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40 years ago today... — Parallax Forums

40 years ago today...

W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
edited 2009-07-21 22:15 in General Discussion
Wow.

Usually Google will have a nice graphic on their homepage recognizing significant dates.

Guess landing on the Moon wasn't significant enough.

Rich H

Post Edited (W9GFO) : 7/20/2009 3:42:21 PM GMT

Comments

  • sylvie369sylvie369 Posts: 1,622
    edited 2009-07-20 16:20
    Man, that's amazing. The Moon landing·HAS to be one of the very most important events of the 20th century.

    Part of me suspects that they must be planning to spring something extra special on us at some point today. They can't possibly really be ignoring the moon landing, can they?
  • waltcwaltc Posts: 158
    edited 2009-07-20 16:24
    Considering most of Google's staff are a bunch of under 25 types who think the world began with them, it doesn't surprise me in the least that they wouldn't know what happened 40 years.
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2009-07-20 16:29
    Google may have missed it... strange...

    but NASA hasn't.. Listen to the Apollo 11 broadcasts in real time today.
    They are just getting ready to undock the command module as I post this.

    www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo11_radio/

    Next best thing..

    OBC

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    New to the Propeller?

    Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,935
    edited 2009-07-20 16:31
    Some still care..........

    http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

    The above link is for the daily picture, so it will be a different pic tomorrow. The direct link for 7/20/09 is:

    http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090720.html

    Includes links to restored video as well

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    Andrew Williams
    WBA Consulting
    IT / Web / PCB / Audio
  • MikerocontrollerMikerocontroller Posts: 310
    edited 2009-07-20 19:33
    Looks like Google got the message
  • stephenwagnerstephenwagner Posts: 147
    edited 2009-07-20 19:34
    July 20 1969 we put a man on the moon with a 4 BIT NUMBER CRUNCHER.

    SJW
  • PrettybirdPrettybird Posts: 269
    edited 2009-07-20 20:19
    Imagine you have more power in your cellphone then they had in the space program back then. I think the first ICs came out in the early 70s. I could be wrong.
  • VelocitVelocit Posts: 119
    edited 2009-07-20 20:42
    Prettybird said...
    Imagine you have more power in your cellphone then they had in the space program back then. I think the first ICs came out in the early 70s. I could be wrong.

    IC's were available since the early 60's. The Apollo program heavily relied on them and actually encouraged their development.

    There's a pretty interesting exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science detailing the innards of the Apollo Guidance Computer. SparkFun wrote a small article about it:

    www.sparkfun.com/commerce/news.php?id=248

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  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2009-07-20 21:28
    Perhaps they believe the Moon Landing was a hoax?

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    Chris Savage
    Parallax Engineering
  • CounterRotatingPropsCounterRotatingProps Posts: 1,132
    edited 2009-07-20 21:47
    Perhaps NASA believes Sparkfun's a hoax? ;-P

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  • JomsJoms Posts: 279
    edited 2009-07-20 21:48
    Just think if the prop was around back then... It could have ran pretty much everything needed to land on the moon.... Amazing how far we have come in 40 years, kinda scary to think where we might be in another 40...
  • CounterRotatingPropsCounterRotatingProps Posts: 1,132
    edited 2009-07-20 21:53
    > kinda scary to think where we might be in another 40...

    Right here, posting on the forums ?!

    Then I'll need a Prop to prop me up - 'cause I'll be 92 [noparse]:)[/noparse]))) <- extra saggy chin(s)

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  • MikerocontrollerMikerocontroller Posts: 310
    edited 2009-07-20 23:27
    More Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) info: http://klabs.org/history/build_agc/
  • VelocitVelocit Posts: 119
    edited 2009-07-21 00:00
    Joms said...
    Just think if the prop was around back then... It could have ran pretty much everything needed to land on the moon.... Amazing how far we have come in 40 years, kinda scary to think where we might be in another 40...

    What's really interesting is the current state of computers on spacecraft. Apparently, the shuttles are stuck with computers that originally used core memory (they've since been upgraded)! It would cost a fortune to flight-certify new systems:

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP-101

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    -Paul

    Post Edited (Velocit
  • CounterRotatingPropsCounterRotatingProps Posts: 1,132
    edited 2009-07-21 00:11
    " The AP-101, [noparse][[/noparse]used in the shuttle, but also in the B-52] being the top-of-the-line of the System/4 Pi range, shares its general architecture with the System/360 mainframes " - from the wiki Paul posted above.

    Gads, the 360 was the first machine I ever programmed on - and in BAL assembler ("Branch And Link" he he).

    Even scarrier to think that an H-Bomb ladened B-52 uses it!!

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  • PhilldapillPhilldapill Posts: 1,283
    edited 2009-07-21 01:47
    Isn't it amazing that back then, the space program guided so many of technological advancements... Now days, it's the porn and gaming industries. [noparse]:([/noparse]
  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2009-07-21 02:01
    Much better....

    Land on the Moon in Google Earth.

    Rich H
  • VelocitVelocit Posts: 119
    edited 2009-07-21 03:45
    Ladyada (Limor Fried; adafruit on Twitter) just Tweeted that the original AGC code is open source. Someone has even created an AGC emulator!

    www.ibiblio.org/apollo/ForDummies.html

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  • RiJoRiRiJoRi Posts: 157
    edited 2009-07-21 16:54
    Forty years and one day ago, we were all watching Armstrong's egress -- including my grandmother who was born in 1891. I remember thinking that when she was born, the common mode of transportation was the horse, and the airplane had not been invented; and wondering what I would see in my lifetime.

    BTW, her father was one of the first men in the neighborhood to own an automobile; he took his family out for a drive, and my grandmother remembered her mother saying, "Slow down, Tom! You're going to get us all killed!" Their speed? 15 M.P.H.!!

    --Rich
  • sylvie369sylvie369 Posts: 1,622
    edited 2009-07-21 18:09
    My mom's family used to run down to the road to watch cars go by, and waved when planes flew over.

    My family ran outside to watch jets fly over, and for mini-vacations we used to drive down to O'Hare to go out on the observation deck (sadly, a thing of the past) to watch 'em.

    Today when Space X flies a rocket into space, we can watch live video feed from a camera mounted on the side as it makes the trip. Better yet, we're not watching on television, we're watching on our personal computer screens at home, through the internet. And I celebrated the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 by flying·high power rockets, one·sending altitude data by radio to my laptop at the rangehead, another carrying a radio receiver that allowed me to deploy the parachutes using a handheld pushbutton control. We live in a magical world.
  • CounterRotatingPropsCounterRotatingProps Posts: 1,132
    edited 2009-07-21 18:10
    Rich,

    my great-grandmother, born about the same time as your grandma, made it to 110 years. Before she passed, I had asked her what the thing that impressed her the most had been. She replied, "the auto and men walking on the moon... now if they can do that, why can't they fix this hip of mine?"

    LOL

    cheers
    - Howard

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  • Erik FriesenErik Friesen Posts: 1,071
    edited 2009-07-21 22:15
    I read somewhere they would have to get talent out of retirement to get a man to the moon again quickly.
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