Prog 63

[altair4]

Hi Ya!!

something else!!

"GET 102:33 (9:05 BST) In front of Armstrongs display panel said '63'(the computer landing programme).He had five seconds to make up his mind whether to go for the landing or continue in orbit.Armstrong pressed the proceed button"

from the book :The Invasion Of The Moon 1969,the Story Of Apollo 11 ,(Peter Ryan,Penguin books,1969)

OBTW GET means Ground Elapsed Time , BST means British Standard Time

great book with transmission between Houston and Apollo 11


now is prog 63 in NASA literature?.....yes,it is!!!!!

goto Google,look up"program 63,apollo 11 guidance computer"

should be able 2 find" Apollo 11 Post Entry Postflight" (NASA website)

go down a bit 2 top Page 14 it reads" program 63 automatically sequenced in....."

QUESTION!! Does "63" appear on guidance computer(video??)
If anyone comes across anything let me know PLEASE!!!

WELL DONE APOLLO!!!!!!!!!!

[laurel]

I realize I'm not very scientifically-minded, but I don't think this question makes sense.

[Czero 101]

altair4 said:

great book with transmission between Houston and Apollo 11

You will probably find the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal a much better reference.

QUESTION!! Does "63" appear on guidance computer(video??)

Yes it does, but the displays in the CM and LM were not "video" displays. They were LED digital displays. See below:






Cz

[Jason]

I think he means "in a video of the landing does 'Prog 63' appear on the computer panel?"
Of course, no one was fliming the panel during the landing, so no, there's not a "video" of the landing that shows this.

[Czero 101]

jason said:

I think he means "in a video of the landing does 'Prog 63' appear on the computer panel?"
Of course, no one was fliming the panel during the landing, so no, there's not a "video" of the landing that shows this.

Ah... ok... well, its hard to understand this young'n sometimes..


Cz

[Ian Pearse]

I find that as soon as anyone starts adding large numbers of exclamation marks to their text, my mind seems to turn off. That, combined with the use of UPPER CASE makes reading such posts a recipe for a headache.

[Ginnie]

Sometimes I use upper case because it's easier to use the Caps key than put a word in italics in my post. Is there a short cut? Even uppercase numeral keys are a stretch for me.

[Kiwi]

It certainly is hard to figure out Altair4's Teenage Gibberish, but I wonder if he's confused about the PDF he sends us to (page 14) giving the details of the Program 63 that was used for the command module's re-entry into earth's atmosphere.

While both Program 63s are for the spacecraft's descent, the CM and the LM are different spacecraft and landing on the moon is not the same as landing on the earth, so different programming would be used for the different spacecraft.

Altair4, instead of giving us a lesson in Googling, why not simply post the link you've found as I have done above. If an old fart like me can learn to do it, surely you can. Secondly, if you return here when your ban is over, please write properly and stop being an embarrassment to the rest of us Kiwis. You have been told in another thread about the benefits of clear communication. Many of your posts are quite unclear and give the impression that you're not quite the sharpest tool in the shed.

You can learn more about the lunar module's computer in this thread, which includes a link you might have missed in your Googling:
apollohoax.proboards21.com/index.cgi?board=apollo&action=display&thread=1201337404&page=1#1201337404

I have two copies of Peter Ryan's book, The Invasion of the Moon 1969, one which I bought on Lambton Quay, Wellington, in about November 1969, and is so well-used and notated that it is very tatty and falling to bits, so I have a better backup copy. This was the first book available in New Zealand about Apollo 11. The only significant error I've found in it is on page 134, where Ryan says the PLSS packs and other junk were thrown out the hatch before the cabin was repressurised after the EVA, which wasn't the case.

You didn't get the quote on page 107 right, and left out the page number. It is very important when quoting to be 100% accurate, and if you leave out text, as you have done, use marks of ellipsis (...) to show this. The full quote is:
GET 102:33 (9:05 p.m. BST) In front of Armstrong two greenish figures on the computer display panel said '63' (the computer landing programme). He had just five seconds to make up his mind whether to go for the landing or continue in orbit. Armstrong pressed the 'proceed' button.

Ginnie: To do the bold and italic formatting in the top line, I typed the words, selected the first lot and pressed on the B button in the Add Tags section above the smilies, then selected the next text and pressed on the Slanting I button for the italics. And I've done it again here -- nothing to it. The other formatting buttons are there for your convenience too -- underline, strikethrough, align centre etc.

Edited to add: Are you clicking on the Reply button at the bottom of the last post in a thread, or using the Quote button, or are you instead using the Quick Reply box? I don't think the formating buttons appear there.

[AtomicDog]

czero101 said:

altair4 said:

great book with transmission between Houston and Apollo 11

You will probably find the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal a much better reference.

QUESTION!! Does "63" appear on guidance computer(video??)

Yes it does, but the displays in the CM and LM were not "video" displays. They were LED digital displays. See below:






Cz

LEDs? I thought that the displays were nixies.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixie_tube

I know that LEDs were around in the late '60s, though I never heard of them until 1971 0r 72.

[Czero 101]

Look at the spacing between the lines of numbers, There's no way you could get Nixies that close together. While I don't have specific numbers to back it up, it seems to me that LED's would be more efficient power-wise, and certainly more efficient space-wise.



See also Seven-Segment Display - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven-segment_display



Cz

EDITED to add pics...

[AtomicDog]

Yep. I see now that the LM computer display looks more like an LED than a Nixie.

[Obviousman]

I was wondering that; P63 was the maneouvre programme:

P63 - Landing maneouvre braking program
P64 - Landing maneouvre approach phase
P65 - Landing phase - auto
P66 - Rate of descent landing (semi-auto)
P67 - Manual landing phase (full manual)
P68 - Landing confirmation.

[Ginnie]

152 Kilobytes!

[Kiwi]

kiwi said:

GET 102:33 ...Armstrong pressed the 'proceed' button.

Altair4: This quote is wrong and proves that it is unwise to rely on secondary sources for information without checking others.

As Don Eyles says in his paper:

At five seconds, the display flashed to request a "go" from the crew. Buzz Aldrin, the LM Pilot, standing on the right side of the cockpit, had the main responsibility for working the DSKY. Now he keyed PROCEED. At Mission Elapsed Time (MET) 102:33:05 self-igniting propellants came together in the descent engine and it lit up at 10% throttle.

And the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal says (link at the bottom of every page here):
102:32:50 Armstrong (on-board): Okay, the override at 5 seconds. (Pause) Descent armed.
102:33:03 Aldrin: Altitude light's on.
102:33:05 Armstrong (on-board): (Garbled) proceed.
102:33:08 Aldrin: Proceed. One, Zero.
102:33:11 Armstrong (on-board): Ignition.
102:33:11 Aldrin: Ignition. (Thrust) 10 percent (Pause; static)

These sources, along with others, show that Aldrin pressed the PRO(ceed) button, but the ALSJ's timing appears to be out by about five seconds. Apollo By The Numbers says the descent was initiated at 102:33:05.01, but in the ALSJ Armstrong gives the command to proceed at 102:33:05, and Aldrin presses the PRO button at about 102:33:10. We might also have to take into account the time delay for his voice to reach earth.

Peter Ryan made an excellent job of his book in a very short time, but it's not entirely fault-free. Check, check, check.