Where on the Moon? An Apollo Systems Engineering Problem

DEVOTED TO T H E SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING ASPECTS OF ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATION Copyright © 1972, American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Printed in U.S.A. Where on the Moon? An Apollo Systems Engineering Problem* Edited by J. O. CAPPELLARI, Jr. ( M a n u s c r i p t received J a n u a r y 17, 1972) Foreword Bellcomm was established early in 1962 in response to a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) request to the Bell System for technical support of the manned space flight programs at the NASA Headquarters level. It was a small company, reaching a peak of 500 people in 1969, and was jointly owned by American Telephone and Telegraph Company and Western Electric Company. The initial cadre of technical people was drawn mainly from Bell Laboratories and Western Electric, with the administrative staff drawn mainly from Western Electric and the Operating Companies. In its role as technical adviser to the Apollo Program Director, one of Bellcomm's major responsibilities was in the area of Apollo Program systems engineering, helping to insure that the total system being developed would, in fact, be able to successfully perform the planned Apollo missions. A significant part of this task involved insuring that * W o r k p e r f o r m e d for t h e N a t i o n a l A e r o n a u t i c s a n d S p a c e A d m i n i s t r a t i o n u n d e r C o n t r a c t NASw-417 955 956 THE BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL, M A Y - J U N E 1972 the missions, their objectives, and the required systems capabilities were sufficiently well identified in advance so that all of the Apollo Program objectives would be achieved in an orderly fashion.