Moonshot
There are things that mark your life. Events where everything that happens after is remembered as having happened as “after” the event.
I have always remarked at how incredibly unrememorable (is that a word – spellchecker says no) my life has been. That is not to say it has been unmemorable (that is a word). I have been everywhere and done everything and thought most thoughts that can be thought. I was blessed by much traveling and that helped my unique perspective of life.
But in the details of childhood, well, I have so few. I guess I moved so much that I just didn’t have the basis for retaining memories of things and people. As a result of that, I worked very hard to give my children a very stable environment where they can have a constant sense of belonging, which for me, brings the ability to have the memories.
We’ll see about that – it’s one of my many grand experiments I did on my children!
Anyway, back to the case in point - 37 years ago today, and I swear to you that I remember as if it were yesterday, I was sitting in front of my television set in Picayune, MS and watched as Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. The first time anyone had ever done anything like this.
I can still remember the awe I felt as I watched as a young lad.
My father was in Vietnam, my mother worked at the Boeing Test Facility where they made the third stage boosters that sent that rocket into space so I was very familiar with what was going on.
But Holy Shit – there was a man walking on the moon!
I remember holding my breath and wondering if there was anyway he was going to sink. Or maybe if some aliens were going to come down and swoop him up. It was incredibly nerve-racking and I remember a sense of relief when he just stood there.
Incredible.
Still to this day that is the most incredible thing I have ever seen that isn’t related to a small child coming out of a small dark space where no child should be able to come from.
I always remind people of two things that I believe:
1: The bravest men in the world strapped themselves to the top of rockets and shot themselves into space.
And 2: I don’t ever want to be in a war if war is anything like the Bastogne Episode on the Band of Brothers.
I have had the honor in my life of meeting some remarkable people. But the ones that stand out in my memory as having the biggest effect on me was the day in the early 90’s when I met Jim Lovell the astronaut of Apollo 13 fame. To sit at a table with him and listen to him tell stories of not only how that thing went but just the other stuff. I was able to spend about 3 hours with him.
Now I have never gotten autographs in my life. I find that to not only be intrusive but just down right rude. Yep, you guessed it. I got his autograph!
The other person I remember so well was the guy in the control room, Gene Kranz. Fascinating to hear about all these things from an engineering process. I heard Jim Lovell talk about what it was like on the ill-fated Apollo 13 trip – then I heard from Gene about how they figured out what to do in order to keep Jim and his crew alive. Actually, fascinating is not a good enough word. I’m at a loss for a word – someone help me.
I listened intently as Gene told about opening the cabin door on the Apollo 1 test when Gus Grissom and those boys burned to death right in front of him.
Amazing stuff. The right stuff………..
Anyway, back to the moonshot.
I am still awed by the challenge that my cousin, President Kennedy gave us after we got hosed by Sputnik and those Commie Bastards in Russia. We WILL go to the moon before the end of the decade. That one thing mobilized our country. We opened new engineering schools. The curriculum in public schools changed. The floodgates of funding opened up and the impossible happened.
Who said the cold war was stupid?
Unified under a common goal, these heroes took us to a place unknown, and opened up for us a new idea that this tiny world of ours was not the only one upon which we could stand, and that we, as humans, can do incredible things in the name of a dream.
So today, you can buy a PC at Wal-Mart with twice the computing capacity of the rooms full computers that put those men on the moon. So we have to remember that this amazing feat was done, not through computer modeling, but through the sweat and blood and dreams of people. Our people.
Where have those people gone? Are they all working for the Peace Corps or maybe Microsoft?
I heard Gene Kraz say that it could never be done today because every single engineer was a chain smoker. Sometimes you couldn’t even see the monitors in those control rooms due to the smoke.
Those of you that have never smoked may not understand that - but cigarettes are the most calming and comforting things ever invented. Perfect for that high stress environment. I have given up even my occasional cigarette these days in a nod to my health and my desire to stay around for a long, long time so I can perfect this love I have for this one special girl.
But that is another story – and one you won’t read about here!!!
After the first crew went to the moon, there were 18 more that followed. Then it was stopped. Like Tom Wolfe said in “The Right Stuff” – no bucks, no Buck Rogers……
These guys were just regular guys that were pilots that had the right degrees from the right universities who were chosen and all they did was say yes.
Does this make them heroes?
Does saying yes make you larger than life?
You bet your ass it does. It sure does.
They were heroes because we made them heroes. We needed heroes then, just as we do today. It’s just harder to find them today. But they are really there. All you have to do is look around and you’ll find them. Just don’t look on the sports field or in Hollywood.
