• @[email protected]
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    23 hours ago

    Because a lot of “Released Engineering Documents” were just engineering notebooks, and each vehicle was different, even the parts that were supposed to be the same. There was a lot of “repair” versus “rework” disposition, and a “Just make it work; it only needs to work once” culture.

    Basically, because it was a race against the Russians, and the Russians were winning.

    • subignition
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      1022 hours ago

      huh, impressive that we did a (relatively) slapdash job of it and still pulled it off. Thanks for clarifying.

      • @[email protected]
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        310 hours ago

        It’s downright fucking nuts that it all worked and I’m astonished we didn’t leave any astronauts on the moon, and Apollo 13 crew made it back.

        Apollo 13 is a helluva movie that really exposes how razor-thin everything was.