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Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how

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Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with

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Speaker 1: How Stuff Works and love all things tech. And it's Friday.

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Speaker 1: That means it's time for another classic episode of tech Stuff.

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Speaker 1: This episode published July two thousand eleven, when we were

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Speaker 1: also young and bright eyed. This episode features Chris Pallette,

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Speaker 1: my co host and editor at the time, and we

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Speaker 1: talk about NASA's mission control I thought this was a

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Speaker 1: good episode to include here since we did that whole

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Speaker 1: suite of space episodes a couple of months ago, and

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Speaker 1: this ties into that NASA's mission control absolutely is one

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Speaker 1: of the most important elements when it comes to the

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Speaker 1: United States space program. So sit back and enjoy this

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Speaker 1: classic episode and I'll talk to you again in just

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Speaker 1: a moment. We're gonna talk today about mission control center

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Speaker 1: with NASA, and specifically the mission control center associated with

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Speaker 1: Shuttle missions. Seeing as how the final Space Shuttle mission

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Speaker 1: UH launched, well, we're recording this podcast before the launch,

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Speaker 1: but it should publish after that launch. We wanted to

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Speaker 1: kind of talk about the the stuff that goes on

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Speaker 1: on the ground, not necessarily the stuff that's going on

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Speaker 1: inside the orbiter itself. I said, launch, not launch. Sorry

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Speaker 1: if you can, if you can identify that quote. UM, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we Uh. When Jonathan and I were talking about doing

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Speaker 1: the episode on the Space Shuttle, UM, as we do

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Speaker 1: with some of the complex topics, we decide, you know,

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Speaker 1: to at least have an idea where we're gonna go

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Speaker 1: with the research. And even before we started doing the research,

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Speaker 1: we figured that this was going to be complex enough

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Speaker 1: that we would have to break it down, and we

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Speaker 1: decided to do an episode specific quicially on mission control because, um,

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Speaker 1: it's not just the astronauts inside the Space Shuttle who

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Speaker 1: are paying attention to everything that's going on in the

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Speaker 1: spacecraft during the mission. I mean, it's of course there

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Speaker 1: they have to sleep. Um, they have a lot of

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Speaker 1: things to do. They've got science to do. Um. They

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Speaker 1: have they have to prove the cake is a lie,

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Speaker 1: extra vehit extra vehicular activity to perform. Um. They have

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Speaker 1: things to deploy in space um so and spots to

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Speaker 1: record for sesame street occasionally some of those occasionally they

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Speaker 1: have to sing yes, shout out to our parent company.

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Speaker 1: But but yeah, I mean there's there's a lot for

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Speaker 1: them to do, and uh, you know, somebody has to

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Speaker 1: be keeping an eye on the on the shop. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and we cuver some of this material on how stuff

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Speaker 1: works dot Com in an article called how NASA Works,

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Speaker 1: But that's really kind of an overview of the agency.

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Speaker 1: We wanted to talk specifically about mission control, and before

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Speaker 1: we get too far into this, we should probably talk

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Speaker 1: about where mission control is because if you're watching a launch,

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Speaker 1: you may be seeing shots of this, uh group of

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Speaker 1: people all wearing a nice suits and they're all sitting

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Speaker 1: at different consoles and they all looked very busy, and um,

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Speaker 1: the odds are that you're actually looking at the Kennedy

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Speaker 1: Space Center and they do launch control. They have a

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Speaker 1: launch control center there at Kennedy, but that is not

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Speaker 1: mission control. Mission control is actually located in Houston, as

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Speaker 1: you know immortalized in the phrase Houston, we have a problem. Uh.

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Speaker 1: That's specifically talking about the mission control center at the

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Speaker 1: Johnson's Space Center in Houston, Texas. Yes, and no, that

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Speaker 1: is not the quote used in the movie. Was not

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Speaker 1: exactly what was said. No, no, but of course right,

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Speaker 1: But just like playing against Sam was never actually said

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Speaker 1: in Casablanca. Um, it actually was said in sits in

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Speaker 1: King so but no, yeah, that's that's those the people

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Speaker 1: who who in Apollo thirteen, And we actually kind of

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Speaker 1: saw what was going on in mission control, even though

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Speaker 1: it was a you know, I guess it's safe to

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Speaker 1: say it was fictionalized to kind of a real event,

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Speaker 1: although not terribly fictionalized compared to some others. I would

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Speaker 1: guess right, it was more it tried to stay true

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Speaker 1: to the actual unfolding of the the emergency more so

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Speaker 1: than a lot of other movies did. But even so,

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Speaker 1: there was some traumatization going on there. Well you have

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Speaker 1: to it's but but yeah, I mean, if you've seen

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Speaker 1: the movie, you probably have a somewhat reasonable idea of

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Speaker 1: what the people are doing in that center. They're trying

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Speaker 1: to main maintain communications. They're trying to figure out what's

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Speaker 1: going on with the telemetry, uh, you know, keeping an

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Speaker 1: eye on where the ship is going, mooring the various systems,

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Speaker 1: making sure everything's okay, and in the song quoted before,

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Speaker 1: their just making sure everything's okay with the people up

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Speaker 1: in space. So let's Chris and I both looked at

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Speaker 1: an illustration of the mission Control Center to kind of

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Speaker 1: break it down and see exactly what it looks like

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Speaker 1: and what people are doing there. And we thought we

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Speaker 1: would be kind of interesting to talk to you and

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Speaker 1: guide you through the mission control room. Now, if you

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Speaker 1: were to look at the room, yeah, if you're just

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Speaker 1: like taking a tour walking around, you would see either

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Speaker 1: all these big desks with consoles at them, and at

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Speaker 1: one end of the room are a bunch of monitors,

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Speaker 1: big monitors, and those monitors are showing things like video

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Speaker 1: feeds from the shuttle as well as just lots and

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Speaker 1: lots of data and uh. And so we wanted to

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Speaker 1: kind of talk to you about what these uh, these

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Speaker 1: consoles were in their purpose and what the officers who

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Speaker 1: sit at these consoles do. And we're kind of taking you, like,