Look a little closer to home.
These heroes were marketed, they surely were. Like everything of worth they were spun into the public consciousness in a slick package. But these were people who put it ALL on the line. Literally. There were no agents bickering over terms of the deal. They just signed on and said yes. They did there job – and then they went home.
So again, in this time of rivalries between faiths and ideals, we need these heroes so much. We need these heroes who touch us all, no matter who we are or where we live or what we worship or believe.
Did you know that when Neil Armstrong planted that flag on the moon that he didn’t claim it for Queen and Country. Nope, he claimed it FOR THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE – for all mankind. I’m telling you, that this whole thing was for control of space just as the cold war was for control of earth. And here was the mission commander reminding us all that we are part of something much bigger. Much, much bigger.
Oh I remember this like it was yesterday and look how I have babbled on about other stuff that was obviously tied to these memories.
I was reading a story somewhere about space travel and what we need to do. I think Buzz Aldrin, one of the astronauts I was just speaking of wrote it. He says (and don’t quote me on this)
We need to turn our guns away from each other and towards space. We need to defend earth from asteroids. We need to create a global and space network to detect these asteroids and have a way to destroy them before they hit us. What good is it having the coolest planet in the universe if it gets hit by a train……
We need to mobilize the free enterprise system, and not government, to create new transportation systems that allow more people to go into space affordably. The message needs to be that we all have the right stuff and we will never know what great minds can think of until we have the chance to go and prove it.
We need to return to the moon – but permanently this time. We need to do this so we can figure out how to get to Mars. How cool.
In order to do all of this we are going to have to get an international consortium, not in the name of war or paranoia, but of peace and science. A partnership between nations to place new heroes at the apex of our imaginations. A singular and unifying dream of hope and discovery that will lift our eyes and fire the imaginations of our new generations.
Wow.
How cool would that be?
Anyway, on this anniversary of the first men walking on the moon, I was reminded of all this stuff. Thanks for letting me share it.
Peace.
I have always remarked at how incredibly unrememorable (is that a word – spellchecker says no) my life has been. That is not to say it has been unmemorable (that is a word). I have been everywhere and done everything and thought most thoughts that can be thought. I was blessed by much traveling and that helped my unique perspective of life.
But in the details of childhood, well, I have so few. I guess I moved so much that I just didn’t have the basis for retaining memories of things and people. As a result of that, I worked very hard to give my children a very stable environment where they can have a constant sense of belonging, which for me, brings the ability to have the memories.
We’ll see about that – it’s one of my many grand experiments I did on my children!
Anyway, back to the case in point - 37 years ago today, and I swear to you that I remember as if it were yesterday, I was sitting in front of my television set in Picayune, MS and watched as Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. The first time anyone had ever done anything like this.
I can still remember the awe I felt as I watched as a young lad.
My father was in Vietnam, my mother worked at the Boeing Test Facility where they made the third stage boosters that sent that rocket into space so I was very familiar with what was going on.
But Holy Shit – there was a man walking on the moon!
I remember holding my breath and wondering if there was anyway he was going to sink. Or maybe if some aliens were going to come down and swoop him up. It was incredibly nerve-racking and I remember a sense of relief when he just stood there.
Incredible.
Still to this day that is the most incredible thing I have ever seen that isn’t related to a small child coming out of a small dark space where no child should be able to come from.
I always remind people of two things that I believe:
1: The bravest men in the world strapped themselves to the top of rockets and shot themselves into space.
And 2: I don’t ever want to be in a war if war is anything like the Bastogne Episode on the Band of Brothers.
I have had the honor in my life of meeting some remarkable people. But the ones that stand out in my memory as having the biggest effect on me was the day in the early 90’s when I met Jim Lovell the astronaut of Apollo 13 fame. To sit at a table with him and listen to him tell stories of not only how that thing went but just the other stuff. I was able to spend about 3 hours with him.
Now I have never gotten autographs in my life. I find that to not only be intrusive but just down right rude. Yep, you guessed it. I got his autograph!
The other person I remember so well was the guy in the control room, Gene Kranz. Fascinating to hear about all these things from an engineering process. I heard Jim Lovell talk about what it was like on the ill-fated Apollo 13 trip – then I heard from Gene about how they figured out what to do in order to keep Jim and his crew alive. Actually, fascinating is not a good enough word. I’m at a loss for a word – someone help me.
I listened intently as Gene told about opening the cabin door on the Apollo 1 test when Gus Grissom and those boys burned to death right in front of him.
Amazing stuff. The right stuff………..
Anyway, back to the moonshot.
