.

 

[DogOnPorch]

...and this remarkable pioneer in coding.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_(software_engineer)

 

[bush_cheney2004]

The most recent three part PBS series on the "moon race" provided a lot of political and social context to the missions, including parallel efforts and lessons learned by the Soviets, Vietnam War, protests, and heavy tolls on astronaut families including suicide.     It's little wonder that nearly everybody was chain smoking cigarettes.   Civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy led a bus full of protesters down to the Cape for the Apollo 11 launch, spoke a few eloquent words about poverty and priorities, then watched (and felt) the Saturn V launch to his delight.  

Frances "Poppy" Northcutt from TRW was featured as the return to earth mission specialist:

Edited July 16, 2019 by bush_cheney2004

[DogOnPorch]

Apollo 11 as it happened...very good.

https://apolloinrealtime.org/11/

 

Yes...Poppy...she was a familiar face throughout Apollo.

Edited July 16, 2019 by DogOnPorch

[bush_cheney2004]

From Apollo 10.....

 

[DogOnPorch]

1 minute ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

From Apollo 10.....

 

Camping with the boys.

[bush_cheney2004]

More on the Apollo Guidance Computer and 1201 & 1202 error on descent....Buzz Aldrin gets the blame.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/07/no-a-checklist-error-did-not-almost-derail-the-first-moon-landing/

 

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by bush_cheney2004

[DogOnPorch]

Apollo 11 crew + family.

[bush_cheney2004]

Here is the actual launch...50 years ago.

 

 

[DogOnPorch]

 

[DogOnPorch]

Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins Talks Launch on 50th Anniversary

[Queenmandy85]

The American space program was an incredible feat and the lunar landing was the greatest achievement in the history of the world. 

[bush_cheney2004]

Hasselblad celebrates the 50th anniversary...

 

 

[DogOnPorch]

Mike Collins's Hasselblad from Gemini 10 is still in orbit, apparently...they were quite high-up when it floated away.

Edited July 18, 2019 by DogOnPorch

[DogOnPorch]

57 minutes ago, Queenmandy85 said:

The American space program was an incredible feat and the lunar landing was the greatest achievement in the history of the world. 

 

Agreed.

Apollo 14 on the pad...Orbiter Space Flight Simulator (free).

[bush_cheney2004]

Apollo 11 mission Day 2 audio....looking back at earth and getting things tweaked.   Tracking station hand offs and comms checks.

 

 

[bush_cheney2004]

ABC's anchor team of Frank Reynolds and Jules Bergman...each U.S. network was competing for eyeballs and used cheesy mock up simulations, which contributed to the hoax conspiracy theories to this day.

 

 

Edited July 20, 2019 by bush_cheney2004

[DogOnPorch]

Mike Collins again...

 

[DogOnPorch]

Everybody but Mike Collins...