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Speaker 1: if you imagine this big room with monitors. At one

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Speaker 1: end of the room, the room has a five rows

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Speaker 1: of stations. Okay, the first row has three stations across

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Speaker 1: and the other four rows have four stations across. So

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Speaker 1: what we're going to do is we're going to go

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Speaker 1: from the end that has the monitors. That's the end

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Speaker 1: that has the three stations in front of it. That's

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Speaker 1: the first row and we're going to go from left

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Speaker 1: to right, and then we're gonna go down a row

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Speaker 1: left or right, and down a row left or right,

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Speaker 1: and just explain what each of those stations are meant

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Speaker 1: to do. And so Chris, I think you were going

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Speaker 1: to take the first one. We're just gonna kind of

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Speaker 1: alternate all the way down. Yeah. That the first person

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Speaker 1: and sitting on the front and you know that's a

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Speaker 1: terrible place to sit if you're watching a movie. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but this isn't a movie. Far left in the front row,

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Speaker 1: I got that cricket, the guy with a cricket his neck. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's how I saw Lord of the Rings, the felloship

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Speaker 1: of the Ring, and it was tough. Well, the person

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Speaker 1: in in in that corner of the room is uh,

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Speaker 1: the flight dynamics officer. Now I should point out there's

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of information on NASA's website about this

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Speaker 1: and each person, uh, they have a lot of code.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're talking about extra vehicular activity or e

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Speaker 1: v A, and everybody else calls it spacewalk. Um. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So every console has a function and there are three

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Speaker 1: they're actually three shifts that work nine hours. Three teams

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Speaker 1: work nine hour shifts. So um, basically, the console has

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Speaker 1: a name, and there's a person an officer that works

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Speaker 1: at console for and we'll talk about the different missions

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Speaker 1: because some of them don't use all these officers. But

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Speaker 1: and you will see labels on these consoles, and the

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Speaker 1: labels are usually an abbreviation or some initials that stand

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Speaker 1: for whatever the console actually does up. And when we

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Speaker 1: talk talking about three shifts of people, they're typically around

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Speaker 1: twenty people working in the flight control center during a

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Speaker 1: typical Space Shuttle flight. NASA says about fifty on a

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Speaker 1: team of all of every you know, every who's on there,

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Speaker 1: right right, so, so different shifts exactly, you've got around,

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Speaker 1: on average, around twenty people working in that room during

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Speaker 1: a spatial flight at any particular time during that flight.

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Speaker 1: We should also stress that this is specifically space shuttles.

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Speaker 1: There's a totally different mission control center for the International

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Speaker 1: Space Station and it has a different group, similar similar stations,

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Speaker 1: like similar consoles to the one that's on the Space Shuttle,

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Speaker 1: but a different set up as far as the team goes.

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Speaker 1: And and uh fewer people are in the flight control

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Speaker 1: room for the International Space Station at any given time

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Speaker 1: than on a Space shuttle mission. Yeah, but each console

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Speaker 1: has a name and so and and a call sign.

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Speaker 1: Uh if you've seen I'm sorry, I'm to go to

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Speaker 1: the movies again. The most famous example I could think

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Speaker 1: of a call sign is top Gun, where everybody has

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Speaker 1: an essentially a nickname. But this is not not necessarily

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Speaker 1: a nickname, but it's what everybody calls. So if Steve

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Speaker 1: is on the console, you know, in the morning shift,

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Speaker 1: and Jennifers on the console in the afternoon shift, they

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Speaker 1: still have the same call sign because it's actually the

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Speaker 1: station that they refer to, right, not the person, But

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Speaker 1: the station doesn't matter. Who's there. That person is filling

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Speaker 1: that Yeah, so like dynamics officer yes, and call signed

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Speaker 1: Fido who and that person plans the ship's maneuvers and

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Speaker 1: is watching its trajectory. Um, there's another person that keeps

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Speaker 1: track of that to the guidance officer. Um. But but

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Speaker 1: the Fido is up there in the the bottom left

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Speaker 1: hand corner if you're looking at the screens. Yeah. So, um,

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Speaker 1: so you've got that. If you move over one station,

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Speaker 1: you have a console that actually could have one of

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Speaker 1: two different officers working there, depending upon what's going on.

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Speaker 1: In that spatial mission at the time. UH, there's the

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Speaker 1: Rendezvous Guidance and Procedures Officer also known just as Rendezvous UM,

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Speaker 1: and that job is to support the Shuttle mission whenever

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Speaker 1: they are going to have to dock with an other

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Speaker 1: vehicle or with the space station, or perhaps they're coming

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Speaker 1: up to do repairs for example on the Hubble telescope.

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Speaker 1: Anytime the Shuttle is coming into close proximity with another

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Speaker 1: vehicle or satellite or anything like that. UM, this officer

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Speaker 1: is there to help support the Shuttle's crew and UH

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Speaker 1: and give information and guidance when the Shuttle is going

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Speaker 1: through those sort of maneuvers. Now, in other situations that

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Speaker 1: you might find the ascent slash Intrigue Guidance and Procedures Officer,

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Speaker 1: they're known as guidance. Now. This is the person who

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Speaker 1: is helping again with navigation issues specifically during the the

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Speaker 1: the ascent and descent UH phases of a Shuttle mission.

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Speaker 1: So when the Shuttle is either entering orbit or is

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Speaker 1: getting ready to re enter the atmosphere YEP and UM.

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Speaker 1: Also that person keeps track of any possibility that they

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Speaker 1: need to abort, so they're they're UM, you know, keeping

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Speaker 1: a close eye on those kinds of situations. UM. The

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Speaker 1: next person is the ground controller anything that would affect hardware,

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Speaker 1: software or support UM. With regard to the facilities UM.

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Speaker 1: Also UH, this person coordinates the ground space Flight Tracking

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Speaker 1: and Data Network and the tracking and data relay satellite

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Speaker 1: system along with Goddard Space Flight Center, which is in

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Speaker 1: Maryland by the way. So I talked about Houston and Florida,

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Speaker 1: but we didn't talk about Maryland. Yeah, NASA has a

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Speaker 1: number of facilities all over the country UM and and

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Speaker 1: other stations that they work with with countries around the

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Speaker 1: world to keep track of what's going on with the shuttle.