I am still awed by the challenge that my cousin, President Kennedy gave us after we got hosed by Sputnik and those Commie Bastards in Russia. We WILL go to the moon before the end of the decade. That one thing mobilized our country. We opened new engineering schools. The curriculum in public schools changed. The floodgates of funding opened up and the impossible happened.
Who said the cold war was stupid?
Unified under a common goal, these heroes took us to a place unknown, and opened up for us a new idea that this tiny world of ours was not the only one upon which we could stand, and that we, as humans, can do incredible things in the name of a dream.
So today, you can buy a PC at Wal-Mart with twice the computing capacity of the rooms full computers that put those men on the moon. So we have to remember that this amazing feat was done, not through computer modeling, but through the sweat and blood and dreams of people. Our people.
Where have those people gone? Are they all working for the Peace Corps or maybe Microsoft?
I heard Gene Kraz say that it could never be done today because every single engineer was a chain smoker. Sometimes you couldn’t even see the monitors in those control rooms due to the smoke.
Those of you that have never smoked may not understand that - but cigarettes are the most calming and comforting things ever invented. Perfect for that high stress environment. I have given up even my occasional cigarette these days in a nod to my health and my desire to stay around for a long, long time so I can perfect this love I have for this one special girl.
But that is another story – and one you won’t read about here!!!
After the first crew went to the moon, there were 18 more that followed. Then it was stopped. Like Tom Wolfe said in “The Right Stuff” – no bucks, no Buck Rogers……
These guys were just regular guys that were pilots that had the right degrees from the right universities who were chosen and all they did was say yes.
Does this make them heroes?
Does saying yes make you larger than life?
You bet your ass it does. It sure does.
They were heroes because we made them heroes. We needed heroes then, just as we do today. It’s just harder to find them today. But they are really there. All you have to do is look around and you’ll find them. Just don’t look on the sports field or in Hollywood.
Look a little closer to home.
These heroes were marketed, they surely were. Like everything of worth they were spun into the public consciousness in a slick package. But these were people who put it ALL on the line. Literally. There were no agents bickering over terms of the deal. They just signed on and said yes. They did there job – and then they went home.
So again, in this time of rivalries between faiths and ideals, we need these heroes so much. We need these heroes who touch us all, no matter who we are or where we live or what we worship or believe.
Did you know that when Neil Armstrong planted that flag on the moon that he didn’t claim it for Queen and Country. Nope, he claimed it FOR THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE – for all mankind. I’m telling you, that this whole thing was for control of space just as the cold war was for control of earth. And here was the mission commander reminding us all that we are part of something much bigger. Much, much bigger.
Oh I remember this like it was yesterday and look how I have babbled on about other stuff that was obviously tied to these memories.
I was reading a story somewhere about space travel and what we need to do. I think Buzz Aldrin, one of the astronauts I was just speaking of wrote it. He says (and don’t quote me on this)
We need to turn our guns away from each other and towards space. We need to defend earth from asteroids. We need to create a global and space network to detect these asteroids and have a way to destroy them before they hit us. What good is it having the coolest planet in the universe if it gets hit by a train……
We need to mobilize the free enterprise system, and not government, to create new transportation systems that allow more people to go into space affordably. The message needs to be that we all have the right stuff and we will never know what great minds can think of until we have the chance to go and prove it.
We need to return to the moon – but permanently this time. We need to do this so we can figure out how to get to Mars. How cool.
In order to do all of this we are going to have to get an international consortium, not in the name of war or paranoia, but of peace and science. A partnership between nations to place new heroes at the apex of our imaginations. A singular and unifying dream of hope and discovery that will lift our eyes and fire the imaginations of our new generations.
Wow.
How cool would that be?
Anyway, on this anniversary of the first men walking on the moon, I was reminded of all this stuff. Thanks for letting me share it.
Peace.
posted by KK at 1:57 PM
2 Comments:
What a fabulous, beautiful post, Keith.
Boy, do I remember that day. The entire family sat around the TV that afternoon. I don't think a single kid was out playing that July day. I'll never forget that thrill, that amazement, that excitement. I feel for those who weren't born yet, who don't understand the thrill of "The Right Stuff."
How did you get to meet Jim Lovell and Gene Kraz? I'm so happily jealous!
Beth - I met Jim Lovell and Gene Kranz at meetings - they are both on the speaking tours, as a job and as they were out promoting their various books they have written. Luckily I was in the administration of both organizations at the time of the events so I got all that up close and personal time with each of them.
Very cool these astronaut guys. Chicks dig 'em and boys want to be 'em.
Mat - thanks.
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