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Eight Years to the Moon

Page 34

by Nancy Atkinson


  Woodfill, Jerry (electrical engineer for the Apollo caution and warning system)

  Wren, Robert (lead engineer for Apollo CSM and LM testing)

  Young, Kenneth (aerospace technician, Lunar Rendezvous Section/Mission Analysis Branch)

  Young, Larry (director, National Space Biomedical Research Institute)

  JOHNSON SPACE CENTER ORAL HISTORIES

  Arabian, Donald

  Armstrong, Neil

  Battin, Richard

  Bond, Aleck

  Borman, Frank

  Chaffee, Norman

  Cohen, Aaron

  Collins, Michael

  Deiterich, Charles

  Faber, Stanley

  Garman, John (Jack)

  Griffin, Gerald

  Heflin, Milton

  Honeycutt, Jay

  Hooks, Ivy

  Hughes, Francis (Frank)

  Johnson, Gary

  Kelly, Thomas

  Kraft, Christopher

  Kranz, Eugene

  Lee, Dorothy (Dottie)

  Lee, John

  Lunney, Glynn

  McLane, James, Jr.

  Mechelay, Joseph

  Miller, Harold

  Moser, Thomas

  Osgood, Catherine

  Pohl, Henry

  Schweickart, Russell (Rusty)

  Seamans, Robert

  Shelley, Carl

  Stafford, Thomas

  Vaughan, Chester

  Woodling, Carroll (Pete)

  Wren, Robert

  Young, Kenneth

  BOOKS, JOURNALS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS

  Aldrin, Edwin Eugene Jr. Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, January 1963.

  The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology. NASA, online publication.

  Barbree, Jay. Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2014.

  Benson, Charles D., and William Barnaby Faherty. Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations. NASA History Series. January 1, 1978.

  Chaikin, Andrew. A Man on the Moon. New York: Viking Penguin, 1994.

  Compton, W. David. Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions. Dover Publications, 2010.

  Cortright, Edgar M., ed. Apollo: Expeditions to the Moon. NASA History Office, 1975.

  Dick, Steven J., and Roger D. Launius, eds. Societal Impact of Spaceflight. NASA History Series. Washington, DC: NASA, 2007.

  Duffy, Robert A. Biographical Memoirs: Charles Stark Draper. National Academies Press, 1994.

  Eyles, Don. Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir. Boston: Fort Point Press, 2018.

  Hacker, Barton C., and James M. Grimwood. On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini. Washington, DC: NASA, 1977.

  Hansen, James R. First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005.

  Harland, David M. The First Men on the Moon. Berlin: Springer-Praxis Books, 2007.

  Hoag, David G. History of the Apollo On-Board Guidance, Navigation and Control. September 1976.

  James David Alexander Family. The Moon and More. N.p.: iUniverse, 2007.

  Johnson, Gary. Lessons Learned from 50+ Years in Human Spaceflight. JSC SMA Flight Safety Office, April 30, 2018.

  Lindsay, Hamish. Tracking Apollo to the Moon. London: Springer-Verlag, 2001.

  Lunney, Glynn. Highways into Space. 2014.

  Mangus, Susan, and William Larsen. Lunar Receiving Laboratory Project History. NASA/CR–2004–208938. NASA, 2004.

  Mindell, David A. Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight. Cambridge, MA; MIT Press, 2008.

  Murray, Charles, and Cathern Bly Cox. Apollo: The Race to the Moon. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989.

  Oates, Stephen B. “NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center at Houston, Texas.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 67, no. 3 (January 1964): 350–375.

  Painter, John H., and George Hondros. Unified S-Band Telecommunications Techniques for Apollo. 2 vols. NASA Technical Notes. Washington, DC: NASA, March 1965, April 1966.

  Seamans, Robert C. Jr. Project Apollo: The Tough Decisions. NASA Monograph Series. 2005.

  Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

  Tomayko, James. Computers in Spaceflight: The NASA Experience. NASA, 1988.

  Walters, Lori C. To Create Space on Earth: The Space Environment Simulation Laboratory and Project Apollo. Houston: NASA, 2003.

  Woodling, C. H., Stanley Faber, John J. Van Bockel, Charles C. Olasky, Wayne K. Williams, John L. C. Mire and James R. Homer. Apollo Experience Report Simulation of Manned Space Flight for Crew Training. NASA Technical Note TN D-7112. Washington, DC: NASA, March 1973.

  Woods, W. David. How Apollo Flew to the Moon. New York: Springer-Praxis Books, 2011.

  FILMS

  Fairhead, David, dir. Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo. Gravitas Ventures, 2017.

  Moon Machines. Season 1, episode 3, “Navigation.” Science Channel, 2008.

  Sington, David, and Christopher Riley, dirs. In the Shadow of the Moon. Vertigo Films, 2007.

  WEBSITES

  APPEL News Staff. “A Strategic Decision: Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous.” NASA. APPEL Knowledge Services, January 10, 2012. https://appel.nasa.gov/2012/01/10/5-1_lunar_orbit_rendezvous-html/.

  Atkinson, Nancy. “How to Handle Moon Rocks and Lunar Bugs: A Personal History of Apollo’s Lunar Receiving Lab.” Universe Today, July 19, 2009. https://www.universetoday.com/35229/how-to-handle-moon-rocks-and-lunar-bugs-a-personal-history-of-apollos-lunar-receiving-lab/.

  Atkinson, Nancy. “How We *Really* Watched Television from the Moon.” Universe Today, August 7, 2009. https://www.universetoday.com/36950/how-we-really-watched-tv-from-the-moon/.

  Bogo, Jennifer. “The Oral History of Apollo 11: The Knuckle-Biting Story of the First Lunar Landing from the People Who Were There.” Popular Mechanics, July 17, 2018. https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a4248/oral-history-apollo-11/.

  CBS News Coverage of the Launch of Apollo 11, via YouTube.

  Johnson Space Center History Collection online; JSC Roundup Archives.

  Jones, Eric M., ed. Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. 1995–2018. https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/.

  Lunar and Planetory Institute website lpi.usra.edu, numerous pages.

  Mackellar, Colin. “A Tribute to the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, 1967–1981.” December 2003–present.

  NASA.gov., numerous pages.

  Platoff, Anne M. “Where No Flag Has Gone Before: Political and Technical Aspects of Placing a Flag on the Moon.” Johnson Space Center. NASA Contractor Report 188251, August 1993. https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/flag/flag.htm.

  Pyle, Rod. “Apollo 11’s Scariest Moments: Perils of the 1st Manned Moon Landing.” Space.com, July 21, 2014. https://www.space.com/26593-apollo-11-moon-landing-scariest-moments.html.

  Shira Teitel, Amy. “Apollo 11’s ‘1202 Alarm’ Explained.” Vintage Space (blog). Discover magazine, January 5, 2018. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/vintagespace/2018/01/05/apollo-11s-1202-alarm-explained/#.XGxKKOhKhPY.

  Szondy, David. “Saturn V: The Birth of the Moon Rocket.” New Atlas, July 4, 2018. https://newatlas.com/saturn-v-birth-moon-rocket/54867/.

  Woods, David, Ken MacTaggart and Frank O’Brien. “Apollo 11 Flight Journal.” NASA, March 1, 2016. https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap11fj/index.html.

  Buzz Aldrin stands next to the Lunar Module during the Apollo 11 moonwalk as he prepares to deploy the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP). Credit: NASA.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  MY SINCERE AND HEARTFELT THANKS shared their unique Apollo stories and insights and who worked with me to ensure accuracy of technical and historical details. Although there wasn’t space or breadth within this book to include all the tales I heard, everyone’s stories helped provide such wonderful context for the
amazing days of the 1960s.

  Special thanks to the NASA Alumni League–JSC Chapter, especially “rocket scientist” Norman Chaffee, who arranged interviews and tours during my visit to Houston and provided constant encouragement; thanks to Milt Heflin, who put me in touch with the SimSups. Thanks to John Painter who provided early technical editing assistance. Thank you to Kay Ferrari of NASA’s Solar System Ambassador program for putting me in touch with fellow ambassadors Earle Kyle and Rich Manley. My appreciation and thanks to media specialists Brandi Dean and Noah Michelsohn at Johnson Space Center, Daniel Dent at Draper and Sara Remus at MIT, as well as Dr. Sandra Johnson at the JSC History Center, who provided invaluable assistance.

  Thank you to everyone who contributed photos for this book, with a special shout-out to Draper, Colin MacKellar from HoneysuckleCreek.net and of course, NASA.

  My deepest thanks and appreciation to Page Street Publishing for the opportunity to write this book, with special thanks to my editor, Lauren Knowles, for her boundless enthusiasm and patience. Thank you to copy editor Nichole Kraft for her amazing and thorough work in smoothing out all the (numerous) rough spots in the manuscript. Cheers to my network of fellow journalists for your inspiration and support. Endless thank-yous and love to my incredible husband, Rick, for his support at every step, as well as to my family and friends for always providing such amazing help and encouragement and being interested in my quirky obsession with space exploration.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  NANCY ATKINSON is a science journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. Her first book, Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos, tells the stories of thirty-seven scientists and engineers who work on several NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

  Since 1999, Nancy has written thousands of articles on space and astronomy. She currently contributes to Universe Today and Ad Astra. Previously, she was an editor for Universe Today and editor in chief for Space Lifestyle Magazine. She has also written articles for Seeker, New Scientist, Wired, Space.com, NASA’s Astrobiology Magazine, Space Times magazine and several newspapers in the Midwest. She has been involved with several space-related podcasts, including Astronomy Cast and 365 Days of Astronomy, and was the host of the NASA Lunar Science Institute podcast. Nancy is also a NASA-JPL Solar System Ambassador. She lives in Minnesota.

  INDEX

  #

  2TV-1 test

  3M company

  A

  Aaron, John

  acoustics

  AC Spark Plug division (GM)

  Agena Target Docking Vehicle

  AiResearch

  alarms

  Aldrin, Buzz

  Alexander, James (David)

  Alonso, Ramon

  analytic ephemeris generator (AEG)

  Anders, Bill

  Anders, William A.

  animal tests

  Apollo

  Apollo 2

  Apollo 4

  Apollo

  Apollo 8

  Apollo

  Apollo

  Apollo

  Apollo 12

  Apollo 13

  Apollo 14

  Apollo 15

  Apollo 16

  Apollo 17

  Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC)

  Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP)

  Apollo Saturn-201

  Apollo Spacecraft Program Office

  Arabian, Don

  Armstrong, Neil

  Army Ballistic Missile Agency

  Astronaut Office

  Atlas rocket

  Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA)

  Aurora 7 capsule

  Auxiliary Propulsion Group

  Avco Corporation

  B

  Bales, Steve

  Baron, Oakley

  Bassett, Charlie

  Battin, Dick

  BBN consulting company

  Bean, Alan

  Beers, Kenneth

  Bell Aircraft

  Bell, Jerry

  Bell, Persa R.

  Bench Maintenance Equipment (BME)

  Beranek, Leo

  Berry, Charles

  beta cloth

  Bill, Tindall

  Biological Isolation Garments (BIGs)

  Bird, John

  Boeing Company

  Bolt, Dick

  Bond, Aleck

  Bonestell, Chesley

  Borman, Frank

  Bostick, Jerry

  Brand, Vance

  von Braun, Wernher

  Brown and Root architectural firm

  Brown, Clinton

  Brown, Frank A.

  budget

  von Bun, Fritz

  C

  Cafeteria facility

  call signs

  Capcom (capsule communicator)

  Cape Canaveral

  Carpenter, Scott

  Caution and Warning System

  Cernan, Gene

  Chaffee, Martha

  Chaffee, Norman

  Chaffee, Olga

  Chaffee, Roger

  Chance Vought Aircraft Corporation

  Charlesworth, Cliff

  Chilton, Robert

  Christmas Eve broadcast

  Cohen, Jack

  cold-flow test

  Collins, Mike

  Collins Radio company

  Command and Service Modules (CSM)

  Command Module (CM)

  communications

  computers

  Conrad, Charles “Pete,” 45

  Control Center Simulation Group

  Cools, Johnny

  Cooper, Gordon

  core-rope memory

  Corona project

  Covington, Phil

  Crew Systems Division

  Cronkite, Walter

  Cunningham, Walt

  D

  Daniel, Price

  Data Priority

  David Clark Company

  Debus, Kurt

  defecation

  Deiterich, Chuck

  Dinn, Mike

  Direct Ascent

  Discoverer program

  Display and Keyboard (DSKY)

  Dolan, Tom

  Donlan, Charlie

  Douglas Aircraft

  Doyle, Billy

  Draper, Charles Stark

  Drummond, Billy

  Dryden, Hugh

  Duke, Charlie

  DuPont company

  Dynamic Test Tower

  E

  Earth-Orbit Rendezvous (EOR)

  Echo project

  Ecord, Glenn

  von Ehrenfried, Dutch

  Eisele, Donn

  Eisenhower, Dwight D.

  Eldred, Ken

  Electronics Division

  Emergency Mission Control Center (EMCC)

  Energy Systems Branch

  Engle, Joe

  Evans, Ron

  Explorer 1 satellite

  extravehicular activities (EVAs)

  F

  F-1 engine

  Faber, Stanley

  Faget, Max

  Ferguson, Dick

  Ferguson, Gordon

  Findlay, Don

  flag

  Flight Director Attitude Indicator (FDAI)

  Flight Dynamics Division

  Flight Dynamics officer

  Flight Operations Division

  Flory, Don

  Freedom 7–II mission

  Freeman, Ted

  Fricke, Bob

  Friendship 7 capsule

  G

  Gagarin, Yuri

  Gamow, George

  Garman, Jack

  Gemini 3

  Gemini 4

  Gemini 5

  Gemini 6

  Gemini 7

  Gemini 8

  Gemini 9

  Gemini 10

  Gemini 11

  Gemini 12

  General Dyna
mics

  g-forces

  Gibbons, Gerald

  Gilruth, Robert

  Glenn, John

  Goddard Space Flight Center

  Goett, Harry

  Gold, Thomas

  Goodwin, Ken

  Gordon, Dick

  Gordon, Richard

  Graves, Barry, Jr.

  Greene, Jay

  Griffin, Gerry

  Grissom, Betty

  Grissom, Virgil (Gus)

  Ground Systems Project Office (GSPO)

  Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation

  Guidance and Navigation Computer

  Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC)

  Guidance officers

  H

  Haise, Fred

  Hall, Eldon

  Hand-Held Self-Maneuvering Unit (HHSMU)

  heat shield

  Heflin, Milt

  Hoag, David

  Hodge, John

  Hohmann transfer

  Holmes, Brainerd

  Hondros, George

  Honeycutt, Jay

  Honeywell company

  Houbolt, John

  Hughes, Frank

  Huss, Carl

  hypergolic fuels

  I

  IBM computers

  Instrumentation Lab (MIT)

  Instrument Unit (IU)

  Irwin, James B.

  J

  Jenkins, Lonnie

  Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  jettison controller

  Johnson, Gary

  Johnson, Lyndon B.

  Johnston, Dick

  Juno rocket

  K

  Kelly, Tom

  Kennedy, John F.

  Kerwin, Joe

  Khrushchev, Nikita

  King, Elbert

  Kinzler, Jack

  Kollsman Instrument Company

  Komarov, Vladimir

  Koos, Dick

  Korolev, Sergei

  Kosmo, Joe

  Kotanchik, Joe

  Kraft, Christopher

  Kranz, Gene

  Kurbju, Max

  Kyle, Earle

  Kyle, Howard

  L

  Laika (dog)

  landing

  Landing and Recovery Division

  Langley Research Center

  Laning, Hal

  launch

  Launch Operations Complex (LOC)

  Lee, Dottie Mae

  Lee, John

  Lee, Laurie

  LeMay, Curtis

  Lewis Research Center

  Liberty Bell 7 capsule

  Lineberry, Ed

  Little Joe II rockets

  Llewellyn, John

  Lovell, James A., Jr.

  Low, George

  LTA-8 test

  Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV)

 

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