PILOT SPIN
Pilot Zone => Pilot Zone => Topic started by: Rush on May 09, 2023, 07:53:02 AM
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Wonderful video of how the Saturn V worked, if you are a rocket engineering nerd.
There’s a whole other video somewhere just about the control system.
The whole thing is just really frickin cool. How they steered, with the technology at the time. How they cooled the nozzles, everything. Just amazing.
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I recently watched the Movie "Apollo 13" again. I've seen it many times, but it still is very entertaining and interesting. What those guys did was amazing.
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I recently watched the Movie "Apollo 13" again. I've seen it many times, but it still is very entertaining and interesting. What those guys did was amazing.
It’s amazing to me that we’ve all seen Apollo 13, but until I just checked The Google, I didn’t realize there was a movie made about Apollo 11 - probably the epitome of human exploration in the history of man.
Turns out there was a documentary film produced in 2019. Sounds like it was an imax movie. I had no idea.
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It’s amazing to me that we’ve all seen Apollo 13, but until I just checked The Google, I didn’t realize there was a movie made about Apollo 11 - probably the epitome of human exploration in the history of man.
Turns out there was a documentary film produced in 2019. Sounds like it was an imax movie. I had no idea.
I think I remember that being out but didn't get to see it either. Does the U.S. have the balls anymore to do anything even remotely like that again? No.
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I can’t even imagine the guts it took to be in that capsule. When I was a kid that’s what I thought I wanted to do but in reality I don’t have the stuff.
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I can’t even imagine the guts it took to be in that capsule. When I was a kid that’s what I thought I wanted to do but in reality I don’t have the stuff.
Especially after what happened in Apollo 1. Time, cost, quality: choose any two.
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I think I remember that being out but didn't get to see it either. Does the U.S. have the balls anymore to do anything even remotely like that again? No.
SpaceX.
Private enterprise, though.
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SpaceX.
Private enterprise, though.
Manned missions to the Moon?
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Manned missions to the Moon?
Well, so far manned missions to orbit. As they say in astrodynamics, when you get to Earth orbit you are half way to everywhere else in the universe. (As measured by required delta-V.)
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I can’t even imagine the guts it took to be in that capsule. When I was a kid that’s what I thought I wanted to do but in reality I don’t have the stuff.
I think some of the greatest courage came on Apollo 8 with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders. The first manned spacecraft to leave the relative safety and pull of earth’s orbit, eject itself to a foreign moon, circle the moon, and then have the faith in the scientists and mathematicians that a certain length and power of burn would eject a spacecraft from the lunar orbit, point it to some precise point in space such that they will hit the earth’s atmosphere at precisely the right angle and speed, and not either A burn up or B bounce off to some other point in the solar system.
Oh, and the scientists and mathematicians used slide rules.
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Oh, and the scientists and mathematicians used slide rules.
While that is true for some general aspects, digital computers were used to make more precise computations or when there was simply no other way.
https://www.embedded.com/calculating-trajectories-for-apollo-program/ (https://www.embedded.com/calculating-trajectories-for-apollo-program/)
https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/apollo/ (https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/apollo/)
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I think some of the greatest courage came on Apollo 8 with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders. The first manned spacecraft to leave the relative safety and pull of earth’s orbit, eject itself to a foreign moon, circle the moon, and then have the faith in the scientists and mathematicians that a certain length and power of burn would eject a spacecraft from the lunar orbit, point it to some precise point in space such that they will hit the earth’s atmosphere at precisely the right angle and speed, and not either A burn up or B bounce off to some other point in the solar system.
Oh, and the scientists and mathematicians used slide rules.
I was always a little bit in love with Jim Lovell. He has a brief appearance in the Star Trek Enterprise intro. :-*
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I was always a little bit in love with Jim Lovell. He has a brief appearance in the Star Trek Enterprise intro. :-*
I thought Apollo 13 was a great movie and highlighted Lovell's incredible career and accomplishments. The Right Stuff was also a great movie and I have HBOs miniseries From the Earth to the Moon on DVD. All good stuff.
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While that is true for some general aspects, digital computers were used to make more precise computations or when there was simply no other way.
https://www.embedded.com/calculating-trajectories-for-apollo-program/ (https://www.embedded.com/calculating-trajectories-for-apollo-program/)
https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/apollo/ (https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/apollo/)
Thanks. Very cool. Mostly over my head, but very cool.
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United Launch Alliance will be launching a Delta IV heavy tonight. I'll probably be asleep, but if I happen to be taking one of my nocturnal walks, I might check it out. It launches just a bit south of here.
https://www.aol.com/news/ula-prepares-penultimate-delta-heavy-145256821.html
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Lots of Florida residents in for an early morning wake up call.
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One aspect of the F1 engine that always blows me away is the turbo fuel pump, 55,000hp just to pump fuel and oxidizer to the engine. Ten locomotives worth of power. Amazing!
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One aspect of the F1 engine that always blows me away is the turbo fuel pump, 55,000hp just to pump fuel and oxidizer to the engine. Ten locomotives worth of power. Amazing!
Wow!