Space

NASA radio transcripts digitized for the web

NASA radio transcripts digitized for the web
Mission Control Center during the Apollo 13 oxygen cell failure (Photo: NASA)
Mission Control Center during the Apollo 13 oxygen cell failure (Photo: NASA)
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Original crew photo. Left to right: Lovell, Mattingly, Haise.
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Original crew photo. Left to right: Lovell, Mattingly, Haise.
The crew of Apollo 13 onboard the USS Iwo Jima following splashdown
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The crew of Apollo 13 onboard the USS Iwo Jima following splashdown
Apollo 13 launches from Kennedy Space Center, April 11, 1970.
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Apollo 13 launches from Kennedy Space Center, April 11, 1970.
Left to right: Lovell, Swigert, Haise
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Left to right: Lovell, Swigert, Haise
Photograph of Glenn by an automatic camera inside Friendship 7
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Photograph of Glenn by an automatic camera inside Friendship 7
Photo taken by Astronaut John Glenn (with a Minolta Hi-Matic) during his historic Friendship 7 flight
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Photo taken by Astronaut John Glenn (with a Minolta Hi-Matic) during his historic Friendship 7 flight
The often (slightly) misquoted words spoken during the Apollo 13 mission
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The often (slightly) misquoted words spoken during the Apollo 13 mission
Mission Control Center during the Apollo 13 oxygen cell failure (Photo: NASA)
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Mission Control Center during the Apollo 13 oxygen cell failure (Photo: NASA)
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NASA space missions have always been a source of fascination amongst the general public and films like Apollo 13 have tried to encapsulate the experience of space travel. The famous words “Houston, we've had a problem,” uttered by Lovell on the second day of what was to be the USA's third lunar landing mission, remains just as famous at the aborted mission itself. Now, thanks to British programmer Andrew Godwin, it is possible to view the actual NASA transcripts online. Spacelog.org has published the radio transcripts of the earliest manned NASA missions to space. Currently the site hosts the Apollo 13 transcripts along with Mercury-Atlas 6, John Glenn's mission aboard Friendship 7 as the first American to reach orbit.

Spacelog.com allows you read the radio transcripts between the Apollo 13 crew and NASA personnel stationed at Houston in each phase of the mission.

The often (slightly) misquoted words spoken during the Apollo 13 mission
The often (slightly) misquoted words spoken during the Apollo 13 mission

The Mercury 6 mission transcripts follow John Glenn as he performs three orbits of the Earth communicating with NASA personnel stationed around the world.

You can also view historical photographs taken from the missions and other documented information, including the problems that occurred and the measures taken aboard and/or from ground control. There's also a glossary to help you decipher the technical terms and acronyms used in the transcripts.

The site also allows you to search for different phases of the missions and key moments within them. Each line of the transcripts starts with a timestamp, in Ground Elapsed Time, which is the time (in days, hours, minutes and seconds) after lift off.

Soon to arrive at spacelog.com will be the Gemini 7 (half of the first orbital rendezvous), Apollo 8 (first human space flight to exit Earth's orbit) and Apollo 11 (first landing on the moon) missions and transcripts.

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2 comments
2 comments
Oze
At last, someone who uses the correct phrase - \"Houston, we\'ve had a problem\". Ron Howard changed the words in the movie from a fact to an opinion, \"we have a problem\", and now everyone states the incorrect words. The amount of work that went into the moon mission and the planning, training etc was amazing. The projects of today could learn some serious lessons from what they did.
DigitaLight42
Being a lifelong fanatic of manned spaceflight and all aspects of space exploration, I am thrilled that these historic transcripts are now being digitally archived for all to share via the Internet. These historic milestones deserve this, for all the world to share, and hopefully enrich and inspire the younger generation and future ones to learn from.