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Houston We Have a Problem

thanosk writes "NASA has started releasing the transcripts from the early NASA missions and started with releasing the transcripts of the Apollo 13 mission and the famous 'Houston we have a problem' quote."

116 comments

  1. Misquoted by Sacro · · Score: 5, Informative

    The actual quote was "Houston we've had a problem".

    1. Re:Misquoted by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 2

      I wonder are there any parallel transcripts from the early days of Russian launches?

    2. Re:Misquoted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Vladimir Komarov supposedly had a few choice words for the Russian space agency just before his crash.

    3. Re:Misquoted by spectro · · Score: 5, Informative

      Looking for the exact quote? Here you go

      --
      HTML is obsolete. It's time for a new, simpler and richer markup language.
    4. Re:Misquoted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Nyet.

    5. Re:Misquoted by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      I'd swear that quote is actually from the "American pie" movie

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      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    6. Re:Misquoted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He already had an exact quote. It was the second entry below the 2 entries your link highlights.

    7. Re:Misquoted by mcmonkey · · Score: 1

      Why does he keep calling Fred Haise 'Roger'?

      I appreciate the historical and scientific significance, but it reads like an Airplane! script.

    8. Re:Misquoted by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      A review of Arthur C. Clarke's book, "2001 A Space Odyssey" would show the phrase used there. I think the book was published in 1968? The origin of the phrase was from Mr. Clarke's researching material for the '2001 book at NASA. He interviewed several people there and asked them what was the protocol for a space problem. Ironically, it was the same protocol used by Apollo 13.

    9. Re:Misquoted by CannonballHead · · Score: 1

      A couple quotes down from what you linked (stupid copy/paste bug...) is a quote that specifically says Houston, we've had a problem.

    10. Re:Misquoted by orgelspieler · · Score: 2

      Jim Lovell: We're fried, Fred.

      Jack Swigert: We're in a jam, Jim.

      Fred Haise: We're totally jacked, Jack.

    11. Re:Misquoted by cababunga · · Score: 1

      I think if you dig around, you can find some. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_1#Mission_timeline

    12. Re:Misquoted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The "Roger" here is not a name, but a code word acknowledging the last transmission.

      From Wiktionary:
          Used c. 1940 in UK and US military communication to represent "R" when spelling out a word. "R" is the first letter in received, used to acknowledge understanding a message.

    13. Re:Misquoted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      personal favorite (not verbatim because now I can't find it)

      Time: at some ungodly hour in the early am the day before they got back

      Lovell: And you thought you'd be sleeping through all your shifts.

      CAPCOM: Well, you guys keep waking us up...

      and just for fun, the captcha is "lifeboat"

  2. That's one small step for ? by AB3A · · Score: 1

    I really want to know what people are going to write for the statement that Neil Armstrong made when he stepped off the LEM ladder.

    --
    Nearly fifty percent of all graduates come from the bottom half of the class!
    1. Re:That's one small step for ? by jimbolauski · · Score: 5, Funny

      I really want to know what people are going to write for the statement that Neil Armstrong made when he stepped off the LEM ladder.

      "Can we do a retake?"

      --
      Knowledge = Power
      P= W/t
      t=Money
      Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
    2. Re:That's one small step for ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > ...stepped off the LEM ladder."

      Speaking of changing things--- It was (and is) Lunar Module (LM), not Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Module

    3. Re:That's one small step for ? by boxxa · · Score: 1

      How entertaining would it have been if he fell off the ladder or something. A slightly weightless tumble down a ladder on international tv.

      --
      Bryan
    4. Re:That's one small step for ? by eln · · Score: 3, Informative

      They called it the LEM before they changed the name to LM. IIRC, the name was changed because it was thought the word "excursion" in there made the whole thing seem too fanciful. It's still popularly called LEM though, probably because LEM is easy to pronounce as a one-syllable word, while LM can only really be pronounced "ell em", and doesn't roll off the tongue nearly as nicely. In fact, the page you link to calls it the LEM in several places.

    5. Re:That's one small step for ? by oodaloop · · Score: 1

      Or found a crashed ship full of dead giant alien transforming robots.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    6. Re:That's one small step for ? by zoomshorts · · Score: 0

      Ewwww I think I stepped in dog poop. Rover???

