Apollo 11: The Untold Story

[edwardsdj (Doug)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Sure many of the systems used back then, particularly digital ones, were very crude by todays standards, but they worked, and even more importantly the people used them understood how they worked.

I read somewhere (I think it was an article in IEEE Spectrum) years ago that the person who originally proposed the lunar module envisaged a manually throttled descent engine (which they kept) and a plumb bob hanging from the ceiling of the module (which they replaced with instruments and computers).

We are so reliant on computers these days that people forget what amazing feats were accomplished without them.

On another note, the computer in a mobile phone is really very complex. I would have described the computers used in the Apollo missions as little more than simple programmable calculators, used to automate repetitive calculations that otherwise would have been done with a slide rule, pen and paper.

[netwolf]

The doco was about the Apollo missions, that was enough for me to watch.
Sure todays laptops and computers and mobile phones are great. But not many would understand them to a level were the could tell you every little detail about them. For example where the resolved the 1202 problem, did you see that sheet. Every possible problem had been documented. A simple error in MS windows is fobbed off with oh that normal just click ok and ignore it. Memory management is so crap in modern OS's.
Or for example during Apollo 13 the power-up procedures (accredited to Mattingly in the film). Such engineers have to know there systems inside out. I had a professor who told us about the days when they had to repair there calculators, yet we live in the days were we can almost dispose such things and replace them cheaply. Working in IT i have come accros the situation time and again were i have no choice but to format and start from scratch, because there is not enough information about the problem to fix it. Partly this is because not every combination of things can be tested for by every vendor. But this is exactly what the engineers at NASA did do, they new those "real-time" systems inside out.

Regards
Fahim

[Outbackmanyep]

[quote=Omaroo;296381]"The Untold Story" - when I heard the narrators' voice my expectations went out the window - "oh no, not him". Since when has the ABC bought garbage from the Discovery channel to supplement its science content?

I'm sorry to say that I was disappointed in this show. It was narrated in the same softly-spoken doom and gloom Discovery Channel-esque style that I dislike "Seconds From Disaster" for, and was aimed at an audience that has otherwise no interest or knowledge in space, and particularly the Apollo era.
[quote]

I totally agree!!!! I HATE the way they tell the story on "Seconds From Disaster" , then re-hash it 5 minutes later ....over and over....
I would have preferred Sam Neill to do the narration!
The UFO thing was hype! As you may well know, one of the other Apollo mission actually had a Saturn V stage follow them and crash on the moon, all intended no doubt!

[goober (Doug)]

I finally caught up with the "Untold Story"? The only thing I didn't know was the UFO, which I am sure must have a logical explanation - surely it had to be part of the discarded stack post docking with the LEM. The rest of it ... the pen, the flashes in the eyes, the 1201/2 overflow alarms, the escape tower, etc - all been told before. The narrator's slightly breathless style was a bit much.

Roll on March 6th ...

[merlin8r]

Not too long ago, the Discovery Channel ran a series of excellent Apollo doco's. I just wish I could remember what any of them were called! Specifically they dealt with the missions through the eyes of the mission controllers, and it was refreshing to see many of the unsung heroes. Of particular note.....every year many of them gather for drinks and reminiscing, and always the conversation turns to The Fire....and they all become very solemn for several minutes, and nobody says anything. But the biggest picture I got from any of them, was how awesome Gene Kranz would be as a boss. The man just exudes confidence, and brings the best out of his men. And before the Apollo 11 landing attempt, he delivered a speech that ended with "No matter what, we all walk out of this room as a team", that ALL of his staff could recite verbatim to this day.
Edit: The show was called "Failure is not an Option", and was on the History Channel, not Discovery.