Launch Control Center Display Room

Credit to NASA
Scanning credit to Kipp Teague
Apollo Saturn V Launch Complex 39 Launch Control Center Firing Room No.1 during construction.
January 31, 1967

In the Display Room the four pair of fold mirrors have been installed, the projection screens have not been installed yet. The large secondary mirrors can be seen hanging at the ceiling of the Display Room. Two of these mirrors are reflecting the images of two smaller primary mirrors set up on the floor of the Display Room


Group Displays of a Firing Room

This is a picture of the group displays as used in a firing room.
They were positioned 6 meters high above the floor of the firing room.
The group displays were used by the people in the management area to attain a good situational awareness.

Data summary reports could be displayed on the four 2 x 3 m2 projection screens as well as live video images from the 106 cameras at the launch pad. The video images were projected by four Eidophor projectors from the rear side of the screens.

This picture is supposed to reflect a moment during a Countdown Demonstration Test of an Saturn V - Apollo stack.

Launch Complex Center Display Room

Floor plan based on ref.3 photo HEAR No. FL-8-11-A-54 and and ref.4 figure 5-6.
Console assignments of Display Coordinator and Eidophor Controller based on ref.5
Optical arrangement of Display Room based on ref.1 page 78.
Top view of the Display Room which situated six meters above the Firing Room.
The four Eidophor EP 21 projectors were used to project TV images onto a 2 x 3 m2 screens.
Each of the two Status Board Displays consisted of a 5 x 10 matrix of status lights.

The Eidophor projectors were controlled by a controller from one of the consoles in the middle of the front row of the management area. The controller was able to select from a number of TV channels.

On top of that the controller could also select from a number of data TV channels to enable the management area to monitor critical system parameters.

Next to the controller sat the display coordinator whose job it was to have the required information displayed for supporting the management team.

The Firing Room was used during the various phases of the prelaunch and the launch activities:
  1. The assembly of launch vehicle stages and integration with Apollo spacecraft and system testing in the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB)
  2. General surveillance of the Saturn -Apollo stack during transport between the VAB and the launch pad.
  3. Monitoring of fueling operations and the surveillance of the fueling areas.
  4. Monitoring systems during the countdown and launch.
To enable the engineers and management in the Firing Room to visual monitor the activities remotely, TV cameras were installed in the VAB, at the Mobile Launcher (ML) with its Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT), the Launch Pad and the Mobile Service Structure (MSS). During prelaunch and launch actvities there were about 50 TV cameras active at the launch pad area.

Many consoles in the Firing Room were equipped with dual 8-inch monitors to enable engineers and managers to visual monitor activities. In the engineering area there were also about fifteen 26-inch monitors area installed.
Various consoles were equipped with panels to provide information on the detailed status of various systems and on the overall system status. So the large group displays were actually meant to provide brief summary reports for top level management and for the public affairs officer.


Eidophor projectors in the Display Room

Figure from ref.1 page 78.
Edited version of figure from ref.1 page 50.
Arrangement of the Eidophor EP 21 projectors and the folding mirrors (to fold the optical paths) for rear projection of video images in the Display Room behind one of the Firing Rooms of the Launch Complex Center at the Kennedy Space Center.

Three of the four planned projectors have been installed in this picture.

A photo of an Eidophor EP 21 projector as used in the Display Room.

These projectors were produced by Gretag Ltd., Regensdorf, Switzerland.

This Eidophor EP21 projector was equipped with a single electron gun to draw the video images with a scan frequency of about 17 kHz onto a concave mirror which was covered with a thin film of oil. The optical properties of this oil was proportional susceptible to the intensity of the scanning electron beam. This film of oil made it therefore possible to modulate the reflection properties of this mirror arrangment. By illuminating this concave surface with a powerful light source and the use of additional optics video signals were in this way transformed into projected optical images.
A color video frame was scanned three times in succesion, one for each of the primary colors red, green and blue. A fast spinning color wheel in front of the light source was synchronized to have the three three images properly superimposed for rear projection.

Abbreviations
LUT Launch Umbilical Tower
ML Mobile Launcher
MSS Mobile Service Structure
VAB Vertical Assembly Building

References
  1. The History of the EIDOPHOR Large Screen Television Projector
    by Heinrich Johannes
    Gretag Aktiengesellschaft
    Switzerland, 1989

  2. Operational Television System for Launch Complex 39 at the John F. Kennedy Space Center
    by G.H. Taylor
    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Canaveral District, Florida
    Space Congress Proceedings "1968 (5th) The Challenge of the 1970's"
    Session 14 - Launch Operations and Support I, April 1968

  3. Library of Congress
    VIEW OF NORTH AND EAST ELEVATIONS, FACING SOUTH
    Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Launch Complex 39, Launch Control Center
    LCC Road, East of Kennedy Parkway North, Cape Canaveral, Brevard County, Flrorida
    Photos from Survey HAER FL-8-11-A
    https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.fl0694.photos/?sp=1&st=image

  4. Saturn V Flight Manual SA-506
    George C. Marshall Space Flight Center
    MSFC-MAN-506

  5. Website of the NASA Alumni League Florida Chapter
    Page "Apollo 11 Launch Team": https://www.nalfl.com/?page_id=2523&cpage=1



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