The command module simulators

Abstract

Three Command Module Simulators (CMS), Figure 15, two located at Cape Kennedy, Florida and the third at Houston, Texas, were designed and built to provide training for the Apollo astronauts in their goal of landing on the moon.

Each CMS is identical and consists of a digital computer complex that provides dynamic representations of spacecraft systems, a complete and accurate presentation of exterior visual scenes, and an exact replica of the spacecraft interior. The CMS's are capable of integration into the Mission Control Center computational complex, thereby providing a total training exercise between the astronauts and flight controllers.

The simulators are designed with extreme flexibility for modification. The computer complex is readily adjustable to changing mission objectives which require a change in a Command Module subsystem. Any alteration of a particular system or of a mathematical model is programmed and fed into the computer. No variation in computer hardware is required. The required updating is thus accomplished with a minimum loss of training time.