• ste_@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    85
    ·
    1 year ago

    Wait until you discover what system they used for the Apollo missions

      • maryjayjay@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        64
        ·
        1 year ago

        Internal calculations were are all done in metric, but converted to traditional US units because many of the astronauts were pilots and more used to them

        • Vilian@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          21
          ·
          1 year ago

          imperial system is based on metric(on wikipedia) so they calculed on metric, converted to imperial, that is basically metric but worse

          • Pipoca@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            17
            ·
            1 year ago

            Kinda sorta not really.

            One problem with units is defining them precisely.

            For example, a meter is ostensibly “one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole along a great circle”. That’s not exactly precisely defined because the earth isn’t a perfect sphere.

            So currently, a meter is defined to be the distance light travels in a vacuum in 9192631770 / 299,792,458 hyperfine structure transitions of caesium-133.

            Rather than doing the same sort of thing with updating the standard definition of a foot or pound, the US just piggybacked off the work precisely defining metric units and defined imperial in terms of metric.

            So now a foot is officially the precise distance light travels in some number of hyperfine structure transitions of caesium-133, and the US government didn’t need to do a thing.

        • lugal@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          1 year ago

          That’s not helpful. We all know what the apollo program was but where in the article does it talk about the system of measurement?