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We're celebrating the life of Arthur A. Collins and his company on this anniversary of one of man's greatest achievements, walking on the moon. Ironically, we note that historians have often written that Collins himself wasn't that interested in the space program. That's probably misreading his motives. Art hated wasting time; he focused his attention where it was needed, and that wasn't on the radios his company was building for the astronauts. He had very good managers overseeing their development, led by Arthur Wulfsberg, Assist. VP Space Systems Division, who also managed Mercury and Gemini.

The Apollo communication system design that NASA settled on transmitted in the microwave S-band, specifically 2.1-2.3 GHz. It was called Unified S-Band or USB; "unified" because all the data was digitally combined and transmitted simultaneously. USB was complex but proven. Engineers saved huge amounts of weight and space by eliminating separate receivers, transmitters and antennas for data, tracking, voice, medical monitoring, remote control, etc. and accomplished it with just one set of equipment. With some stretching and extra design work Collins engineers convinced NASA they could even fit in live television . . . for which we are all grateful. The challenge was building the boxes to NASA specs. The downside of USB was that one circuit failure could take down everything. So designers made the boxes easy to fix in space by simply slipping in spare boards. The modular design, designated Block I, was abandoned after the Apollo 1 fire in Jan. 1967 and replaced with a new approach called Block II. The equipment was made smaller, lighter and totally sealed. That eliminated the possibility of sparking another fire (not that Collins was implicated in the first), but along with it any opportunity to make "roadside" repairs. The new specs called for quadruple redundancy and zero defects. In the event of a circuit failure the equipment switched instantly to a new pathway--4X!

A special area of the factory floor was enclosed at the Collins plant. No one entered without special training and a pass. Everything used in the Apollo was tracked from its origin, right down to the source of the silica sand used in the manufacture of the transistors. The work/schedule pressure was terrific, but the astronauts' lives depended on it, along with hopes and dreams of the entire nation. . . and JFK's deadline was rapidly approaching! Not everyone could take the stress. Those who could were viewed with some awe then at Collins. . . we should do so still. Of course, the equipment performed flawlessly, again, and we, along with the rest of the world, watched in wonder and heard the astronauts over the radios we built here.

Art saw the moon landing from Cedar Rapids, cheered with the rest of us and, as usual, asked the Gazette reporter to credit his workers. Then he jumped on a company plane and flew to Dallas where he celebrated with another group of key Apollo engineers. Their role in the space program is less well known, but continues in large measure still today.

Early in the Apollo program NASA administrators made a decision to take the lowest risk path to the moon. As one put it, "in a Volkswagen rather than a Cadillac," meaning they would not risk a tight schedule trying to develop cutting edge technology. The exception was the Apollo tracking network where there was no falling back on well-tested systems and equipment. Unlike on Mercury and Gemini, the Apollo USB signals were digital and coming in a flood of data 10X anything seen before in manned space-flight. Also the signals would now be coming from the moon--deep space, with the need to distinguish simultaneous transmissions from the command module and the lunar lander.

Collins-Dallas was selected by NASA in 1964 to build a world-wide network of 15 new communications and tracking stations needed for the Apollo mission, and everything to connect them with Mission Control in Houston. Twelve (12) stations employed 30 ft. parabolic antennas for tracking the astronauts in near Earth orbit. Three (3) deep space stations with giant 85 ft. antennas would track the spacecraft to the moon. All the antennas had to be located in remote areas, like Goldstone in the Mojave desert, far from noise interference (and telephone lines, etc.), so there was a lot of microwave transmission work. Collins engineers designed and installed additional stations on USN ships and aircraft to maintain contact during reentry, in all a $50 million effort. Many of the pieces are still in place and the Collins engineers maintaining portions of the vast global network today report feeling a thrill every time they come upon the old Collins "meatball" logo.

Learn more about the Collins role in the manned space program from its earliest days in the current exhibit, The Collins Story: On the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing, in collaboration with the Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association. Now Open. Free admission courtesy of the McIntyre Foundation. ... See MoreSee Less

1 month ago  ·  

Four snapshots from Sunday's program offered by Professor Donald Gurnett, From the Dawn of the Space Age to the Edge of the Solar System. What a terrific way to begin this season's schedule of programs! A standing-room-only crowd of 100+. Dr. Gurnett stayed late to answer questions well passed closing. Many thanks! If you get another chance to catch him speak, don't miss it. ... See MoreSee Less

1 month ago  ·  

Even those of us who closely followed the US manned space program in the 1960's may misunderstand the relationship between the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. Automobiles get faster; buildings get taller, airplanes get bigger, so space craft and rockets got naturally bigger too. Right?

Technological evolution had nothing to do with it in this case. After President Kennedy kicked off Project Apollo in 1961 and administrators settled on the plan to use a 3-man Command Module and separate Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) for the moon landing 6 months later, it became clear a bridge program was needed for astronauts and NASA to learn the skills needed to succeed in the plan. Those skills included rendezvous and docking in space, endurance (e.g. eating, sleeping, etc.), extra-vehicular (EVA) work and safe landings. The quickest and least expensive way to learn and practice those skills was with two-man capsules boosted into orbit by an existing intercontinental ballistic missile, the Titan II. Thus Project Gemini was born, almost a full year after Apollo.

McDonnell Aircraft, the prime contractor on the Mercury Project was awarded the Gemini lead on Dec. 22, 1961. They gave Collins Radio the go-ahead for the UHF and HF Voice communication systems in March, 1962. It was a smaller role for Collins than on Mercury, supplying dual UHF radios for the primary intercom and voice communication-link between space-craft and the earth, and HF transceivers for backup, plus the control unit. The Gemini radios were 15% larger and about 10% heavier than those on Mercury due to added comm circuit requirements and the hermetic sealing required when the capsule designers moved the radios outside the crew cabin into the cold and vacuum of space. They were gold plated for corrosion protection. Altogether there were 10 manned Gemini flights preparing for Apollo, preceded by two unmanned test-flights. As expected, the Collins equipment performed flawlessly throughout, bringing us the play-by-play of America's first space walk, for example, along with many other space firsts leading up to Apollo.

More extensive but less well known was Collins' role on the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program. The MOL was a classified USAF plan to launch reconnaissance platforms into space and man them with rotating crews on a 30-40 day cycle using modified Gemini spacecraft known as the Gemini B to ferry them up. The program was authorized in Nov. 1963 and Collins Radio was chosen to supply the complete data and communications systems. There was a successful launch of an MOL mock up system in Nov. 1966, but the program was cancelled in June 1969 when it became apparent that unmanned satellites could supply the same information at a fraction of the cost. Collins spent about $100 million in development, but the R&D helped pave the way for future US space station efforts.

Learn more about Collins' role on the Gemini Program and its spin-offs in the upcoming exhibit The Collins Story: On the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing, opening July 13, in collaboration with the Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association.

Photos: Gemini astronaut Ed White on the first American space walk. The world listened to the play-by-play on the Collins Radio comm system; Gemini vs. Mercury capsules; pointing to Collins equipment; MOL. Photos courtesy of the Collins Aerospace Museum and NASA. ... See MoreSee Less

1 month ago  ·