Rocket Ranch: The Nuts and Bolts of the Apollo Moon Program at Kennedy Space Center (Springer Praxis Books)

Wrong Title PictureThis book and its companion (“Countdown to a Moon Launch: Preparing Apollo for Its Historic Journey”) both focus on Kennedy Space Center during the Apollo era. Their topics are distinct and complementary. Each is complete in itself and can be read on its own.My hope is that you will find that both of them together tell an even more compelling story. In researching these books, I devoured in excess of 1,200 source documents and conducted over 300 hours of interviews with more than 70 people. I know that I have only scratched the surface. Piecing everything together into a coherent saga was occasionally challenging but never frustrating. It was the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time. Other than seeing my kids become fl ourishing adults, I consider this work to be the most important and rewarding thing I’ve done with my life. Jonathan Ward takes the reader deep into the facilities at Kennedy Space Center to describe NASA's first computer systems used for spacecraft and rocket checkout and explain how tests and launches proceeded. Descriptions of early operations include a harrowing account of the heroic efforts of pad workers during the Apollo 1 fire. A companion to the author's book Countdown to a Moon Launch: Preparing Apollo for Its Historic Journey, this explores every facet of the facilities that served as the base for the Apollo/Saturn missions. Hundreds of illustrations complement the firsthand accounts of more than 70 Apollo program managers and engineers. The era of the Apollo/Saturn missions was perhaps the most exciting period in American space exploration history. Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center were buzzing with activity. Thousands of workers came to town to build the facilities and launch the missions needed to put an American on the Moon before the end of the decade. Work at KSC involved much more than just launching rockets. It was a place like none other on Earth. Technicians performed intricate operations, and hazards abounded everywhere, including lightning, fire, highly-toxic fuels, snakes, heat, explosives, LOX spills, and even plutonium. The reward for months of 7-day workweeks under intense pressure was witnessing a Saturn V at liftoff. For anyone who ever wished they had worked at Kennedy Space Center during the Apollo era, this book is the next best thing. The only thing missing is the smell of rocket fuel in the morning. -- Publisher description Thousands Of Workers Labored At Kennedy Space Center Around The Clock, Seven Days A Week, For Half A Year To Prepare A Mission For The Liftoff Of Apollo 11. This Is The Story Of What Went On During Those Hectic Six Months. Countdown To A Moon Launch Provides An In-depth Look At The Carefully Choreographed Workflow For An Apollo Mission At Ksc. Using The Apollo 11 Mission As An Example, Readers Will Learn What Went On Day By Day To Transform Partially Completed Stages And Crates Of Parts Into A Ready-to-fly Saturn V. Firsthand Accounts Of Launch Pad Accidents, Near Misses, Suspected Sabotage, And Last-minute Changes To Hardware Are Told By More Than 70 Nasa Employees And Its Contractors. A Companion To Rocket Ranch, It Includes Many Diagrams And Photographs, Some Never Before Published, To Illustrate All Aspects Of The Process. Nasa’s Groundbreaking Use Of Computers For Testing And Advanced Management Techniques Are Also Covered In Detail. This Book Will Demystify The Question Of How Nasa Could Build And Launch Apollo Missions Using 1960s Technology. You’ll Discover That There Was No Magic Involved – Just An Abundance Of Discipline, Willpower, And Creativity. By Jonathan H. Ward. Introduction.- Controlling Complexity.- Requirements, Tests, and Computerization.- The MSOB and the Spacecraft Processing Flow.- The LM Processing Flow-L Minus 181 Days.- The Space Vehicle Processing Flow in the VAB-L Minus 181 Days.- The Processing Flow at the Launch Pad-L Minus 57 Days.- Countdown Demonstration Test-L Minus 19 Days.- Launch Countdown-T Minus 130 Hours.- Plus Time and Near Misses.- Epilogue-Would It Actually Work?. "This [work] describes NASA's first computer systems used for spacecraft and rocket checkout and explains how tests and launches proceeded. Hundreds of illustrations complement the firsthand accounts of more than 70 Apollo program managers and engineers"--Back cover