One small step for man.....

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What an America Hero and adventurer. Neal and all the astronauts have been bigger that life and inspires countless people.

A friend of mine showed me a picture a while back of the Apollo 11 crew getting ready to climb in. My friends father was standing next to the hatch and was the one that sealed it.
 
He wasn't just an American Hero...he really became a hero for all mankind to show us how to put fear aside, do a job only 2 men could do and then tell the world " Thank you, good bye". A true hero of all.
 
an artist friend from Sawmill Creek just shared this sketch he did.
Frank Corker is just amazing with a pencil..
 

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Wow,that drawing is amazing,it looks so realistic!

I too remember watching it on tv.What a true American hero.


Steve
 
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It was pretty big time for me as a kid. I remember taking a trip to Florida and seeing Apollo 10 on the launch pad and Apollo 11 being built. I had a 4 foot model rocket of the Saturn V and watched it intently and studied it in detail in later years.

Neil always had the cool hand. On a Gemini flight, there was a thruster that stayed open and he found himself and Dave Scott rotating, so he undocked from the huge Agena docking target and found that the craft only rotated faster. It got to over 1 rev per second, so fast that they were near the point of passing out, and were out of radio contact with Mission Control. He saved them by acting quickly and overriding the thrusting system and using the deorbit thrusters to get things under control.

He later had a close call while training on the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle, a spiderlike vehicle that got them used to flying the LEM. They say it was like standing on a beach ball. It got out of control and crashed in a big ball of flame, and he ejected with no time to spare.

On the moon landing itself, they were about to set down and found themselves in a huge boulder field. Neil switched to full manual and moved way to a safe side and landed with only about 11 seconds of fuel remaining. He had trained in those trainers to be able to fully concentrate on flying the machine even with the computer alarms and low fuel situation. Neil never showed it, but Buzz related later that he was on the hot edge of panic in those last few seconds; too late to abort, and possibly not enough fuel to set down in one piece. It was a tense time that he pulled off like the true hero that he was. He claims to have made up his immortal words right there on the spot after he landed.

I remember it like yesterday. The words LIVE FROM MOON on the bottom of the TV screen! Talking to the president on the phone from the white house. It was a hell of a time to be an American.
 
Quite an amazing guy and a true American hero.

navycop said:
I was 8 yrs old then, Don't remember it much. What about Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin? He gets some of the credit too..
Click to expand...
Last I heard, Buzz was doing good. He actually came to AK a few years back, and was considering visiting my neighbor's art gallery, so I was hoping I could meet him.

He chose the helicopter flight instead...:frown:
 
You may recall that one of Neil Armstrongs space ventures ended when the craft malfunctioned and the flight was aborted. The craft landed at sea and was picked up by the ship "Leonard F. Mason". That ship was built and named for my uncle, my mothers brother, a Medal of Honor recipient for action during World War ll.
Soon after the space craft was recovered, Neil Armstrongs mother, who lived several miles from my grandmother,(Leonard's mother) visited her and they spent time talking about their sons; one a WW ll hero and the other a space hero. Quite a contrast, but both very proud of their sons.

Bill Sampson, Richmond
 
Well it seems we have some very patriotic and appreciative members. However I would like to point out that he wasn't 'just' an 'American hero', he was in fact a GLOBAL inspiration !! Even the Russians loved him. :smile:

Of course, like everyone else my age, I remember watching every minute on TV. Later on, my biggest heartache was having to leave behind my 'Lunar' bedroom wallpaper as well as my complete collection of 10 wall posters of some photos they took whilst on the moon, when we moved to South Africa:frown:
I think the posters were from the Heinz baked bean company. :confused:

How good is your memory? Like to try a test?:smile:

OK, when Buzz and Neil were moving inside Eagle, one of them broke something with their bulky space suits. Effectively, they had to 'hotwire' the lunar module in order to take off again.

The question is;
What was broken an what 'implement' was used to help them get back home???


If this one is too easy, then I have a few much more tough ones for you!!!:biggrin:
 
skiprat said:
OK, when Buzz and Neil were moving inside Eagle, one of them broke something with their bulky space suits. Effectively, they had to 'hotwire' the lunar module in order to take off again.

The question is;
What was broken an what 'implement' was used to help them get back home???
Click to expand...

DIdn't they break off a switch? Had to use a pen or something to turn
it back on?

and i think i had those same posters in my room.
Imagine a 10 yr old in a family of several generations of cops, FBI, firefighters
(and priests.. we're Irish, after all) and I wanted to be an astronaut?
Fortunately, they beat that out of me with every math score I brought home..
 
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Yes, it was the breaker switch to arm the ascent engine! Buzz used a Space Pen to trip the switch. Without it armed, they could not have taken off.
 
It was quite a time. I bet most of us can remember where we were and what we were doing when,,,, (if old enough, that is!). I was in basic training at Indiantown Gap (near Harrisburg, PA). It was evening and there was lights out. Our platoon sgt (tough, gruff guy who was tough cause he wanted us to come home alive) was real strict. But that night almost all of us were under a blanket watching HIS little b&w tv.
 
Without that little "space accident", the Fisher Pen Company might not be around today. As exciting as a pen that writes in zero gravity may have been at the time, a nickle pencil would do the same thing. For a "regular Joe" to be able to buy a device that saved the goodwill endeavor or our time, was simply too much to pass up.

"Houston, this is Heaven. The Eagle has landed". Mr. Armstrong, thank you for your accomplishments! You will be missed here at mission control.
 
Not a bad life for a guy who got famous starring in a grainy black and white movie filmed in a run down Hollywood sound stage:laugh:
 
I remember reading that his actual words were " That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." The "a" in front of man did not transmit well to mission control, so the press picked it up as "one small step for man". The phrase makes more sense if you include the "a".

Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were also my heroes. I had a chance to meet Buzz Aldrin at a book signing (Encounter with Tiber). Growing up during the early space age, the meeting was one of the most remembered of my life (meeting Fess Parker was also up there).
 
Well done Charlie and Bruce.:wink:

Don't wory Charlie, dispite the (deserved ) beatings, you turned out ok!!:biggrin:
 
We Naval Aviators, young and old, mourn the loss of a great American and brother aviator. Neil was an inspiration to many generations of young men and women across the globe. May he rest in peace as he worked so hard in life. Philip
 
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