    7. Re:That's one small step for ? by PPH · · Score: 3, Funny

      Or if the boom operator accidentally lowered the microphone into the scene for a moment.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    8. Re:That's one small step for ? by noelhenson · · Score: 1

      Knowledge = Power
      P= W/t
      t=Money
      Money = Work/Knowledge

      Wouldn't that be:
      Money = W/K = W/(W/t) = W*(t/W) = t

      So, either Money = time (and vice-versa) or time = time. Or did I miss something?

    9. Re:That's one small step for ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Armstrong: "That's one small step for... holy cow, it really *is* made of cheese!"

    10. Re:That's one small step for ? by Virtex · · Score: 4, Informative

      My understanding is that what he meant to say was "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind". That one little extra word makes the phrase make a lot more sense.

      --
      For every post, there is an equal and opposite re-post.
    11. Re:That's one small step for ? by jimbolauski · · Score: 1

      Knowledge = Power P= W/t t=Money Money = Work/Knowledge

      Wouldn't that be: Money = W/K = W/(W/t) = W*(t/W) = t

      So, either Money = time (and vice-versa) or time = time. Or did I miss something?

      Yes time is money (t=Money) and yes time=time.
      Money = time = W/P = W/Knowledge
      I've been using my sig for 3 or 4 years now and it has yet to be disproven it may even be a law of science now.

      --
      Knowledge = Power
      P= W/t
      t=Money
      Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
    12. Re:That's one small step for ? by igaborf · · Score: 1

      I really want to know what people are going to write for the statement that Neil Armstrong made when he stepped off the LEM ladder.

      "Hey, Houston! I just cut the cheese!"

    13. Re:That's one small step for ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Power equaling Work divided by Time doesn't make a lick of sense.

    14. Re:That's one small step for ? by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      "I claim this land for Texas."

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    15. Re:That's one small step for ? by darth+dickinson · · Score: 1

      Everyone knows all good astronauts are from Ohio.

    16. Re:That's one small step for ? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      That's the definition of Power, in physics. See, they're making a joke by taking two common sayings about knowledge and money, and then relating them via a physics equation to create a new and humorous observation. But of course the "power" in "knowledge is power" isn't talking about "power" in the physics sense, and you can't actually do math on colloquialisms, which is also part of the joke.

      And I'm sure now that it's been explained to you, you're hyperventilating with uncontrollable laughter.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    17. Re:That's one small step for ? by geekoid · · Score: 3, Interesting

      IF you look at the oscillation in the signal, it's becomes very obvious he did say that, but after 32ms into the a it was interrupted by a signal error.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    18. Re:That's one small step for ? by sznupi · · Score: 1

      ...and it took just a few missions for the enthusiasm to mostly vanish ;/ - I guess "it's epic because the first will only happen once" doesn't have much appeal for nth landing.

      I kinda regret how Russians didn't make it (it was not only a case of few setbacks along the way - it was almost like they didn't really want to succeed), how N1 was cancelled just before v2 (with its mostly understood problems possibly resolved) was ready, how the ignorant Soviet generals pushed for a "strategic parity" with (nonexistent) advantage supposedly given by the Shuttle / how they caused immense waste of funds(*) (at least the engineers did it a bit more sensibly: Energia was an example of Ares V-like approach, from the start - but of course it also wasn't really given a chance / at least we got its boosters out of the deal - Zenit seems to be the most cost effective launcher around)

      If first on the Moon, I wouldn't be too surprised if they were able to maintain a small lunar base for the past ~3 decades; for less than what Energia-Buran cost them. In such reality US would most likely want to reach for another big mission - so we would possibly have, a bit similar in style to Apollo, Mars landings by now. Much more fun all around.

      Having attained such stage of exploration, we would probably also be stuck for a long time - but at least in a place with in-situ resource utilization possible.

      As it stands now - while I'm not too far from the age you were during Moon landings, I might very well not live long enough to see Mars ones. I'm not even certain about another lunar ones... (at least upcoming decade might be quite fun, with a few rovers - watching live stream on YT/etc. will be interesting)

      (*)Unless that was the point of the Shuttle, to provoke Soviet Union into similar program with all its costs - but in this case, it succeeded 2 decades ago / why, since then, was it allowed to suck also NASA dry?

