
Experience the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing - wsieroci
http://www.firstmenonthemoon.com/
======
fjarlq
Apollo Guidance Computer programmer Don Eyles analyzes the program alarms that
could have aborted the landing:

<http://www.doneyles.com/LM/Tales.html>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer>

~~~
ISL
The Don Eyles link above contains an interesting anecdote on
communication/management in a consequential decisionmaking environment. We
wrestle with similar trouble in the avalanche avoidance world; the wisdom of
the group is more reliably accurate than the individual.

Interesting thoughtfood - thank you!

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iuguy
That was truly brilliantly presented. It's things like this that the Internet
were invented for.

~~~
hluska
I agree! My girlfriend and I both found the experience incredibly emotional.
It has been a long time since a website has gotten me misty eyed...

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tofof
You can read and listen along manually to every lunar surface operation at
<http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/frame.html>. This is dozens of hours of audio
(unfortunately in 12ish-minute segments). The transcript is annotated with
helpful things, too - interviews with the astronauts in question to gain more
understanding of what was happening, technical explanations and photos to
explain what a particular device is, etc. There are a scattered few video
clips as well for the most visually interesting moments.

The companion Apollo Flight Journal covers the rest of the missions - but
doesn't contain audio, and is missing 13, 14, and 17 (but has 7-10, which of
course aren't in the surface journal). It's still full of interesting
annotations though.

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ColinWright
This is absolutely fantastic, but isn't it interesting that when submitted 159
days ago (in the interests of full disclosure - yes, by me) it got one comment
and just 4 upvotes.

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4710201>

Clearly this is an item of interest to the HN community, and equally clearly
last time it was missed by _so_ many people. So:

* Does this mean that HN is in some sense sub-optimal?

* Is this a problem?

* Is this a problem worth fixing?

~~~
lccarrasco
It'd be interesting to know what other articles appeared on that day, it might
be the case it was just bad timing or it got shadowed by a device release/big
announcement.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
Indeed, October 29 was an eventful day. Google announced the new Nexus lineup,
Apple changed its management structure, and Microsoft introduced Windows Phone
8. Also: hurricane Sandy.

More news from that day: <http://www.techmeme.com/121029/h1820>

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verygoodyear
Oh, wow. That was stunning. Heart in my mouth the entire time, I cannot
imagine what it was like to watch that in real time.

<http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo.html>

Always worth a read for more context and 'Moonshot' is pretty good for Apollo
11.

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js2
If you can't get enough of this, let me recommend:

A Man on the Moon - [http://www.amazon.com/Man-Moon-Voyages-Apollo-
Astronauts/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Man-Moon-Voyages-Apollo-
Astronauts/dp/014311235X)

And the HBO series based on it:

From the Earth to the Moon - [http://www.amazon.com/From-Earth-Moon-
Collectors-Edition/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/From-Earth-Moon-Collectors-
Edition/dp/0783114222)

~~~
davebindy
And I'd recommend "Apollo - The Race To The Moon" by Murray & Cox. Unlike most
books about the US space program, this deals with everything except the
astronauts. I've read it so many times my copy is falling apart...

~~~
daltonlp
Thanks, I'll read that. "Flight" by Gene Kranz, is also an amazing book.

~~~
davebindy
Appreciate the reminder from you and others re: books by/about Kranz. Back in
the 60s (I was 16 when Apollo 11 landed) I would not have cared for his no-
compromise/no-bullshit approach. These days, that's exactly what I _would_
appreciate about him, since it was necessary.

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rurounijones
At first I thought this was going to be some sort of flash game, That was
incredible.

My main thought is the amount of stuff the astronauts had to deal with while
the moon is looking mighty big in the windows.

It appears to be the very definition of a high stress environment.

~~~
thenonsequitur
The fact that Neil Armstrong's heart rate went up to 150 confirms that.

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mikecane
OK. _That_ website made it feel like I live in The Future. I grew up in The
Space Age (Project Mercury onward) and I still get chills whenever I see TV
programs or movies about it. Now this site too.

~~~
ricardobeat
We now have the technology to make this happen live, in color and high
definition with a full view of the craft and the moon. Can't wait!

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morganwilde
As someone not old enough to have seen this take place live, I did appreciate
this presentation so much. Now one can only wonder when will our generation
bare witness to us landing on Mars?

~~~
verygoodyear
I really, really hope I get to see this before I die. Space travel is
something that has lost it's cultural significance (for some valid reasons,
Columbia, Challenger etc) but to have something that the whole world can come
together and be a part of would be incredible. Almost how the Eco movement
started when images of the pale blue dot were circulated, would love to see
something similar.

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davecap1
I recently read "Failure is not an option" by Gene Kranz (FLIGHT on Apollo 11)
so I thought this was pretty cool. Great book too:
[http://www.amazon.com/Failure-Not-Option-Mission-
Control/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Failure-Not-Option-Mission-
Control/dp/1439148813/ref=la_B001H9RCYU_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365300383&sr=1-1)

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chewxy
Finally! Conclusive proof that the moon landings were faked! It can be done on
a computer!

edit: clearly sarcasm. I wonder, they've gone all the way till the Eagle has
landed, why not go further and include Neil Armstrong's small step for man
recording?

~~~
camus
If it is fake we should be able to know it right ? i mean the team did leave
some stuff on the moon , so why cant people just watch the moon with powerfull
big telescope and look for clues ? if there are some gear on the moon then the
landing was genuine.

~~~
Someone
Having stuff on the moon does not prove humans went there. We could have just
sent autonomous rovers, a couple of robots that made foot impressions, etc.

For those who believe in a conspiracy, even if we had visible dead bodies on
the moon would not convince you that we managed to fly live people there, let
alone have them come back. After all, it would be way simpler to just send a
dead astronaut up there?

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echobase
A lot of great links shared in these comments... I'd like to mention a very
interesting article on the near-disaster of Apollo 13: "Apollo 13, We Have a
Solution" - [http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/space-
flight/apollo-13-we...](http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/space-
flight/apollo-13-we-have-a-solution)

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ckvamme
Awesome. And I think a lot of you will enjoy this Neil deGrasse Tyson keynote:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLzKjxglNyE>

