Geeks in Space
Since I am a space geek as well as a plain old computer geek, this past week celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon has been a real treat and got me to thinking about just how much the space program has impacted our daily lives. I thought about crafting this post as a straight listing of some cool gadgets or inventions that came from the Apollo program specifically, but then I found myself watching the CBS News rebroadcast of the launch coverage from July 16, 1969. Unlike other specials that have run recently, this was an unedited, four and a half hour replay of the original broadcast, complete with commercials, as well as national (Vietnam update and the Padres beat the Giants 10-3) and local (New York weather was similar – 98 and humid) news. Two things that caught my eye during the broadcast changed my approach to this blog post – one was an interview with a young woman waiting to see the launch on the beach near Cape Kennedy and the other was a commercial for Western Electric. Together, the two were a wonderful way to see how much we have changed in 50 years in terms of technology while, at the same time, some things remain the same.
First, the commercial. Western Electric was the equipment manufacturing arm of Bell Telephone Systems before they were broken up. The commercial shows a laser and the voiceover talks about how the company has been refining the use of lasers over the last five years, recently was able to use one to create a long, fine string out of a diamond, and that such technology would one day carry your telephone calls. While many of us do not use wired phone service these days, those that do are using a derivative made out of glass – fiber optics. It also was not lost on me that these very same fiber optic networks were what was bringing me the broadcast over the internet – to a device that could run thousands of Apollo 11 Command Modules, LEMs, and Lunar Rovers. The Apollo computer could handle about 2,000 words before having to purge the memory. That is about two times the size of this blog post. ZME Science has a comparison of the Apollo 11 computer and the latest iPhone, if you are interested in knowing more.
Speaking of iPhones, that gets me to the second thing I took note of during the broadcast, the interview with the young woman at Cape Kennedy. A roaming reporter had been asking viewers why they came out to the beach to watch and her answer was it was something to do and she could say she saw it live. When asked why she did not sound more enthusiastic, she said something along the lines of it is just the moon and there is so much more out there; it seems like one little piece of the cosmic puzzle (keep in mind, this was 1969!). Back in the studio, Walter Cronkite remarked that space exploration was viewed differently by those over and under the age of 30, with the primary difference being that those under 30 had grown up with the space age and were less romantic or mystified by the moon. He concluded that while he was more concerned with whether the astronauts made it and lived, younger people were much more in tune to the technical aspects of space travel, like the amount of thrust in the rockets or the way the computer guides the trajectory in orbit. This struck me as how similar we are today regarding technology – those below 30s from 1969 are now looking at iPhones and saying, I get what it can do (and even use the “extra” features) but I really just want to make sure I can make a phone call. At least, no rotary involved! At the same time, we have become much more used to change and those that grew up in the Space Age have learned to expect and adapt to change as it takes place.
This brings us back to some of those Space Age technological advances and inventions that we work with every day. We all have heard about Tang being used by NASA, giving it a second life it might not have had otherwise. There are also other items directly associated with space flight, such as the Fisher Space Pen, which I have to say as an ice hockey official is one of my favorite items from the space program – no more frozen pens! But did you know that spacesuit material is used on domed stadium roofs or that many portable medical monitoring devices were created to help flight surgeons monitor astronaut health during missions (Neil Armstrong’s heart rate was in the 150s when he went out for his small step)? For the 35th anniversary of Apollo 11, NASA compiled a fact sheet listing a bunch of items we can thank Apollo for – everything from battery-operated drills and vacuums to pool chemicals, solar panels, and CAT Scans. And yes, even the sensors in your cell phone that made it possible to get rid of the rotary and buttons in favor of tapping a screen to make a phone call. An updated website from NASA for this year’s celebration includes even more notable gadgets and inventions (space blankets anyone?) from the Apollo program.
What about the future? With commercial space flight in development, will NASA continue to add to our future technology? For now, that seems to be the case more than ever. In addition to planning for a possible return to the moon or even a human trip to Mars, NASA still does a lot of research to develop new satellite and unmanned rocket technology. The agency even runs a website, called Spinoff, that lists how NASA research from today is going immediately into consumer products or impacting our daily lives as part of industries such as health care and transportation. One of those products brings us back to that week 50 years ago, with a new way to use fiber optics to collect data that had required many sensors, wires, and battery packs. The Fiber Optic Sensing System (FOSS) uses fiber optics in a device the size of a cookie box to collect data from thousands of points in an aircraft, but NASA is already working with health care, dairies, and beverage producers to use the technology in other industries. It seems that more than just phone calls will use those laser cut strands, so will surgeons, cheesemakers, and brewers. And where was this developed? At the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, of course – named after the guy who help us all take that one giant leap 50 years ago.
If you missed out on the specials that aired on TV and streaming services last week, or just want to know more about the moon landing, the Apollo program, NASA, or space in general, try these items in our collection:
Apollo 11 (Blu-Ray and DVD) This documentary was released earlier this year and was created using thousands of hours of newly discovered audio and video recordings, giving it a unique twist compared to the many other documentaries and specials related to the moon landing.
NASA Mission AS-506 Apollo 11, 1969 by Christopher Riley. This is truly a geeky title, as it is part of the Haynes Owners Workshop Manual Series, which is a line of manuals for repairing cars and major appliances. The manual covers the mechanical and technical aspects of the hardware used during the mission, including the Saturn V rocket, command module, and LEM).
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly and movie adaptation. NASA estimated it took over 400,000 people to land two men on the moon in 1969. Before computers were used to calculate the complex math needed to even launch the rocket, NASA employed a group of African-American women to handle the computations needed by the engineers. Katherine Johnson was one of these human computers and later worked on Apollo, specifically mapping the trajectory used by Apollo 11.