      --
      One that hath name thou can not otter
    19. Re:That's one small step for ? by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      FWIW, I think "One small step for man..." is very poetic and quite memorable.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  3. actual quote by tverbeek · · Score: 0, Redundant

    These transcripts should reveal that the sentence "Houston we have a problem" was never actually spoken during Apollo 13. Swigert's actual words were "Houston, we've had a problem."

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  4. To translate into newspeak for you youngsters... by John+Hasler · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...that would be "Houston we have an issue".

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  5. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by tverbeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Houston, this is so unfair!"

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  6. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LOL. Who is 'Houston'?

  7. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Houston, epic fail"

  8. Starting to release? by HonIsCool · · Score: 4, Informative

    The transcripts of the Apollo missions have been available online for a long time. Apparently these are new "multimedia" transcripts, or at least transcripts with hyperlinks or whatnot, but the actual text in the transcripts have been available. I know because I read a fair few of them before...

    --
    "Give me six lines of C++ code written by the most competent programmer, and I will find enough in there to hang him."
    1. Re:Starting to release? by RussGarrett · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yep. We built Spacelog to make the transcripts in NASA PDFs more accessible and searchable. For some reason everyone thinks we're NASA and this content is new. (We're not related to NASA.)

      What is news is that NASA has recently started to release the full mission audio for Apollo/Gemini/Mercury missions on archive.org. Hopefully we'll be able to do something fun with that.

    2. Re:Starting to release? by ezzzD55J · · Score: 1

      Aha, I was surprised at NASA's use of "Now open to the public in a searchable, linkable format." - I thought, well, that's mighty brilliant of you to realise how good that is, and why didn't you do it in the first place ;-).

      It would be wonderful to be able to hear the audio linked with the quote / range of time on spacelog.org. Actually that's what I hoped this was.

      Congratulations on a great project.

    3. Re:Starting to release? by queazocotal · · Score: 1

      I seem to recall a long time ago - ~2000 - a nice website, with full transcripts of all the apollo missions, including commentary, in a nice text searchable format - not PDF.

      I've forgotten the name though.
      I don't think it was a NASA project.

    4. Re:Starting to release? by RussGarrett · · Score: 4, Informative

      I suspect you mean the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal and the Apollo Flight Journal, and they are semi-official NASA projects. (To tell the truth, I didn't know about the latter until after we built Spacelog.)

      Although some of the commentary and analysis interspersed into them is awesome, we're not a huge fan of the ALSJ and the AFJ because:

      • The weird split between Flight and Lunar Surface is a bit arbitrary
      • They're a bit ugly (ugh, frames), whereas Spacelog is pretty (photos are inline, for example)
      • It's difficult to link directly to a quote
      • The commentary is on the technical side, while we want Spacelog to be fairly accessible
      • Their transcripts only cover certain Apollo missions (notably not 13). We want to cover Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and more (NASA just released some Shuttle transcripts)
      • They claim copyright on their corrected version of the transcript. All of Spacelog (both the corrected transcript and the code) is public domain like the original transcripts
    5. Re:Starting to release? by DerekLyons · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The transcripts of the Apollo missions have been available online for a long time.

      And in a much more useful format (with illustrations, technical notes, etc...) at the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. This 'new' version is nothing but the transcripts run through a bot that adds pretty pictures and stupid 'tweet this' links.

    6. Re:Starting to release? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      started with releasing the transcripts of the Apollo 13 mission

      I bought one of these transcripts a few years ago at auction. Just a fun piece of memorabilia. It's on paper, looks like a copy (not a photo-copy but not an original typing machine) with the official NASA logo on it.

      So these where released years ago.

    7. Re:Starting to release? by chrismcb · · Score: 1

      Since your NASA when are your movie reviews coming out?

  9. TODAY, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN "HAVE AN ISSUE" !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stupid people call problems, issues. Stupid, stupid, stupid people. Hey, like YOU !! Yes, YOU !!

    1. Re:TODAY, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN "HAVE AN ISSUE" !! by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 1

      Really stupid people bitch about stuff like that.

