3 May
2000
3 May
'00
4:15 p.m.
Even got parts from a lunar lander...
What?
Name 'em! 
3 May
3 May
6:19 p.m.
On Wed, May 03, 2000 at 09:15:03PM -0400, allisonp wrote:
Part of the RADAR altimeter and a spare hatch.
Parts of the flight computer would be a catch! Even those of the
Shuttle.
Forgive my ignorance, I was just a kid at the time, but weren't the
lunar landers abandoned to crash-land on the moon after the trip was
over? So is this stuff from prototypes or am I missing something?
John Wilson
D Bit
Even got parts
from a lunar lander...
What? Name 'em! 
6:36 p.m.
>> >
Even got parts from a lunar lander...
>> What? Name 'em!
>
> Part of the RADAR altimeter and a spare hatch.
Forgive my ignorance, I was just a kid at the time, but weren't the
lunar landers abandoned to crash-land on the moon after the trip was
over? So is this stuff from prototypes or am I missing something?
John Wilson
D Bit
4 May
4 May
2:35 a.m.
John,
At 11:19 PM 5/3/00 -0400, you wrote:
On Wed, May 03, 2000 at 09:15:03PM -0400, allisonp
wrote:
Parts of the flight computer would be a catch! Even those of the
Shuttle.
Forgive my ignorance, I was just a kid at the time, but weren't the
lunar landers abandoned to crash-land on the moon after the trip was
over?
Yes, you're right.
So is this stuff from prototypes or am I missing something?
These were spares. FWIW even the stuff that cames back to earth in the
capsules is very seldom available. It is usually cut apart for testing or
put in a museum somewhere.
Joe
> Even got parts from a lunar lander...
What? Name 'em!
Part of the RADAR altimeter and a spare hatch.
John Wilson
D Bit
5 May
5 May
7:40 a.m.
On Thu, 04 May 2000 06:35:40 -0500 Joe
<rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> wrote:
These were spares. FWIW even the stuff that cames
back to earth in the
capsules is very seldom available. It is usually cut apart for testing or
put in a museum somewhere.
The Science Museum in London has the Apollo 10 capsule on
display.
Oh, and a few classic computers, too -- just to get back
on-topic :-)
--
John Honniball
Email: John.Honniball(a)uwe.ac.uk
University of the West of England
9:08 a.m.
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10:54 a.m.
On Fri, May 05, 2000 at 05:40:57PM +0100, John Honniball wrote:
The one in Boston (or is it 50% in Cambridge?) MA used to have a tiny
capsule of some kind (Mercury or Gemini?) but I never understood whether
it was the real thing, or a mock-up. They had/have a lunar lander too but
that's definitely fake.
John Wilson
D Bit
These were
spares. FWIW even the stuff that cames back to earth in the
capsules is very seldom available. It is usually cut apart for testing or
put in a museum somewhere.
The Science Museum in London has the Apollo 10 capsule on
display.
11:43 a.m.
The one in Boston (or is it 50% in Cambridge?) MA used
to have a tiny
capsule of some kind (Mercury or Gemini?) but I never understood whether
it was the real thing, or a mock-up. They had/have a lunar lander too but
that's definitely fake.
John Wilson
D Bit
Probably a fake, OMSI had/has a capsule that I'm fairly sure is fake. Years
ago it was a really cool exhibit. Last I saw though it was pretty trashed
out and I believe they were letting people climb in it. Of course OMSI has
really gone down hill in the last several years, and are now nothing more
than a childrens museum.
Zane
12:04 p.m.
On Fri, 5 May 2000 healyzh(a)aracnet.com wrote:
Probably a fake, OMSI had/has a capsule that I'm
fairly sure is fake. Years
ago it was a really cool exhibit. Last I saw though it was pretty trashed
out and I believe they were letting people climb in it. Of course OMSI has
really gone down hill in the last several years, and are now nothing more
than a childrens museum.
I'll echo your sentiments about OMSI, but while also trying to stay
(marginally) on topic I can confirm that the Gemini capsule is 'fake'.
The capsule on display was the grand prize in a contest (sponsored by
Monogram IIRC) a good number of years ago, was won by a local person, and
donated to OMSI.
Hmmm... why do I seem to recall it having its utility stage (skirt?) when
it was new? Or perhaps just a phantom memory... (unintentional S-100
joke)
Heck, I remember entering the contest myself! Hmm... this still seems
only marginally near topic... Ko, try this!
How many others lurking the list got their start in the OMSI computer lab?
On the Straight-8 in the lab?
On the PDP-11/45 that started Oregon Software?
Knows where to find Rusty Whitney?
Knows who he is??
Cares???
