Saturn V anecdote
Discussion
With the imminent descent of Tiangong 1 hitting the headlines, here's an interesting article about another piece of space debris which hit the news...
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1195/1
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1195/1
A bit off topic...
Today is the anniversary of the death, in Chelsea, London on 18 Apr 1949, of the English actor, comedian, entertainer and accomplished amateur astronomer William Thomson ‘Will’ Hay. As well as his many exploits, both on stage and in film, Will Hay is remembered as a dedicated and highly-respected amateur astronomer. A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, he wrote the book Through My Telescope in 1935 and even constructed an observatory in his garden, the observations made from which included measuring the positions of numerous comets (with a micrometer he built himself) and discovering the Great White Spot on the planet Saturn in 1933.
Today is the anniversary of the death, in Chelsea, London on 18 Apr 1949, of the English actor, comedian, entertainer and accomplished amateur astronomer William Thomson ‘Will’ Hay. As well as his many exploits, both on stage and in film, Will Hay is remembered as a dedicated and highly-respected amateur astronomer. A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, he wrote the book Through My Telescope in 1935 and even constructed an observatory in his garden, the observations made from which included measuring the positions of numerous comets (with a micrometer he built himself) and discovering the Great White Spot on the planet Saturn in 1933.
MartG said:
A bit off topic...
Today is the anniversary of the death, in Chelsea, London on 18 Apr 1949, of the English actor, comedian, entertainer and accomplished amateur astronomer William Thomson ‘Will’ Hay. As well as his many exploits, both on stage and in film, Will Hay is remembered as a dedicated and highly-respected amateur astronomer. A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, he wrote the book Through My Telescope in 1935 and even constructed an observatory in his garden, the observations made from which included measuring the positions of numerous comets (with a micrometer he built himself) and discovering the Great White Spot on the planet Saturn in 1933.
Allegedly I am related to him on my Dad's side, via my nan, whose maiden name was Hay.Today is the anniversary of the death, in Chelsea, London on 18 Apr 1949, of the English actor, comedian, entertainer and accomplished amateur astronomer William Thomson ‘Will’ Hay. As well as his many exploits, both on stage and in film, Will Hay is remembered as a dedicated and highly-respected amateur astronomer. A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, he wrote the book Through My Telescope in 1935 and even constructed an observatory in his garden, the observations made from which included measuring the positions of numerous comets (with a micrometer he built himself) and discovering the Great White Spot on the planet Saturn in 1933.
I haven't been able to verify it yet - but I am a bit of an astronomer myself......so could be a family trait
Another tale from Stephen Coester...
This story is from my Saturn V years with Boeing, but could be from anywhere. Time came for our yearly performance evaluations and our supervisor in the LH2 group called us together and told us the genius in HR wanted us to write our own evaluations. Apparently many of the engineers wrote that they were average, did their job to the best of their abilities, etc. Not me. I wrote that I was God's gift to aerospace, they couldn't launch without me, etc., etc. my boss called me in and asked if I seriously wanted to submit it that way. I told him no, i wanted his opinion of my performance. It got submitted so somewhere in the Boeing files is the most overblown performance evaluation ever.........
This story is from my Saturn V years with Boeing, but could be from anywhere. Time came for our yearly performance evaluations and our supervisor in the LH2 group called us together and told us the genius in HR wanted us to write our own evaluations. Apparently many of the engineers wrote that they were average, did their job to the best of their abilities, etc. Not me. I wrote that I was God's gift to aerospace, they couldn't launch without me, etc., etc. my boss called me in and asked if I seriously wanted to submit it that way. I told him no, i wanted his opinion of my performance. It got submitted so somewhere in the Boeing files is the most overblown performance evaluation ever.........
Boeing engineers work inside the oxygen tank of the S-ICfirst stage of the Saturn 5. The "ribs" on the walls of the tank limit the sloshing of the liquid oxygen, and the things in the foreground are anti-swirl vanes. In front of the workers are the helium cylinders for pressurising the fuel tank.
May 7, 1972….Forty-six people from the North Island Naval Air Station near San Diego, California are hospitalized for 24-48 hours after a ground service cart exploded from over pressurization, which at the time was removing residual Reaction Control System propellant and the Freon used to flush the system from Apollo 16’s Command Module. Those hospitalized suffered from the exposure and inhalation to the toxic propellant and some were kept overnight as a precaution. The most seriously injured is a technician with a fractured knee from the ground service cart overturning on him. A hole is blown in the hangar roof 250 feet above, 40 windows are destroyed, two nearby aircraft are damaged and the Command Module sustains minor damage to an exterior panel. The CM was delivered to the Naval Air Station by the USS Ticonderoga after it was picked up at splashdown April 27, 1972.
