I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
07-16-2009, 10:13 PM
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I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
40 years ago today they finished the countdown and sent Apollo 11 racing toward the moon. I was only 7 and all I remember was that for 8 days my parents had our little 13" black and white TV running day and night. This was the only time in my life that I remember the television even being turned on for anything longer than a Bronco game.
I'm told that my R/C set has more processing power than the computer aboard Apollo 11, and that the computer on my lap right now has more power than ALL of the computer used in the Apollo program combined.
I know from family photographs that in the summer of 1969 I built my first real flying model airplanes. I had a Guillows Nieuport, and Ranger 21 and Spirit of St. Louis. I remember that I never finished the Nieuport because of the tissue covering. The Spirit was tough to assemble because of the way the lift struts were combined with the landing gear on the prototype. But that Ranger 21 flew, and higher and further than the North Pacific Sky Streeks and Sleek Streaks that had been my flying model experience up to that point.
I was too young to comprehend the tumult of the summer of 1969, but the first manned missions to the moon stand out in my memory.
While we have had many notable breakthroughs in the past 40 years, I can think of no other technological advance in which we acquired so much knowledge in such a short time since 1969.
NASA is streaming the audio of the Apollo 11 flight here. Cool Stuff http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/ap...dio/index.html
I'm told that my R/C set has more processing power than the computer aboard Apollo 11, and that the computer on my lap right now has more power than ALL of the computer used in the Apollo program combined.
I know from family photographs that in the summer of 1969 I built my first real flying model airplanes. I had a Guillows Nieuport, and Ranger 21 and Spirit of St. Louis. I remember that I never finished the Nieuport because of the tissue covering. The Spirit was tough to assemble because of the way the lift struts were combined with the landing gear on the prototype. But that Ranger 21 flew, and higher and further than the North Pacific Sky Streeks and Sleek Streaks that had been my flying model experience up to that point.
I was too young to comprehend the tumult of the summer of 1969, but the first manned missions to the moon stand out in my memory.
While we have had many notable breakthroughs in the past 40 years, I can think of no other technological advance in which we acquired so much knowledge in such a short time since 1969.
NASA is streaming the audio of the Apollo 11 flight here. Cool Stuff http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/ap...dio/index.html
07-16-2009, 11:16 PM
#2
RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
I don't really recall the moonlandings as much as I do the splashdowns in the ocean, I can recall watching them search for them, seems such a random shot in the dark looking back at it.. the whole coming home part...
07-16-2009, 11:23 PM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
ORIGINAL: ctdahle
40 years ago today they finished the countdown and sent Apollo 11 racing toward the moon. I was only 7 and all I remember was that for 8 days my parents had our little 13'' black and white TV running day and night. This was the only time in my life that I remember the television even being turned on for anything longer than a Bronco game.
I'm told that my R/C set has more processing power than the computer aboard Apollo 11, and that the computer on my lap right now has more power than ALL of the computer used in the Apollo program combined.
I know from family photographs that in the summer of 1969 I built my first real flying model airplanes. I had a Guillows Nieuport, and Ranger 21 and Spirit of St. Louis. I remember that I never finished the Nieuport because of the tissue covering. The Spirit was tough to assemble because of the way the lift struts were combined with the landing gear on the prototype. But that Ranger 21 flew, and higher and further than the North Pacific Sky Streeks and Sleek Streaks that had been my flying model experience up to that point.
I was too young to comprehend the tumult of the summer of 1969, but the first manned missions to the moon stand out in my memory.
While we have had many notable breakthroughs in the past 40 years, I can think of no other technological advance in which we acquired so much knowledge in such a short time since 1969.
NASA is streaming the audio of the Apollo 11 flight here. Cool Stuff http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/ap...dio/index.html
40 years ago today they finished the countdown and sent Apollo 11 racing toward the moon. I was only 7 and all I remember was that for 8 days my parents had our little 13'' black and white TV running day and night. This was the only time in my life that I remember the television even being turned on for anything longer than a Bronco game.
