Alan Bean has passed away

[Eric Mc]

Have you read this -



I advise that you do as you will realise that the saving of Apollo 13 was not down to any one individual. I have a lot of respect for people like John Aaron (who thankfully is still with us). His quick thinking certainly saved Apollo 12.

But to claim that he is the person responsible for saving Apollo 13 is really stretching it a bit.

[saaby93]

Eric Mc said:

Have you read this -



I advise that you do as you will realise that the saving of Apollo 13 was not down to any one individual. I have a lot of respect for people like John Aaron (who thankfully is still with us). His quick thinking certainly saved Apollo 12.

But to claim that he is the person responsible for saving Apollo 13 is really stretching it a bit.

It was but I was trying to raise his profile a bit.
There were any number of ways that Apollo 13 would not have made it back
There some individuals who if not present it would unlikely have done
Aaron being one of them
The training and procedures in place helped enormously
Even so when they reached the earth atmosphere, they were at the edge of the window of acceptable entry.

Great teams

The role of computers - the people not the machines came out recently too

[jmorgan]

He did earn the term "steely-eyed missile man".

No doubt the roll a lot of people played and the operation that was mission control.

[Eric Mc]

My hero of Apollo 13 is Gene Krantz. He essentially coordinated all the different groups who were working on multiple fixes and kept them focused on what tasks were essential, what tasks were important and what tasks were not so vital.

As he said very early on in the crisis - "Let's not make things worse by guessing".

[jmorgan]

Absolutely, but part of what the machine that was.

Anyone looking in, he has a book that is well worth a read "Failure is not an Option".
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Failure-Not-Option-Missio...

Edit.
Further reading for those interested. Available as a book but it is here on line.
https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205...

[jmorgan]

Wiccan of Darkness said:

jmorgan said:

Apollo 12 landing site and prints.
http://www.lroc.asu.edu/featured_sites/view_site/2

That's a decent image, the slider underneath the image altering the angle of the sun casts shadows of the lunar landing module so you can use the shadow to make out the projections on the top of the vehicle.

It is quite interesting what they have done. You can follow the transcripts and match it.

https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/main.html

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

My hero of Apollo 13 is Gene Krantz. He essentially coordinated all the different groups who were working on multiple fixes and kept them focused on what tasks were essential, what tasks were important and what tasks were not so vital.

As he said very early on in the crisis - "Let's not make things worse by guessing".

Though 'SCE to Aux' was a guess. When facts run out you have no other choice. Then it's the quality of the inspiration behind the guess that counts.

Today of course they would simply google 'Why is Apollo 12 broken?' and hope something came up.

[Eric Mc]

Simpo Two said:

Though 'SCE to Aux' was a guess. When facts run out you have no other choice. Then it's the quality of the inspiration behind the guess that counts.

Today of course they would simply google 'Why is Apollo 12 broken?' and hope something came up.

The audio of the events immediately before and after the oxygen bottle "explosion" on Apollo 13 is available to listen to in real time on you tube. It's fascinating to listen to the reaction of the different controllers as they struggled to understand what had happened. It was because of all the suggestions that were flying about as to what was going on that Krantz told them more or less to stop guessing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWfnY9cRXO4

[travel is dangerous]

ok keep the chatter down in this room.

slightly off topic but there is a wonderful album based around the space race by a band called public service broadcasting

here's a song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHIo6qwJarI

and there are a couple of performances of Go! and also 'gagarin' starting at about 22:15 on this BBC video from last weekend: https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/efj3v2/play/p0688w1h/...

They are a great band, the album really evokes the feelings of excitement and wonder that space exploration gives me!

[Graculus]

"A Conversation with Alan Bean" is well worth watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKiWKIH6IrM&t=...

Modest, unassuming, amusing and inspiring.

I remember when he took James May for a drive in his old Corvette and said " We had the best job in the world! ".