Time flies...

 

We were living in our first apt. 1 bedroom with a baby. We watched it after we got back from the beach. Then we rented a 2 bedroom apt.

 

Alan Shepard’s space capsule named Freedom 7. I took this photo June 3, 1961 at the Paris Air Show. Only one month earlier, May 5, Shepard became the first American to travel into space in this capsule. Although it was not capable of achieving orbit, he was the first space traveler to manually control the orientation of his craft.

 

After staying up late in my barracks to watch the landing, I remember walking down the street at Shepherd AFB the next day and seeing the moon. It was out in daylight that day and I remember suddenly grasping the enormity of what NASA had accomplished. There were astronauts up there, two walking about the surface and one circling around that distant moon.

I found this tidbit on Wikipedia while refreshing my memory on the mission time line:
"While moving inside the cabin, Aldrin accidentally damaged the circuit breaker that would arm the main engine for lift off from the Moon. There was a concern this would prevent firing the engine, stranding them on the Moon. However, a felt-tip pen was sufficient to activate the switch."
Right stuff, indeed.

 

OMG, Mike, thanks. Your posts are some of the best.! (just saying)

 

My girlfriend Karen’s cousin was the navigator on the ship that picked up the astronauts after their splashdown.

 

I'm pretty sure we went to that show, too. We lived there at the time.

 

Small world, right. That was the same year a B-58 Hustler crashed while performing at the show, killing the 3 persons on board. I watched it happen live and then spent 2 weeks at the crash site. That's me in the middle of the group shot. Parts from the plane were scattered for 5 miles due to the high speed impact.

 

My birth ushered in the space age, sputnik launched within hours of my arrival.
Yep fifty years zip by oh so quickly,.