posted 07-24-2011 04:33 PM               

What do you think are the five most important CAPCOM events, and which individuals served in that role?

My five are:

1. Charlie Duke, Apollo 11 landing
   Charlie had been CAPCOM for Apollo 10 and was asked by NASA management to serve the same position on Apollo 11 to maintain continuity. Charlie was assigned to the shift for the July 20, 1969 lunar landing. After Neil Armstrong made his famous statement, "Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed," it was Duke's turn to reply. He said, full of relief, "Roger, Tranquility, we copy you down. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot." These were the first words spoken by someone on Earth to humans landed on another celestial body. Duke actually said "twan-quility," tongue-tied from the excitement.

2. Michael Collins, Apollo 8 TLI
   Mike had originally been assigned to the Apollo 8 crew but was removed due to back surgery in for a herniated disc; Jim Lovell was assigned to take his place. However, Mike was named a CAPCOM for the flight. Collins was on duty on December 21, 1968 after the launch when it was time to reignite the SIV-B stage to send Apollo 8 towards orbit around the Moon. This would be the first time humans would leave the Earth; all previous spaceflights had been in Earth orbit. His simple call: "Apollo 8, you are go for TLI." TLI was the NASA acronym for trans-lunar injection.

3. Scott Carpenter, Mercury-Atlas 6 and STS-95
   Scott was John Glenn's back-up for the first U.S. attempt at a manned orbital flight. Carpenter was at Cape Canaveral to serve as CAPCOM for the launch (this was before missions were controlled from Houston). As the Atlas rocket took off on Feb. 20, 1969, Carpenter said, "Godspeed, John Glenn." Years later. on October 29, 1998 Glenn returned to orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery for the STS-95 mission. Carpenter repeated good wish from the Cape.

4. Jack Lousma, Apollo 13 explosion
   Jack was on duty as an Apollo 13 CAPCOM on April 13, 1970 when, shortly after a television broadcast to Earth (which was not shown live by the major networks), a tank blew up in the spacecraft's service module. Neither the crew on board or ground controllers knew what happened.

   Here is the transcript of the first few words after the explosion (time is Ground Elapsed Time since the launch):

   55:55:20 - Swigert: "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here."

   55:55:28 - Lousma: "This is Houston. Say again please."

   55:55:35 - Lovell: "Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a main B bus undervolt."

   55:55:42 - Lousma: "Roger. Main B undervolt."

   As the fight to save the spacecraft and the astronaut's lives progressed over the next hours, Lousma played an important role, both as CAPCOM and as a spacecraft expert.

5. Bruce McCandless, Apollo 11 launch and TLI
   While senior astronauts were assigned as CAPCOM, the task also fell to junior astronauts. Bruce was chosen as an astronaut in April, 1966. He served as CAPCOM for Apollo 10, just 3 years later, and, as was Mike Collins, asked to continue that role for Apollo 11. He was the CAPCOM for the July 16, 1969 launch, as noted in this transcript:

   PAO: We have a lift-off, 32 minutes past the hour. Lift-off on Apollo 11.

   000:00:04 Armstrong: Roger. Clock.

   000:00:13 Armstrong: Roger. We got a roll program.

   000:00:15 McCandless: Roger. Roll. [Long pause].

   000:00:34 Armstrong: Roll's complete and the pitch is programming. [Pause.] 000:00:44 Armstrong: One Bravo. (Long pause.)

   000:01:02 McCandless: Apollo 11, Houston. You're good at 1 minute.

   Bruce was also the CAPCOM who two hours later gave Apollo 11 the go-ahead to fire the SIV-B rocket to send them to the first landing on the Moon:

   002:25:49 Armstrong: Roger, Houston through Carnarvon. Apollo 11. Loud and clear.

   002:25:53 McCandless: Roger. You're coming in very loud and very clear, here. Out.

   002:26:38 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. You are Go for TLI. Over. 002:26:45 Collins: Apollo 11. Thank you.

   002:26:48 McCandless: Roger. Out.

Some of the key Apollo CAPCOMS, including Mike Collins, Charlie Duke, Bruce McCandless and Jack Lousma, autographed this "Earthrise" litho.

posted 03-07-2014 04:00 PM               

• Fred Haise EVA2
  
• Gordon Fullerton
  
• Ron Evans (?) or Joe Engle (?)

posted 03-07-2014 04:30 PM            

From the transcripts during launch: