I can put together a transcript for EECOM loops

[MadDogBV]

Hi there! Would there be any benefit to me transcribing the EECOM loops for Apollo 13 - for instance, starting at the beginning of Sy Liebergot's shift just before the accident occurred and then crossing into some of Clint Burton's shift - and then posting it in the "Apollo 13 Moments of Interest" board? I had been transcribing some of the shift and thought it might be of interest to some of the readers/listeners. There's a lot of interesting moments and discussions to be found in some of the flight controller loops, and having the transcript would be helpful in navigating through it. I have no problem putting it together, as I have both the software and equipment to run through it in fairly short order.

I'd attempt to transcribe the FIDO shift also, but as would be expected for anything in flight dynamics, there's a lot more jargon in there and in general it's a bit tougher to follow.

[Naraht]

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.

[MadDogBV]

Suggestions would indeed be helpful. It also helps to know the names of the controllers, although getting the names of people in the backroom might be tricky. I know the guy working the FIDO console is a Bill, but there are multiple Bills working FIDO for Apollo 13. I've done some digging around and I know the names of the folks on the EECOM loops, including in SPAN (Mel Brooks has the ridiculously deep voice), but that's about it.

[Naraht]

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.

[MadDogBV]

Well, here's what I've done so far. I've created a condensed audio clip of Sy Liebergott's shift on the White team from 049:20 to 057:06 GET. This includes a rudimentary noise removal and silence removal algorithm to get rid of the background tape noise, save for long bursts of static/background talk which will require some manual edits by me to talk. This essentially shortens what would be a normally 8-hour audio file to a relatively seamless 4-hour clip.

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jq0_25sDIRxR9-Fsx53Ef_fA7DR057Ot/view?usp=sharing

In addition to that, I've also included a partial transcript which I plan to add more to in the future. This is in ".docx" format primarily because it includes an equation given by one of the EPS teams, and there's no way to write out the equation in any of the older Word formats. Maybe I ought to convert it to an image. 

I'll update this as I go along and, once I can figure out how to deal with the equation issue, probably keep a running transcript up on Google Docs.

Happy listening (and reading).

[MadDogBV]

Based on the transcripts, this is who I assume is working on Liebergot's shift (question marks where I'm not sure of exact names):

FLIGHT: Gene Kranz
FIDO: Bill Stoval
GUIDO: Will Fenner
RETRO: Bobby Spencer
EECOM: Sy Liebergot (of course) edited 5/23/2021 per Naraht
GNC: Briggs "Buck" Willoughby
TELMU: Bob Heselmeyer
CONTROL: Larry Strimple
RECOVERY: Bill Hoover, Ed Bullock
INCO: Alan Glines, Gary Scott
PROCEDURES: Earl Thompson, Jim Fucci
SURGEON: Dr. Jack Ziegleschmidt
FAO: Turnage Lindsey, Spence Gardner

SPAN: Mel Brooks, Arnie Aldrich, Bill Blair?
EPS: Dick Brown, Jim Kelly
ECS: George Conway, George Bliss, Larry Sheaks

[Naraht]

Sorry for the delay in replying but this is great! I'll look forward to seeing more.

As regards the equation issue, I would suggest maybe just writing it out as they speak it on the loop. That way it wouldn't keep you from being able to use Google docs.

Your list of names looks right to me, although if I remember I'll double check in the Lovell and Kluger book, which probably has the most detailed identification. The FIDO is definitely Bill Stoval.

One note, though - Liebergot is spelled with one T, not two.

[bfeist]

I don't know how I missed this thread! Thanks for offering to make EECOM transcripts. If you would like to discuss further how they could be integrated into the apolloinrealtime.org website, please let me know.

[MadDogBV]

There's nothing I find more gratifying than a confirmation that someone reads my transcript work and wants to see more.  I will have an updated transcript soon.

[bfeist]

I know it would be a ton more work (trust me) but the only way these could be used within the website is if each utterance is timestamped. If you create the transcript in this format, I could use it directly:

Code: [Select]

023:27:25|Kerwin|No problems.
023:28:07|Kerwin|And, 13, Houston. That's all the business I got right now. I have a little news plan of the day for you, if you feel like listening to that a little later on.
023:28:30|CDR|Just hold off there, Joe, until Fred's on his headset.
023:28:36|Kerwin|Stand by one, Jim. You're coming in garbled again.
023:29:58|CMP|Houston, 13.
I see that you also have what channel, or position they're in. For this you could add "position" so the format would be:
<when>|<position>|<who>|<what was said>

[MadDogBV]

Yeah, I see the timestamp as being the only thing that works too. The problem is I am working from a highly compressed version (which I created) of the EECOM loop that removes the silence so as to make it a seamless listening and transcribing experience. Timestamping means I would need to go back to the original file to figure out when the dialogue actually occurs.

Not that this is unreasonable, but it will take me more time. I do plan on doing this for both the EECOM, FLIGHT and FIDO loops though.