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Speaker 1: So UM, even though there may be on a given

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Speaker 1: mission up to seven people in the shuttle, there are

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Speaker 1: a whole lot more people on the ground watching out

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Speaker 1: for them. So let's go back a row. So we

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Speaker 1: moved back toward the the UH far left. UM, we're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk about the propulsion officer also prop pr op UM.

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Speaker 1: The propulsion officer's job is to keep an eye on

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Speaker 1: the reaction control and orbital maneuvering system UH that's on

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Speaker 1: the Space Shuttle. Now, this is all the little jets

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Speaker 1: and the propellants that are used by the Space Shuttle

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Speaker 1: to make maneuvers in orbit or to get into orbit

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Speaker 1: or out of orbit. UM. So that's that's that officer's

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Speaker 1: job is to keep an eye on all those systems

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Speaker 1: and to provide guidance to the shuttle crew. Yeah. And

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Speaker 1: speaking of guidance, UM, the next person is guidance Navigation

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Speaker 1: and Control systems also known as g n C watching

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Speaker 1: the the guidance navigation and control systems UH. He or

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Speaker 1: she would be in contact with the flight director and

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Speaker 1: crew any time that something again would require aboarding the

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Speaker 1: mission UM. And this I assume could mean any time

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Speaker 1: rather than UM. You know, the guidance officers watching specifically

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Speaker 1: on launch and landing. This would be any time you

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Speaker 1: need to UH cut out and go home. UM. Or

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Speaker 1: any time the not the guidance hardware might be not

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Speaker 1: working correctly. Yes, so that this would be the eyes

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Speaker 1: on the ground to help guide the shuttle. Let's say

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Speaker 1: that the guidance systems aboard the shuttle for some reason

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Speaker 1: or malfunctioning, perhaps a gyroscope is not is not turning properly. UM.

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Speaker 1: The this officer would be the person who would help

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Speaker 1: guide the shuttle crew into maneuvering the shuttle so that

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Speaker 1: it was going the right way for whatever operation they

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Speaker 1: needed to perform at that point, most likely coming home. Next,

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Speaker 1: we have the Maintenance Mechanical arm and Crew Systems Officer

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Speaker 1: or Max m M a c. S. Butts pronounced Max um.

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Speaker 1: The This is a person who looks at the shuttles

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Speaker 1: structural mechanical systems to make sure that everything is is nominal.

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Speaker 1: So the also monitors all the equipment, maintenance, and hardware

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Speaker 1: use aboard the shuttle. So this is the guy who

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Speaker 1: tells the astronauts to put up their toys when they're

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Speaker 1: done playing sexual a little more obviously much more serious

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Speaker 1: than that, but clearly this this is the person who

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Speaker 1: is trying to make sure that that all the procedures

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Speaker 1: are followed aboard the shuttle to make sure everything is

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Speaker 1: stowed away properly and is used the way it was

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Speaker 1: meant to be used and turned off and all that

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Speaker 1: kind of stuff, because clearly anything that's out of the

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Speaker 1: ordinary could potentially cause a major problem with such a

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Speaker 1: complex mission. Um. Yes, and a lot of jokes. I'm

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Speaker 1: sure like, no, my name is not Max, it's Steve. Yeah. Um.

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Speaker 1: Now they're known for a lot of joking in the

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Speaker 1: Mission Control center. Maybe when it's all over with Hey, guys,

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Speaker 1: we have more to talk about with NASA's mission control system,

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Speaker 1: but first let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor.

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Speaker 1: Next is Eagle, the Electrical Generation and Illumination Officer, and

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Speaker 1: this person is keeping an eye on the electrical systems, cryogenics,

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Speaker 1: fuel cells, A C and d C power circuits. Both

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Speaker 1: Edison and Tesla are represented um vehicle pyrotechnics and lighting.

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Speaker 1: Actually that always makes me think of rock bands. Yeah

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Speaker 1: when I read that, well, you already talked about e C,

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Speaker 1: d C two and uh any caution and warning systems

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Speaker 1: that might be going on. So yeah, alright, time to

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Speaker 1: move move back another row. So moving back another road

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Speaker 1: to this is row three. If you're keeping track, we're

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Speaker 1: back back over to the far left. We have the

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Speaker 1: Data Processing System Officer DPS, who looks monitors the status

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Speaker 1: of the the onboard computer systems on the shuttle. Now,

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Speaker 1: if you've listened to our Shuttle episode, you know that

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Speaker 1: we mentioned briefly that there are five on board computer systems.

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Speaker 1: It's this officer's job to monitor those systems make sure

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Speaker 1: that they are working properly that there is not any

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Speaker 1: sort of malfunction in those systems. UM. They also look

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Speaker 1: at other computer systems that are related to the mission,

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Speaker 1: including the function display system. So that's his job or

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Speaker 1: her tob Yeah. The payload's officer is next, UM, which

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Speaker 1: is just called payload. Yeah. They drop an S. That's

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Speaker 1: that's how they abbreviate that that console as they dropped

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Speaker 1: the S to payload. I see they don't. They don't

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Speaker 1: get cool U nicknami call signs, at least not most

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Speaker 1: of them, UM like they do in the in the movies. UM. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: that that person coordinates the both the ground system and

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Speaker 1: the onboard shuttle UH system interfaces, so the flight control

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Speaker 1: team and payload user are in contact with another with

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Speaker 1: one another and UM. Payload also keeps an eye on

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Speaker 1: the in cabin and cargo based system experiments and satellites. UM.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean you've got those great big bay

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Speaker 1: doors and stuff comes out of them. That's who knows

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Speaker 1: what's going on with that. It's the main purpose for

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Speaker 1: the Space Shuttle is to be able to deliver payloads

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Speaker 1: to space. So like a giant cargo up. UH. Next,

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Speaker 1: we have a console where again, two different officers could

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Speaker 1: be operating this console depending upon what is going on

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Speaker 1: in the Space Shuttle mission at that time. You have

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Speaker 1: the Flight Activities Officer or f AO. I like to

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Speaker 1: call him Schwartz. Uh, the Flight Activities officers so nice.

