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Nina,

Your idea is great!  And the slide rules would be a good exercise.  But, 
I doubt if trajectories were calculated that way, at Apollo 13 time.  I 
recall learning Fortran 4 on an IBM 7044 in 1965 - and even that, with 
its 38K RAM and 3-foot diameter hard disks, was much more capable of 
calculating a trajectory, than was a slide rule.  But, I'll be happy to 
be proven wrong.  Some people were real whizzes with slide rules.

The first hand-held calculator from Texas Instruments appeared in 1967.

I recall, as many must, getting my kids up in the wee hours to watch the 
TV ....  They all remember it;  it was fantastic.

As you note, telephones have changed a lot, and communications 
generally.  Some people were still sending telegrams in 1969.  And no 
Internet!  Many people relate to car designs, and these might be part of 
defining the period.

Other great advances, as in plastics and synthetic fibers and glues and 
car engine management, are less noticeable to the public.

Good luck!

Peter Anderson

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