Back-up plan for Apollo

[Bob B.]

I do remember the person did a fairly straightforward if brute-force numerical integration, working through the earth as a series of concentric shells, each shell having a uniform composition that changed with depth. I had remembered seeing something like this result a while ago, but I wasn't sure of the actual acceleration value.

That sounds very similar to what I did, but I don't recall ever giving an actual number for the maximum acceleration - I just plotted and presented the graph.  If someone gave a specific number of 10.62 m/s², then they likely calculated it independently from me.

[ka9q]

I never knew that about Apollo 6 - now I have to go back and re-read the mission and especially the Saturn V reports!

The LVDC (Launch Vehicle Digital Computer) on the Saturn V was impressive for its day (with triple redundancy!) but it was an ant-brain by today's standards. That it could deal at all with a non-nominal condition without blowing up is itself remarkable.