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Speaker 1: I'm a big, big fan of f AO. So the

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Speaker 1: Flight Activities Officer is their job is to to kind

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Speaker 1: of be a support for the the shuttle crew. Uh.

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Speaker 1: They maintain checklists and procedures and schedules. So whenever you

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Speaker 1: you see a launch or you over here like the

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Speaker 1: the recordings from um missions and you hear the Shuttle

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Speaker 1: crew going down a checklist, this is the person who

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Speaker 1: on the ground is also going through that same checklist

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Speaker 1: to make sure that everything is checked off whenever they're

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Speaker 1: doing any sort of procedure. UM. They also manage the

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Speaker 1: shuttle orientation, so how it is oriented, uh in relation

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Speaker 1: to the Earth or to really anything else, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's some other point of reference. And then the other

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Speaker 1: officer who works at that console, depending upon what's going on,

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Speaker 1: is the Visiting Vehicles Officer or vv O. And uh,

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Speaker 1: sometimes the Shuttle has to interact with other vehicles like

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Speaker 1: Russian vehicles or perhaps the Internet, National Space, slower moving

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Speaker 1: ones or slower moving ones UM, and so the the

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Speaker 1: Visiting Vehicles officer is the person who monitors that connection

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Speaker 1: whenever the shuttle is is docked with another vehicle or

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Speaker 1: the I S S UM the that's that's that officer's job.

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Speaker 1: So a little bit different from the navigation officer. They're

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Speaker 1: they're not necessarily helping the shuttle maneuver next to those

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Speaker 1: They're just monitoring whenever that connection is made because clearly,

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Speaker 1: you know you're sharing an UM airlock connection. You want

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Speaker 1: to make sure that everything is UH is still stable

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Speaker 1: during that whole process. Yes, So next we have the

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Speaker 1: Emergency Environmental and Consumables Yes, Operations Manager EE calm, Yes

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Speaker 1: that would Yeah, UM is UH and that person UH

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Speaker 1: is responsible for the active and passive thermal control of

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Speaker 1: the vehicle according to NASA UM and the cabin atmosphere control,

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Speaker 1: so like, hey, you know, can you turn down the

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Speaker 1: thermostat could you get a little some of this carbon

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Speaker 1: dioxide out of our atmosphere? Really avionics, cooling supply and

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Speaker 1: wastewater systems and fire detection and suppression systems, so really

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Speaker 1: you can think of this, this officer is being in

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Speaker 1: UH in charge of monitoring life support systems basic shut Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but see that would be too easy to say and

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Speaker 1: would sound too much like TV, so they had to

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Speaker 1: call it something obscure. But yeah, whenever we talk about

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Speaker 1: life support systems, this is the officer in charge of

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Speaker 1: making sure everything is is running in the right parameters.

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Speaker 1: So now it's time to move of another row back

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Speaker 1: and back over to the far left. We've got the

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Speaker 1: Instrumentation and Communications Officer inco I n c OH. This

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00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:15,280
Speaker 1: person monitors the communications systems and instrumentation systems systems configuration

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Speaker 1: aboard the shuttle. Um. They're also the one who controls

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Speaker 1: the shuttle television systems from the ground. So the shuttle

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Speaker 1: crew wants to watch Phineas and Ferb and this guy's like, no, no, no,

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Speaker 1: you're going to be watching. Actually, I don't think that's

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Speaker 1: exactly how that works, but I thought it was funny.

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Speaker 1: But no. Yeah, they controlled the television systems aboard the

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Speaker 1: Space Shuttle from the ground, so there they work very

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Speaker 1: closely with the public relations officer as well as other

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Speaker 1: members of the flight control team. Yeah. I bet, although

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Speaker 1: I didn't read this, I bet that this person is

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Speaker 1: also the one who's responsible for playing the wake up song,

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Speaker 1: which is now sort of semi famous part of a

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Speaker 1: shuttle be kind of a tradition right where you've got this. Uh,

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Speaker 1: each each member of a shuttle crew gets to choose

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Speaker 1: a song that will be played at a particular time

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Speaker 1: to to signal it's time to wake up and do science. Yes. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so I guess I got lucky because I got the

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Speaker 1: head of all of this and then on this row.

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Speaker 1: So this person see again, it's sort of the middle

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Speaker 1: of the theater, you can see everything. It's a good seat.

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Speaker 1: It's a flag director, and uh, that person leads the

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Speaker 1: flight control team. This person is responsible for basically all

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Speaker 1: of this, uh, the overall mission and payload operations, any

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Speaker 1: decisions that would impact the safe and successful conduct of

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Speaker 1: the mission. Um so, actually the flight director has another

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Speaker 1: responsibility you know you might expect with all this sophisticated

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Speaker 1: computer equipment, that has to do with the seven people

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Speaker 1: in space living are dying and you know, on a

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Speaker 1: more sad but real note, the expensive space shuttle. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you know in space that you want to protect. Uh,

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Speaker 1: they are allowed to bring food and drink inside mission control. Um, well,

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Speaker 1: I mean they only get five to ten minute breaks

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Speaker 1: every ninety minutes, so with you know, shift between eight

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Speaker 1: and twelve hours, Yes, they would need to do this.

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Speaker 1: So an Assa says that the flight controller um takes

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Speaker 1: a day and UH is responsible for choosing a cuisine

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Speaker 1: to buy for everybody in there, so um, he actually

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Speaker 1: has to do that as well. So I guess if

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Speaker 1: you're in charge, you get to pick what everyone else

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Speaker 1: will eat on their celebratory kind of makes you wonder

380
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Speaker 1: if if he's like, okay, so who here likes pepperoni

381
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Speaker 1: and there piece? Fine? Fine, all right, no, no, Johnson,

382
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Speaker 1: I told you we're not putting ham and pineapple on

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Speaker 1: all the pizza exactly. It's like, well, it is my

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Speaker 1: space center. Um, so do you make me turn this

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Speaker 1: mission around? Yeah? I mean serious as they are, they

386
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Speaker 1: do get to have a little fun in the fly

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Speaker 1: director does have that does get to UH to buy

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Speaker 1: when it's time for dinner once. Apparently it just happens once.

