Overlooked Heros (NASA Mission Control )
Discussion
Christopher Columbus Kraft & Gene Kranz are being interviewed for a documentary "Failure is not an option" on the History Channel. Astronauts get all of the glory, but these are the guys(flight operations) that help them lift off and get home, with little glory for their efforts. Kranz talked about the challenge issued by President Kennedy(more significant after assasination) to walk on the moon by 1969. The Mercury and Appolo programs had begun. To do this, he said, they needed hugh numbers of engineers. It was inspiring to hear him speak of farm or rural families sending the first person in the family to get a university education to work on the program(uni was rare for these families). There were very few Masters or PHDs on the Moon program, just BSs. He spoke of an incident when management overode an engineer decision. Management was found to be wrong. Since that time, it has been policy that only the flight director in Mission Control can make a final decision. Once said decision is made, nobody from the NASA Director to the President can overide it. This put things in the engineer's hands, not management. I have listened to this Kranz fellow speak and admire him more as I learn more. Everybody recognizes him and knows what he did...generally. However, After discovering details of his accomplishments, he has moved up on my "hero list".
Trivia: At the time, the Saturn 5 rocket was the loudest man-made object. The lunar module and return vehicle would have to rendevous perfectly while travelling faster than a bullet...pucker factor must have been high
>> Edited by jimbeaux on Sunday 29th January 02:03
Trivia: At the time, the Saturn 5 rocket was the loudest man-made object. The lunar module and return vehicle would have to rendevous perfectly while travelling faster than a bullet...pucker factor must have been high
>> Edited by jimbeaux on Sunday 29th January 02:03
Kranz wrote an excellent autobiography, also called "Failure is not an option". A lot of the early staff in Mission Control were British engineers.
Some more trivia: the Gemini spacecraft used in the mid-60s was a two-seater with about as much room as sitting in the front of a family car. Other than going outside for EVA there wasn't even enough room to get out of your seat. One of the endurance missions had Pete Conrad and Gordo Cooper up there for 14 days!
On the returning Apollo moon missions the command module hit entry interface at 25000 mph and came to a dead stop on the Pacific Ocean in under half an hour.
Pulling the abort handle on a Mercury spacecraft would have subjected the astronaut to 12g as the escape tower rocket fired.
When the Space Shuttle clears the top of the launch tower it's already doing 100 mph. From launch to orbital insertion at the top of climb at Mach 25 it's all over in under 10 minutes.
It's still what I'd really like to do for a living, except I got a 3rd in engineering at uni, I've got a piddling few hundred hours flying civilian jets and I'm not American!
Some more trivia: the Gemini spacecraft used in the mid-60s was a two-seater with about as much room as sitting in the front of a family car. Other than going outside for EVA there wasn't even enough room to get out of your seat. One of the endurance missions had Pete Conrad and Gordo Cooper up there for 14 days!
On the returning Apollo moon missions the command module hit entry interface at 25000 mph and came to a dead stop on the Pacific Ocean in under half an hour.
Pulling the abort handle on a Mercury spacecraft would have subjected the astronaut to 12g as the escape tower rocket fired.
When the Space Shuttle clears the top of the launch tower it's already doing 100 mph. From launch to orbital insertion at the top of climb at Mach 25 it's all over in under 10 minutes.
It's still what I'd really like to do for a living, except I got a 3rd in engineering at uni, I've got a piddling few hundred hours flying civilian jets and I'm not American!
Didn't stop Britisher Steve Foales making it
I've also read Chris Kraft's autobiography. That's a good read too.
They were all top notch guys - and maybe one of the reasons why NASA is not the high achiever it once was it that it doesn't attract that calibre of person anymore (they're all working for Microsoft and Sun now
)
I've also read Chris Kraft's autobiography. That's a good read too.
They were all top notch guys - and maybe one of the reasons why NASA is not the high achiever it once was it that it doesn't attract that calibre of person anymore (they're all working for Microsoft and Sun now
)speedtwelve said:
Some more trivia: the Gemini spacecraft used in the mid-60s was a two-seater with about as much room as sitting in the front of a family car. Other than going outside for EVA there wasn't even enough room to get out of your seat. One of the endurance missions had Pete Conrad and Gordo Cooper up there for 14 days!
Has any one seen the Discovery channel program about the recovery of the Gemini capsule that sank on recovery i think it was Gordo who got the blame , from the film i saw of that it was much smaller than the space in the front of a family car.
