Apollo 11

Thoroughly enjoyed it. The crawler / pad , spectator scenes, mission control, launch, all great. I wish all the moon footage would have been in the clear large format but the chronology of events was interesting alone. Even the recovery and credits footage was outstanding. Great helicopter scenes!

Just amazing they we created such a beast 50 years ago with such primitive computers. We always tout what we can accomplish if we put our minds together and the NASA 1960s decade is the epitome of it.
 
Velocity173 said:
Just amazing they we created such a beast 50 years ago with such primitive computers.
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My amazement is that something as complex and primitive as a Saturn/Apollo was able to get 9 crews to the moon and back, with 6 of those crews conducting successful landings.
 
kyleb said:
My amazement is that something as complex and primitive as a Saturn/Apollo was able to get 9 crews to the moon and back, with 6 of those crews conducting successful landings.
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Yep. It’s incredible to think about all the events that had to take place without error. Just watching it today, I was thinking, man if Collins blows this docking, they’re screwed. Or, if the LEM doesn’t ignite, they’re stuck on the moon for good. And yet they pulled it off time and time again without fail...well, except minor issue with 13.

Just Armstrong going manual at the last minute and picking his own LZ. Total badass!
 
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Speaking of Armstrong, just finished “First Flights” series. Pretty good actually. Never have heard of it until a couple weeks ago. A lot of old footage I had never seen before.
 
Velocity173 said:
Or, if the LEM doesn’t ignite, they’re stuck on the moon for good.
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There are a couple really good interviews with LEM engineers in this documentary talking about the ascent engine. Because the fuels were so corrosive, the actual engine couldn't be tested...and the first time it was actually used was on that ascent from the lunar surface.

Reference the 18:50 and 32:00 marks:

 
GRG55 said:
Sent out an APB; got a number of our "pilots & pizza" gang going as a group on Wed eve.
Looking forward to it.
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Go.See.This.Movie.
Fantastic!
 
$20.45 was a bit steep for a ticket though. Only student and senior discounts offered.
 
Just saw it. Outstanding job and tons of not previously publicized footage and audio.
 
Velocity173 said:
Speaking of Armstrong, just finished “First Flights” series. Pretty good actually. Never have heard of it until a couple weeks ago. A lot of old footage I had never seen before.
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Yes - they were very good. If you have Amazon Prime the series is available on prime.
 
Jim_CAK said:
Yes - they were very good. If you have Amazon Prime the series is available on prime.
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Should’ve checked Prime. I bought the series on DVD.
 
Yea - There is a ton of aviation content on Prime. Between that and YouTube - that is a major reason I got rid of cable.
 
Jim_CAK said:
Yea - There is a ton of aviation content on Prime. Between that and YouTube - that is a major reason I got rid of cable.
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I was just thinking about that yesterday. Got basic Dish that I really don’t use much besides news. I could cancel and get by on Prime / YT and get the news online.
 
I am fortunate that I live in an area I get the network channels over the air. I bought a $40 antenna and get the network stations for news and some sports. If you don’t get the over the air stuff there are some other options I hear about. I just got tired of the cable / dish bills and don’t miss it.
 
I can’t find anywhere local that is showing this movie. Disappointing.
 
Absolutely stunning. Thanks for the tip @olasek

Nauga,
who was a wide-eyed kid again.
 
Saw It.
Loved It.
Recommend It.
 
As a side note, anybody interested in the 1202 and 1201 alarms they experienced when landing on the moon should Google that (apollo 1202) - there are some good writeups and a couple good YouTube videos that explain it. The more in-depth explanations go into detail on the memory structure of the computer, and how it ran tasks. Very interesting stuff.

The man on the ground who had supervised some of the AGC work, recognized the problem, and avoided an abort, Jack Garman, passed away recently in September 2016.
 
LoneAspen said:
As a side note, anybody interested in the 1202 and 1201 alarms they experienced when landing on the moon should Google that (apollo 1202) - there are some good writeups and a couple good YouTube videos that explain it. The more in-depth explanations go into detail on the memory structure of the computer, and how it ran tasks. Very interesting stuff.

The man on the ground who had supervised some of the AGC work, recognized the problem, and avoided an abort, Jack Garman, passed away recently in September 2016.
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They never talk about whomever was responsible for the checklist having Buzz turn the tracking radar on, though.
 
Matthew said:
I found a pretty cool picture, all the Saturn V launches.

Saturn_V_launches.jpg



It's interesting that the first manned flight on top of the Saturn V was to the moon (Apollo 8). The earlier Saturn V launches were unmanned.