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Speaker 1: That's good. Still, that's pretty cool. Yeah. So so next

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Speaker 1: next to the flight director on the other side is

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Speaker 1: the spacecraft communicator or capcom. And you might think, why

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Speaker 1: is it called capcom when it's the actual name of

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Speaker 1: the consoles, the Spacecraft Communicator. Well, it's because they really

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Speaker 1: love playing Resident Evil. And you know, Resident Evil was

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Speaker 1: made by Capcom, so real those big screens. It's true

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Speaker 1: that it's true that Capcom makes Resident Evil. That's the

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Speaker 1: only true part of that statement though, So why is

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Speaker 1: it called Capcom. Well, it's because back in the day

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Speaker 1: when when the earliest space flights were manned, space flights

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Speaker 1: were being tested, the first capsule they were using was

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Speaker 1: the Mercury Capsule, so it was Capsule Communication. Well, the

402
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:00,239
Speaker 1: shuttle is not a capsule, it's a spacecraft. So they

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Speaker 1: changed the name of the console to Spacecraft Communicator, but

404
00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 1: they did not change the call sign, which it still

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Speaker 1: remains Capcom. By the way, you're wondering if there is

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Speaker 1: any other connection with Capcom the video game company, I

407
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Speaker 1: am sad to inform you there is not. The Capcom

408
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Speaker 1: video game Company takes its name from a predecessor of

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Speaker 1: that company, the Japan Capsule Computer Company Limited, which you know,

410
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Speaker 1: you just take Capsule computer and you squish that to Capcom.

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Speaker 1: It's not the same thing as the one that's in

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Speaker 1: um uh NASA's mission control. Now what are they doing? Well,

413
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Speaker 1: there there may They serve as the primary communication point

414
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Speaker 1: between flight control and the shuttle itself. That's their job.

415
00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:51,200
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and uh, spot Colm just doesn't sound as

416
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Speaker 1: coolm No, spake calm No, that's what you do with

417
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Speaker 1: your pets. So next we have the PDRs, the Payload,

418
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Speaker 1: Deployment and Retrievals STEMS officer who is watching the operation

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Speaker 1: of the remote manipulator system. Yeah, the robotic arm NASA.

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Speaker 1: You know, they've got to have a fancy name for everything,

421
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Speaker 1: and I think that's kind of cool. But at the

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Speaker 1: same time, it's just easier to say a robotic arm. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is the guy who can take over control and

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Speaker 1: make the robotic arm give a big thumbs up to

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Speaker 1: the earth. Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you

426
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Speaker 1: hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? This is all

427
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,280
Speaker 1: lies too, but no, it is true that that is

428
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,080
Speaker 1: that is the officer's job is to monitor the operation

429
00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:32,520
Speaker 1: of the robotic arm. Now, clearly you might say, well,

430
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,640
Speaker 1: you know you've got the shuttle crew up there that's

431
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,240
Speaker 1: actively operating the robotic arm. Why do you need someone

432
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,560
Speaker 1: else keeping their eyes on this? Well, remember that this

433
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 1: robotic arm is manipulating equipment that costs billions with a

434
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:51,840
Speaker 1: B dollars. So you're using this arm to help position satellites,

435
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:54,280
Speaker 1: to maybe retrieve a satellite that needs to be brought

436
00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:57,760
Speaker 1: back down because it's going to either require repairs or

437
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,560
Speaker 1: even just needs to be taken down because otherwise it's

438
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,680
Speaker 1: going to crash into the Earth and and you might

439
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,679
Speaker 1: want to try and salvage some parts first. Um, it

440
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:13,399
Speaker 1: may be helping install new pieces of the International Space Station.

441
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,240
Speaker 1: So you know that's it's an important, important job, which

442
00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:19,080
Speaker 1: is why you have to have an extra set of

443
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,119
Speaker 1: eyes on any kind of operation that's going to involve that.

444
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,119
Speaker 1: So now we finally gutten to the last row of

445
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,800
Speaker 1: the the mission control center. On the blast row on

446
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:34,000
Speaker 1: the far left, you have the Public Affairs Officer p

447
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:38,160
Speaker 1: a O. These days to the Moon you go. That's

448
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:42,760
Speaker 1: where it comes from. And uh, the Public Affairs officers

449
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:47,560
Speaker 1: job is to provide mission commentary and also to explain

450
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:50,359
Speaker 1: any sort of transmissions that are going between the shuttle

451
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:56,240
Speaker 1: and ground control. UM. Primarily this person interfaces with either

452
00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 1: the general public or more commonly, the the press. So

453
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:03,680
Speaker 1: this is someone who is able to break these things

454
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:08,760
Speaker 1: down and explain in normal person speak what the transmissions mean,

455
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:11,280
Speaker 1: because you know, we might overhear some transmissions and you

456
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,000
Speaker 1: can kind of piece together what's going on, but this

457
00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:16,159
Speaker 1: is the person who can really give it context and

458
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:19,359
Speaker 1: explain why it's important. Yeah, if you watch a NASA

459
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:24,600
Speaker 1: launch there, I'm I'm interpolating from all of this, there's

460
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,240
Speaker 1: a public affairs officer or someone who fills that role.

461
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,680
Speaker 1: Let's let's say that on on the launch control team

462
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,159
Speaker 1: as well, because you'll hear, you know, you'll hear the

463
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,639
Speaker 1: person the people in the control center, you know, with

464
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,640
Speaker 1: a very somber, very serious you know, you know, so

465
00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:42,359
Speaker 1: and so this and then the other thing like that

466
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,879
Speaker 1: he minus five minutes and waiting and like we're holding

467
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,320
Speaker 1: the launch at five minutes in order to blah blah

468
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 1: blah blah blah, so and and so this. This person

469
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,879
Speaker 1: will do this for the mission overall. But yeah, that

470
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,439
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I would launch control centers the officer

471
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:01,160
Speaker 1: as well. Yes, I I agree. That's again based upon

472
00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 1: what I've inferred from the information I've received as well.