I'm told that my R/C set has more processing power than the computer aboard Apollo 11, and that the computer on my lap right now has more power than ALL of the computer used in the Apollo program combined.
I know from family photographs that in the summer of 1969 I built my first real flying model airplanes. I had a Guillows Nieuport, and Ranger 21 and Spirit of St. Louis. I remember that I never finished the Nieuport because of the tissue covering. The Spirit was tough to assemble because of the way the lift struts were combined with the landing gear on the prototype. But that Ranger 21 flew, and higher and further than the North Pacific Sky Streeks and Sleek Streaks that had been my flying model experience up to that point.
I was too young to comprehend the tumult of the summer of 1969, but the first manned missions to the moon stand out in my memory.
While we have had many notable breakthroughs in the past 40 years, I can think of no other technological advance in which we acquired so much knowledge in such a short time since 1969.
NASA is streaming the audio of the Apollo 11 flight here. Cool Stuff http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/ap...dio/index.html
I won't make a social commentary. I was 18 that summer and two years later I was in the Army. Lots of guys on this forum are older than I am and have a better perspective of those years than I do, but the point is simple - those older guys, and guys my own age were there and there's no reason for any of us to start a thread that drags younger people's noses through what they should be paying attention to.
But you did, and it's good.
The lesson is simple. It still takes the same amount of hard work to accomplish something, even when standing on shoulders.
07-16-2009, 11:27 PM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
ORIGINAL: ctdahle
I'm told that my R/C set has more processing power than the computer aboard Apollo 11,
I'm told that my R/C set has more processing power than the computer aboard Apollo 11,
Other things that come to mind are... They had never done this before. They were only using an educated guess in SO much of their calculations. The first time an Apollo capsule orbited the moon, they could only HOPE that their calculations were right. If they weren't, the capsule would just shoot past the moon never to return.
I could go on and on. This is by far man's greatest scientific achievement. Even if we went to Mars it wouldn't be as great because we already know that our original guesses were correct. We didn't know that then.
Hats off to NASA!
07-17-2009, 05:57 PM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
Hats off to people. For a moment we got it together, went there. Left a entire history marking moment. oh yeah, than we ran out of money..
My Dad plated a part that went on a part that made its way onto the backpack of the moonwalkers. 40 years ago we're going on summer vacation driving across the US in a RV watching that same B&W TV by finding the next station on the dial as we rolled.
My Dad was one happy man right than.
According to his story. Along with the Presidents' plaque on the lander, there's a list of all the contractors that made the backpacks mounted on the backpacks.
Well, at least there are things he made that are up there longer than he's been around now. Thought that was cool, even back than.
My hat is off and it's time to fly
My Dad plated a part that went on a part that made its way onto the backpack of the moonwalkers. 40 years ago we're going on summer vacation driving across the US in a RV watching that same B&W TV by finding the next station on the dial as we rolled.
My Dad was one happy man right than.
According to his story. Along with the Presidents' plaque on the lander, there's a list of all the contractors that made the backpacks mounted on the backpacks.
Well, at least there are things he made that are up there longer than he's been around now. Thought that was cool, even back than.
My hat is off and it's time to fly
07-17-2009, 08:42 PM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
The BBC has a good article on Don Eyles the fellow tasked with building the Apollo Guidance Computer. [link=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8148730.stm]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8148730.stm[/link]
07-17-2009, 08:50 PM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
Chris,
If you haven't seen it, check out:
http://www.wechoosethemoon.org
I've had it open constantly since Thursday ...it's absolutely fascinating.
If you haven't seen it, check out:
http://www.wechoosethemoon.org
I've had it open constantly since Thursday ...it's absolutely fascinating.
07-18-2009, 11:13 AM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
Took a while to get all the words right...
==============
Think of every achievement, in the history of mankind, that you consider great. By all means, include those hat 'stood on the shoulders' of those that came before. The wheel, the mastery of fire, the cart, medicine, the automobile, the internet, crossing the Atlantic in an airplane...whatever strikes you as being a "great achievement".
Every single one of them has something in common.
At some point, early in the history of that achievement, a man stopped to ask...
"What is it?"
"What can it do?"
"Why does it act in this manner?"
"How can i benefit from this behaviour?"
He stopped to ASK. He was not satisfied merely knowing that the thing existed. It was not enough merely to identify a thing, or a trait, or an opportunity. No...that man had to wonder.
His capacity to reason...that very trait that separates us from the animals sub-humans would tell us we are...demanded that he learn...that he try...that he experiment, study, research, investigate. He had to ask.
History books will tell you that Apollo 11 was about "national pride". They will describe for you the animosity between differing governments, and the "need" to "win" some sort of contest.
Space and NASA buffs will provide you with a long lists of the benefits of the space program. They'll tell you how devices had to be made smaller, or more cheaply. They'll explain how technology of our era is derived from technology of that era.
The media will tell you of the funding, the expense, and the risks of manned space flights.
Hollywood will tell you of the mission that failed.
None of these sources, however, will tell you of the true greatness of Apollo 11....the greatness that is this:
Man asked.
Men all over committed their time, their money, their resources, and their lives to the greatest task of which Mankind is capable : Exploration.
We didn't go to the moon because we needed to win a race, or because the world needed the technology, or even because there was some great treasure to be found there.
No...we took the "great leap for mankind" for a very simple reason :
Because it was there...and we had to see it for ourselves.
==============
Think of every achievement, in the history of mankind, that you consider great. By all means, include those hat 'stood on the shoulders' of those that came before. The wheel, the mastery of fire, the cart, medicine, the automobile, the internet, crossing the Atlantic in an airplane...whatever strikes you as being a "great achievement".
Every single one of them has something in common.
At some point, early in the history of that achievement, a man stopped to ask...
"What is it?"
"What can it do?"
"Why does it act in this manner?"
"How can i benefit from this behaviour?"
He stopped to ASK. He was not satisfied merely knowing that the thing existed. It was not enough merely to identify a thing, or a trait, or an opportunity. No...that man had to wonder.
His capacity to reason...that very trait that separates us from the animals sub-humans would tell us we are...demanded that he learn...that he try...that he experiment, study, research, investigate. He had to ask.
History books will tell you that Apollo 11 was about "national pride". They will describe for you the animosity between differing governments, and the "need" to "win" some sort of contest.
Space and NASA buffs will provide you with a long lists of the benefits of the space program. They'll tell you how devices had to be made smaller, or more cheaply. They'll explain how technology of our era is derived from technology of that era.
The media will tell you of the funding, the expense, and the risks of manned space flights.
Hollywood will tell you of the mission that failed.
None of these sources, however, will tell you of the true greatness of Apollo 11....the greatness that is this:
Man asked.
Men all over committed their time, their money, their resources, and their lives to the greatest task of which Mankind is capable : Exploration.
We didn't go to the moon because we needed to win a race, or because the world needed the technology, or even because there was some great treasure to be found there.
No...we took the "great leap for mankind" for a very simple reason :
Because it was there...and we had to see it for ourselves.
07-19-2009, 12:23 AM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
Great post Gboulton.
