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Wally
Schirra speaking at the event.
Among the stories he told was how he and his Apollo 7 crewmates learned to
reset the navigation
computer (which he called the "1960s version of control-alt-delete"): A
short distance from the training facility for the navigation system was a
nurses' dormitory. The astronauts tried using the navigation system's scanning
telescope to "observe" the dormitory, which involved aiming the telescope
lower than design specifications and caused the computer to lock up. The
technicians had to reset the system.
He went on to say that the telescope locked up in a similar fashion during the
Apollo 7 mission, just before loss of signal (Mission Control did not have
constant communications with spacecraft back then; they were only in contact
when the spacecraft flew over a ground station). During LOS, Mission Control
prepared a reset procedure to relay to the crew, but when the signal was
re-acquired they where surprised to find that the astronauts had already reset
the system themselves!
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