There. That should be closer. B^}
-jim
---
jimw(a)computergarage.org || jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.computergarage.org
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
8 May
8 May
10:59 a.m.
> The one in Boston (or is it 50% in Cambridge?) MA
used to have a tiny
> capsule of some kind (Mercury or Gemini?) but I never understood whether
> it was the real thing, or a mock-up. They had/have a lunar lander too but
> that's definitely fake.
Probably a fake, OMSI had/has a capsule that I'm
fairly sure is fake. Years
ago it was a really cool exhibit. Last I saw though it was pretty trashed
out and I believe they were letting people climb in it. Of course OMSI has
really gone down hill in the last several years, and are now nothing more
than a childrens museum.
HNF had a Sojus for display some weeks ago (The same Fujitsu
Siemens had at CBit Hannover). Quite interesting, especialy
since these are reused (AFAIK), unlike US stuff (except the
Shuttle of course). FSC did display the capsule since a Siemens
Computer was used on the last flight of this spaceship...
Gruss
H.
--
VCF Europa am 29./30. April 2000 in Muenchen
http://www.vintage.org/vcfe
http://www.homecomputer.de/vcfe
4 May
4 May
3:31 a.m.
Parts of the
flight computer would be a catch! Even those of the
Shuttle.
Forgive my ignorance, I was just a kid at the time, but weren't the
lunar landers abandoned to crash-land on the moon after the trip was
over? So is this stuff from prototypes or am I missing something? from PLANT-33 (Grumman Corp) who built the LM and did
go to the auctions
back in the 70s when the moon/aerospace shutdown occured. I
still have a
few trinkets around somewhere from stuff I bought then.
Allison
9:45 a.m.
John Wilson writes:
Forgive my ignorance, I was just a kid at the time,
but weren't the
lunar landers abandoned to crash-land on the moon after the trip was
over? So is this stuff from prototypes or am I missing something?
I recently read somewhere that around 150 AGCs were built, and about 75
used in space. I'm very skeptical of that number, but it does makes me
wonder how many of them were involved in each mission. Assuming that
they were also used on Apollo-Soyuz and the Skylab missions, that makes
about 16 missions, so they would have had to use about nearly five per
mission to accout for 75 of them.
I was of the impression that they were designed for a tight fit in an
odd-shaped space in the command module; was the same computer used in
the lander as well, or in other parts of the spacecraft?
10:03 a.m.
I recently read somewhere that around 150 AGCs were
built, and about 75
used in space. I'm very skeptical of that number, but it does makes me
wonder how many of them were involved in each mission. Assuming that
they were also used on Apollo-Soyuz and the Skylab missions, that makes
about 16 missions, so they would have had to use about nearly five per
mission to accout for 75 of them.
Unknown, however it's possible.
I was of the impression that they were designed for a
tight fit in an
odd-shaped space in the command module; was the same computer used in
the lander as well, or in other parts of the spacecraft?
I've seen the command module and the LM versions and they are parctically
part of the structure and depend on it for conductive cooling. The CM and
LM machines are of similar design but not the same. The basic
requirements and design window account for them being very similar.
Allison
10:15 a.m.
On Wed, 3 May 2000, John Wilson wrote:
Forgive my ignorance, I was just a kid at the time, but weren't the
lunar landers abandoned to crash-land on the moon after the trip was
over? So is this stuff from prototypes or am I missing something?
Not sure where the particular units in question came from, but as Eric
pointed out, a number of the various parts were never flown. There were
even a few entire landers that never flew. If you are ever in
Philadelphia, be sure to visit the Franklin Institute, where they have the
Apollo 19 lunar module parked out in the back yard (Apollo 19 was one of
the missions in the original schedule that was eventually cancelled).
In an effort to keep this post slightly on-topic, if you're at all
interested in the computers that flew on these missions, you must read:
Journey to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Guidance Computer
by Eldon C. Hall
ISBN 156347185X
Hall was a member of the MIT Instrumentation Lab team that that designed
the AGC. It's a little light on real technical details, but an excellent
read.
--Pat.
6 May
6 May
6:31 a.m.
At 09:15 PM 5/3/00 -0400, you wrote:
Part of the RADAR altimeter and a spare hatch.
Parts of the flight computer would be a catch! Even those of the
Shuttle.
One of my buddies has one from a previous sale. I still haven't seen it
yet.
Joe
Even got parts from a lunar lander...
What?
Name 'em!
8837
days inactive
8842
days old
14 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
allisonp＠world.std.com -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
eric＠brouhaha.com -
Hans.Franke＠mch20.sbs.de -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
jimw＠agora.rdrop.com -
John.Honniball＠uwe.ac.uk -
pat＠transarc.ibm.com -
rigdonj＠intellistar.net -
wilson＠dbit.dbit.com