I grew up in
the Space Age, and participated, at least vicariously, in it.
For you see,
I was an avid fan of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, and the
astronauts who were part and parcel of what has been referred to as “The Space
Race.”
My dad was a
member of the Masons, as was at least one of the “Mercury Seven;” Gus Grissom.
Once daddy attended a state meeting on the Florida East Coast, and he ‘ran
into’ the afore mentioned astronaut there. As a result, my dad decided to
procure his autograph for his eldest son; yours truly. Oddly enough, (and don’t
ask me where he got the idea) daddy presented Mr. Grissom a crisp one dollar
bill, and asked him to sign the front of it. While it is against to law to
deface money, (and I have been told this by subsequent people whom I have
approached for an autograph) apparently old Gus didn’t have the slightest qualm
about doing so.
Of course,
when my dad returned from the Masonic convention, and handed the autographed
bill to me, I was nothing less than ecstatic. I regret to say that I have long
since ‘lost track’ of this precious (and valuable) memento. All of America
mourned when Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee died as the result of
a flash fire during a static test of an Apollo Lunar capsule. There is every
reason to believe this crew might have been chosen to attempt the first lunar
landing, had they not succumbed to the fire in January, 1967.
Of course,
the rest, as they say, is history. As it fell together, Neil Armstrong, ‘Buzz’
Aldrin, and Michael Collins accomplished the initial lunar landing in July of
1969.
I will always
remember watching the liftoff of the massive 363 foot high Apollo rocket on
television, and waiting impatiently over the course of three days, and a
quarter million miles, for the Lunar Lander/Lunar Orbiter to reach the vicinity
of the moon. Having slowed their vehicle sufficiently, they inserted their
spacecraft into translunar orbit.
Within hours
Neil Armstrong and ‘Buzz’ Aldrin disconnected the Lunar Lander from the Lunar
Orbiter leaving Michael Collins to pilot the latter of the two distinct pieces of
the spacecraft in circuitous orbits of the moon, while the former of the two
segments attempted a lunar landing.
Pt. 2
Fast forward
just short of a full half century, and my wife, Jean and I ‘took in’ a movie
today; a movie titled, “First Man.” Based on the title, you may have guessed that
this film is about the American program to land men on the surface of the moon.
As we
stepped up to the ticket window, a ‘ticket girl’ of perhaps twenty greeted us,
and asked which movie we intended to see. Having given her the title of the
film, I proceeded to tell ‘Julie’ that I was one of a fast decreasing number of
human beings who had watched the landing of the Apollo 11, the, subsequent,
descent of Neil Armstrong down the ladder of the Lunar Lander, and his “one
small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.” I was brought back to reality
when she said, “Oh yes, my grandmother told me the same thing.” (But, just to
be sure, I’m still thirty as long as I avoid mirrors)!
The movie
seemed to be fairly accurate, and while it will never win an Oscar, it was well
done, and managed to put me in the proverbial seat of Neil Armstrong, as he made
his way through his role of a civilian test pilot, and, subsequently, several
years as a member of the NASA astronaut corps.
I can tell
you that I only thought I knew everything there was to know about the American
Space Program, and Neil Armstrong, in particular. I was wrong. As our hero
begins training as a Mercury astronaut, he is required to sit down in the seat
of an amazing diamond-shaped contraption constructed of steel pipe. By the time
it quits spinning, Neil is as sick as he has ever been in his natural life.
Ultimately,
Armstrong and Ed White are launched into earth orbit, and practice docking with
an unmanned Agena missile, and almost die when the spacecraft begins to spin in
increasingly fast and violent revolutions. As they are within seconds of
blacking out, the astronauts undock from the Agena, and manage to bring their
not so trusty spacecraft under control.
As the movie
wound its way towards its conclusion, we experience the loneliness, utter
silence, and desolation of this alien world. In one poignant scene, Neil
Armstrong tosses a tiny baby bracelet into a deep lunar crater; the bracelet of
his own little daughter who died as the result of a brain tumor.
Pt. 3
In my
telling of the foregoing story, I neglected to mention that I am still an avid
collector of autographs of famous and infamous people. (Yeah, I am).
Neil
Armstrong went on to his reward in 2012; having lived to the grand old age of
82. However, about the time when he was my current age, (of almost 70) I wrote
our hero a couple of letters, and included self-addressed, stamped envelopes,
along with a dollar bill in each one. In the course of a week or two, I
received a reply to both letters, and unsealing the envelopes I discovered my
dollar bills had been enclosed, along with Neil Armstrong’s singular, but very
recognizable autographs in both.
As a
pastoral counselor I have counseled thousands of men, women, boys and girls
over the past two and a half decades. And I have been exposed to the most amazing,
but utterly devasting stories. And while I intended to ‘hang onto’ my “Neil
Armstrong’s” for perpetuity, as it came together I ‘ended up’ giving our hero’s
autograph to first one, and then another teenaged girl whom I counseled. (Both
‘Sandra’s’ and ‘Susan’s’ mothers happened to be chronically ill, and I hoped to
encourage them with my little gifts).
I expect
those autographs are worth multiplied hundreds of dollars today. But that’s
alright. I’m glad I did what I felt compelled to do at the time. Later, my
sister purchased a mail order photograph of Neil Armstrong which bore his
characteristic signature. Based on what I can see with my admittedly untrained
eyes, it is a genuine signature. I have always thought it was true that “what
goes around comes around,” and I believe the Lord has rewarded me for my
willingness to “give ‘til it hurts.”
Speaking of
20th century instrumentation, the exploits, and resulting technology
of the space age has given way to the technology of the post-modern era.
Amazingly, the Lunar Landing Module was equipped with less computing power than
that of a current day hand calculator, or a modern cell phone!
Speaking of
cell phones, I had mine in my back pocket when I walked into the movie theater
today. As my wife and I sat down in the back row, center I retrieved my little
‘dumb phone’ out of my back pocket, and turned it off; in preparation for the
movie.
As the movie
reached its conclusion, Jean and I walked out of the theater, and stepped into
the sunlight, I realized my back pocket was empty. Somewhere between my back
row, center seat, and the ticket counter my cell phone had disappeared from my
back pocket.
I made my
wife aware of this loss, and she proceeded to the car, while I returned from
whence I came to look for my phone. Entering the darkened theater, I met one of
the attendants who had just stepped into the place with a broom, and dust pan.
Having made him aware of my dilemma he turned on the lights, and I retraced my
steps to the back row, center. With great consternation, I can tell you that my
cell phone refused to be found.
I
think maybe Neil Armstrong possessed a bit more respect for technology, than I,
apparently, do. Of course, Neil had a little more at stake on that momentous
day of half a century ago. He was a little more than
15 miles from home.
And while I never left my footprints on the moon, as he did, we
both left our fingerprints on the same dollar bill!
by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright Pending
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