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The Mercury simulator LOOKED LIKE the Mercury spacecraft... The Gemini simulator LOOKED LIKE the Gemini Spacecraft... On seeing the Apollo simulator, Gus Grissom said... "IT LOOKS LIKE A G**DAMN TRAIN WRECK!" Gus was seeing a pile of strangely shaped boxes that housed the visual system that would allow the crew to see the Earth, Moon, and stars. The simulator allowed the crews to practice and master the skills they needed to successfully travel to the Moon and back to Earth. This is a set of stories of what happened during the training and the flying of those journeys. Frank Hughes began his career with NASA in 1966 at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida where he was a developer and instructor on the Apollo Mission Simulators. He then worked as a flight planner for Skylab. In 1976, Frank worked as a simulation developer and flight planner on the Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests. In 1983, he became Chief of the Flight Training Branch during which time he also trained USAF operators and instructors. In 1990, he became Chief of the Space Flight Training Division. In "The Great Apollo Train Wreck" Frank takes the reader on a journey through the heyday of the Space Race, as he and a team of dedicated engineers tried to figure out how to simulate trips to the moon. His story is sometimes tragic and sometimes hilarious but always informative and easy to read. |