  10. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Pojut · · Score: 2

    "Houston...fuck."

  11. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Houston I can has a problem.

  12. They were true polite gentlemen ... by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1, Insightful

    My first message would have been "Houston, we are like totally fucked. This space ship? This fucking fucker is fucking fucked!"

    Houston would have replied: "M'kay . . . what exactly is the problem?"

    I guess with my sewer-mouth, I won't need to apply for an astronaut post anywhere.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    1. Re:They were true polite gentlemen ... by Abstrackt · · Score: 1

      I always figured that there was an element of superstition that made them expect something bad would happen, maybe they just weren't surprised when it did. On the other hand, the first moon landing was less than a year before so it could just have been that their nerves were already shot from navigating relatively uncharted territory.

      --
      They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
    2. Re:They were true polite gentlemen ... by cje · · Score: 1

      I guess with my sewer-mouth, I won't need to apply for an astronaut post anywhere.

      Well, you could have always flown with Pete Conrad.

      --
      We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
    3. Re:They were true polite gentlemen ... by Vectormatic · · Score: 1

      AFAIK they didnt know the full extent of the problem right away, if you check the com-logs, the first thing after "we've had a problem" is about a main bus undervolt, not exactly anything to prompt thought about being "fucking fucked", more along on the lines of "those fucking electrical engineers fucked up the fucking main bus wiring, fucking fuckers"

      --
      People, what a bunch of bastards
    4. Re:They were true polite gentlemen ... by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      I always figured that there was an element of superstition that made them expect something bad would happen, maybe they just weren't surprised when it did. On the other hand, the first moon landing was less than a year before so it could just have been that their nerves were already shot from navigating relatively uncharted territory.

      I think it was probably a little of both. Apollo 13, taking off on April 13... I haven't read Lost Moon but the superstition was stressed strongly in the movie.

    5. Re:They were true polite gentlemen ... by MarcQuadra · · Score: 1

      Houston, I am sick of these MOTHERFUCKING PROBLEMS on this MOTHERFUCKING SPACESHIP!

      --
      "Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
  13. Beatles in Space by digitaldc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    01 00 16 12
    Jim Lovell (CDR)
    Gosh, we had forgotten, but we'd like to hear what the news is.
    01 00 16 15
    Joe Kerwin (CAPCOM)
    Okay. There's not a whole lot to it. Well, let's see, we'll start with the—Let's start with sports, what the heck. The Astros survived 8 to 7, the Braves got five or six runs in the—five runs in the ninth inning, but they just made it; and in the other important game of the day, the Cubs were rained out. I have all the rest of the scores, you can tell me if you want any of them. They had earthquakes in Manila and other areas of the island of Luzon. There were three tremors and they kept the buildings shaking for about a half an hour or so, and it was about a 5 on the Richter scale.
    Okay, let's see. The Beatles have announced they will no longer perform as a group. The quartet is reported to have made in excess of a half billion dollars during their short musical career. However, rumors that they will use this money to start their own space program are false. 01 00 17 24
    Jim Lovell (CDR)
    Maybe we could borrow some.
    01 00 17 26
    Joe Kerwin (CAPCOM)

    (Laughter) Okay. Okay.

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
  14. shortcut to the famous quote by martyb · · Score: 5, Informative

    Okay, so the summary points to the root of the web site. If you'd rather not navigate through the different missions and multimedia items to find it, here's a direct link to the "Houston, we've had a problem" quote:

    02 07 55 19 Fred Haise (LMP)
    Okay, Houston --

    02 07 55 20 Jack Swigert (CMP)
    I believe we've had a problem here.

    02 07 55 28 Jack Lousma (CAPCOM)
    This is Houston. Say again, please.

    02 07 55 35 Jim Lovell (CDR)
    Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a MAIN B BUS UNDERVOLT.

    1. Re:shortcut to the famous quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now why isn't MAIN BUS B UNDERVOLT a meme yet?!

    2. Re:shortcut to the famous quote by Waste55 · · Score: 1

      Just reading that gives me goosebumps.

    3. Re:shortcut to the famous quote by JustOK · · Score: 1

      he had a problem.
      It should be:
      VOLT
      B BUS

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    4. Re:shortcut to the famous quote by tokul · · Score: 1

      Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a MAIN B BUS UNDERVOLT.

