In December 1968, astronauts William Anders, Frank Borman, and James Lovell became the first people to travel from Earth to another body in space. On the forty-fifth anniversary of that first voyage around the moon, NASA has released a new visualization combining new lunar reconnaissance data with Apollo 8 images and crew conversations to show how marvelous engineering, human spirit and a bit of luck combined to move the world with one of the iconic images of the 20th century.
Click here to see the new video and read more about it on the NASA website. (Note, the photo accompanying this post was created by NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio).
Of course, a trip like this one would not have been possible without the precise testing and measurement activity that we calibration professionals know so well. Looking at 1968 via the 1968 Annual Report of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, we see on page 20 that “Virtually every aspect of spacecraft technology either depends on or is influenced by the state of the art in electronics. Research and development in this area provide much of the forward thrust of space technology.”
The last 50 years have seen many changes in science and measurement. What do you think are the most significant changes? Where do you think we’ll be in another 50 years? As we move into a new year. Fluke Calibration salutes NASA and the rest of you who ingeniously apply metrology principles and calibration techniques in science and industry. Your contributions make us proud to be right there with you on the bench.
If you liked this post, you might also like the posting and video about the Mars Science Laboratory. Read it here: Mars Science Laboratory.