tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post5171040928023861947..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: On the anniversary of Man landing on the moon...By Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-44877081331621575102010-07-23T12:00:44.608-07:002010-07-23T12:00:44.608-07:00PatGLex may have forgotten, but there WERE "p...PatGLex may have forgotten, but there WERE "political opponents carping about the cost, screwed priorities of the administration," et cetera. "Why are we spending all this money to get to the moon when we have [insert social problem] here on earth?" was commonly heard. Then-Senator Walter Mondale was one of the leading carpers, as I recall, as were the leaders of the civil rights movement.<br /><br />And, the Nixon Administration and NASA listened, and cut out the last eight planned moon landings, and ended planning for manned missions to Mars, and changed NASA's focus to the earth-centric Skylab and Space Shuttle.<br /><br />You can read about it here: <br />http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4221/ch4.htmD T Nelsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09941048254755346238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-53166350725815359602010-07-23T07:30:45.838-07:002010-07-23T07:30:45.838-07:00I was 16 at the time, and I remember watching the ...I was 16 at the time, and I remember watching the TV at 2 in the morning with my dad, for sure, and maybe my mother. (Or not -- she had a 3-year-old in the house, my accidental baby sister.)<br /><br />I wondered, when reading your entry, what the same event would be like today -- the flood of political opponents carping about the cost, screwed priorities of the administration, anti-space bloggers misrepresenting, etc. etc.PatGLexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096165411868967151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-45884563969964281302010-07-23T05:06:02.422-07:002010-07-23T05:06:02.422-07:00"It was also the day that Marylou Henner lost..."It was also the day that Marylou Henner lost her virginity. In the shower."<br /><br />When she relayed this story to Bob Costas on "Later," he delivered the great ad-lib: "Well, we know it wasn't Neil Armstrong."<br /><br />I never plan to watch it, but everytime I'm flipping around and see "The Dish" is on, I can't stop. I'm not sure if it's entirely historically accurate, but it's funny and sweet, and Patrick "Puddy" Warburton is just right as the officious NASA rep.chalmersnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-36448950834607891702010-07-22T19:41:28.031-07:002010-07-22T19:41:28.031-07:00I got to meet Neil Armstrong a few years ago. He i...I got to meet Neil Armstrong a few years ago. He is an uncle to a friend of mine and he came to my friend's wedding. Nice guy, quite reserved. <br /><br />I was 14 when the landing took place...and watching Cronkite like most others. But the space geek in me was secretly wondering what ABC Science Editor Jules Bergman was saying at the time.<br /><br />WV: umparedi -- a baseball official who's had too much baroloJoey Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11718595858513830730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-53994893687289647832010-07-22T16:37:02.024-07:002010-07-22T16:37:02.024-07:00It was a completely unique moment in history. Peop...It was a completely unique moment in history. People (like may dad. We're comnig to that) kept compatring it to Columbus, but that isn't accurate. There were already humans in America. This was the first time any life form evolved on earth set foot (or psuedopod) on a celestial body other than the earth. Never again will it be the first time either, so it will always be a completely unique moment.<br /><br />I, like you, was 19. I was watching Cronkite (The joke was Cornkite would be waiting on the moon, to interview Neal when he arrived.) with my parents, siblings, and my Uncle Duncan and Aunt Grace. Everyone was gathered at the TV, except Mother, who was in the kitchen preparing a large meal for us, oblivious to the world-shaking event. (Firm in her Christian Science delusions, she "knew" all reality was just an illusion anyway. Nothing real is real. Only that which is not real is real.) <br /><br />Well, during the period between the actual landing, and Neal emerging from the capsule (for those of you younger than 41, those two events were separated by a couple hours.), Mother decided she needed more milk for dinner for us, so she "asked" (ie. "ordered") my dad to go to the store and buy some milk. Dad refused. An argument that quickly escalated to screaming ensued. (This was a normal, every day occurance. My family never hit. We just yelled.) Eventually Dad caved in. (Dad ALWAYS caved in. Dad was so whipped.)<br /><br />I can never think of the first moon landing without remembering my dad going out the front door shouting: "Tell Columbus I cuoldn't meet the boat. Iris had to have some milk!" and slamming the door.<br /><br />He was back before Neal emerged.<br /><br />After the big moment, I remember stepping outside and looking up at the moon above, and trying to wrap my head around the fact that there were human beings there, that I was looking up at people. I cried.<br /><br />It wasn't just that President Kennedy's promise had been fulfilled; it was that all the science fiction movies were going to come true. Vulcans would be arriving next week.<br /><br />Later, meeting Buzz Aldrin (In 1974, before he became the TV buffoon he's been lately) was about as exciting as Life could get. I was shaking a hand that had been on the moon.<br /><br />Wow.