Author Topic: Ever wonder how Saturn V "knew" exactly where it was pointing at launch?  (Read 551 times)

Offline smartcooky

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 1933
Well, wonder no more!

The phrase "Guidance is internal" at T minus 15 seconds was one of the most important call-outs in the Saturn V countdown, and this fascinating short video with excellent graphics explains why.




Its the minute details like this that show just how complicated it is to send rockets to the moon.
► What you can assert without evidence, I can dismiss without evidence
► When you argue with idiots you risk being dragged down to their level and beaten with experience.
► Conspiracism is a shortcut to the illusion of erudition

Offline Zakalwe

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 1580
Excellent video!
"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 Kiwi

  • Mars
  • ***
  • Posts: 467
Thanks, Smartcooky. I particularly enjoyed this little bit:
0:05:46  …it could align the gimbal to within one-thousandth of a degree.

I guess that's about near enough if I want to know in which way I'm pointing. :-)
Don't criticize what you can't understand. — Bob Dylan, “The Times They Are A-Changin'” (1963)
Some people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices and superstitions. — Edward R. Murrow (1908–65)