1
Apollo General Discussion / Ken Mattingly
« on: November 04, 2023, 10:55:05 pm »
I'm curious whether anyone have links to notable audio clips referencing or involving Ken Mattingly?
This forum is for discussion about content found on https://apolloinrealtime.org and https://issinrealtime.org
Very little of the thousands of hours of Mission Control audio on Apollo in Real Time has been heard or documented. As you find moments of interest, post them here for discussion.
ISS in Real Time contains 25 years of life onboard. Post your favorite moments here.
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Pages: [1]
2
Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / "Y'all looking for me", and an allusion to looking for John Aaron
« on: August 05, 2023, 02:57:29 pm »
https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=056:41:44&ch=46
This is from the SPAN.
56:41:43 [Speaker 1]. Hey Bill, y'all looking for me?
56:41:48: [Speaker 2] Looking for John Aaron
56:41:50: [Speaker 1] Did you try his house?
[Larry] 56:41:52: This is Larry. We found John. You might want to come in also. There are some very serious problems.
[Speaker 1]: Like what?
[Larry]: Two fuel cells and a couple of O2 tanks. Gone.
[Speaker 1]: Hmm. OK.
[Larry]: So we're trying to muster up all the hands we can....it looks like both of the O2 tanks.
I wonder if everyone was looking for John Aaron just because he was so well respected in EECOM, and not just because of the SCE. There's an exchange in the EECOM during Glynn Lunney's shift in which EECOM/ECS are looking at the pressure readings and John Aaron confidently seems to know from memory the exact ambient pressure and temperature readings of liquid O2, something the other controllers did not seem to know. Just that exchange gave me the sense that John Aaron was as remarkable as his reputation. (Oddly enough, during that exchange the rest of the EECOM did not seem to pay a lot of attention but there was a lot going on).
Be that as it may, I thought perhaps the above exchange had some points of interest.
This is from the SPAN.
56:41:43 [Speaker 1]. Hey Bill, y'all looking for me?
56:41:48: [Speaker 2] Looking for John Aaron
56:41:50: [Speaker 1] Did you try his house?
[Larry] 56:41:52: This is Larry. We found John. You might want to come in also. There are some very serious problems.
[Speaker 1]: Like what?
[Larry]: Two fuel cells and a couple of O2 tanks. Gone.
[Speaker 1]: Hmm. OK.
[Larry]: So we're trying to muster up all the hands we can....it looks like both of the O2 tanks.
I wonder if everyone was looking for John Aaron just because he was so well respected in EECOM, and not just because of the SCE. There's an exchange in the EECOM during Glynn Lunney's shift in which EECOM/ECS are looking at the pressure readings and John Aaron confidently seems to know from memory the exact ambient pressure and temperature readings of liquid O2, something the other controllers did not seem to know. Just that exchange gave me the sense that John Aaron was as remarkable as his reputation. (Oddly enough, during that exchange the rest of the EECOM did not seem to pay a lot of attention but there was a lot going on).
Be that as it may, I thought perhaps the above exchange had some points of interest.
3
Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / "We've got a good problem" but I forget where I heard it
« on: July 24, 2023, 12:39:19 am »
This was an interesting exchange between I think INCO or maybe PROCEDURES and someone trying to get DLOGs I think.
The back room controller was trying to persuade some support person to do something with the network, maybe something complex involving getting a DLOG although I'm not sure. The back-end person was complaining that what was asked for would be a lot of work. The controller said something like "we've got a good problem here" and "we need the best data we can". The controller had a distinctive drawl. It was interesting because the exchange illustrated how, like humans throughout history, most workers were mostly interested in minimizing their own work. The obscure back-end person was probably accustomed to requests to do with simulations and tests and reflexively didn't want to do extra work. The back room controller was in a very understated way justifying his request.
Sadly, I forgot the time this occurred. Probably within 2 hours of the accident if not sooner.
