What a great Flick!
 

Watch the movie - For All Mankind

Totally a different perspective on the space heydays. Highly recommended! :up:

-S

If anyone wants it - here is the link at Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/All-Mankind-Cr.../dp/0780022319

-S

Have you seen in the shadow of the moon yet? Also a good movie for the more personal side of early space exploration

Not yet, but sounds like I need to watch that too!

-S

One of the many nice things about the movie in the shadow of the moon, is that it answers the question about the 1201 alarm.

I knew it but now have confirmation :sunny:

1201 alarm?

Space history nutters have been debating the cause of the 1201 alarm since about five minutes after Apollo landed :)

As Apollo 11 was just about to land on the moon, there was a 1201 alarm which meant that the onboard computer was becoming overloaded with too much data.

You have to realize that in 1969 the onboard computer had less computing power than a pocket calculator these days.

I am kind of a space history nut and my fellow nutters have always wondered why the computer would become overloaded when it was tested and simulated to death prior. It never overloaded (1201) before. Why now? Where was the extra data coming from.

Our suspicions were always on Buzz Aldrin as he was the LEM command pilot.

Well in the interview for "in the shadow of the moon" Aldrin admitted that he decided to leave the rendezvous radar on at the same time as the landing radar. Armstrong advised against this, but Aldrin wanted the rendezvous radar online in case they had to abort. Whether this was a wise decision or not, is debatable but with the computer receiving input from the landing radar and the rendezvous radar (both of which should never be on at the same time as you are either landing OR rendezvousing)it overloaded the computer and caused the 1201 alarm.

That is what caused the 1201 and the subsequent 1202 alarms a few seconds before touching down. The good news is that the 1201 alarm occurred at a time where Armstrong was manually setting up for landing. If they had to abort, then the 1201 and 1202 might have adversely affected the abort.

It is a historical problem that a normal person would not care about but it is something that keeps us space history nuts up at night (it is a lonely life being a space history nut)

Huh.

I was around at the time (and at the time of Mercury; and Sputnik for that matter) and I've been something of a space buff, but obviously not in your class.

I've known about the pre-landing computer alarms, but always assumed that they were in the minor "Don't worry about it" category.

Thanks for the explanation.

Well you are the first person who ever used the word class to describe me so I appreciate the complement.
:lol:

I second his notion. I was not aware either until you enlightened us all.

-S