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Author
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Topic: Apollo simulation supervisor Dick Koos
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tranquility
New Member Posts: 3
From: France
Registered: Nov 2011
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posted 12-20-2011 05:40 AM
  
Does anyone know what happened to Dick Koos, simulation supervisor (SIMSUP) at the time of Apollo?I can't find any trace of him, except the famous story of the last simulation before the launch of Apollo 11. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-21-2011 11:23 AM
Steph Mineart writes on her website that "Richard Koos is my mom's uncle" in connection with an Air & Space article about Apollo 11. Maybe you could contact her. |
Buel
Member Posts: 649
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 03-15-2016 05:49 PM
I was fortunate enough to be in contact with Dick Koos last year and asked him the following question, which may be of interest: Regarding the simulations before Apollo 11. Gene Kranz said that you instructed your team to load 'Case 26' in to the simulators and this turned out to be the sim that included the program alarms.A lot has been made of this by various people over the years but I wanted to know why you decided to leave this particular sim until the very last one before the launch. Was this by chance/coincidence or was it something specifically that you felt the White team needed to prepare for? Or was it something you felt that Steve Bales/Jack Garman needed to improve upon? I would be fascinated to hear your reply on this. He replied with this: It was more like a fellow worker and I talked way back in March about simulating a failed computer. He was kind of frustrated because it was first difficult to simulate and also because the computer was made very well, not fail — with rope memory. It took until July to be able to run it. The final sim was always normal — no aborts. So we discussed putting on the alarm to be sure an abort would've been called. So, surprise!! But our guys checked with MIT who programmed the computer. Lesson learned, fortunately. |
Mike_The_First
Member Posts: 436
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2014
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posted 09-06-2017 10:42 AM
The final sim was always normal — no aborts. So we discussed putting on the alarm to be sure an abort would've been called. Wait a minute... Is he saying that he did this as a kind-of "trick question" knowing that they'd mess it up and call for an unnecessary abort or is he saying that the thought the abort was the proper way for the alarm to be handled and he threw it in because they wouldn't be expecting an abort simulation that late in the game?If it's the former, that is interesting, though I wish he'd gone in to more detail about why he expected that. If it's the latter, that's even more interesting, since it contradicts almost every book that contains any information on the subject. |
Buel
Member Posts: 649
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 09-06-2017 03:58 PM
I'll ask Dick now and hope that he'll get back to me... no guarantees though! |
David C
Member Posts: 1015
From: Lausanne
Registered: Apr 2012
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posted 09-06-2017 04:29 PM
Would you also mind asking him if he recalls the date of that sim? It's been causing some angst here (on another thread). |
Buel
Member Posts: 649
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 09-06-2017 04:29 PM
I did see it. I'll try... |
David C
Member Posts: 1015
From: Lausanne
Registered: Apr 2012
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posted 09-06-2017 06:38 PM
Thanks! |
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