About 50 years ago, in this galaxy..........

[Shannon SteelSlave]

The year was 1969. After years of painstaking research and training, the people of earth landed on the moon, before we even had computers that took up less than half of an entire room. (Try saying to anyone that their cellular telephone machine is a mini-mini-mini-mini ENIAC) Shannon salutes the brave and the supporting people who made this possible.
So whenever you learned of this event, however you remember it, or whatever you were doing at the time it happened, I hope everyone will join me in this celebration.

Dumb and Dumber.jpg (9.32 KiB) Viewed 2294 times

[RADER123]

I have fond memories of this day in History; When the Man put his first step on the Moon;
I was over the Pacific on my way back Home from my 2 ND tour of Nam. Homeward bound.
Rader

[Shannon SteelSlave]

I have fond memories of this day in History; When the Man put his first step on the Moon;
I was over the Pacific on my way back Home from my 2 ND tour of Nam. Homeward bound.
Rader

I thank you for your service, Rader. At least one person continues to appreciate your selfless sacrifice, how ever long ago it is. Thank you for sharing your memory with us, and have a great day. Shan'

[bound_jenny]

My goodness, Apollo 11 takes me way, way back...

I do remember that, all the news coverage, Walter Cronkite at the desk, and those B&W videos from the Moon... It made me dream. I would go to the window, look at the Moon, and think, "there are people up there!". An incredible feat for the day. Wernher von Braun finally got to see his own dream come true, and thanks to his genius, it became possible.

And to think that the on-board computer of the LEM was barely more than a Commodore VIC-20 in power. It had a multi-tasking operating system (which could get quickly overloaded, generating those famous 1201 and 1202 alarms). But it did the job! More genius from the designers of the hardware and software. And cool, calm Neil Armstrong guiding the Eagle down to a safe touchdown, proving it can be done!

The US space program got a big shot in the arm when our former PM John Diefenbaker killed the Avro Arrow project (which would have given Canada a Mach 2-plus state of the art fighter jet) and suddenly a whole bunch of aerospace engineers were looking for a job - and found just that at NASA. There's some Canuckian genius in there too.

There is another mission I just barely remember, about a half-year earlier - Apollo 8. It stuck in my mind because it was Christmas (1968), and my folks would let us kids stay up late to watch the coverage on TV. It was a combination of two magic moments that would be indelibly written into my memories.

I've read Gene Kranz's book Failure Is Not An Option. Oh so true is that title. And the right people, in the right places, at the right time, made sure it wasn't an option.

I thank you for your service, Rader

Same here, Rader. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

Jenny.

[ponylady]

Jeesh, i remember i did a series of posts 10 years on another board (nope, it"s gone & doublenope
, i don"t have a backup. *time for jen to oil that whip*) for the 40th anniversary.

It was quite extensive, highlighting the important contributions of aldrin, scott
& schmitt and the era-bridging career of john young, that was almost ended
Premature because Of a smuggled sandwich onboard an early gemini flight.

Anyway, the AGC (apollo guidance computer)

All 73K ram of it.

Yup, they flew to the moon with a ram that pales in contrast to a
Whatsapp avatar.

What"s more interesting, especially for jenny, is the physical nature of the
RAM. since nasa needed radiation hardened RAM they invented the ropecore-ram.

A ferrit-core with holes was threaded with wire. Through the hole equalled 0,
Around 1. that work was done in painstakingly labour by seamstresses.

(Imagine noticing a mistake later on & and having to unwind a couple worth
K of wire)

Thats one of the hidden female contributions to that massive endeavour.

Another are the seamstresses at playtex.
Yup, the BH-company supplied the PLSSP (personal life support systems or
Space suits).

And if you check out old pix of mission control during the apollo missions,
You might be able to spot a young womsn in the background.
The only woman in the room, she was responsible for the communication
With the test crews during flights.

And she needed a special permission to enter the room.

The times, they surely have changed.

[tiemeupalso]

I took pictures of what was being showh on tv.looked like I was there.
that was a time that was just incredible

[bound_jenny]

I just heard that one of the pillars of NASA manned spaceflight program, Chris Kraft (Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr.) passed away yesterday at the age of 95.

Kraft was flight director of many of the early manned missions from Mercury through Gemini, as well as many of the unmanned missions of the first years of NASA's space exploration program. Starting with the Apollo program, to concentrate on mission planning and management, becoming director of the Johnson Space Center (Manned Spacecraft Center) by 1972. He was instrumental in implementing, shaping and organizing how Mission Control worked. Gene Kranz was one of those who helped Kraft get things done.

I think one of his most famous - and quite useful - quotes of Kraft's career was:

If you don't know what to do, don't do anything.

Wise words that we can all heed - sometimes it's better to leave things alone, as doing something rashly often makes things worse.

Rest in peace, Chris.

Jenny.

[Shannon SteelSlave]

Shannon salutes Chris

[JIMDINI]

R.I.P. Chris

[ponylady]

It's starting to get lonely in that community.

Godspeed, chris kraft.

Btw: anybody here read "moondust" ?

[bluebird67]

Btw: anybody here read "moondust" ?

Yes, and it's probably the Arthur C Clarke story I'm most likely to re-read. Can you remember why you can't make good tea at high altitude - or why that is important in the plot?

[bound_jenny]

Can you remember why you can't make good tea at high altitude

At high altitudes, water boils at a lower temperature than at lower altitudes (go high enough, and water boils at or below 37C - puts another twist in the expression "making my blood boil" ). At some point, it may not hot enough for the tea to steep properly. *BUT* at most populated locations on Earth the temperature difference won't be enough to make any difference (in fact on many bagged tea packets there is a temperature guide and from what I calculate, anyplace below 3000 m or so wouldn't change anything). A lot of people don't notice the difference anyway. The water quality probably makes a bigger difference.

Jenny.

[ruru67]

Btw: anybody here read "moondust" ?

"A Fall of Moondust". Written in 1961 before the moon landings or any of the probe missions to see what the lunar surface was actually made of, because the all-devouring dust scenario of the novel was a real fear in the nascent lunar programme.

[bound_jenny]

I vaguely remember reading something like that, way, way back. My Mom and my uncle (her brother) were voracious readers and science-fiction made up a large portion of their material. I got to read a lot of "hand-me-down" novels in science-fiction, fantasy, crime, etc. I'm sure that "A Fall of Moondust" must have been somewhere in there. It's that quicksand-like dust that tickled some of my neurons back in the dusty confines of my memory. And some fond memories of my Mom and my uncle.

Jenny.

[ponylady]

Oops, misunderstanding here.

I meant moondust by andrew smith.

It's nonfiction hoe the experience on the moon & the journey changed the
Outlook to life in general of the astronauts.

"The man who ran the moon" about james webb is another
Good read i like to recommend.

And if you really want to get kneedeep into the 60's
Go to history.nasa.gov (different content from nasa.gov/history)

Look for "on the shoulder of titans"; an indepth
History about the gemini program, tallies about
300 pages about how decisions about hardware, technique
Or human resources came about.

A must read in my opinion.

Same is avaiable for mercury & apollo, but gemini
Was so important in getting to the moon.
It's like mercury was toddlers to start of
Elementary school & gemini picked up from
There and in about 18 months those toddlers
Had graduated highschool summa cum laude
To achieve bachelor & master degrees (apollo)
Later on.