      Can we hear uncensored version? :) People under stress don't shout "MAIN B BUS UNDERVOLT", they say something that starts with f.

    5. Re:shortcut to the famous quote by jeremyp · · Score: 1

      02 07 55 19 Fred Haise (LMP)
          Okay, Houston --

      02 07 55 20 Jack Swigert (CMP)
          I believe we've had a problem here.

      02 07 55 28 Jack Lousma (CAPCOM)
          This is Houston. Say again, please.

      02 07 55 29 Jack Lousma (CAPCOM)
          Your circuit's dead. There's something wrong. Can you hear me?

      02 07 55 35 Jim Lovell (CDR) .......

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
  15. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by definate · · Score: 1

    LOL Whitney Houston you idiot! Put down the crack pipe, and pick up a magazine once in a while! You know, those things that teach us things? Like who Lindsey is going out with? Remember?

    Didn't you learn anything in skool?

    --
    This is my footer. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  16. Apollo 13's reply would've been... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Houston would have replied: "M'kay . . . what exactly is the problem?"

    Apollo 13: "Sumthin' done blowed up real bad".

  17. Forget famous by MBlueD · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is the quote that sent a shiver down my spine (Mercury 6, John Glenn): http://mercury6.spacelog.org/00:00:05:18/#log-line-318

    --
    We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.
    1. Re:Forget famous by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 1

      Indeed. Thanks for that link. I can't just imagine what this moment must have been for him. Amongst all the professional status reports, this short, casual, "Oh, that view is tremendous". THAT is why we go to space, folks.

      --
      Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
    2. Re:Forget famous by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      I had a 45 (an actual record, for you yutes) of that mission audio when I was a kid. I thought it was the coolest thing. The record, IIRC, was orange in color.

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    3. Re:Forget famous by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      I had that record too; It came with my "Mercury Joe" capsule. I loved playing with it, even though it got me labeled as "a guy who played with dolls at age 6."

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    4. Re:Forget famous by vinn01 · · Score: 1

      While it's hard to get great quotes from a monkey. A monkey could have done that mission. In fact, a monkey *did* do that mission. And the monkey did it first. And the monkey did it better - (didn't almost reset the clock at the wrong time).

    5. Re:Forget famous by MBlueD · · Score: 1

      I don't think that the monkey *did* this mission as much as it was *done* to him... Kudos to the little (evolutionary) cousin either way.

      --
      We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.
  18. Is this news? by xded · · Score: 4, Informative

    Transcripts and audio files have been available forever at http://history.nasa.gov/afj/ (even if they actually miss Apollo 13).

    Also, probably not everyone knows that in that speech Houston is not the city in Texas hosting the JSC, but the CAPCOM (no, not the company) callsign.

    1. Re:Is this news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's the callsign because it *is* the city in Texas hosting the JSC... That's like saying "when the news talks about Washington doing something, they don't mean the city where most of the US government is located itself did something, that's just the informal name we sometimes call the government." We get it...thanks for assuming we have athe intelligence of a 3rd grader and were introduced to NASA spaceflight by the summary by above.

  19. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Abstrackt · · Score: 1

    If you're going to use lolspeak it probably would have been "We has a problem. Do not want."

    --
    They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
  20. Not directly from NASA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Mission transcripts have been available from NASA for years as PDFs with very poor OCR. This project is an independent effort to turn them into a computer-friendly format. You can help too (see the bottom of the front page).

  21. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by j00r0m4nc3r · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apollo: hustun we has teh prob. LOL
    Houston: n00bs...

  22. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by advocate_one · · Score: 1

    promptly followed by "We copy you Apollo 13, but we'll have to wait for the press office to work out how to release this in the next news cycle before we know what to do..."

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
  23. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by tris203 · · Score: 1

    to convert into managment speak Housten have a challenge

    --
    http://snappeh.com/blog/ - My Blog, not that any of you care...
  24. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by syousef · · Score: 1

    ...that would be "Houston we have an issue".

