Since we are reminiscing about where some of our families were doing at the beginning of the space age, I'll add mine in.
My grandfather, Paul, W1DLP, told me about working on some of the equipment for the Gemini program. He even gave me one of his trinkets from then, a plastic coin bank in the shape of a Gemini capsule that he had gotten. I have long since lost that trinket...:(
I am wondering how many of us had relatives that did something during those fun times?
James W8ISS ===== On Fri, 2008-12-26 at 11:13 -0600, Reicher, James wrote:
Seeing this link brought tears to my eyes.
At the time the tapes were made, I was the tender age of three, but I still have a very close connection with those images and with the tapes.
My grandfather, Walter Lyons, an electrical engineer with RCA, helped develop the technology used in taking the images from the Lunar Orbiter and Surveyor series and converting them into radio waves and into the data found on these tapes.
Although he never was licensed as an amateur, he was one of my inspirations for becoming a ham. Unfortunately, he passed away 2 years before I earned my ticket.
73 de W0HV, Jim in Raymore, MO (ex-N8AU)
Light travels faster than sound... This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2008 11:30:36 -0900 From: Edward Cole kl7uw@acsalaska.net Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Earthrise - add To: Joe Fitzgerald jfitzgerald@alum.wpi.edu Cc: Amsat BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Message-ID: 200812252030.mBPKUbv8086213@hermes.acsalaska.net Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
At 04:25 AM 12/25/2008, Joe Fitzgerald wrote:
Rocky Jones wrote:
I think that the first black and white photo of Earthrise over
the Moon...was from one of the Lunar Orbiters... I think 5...
There was a nice story recently about a recent restoration of that
photo
...http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-111408a.html
-Joe KM1P _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the
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I am amazed at times how my own past resurfaces.
One of my duties at Goldstone from 1974-1976 was to manage the tape backup for data received from spacecraft like the Voyagers and Pioneers that flew by Jupiter, Saturn (and the outer planets after my time), and other missions. It was sort of an unwanted task handed off on me. But I took it serious and devised a record system to keep track of when they were recorded and so they would be retained for the required time period. These were backups as the prime data had been transmitted to the mission scientist. These were held a minimum of 30-days in case of any bad data in the originals. I started stacking them in an unused office but in time they ended up in the climate-controlled "basement" of the 64m DSS-14 Control Building. They ended up being kept much longer than 30-days. I'm guessing these reel tapes were made by the same recorder as mentioned in the article. Isn't it fantastic that the old Lunar tapes were recoverable! 2009 will be my 30th anniversary of leaving Jet Propulsion Lab to move to Alaska...tempis fugit!
The, then new, Hydrogen Maser Master Clock was installed in this same room. It was used for precise timing of VLBI experiments, which previously required calibration by the famous "flying clock" or the x-band Moon Bounce timing system (ask Dick, K6HIJ). Not only Goldstone, but Madrid, and Canberra stations required to be on the same accurate time (ask Tom Clark about that).
As the New Year approaches we reflect on the past. Thanks to those who recently found those articles.
Merry Christmas and Happy New year! 73, Ed Cole - KL7UW (& Janet)
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