Steve Bales is a former NASA engineer and flight controller. He is best known for his role during the Apollo 11 lunar landing. NASA logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Flight controller: a space flight control room position at NASAs Mission Control Center. ... Apollo 11 was the fifth human spaceflight of the Apollo program, the third human voyage to the moon, and the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ...

Early life

Bales was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, and grew up in the nearby town of Fremont. His father was a school janitor and his mother was a beautician. From a young age he had an interest in space; at the age of thirteen he was deeply affected by a Disneyland show that discussed the future of space travel. "This show," he said later, "probably more than anything else, influenced me to study aerospace engineering. And this wasn't the ordinary thing to do for a boy raised in a small Iowa farming community." ^[1] Ottumwa (pronounced Uh-tuhm-wa) is a city in Wapello County, Iowa. ... Fremont is a city located in Mahaska County, Iowa. ...

He graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering, and was hired by NASA in December, 1964. ^[2] Fountain of Four Seasons by Christian Petersen with the Campanile in the background Iowa State University (ISU) is a public land-grant and space-grant university located in Ames, Iowa. ...

NASA career

At NASA he was assigned to work in the Flight Dynamics branch as a Guidance officer, a flight controller whose responsibility was determining the location of the spacecraft in space, and monitoring the guidance systems on board. He was a backup controller for Gemini 3 and Gemini 4, but worked his first mission as a flight controller in his own right on Gemini 10, when he was still only twenty-three.^[3] Flight controller: a space flight control room position at NASAs Mission Control Center. ... The Apollo Primary Guidance, Navigation and Control System (PGNCS) (pronounced pings) was a self-contained inertial guidance system that allowed Apollo spacecraft to carry out their missions when communications with Earth were interrupted, either as expected, when the spacecraft were behind the moon, or in case of a communications failure. ... Gemini 3 was a 1965 manned space flight in NASAs Gemini program. ... Gemini 4 (officially Gemini IV) was a 1965 manned space flight in NASAs Gemini program. ... Flight controller: a space flight control room position at NASAs Mission Control Center. ... Gemini 10 (officially Gemini X) was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASAs Gemini program. ...

Apollo 11

Steve Bales is best known for having been Guidance officer during the Apollo 11 lunar landing, when he dealt with several problems that could have ended the mission. In charge of monitoring the lunar module's position and velocity, he came close to having to call an abort when it became clear that a navigational error had occurred. The spacecraft was moving at 20 feet per second faster than it should have been, and was halfway to its abort limits. However, Bales continued to monitor the data, and the situation remained stable. Apollo 11 was the fifth human spaceflight of the Apollo program, the third human voyage to the moon, and the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ...

The last few minutes of the landing were punctuated by program alarms from the guidance computer. These alarms signified an "Executive overflow," which meant that the computer was potentially failing to keep up with its computing tasks. Bales had to rapidly determine whether or not this failure was serious. If high-priority computing tasks were not being completed, he would have to call for an abort. The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) was the first recognizably modern embedded system, used in real-time by astronaut pilots to collect and provide flight information, and to automatically control all of the navigational functions of the Apollo spacecraft. ...

While Bales is sometimes credited for having made the decision on his own,^[4] in fact he worked, like all flight controllers, with the assistance of a team of "backroom" engineers. It was twenty-four year old Jack Garman, a computer specialist, who first recognized the meaning of the alarm and determined that the situation was acceptable. As Bales said later: "quite frankly, Jack, who had these things memorized said, 'that's okay', before I could even remember which group it was in". ^[5] The final decision lay with Bales however, as did the responsibility if anything went wrong.

His decision--to go ahead with the landing--was the correct one, and Apollo 11 landed safely. When President Richard Nixon awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the three Apollo 11 astronauts, Steve Bales was also honored by being chosen to accept a NASA Group Achievement Award on behalf of the entire mission operations team. "This is the young man," said the President, "when the computers seemed to be confused and when he could have said 'Stop,' or when he could have said 'Wait,' said, 'Go.'"^[6] Apollo 11 was the fifth human spaceflight of the Apollo program, the third human voyage to the moon, and the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... The Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States, considered the equivalent of the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. ...

Later career

Bales remained at NASA until 1996, at which point he was Deputy Director of Operations at Johnson Space Center. After leaving NASA, he took a position at Amspec Chemical in New Jersey. ^[7] An aerial view of the complete Johnson Space Center facility in Houston, Texas in 1989. ...

In films

Bales was played by Andy Milder in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. He was also interviewed in the History Channel documentary Failure Is Not an Option. Andy Milder is an American actor and voice actor. ... HBO (Home Box Office) is a premium cable television network with headquarters in New York City. ... From the Earth to the Moon was a twelve-part HBO television miniseries (1998) co-produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Tom Hanks, and Michael Bostick detailing the landmark Apollo expeditions to the Moon during the 1960s and early 1970s. ... The History Channel is a cable television channel, dedicated to the presentation of historical events and persons, often with frequent observations and explanations by noted historians as well as reenactors and witnesses to events, if possible. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ Watkins, Billy (2006). Apollo Moon Missions: The Unsung Heroes. Connecticut: Praeger.
2. ^ Flight Controller Assignments (PDF). Retrieved on 2006-07-12.
3. ^ Ibid
4. ^ For example, see The Eagle Has Landed: 20 Years After Apollo 11, Houston Chronicle, July 16, 1989.
5. ^ Lindsay, Hamish. Apollo 11. Retrieved on 2006-07-11.
6. ^ Richard Nixon: Remarks at a Dinner in Los Angeles Honoring the Apollo 11 Astronauts
7. ^ Watkins, Billy. Apollo Moon Missions.

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 11 is the 192nd day (193rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 173 days remaining. ...

References

• Flight Controller Assignments (PDF). Retrieved on 2006-07-12.

• Lindsay, Hamish. Apollo 11. Retrieved on 2006-07-11.

• Marshall, Thom; Kreps, Mary Ann; Chriss, Nicholas C., "The Eagle Has Landed: 20 Years After Apollo 11", Houston Chronicle, July 16, 1989. Retrieved on 2006-07-12.

• Murray, Charles; Cox, Catherine Bly (1989). Apollo: The Race to the Moon. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-61101-1.

• Nixon, Richard. Richard Nixon: Remarks at a Dinner in Los Angeles Honoring the Apollo 11 Astronauts. Retrieved on 2006-07-13.

• Watkins, Billy (2006). Apollo Moon Missions: The Unsung Heroes. Connecticut: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-98702-7.

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 11 is the 192nd day (193rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 173 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Insert non-formatted text here July 13 is the 194th day (195th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 171 days remaining. ...

External links

• Console Audio of Apollo 11 Landing