Comments on: Flightdeck Friday: Grumman’s Lunar Module (LM) http://steeljawscribe.com/2007/07/20/flightdeck-friday-grummans-lunar-module-lm Looking for clues at the scene of the crime Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:25:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Nose http://steeljawscribe.com/2007/07/20/flightdeck-friday-grummans-lunar-module-lm/comment-page-1#comment-241 Nose Sun, 22 Jul 2007 06:04:09 +0000 http://steeljawscribe.com/2007/07/20/flightdeck-friday-grummans-lunar-module-lm/#comment-241 Great post, I always thought the most interesting part was the alarms. In your transcript, they repeatedly say "1201" which was the alarm on the computer. The Radar Altimeter was feeding info too fast to the computer (we call it a computer, but it had less computing power than modern wristwatches). If that Bales guy weren't so sharp - one book I read said he took apart the computer code and predicted the 1201 alarms, they might have had to scrub the Apollo 11 landing. As it was, they used a lot more fuel than planned. If you gave NASA an unlimited budget today it would take them 20 years to make it back to the moon and we would kill 20 people on the way. Nose Great post,

I always thought the most interesting part was the alarms. In your transcript, they repeatedly say “1201″ which was the alarm on the computer. The Radar Altimeter was feeding info too fast to the computer (we call it a computer, but it had less computing power than modern wristwatches). If that Bales guy weren’t so sharp – one book I read said he took apart the computer code and predicted the 1201 alarms, they might have had to scrub the Apollo 11 landing. As it was, they used a lot more fuel than planned.

If you gave NASA an unlimited budget today it would take them 20 years to make it back to the moon and we would kill 20 people on the way.

Nose

]]> By: Buck http://steeljawscribe.com/2007/07/20/flightdeck-friday-grummans-lunar-module-lm/comment-page-1#comment-240 Buck Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:28:31 +0000 http://steeljawscribe.com/2007/07/20/flightdeck-friday-grummans-lunar-module-lm/#comment-240 I was in Wakkanai, Japan on that day. I watched the landing in the wee, wee hours of the morning at one of those hole in the wall, "after-hours" places (commonly called a "snack") after a night of <strike>socializing</strike> drinking with a bunch of Ops and maintenance types. We, including all the Japanese folks behind and in front of the bar, sat and watched in near silence and absolute, total, utter amazement. Words fail me as to the emotions that ran through that small group at that one particular small point in time. Keep in mind: the Viet Nam war was raging, protesters were in the streets, and the political climate was as bad, if not worse than it is now. We...Americans...desperately needed something great and good. And we got it. Perhaps the singular accomplishment of the generation that immediately preceded mine. I was in Wakkanai, Japan on that day. I watched the landing in the wee, wee hours of the morning at one of those hole in the wall, “after-hours” places (commonly called a “snack”) after a night of socializing drinking with a bunch of Ops and maintenance types. We, including all the Japanese folks behind and in front of the bar, sat and watched in near silence and absolute, total, utter amazement. Words fail me as to the emotions that ran through that small group at that one particular small point in time. Keep in mind: the Viet Nam war was raging, protesters were in the streets, and the political climate was as bad, if not worse than it is now. We…Americans…desperately needed something great and good. And we got it.

Perhaps the singular accomplishment of the generation that immediately preceded mine.

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