of Rodri
Photo: Terry Watson, Apollo GNC. Courtesy of Luigi Rosa (2010). There are people who give great importance to a good morning awakening, especially if they are making a nice and quiet sleep, and he who can, do so to awaken is one of his favorite songs.
and space?
As an alternative to that offered an alarm clock tic toc its sole and absolute noise in space, there was only the croaking voice of someone calling to wake the astronauts: the so-called Wakeup Call. Until one day someone decided to wake them up in a more sweet: it was December 16, 1965, and the astronauts of the Gemini 6 mission was svegliati sulle note di Hello Dolly , interpretata da Jack Jones, uno dei più celebri cantanti di quel periodo.
Durante il volo della Gemini 7 la wakeup call musicale fu fatta, anche se non tutti i giorni, con pezzi di musica classica, sempre differenti, mentre nelle missioni Gemini 8, 10 e 11 non risulta esser stato trasmesso alcun brano. Incuriosisce anche il non trovare indicazioni di sveglie musicali nella missione Apollo 11, anche se altre missioni Apollo ne ebbero, come indicato da documenti NASA . Presso Nasa.gov potete sentire alcune delle wakeup call tratte dalle più recenti missioni Shuttle.
La sveglia musicale è diventata una customary in almost all missions, including promote the spirit of camaraderie among the astronauts and Mission Control personnel. On several occasions, the last day of the mission was to be sent Going back to Houston Dean Martin.
To understand how this alarm has become tradition over time iron, just think that was even sent to automatic Pathfinder rover, Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, at the dawn of the Martian Sol. There is however one exception to this tradition: ISS astronauts do not get any wake-up music, you have to settle for an ordinary alarm clock, because I am still allowed to bring in some personal effects, including music CDs.
The choice of pieces sent, however, has never been regulated by NASA, nor has ever left at the mercy of outside influences that were not the wishes of the astronauts themselves or their families. Some
rule was needed?
At the end of the Apollo missions, with the advent of the Skylab missions of the Seventies, which included a prolonged stay in space and were long and difficult even for those who must monitor, Mission Control operators increasingly felt the weight of hours spent their respective positions, with the result that the relaxation of the environment and the seriousness ebbe culmine nella notte del 15 settembre 1973, mentre si cercava l'idea per la wakeup call .
Il CapCom Bob Crippen venne raggiunto dall'amico e collega Terry Watson (nella foto, tratta dal recente incontro a Lugano ), che gli disse "Ho qualcosa che sveglierebbe anche i morti" . Ascoltando in cuffia il pezzo, Crippen fece una faccia da coniglio abbagliato dai fari, gridando poi "Sì! Sì!" e ridendo fino a diventare viola. Il collegamento audio fu poi passato al Direttore di Volo, tra la curiosità di tutti gli altri operatori, che non sentendo nulla non capivano cosa stesse succedendo. Lo capirono quando venne dato l'ordine di diffondere la canzone nell'intera room: it was decided to be a wakeup call transmitting Paralyzed The Legendary Stardust Cowboy (a more recent, dated 2009, Paralyzed by its author is available here on Youtube ).
Among the systems of the Skylab space station was managed by Watson 's Attitude Control System, the attitude control system which kept the station stable and oriented in the desired direction. This system was sensitive enough to detect the normal movement of the astronauts inside the station and report in Houston. That morning, Watson said, when it was played Paralyzed data reported a genuine jolt.
This alarm is remembered for being the most fun (for the operators of Houston) but also more traumatic (for the astronauts of Skylab III, which included Moonwalker Alan Bean). Among the protests of the early astronauts (remarks of Owen Garriott was "Sounded like Marine Close Order Drill" ), comments made during the day and the apparent loss of concentration that caused them the joke, NASA ordered categorically that Paralyzed was never transmitted between the most wakeup call . It appears that the only song banned by the U.S. space.
Sources: Terry Watson (personal communication, October 2010), Stardustcowboy.com .
