SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

摘要

IN OUR COVERAGE OF THE APOLLO 11 MISSION during the 50th anniversary celebrations of this momentous event, in the July issue of SpaceFlight(Vol 61, No 7), some of the description of the descent procedures, the software and the computer programmes involved were incorrect or misleading at best. Moreover, some of the words and phrases used were inappropriately applied. To correct those errors, and with utmost transparency, the BIS is pleased to publish on the open pages of its website, a detailed critique and cogent explanation of where those errors exist, why they deliver wrong information and what should have been said, and was not, regarding the landing procedures.For this, the BIS, and the Editor specifically, is grateful to Don Eyles, whose knowledge of this stems from having worked on the Apollo programme from 1966 to 1972 as a computer scientist at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, organisations directly responsible for guidance and navigation. Don was specifically responsible for writing code for the Lunar Module computer and particularly the 2,000 lines that were primarily for landing men on the Moon. There is arguably no other person alive today who has such a detailed and seminal knowledge of the codes, instructions and procedures - because he wrote them.