    No it's .... houston, we have an opportunity

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  25. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Dolphinzilla · · Score: 1

    "Houston, we have a situation"

  26. Mission popularity on twitter/facebook/wikipedia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems like the most mentioned of the 5 missions listed would be, in order: Apollo 11, Apollo 13, Apollo 8, Gemini 7, Mercury 6.

    See http://bingmatrix.cloudapp.net/go.aspx?t=NASA+Featured+Missions&a=%2BNASA&k=Apollo+13%3BMercury+6%3BApollo+11%3BApollo+8%3BGemini+7&s=twitter.com%3Bfacebook.com%3Bwikipedia.org%3Bnasa.gov

  27. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by BradleyUffner · · Score: 0

    ...that would be "Houston we have an issue".

    Or, as my current boss would say "Houston, we have a challenge".

  28. you suck at telephone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    B BUS not BUS B....it was right there while you were typing.....

  29. Re:Mission popularity on twitter/facebook/wikipedi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "Wye-aye Apollo Thorteen, this is Mission Control, Whitley Bay. Tell us what yer problem is lad."

    "THE ROCKET'S BROKEN!! THE ROCKET'S BROKEN!! THE FUCKING ROCKET IS BROKEN!!!"

    "All reet lad, calm doon!"

    "Calm down? Calm down? FUCK CALM! YOU'RE NOT THE ONE SITTING IN A BROKEN FUCKING ROCKET, PAL!"

    (with apologies to Mr Jupitus. And Geordies)

  30. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Neel Armstrong sez "Huston, Eagle is on ur lunar surface, is landed, kthxbye."

  31. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by fotoguzzi · · Score: 1

    Houston, we've had a quality challenge.

    --
    Their they're doing there hair.
  32. This is a small step foramen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think it was:

      "This is a small step foramen" (apparently one of the rungs of his ladder was missing)

      "And a great leap of a manque kind" (the last hop onto the moon was actually quite small)

  33. "NOUN 37" / "VERB 12" - not redactions by thatseattleguy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Just an FYI: reading through the transcript I kept seeing things like "NOUN 37" and "VERB 12" - I thought these might be redactions for national security or censorship of Very Bad Words (ala the Nixon White House tapes and "expletive deleted" - but I'm dating myself to know about that). But they actually seem to be the way the internal shipboard guidance computer was controlled, with two part commands, one being an action (not surprisingly, "VERB yy") and one being an object to be acted upon ("NOUN xx"). Details here:

    http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

    Interestingly, this is not at all unlike how the original Fortran code for ADVENT (the seminal "Collossal Cave Adventure") was architected, even down to the terminology used.

    1. Re:"NOUN 37" / "VERB 12" - not redactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want to learn more about the guidance computer, you may find the AGC emulator interesting.

    2. Re:"NOUN 37" / "VERB 12" - not redactions by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      AIUI, that was pretty common back then - the contemporary Polaris A3 (MK80/3) and Poseidon C3 (MK88/1) missile fire control systems used the same command architecture for manual inputs.

    3. Re:"NOUN 37" / "VERB 12" - not redactions by Jon_S · · Score: 1
  34. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Bassman59 · · Score: 1

    "Houston, we have a situation"

    Surely the must be a way to launch The Situation to the moon. Sans space suit.

  35. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by KingAlanI · · Score: 1

    +1 sadly informative, I'm afraid.

    --
    I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
  36. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by ebuck · · Score: 1

    ...that would be "Houston we have an issue".

    No it's .... houston, we have an opportunity

    Appropriate management speak rules dictate that you cannot call it an opportunity until you correct someone else who calls it a challenge. So in a sense, you are both right..... Synergy!

  37. I prefer these mission transcripts: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Check out these mission transcripts from the Gemini and Apollo:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qM3xOu9HRU
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnTzdwMT0g4
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAp2Ni9frJE

  38. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Somewhat+Delirious · · Score: 1

    Lulz!! This is truly a monentous occasion! The appearance of the first LOLspeak grammar nazi!

    --
    The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.
  39. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by w0mprat · · Score: 3, Funny

    Apollo 13: srsly HALP!!!11!!

    Houston: RTFM!!