The back room controller was trying to persuade some support person to do something with the network, maybe something complex involving getting a DLOG although I'm not sure. The back-end person was complaining that what was asked for would be a lot of work. The controller said something like "we've got a good problem here" and "we need the best data we can". The controller had a distinctive drawl. It was interesting because the exchange illustrated how, like humans throughout history, most workers were mostly interested in minimizing their own work. The obscure back-end person was probably accustomed to requests to do with simulations and tests and reflexively didn't want to do extra work. The back room controller was in a very understated way justifying his request.
Sadly, I forgot the time this occurred. Probably within 2 hours of the accident if not sooner.
4
Apollo General Discussion / Apollo 12 launch EECOM loop?
« on: July 10, 2023, 02:56:01 am »
This might be off-topic, at least for now, but does anyone know if the Apollo 12 launch EECOM loop (and maybe GNC too) is available somewhere?
5
Apollo General Discussion / Listening to multiple loops efficiently
« on: July 06, 2023, 03:21:26 am »
What's the best way actually to listen to just the backroom chatter?
The problem I find is that all the loops seem to include the flight director loop. They also mostly, except for EECOM, have huge amounts of silence. So if I want to listen to say 8 loops in the 3 hours after the accident, I'm listening to the same Flight Director loop 8 times. 8 MORE times since much of it I've heard before many times. This would take 24 hours of real time and be super-boring after a while.
How have others addressed this issue?
The problem I find is that all the loops seem to include the flight director loop. They also mostly, except for EECOM, have huge amounts of silence. So if I want to listen to say 8 loops in the 3 hours after the accident, I'm listening to the same Flight Director loop 8 times. 8 MORE times since much of it I've heard before many times. This would take 24 hours of real time and be super-boring after a while.
How have others addressed this issue?
6
Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / "While we're playing these games": Dick Brown's role in EECOM
« on: July 06, 2023, 03:12:55 am »
This sequence occurs while EECOM is attempting increasingly desperate and improbable attempts to save the power in the CSM in Apollo 13 (culminating in turning the fans on in O2 tank 2 when the tank was obviously empty and there were minutes of power remaining.)
Dick Brown is kind of skeptical of these efforts on the EECOM loop:
"I'd like a little stiffer main A bus while we're playing these games". GET 56:44:25 . https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=056:44:18&ch=16
I feel like Dick Brown is under-appreciated in the literature. In the EECOM loop, he's the most protective of the battery and seems the first to appreciate the gravity of the situation. Actually though he always seems a little on the gloomy side.
Brown was also a key part of the SCE to AUX story. When John Aaron first noticed the instrumentation anomaly in the test a year before Apollo 12, it was Dick Brown whom John chose to work with to try to help figure it out.
That collaboration of course led to the SCE to AUX solution and the rescue of Apollo 12. See Apollo 12 Flight Journal, quoting from a 2000 oral history interview
at https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap12fj/01launch_to_earth_orbit.html
Let me know if anyone knows more about Brown, and why he's rarely mentioned in the SCE to Aux story.
Dick Brown is kind of skeptical of these efforts on the EECOM loop:
"I'd like a little stiffer main A bus while we're playing these games". GET 56:44:25 . https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=056:44:18&ch=16
I feel like Dick Brown is under-appreciated in the literature. In the EECOM loop, he's the most protective of the battery and seems the first to appreciate the gravity of the situation. Actually though he always seems a little on the gloomy side.
Brown was also a key part of the SCE to AUX story. When John Aaron first noticed the instrumentation anomaly in the test a year before Apollo 12, it was Dick Brown whom John chose to work with to try to help figure it out.
That collaboration of course led to the SCE to AUX solution and the rescue of Apollo 12. See Apollo 12 Flight Journal, quoting from a 2000 oral history interview
Quote
I sat down with Dick Brown, who was a Rockwell [engineer]...We sat down and went through all the circuitry to find out just how does this thing work? Why would those patterns of numbers have come up?
at https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap12fj/01launch_to_earth_orbit.html
Let me know if anyone knows more about Brown, and why he's rarely mentioned in the SCE to Aux story.