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-9501483186276428432010-07-22T14:09:02.437-07:002010-07-22T14:09:02.437-07:00Nice piece, Ken. I got a tear in my eye reading a...Nice piece, Ken. I got a tear in my eye reading about your Granddad, and remembering my own.Refnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-59457390832166330872010-07-22T07:51:37.744-07:002010-07-22T07:51:37.744-07:00I seem to recall that on the later flights they st...I seem to recall that on the later flights they still used an older computer with old magnetic cores in it... those little washer shaped things with wires through them... each one a 'bit'. The purpose was backup and all they had on them was the 'git me home' data. If all other computers failed, these would still work. I think perhaps they were impervious to electro magnetic interference or pulse. Don't know if the shuttle still does that or not.Ed D.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-15937527552699364822010-07-22T06:49:20.918-07:002010-07-22T06:49:20.918-07:00I was 13 that summer. Great time to be a kid. My...I was 13 that summer. Great time to be a kid. My grandparents were visiting. Grandpa was a teen when the Wright Brother's flew, and he went to bed before the moon walk. Grandma stayed up for the first step, then went to bed.<br /><br />Hard to imagine a childhood without a space race. I was four when Shepherd flew and 13 when they landed on the moon.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03729689580471347594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-11159467265297767532010-07-22T06:48:28.301-07:002010-07-22T06:48:28.301-07:00I was listening to a local TV anchor talk about ho...I was listening to a local TV anchor talk about how people hate it when their shows are pre-empted. Were there protesters from the Green Acres contingent?Roger Owen Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05298172138307632062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-87345983607222674562010-07-22T02:58:05.803-07:002010-07-22T02:58:05.803-07:00D.T.--I read something in a book about TV news, t...D.T.--I read something in a book about TV news, that said in the late 1960s, Cronkite's newscast would beat Huntley and Brinkley during the summer months, then fall back to second when autumn arrived-it happened several years in a row. Some wag attributed that to the idea many typical Huntley=Brinkley viewers were out on their yachts.Paul Ducanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-68089746962386303952010-07-21T22:11:44.208-07:002010-07-21T22:11:44.208-07:00Good luck Mr.Gorsky.Good luck Mr.Gorsky.Frank Anthonynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-42584296005067345662010-07-21T21:24:31.742-07:002010-07-21T21:24:31.742-07:00"The moonwalk was fake. Rasslin' is REAL..."The moonwalk was fake. Rasslin' is REAL!"<br /><br /> - Lewis Grizzard's grandmaBarefoot Billy Alohahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04586870309250699505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-88296886266081302522010-07-21T20:54:52.489-07:002010-07-21T20:54:52.489-07:00I am thankful that I grew up in a time when we sti...I am thankful that I grew up in a time when we still had heroes. And those astronauts were Heroes. To sit on top of a rocket filled with god knows how many gallons of jet fuel .. and then go where no man had gone before ... GUTS! <br />Sad that kids today have sports stars or mediocre American Idol singers as their heroes.Mr. Hollywoodnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-17998526343537024102010-07-21T20:24:56.825-07:002010-07-21T20:24:56.825-07:00I was studying for my bar mitzvah that summer and ...I was studying for my bar mitzvah that summer and still have my black-and-white Polaroids of our TV set showing the landing. As SF author David Brin wrote a few years ago, "The Lunar Module (LEM) was one of the finest things ever produced by Man. It worked perfectly, every time. And for 100,000 years, people will look at it and shudder and say 'there were once men brave enough to step into THAT?' "<br /><br />Although I never met him, my wife's late father was a Grumman employee at its Long Island, NY facility in the mid-1960s, working on human factors in the design of the LEM. We have here in our house a fantastic Grumman looseleaf book from his time there, the "Lunar Excursion Module Familiarization Manual" dated 15 October 1965. A later version of this (http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19730060786_1973060786.pdf) includes a wonderful pictorial condensation of the whole planned mission, timed to the second (pp. 12-17, originally a foldout); there is also a wealth of technical data, circuit diagrams, etc. (A scan of the cover art can be seen at www.footnote.com/spotlight/10095/lem_lunar_excursion_module.)gottacooknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-3097740845620958632010-07-21T20:14:59.695-07:002010-07-21T20:14:59.695-07:00Eerie day for me. Went with a friend to his parent...Eerie day for me. Went with a friend to his parent's house to watch the landing. Less than an hour before it was going to happen their power went out. My friend and I ran outside and up the street as though we knew where we were going and could do something once we got there. After a while we went back. The power was on. We took full credit for it, of course.Cap'n Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783977137812876489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-40834945812995554212010-07-21T18:07:27.290-07:002010-07-21T18:07:27.290-07:00To VAX---Thanx for the Lunar Link--it is wonderful...To VAX---Thanx for the Lunar Link--it is wonderful! <br /><br />Whether it's fiction, or non-fiction....;)Lunanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-52060454999084266992010-07-21T17:21:34.561-07:002010-07-21T17:21:34.561-07:00When talking about landing on the moon were taking...When talking about landing on the moon were taking back to the that american flag waving for being the great.Yobebhttp://episodefanatic.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-42157110504516154922010-07-21T16:02:40.836-07:002010-07-21T16:02:40.836-07:00If the moon landing was a hoax, the Russians would...If the moon landing was a hoax, the Russians would have called us on it. For a great time-sink go look at the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal at history(dot)nasa(dot)gov(slash)alsj<br>(sorry, links aren't allowed, you'll have to hand-convert)<br> All the transcripts, maps, pictures, procedures, videos etc are all there and hyper-linked. An amazing resource that far too few are aware exists.