    --
    After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
  40. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Somewhat+Delirious · · Score: 1

    Cartman: This sucks ass Houston!
    Kyle: Shut the fuck up Cartman!
    Stan: OMG they've killed Kenny!
    Mission Control: M'kay Apollo 13....
    Cartman: We're all gonna die you stupid hippies!
    Kyle: Shut the fuck up Cartman!
    Cartman: I'm trying to make the best out of a bad situation. I don't need to hear crap from a bunch of hippie freaks living in denial! Screw you guys, I'm going home!

    --
    The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.
  41. Pottymouth astronauts... by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 1

    There were a few incidents of "frank language" during the Apollo program. On Apollo 10, Gene Cernan let fly with a "Son of a Bitch" and a few other expletives when the lunar module veered out of control for a few moments due to an improper guidance system setting. This caused a minor stir back on earth, with religious conservatives and other prudes taking NASA and Cernan to task for allowing such vulgarity to be broadcast into their living rooms.

    On Apollo 16, John Young was caught on VOX while dropping a few F-bombs and complaining to his crewmates about flatulence caused by the space food. He didn't know the mike was live...

    And Pete Conrad was well known for his "colorful use of language", as well.

    --
    Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
  42. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Somewhat+Delirious · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Apollo 13: "Houston we have a problem"
    Houston: "We're assembling all our top pr consultants. Don't worry we'll have this sorted"

    --
    The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.
  43. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Somewhat+Delirious · · Score: 1

    Apollo 13: Huston ur rocket is doing it wrong.
    Mission Control: lulz, kthxbye

    --
    The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.
  44. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lulz. Fix ur air w toobs! :P

  45. Just a rebranded site for already available stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is a non story really - okay - so it's searchable, but the OP makes it sound as though this is the first time these docs are available when that isn't accurate. This project does not seem to have any official relation to NASA (I didn't dox the site or creators so take that with a grain of salt). Anyway - you can find almost all of the transcripts already through NASA.

    I've had Apollo 8 and 13 on my Kindle for months now and requested Apollo 13 in 1999 via FOIA. Received it in a two huge binders.

    NASA Transcripts Home

  46. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Erbo · · Score: 1

    More like "Houston...FUUUUUUUUUUU-"

    --
    Be who you are...and be it in style!
  47. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by KnownIssues · · Score: 0

    I think it would be, "Houston, we have an opportunity."

  48. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Frank+Fry · · Score: 1

    "Houston we have an issue"

    Houston: "Have you tried to reboot?"

  49. Radio etiquette by LoudMusic · · Score: 1

    I realize these guys are quite literally rocket scientists, but it doesn't take that level of sophisticated mind to keep from talking over your conversee. WHY DO MY FAMILY AND COWORKERS HAVE SUCH A HARD TIME GRASPING THIS CONCEPT!?!

    I've nicknamed several people "Interruptus Maximus" because they're incapable of keeping their damn mouth shut while someone else is speaking.

    --
    No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
    1. Re:Radio etiquette by geekoid · · Score: 1

      In there defense, they had already thought of what they where going to say while you where talking~

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  50. HTML 4 1/2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They're making a half-assed attempt at HTML5, using the <time> element. But the document is old-style XHTML and full of <div>s. And a dialog shouldn't be a sequence of <dt><dd> (and much less <dt><dt><dd>!) since the <dialog> element was rejected about a year ago.

  51. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Houston, the vessel has made some bad choices.

  52. Re:To translate into newspeak for you youngsters.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Note the number of times in the course of the transcript where the astronauts shifted comm modes so they were not using "hot" mikes; that is a pretty clear indicator that not all their "conversation" went out over the air. NASA had a secondary comm link usually reserved for "private" conversations (not sure if it was operating at that point on Apollo XIII since they were working with so many systems degraded including low-res radio links).

    The fact that everybody (ground and crew) were on their best behavior during XIII was a combination of character, training, and explicit NASA directives. During the Apollo VII flight, the captain and one of the crew were grumpy and testy and a number of harsh exchanges went out over the comm link for all to hear. Neither of the grumps ever flew again and NASA made a point of teling everybody that behavior wasn't acceptable. Lovell talks about how the crew made huge efforts to stay calm, in his own words stating (not verbatim), what was the point of freaking out when 10 minutes later there I'd be right where I started: 225,000 miles from Earth with a big problem...