473
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 1: The next person, um is a holdover from the sixties,

474
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:14,840
Speaker 1: the modes. Uh No, I'm kidding. The Mission Operations Directorate

475
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:19,959
Speaker 1: groovy dude, that's the person who uh serves as an

476
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:23,960
Speaker 1: intermediary between the flight control room and the top NASA

477
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:28,520
Speaker 1: and mission managers. Um so yeah, basically a public affairs

478
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:31,879
Speaker 1: officers specifically to the top brass at NASA. Yeah, so

479
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:36,080
Speaker 1: you know you it's this way you've maintained a line

480
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:40,240
Speaker 1: of communication that does not interfere with anyone else's specific duties.

481
00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:43,400
Speaker 1: Because clearly, if you are in a big team and

482
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:49,040
Speaker 1: you have a boss who is overseeing the overall operations

483
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:53,480
Speaker 1: but is not directly involved in the day to day operations,

484
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 1: it would be very distracting to have that person walk

485
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:57,600
Speaker 1: from desk to desk and say, hey, what you doing.

486
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,080
Speaker 1: So this is this is sort of their way of

487
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,800
Speaker 1: controlling that line of communication. What are you doing? What

488
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,080
Speaker 1: are you doing? What are you doing? And then next

489
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 1: we have another one of those consoles where we have

490
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 1: a rotating cast of characters that use it, Hey, could

491
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,320
Speaker 1: you get your elbow out of my coffee? They don't

492
00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 1: all use it at the same time. It all depends

493
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,880
Speaker 1: upon what the mission is. So one of the potential

494
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,960
Speaker 1: officers at that position is the Russian interface operator. This

495
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:26,240
Speaker 1: is clearly whenever NASA is going to have a mission

496
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:33,479
Speaker 1: that will also involve Russian cosmonauts or the Russian space centers. Uh.

497
00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 1: This is a person who can say no and dah

498
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 1: dah and and then direction is limited. Yeah, yeah, I

499
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 1: have Novia Da, Borsh, Pravda and does Vidnia. Alright, that's

500
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: about all I've got, um, but yeah, presumably the Russian

501
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 1: Interface officer speaks more than that. I would hope, yes,

502
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:03,560
Speaker 1: I would as well. Houston, we have a sponsor read

503
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:05,720
Speaker 1: that's just my way of saying, we're gonna take a

504
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:17,960
Speaker 1: quick break for another sponsor break. The Booster Systems Officer

505
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:21,640
Speaker 1: also just known as booster uh. This is a person

506
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 1: who monitors the launch systems during pre launching all the

507
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 1: way through the ascent of the Shuttle. So this is

508
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:30,080
Speaker 1: again someone who has a counterpart at the Kennedy Space Center.

509
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,760
Speaker 1: I would imagine if I had probably several counterparts, because

510
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:36,040
Speaker 1: that is their primary function is to oversee the launches.

511
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:38,800
Speaker 1: So this is the person of mission control who who

512
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,880
Speaker 1: keeps an eye on that as well. That's back at Houston.

513
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:45,600
Speaker 1: And then finally you have the Extra vehicular Systems Officer

514
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:47,959
Speaker 1: or e v A, and this is the person who

515
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,560
Speaker 1: monitors the astronauts during any sort of extra vehicular activity,

516
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:57,960
Speaker 1: including spacewalks. Yes, um, I would also have been whomever

517
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,920
Speaker 1: would monitor the astronauts who are on the moon during

518
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 1: the Apollo missions. But of course Shuttle missions could not

519
00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:07,040
Speaker 1: go to the moon. The Shuttle was not designed to

520
00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:09,320
Speaker 1: go to the moon. So in this case, extra vehicular

521
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,080
Speaker 1: does really mean spacewalks. It also wasn't designed to land

522
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:17,160
Speaker 1: on asteroids, that's right. Um. Yeah. That that person also,

523
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,600
Speaker 1: I find this kind of interesting. This person also keeps

524
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:23,480
Speaker 1: an eye on the how the space suits are functioning, um,

525
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:25,440
Speaker 1: which is kind of interesting too, because it's not just

526
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,160
Speaker 1: you know, hey, okay out there, you know, don't forget

527
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,479
Speaker 1: your hat. It's also you know, is your hat working?

528
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:37,280
Speaker 1: Are are the environmental controls within your space suit functioning properly? Yeah?

529
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,160
Speaker 1: And yeah, this is serious, serious stuff here. It's no

530
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 1: clearly you want to have extra eyes on that as well. Yeah,

531
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 1: and you also that person also keeps track of what

532
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:50,800
Speaker 1: you're what the astronauts are doing on their spacewalk because

533
00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:54,000
Speaker 1: they've trained extensively for this mission, and the saying okay,

534
00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:56,640
Speaker 1: are you doing everything that you need to do? Are

535
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,120
Speaker 1: having trouble with your space suit. On a side note,

536
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:04,600
Speaker 1: I cannot comprehend the level of courage and confidence that

537
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:07,400
Speaker 1: would require to do a spacewalk. It is it is

538
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:12,000
Speaker 1: so far beyond my my ability to even imagine. It's

539
00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:15,080
Speaker 1: just it's phenomenal. Well, they put their lives at risk

540
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:19,840
Speaker 1: for science, and I find that admirable. Yeah, certainly. Um. Lastly,

541
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 1: we had the doc Bones in the back of the room.

542
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 1: The surgeon is watching crew health and surgeons call sign

543
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:34,520
Speaker 1: surgeon yeah, yeah, not bones. Yeah. I know, it's just

544
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:38,200
Speaker 1: more fun to say, Um, this person. Uh. The surgeon

545
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 1: is consulting with the crew, making sure the flight director

546
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:46,040
Speaker 1: knows if there's any health issue that might affect the mission. Um,

547
00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:49,480
Speaker 1: and uh the person Basically, they have to have a

548
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 1: medical doctor in who is specializing in aerospace medicine. UM.

