When I looked at my watch today, and realized that it was July 20th, I decided that I should write a blog post. If you aren't aware, today is the 40th anniversary of the day Neil Armstrong and Buzz Adlrin, walked on the moon, fulfilling Kennedy's promise of landing a man on the moon, and returning him safely to earth, before the end of the 1960's.
I was having trouble coming up with a slant for the post, because I didn't want it to be some sort of long babbling post quoting facts and figures, which we've all heard for decades. I wanted something different, and I was vexed until I was asked a question by my friend Steve, from Canada. He asked which astronaut was my favorite. This is an interesting question that I guess I had never pondered before, and that's odd, since I consider myself a huge space geek.
After thinking, I realized that I had to come up with three answers. My first thought was of Pete Conrad, Apollo 12 Commander. I've read a lot about Pete, and have seen many portrayals of Pete on the big screen, and he always seemed like an interesting fellow with a great sense of humor. His Apollo 12 crew mates had nothing but superlatives to say about him, and he just seemed like the kinda guy I would have liked to hang out with. He also did one of those cool "Do you know me?" American Express ads, in the 70's.
Of the original Mercury Seven selection, I would have to pick Donald K. "Deke" Slayton. I read Deke's autobiography, and know a lot about his story. He was selected, and even scheduled for a Mercury flight, but was not allowed to fly because the Flight Surgeons had detected some sort of irregular heartbeat. He was grounded and given the job of Director of Flight Crew Operations. This meant he was the boss of all of the astronauts. While this job might sound cool to you and me, for Deke it had to be difficult, because he wanted nothing more than to fly, and now he was told he couldn't, but got to watch everyone else get their chance.
Deke's story does have a happy ending, however. After some time Deke was prescribed a multi-vitamin, and noticed that his irregular heartbeat went away. In time he was able to convince the Flight Surgeons to reinstate his flight status, and he finally got his ride on the Apollo Soyuz mission, that we did jointly with the Soviets.
My third choice is from the modern Shuttle astronaut class. It's actually difficult to find a standout among this group, because there are so many of them, and because they don't get the media attention that the earlier astronauts received. So very few of them are household names, and the public no longer has the wide eyed curiosity about the space program like they did in the 1960's.
In any case, my choice is Story Musgrave. This guy has done it all, from repairing the Hubble Space Telescope, to being on the Home Improvement television show. His Curriculum Vitae is incredibly impressive, and I believe he has more hours in space than any other American astronaut save for the astronauts who flew on International Space Station.
On another note, I think I am one of the few people in my circles who is happy that they're retiring the Space Shuttles. I was never a huge fan of them because they really didn't lower the costs of space flight that much, and they really didn't go anywhere. All they did was orbit the earth.
I am happy about the new Aries program and out projected future trips to the Moon, and eventually Mars. That is if some politician doesn't scuttle the program.
On a completely random note, a friend called me today and asked me something that I thought was really odd and out of context about Armstrong. I totally did not get his meaning at all because I had been thinking about Neil all day, and nothing that he said made sense. I then realized that he was talking to me about Lance Armstrong, who is once again racing in the Tour de France. Then it all made sense. :-)
I was having trouble coming up with a slant for the post, because I didn't want it to be some sort of long babbling post quoting facts and figures, which we've all heard for decades. I wanted something different, and I was vexed until I was asked a question by my friend Steve, from Canada. He asked which astronaut was my favorite. This is an interesting question that I guess I had never pondered before, and that's odd, since I consider myself a huge space geek.
After thinking, I realized that I had to come up with three answers. My first thought was of Pete Conrad, Apollo 12 Commander. I've read a lot about Pete, and have seen many portrayals of Pete on the big screen, and he always seemed like an interesting fellow with a great sense of humor. His Apollo 12 crew mates had nothing but superlatives to say about him, and he just seemed like the kinda guy I would have liked to hang out with. He also did one of those cool "Do you know me?" American Express ads, in the 70's.
Of the original Mercury Seven selection, I would have to pick Donald K. "Deke" Slayton. I read Deke's autobiography, and know a lot about his story. He was selected, and even scheduled for a Mercury flight, but was not allowed to fly because the Flight Surgeons had detected some sort of irregular heartbeat. He was grounded and given the job of Director of Flight Crew Operations. This meant he was the boss of all of the astronauts. While this job might sound cool to you and me, for Deke it had to be difficult, because he wanted nothing more than to fly, and now he was told he couldn't, but got to watch everyone else get their chance.
Deke's story does have a happy ending, however. After some time Deke was prescribed a multi-vitamin, and noticed that his irregular heartbeat went away. In time he was able to convince the Flight Surgeons to reinstate his flight status, and he finally got his ride on the Apollo Soyuz mission, that we did jointly with the Soviets.
My third choice is from the modern Shuttle astronaut class. It's actually difficult to find a standout among this group, because there are so many of them, and because they don't get the media attention that the earlier astronauts received. So very few of them are household names, and the public no longer has the wide eyed curiosity about the space program like they did in the 1960's.
In any case, my choice is Story Musgrave. This guy has done it all, from repairing the Hubble Space Telescope, to being on the Home Improvement television show. His Curriculum Vitae is incredibly impressive, and I believe he has more hours in space than any other American astronaut save for the astronauts who flew on International Space Station.
On another note, I think I am one of the few people in my circles who is happy that they're retiring the Space Shuttles. I was never a huge fan of them because they really didn't lower the costs of space flight that much, and they really didn't go anywhere. All they did was orbit the earth.
I am happy about the new Aries program and out projected future trips to the Moon, and eventually Mars. That is if some politician doesn't scuttle the program.
On a completely random note, a friend called me today and asked me something that I thought was really odd and out of context about Armstrong. I totally did not get his meaning at all because I had been thinking about Neil all day, and nothing that he said made sense. I then realized that he was talking to me about Lance Armstrong, who is once again racing in the Tour de France. Then it all made sense. :-)
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