Nuclear missile launch control and Mission Control for the NASA Apollo Moon Missions (260)

Nuclear missile launch control and Mission Control for the NASA Apollo Moon Missions (260)

Richard Stachurski joined the US Air Force in 1962, on the cusp of the Cuban Missile Crisis as a security police officer guarding nuclear-armed B-58 Hustler bombers. Within two years he volunteered for the Minuteman nuclear missile program where he served as a Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander with the 68th Strategic Missile Squadron at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. Richard was the junior officer on a two-man crew in a launch control capsule buried beneath the South Dakota prairie who was charged with monitoring the status and launching if necessary ten Minuteman ICBMs. In 1965 he was selected as one of 128 Air Force officers to be loaned to NASA to support the activation and operation of the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas. He worked his way up to being a Network Controller, who sat two consoles to the right of the Flight Director in the Mission Operations Control Room. He was responsible for all the ground systems that supported an Apollo mission and was selected as the lead Network Controller on Apollo 11 working on both the launch from Earth and the first-ever launch from the lunar surface. 0:00 Introduction and Career Overview of Richard Stachurski 2:33 Richard's Journey in the US Air Force and the Cuban Missile Crisis 9:25 The Minuteman System and Life in the Bunker 20:14 Launch Protocols and the Dynamics of Working as a Missileer 27:03 Richard's Transition to NASA and his Role in Apollo 11 34:29 Apollo 11 Launch Day, Landing, and Return to Earth 44:43 Richard's Experiences during Apollo 13 and Subsequent Missions 48:10 The Camaraderie and Humour in High-Stress Situations 50:00 Acknowledgements and Promotion of the Cold War Conversations Online Store Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ Cold War history is disappearing; however, a simple monthly donation will keep this podcast on the air. You’ll become part of our community and get a sought after CWC coaster as a thank you and you’ll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. One-off donations are also welcome. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Episode notes , inc photos and video here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode260/ Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(442)

Portland Spy Ring Part 2 (139)

Portland Spy Ring Part 2 (139)

This is the 2nd episode with Trevor Barnes, the author of “Dead Doubles, a new book on the Portland Spy Ring, one of the most infamous espionage cases of the Cold War. The story continues with the dra...

11 Sep 20201h 25min

Portland Spy Ring Part 1 (138)

Portland Spy Ring Part 1 (138)

In this episode we talk with Trevor Barnes, the author of “Dead Doubles, a new book on the Portland Spy Ring, one of the most infamous espionage cases of the Cold War. In 1960 it was discovered that c...

4 Sep 202051min

The Last British Commandant in Cold War West Berlin Part 2 (137)

The Last British Commandant in Cold War West Berlin Part 2 (137)

This is the 2nd part of our conversation with Major General Sir Robert Corbett, KCVO, CB who was the last Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin. We join as I ask what were the British Army’s plan...

28 Aug 202057min

The Last British Commandant in Cold War West Berlin Part 1 (136)

The Last British Commandant in Cold War West Berlin Part 1 (136)

Major General Sir Robert Corbett, KCVO, CB was the last Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin. We start his story with the description of his first experience of Berlin as a young Army officer co...

21 Aug 202048min

Eva - A Cold War Czechoslovak Childhood (135)

Eva - A Cold War Czechoslovak Childhood (135)

Born in Communist Czechoslovakia, Eva Caletkova has written an honest and unflinching account of her childhood in Bratislava. Eva’s parents were Catholics, and the communist regime began to persecute ...

14 Aug 20201h 18min

My father was Cold War Stasi spy Werner Stiller (134)

My father was Cold War Stasi spy Werner Stiller (134)

Werner Stiller’s spectacular defection to the West in 1979 inflicted one of the Cold War’s most serious blows to the Stasi. At the time he was working as a case officer for the Main Directorate for Re...

7 Aug 20201h 4min

Retracing the Iron Curtain: A 3,000-Mile Journey Through the End and Afterlife of the Cold War (133)

Retracing the Iron Curtain: A 3,000-Mile Journey Through the End and Afterlife of the Cold War (133)

Tim Phillips travelled the route of the former Iron Curtain from deep inside the arctic circle to the meeting point in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey. On his journey, he explored both the surviving tr...

31 Jul 20201h 13min

Cold War Czechoslovak hockey star defects to Canada (132)

Cold War Czechoslovak hockey star defects to Canada (132)

Vashi Nedomanský is the son of Czechoslovak former legendary ice hockey forward Václav Nedomanský aka “Big Ned” who is best known as the first ice hockey player to defect to North America to play.  We...

24 Jul 20201h 13min

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