549
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:59,160
Speaker 1: Talk about a specialization in the field. Um. And any

550
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 1: time that their weight not likely to do house calls. UM.

551
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:08,720
Speaker 1: There are other people, biomedical engineers or bams who know

552
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,960
Speaker 1: what they you know, know the necessary bits and pieces

553
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,400
Speaker 1: from medical kits and systems on board the shuttle that

554
00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:17,960
Speaker 1: keep an eye on the mission around the clock when

555
00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:20,400
Speaker 1: the astronauts are asleep. But a surgeon has to be

556
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:24,880
Speaker 1: on duty while they are awake. UM. There's a team

557
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,479
Speaker 1: actually a crewisurgeon, deputy crew surgeon, and a bame mission

558
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:32,800
Speaker 1: manager according to NASA. UM, and they handle the the

559
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 1: aspects of the flight. UM. And there are extra people

560
00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:38,560
Speaker 1: who are there while the main team is away from

561
00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:42,200
Speaker 1: mission control during the launch and landing of the Shuttle. Now, UM,

562
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:45,280
Speaker 1: it is important to note that this really is accounts

563
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:48,960
Speaker 1: for only ten percent of these people's jobs. Really. UM.

564
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:53,480
Speaker 1: They spend about training UM and you know on the

565
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:57,960
Speaker 1: Shuttle simulators at Johnson Space Center. UM. And the other

566
00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:03,120
Speaker 1: of the time, uh, the mission control team works on

567
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:06,800
Speaker 1: planning and organizing the missions. UH. So they're they're really

568
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,600
Speaker 1: it's not like mission control walks into the room when

569
00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 1: it's time to take over from the launch control team

570
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,040
Speaker 1: and runs the mission and then they go home and

571
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:18,440
Speaker 1: spend the rest of their time on vacation until six

572
00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:21,280
Speaker 1: months later when they're needed for another mission. They they

573
00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 1: are very involved with all aspects of the Shuttle mission. Training.

574
00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:31,080
Speaker 1: They know with the the specific science projects they're working

575
00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:34,240
Speaker 1: on or or deployments they need to make into space.

576
00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:38,319
Speaker 1: There on all of that part UM, different parts, so

577
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:40,799
Speaker 1: they know everything. They need to know because they're also

578
00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:45,879
Speaker 1: intimately involved with the particular mission on which they are working. UM.

579
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:49,560
Speaker 1: If you were interested in joining a crew like this,

580
00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:52,840
Speaker 1: you would need some kind of technical degree or engineering

581
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:58,080
Speaker 1: degree UM generally you had based on your educational background

582
00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,400
Speaker 1: and your interest and your raining, they would assign you

583
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:05,839
Speaker 1: to a specific UH specific role based on those factors.

584
00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:08,200
Speaker 1: So if you're if this sounds like something you would

585
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,640
Speaker 1: like to do. UM. Obviously, the Space Shuttle program is

586
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:16,160
Speaker 1: now ending with UM the assumed at this point, since

587
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:20,560
Speaker 1: the Shuttle hasn't launched UH safe Return of STS one

588
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:24,720
Speaker 1: in July, UM there will probably be something in the future,

589
00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:28,799
Speaker 1: although the media plans have been put on hold, so

590
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:32,160
Speaker 1: I think, you know, it's it's worth investigating if that's

591
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:34,799
Speaker 1: something that but it's very specialized, and it may very

592
00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:40,239
Speaker 1: well be that the future, the future of this center

593
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:45,240
Speaker 1: will be working in uh UH in partnership with private

594
00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 1: companies that are are creating space missions. Because of course,

595
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:53,239
Speaker 1: it's clear through this discussion that that any source of

596
00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:56,279
Speaker 1: space mission is an incredibly complex affair and it's not

597
00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:59,360
Speaker 1: something that can be accomplished just by the crew aboard

598
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:03,560
Speaker 1: whatever the spacecraft is. Clearly, I mean they play a

599
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 1: critical role obviously in a mission, but that you need

600
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,759
Speaker 1: those extra people on the ground who are dedicated to

601
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:15,200
Speaker 1: very specific tasks to make certain that if anything does

602
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:17,440
Speaker 1: happen out of the ordinary, that they can handle it.

603
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:21,640
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's such a delicate and and frankly

604
00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,800
Speaker 1: dangerous procedure to do any sort of space mission, manned

605
00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:28,920
Speaker 1: space mission, you have to have that kind of intense

606
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:32,239
Speaker 1: scrutiny on the ground as well as in the sky

607
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,680
Speaker 1: or in space as it were. So it may very

608
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:38,680
Speaker 1: well be that that NASA works in partnership with private

609
00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:41,440
Speaker 1: companies in the future. It's a little early for us

610
00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:43,920
Speaker 1: to talk about that, because frankly, we are just in

611
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:49,399
Speaker 1: the very very first stages of private space flight. We've

612
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:53,839
Speaker 1: got some people who are taking uh space spacecraft way

613
00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:55,920
Speaker 1: up into the atmosphere and even all the way up

614
00:36:55,960 --> 00:37:00,440
Speaker 1: to low orbit. But it's early days yet, so we

615
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,719
Speaker 1: will see how that that progresses over time. But I

616
00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:06,680
Speaker 1: would imagine that that would be something that NASA would

617
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,960
Speaker 1: be interested in, and because private flight could very well

618
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:14,239
Speaker 1: be the next era of space exploration as far as

619
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,080
Speaker 1: the United States is concerned. We may also see at

620
00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 1: some point a refunding of NASA, where um, they are

621
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:25,800
Speaker 1: refocused on a new space program. And again it won't

622
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:29,480
Speaker 1: necessarily be the Shuttle or anything that resembles the Shuttle,

623
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:32,160
Speaker 1: but it would use a lot of the same sort

624
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:37,920
Speaker 1: of offices and consoles that they're using now in mission control. Actually,

625
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:40,600
Speaker 1: that's a good point. You're probably wondering at this point, Well,

626
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:42,839
Speaker 1: it's pretty late in the podcast. You guys haven't really

627
00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 1: talked about the tech that they use. Um, there's it's

628
00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:50,200
Speaker 1: kind of difficult to find a lot out about that technology.