<br><br />Follow me on Twiter @VAXHeadroom<br><br />Emory Stagmer<br><br />LCROSS Flight Software Lead EngineerVAXHeadroomhttp://tinyurl.com/lcross-is-gonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-86554289160775453742010-07-21T16:00:26.364-07:002010-07-21T16:00:26.364-07:00brickben: Don't fee the trolls.brickben: Don't fee the trolls.Ed H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02155518292785613166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-56291819147704570932010-07-21T15:35:03.587-07:002010-07-21T15:35:03.587-07:00Anonymous, the thought that the moon landing was f...Anonymous, the thought that the moon landing was fabricated would require a complicit and willing media to pull such a hoax off. Why that would be like today's top journalists plotting to discredit a story that would be damaging to their candidate of choice. Never in a million years...brickbenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02976216085653924376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-29659428494795237052010-07-21T14:20:07.219-07:002010-07-21T14:20:07.219-07:00Betty, if you were watching with your 5th grade cl...Betty, if you were watching with your 5th grade class, you must have been in summer school. It was July after all. Sure you weren't thinking of another splashdown?<br /><br />And yes, I remember that interview with Marilu Henner. She claimed she had an eidetic memory on dates and could say what she was doing on any given date. The interviewer, (Bob Costas?) picked the date of the moon landing. Either Henner was telling the truth or she's a better actress than Streep, because she went into full embarassed blush mode before explaining. <br /><br />I'm surprised no one in this group has recommended the Australian film "<b>The Dish</b>", which was about a radar station Down Under that was picking up the signal and broadcasting it worldwide.<br /><br />The part that hit so true for me was the 10 year old boy who knew encyclopaedic detail about the mission and the father who relied on him for info. <br /><br />Also, there's a version of the American National anthem that will have you laugh till the tears run down your face.<br /><br />Netflix it. Now.<br /><br />WV: <b>joyar</b> Joy Behar attempts a J-Lo style nickname.Rockgolfnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-35293118650142188742010-07-21T14:15:31.865-07:002010-07-21T14:15:31.865-07:00Interesting recollections and a bonus trashing of ...Interesting recollections and a bonus trashing of Cronkite! Where else could we get THAT insight! Were there some Iowa huckleberries on the flight-line, too? So your grandpa likely saw the invention of the automobile as well as airplane flight and the moon landing. He saw a lot! I'm not sure, but I think I heard that there's more computer power in most cell phones now that what was aboard most space flights of the Mercury and Apollo programs. Interesting stuff, maybe Cliff Claven would utter such trivia and make it seem real. I too recall seeing the video of the moon landing and thinking how incredible it was and also thinking for just a moment, what if that buggie won't start when they need to get back to the space capsule? I'd just brought our daughter home from the hospital on that day and we all laid across the bed and watched Neil Armstrong's descent. My daughter claims to have no memory of the event, tho she was 5 days old! Like others from the same era, I recall the loss of JFK; the loss of RFK; the loss of MLK. If my last name began with K, I would have changed it by 1969. I remember too, a pink, Brannif Airlines Boeing 707 jet banking high above the Golden Gate Bridge in the late afternoon sun on Dec. 1, 1967, bring me and a 100 other men back to the world. California never looked so good to me, and it sure hasn't since. And my baseball memory - well, there are 2: The M's one-game playoff win over the Angels in 95 when Luis Sojo cleared the bases with a dribbler down the first base line that got lost under the bullpen bench, and hearing Rick Rizzs going crazy on the air, finally shouting EVERYBODY SCORES, including Sojo. It became known as the grand slam double. Finally, Edgar Martinez's double down the left field line in game 5 vs. the Yankees, scoring Joey Cora with the tying run, and seeing Ken Griffey, Jr. flying around the bases, scoring from first to win the game and put Seattle in the ALCS. I can still picture Griffey's smile at the bottom of the pile near home plate. Well, there went a lot of space! space.Garyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16300021275090146448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-37802262899286081432010-07-21T13:52:10.150-07:002010-07-21T13:52:10.150-07:00if you actually think about this for just a little...if you actually think about this for just a little while, you will see how utterly preposterous this whole idea really is.<br /><br />never happened.<br /><br />sorry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-32331170782422390362010-07-21T13:28:21.810-07:002010-07-21T13:28:21.810-07:00I enjoyed your recount.I enjoyed your recount.Mike Barerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14447874605833321732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-11974719552376555292010-07-21T12:48:05.181-07:002010-07-21T12:48:05.181-07:00The last paragraph holds the key point for me.
...The last paragraph holds the key point for me. <br /><br />As reliant as we are today on computers, it’s amazing to think that we sent those guys all the way to the moon, landed them, then brought them back using less computer power than you can find today controlling the stoplights at an intersection. Amazing.steve macdonaldnoreply@blogger.com