07-22-2009, 03:33 PM
upnick Wrote:I'd like to know from you guys what does ........... '' ACA - out of detent." mean ?
The ACA is the "Attitude Controller Assembly" - the "stick/control panel" that allowed the pilot to do override the automatic system and make manual adjustments of the spacecraft's attitude during landing. The "detent position" is "centered/neutral". "ACA out of detent", probably means "don't forget that the controls are still set up for manual control".
I don't know why it was important to him to remind Armstrong about this right then.
It might have a gentle reminder to put the vehicle in neutral before letting go of the brakes :-)
Or maybe just "don't forget to turn off anything that doesn't have to be on, to avoid wasting power" - they did not have a lot of excess battery capacity, and needed to husband it pretty carefully.
Or something else.
A pretty detailed description of the ACA: http://klabs.org/mapld04/papers/g/g202_portillo_p.pdf
Grin,
Stein, who also has been a space exploration fan since early childhood