7
Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / Looking for Ed Fendell, who is playing softball
« on: July 04, 2023, 11:25:28 pm »
GET 56:22:38 Procedures Jim Fucci on Procedures loop calls someone, maybe "Lines", https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=056:22:38&ch=5
Fucci is trying to track down Ed Fendell, whom he must have learned was in his softball league:
Fucci: Hey Lines [not sure of this name]
Lines: Yeah
Fucci: Do you know where Fendell plays ball?
Lines: Diamonds all over. Oh, wait a minute. It's in Ellington Airforce Base
He's probably still in the local league, so it's probably still at Ellington.
Fucci: You know how to get them?
Lines: No. Unless you call security at Ellington and have them - that would be the only idea I would have about having them send a car to anyone to put on the field.
A little later, GET 56:25:02 on the Procedures loop:
https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=056:25:02&ch=5
Procedures Jim Fucci calls someone, maybe Ellington Air Force Base, to try and locate Ed Fendell, an off-shift INCO. He asks for Security and tells them:
Fucci: I'm trying to get in touch with an Ed Fendell and I believe he is playing softball....
Security: This is an emergency call?
Fucci: It sure is... [understatement of the decade]
Ed had already left the softball game but they later track him down at his apartment. See Fendell interview here: https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/FendellEI/FendellEI_10-19-00.htm
Also, you can hear Fucci earlier at GET 56:13:49 trying to track someone, maybe him, down earlier, calling his wife I guess: https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=056:13:38&ch=5
Fucci at GET 56:13:45 , where she says he might be at a school. I'm not sure who Fucci is trying to track down there, if it's also Ed Fendell (see
Fucci is trying to track down Ed Fendell, whom he must have learned was in his softball league:
Fucci: Hey Lines [not sure of this name]
Lines: Yeah
Fucci: Do you know where Fendell plays ball?
Lines: Diamonds all over. Oh, wait a minute. It's in Ellington Airforce Base
He's probably still in the local league, so it's probably still at Ellington.
Fucci: You know how to get them?
Lines: No. Unless you call security at Ellington and have them - that would be the only idea I would have about having them send a car to anyone to put on the field.
A little later, GET 56:25:02 on the Procedures loop:
https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=056:25:02&ch=5
Procedures Jim Fucci calls someone, maybe Ellington Air Force Base, to try and locate Ed Fendell, an off-shift INCO. He asks for Security and tells them:
Fucci: I'm trying to get in touch with an Ed Fendell and I believe he is playing softball....
Security: This is an emergency call?
Fucci: It sure is... [understatement of the decade]
Ed had already left the softball game but they later track him down at his apartment. See Fendell interview here: https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/FendellEI/FendellEI_10-19-00.htm
Also, you can hear Fucci earlier at GET 56:13:49 trying to track someone, maybe him, down earlier, calling his wife I guess: https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=056:13:38&ch=5
Fucci at GET 56:13:45 , where she says he might be at a school. I'm not sure who Fucci is trying to track down there, if it's also Ed Fendell (see
8
Apollo General Discussion / How to listen to Control (LM GNC) backroom Apollo 13 after accident
« on: July 01, 2023, 10:35:17 am »
I am having difficulty navigating the site in an iPad.
Specifically, when I try to select LM/GNC, which I suppose is CONTROL, around GET 57:00:00 I get 99% standard flight director loop, but with an echo. There is some GNC backroom chatter but it’s rare and hard to hear. What’s the best way to listen to the CONTROL (LM GNC) backroom loop ?
I also can’t figure out how to usefully listen to Telmu or INCO after the accident.
By contrast the EECOM backroom is completely clear.
Specifically, when I try to select LM/GNC, which I suppose is CONTROL, around GET 57:00:00 I get 99% standard flight director loop, but with an echo. There is some GNC backroom chatter but it’s rare and hard to hear. What’s the best way to listen to the CONTROL (LM GNC) backroom loop ?
I also can’t figure out how to usefully listen to Telmu or INCO after the accident.
By contrast the EECOM backroom is completely clear.
Pages: [1]