My cousin Jerry Reddell worked with John Aaron at NASA in Houston. They were also neighbors and their kids played together. Jerry was a contractor and John tried hard to get him to switch to nasa and stay in Houston. But NASA wasn’t paying engineers as much yet so Jerry moved on to his next assignment in Maryland. Six months later nasa started bumping up their salaries. Jerry still wishes he could have stayed in Houston as he’s a Texas boy.
The call was SCE to AUX, and not SEC. Switching the SCE to Aux did not fix everything. It provided an undamaged transmitter to send uncorrupted data to mission control. They could then figure out what to do to fix the systems that the lighting had damaged. John Arron, who was the EECOM on duty during the Apollo 12 launch, still deserves the title of Steely Eyed Missile Man for this. The flight could very well have been aborted otherwise.
Thank you. I have read about this after reading The Martian (which is much more fun than the movie - that was not bad, either). You told it clearly enough even people who don't speak English as first language understood it easy.
John Aaron en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Aaron Of course ... the phrases use in a movie will probably kill it being used ever again IRL. I don't know if anyone in the military still says "Zero Dark Thirty" any more. We said it back in 1971. The director of the movie says wrongly that it meant 0030 Hours in military time - but it did not. It referred to _any_ time between 0000 and Dawn when who ever had the watch would be out there in the cold and dark and maybe the rain - while everyone else was asleep in their nice warm beds. Of course - if you were going to sneak up on people and do things to them they wouldn't like - doing them when they were asleep in their nice warm beds - was a good time to do it. Another was - "The Right Stuff". This was much like the Steely Eyed Missile Man remark - in that it indicated someone who - when everything was turning to shit - would do the right thing. The epitome of this - is that last scene in the movie where a chain of events is working to kill Yeager. As everything turns to shit - he continues to work the problem, doing what he can to deal with it - finally having to bail out of his aircraft before it broke up (which would kill him). Here though - when he ejected - because of the nature of the aircraft's motion - he was released from his ejection seat below it - and some unconsumed yet burning explosive that had propelled the seat out of the aircraft falls on his face plate, breaks it and is inside his helmet burning his face. The real problem though was that Yeager could not breath the fumes this stuff was giving off - as those would kill him. So - what he did - was use one hand - as you might stick it out the window of a moving car - to divert an air flow into his helmet so that it pushed the fumes of the burning explosive out - and he could breath. Then - with that hand in position providing him breathable air, he took the other hand and picked up the burning pieces of explosive with his fingers - and tossed them out of the helmet. That - continuing to work the problem as everything turned to shit and things you did not expect to happen - happened - was the definition of The Right Stuff. .
That's too bad because all of the phrases you quoted are FANTASTIC!!!! Every company should have some form of "steely eyed missile" award for great performance. I had lunch with Chuck Yeager in Sun Valley ID when I was just a kid. I remember it vividly and how he stole everyone's attention. I was not fully aware of his background but had the unmistakable feeling I was in the presence of someone "worthy of my time." Thanks for posting such a great comment!
@@StephenHarvillCV There's a thing about people that belong to select groups. They tend to develop their own vocabularies - and - it's a measure of your membership in the group - that you know what that vocabulary is. They don't take well to outsiders - regardless of their intentions - making use of their select vocabulary - and thus - once a saying comes into usage by the general public they abandon it. The other thing is - these vocabulary items - come and go on their own. People in one place and one time may use a certain phrase - yet - other people at that same time or in a different place at a different time - would have developed a vocabulary of their own. An example would be the slang term for an M-79 Grenade Launcher used during the Vietnam War. When fired the weapon made a sound something like *_BLOOK!!_* And became known as a Blooker - some places. Other people in different units - which used the same weapon - had a different word that they used to imitate the noise. It was still common for these units to refer to the weapon by the noise it made - but - they used different words to describe that noise. Often times - if you have experience across generations of people in a field - you can tell what generation they belonged to by the words they use. Here - you have a problem with older people (like parents) who try and use some of the same words that their teenage children use - usually - to eye rolling on the part of their kids. If you aren't part of the group - don't use the words - as it will not impress those who are - much less - make you part of the group. Judd Apatow on Connan's show talking about his daughters regard for him. th-cam.com/video/4QuAibRXZHw/w-d-xo.html .
@@BobSmith-dk8nw Language has always been a dynamic element of civilization. It moves and shifts with time, culture, intent and usage. Thanks for the great comment and astute observations.
Interesting. I had just assumed it dated back to the early years of the manned missile silos..... (P.S. The Martian is one of very few movies I have seen that lived up to the book...as much as a movie can. To put it another way... I saw the film, then read the book...and still liked the film.) )
Thanks for giving me some of your time. The Martian was both a great read and a great movie. In addition, the science was about as good as any movie can make it. Hope you enjoy more of the DID YOU KNOW series
Not sure what the comment means? If you are saying that John was the same engineer that put together the variety of fixes for Apollo 13, that was Ed Smylie. Both were "steely eyed missile men!"
@@Deus042 John did work in both Apollo missions. though Ed Smylie was the head honcho. At least that's what I remember from my research on that particular video (my notes).
My cousin Jerry Reddell worked with John Aaron at NASA in Houston. They were also neighbors and their kids played together. Jerry was a contractor and John tried hard to get him to switch to nasa and stay in Houston. But NASA wasn’t paying engineers as much yet so Jerry moved on to his next assignment in Maryland. Six months later nasa started bumping up their salaries. Jerry still wishes he could have stayed in Houston as he’s a Texas boy.
