Posted on 08/05/2006 7:34:12 AM PDT by oxcart
I can see that happening, or the more likely scenario is that after he retired, the folks who went in to clean out his office went, "Hey Charlie, what do we do with all these old tapes, any idea what they are?" Charlie: "Hell, I dunno, but if no one's used them in 20 years, they must not be important, take 'em out to the dumpster."
I've heard that that entire picture is a painting except for the part surrounding the moving crate.
"the tapes were moved in 1970 to the US National Archives"
Not good. The US National Archives destroyed many of the Naval Research Laboratory records sent there for storage.
Looks like they parked in a really bad part of the Hadley Delta.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Armstrong!
From Popular Mechanics, April 15, 2003:
In addition to propelling America on the most dramatic voyages in human history, the Saturn V created a curious urban legend. In 1996, John Lewis, in his book Mining The Sky, made the startling claim that NASA had lost the Saturn blueprints. Like all rumors, the story contained a grain of truth. Paul Shawcross of NASA's Office of Inspector General came to the rescue. While the claim that the blueprints could not be found was true, that did not mean the engineering genius of the Saturn had been lost. The plans for the world's largest rocket still exist, on tiny pieces of microfilm.
And from the alt.folklore.urban newsgroup:
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SATURN V PLANS
Despite a widespread belief to the contrary, the Saturn V blueprints have not been lost. They are kept at Marshall Space Flight Center on microfilm.
The problem in re-creating the Saturn V is not finding the drawings, it is finding vendors who can supply mid-1960's vintage hardware (like guidance system components), and the fact that the launch pads and VAB have been converted to Space Shuttle use, so you have no place to launch from.
By the time you redesign to accommodate available hardware and re-modify the launch pads, you may as well have started from scratch with a clean sheet design.
Wow! But why did they take an Arizona highway sign all the way to the MOON???
Thanks for digging that up. I had hoped it wasn't true. I'd hate to think NASA was that incompetent!
And that reminds me of the closing scene in the South Park spoof (but I repeat myself! :) about the Indiana Jones tapes. They used a warehouse scene like this to indicate where the originals had gone, but the warehouse had a sign "Red Cross 9/11 Relief Funds", or something similar.
This is because the tapes show members of the alien colony inhabiting the dark side of the moon coming over to invite Neil and the boys to dinner!
After all. she has had a lot of experience with never finding critically important missing tapes.
We can rebuild it. Faster, stronger, cheaper better.
Yeah, right. I've got a bridge for sale...
They were sent back to the studio to be reworked for the upcoming Mars mission.
You can't expect these people to know what they are doing. They are not exactly rocket scien . . . oh, hang on!
Now think about the technological changes that took place between 1929 and 1969 and then think about the technological changes that took place from 1969 to the present day. I think we can all agree that the world changed much faster during the past 40 years.
There is more computing power in a simple cell phone than existed in the largest mainframe that existed in 1969 and we are to believe that we landed men on the moon back in those prehistoric times while we can scarcely get people into orbit these days? Give me a break.
LOL!
You and Right have the same idea!
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