Anniversary of Apollo 11

[fireberd]

Today is the 45th Anniversary of Apollo 11.

I was working at the NASA Apollo Tracking station on Ascension Island. I worked in PCM Telemetry (processor). We were involved in tracking them to moon orbit. When the Eagle made the descent and landed on the moon, the Ascension Island tracking station and the NASA tracking station in Spain were the two stations that tracked the Eagle to the moon landing.

I have a commemorative coin that was struck using metal from the Eagle that was brought back to earth. Considering there were probably 1000 coins struck the percentage of the Eagle part in the coin is probably very small. The coin was part of a recognition "Award" that was given to me as part of the "Apollo Support Team" (I worked for Bendix Field Engineering, who had the Manned Space tracking station staffing and support Engineering staff stationed at Goddard Space Flight Center). I was involved with the entire Apollo program, from the ill fated Apollo 1 until the end of the project.

Subsequent Apollo missions, I worked at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. I was classified as a "Telemetry Engineer" and my job was as Programmer on the PCM Telemetry Processors.

 

[Lava King]

Very cool, can you post a picture of the coin?

I have a clear recollection of watching the Apollo 11 launch (I was a month and a half shy of 7 years old) on live TV but I don't recall seeing the moon landing anywhere except on the news.

 

[Slartybart]

That really is cool Jack, to be part of the moon mission.

I recall the landing well.
Friends of a particular stripe were half jokingly saying it would be the end of the world - Man was not meant to....

As I watched the historic landing (100 meters, 50 meters....), holding my breath, the power went out!

I thought, hey those folks were right - the end of the world is nigh! I missed the actual landing, but watch it again from time to time.

40th: July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap For Mankind | NASA
45th: Apollo 11 and NASA's Next Giant Leap | NASA

Thanks for reminding me, that surely was a spectacular accomplishment and an amazing time for mankind.

Bill
.

 

[fireberd]

I would love to post a picture of the coin. Unfortunately I've "put it in a place for safe keeping"

Whenever I find the "secret" place I'll post.

Jack

 

[Stephanie]

Great piece of history fireberd thank you, I was not born then but I have watched the landing a few times, very cool

 

[King Arthur]

I know I'm going to sound cheesy, but reading that story about your involvements with the Apollo project was a blast. Many thanks, fireberd.

 

[Phill3990]

Cool must feel awesome to have been part of history like that.

 

[strollin]

I wasn't involved in the space landing as you were Fireberd, that sounds cool!

I was attending The Boy Scout National Jamboree at Faragut State Park, Idaho on this day 45 years ago. We listened to the moon landing on the radio. We were thrilled when Neil Armstrong sent greetings to his fellow scouts at the jamboree from space.

1969 was also the year I became an Eagle Scout. My scoutmaster presented me with this coin at my Eagle ceremony:

I'm sure it's not as nice or meaningful as your coin (can be bought on Ebay for $30), but it's one of my most treasured possessions.

 

[fireberd]

Here are some pictures of the front of the inside of the folder, showing the front of the coin and of the back. Best I can do with the camera I have

 

[NoN]

I was a year and half when it had happened...amazing days was that period of 20th century.

 

[HarriePateman]

I would love to post a picture of the coin. Unfortunately I've "put it in a place for safe keeping"

Whenever I find the "secret" place I'll post.

Jack

Brilliant

I would really love it see it though !

 

[fireberd]

Harrie, Look back, I posted pictures (I found it).

 

[Slartybart]

Covington, Ozro

READ YOU LOUD AND CLEAR!
The Story of NASA’s Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network
by Sunny Tsiao

Covington, Ozro M., Mr.
Hall of Fame - Mr. Ozro M. Covington

Thanks from Neil Armstrong

 

[HarriePateman]

Harrie, Look back, I posted pictures (I found it).

How did i miss them?

They look great!

 

[fireberd]

After reading the history provided by slartybart, it brought back some memories. Thanks!

One trivia bit, our "high speed" links to Houston ran at 4800BPS. We had two 4800BPS links. Not all the downlink spacecraft data could be sent in realtime to Houston. The downlink telemetry data from Command module was 51.2K/bps and the downlink from the Lunar module was 72K/bps. Everything was recorded on tape and sent to Houston, but that was after the fact. Many times, Houston would have us breakout a certain parameter (voltage or switch) have us verbally report to them the value or if it changed because they couldn't get everything realtime. Along with the Telemetry data, there was also the tracking data, voice, etc. Everything came down on the "Unified S-Band" (called "USB" at the tracking stations) link from the spacecraft.

 

[RoasterMen]

Does the OP have NASA PC? I want to play games on it

 

[bigmck]

I was really into the early space program, enjoyed every bit of it. Some friends of mine were going to New Orleans the weekend of the moon landing. I declined to go because I had to see it on TV. One of the coolest pictures for me was the first photo of the Mercury 7 astronauts in their jet flight gear. It just gave so much promise of things to come.

 

[HarriePateman]

i wish i could got to space.

 

[A Guy]

It was all so fascinating and amazing. Kids today would be spoiled by all the SciFi/CGI/Games they have now. Back then, there were no home computers. And those rockets were known for BLOWING UP! Watching it on TV is burned into my memory. I remember looking up at the Moon and thinking, "There are people up there!". We watched at school too, everything else stopped if they were on TV while we were in school. I still find it one of the most amazing things human beings have accomplished. A Guy

 

[King Arthur]

Ars Technica published a wonderful article in celebrating the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11, was a great read:
Apollo 11 turns 45: a lunar landing anniversary retrospective | Ars Technica

The part where they explained how they put together the information on the CRT monitors and projections all the controllers and engineers at Mission Control were looking at was simply mindblowing.