Author Topic: Quiz!  (Read 56710 times)

Offline HeadLikeARock

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Re: Quiz!
« Reply #15 on: March 20, 2012, 09:19:29 PM »
...becoming the last man on the moon.
Schmitt was the last man on the moon.  Cernan was the man last on the moon.

Aha, an interesting twist! Wasn't sure of your point when I first read it. Makes perfect sense now :)

Offline Glom

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Re: Quiz!
« Reply #16 on: June 08, 2012, 03:47:16 PM »
Well back to the quiz I guess.

So who can explain the Apollo mission numbering?

Offline Jason Thompson

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Re: Quiz!
« Reply #17 on: June 08, 2012, 04:23:25 PM »
Ah, easy. :) lol

The confusion arises because of the fact that there is Apollo1, then no officially designated Apollo 2 or 3. However, Apollo 1 stands as a special case, since it never flew and was named more to honour the astronauts who lost their lives. Apollo 4 was in fact the fourth flight of Apollo production hardware (two tests of the Apollo spacecraft and one of the restart capability of the S-IVB). So it is actually logical. Apollo 1 is the anomaly.
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Offline Glom

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Re: Quiz!
« Reply #18 on: June 08, 2012, 04:39:22 PM »
My understanding was that the three unmanned launches prior to Apollo were designated Apollo 201, 203 and 202, because that was the number of their space vehicle.  Grissom's flight was officially called Apollo 204 in this vain.  But that just wasn't sexy enough, so they unofficially adopted Apollo 1 as their name.  After the accident, for some reason, NASA decided to sex up the naming switching to sequential numbering, which would have retro-name the already flown flights as Apollo 1, 2 and 3, with Apollo 4 being the unmanned test which under the old system would have been called Apollo 501.  But the widows petitioned NASA to honour their late husbands' desire for their ill-fated mission to be known as Apollo 1 and NASA acceded.  They officially posthumously renamed the mission Apollo 1 and due to the awkwardness with retronaming now, they just left it as is and only continued forward with Apollo 501 as Apollo 4.

Offline gwiz

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Re: Quiz!
« Reply #19 on: June 09, 2012, 04:14:08 AM »
My understanding is that, having named 204 as Apollo 1, the two cancelled flights with crews assigned that were scheduled to follow Apollo 1 became Apollo 2 and Apollo 3.  I've never seen an Apollo-era NASA source that gives these names to the pre-Apollo 1 unmanned missions.

"Apollo 1" was on the 204 crew patch prior to the accident.
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Offline Glom

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Re: Re: Quiz!
« Reply #20 on: June 09, 2012, 08:47:09 AM »
My understanding is that, having named 204 as Apollo 1, the two cancelled flights with crews assigned that were scheduled to follow Apollo 1 became Apollo 2 and Apollo 3.  I've never seen an Apollo-era NASA source that gives these names to the pre-Apollo 1 unmanned missions.

"Apollo 1" was on the 204 crew patch prior to the accident.

I thought Apollo 1 was on the patch because Grissom and crew had taken the name unofficially much like Molly Brown. I thought it was only after the accident that it was officially recognised.

Offline Echnaton

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Offline Chew

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Re: Quiz!
« Reply #22 on: June 09, 2012, 09:22:30 AM »
What did Deke stash aboard Apollo 8 for their Christmas dinner?

Offline Zakalwe

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Re: Quiz!
« Reply #23 on: June 09, 2012, 01:19:43 PM »
What did Deke stash aboard Apollo 8 for their Christmas dinner?

3 miniatures of brandy and a turkey dinner. Lovell (the spoilsport  ;D) refused to allow the alcohol to be opened.
"The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' " - Isaac Asimov

Offline Glom

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Re: Re: Quiz!
« Reply #24 on: June 09, 2012, 03:01:06 PM »
What did Deke stash aboard Apollo 8 for their Christmas dinner?

3 miniatures of brandy and a turkey dinner. Lovell (the spoilsport  ;D) refused to allow the alcohol to be opened.

Why didn't Borman overrule him?

Offline Chew

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Re: Quiz!
« Reply #25 on: June 09, 2012, 03:31:00 PM »
Borman told them not to drink it. Lovell and Anders have each said they had no intention of drinking it.

Offline Zakalwe

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Re: Re: Quiz!
« Reply #26 on: June 09, 2012, 03:58:16 PM »

Why didn't Borman overrule him?

Doh!

I meant Borman (bangs head on desk)
"The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' " - Isaac Asimov

Offline Inanimate Carbon Rod

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Re: Quiz!
« Reply #27 on: June 12, 2012, 05:52:03 PM »
What do Al Shepard, Gus Grissom,  Wally Schirra  and Pete Conrad all have in common?
« Last Edit: June 12, 2012, 05:57:07 PM by Inanimate Carbon Rod »
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Offline Laurel

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Re: Quiz!
« Reply #28 on: June 12, 2012, 06:01:19 PM »
The only thing I can think of is that they all liked to drag race on the way to work . . . and they're all no longer with us, but I hope that wasn't it. :(
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Offline Inanimate Carbon Rod

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Re: Quiz!
« Reply #29 on: June 12, 2012, 07:38:48 PM »
What do Al Shepard, Gus Grissom,  Wally Schirra  and Pete Conrad all have in common?

They commanded the first flights of the pre-shuttle programs.
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