NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: We were off-course 97% of the time
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2016 Jun 11, 20:04 -0700
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2016 Jun 11, 20:04 -0700
The numerical value is meaningless. It makes for a better story. And I find that 98% of stories told by all salts are above average anyway...
Setting aside the numerical value, the navigational concept highlighted by the tale is certainly true: Mission Control was required to guide the Apollo missions to the Moon and back. Before anything else, that was the Mission Control's job. Ground observations regularly updated the orbits, also known as state vectors, and provided the details for the rocket burns which would adjust the orbits to bring them in line with mission goals.
Frank Reed
