Firing Room arrangement
The large number of console panels (around 218) illustrates how many subsystems of the rocket and the so called ground source equipment needed to be monitored during launch preparations and the launch itself.
In the firing room three main areas can be distinguished:
- the management area (A);
- the engineering area (B)
- the equipment area (C)
In area B the various engineers were able to closely monitor the subsystems of the launch vehicle (blue area) and monitor the subsystems of the ground source equipment which were housed in the launch umbilical tower (beige area).
The consoles in area A provided the necessary information to conduct launch operations. The information contained management summaries about the conditions of the launch vehicle and the Apollo spacecraft with its lunar lander and information about safety of the launch area and parts of the Atlantic Ocean over which the Saturn V would fly.
Notice the 7 rows in the blue section of area B:
- "Measuring & RF": consoles to monitor all systems of all Saturn V stages which were used for communication and telemetry;
- "Flight control": consoles to monitor the thrust vector of the thrust engines of the Saturn V stages and to monitor the systems which control the thrust vectors (the direction of the thrust engines could be rapidly changed by hydraulic jacks);
- "Stabilization": consoles to monitor the systems for navigation;
"Guidance": consoles to monitor the integrity of the guidance data as generated by the on-board digital computer
- "Instrument Unit": consoles to monitor the various electrical systems of the Instrument Unit which was the electronic heart of the launch vehicle;
- "S-IC stage": consoles to monitor various subsystems of the first stage like electrical and pneumatic systems, systems to monitor propellant levels, thrust engines performance, ordnance systems for stage separations and propellant dispersion (in which the stage is ripped open with line shaped explosive charges) in case of emergency;
- "S-II stage": these consoles had a similar function as the ones described in "S-IC stage"
- "S-IVB stage": these consoles had a similar function as the ones described in "S-IC stage"
The dark green section in area C housed a large number of chart recorders to register various parameter values in real-time. The light green section housed patch and distribution cabinets and cabinets for the digital data acquisition system (DDAS) and the digital event evaluator (DEE).
Area D and F in the top of the diagram are worth mentioning. Area F contained the terminals for the connections with the launch pad. From these terminals the connection lines went to distribution & patch panels in area C or to area D, the computer room.
Page "Procedures and Technicalities" provides an overview about the interconnection between the Firing Room and the systems at the launch pad.
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