Thanks for the note Don. You can check out all of the other DID YOU KNOW videos on my Stephen Harvill TH-cam channel
The call was SCE to AUX, and not SEC. Switching the SCE to Aux did not fix everything. It provided an undamaged transmitter to send uncorrupted data to mission control. They could then figure out what to do to fix the systems that the lighting had damaged. John Arron, who was the EECOM on duty during the Apollo 12 launch, still deserves the title of Steely Eyed Missile Man for this. The flight could very well have been aborted otherwise.
Thanks for the clarification and the support of The Steely Eyed Missile Man title for John Arron
This is fantastic! It takes the accolade to a new, high, and relevant plain. Thanks so much!
Thanks Bill, great comment to kick off a Friday.
Bill, thanks for the kind comments, I'm glad you enjoyed the vid
Thank you. I have read about this after reading The Martian (which is much more fun than the movie - that was not bad, either). You told it clearly enough even people who don't speak English as first language understood it easy.
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed the video.
John Aaron
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Aaron
Of course ... the phrases use in a movie will probably kill it being used ever again IRL. I don't know if anyone in the military still says "Zero Dark Thirty" any more. We said it back in 1971. The director of the movie says wrongly that it meant 0030 Hours in military time - but it did not. It referred to _any_ time between 0000 and Dawn when who ever had the watch would be out there in the cold and dark and maybe the rain - while everyone else was asleep in their nice warm beds. Of course - if you were going to sneak up on people and do things to them they wouldn't like - doing them when they were asleep in their nice warm beds - was a good time to do it.
Another was - "The Right Stuff". This was much like the Steely Eyed Missile Man remark - in that it indicated someone who - when everything was turning to shit - would do the right thing.
The epitome of this - is that last scene in the movie where a chain of events is working to kill Yeager. As everything turns to shit - he continues to work the problem, doing what he can to deal with it - finally having to bail out of his aircraft before it broke up (which would kill him).
Here though - when he ejected - because of the nature of the aircraft's motion - he was released from his ejection seat below it - and some unconsumed yet burning explosive that had propelled the seat out of the aircraft falls on his face plate, breaks it and is inside his helmet burning his face. The real problem though was that Yeager could not breath the fumes this stuff was giving off - as those would kill him. So - what he did - was use one hand - as you might stick it out the window of a moving car - to divert an air flow into his helmet so that it pushed the fumes of the burning explosive out - and he could breath. Then - with that hand in position providing him breathable air, he took the other hand and picked up the burning pieces of explosive with his fingers - and tossed them out of the helmet.
That - continuing to work the problem as everything turned to shit and things you did not expect to happen - happened - was the definition of The Right Stuff.
.
That's too bad because all of the phrases you quoted are FANTASTIC!!!! Every company should have some form of "steely eyed missile" award for great performance. I had lunch with Chuck Yeager in Sun Valley ID when I was just a kid. I remember it vividly and how he stole everyone's attention. I was not fully aware of his background but had the unmistakable feeling I was in the presence of someone "worthy of my time." Thanks for posting such a great comment!
@@StephenHarvillCV There's a thing about people that belong to select groups. They tend to develop their own vocabularies - and - it's a measure of your membership in the group - that you know what that vocabulary is. They don't take well to outsiders - regardless of their intentions - making use of their select vocabulary - and thus - once a saying comes into usage by the general public they abandon it.
The other thing is - these vocabulary items - come and go on their own. People in one place and one time may use a certain phrase - yet - other people at that same time or in a different place at a different time - would have developed a vocabulary of their own.
An example would be the slang term for an M-79 Grenade Launcher used during the Vietnam War. When fired the weapon made a sound something like
*_BLOOK!!_*
And became known as a Blooker - some places. Other people in different units - which used the same weapon - had a different word that they used to imitate the noise. It was still common for these units to refer to the weapon by the noise it made - but - they used different words to describe that noise.
Often times - if you have experience across generations of people in a field - you can tell what generation they belonged to by the words they use.
Here - you have a problem with older people (like parents) who try and use some of the same words that their teenage children use - usually - to eye rolling on the part of their kids. If you aren't part of the group - don't use the words - as it will not impress those who are - much less - make you part of the group.
Judd Apatow on Connan's show talking about his daughters regard for him.
th-cam.com/video/4QuAibRXZHw/w-d-xo.html
.
@@BobSmith-dk8nw Language has always been a dynamic element of civilization. It moves and shifts with time, culture, intent and usage. Thanks for the great comment and astute observations.
Interesting. I had just assumed it dated back to the early years of the manned missile silos..... (P.S. The Martian is one of very few movies I have seen that lived up to the book...as much as a movie can. To put it another way... I saw the film, then read the book...and still liked the film.) )
Thanks for giving me some of your time. The Martian was both a great read and a great movie. In addition, the science was about as good as any movie can make it. Hope you enjoy more of the DID YOU KNOW series
why didnt they turn around and go get him
I thought that was John Aarons both times?
Not sure what the comment means? If you are saying that John was the same engineer that put together the variety of fixes for Apollo 13, that was Ed Smylie. Both were "steely eyed missile men!"
@@StephenHarvillCV I had thought he was the guy who did the fix for Apollo 12 and the filter for Apollo 13
@@Deus042 John did work in both Apollo missions. though Ed Smylie was the head honcho. At least that's what I remember from my research on that particular video (my notes).
SCE* (stands for signal conditioning equipment).
The best account of this that I've found is in Murray & Cox
SCE!!!!!!!!!!!!! SCE to Aux!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Signal conditioning equipment to auxiliary.