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  Official time zone used for Apollo missions

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Author Topic:   Official time zone used for Apollo missions
sobof62
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Posts: 95
From: Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2010

posted 09-14-2013 08:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for sobof62   Click Here to Email sobof62     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
When measuring time during the flights did NASA use Eastern Standard Time (EST)? e.g. Apollo 17's last EVA finished at 00.41 on the December 14 1972. Is that EST?

randy
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Posts: 2231
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 09-14-2013 10:23 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for randy   Click Here to Email randy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I believe they used Central Standard Time.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 09-14-2013 10:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Today, mission events are recorded based on the location of Mission Control in Houston, which is indeed Central Standard (or when appropriate, Daylight Saving) Time (CST/CDT).

That said, NASA publications from the time of the Apollo 17 mission, including the Apollo 17 press kit, used Eastern Standard Time (EST).

randy
Member

Posts: 2231
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 09-14-2013 10:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for randy   Click Here to Email randy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks for the correction Robert.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 09-14-2013 10:42 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
And just to add to the time zone discussion, aboard the International Space Station, the crew lives by Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is roughly halfway between Houston and Moscow, the locations of the two primary Mission Control Centers for the orbiting laboratory...

moorouge
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Posts: 2458
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009

posted 09-15-2013 01:34 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for moorouge   Click Here to Email moorouge     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I assume that they stick to GMT throughout the year and don't go to BST with the UK.

As an 'oddball' fact, the line of zero degrees longitude passes through the Greenwich Observatory and is marked in Greenwich Park by a brass line set in the grounds. However, recently it was decided that this is in the wrong place. Thousands of people who have photos of themselves with one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one in the western now have to live with the knowledge that they didn't. (ref.)

stsmithva
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Posts: 1940
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007

posted 09-15-2013 05:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for stsmithva   Click Here to Email stsmithva     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by moorouge:
However, recently it was decided that this is in the wrong place.

Noooo! Every year I teach my students about that brass strip when we study just geography for a bit before getting into history. I even show them some of those pictures.

I went to the specific web page referenced above, understood the first three sentences, and then got lost in all the different reference ellipsoids. I did notice towards the end that they referred to the years about a decade ago as the "mid noughties", a term I'd always hoped would catch on.

sobof62
Member

Posts: 95
From: Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2010

posted 09-15-2013 09:11 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sobof62   Click Here to Email sobof62     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Many thanks to all who have helped on this issue. Interesting.

Lou Chinal
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Posts: 1332
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 10-04-2013 11:44 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Lou Chinal   Click Here to Email Lou Chinal     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I just want to add to the confusion; At the South Pole they do go daylight saving time. Why, you ask? I don't know.

All times are CT (US)

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