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Post by LunarOrbit on Mar 26, 2010 14:30:56 GMT -4
I meant it admiringly when I said that they made a lot of understatements, this illustrates how cool under pressure they were. Like when Neil Armstrong was being interviewed on 60 Minutes and Ed Bradley mentioned how after his LLTV crash, Armstrong went back to his office to do some paperwork. Bradley said, "You were just almost killed!" Armstrong just smiled and said, "Well, but I wasn't." I guess you get used to it after a while. How many times prior to the LLTV crash had Armstrong almost been killed? The Gemini 8 flight, for one, and he also flew fighter jets in Korea. Still, I don't think I'd ever get comfortable with close calls like that.
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Post by banjomd on Mar 26, 2010 18:16:12 GMT -4
I meant it admiringly when I said that they made a lot of understatements, this illustrates how cool under pressure they were. Like when Neil Armstrong was being interviewed on 60 Minutes and Ed Bradley mentioned how after his LLTV crash, Armstrong went back to his office to do some paperwork. Bradley said, "You were just almost killed!" Armstrong just smiled and said, "Well, but I wasn't." Great anecdote! ;D
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Post by laurel on Mar 26, 2010 19:45:32 GMT -4
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Post by banjomd on Mar 26, 2010 21:48:47 GMT -4
A good one from the 60 Minutes piece: Bradley: "What did it (the moon) look like to you?" Armstrong: "...It's an interesting place to be. I recommend it!"
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Post by banjomd on Mar 26, 2010 22:01:40 GMT -4
One of my favorite anecdotes: from Moonshot by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton with Jay Barbree and Howard Benedict pp305 After the Apollo14 LM landing radar fiasco: Mitchell: "Come on, Al. The truth now. Just between you and me."..."Would you have really flown us down without the radar?"... Shepard: "You'll never know, Ed." He laughed. "You'll never know."
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Post by ka9q on Mar 30, 2010 9:14:44 GMT -4
Regarding Apollo 14 and the landing radar, Gene Kranz said in his book that, knowing Al Shepard, he had no doubt that Al would have tried to land without the radar, yet he was equally sure that Al would eventually been forced to abort. The fuel margins were just too tight to land without it.
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Post by ka9q on Mar 30, 2010 9:18:08 GMT -4
Although there's no question that Neil Armstrong was one tough cookie under pressure, the guy was still human. Look at his heart rate during the landing, as published in the mission report.
In fact, every mission report plotted the heart rates during lunar descent, lunar ascent, and during EVA. Big fluctuations during EVA can be attributed to physical exertion, but those during descent and ascent can only be ascribed to emotional stress. And I'm sure the guys with the especially high heart rates got some ribbing from the colleagues. I'd bet on it.
Speaking of Neil Armstrong under pressure, I've seen footage of one of his encounters with Bart Sibrel. He (Neil) actually looked a little nervous, but he was still as cool as could be expected under the circumstances. At least he had a lot of practice for landing on the moon; no one really knows how to deal with an angry nutcase who might get violent at any moment.
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Post by laurel on Mar 30, 2010 16:53:10 GMT -4
Regarding Apollo 14 and the landing radar, Gene Kranz said in his book that, knowing Al Shepard, he had no doubt that Al would have tried to land without the radar, yet he was equally sure that Al would eventually been forced to abort. The fuel margins were just too tight to land without it. One of the funniest things Kranz said about Apollo 14 in the book (page 344): "Mitchell dabbled in psychic phenomena and for once I was sorry that I had moved [John] Llewellyn out of the RETRO job. I would have liked to see if they could pull off a retrofire data exchange via mental telepathy."
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Post by ka9q on Mar 30, 2010 18:11:27 GMT -4
Mitchell dabbled in psychic phenomena and for once I was sorry that I had moved [John] Llewellyn out of the RETRO job. I would have liked to see if they could pull off a retrofire data exchange via mental telepathy. I take it that Kranz was just a little skeptical about ESP?
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Post by banjomd on Mar 30, 2010 19:16:33 GMT -4
Regarding Apollo 14 and the landing radar, Gene Kranz said in his book that, knowing Al Shepard, he had no doubt that Al would have tried to land without the radar, yet he was equally sure that Al would eventually been forced to abort. The fuel margins were just too tight to land without it. Yeah, I'd heard that; but still a great "The Right Stuff" story! ;D
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Post by laurel on Apr 1, 2010 20:45:31 GMT -4
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Post by ka9q on Apr 6, 2010 6:26:07 GMT -4
004:09:52 Duke: Ask the navigator. He should know. 004:09:57 Young: He's the housekeeper right now. Just in case anybody didn't get it, the navigator on an Apollo mission is nominally the CMP, i.e., Young.
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Post by ka9q on Apr 6, 2010 6:47:23 GMT -4
Every second page of the Apollo 11 transcripts has something funny on it. Usually spoken by Michael Collins, I notice.
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Post by laurel on Apr 30, 2010 14:18:34 GMT -4
Apollo 12: Jupiter Misplaced? 236:03:58 Gordon: Hey, would you check with the boys in the back room? Should I have - be having any trouble with Jupiter, as far as seeing it or not? I can't see it. Do I have a right vector in? 236:04:07 Lind: Roger. We're checking. 236:04:12 Gordon: This is a surprise to me. I - you wouldn't think I'd have trouble seeing Jupiter. 236:04:39 Gordon: Hello, Houston; 12. It's all right. I got it now. 236:04:42 Lind: Very good. That gives us a lot of comfort to realize they're all still up there. 236:04:52 Gordon: Why should that be comforting to you? What if we missed one? What would you care? 236:04:55 Lind: Oh, we don't mind if we miss a star, but if all the planets aren't there, you know, the astrologers are really bent out of shape.
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Post by laurel on Jun 19, 2010 19:06:46 GMT -4
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