I was 14 and the unlimited hydros were racing on the Columbia River(I believe for the first time) I remember watching the races from the slope above the south side of the racecourse and listening to Apollo updates on my Dad's green plastic 7-Transistor Zenith portable(wow) radio. Truly the best of both worlds. I had a mahogany Miss Thriftway Too by Dumas with a Cox Medallion .15 set up for the tether pond in Howard Amon Park that was a screamer-I loved those boats so it was a real struggle that week . I actually got to meet Mira Slovak a couple of years later.[8D]
I was 14 and the unlimited hydros were racing on the Columbia River(I believe for the first time) I remember watching the races from the slope above the south side of the racecourse and listening to Apollo updates on my Dad's green plastic 7-Transistor Zenith portable(wow) radio. Truly the best of both worlds. I had a mahogany Miss Thriftway Too by Dumas with a Cox Medallion .15 set up for the tether pond in Howard Amon Park that was a screamer-I loved those boats so it was a real struggle that week . I actually got to meet Mira Slovak a couple of years later.[8D]
07-20-2009, 09:04 AM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
I started a thread on a [link=http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=13279.0]control line forum[/link] several days ago titled, "Apollo XI + 40... Where Were You?" Up to 49 replies so far but don't think they allow guests to browse the forum.
My post from that forum:
July 20, 1969, just under a decade after the late President John F Kennedy challenged the nation to put a man on the moon and safely return him, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first earthlings to land on the surface of the moon.
I recorded the event from live TV using a Sony reel-to-reel stereo tape deck and microphones. I still remember those immortal words as the LEM Eagle (Armstrong was also an Eagle Scout) maneuvered for it's historic touchdown:
...series of beeps...
Aldrin: "30 seconds. Contact light. Okay. Engine stop,"
Armstrong: "Shutdown. (pause)... Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed".
Mission Control: "You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again".
I had just graduated high school in Tacoma, Washington and was taking flying lessons from Oswald's Flying Service in nearby Fircrest - one of several private airports which are now long gone and replaced with the inevitable strip malls. It was a glorious sunny Sunday and I was scheduled to take my first solo flight in a Piper PA-28 Cherokee 140 later in the evening. After my solo, I taxiied up to the apron, a guy came running out of the office and said, "Man, they're hopping all around up there."
I drove the 4 miles home in my green 1967 VW Beetle. It was always a weird feeling being confined to only 2 dimension transportation after a 3 dimensional experience of flight. Despite still being very much daylight (darkness didn't settle in the Puget Sound region until well after 10pm), there wasn't a soul on the road. No one. No kids outside playing, no dogs barking. It was as eerie as those sci-fi movies where a scene of a deserted New York City is shown with only newspapers blowing in the street. When I got home, I watched the rest of the first lunar EVA. I thought, "Geeze, what a bummer. Here it is my big day and I'm being upstaged by these guys."
Some youngsters who weren't around back then but plenty of us "elder" witnesses - some in basic training or serving in 'nam. A couple of others worked on all of the Mecury, Gemini and Apollo projects. One, our 2008 CL Precision Aerobatics National Champion, modified a software program which allowed a space probe to successfully execute a soft landing on an asteroid rather than have it crash into it.
My post from that forum:
July 20, 1969, just under a decade after the late President John F Kennedy challenged the nation to put a man on the moon and safely return him, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first earthlings to land on the surface of the moon.
I recorded the event from live TV using a Sony reel-to-reel stereo tape deck and microphones. I still remember those immortal words as the LEM Eagle (Armstrong was also an Eagle Scout) maneuvered for it's historic touchdown:
...series of beeps...
Aldrin: "30 seconds. Contact light. Okay. Engine stop,"
Armstrong: "Shutdown. (pause)... Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed".
Mission Control: "You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again".
I had just graduated high school in Tacoma, Washington and was taking flying lessons from Oswald's Flying Service in nearby Fircrest - one of several private airports which are now long gone and replaced with the inevitable strip malls. It was a glorious sunny Sunday and I was scheduled to take my first solo flight in a Piper PA-28 Cherokee 140 later in the evening. After my solo, I taxiied up to the apron, a guy came running out of the office and said, "Man, they're hopping all around up there."