800px-NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg
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Interesting that 13 is the only one not exactly vertical in those pics. Also, if you're so inclined, a very good read:
71j7nxmEcxL._AC_UL436_.jpg
 
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My wife and I saw the movie last night. It was outstanding. It led me to think about could we do the same thing nowadays in the current risk averse culture we live in. Would we have the fortitude to go forward in the same period of time they did in the ‘60’s?
 
David Herzfeld said:
My wife and I saw the movie last night. It was outstanding. It led me to think about could we do the same thing nowadays in the current risk averse culture we live in. Would we have the fortitude to go forward in the same period of time they did in the ‘60’s?
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Not only no, but hell no. We have zero risk tolerance today. That puts an upper limit on our achievements.
 
kyleb said:
Not only no, but hell no. We have zero risk tolerance today. That puts an upper limit on our achievements.
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This is my thought also. I don’t see any way we can go to Mars within my lifetime. First of all, there’s no strategic driver (like the Cold War) to go. NASA to me these days is just another aimless government program.
 
David Herzfeld said:
This is my thought also. I don’t see any way we can go to Mars within my lifetime. First of all, there’s no strategic driver (like the Cold War) to go. NASA to me these days is just another aimless government program.
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I think it is a bureaucracy looking for a reason to continue to exist. At least that's the way I see the manned spaceflight portion. I have no expectation of going back to the moon or to Mars because of budgetary issues. So why do we continue designing and flying stuff using the justification that it's a leadup to Mars or Moon missions?
 
David Herzfeld said:
My wife and I saw the movie last night. It was outstanding. It led me to think about could we do the same thing nowadays in the current risk averse culture we live in. Would we have the fortitude to go forward in the same period of time they did in the ‘60’s?
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Nope. Just look at Apollo 8. At the last minute, they changed the flight plan from an earth orbit to to a lunar orbit. If you’ve ever seen In The Shadow of The Moon, Jim Lovell makes the comment that it was a bold move, but it was a time when we made bold moves. Great Ron Howard documentary by the way.
 
Scrabo said:
I just watched for Firstman tonight and there was a flag on the moon
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I believe the widespread faux outrage was that there was no scene of it being planted, and that having some sort of meaning as an anti-American millenial hatred of the evil white men who landed on the moon. I think most of the folks beating that drum never even bothered to see the movie.

Nevermind that the whole point of the movie was to sort of be inside Armstrong's head during those moments on the lunar surface, and show things that we haven't all seen or heard a thousand times.

I thought First Man was a terrific movie and a great companion piece to all of the many well-done documentaries (and drama like From The Earth To The Moon) that tell a more straightforward story.
 
Scrabo said:
I just watched for Firstman tonight and there was a flag on the moon
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So I congratulate you, I watched the movie and knew about the flag controversy and was attentively watching the sequence and did not see the flag, must have gone by real fast.
But my beef with the movie is not about this flag but with other stuff - grossly overdone vibrations in cockpits (starts with X-15), Gemini-Agena is spinning like a few revolutions a second (real spin rate was close to 1 rev/min)
and IMHO horribly cartoonish landing sequence on the Moon, the movie centers on the Moon landing (there isn't much movie left after the landing) yet they couldn't do it right - they overfly terrain that reminds you of Grand Canyon,
yet the actual footage of the landing sequence is available, so it boggles my mind why they went for this cheesy version. Once they land the scenery is done quite well.
 
olasek said:
they overfly terrain that reminds you of Grand Canyon, yet the actual footage of the landing sequence is available, so it boggles my mind why they went for this cheesy version.
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The one crater they fly over is exaggerated, agreed.

Here's a well-done sequence comparing the footage shot from the window of the LM to Google imagery of the moon, with Armstrong narrating. It shows a more correct size perspective with the LM descent stage being visible at the end on the Google imagery. Note: Sequence starts at 39:10 if the time-adjustment in the link doesn't work properly.

 
olasek said:
yet the actual footage of the landing sequence is available, so it boggles my mind why they went for this cheesy version. Once they land the scenery is done quite well.
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They should have just used the same studio set they used in 1969 ...

[KIDDING!!!] :p
 
Hacker said:
The rotation rate was 360 degrees per *second*, not *minute*.
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Yes, you are right, it was 296 deg/s, my mistake but what we see in the movie is multiple revolutions per sec.
Yeah, this flag is so far I simply missed it.
That they did not correctly depict the West Crater they overflew I consider it a major and unnecessary distraction in this movie, it didn't save them any $$ to do such poor job, I know 98% of viewers are probably clueless and won't catch it but still, it is really bad.
 
“....I thought First Man was a terrific movie ”

I was keen to watch it last night, the wife not so much, but she was glued to the screen after about 15 mins.

It’s Hollywood, you expect some things to be “economical with the truth”
 
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