Greg asks:

> So, let me ask it outright. Has anyone broken down the meanings and
>  significances of the various technical utterances that this transcript
>  represents? I vividly recall the content of one such story, about the
>  spontaneous coining of "Tranquility Base". I only vaguely recall someone's
>  description of how the crew were not able to land where originally
intended,
>  and came very close to not being able to land at all. They were low on
fuel,
>  so had come close to the point of having to reascend. In the transcript, it
>  does seem that there were quite a few anxious moments. Has anyone broken
>  apart the events, and explained them for public consumption?
>
>  It is fascinating stuff.

Everyone at the NASA celebration tonight in Washington DC, including Sean
O'Keefe, talked about how they were 12, 13 or 14 when Neil Armstong walked on the
Moon. Lordy, I was 24, just days shy of being 25.

I later went to work for NASA in 1970. I obviously didn't work Apollo 11,
that was before my time, but I was involved in 13 and 14's flights, and went to
the Cape to watch 17 liftoff. A picture I took of that last trip to the Moon is
at:

     http://aics-research.com/apollo17.html

As to the "translation" of the material in the transcript, I'll provide what
I can remember, in order of their reference:

"Noun 20" refers to a command given to the on-board guidance calculator,
called the Display Keyboard (pronounced "diskey"). The calculator was programmed
using nouns and verbs. See:

     http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/vs-mit-apollo-panel.jpg

"Telmu" refers to the fellow operating the telemetry console in Mission
Control.

"Flight" refers to the Flight Controller, the person to whom the entire room
reported.

"MISFIN" is a mystery to me.

"Guidance" is the fellow at the guidance console.

"Fido" is the Flight Dynamics Officer, again at a console.

"EECom" is probably the Communications Officer, but I'm not sure.

"GNC" is the fellow at the Guidance, Navigation and Control console, if I
remember correctly.

"Surgeon" is the Flight Surgeon station in Mission Control.

"DECA" -- don't know.

"Gimbal AC" -- don't remember. All of the nozzles on the ascent and descent
engines were gimballed for steering and stabilization on the way up and down.
We had duplicate ascent and descent engines in our high bay where I worked, and
I was always amazed at how small they were. If you don't have much gravity,
it doesn't take a large engine to get you off of the surface of the planet.

"TCA throttle" Thrust Chamber Assembly

"Auto CDR" -- don't know.

"PINGS" Primary Guidance and Navigation System (pronounced "pings")

"AGS" Abort Guidance System

"RCS" Reaction Control System

"DIPS" -- don't know

"Guido" Flight Guidance Officer

"Retro" Retro Engines Officer

"Booster" Booster Engines Officer

"Capcom" Capsule Communications Officer, always another astronaut.

"LPD" Landing Point Designator, which was really just a set of scribe marks
on the Commander's window.

"ACA" Attitude Control Assembly, a leveling mechanism for the LM (lunar
module) once on the Moon.

Wirt Atmar

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