629
00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:53,000
Speaker 1: For one thing, you're talking about all these different consoles.

630
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:55,359
Speaker 1: Not all of them are using exactly the same thing.

631
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,000
Speaker 1: Some of these are using some consoles are using systems

632
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:01,239
Speaker 1: that were specifically designed for that particular task, which means

633
00:38:01,239 --> 00:38:04,240
Speaker 1: they are so well, I can't say they're so unique.

634
00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:07,719
Speaker 1: That's ridiculous, right, their unique period and therefore there is

635
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:10,200
Speaker 1: nothing to compare them to other than saying this is

636
00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:13,839
Speaker 1: a very specialized computer. Yeah, from what from what I've

637
00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:17,000
Speaker 1: been able to find out, Um, when they were putting

638
00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:19,880
Speaker 1: these systems together in the nineteen seventies for use in

639
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:23,239
Speaker 1: the Shuttle missions of the early nineteen eighties, UM, there

640
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 1: wasn't anything available for them to use that did what

641
00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:30,000
Speaker 1: they wanted it to do. So it wasn't like there

642
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:33,880
Speaker 1: were IBM PCs or max or even Amiga's or anything

643
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,399
Speaker 1: that they could buy off the shelf Commodore sixty four,

644
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:41,799
Speaker 1: you know. But the thing is, they didn't have the

645
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:44,040
Speaker 1: same types of systems where they could just go buy

646
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,239
Speaker 1: a series of machines or or even you know, put

647
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:49,360
Speaker 1: together a Linux box that would do what they wanted

648
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:53,240
Speaker 1: it to do. So they ended up basically creating these

649
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,840
Speaker 1: these UH consoles on their own that would handle the

650
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:01,879
Speaker 1: specific tasks necessary to complete of these missions. So UM.

651
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:04,400
Speaker 1: I imagine that part of the reason it's difficult to

652
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:06,960
Speaker 1: find information on it is because they are unique. And

653
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,520
Speaker 1: I imagine that that for to some degree, it's probably

654
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:13,719
Speaker 1: classified um because you know, the Space Race was for

655
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,680
Speaker 1: the longest time a competition between the United States and

656
00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:20,120
Speaker 1: the Soviet Union, UM, and you know, we were sort

657
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,480
Speaker 1: of in competition with them, so they didn't want people

658
00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:27,839
Speaker 1: to know, UH in other countries what kinds of technology

659
00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:30,880
Speaker 1: was used in these machines. So UM, but it is

660
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,920
Speaker 1: fascinating stuff. I would assume that basically it is computer

661
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:38,000
Speaker 1: hardware used specifically to track or to communicate or whatever

662
00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 1: it is that that person happens to need. It may

663
00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:45,000
Speaker 1: actually be somewhat unsophisticated, and that it has a specialized

664
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:49,000
Speaker 1: purpose and doesn't need to do a multitude of tasks. Yeah.

665
00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:51,400
Speaker 1: Why would you need to be able to calculate telemetry

666
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 1: when you are looking specifically at an unrelated system aboard

667
00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:58,759
Speaker 1: the shuttle. Yeah, yeah, it totally makes sense from that perspective.

668
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,640
Speaker 1: And again it's that whole specialized focus. You know, you

669
00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:06,760
Speaker 1: have specialized equipment to monitor a very particular system aboard

670
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:10,360
Speaker 1: the Shuttle, and you have a specialized officer that is uh,

671
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:13,879
Speaker 1: that is at that console. So yeah, it's again it's

672
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,680
Speaker 1: one of those things where you want that kind of

673
00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:21,120
Speaker 1: specialization because again the stakes are really high and uh,

674
00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:25,680
Speaker 1: you know, in multiple arenas. So that was an interesting

675
00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:29,359
Speaker 1: overview of mission control. I mean, if if you ever

676
00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:31,920
Speaker 1: get a chance, you listeners out there, if you ever

677
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 1: get a chance to take a tour of any of

678
00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:36,440
Speaker 1: the flight centers and NASA, if you go to the

679
00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:40,399
Speaker 1: Kennedy Space Center, for example, I highly recommend taking these

680
00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:43,640
Speaker 1: tours and and getting a look. You can actually see, uh,

681
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:46,239
Speaker 1: the equipment that was used in the Apollo missions at

682
00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:49,000
Speaker 1: the Kennedy Space Center. You can see the launch control

683
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:53,440
Speaker 1: facility and uh, it's fascinating. You're looking at these machines

684
00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:57,200
Speaker 1: that that are almost impenetrable as far as you know.

685
00:40:57,239 --> 00:40:58,879
Speaker 1: You just glance at them and you're like, I have

686
00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:02,719
Speaker 1: no idea what that does. It looks amazing, right, And

687
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:05,719
Speaker 1: you think that beeps and it blinks, and then you

688
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:08,560
Speaker 1: think there was a person sitting at that console who

689
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:12,279
Speaker 1: not only had that console, but a slide rule to

690
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:16,080
Speaker 1: make calculations on the fly, and it's just phenomenal. You

691
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:18,759
Speaker 1: think about the amount of human ingenuity it takes to

692
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:22,640
Speaker 1: get people into space and back home safely, and again,

693
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:25,360
Speaker 1: it's one of those those accomplishments that a lot of

694
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:28,440
Speaker 1: us take for granted, but I think truly speak to

695
00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:32,919
Speaker 1: the most amazing things humans are capable of doing. Alright, guys,

696
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:36,000
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed that classic episode of tech Stuff.

697
00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:39,480
Speaker 1: Remember if you have any suggestions for episodes that I

698
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:41,920
Speaker 1: should cover in the future. Maybe there's some tech topic

699
00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:44,960
Speaker 1: or a company or personality I should really talk about.

700
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:47,560
Speaker 1: Let me know. Send me an email the addresses tech

701
00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:49,920
Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or drop me

702
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703
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:55,120
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704
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705
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706
00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:04,480
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707
00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:08,399
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708
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709
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:13,319
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710
00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:21,680
Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon for more on this

711
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712
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