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe and movie adaptation. Wolfe captured the dawn of NASA's manned space program in this detailed look at the Mercury project that started with seven astronauts who not only were the first Americans to go into orbit, but stayed active into the Space Shuttle years.
Infinite Wonder by Scott Kelly. Kelly spent a year on the International Space Station and took plenty of photographs while he was in orbit. His favorites are collected in this oversized book that features a stunning look at the Universe from 250 feet above the Earth.
First, the commercial. Western Electric was the equipment manufacturing arm of Bell Telephone Systems before they were broken up. The commercial shows a laser and the voiceover talks about how the company has been refining the use of lasers over the last five years, recently was able to use one to create a long, fine string out of a diamond, and that such technology would one day carry your telephone calls. While many of us do not use wired phone service these days, those that do are using a derivative made out of glass – fiber optics. It also was not lost on me that these very same fiber optic networks were what was bringing me the broadcast over the internet – to a device that could run thousands of Apollo 11 Command Modules, LEMs, and Lunar Rovers. The Apollo computer could handle about 2,000 words before having to purge the memory. That is about two times the size of this blog post. ZME Science has a comparison of the Apollo 11 computer and the latest iPhone, if you are interested in knowing more.
Speaking of iPhones, that gets me to the second thing I took note of during the broadcast, the interview with the young woman at Cape Kennedy. A roaming reporter had been asking viewers why they came out to the beach to watch and her answer was it was something to do and she could say she saw it live. When asked why she did not sound more enthusiastic, she said something along the lines of it is just the moon and there is so much more out there; it seems like one little piece of the cosmic puzzle (keep in mind, this was 1969!). Back in the studio, Walter Cronkite remarked that space exploration was viewed differently by those over and under the age of 30, with the primary difference being that those under 30 had grown up with the space age and were less romantic or mystified by the moon. He concluded that while he was more concerned with whether the astronauts made it and lived, younger people were much more in tune to the technical aspects of space travel, like the amount of thrust in the rockets or the way the computer guides the trajectory in orbit. This struck me as how similar we are today regarding technology – those below 30s from 1969 are now looking at iPhones and saying, I get what it can do (and even use the “extra” features) but I really just want to make sure I can make a phone call. At least, no rotary involved! At the same time, we have become much more used to change and those that grew up in the Space Age have learned to expect and adapt to change as it takes place.
This brings us back to some of those Space Age technological advances and inventions that we work with every day. We all have heard about Tang being used by NASA, giving it a second life it might not have had otherwise. There are also other items directly associated with space flight, such as the Fisher Space Pen, which I have to say as an ice hockey official is one of my favorite items from the space program – no more frozen pens! But did you know that spacesuit material is used on domed stadium roofs or that many portable medical monitoring devices were created to help flight surgeons monitor astronaut health during missions (Neil Armstrong’s heart rate was in the 150s when he went out for his small step)? For the 35th anniversary of Apollo 11, NASA compiled a fact sheet listing a bunch of items we can thank Apollo for – everything from battery-operated drills and vacuums to pool chemicals, solar panels, and CAT Scans. And yes, even the sensors in your cell phone that made it possible to get rid of the rotary and buttons in favor of tapping a screen to make a phone call. An updated website from NASA for this year’s celebration includes even more notable gadgets and inventions (space blankets anyone?) from the Apollo program.
What about the future? With commercial space flight in development, will NASA continue to add to our future technology? For now, that seems to be the case more than ever. In addition to planning for a possible return to the moon or even a human trip to Mars, NASA still does a lot of research to develop new satellite and unmanned rocket technology. The agency even runs a website, called Spinoff, that lists how NASA research from today is going immediately into consumer products or impacting our daily lives as part of industries such as health care and transportation. One of those products brings us back to that week 50 years ago, with a new way to use fiber optics to collect data that had required many sensors, wires, and battery packs. The Fiber Optic Sensing System (FOSS) uses fiber optics in a device the size of a cookie box to collect data from thousands of points in an aircraft, but NASA is already working with health care, dairies, and beverage producers to use the technology in other industries. It seems that more than just phone calls will use those laser cut strands, so will surgeons, cheesemakers, and brewers. And where was this developed? At the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, of course – named after the guy who help us all take that one giant leap 50 years ago.
If you missed out on the specials that aired on TV and streaming services last week, or just want to know more about the moon landing, the Apollo program, NASA, or space in general, try these items in our collection:
Apollo 11 (Blu-Ray and DVD) This documentary was released earlier this year and was created using thousands of hours of newly discovered audio and video recordings, giving it a unique twist compared to the many other documentaries and specials related to the moon landing.NASA Mission AS-506 Apollo 11, 1969 by Christopher Riley. This is truly a geeky title, as it is part of the Haynes Owners Workshop Manual Series, which is a line of manuals for repairing cars and major appliances. The manual covers the mechanical and technical aspects of the hardware used during the mission, including the Saturn V rocket, command module, and LEM).
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly and movie adaptation. NASA estimated it took over 400,000 people to land two men on the moon in 1969. Before computers were used to calculate the complex math needed to even launch the rocket, NASA employed a group of African-American women to handle the computations needed by the engineers. Katherine Johnson was one of these human computers and later worked on Apollo, specifically mapping the trajectory used by Apollo 11.
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe and movie adaptation. Wolfe captured the dawn of NASA's manned space program in this detailed look at the Mercury project that started with seven astronauts who not only were the first Americans to go into orbit, but stayed active into the Space Shuttle years.
Infinite Wonder by Scott Kelly. Kelly spent a year on the International Space Station and took plenty of photographs while he was in orbit. His favorites are collected in this oversized book that features a stunning look at the Universe from 250 feet above the Earth.
- Laura N., Information Technology
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