I drove the 4 miles home in my green 1967 VW Beetle. It was always a weird feeling being confined to only 2 dimension transportation after a 3 dimensional experience of flight. Despite still being very much daylight (darkness didn't settle in the Puget Sound region until well after 10pm), there wasn't a soul on the road. No one. No kids outside playing, no dogs barking. It was as eerie as those sci-fi movies where a scene of a deserted New York City is shown with only newspapers blowing in the street. When I got home, I watched the rest of the first lunar EVA. I thought, "Geeze, what a bummer. Here it is my big day and I'm being upstaged by these guys."
Some youngsters who weren't around back then but plenty of us "elder" witnesses - some in basic training or serving in 'nam. A couple of others worked on all of the Mecury, Gemini and Apollo projects. One, our 2008 CL Precision Aerobatics National Champion, modified a software program which allowed a space probe to successfully execute a soft landing on an asteroid rather than have it crash into it.
07-20-2009, 10:01 AM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
ORIGINAL: gboulton
Hollywood will tell you of the mission that failed.
Hollywood will tell you of the mission that failed.
Apollo XIII was NOT a failure. Sure, the primary mission had to be aborted but a new, even more challenging mission immediately took its place. Howard's film depicted one of America's finest hours, a story of how American leadership, courage, commitment, resourcefulness and optimism triumphed over doom, dispair and nearly hopeless odds - just as Alan Shepard triumphed on his 1961 sub-orbital flight following a disheartening series of failures and delays while watching the Soviets score their early successes.
07-20-2009, 11:13 AM
#15
RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
Red,
Just for some background. At 15 my good buddy's father built an 8 foot cubical in the garage for Al and I to use for a work shop. By the time of the Applo launch we were 19 and had pretty well finished the work shop. We had the door opening with an electric solenoid. It used combination lock on the outside and a hidden switch in the floor rail on the inside. We had also built sloping overhead cabinets just like we saw on NASA. These contained regulated power supplies. A 150 - 450 VDC regulated at 250 mA supply built with military surplus triodes, scrounged from a surplus supply house in Van Nuys California. An intercom with a master and subs through the house. The garage was detached so the maximum length of the 3 wire shielded cable was over 500'. It use a 12AX7 and a 6C5 output tube (maybe 1 watt max). A couple of 0-15 VDC supplies using 2N3055 pnp power transistors. We were experimenting with solid state power amplifiers from Sinclair. Worked great until the output was shortly even for a micro second. These were $15.00 each! Lot's of money then. We built radios, transmitters, and motor speed controllers, lot's of stuff from the ARRL handbook.
We both would have given our right arms to have a seat in the control room. Lucky you.
John
Just for some background. At 15 my good buddy's father built an 8 foot cubical in the garage for Al and I to use for a work shop. By the time of the Applo launch we were 19 and had pretty well finished the work shop. We had the door opening with an electric solenoid. It used combination lock on the outside and a hidden switch in the floor rail on the inside. We had also built sloping overhead cabinets just like we saw on NASA. These contained regulated power supplies. A 150 - 450 VDC regulated at 250 mA supply built with military surplus triodes, scrounged from a surplus supply house in Van Nuys California. An intercom with a master and subs through the house. The garage was detached so the maximum length of the 3 wire shielded cable was over 500'. It use a 12AX7 and a 6C5 output tube (maybe 1 watt max). A couple of 0-15 VDC supplies using 2N3055 pnp power transistors. We were experimenting with solid state power amplifiers from Sinclair. Worked great until the output was shortly even for a micro second. These were $15.00 each! Lot's of money then. We built radios, transmitters, and motor speed controllers, lot's of stuff from the ARRL handbook.
We both would have given our right arms to have a seat in the control room. Lucky you.
John
07-20-2009, 12:57 PM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
ORIGINAL: PipeMajor
You missed the entire point of Ron Howard's epic film. I'm also certain the late Deke Slayton would vigorously disagree with you.
You missed the entire point of Ron Howard's epic film. I'm also certain the late Deke Slayton would vigorously disagree with you.
Just as during that mission the media suddenly got all "interested" in the Apollo program again because something was wrong, it also seems to be the only mission that Hollywood considers "entertaining" enough to tell.
