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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / 090:32:10 Deiterich: "I got really bent out of shape with Greene"

« on: May 04, 2021, 03:01:44 pm »

https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=090:32:10&ch=19

A long telephone discussion between Chuck Deiterich and his fellow Retro John Llewellyn, in which they discuss all the key planning meetings that are happening, and who needs to go to what.

Deiterich says that Jay Greene is going to the Data Priority Meeting but he's happy once Llewellyn offers to go too. "I don't think it would hurt anything... I could imagine a Johnny Mayer type [head of MPAD] bringing in data like he did yesterday... I got really bent out of shape with Greene... I says you weren't around yesterday before that burn, everybody with their plans..."

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General Discussion / Re: I can put together a transcript for EECOM loops

« on: May 04, 2021, 02:43:37 pm »

Once again, what a great idea. It's very generous of you to offer to do, and share, these.

I'd be happy to help with identifying controllers and double-checking the jargon where possible.

For Apollo 13, there's a lot of good action on the Retro loop from 137 hours onwards until splashdown at 143 or so. Retro leading the flight dynamics work at that point, obviously, because they were responsible for re-entry. That would be my first recommendation for Apollo 13.

Earlier on, the serious discussion of burn options on the FIDO loop seems to start around 063 hours and presumably runs up until the PC+2 burn at 079:30 or so (though I haven't listened that far yet).

But I guess if I were going to start anywhere with the FIDO loop I would start with Apollo 11. The descent is, of course, gripping, as is the immediate aftermath when FIDO is still trying to work out where they landed. Maybe from 101 to 105 hours?

Also of interest on Apollo 11 is the preparation for the TEI burn, because there was all sorts of hassle and miscommunication and rescheduling, with FIDO (Greene) and RETRO (Deiterich) as a wonderfully bickering double act. That runs roughly from 128 to 131 hours, although the post-burn analysis and bickering continues through to 135 hours.

Hope that's useful! I have pretty detailed logs of the sections I've listened through, but only in the sense I've noted down what I found amusing or interesting... not encyclopedic at all, just an aide memoire.

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General Discussion / Re: I can put together a transcript for EECOM loops

« on: May 04, 2021, 05:32:01 am »

Yes, any such transcripts would be amazing!

If you're looking to transcribe flight dynamics loops as well, I would suggest that the immediate aftermath of the Apollo 13 accident is probably not where the most interesting action is – having done a lot of listening to the FIDO and Retro loops myself, I could make some suggestions if that would be useful. But any transcripts would absolutely be welcome.

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / Re: 018:17:15 Steve Bales caught snoozing??

« on: April 12, 2021, 03:43:14 am »

I've read that his fellow controllers played back some of the Bales wake-up call tapes, for amusement value, so I'm hoping that at least one of them turns up in these hundreds of thousands of hours of recordings!

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / -03:05:35 Weight increase "due to one crewman"

« on: April 12, 2021, 02:47:21 am »

https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-03:05:35&ch=50

Not my find but worth sharing for those who didn't see it on Twitter...

Retro updates Flight about the new weight of the spacecraft - 32 pounds heavier due to one crewman. In other words because Jack Swigert replaced Ken Mattingly!

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / 018:17:15 Steve Bales caught snoozing??

« on: April 04, 2021, 08:11:54 am »

https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=018:17:15&ch=20

Retro calls Steve Bales in the middle of a very quiet night shift:

"Just to see if you're on the loop there. Looked like you might have been snoozing."

Bales' only response is: "Really? Oh."

I think he might have been! He was apparently notorious for oversleeping unless someone called him a couple of hours before his shift started.

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / Re: 056:25:00 Jim Fucci trying to call in extra help (Ed Fendell)

« on: April 03, 2021, 05:29:11 am »

Nice find! And here, a little earlier is Fucci trying to find out where Fendell plays ball. https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=056:22:36&ch=5

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / -01:23:31 RETRO forgets Jack Garman's name

« on: March 30, 2021, 12:36:07 pm »

https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-01:23:31&ch=19

I'm convinced this is why they so often called their backroom controllers "babe"! It saves a lot of brainpower not having to remember everyone's names.

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / -01:53:00 RETRO in search of extra chairs

« on: March 30, 2021, 12:33:35 pm »

https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-01:53:00&ch=19

RETRO Chuck Deiterich contacts Procedures: "hey, this is not in your bailiwick but we only got one chair down here."

The reply? "There's about three behind the Flight console."

"Yeah, but they got people in them, don't they?"

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / -02:14:47 RETRO would like people to quit using this number

« on: March 30, 2021, 12:31:02 pm »

https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-02:14:47&ch=19

RETRO Chuck Deiterich is getting calls that shouldn't be coming to his console. "They ought not be using that 5607 number."

He tackles an offender directly a few minutes later: https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-02:07:29&ch=19

But then literally 4 minutes before liftoff he's having to tell someone else, "don't call me unless you think it's real important": https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-00:04:00&ch=19

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / -02:27:39 GUIDO reminds FIDO how to count to three

« on: March 30, 2021, 12:01:16 pm »

https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-02:27:39&ch=20

GUIDO Gran Paules phones in to see how the count is progressing.

After listing the members of the Trench who are in Mission Control already, FIDO Jay Greene says "crew just ingressed, third man... or the second man, I'm not sure, I lost count."

Paules laughs and demonstrates how to count to three.

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / -02:41:44 "It was your car that they were towing away"

« on: March 30, 2021, 11:53:38 am »

https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-02:41:44&ch=20

A mysterious, contextless little discussion, immediately followed by:

"That's when I get me one."
"Get you one what?"
"I'm not gonna say that on the loop."

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / -03:11:48 FIDO sorts out commands with Booster

« on: March 30, 2021, 11:51:49 am »

https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-03:11:48&ch=20

FIDO Jay Greene discusses with Booster which one of them is supposed to send the "A" command and which one of them sends the "B" command. (For what? Who knows. I don't think it's abort commands.)

Certainly Booster seems casual about it all: "if you got A, I guess I got B, right?"

But Greene isn't satisfied. "Yeah, but that's not quite closing the loop."

Guidance doesn't know either.

Greene later asks Procedures, who also doesn't know: https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-03:10:15&ch=20

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / -06:49:22 FIDO makes a bad joke

« on: March 30, 2021, 11:27:23 am »

https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-06:49:22&ch=20

Nearly seven hours before launch, you can probably forgive Jay Greene for kidding around a little. But this falls firmly into "dad joke" territory.

"Yeah, I'm on the console."
"Okay, get off it and get on a chair."
"Do what??"
"I would get on the chair instead of the console."

No appreciation whatsoever from the other guy.

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Apollo 13 Moments of Interest / Re: 064:38:54 Jay Greene's first appearance on the FLIGHT loop since accident

« on: March 30, 2021, 04:56:53 am »

In case anyone is interested I think he appears first here: https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=063:03:45&ch=20

And goes off here to speak to MPAD and is not heard from again, at least within the next 45 minutes: https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=064:42:09&ch=20