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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Nautical Miles and Apollo
From: Robin Stuart
Date: 2019 Jun 7, 13:21 -0700
From: Robin Stuart
Date: 2019 Jun 7, 13:21 -0700
Reading an article yesterday I was reminded that, in the Apollo program, spacecraft distances were quoted in nautical miles. I'm not sure why but it might have been familiarity since many of the astronauts were from a navy background or maybe it's a carry over from the days of low Earth orbit where nautical miles would have made some sense.
Attached is the Apollo 12 mission patch. The crew all came from the navy and named their Command Module "Yankee Clipper".
Robin Stuart
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