Don't get me wrong...it was a TREMENDOUS film, and I've no doubt of the support Ron Howard holds for the manned space program. And, without a doubt, it was ABSOLUTELY a story that NEEDED to be re-told.
In any event, my apologies if the sarcasm was not as clear as i'd intended. Perhaps I should have enclosed "failed" in quotes.
You were quite right to call me out on what, by all appearances, was a grievous misrepresentation.
07-20-2009, 01:54 PM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
ORIGINAL: JNorton
Wow Red. That's something. I was 19. I really really am impressed. I wish I could have been there with you.
John
Wow Red. That's something. I was 19. I really really am impressed. I wish I could have been there with you.
John
07-21-2009, 07:46 PM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
ORIGINAL: MinnFlyer
Believe it or not, your digital watch has more computing power than Apollo 11 did - That is a scarey thought!
Other things that come to mind are... They had never done this before. They were only using an educated guess in SO much of their calculations. The first time an Apollo capsule orbited the moon, they could only HOPE that their calculations were right. If they weren't, the capsule would just shoot past the moon never to return.
I could go on and on. This is by far man's greatest scientific achievement. Even if we went to Mars it wouldn't be as great because we already know that our original guesses were correct. We didn't know that then.
Hats off to NASA!
ORIGINAL: ctdahle
I'm told that my R/C set has more processing power than the computer aboard Apollo 11,
I'm told that my R/C set has more processing power than the computer aboard Apollo 11,
Other things that come to mind are... They had never done this before. They were only using an educated guess in SO much of their calculations. The first time an Apollo capsule orbited the moon, they could only HOPE that their calculations were right. If they weren't, the capsule would just shoot past the moon never to return.
I could go on and on. This is by far man's greatest scientific achievement. Even if we went to Mars it wouldn't be as great because we already know that our original guesses were correct. We didn't know that then.
Hats off to NASA!
When orbiter 2 was ready to launch I was ordered to send the commands to cause LO1 to crash on the backside of the moon.
I sent the commands.
LO1 went behind the moon as expected.
45 minutes later telemetry started to come in from the Australian station(They were in view of the SC at the time)'
We were all trying to determine what went wrong. Then someone noticed the time tag. The Australians were sending us a recording!
An international practical joke.
I was later sent to the cape as a part of the Technical Integration & Evaluation(TIE) team to try to determine what happened when they killed the first three astronauts. The group I was in ran the Flight Readiness Review(FRR) for NASA fot the first two Saturn 5 launches. It was interesting listening to all of those great leaders argue.
I was called back to Seattle for another program so I didn't get to see anymore launches.
I see they have another LO called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The pictures they have don't look and different than they did 40 years ago.
Here are some pictures we took 40 years ago
http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...title&resnum=5
07-21-2009, 07:54 PM
#19
RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
dirtybird,
When I was a teen I was associated with Lockheed in the San Fernando valley. They were building the Cheyene helicopter. We were part of an Exployer scout group. Bunch of nerds and no uniforms. One of the highlights was visiting the Goldstone facility and Lockheed Burbank. I got to fly one of the first helicopter flight simulators. Took 15 seconds before I put it into the ground. Good memories.
John
When I was a teen I was associated with Lockheed in the San Fernando valley. They were building the Cheyene helicopter. We were part of an Exployer scout group. Bunch of nerds and no uniforms. One of the highlights was visiting the Goldstone facility and Lockheed Burbank. I got to fly one of the first helicopter flight simulators. Took 15 seconds before I put it into the ground. Good memories.
John
07-21-2009, 08:54 PM
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RE: I can't believe that no one has started an Apollo 11 Thread!
I was 13 at the time and old enough to be absolutely fascinated and amazed. The space program was the motivating factor that led me to study electrical engineering. Now, after working in the aerospace industry on satellite antennas for 30 years, I am even more amazed that we did it.
