Cool video about the Apollo navigation system and computer

[rbola35618]

Cool video about the Apollo navigation system and computer.  One of the most exciting times in engineering.

[N2IXK]

The entire "Moon Machines" series was great!  Highly recommended...

Other episodes cover the development of the Saturn V booster, the Command/Service and Lunar modules, the lunar rover, and the spacesuits.

Lots of shots of the labs and workshops that designed and built this stuff.  The era of slide rules and nixie tubes!

[Joules]

I'm just blown away by what those guys accomplished with state of the art gear, of the day.  I also had to smile at the Bausch & Lomb stereo microscope they used.  I have one of those in regular use, in my workshop. 

      Thanks for the very cool post.

[TheEPROM9]

This is why computers are one of the most remarkable inventions =-)

What a privilege to have worked on that system.

[Skimask]

Thanks a lot...  That's 8+ hours of staring at the monitor I'll never get back.

And I enjoyed every minute of it...

[lemmegraphdat]

"Good to hear your voice."

[blasto9000]

I like wristwatches... the non-electronic type powered by springs via gear train.  So the timepieces used in the Apollo missions always fascinated me.  (Remember, this was before the invention of the quartz oscillator.)

The astronauts wore hand-wound spring-powered watches, but the command module's master timepiece used a tuning fork-based oscillator.  It was made by Bulova, which is why to this day Bulova's logo is a tuning fork.

The astronauts' wristwatches were made by Omega.  Legend has it that NASA sent some "dark horse" buyers (hiding that they were buying on behalf of Uncle Sugar) to buy samples of all the contemporary watch offerings.

Since the wristwatches had to be worn on the outside of the space suit during EVA, the purchased watches were subjected to vigorous destructive tests to assure their naked survival in space.

The model that came out on top was the Omega Speedmaster Professional, a pilot's watch.  They couldn't use automatic-winding watches (which use an eccentric weight -- the user's normal activities spin the weight, which winds the spring) because they were afraid the winding wouldn't work properly in zero-G.

Omega still offers the Speedmaster Professional in automatic and hand-wind versions.  Price?  US$6,500 to US$7,500 for the automatic, US$4,500 for the hand-wind.

Thanks for posting the link.  I'll check it out when I get home tonight.

[ErikTheNorwegian]

The complete series are on DVD at Amazon....
Higly recomended,

http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Machines-Robert-Seamans/dp/B0026IQTR2/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1368228059&sr=1-1&keywords=moon+machines

Erik...

[Skimask]

Seems I remember some story about NASA spending $X million dollars trying to develop a pen that would work in zero-G and coming up short.
Then, here come the Russians, and they're using pencils...
True or not?

[SeanB]

Not, they leave conductive dust that causes problems. The USSR just went and used standard ball point pens, like the USA did. The bal points use capillary action to get the ink into the ball and to make the thin film that you write with. Gravity is not important there. You just have to use an ink that will not adhere to the tube to get surface tension to push it into the ball tip.

[Skimask]

Not, they leave conductive dust that causes problems. The USSR just went and used standard ball point pens, like the USA did. The bal points use capillary action to get the ink into the ball and to make the thin film that you write with. Gravity is not important there. You just have to use an ink that will not adhere to the tube to get surface tension to push it into the ball tip.

Ah...that makes much more sense that the old pen/pencil story.

[SeanB]

The first missions did use a grease marker, basically a wax in a stick, as the checklists were not complex and you only had to mark steps done so you did not do them again.

[warp_foo]

One of my favorite shows is 'From the Earth to the Moon' Ep.5 'Spider':

[rbola35618]

Episode 5 is also my favorite. It shows it from an engineer's perspective. The ending gives me a chill where he says that machines have the souls of the people who dreamed, designed, and built it.  Great era in space engineering!


RB

[baljemmett]

I like wristwatches... the non-electronic type powered by springs via gear train.  So the timepieces used in the Apollo missions always fascinated me.  (Remember, this was before the invention of the quartz oscillator.)

The astronauts wore hand-wound spring-powered watches, but the command module's master timepiece used a tuning fork-based oscillator.  It was made by Bulova, which is why to this day Bulova's logo is a tuning fork.

You probably know this, but Bulova also made a range of tuning-fork based wristwatch movements - the Accutron series (not to be confused with the later Accutrons which are just boring old quartz watches).  I really must get mine properly disciplined, it's over-indexing slightly when powered by a modern battery; they were designed for the old mercury cells, alas.