131:04:41 Retro - They can't all come in the MOCR

[bfeist]

https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=131:04:41&ch=19

Retro talks to all the backroom leads about how everyone who worked on saving the crew can't all come and watch entry in the MOCR.

[MadDogBV]

Sounds like that's actually Milt Windler on the Flight director loop. Time and again he has to be the bad guy on this mission. 

At about 131:06:50 on the RETRO loop there's a funny conversation about how the AGC (it's not Jack Garman, not sure who it is) officer plans to watch it at home instead.

Here's another neat addendum to that. On the GNC loop, one of the flight controllers offers up the CSM SSR for people who want to celebrate the splashdown. Then Neil Hutchinson from SPAN provides his input on that, offering a very candid and unflattering appraisal of the BOOSTER officers. Link: https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=131:07:50&ch=18

[bfeist]

I think "booster dummies" might refer to the people who have been using the booster console as a phone booth. Apparently, post launch with booster being vacant and also down in the far corner of the MOCR, booster console was the place to go to make phone calls via the console, and of course these have all been recorded and are available here.

[MadDogBV]

Yeah, I considered that possibility, and upon reflection, that makes the most sense. Thanks for that explanation.

Edit: Actually as I think about it, it could go either way. Neil and the GNC folks are discussing the availability of seats and consoles in the Vehicle Systems SSR.

Looking over the Flight Controller Assignments PDF that I saved to my PDF, the SSR has about 4 positions and 21 officers for the CSM working over three shifts (so 7 officers a shift), and it also has over 18 different officers and 10 different positions for the BSE (Booster). It's more than likely, given how important the re-entry is, that the Booster officers will want to come back into the SSR room to listen in on the recovery operations. So the Booster consoles might indeed be first-come first-serve as Neil said, particularly with Milt Windler's warning hanging over everyone's head.