Topic: MIT Science Reporter (1966): Developing Apollo
Buel Member
Posts: 649 From: UK Registered: Mar 2012
posted 08-05-2017 07:15 AM
I thought this was truly fascinating:
This 1966 MIT Science Reporter television program tackles the challenges of getting the Apollo Command Module safely back from space through the atmosphere to Earth — one of the most forbidding hurdles of the Apollo program.
William Brooks (Langley Research Center, Hampton VA) demonstrates techniques of testing the effects of high temperatures on substances proposed to shield the module on its re-entry at 25,000 mph. Edward Offenhartz (AVCO, Lowell MA) discusses the uses of ablation to dissipate the extreme heat and protect the module's occupants. Sandy Stubbs (Langley) explains the variety of module designs and their relative abilities to sustain different kinds of impact.
The program is presented by MIT in association with WGBH-TV Boston, and hosted by MIT reporter John Fitch; it was produced for NASA. MIT Museum Collections.
Buel Member
Posts: 649 From: UK Registered: Mar 2012
posted 08-05-2017 07:16 AM
Also, a documentary on the LEM:
This 1966 MIT Science Reporter television program details the development and construction of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), the only vehicle of the three Apollo spacecraft modules that actually lands on the moon.
Project engineer Thomas Kelly gives a tour of the LEM at Grumman Aircraft in Long Island, NY, and demonstrates the LEM Automatic Checkout System, while test pilot Robert Smyth demonstrates the lunar landing simulator via an electronic computer-controlled model of the Moon.
Larry McGlynn Member
Posts: 1255 From: Boston, MA Registered: Jul 2003
posted 08-05-2017 10:02 AM
Mark Gray found the reels of the TV Show in the NASA archives and did a DVD set of the shows. The original reels are also sitting in the vault at MIT. Sadly, those copies are old and brittle, so the museum is concerned about disturbing them. They are great anecdotal pieces of the story told by the participants. It was a brilliant idea to do so at the time.
Paul78zephyr Member
Posts: 675 From: Hudson, MA Registered: Jul 2005
posted 08-06-2017 09:59 PM
This is wonderful stuff — thank you for posting it!