When we think of the moments that make history, we think of the people who were in the spotlight. It is too easy to overlook those in the background who also made the event possible. Such is the case of Jack Garman, who was an engineer for NASA in 1969 when the U.S. made its first human landing on the moon. He was the one who made the judgment call on whether to scrap the mission when an alarm went off as the astronauts were landing. This great man passed from complications of cancer in September.
Key Takeaways:
- The alarm appeared to indicate a computer systems overload, raising the specter of a breakdown.
- Any alarm on a dashboard 240,000 miles away would have been disquieting.
- It was one of those false alarms that almost scuttled the Apollo moon landing. Rather than pose a serious problem, it proved to be a self-correcting signal indicating that the mission’s relatively primitive guidance computers were struggling to keep up with the tide of data they were receiving.
“The alarm appeared to indicate a computer systems overload, raising the specter of a breakdown.”
Read the full article here: Jack Garman, Whose Judgment Call Saved Moon Landing, Dies at 72
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