Mission Control watching Apollo 11, forty years ago today. (More here)
Launch control team member Jerry Croley writes, “We were listening to Vice President Spiro Agnew, who gave us a pep talk about an hour after the launch. I was stationed at console BE-17 with call sign C2HU. This was the SII LH Propellant Tanking Computer System, the controller that kept the LH level at the correct Flight Mass specified for the mission. It simply monitored the level through a capacitance probe and added LH as the LH evaporated following the filling by the Propellants section and through pressurization, after which there was no boil off. Our section was an Elec section working alongside the Mechs who managed the tank farms and overall propellant handling. (In the photo), I am standing on the edge of the A level in front of the A level consoles (the side away from the window). Unfortunately, I cannot recognize any of the people from row BE.” Deke Slayton, in a dark shirt with no tie, is six from the right in the second row, and Alan Shepard is next but one to Slayton’s right. Kipp Teague notes that the clocks on the wall show Local (time) 10:25, Projected Launch (time) 9:32, and Accumulated Hold 12:00 (meaning ‘none’. “As evidenced by the clocks, the photo was taken 53 mionutes after liftoff.” 16 July 1969.