Years ago i saw an Apollo capsule on display in the Imperial science museum London , how 3 men did what they did in such a small space is truly heroic , i just could not bleive how small it was
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Has any one seen the Discovery channel program about the recovery of the Gemini capsule that sank on recovery i think it was Gordo who got the blame , from the film i saw of that it was much smaller than the space in the front of a family car.
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Was it called "In serch for Liberty bell 5"? When they found it and pulled it up, the out side was still in very good condition with no marine growth on at all.
Liberty Bell 7 was a Mercury Capsule, not a Gemini capsule. Mercury was Americas's first manned spacecraft and was a single seater. Gemini started life being called Mercury Mk 2 but as the design evolved, it became a much more sophisticated machine than Mercury. It was decided a different name was required.
The pilot of Liberty Bell 7 was Gus Grissom.
The pilot of Liberty Bell 7 was Gus Grissom.
I wouldn't really believe that to be honest. However, he may have been suicidal because of the crushing pressure exerted on him by Kruschev and the Politburo who constantly expected him to trump the Americans with every mission. In the end, his health collapsed although having to serve a number of years incarcerated in one of Stalin's Gulags during World War 2 also seriously affected his health.
He was, of course, Sergei Korolev. His name was kept hidden until he died in 1966.
He was, of course, Sergei Korolev. His name was kept hidden until he died in 1966.
there's a whole host of overlooked heros out there, whenever you see a film or documentary about the battle of britain, all you see is the pilots, or the pretty fighter controllers, you never see the groundcrews working all the hours, to repair the aircraft,and keeping them flying.
its only recently in F1, that you see much of the mechanics, and then its usually only when something goes wrong like a wheel falling off,or the refuelling rig going tits up again.
back on topic, i think it would make a great documentary if they showed what actually goes into prepping a space shuttle for launch, and perhaps explain what some of the people do in mission control.
its only recently in F1, that you see much of the mechanics, and then its usually only when something goes wrong like a wheel falling off,or the refuelling rig going tits up again.
back on topic, i think it would make a great documentary if they showed what actually goes into prepping a space shuttle for launch, and perhaps explain what some of the people do in mission control.
eccles
If you watch NASA TV online before a Shuttle launch you'll get hours of real-time commentary and footage. It's quite cool to sit at home and watch the crew turning up at the pad in real time.
There was a good documentary made years ago called 'Space Shuttle Discovery' and shown on C4. There was some excellent footage in the cockpit of the crew strapping in and preparing to go. It was a dawn launch, and it was pretty atmospheric from a pilot's point of view to see the crew climbing up into their seats one by one and getting their harnesses on at 5 am or something with it pitch dark outside the windows and all the instruments and cockpit displays fired up ready to go.
The best 'space movie' I've seen is by a guy called Al Reinert called 'For All Mankind' and is an hour and a half cut of Apollo footage with a Brian Eno soundtrack and a constant running commentary with the astronauts who had been there. It's great. I also liked the Tom Hanks Moonwalk IMAX film that is being shown at the Science Museum at the moment.
Eric mentioned about NASA not having the same 'high calibre' people working for them nowadays. I agree. Burt Rutan should be running the US Manned Space Program. Look what Scaled Composites have achieved with SpaceShipOne. They are already designing the Tier 2 and Tier 3 successors, the latter having full Mach 25 orbital capability.
>> Edited by speedtwelve on Sunday 29th January 13:31
If you watch NASA TV online before a Shuttle launch you'll get hours of real-time commentary and footage. It's quite cool to sit at home and watch the crew turning up at the pad in real time.
There was a good documentary made years ago called 'Space Shuttle Discovery' and shown on C4. There was some excellent footage in the cockpit of the crew strapping in and preparing to go. It was a dawn launch, and it was pretty atmospheric from a pilot's point of view to see the crew climbing up into their seats one by one and getting their harnesses on at 5 am or something with it pitch dark outside the windows and all the instruments and cockpit displays fired up ready to go.
The best 'space movie' I've seen is by a guy called Al Reinert called 'For All Mankind' and is an hour and a half cut of Apollo footage with a Brian Eno soundtrack and a constant running commentary with the astronauts who had been there. It's great. I also liked the Tom Hanks Moonwalk IMAX film that is being shown at the Science Museum at the moment.
Eric mentioned about NASA not having the same 'high calibre' people working for them nowadays. I agree. Burt Rutan should be running the US Manned Space Program. Look what Scaled Composites have achieved with SpaceShipOne. They are already designing the Tier 2 and Tier 3 successors, the latter having full Mach 25 orbital capability.
>> Edited by speedtwelve on Sunday 29th January 13:31
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