(Personnel begin the deactivation process while onboard the USS Ticonderoga)
image: S72-36189
Prior to Apollo 16 leftover propellant had been vented during descent, but was blamed for the failure of one of Apollo 15's parachutes, hence the procedure was changed
Beati Dogu said:
MartG said:
Prior to launch, the Saturn 1B used for ASTP required its fins replacing due to cracks
I read somewhere that the fins on the Saturn V were deemed to be superfluous and would likely have been deleted from later models, had the programme continued.MartG said:
Boeing engineers work inside the oxygen tank of the S-ICfirst stage of the Saturn 5. The "ribs" on the walls of the tank limit the sloshing of the liquid oxygen, and the things in the foreground are anti-swirl vanes. In front of the workers are the helium cylinders for pressurising the fuel tank.
Fantastic picture, really puts into perspective that everything was really hand built by real people.Closest thing it relates to for me is the AGR reactor program. Cores are so large they were hand build on site, with similar pictures of people dwarfed by technology.
From Bill Sawchuck:
The day Frank Borman learned he was an honorary member of Led Zeppelin.
This is Colonel Frank Borman, commander of Apollo 8, the first manned mission to travel from the earth to moon which took place in December 1968. He is holding my personal copy of the album Led Zeppelin II which I purchased, at the age of 10, upon its initial release in 1969. The Grammy-nominated cover art for the album was designed by David Juniper who was a friend of Led Zeppelin’s guitarist Jimmy Page. Although Borman is depicted on the album cover, David Juniper, when re-telling the story behind the artwork over the years, had always recounted that it was Neil Armstrong’s likeness that was used.
Several years ago, I made a small inquiry about the album to members of the space collector community on the website collectSPACE. In 2013, after a lively discussion, it was determined that Juniper had in fact mistakenly recounted which astronaut had appeared on the album’s cover. In fact, the actual portrait of Borman that was used by Juniper was determined, thus negating Juniper’s claims that it was Neil Armstrong.
As It turns out, this was an easy mistake to make, given that the album cover was designed in early 1969, just prior to the time that Neil Armstrong became a household name when selected by NASA to go to the moon on the Apollo 11 mission. When the cover art was originally constructed, it was, in fact, Borman who was the astronaut who was most prominently in the news at the time. However, at the time of the album’s release in late 1969, with the broader media coverage given to the Apollo 11 mission and moon landing, Neil Armstrong naturally overshadowed all other astronauts including Borman.
Several months after I had learned that it was Borman on the cover, I took the initiative of having him sign my album. I provided him with a detailed letter and graphic describing the story behind the artwork. As it turned out, until the time of the signing, Borman was completely unaware that he was on the cover of this iconic album!
And the rest is history.
The day Frank Borman learned he was an honorary member of Led Zeppelin.
This is Colonel Frank Borman, commander of Apollo 8, the first manned mission to travel from the earth to moon which took place in December 1968. He is holding my personal copy of the album Led Zeppelin II which I purchased, at the age of 10, upon its initial release in 1969. The Grammy-nominated cover art for the album was designed by David Juniper who was a friend of Led Zeppelin’s guitarist Jimmy Page. Although Borman is depicted on the album cover, David Juniper, when re-telling the story behind the artwork over the years, had always recounted that it was Neil Armstrong’s likeness that was used.
Several years ago, I made a small inquiry about the album to members of the space collector community on the website collectSPACE. In 2013, after a lively discussion, it was determined that Juniper had in fact mistakenly recounted which astronaut had appeared on the album’s cover. In fact, the actual portrait of Borman that was used by Juniper was determined, thus negating Juniper’s claims that it was Neil Armstrong.
As It turns out, this was an easy mistake to make, given that the album cover was designed in early 1969, just prior to the time that Neil Armstrong became a household name when selected by NASA to go to the moon on the Apollo 11 mission. When the cover art was originally constructed, it was, in fact, Borman who was the astronaut who was most prominently in the news at the time. However, at the time of the album’s release in late 1969, with the broader media coverage given to the Apollo 11 mission and moon landing, Neil Armstrong naturally overshadowed all other astronauts including Borman.
Several months after I had learned that it was Borman on the cover, I took the initiative of having him sign my album. I provided him with a detailed letter and graphic describing the story behind the artwork. As it turned out, until the time of the signing, Borman was completely unaware that he was on the cover of this iconic album!
And the rest is history.
Gassing Station | Science! | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff