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'The Astronaut Wives Club' began with triteness and ended in ugliness
Houston TV Examiner ^ | august 21, 2015 | Mark R. Whittington

Posted on 08/21/2015 10:01:10 AM PDT by Marcus

The Astronaut Wives Club, the summer series from ABC that depicted the race to the moon as a kind of “Desperate Housewives of NASA” ended its run Thursday with the episode dealing with the Apollo moon landing and the epic adventure of Apollo 13. What began with soap opera triteness ended in a dash of ugliness. The episode sought to remind the viewer that not everyone regarded the moon landings with awe and wonder. Some reacted to the greatest technological feat in the history of humankind with rage.

(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...


TOPICS: History; Politics; Science; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: abc; allbrainlesscwords; apollo; apollo13; apollomoonlanding; astronautwivesclub; blogpimp; nasa; tvprograms; tvseries; whiteyonthemoon
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To: fieldmarshaldj

Yeah, I’d have liked them to do one year maybe two per season. Think of the much greater emotional impact if we’ve been with the group for a couple of seasons before the Gemini 9 get introduced. Ah well, it’s an imperfect world.


21 posted on 08/21/2015 12:49:46 PM PDT by discostu (It always comes down to cortexiphan)
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To: rstrahan

Well Nixon really wounded the shuttle program when he told NASA to go cheaper than the cheap option. Also keep in mind that the shuttle program was designed to have a 20 year lifespan AND NASA wanted at least 15 years (preferably a full 20, the wanted the replacement greenlit right after the first launch) to develop its replacement. So the death of our manned program really starts with Reagan. Obie was little more than the 5th president in a row to not bother to make a decision.


22 posted on 08/21/2015 12:52:46 PM PDT by discostu (It always comes down to cortexiphan)
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To: discostu

Yeah, like you’d have done with a show set at high school or college.


23 posted on 08/21/2015 1:02:22 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: discostu

The crew of Apollo 8 is a one-of-a-kind crew. Not only did they achieve the first manned flight to the moon, but they are the only crew that are still married to their first and ONLY wives.


24 posted on 08/21/2015 1:04:01 PM PDT by NCC-1701 (You have your fear, which might become reality; and you have Godzilla, which IS reality.)
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To: discostu

I liked the show too. Haven’t watched the last episode yet. The Right Stuff was an awesome movie too. I didn’t read the book that the series was based on, but the program explored things I hadn’t been aware of. I was in 8th grade when Alan Shephard went up. I was in French class, and our teacher let us listen to the broadcast on the radio. I can still remember her having tears in her eyes. Things were so much different then, and I’m glad I was alive at that time to experience the America that was.


25 posted on 08/21/2015 1:06:11 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: NCC-1701

Wow. Kind of amazing. Even if the boys aren’t playing around the life of an astronaut wife is rough.


26 posted on 08/21/2015 1:09:18 PM PDT by discostu (It always comes down to cortexiphan)
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To: discostu

I think it was Gordo Cooper who laid blame almost squarely at the feet of Sen. William Proxmire as to why NASA was largely stopped dead in its tracks in the ‘70s when it should’ve pushed on for a manned mission to Mars. We’re decades behind where we should be at today, and “Zero’s Mohammadan Outreach” program shows how truly moribund it is. So much for a guy who claimed to be a Star Trek fan who should’ve been pushing to reinvigorate NASA.

I heard Gene Roddenberry’s widow, Majel Barrett, speak on the subject 20 years ago and she told the crowd to contact their federal elected Reps to fully support and fund NASA and get on with longer-range missions. Who knows, maybe we’ll get Trump on the bandwagon to reinvigorate the old “New Frontier” agenda for space, though with our $20 trillion debt, an almost impossible dream now.


27 posted on 08/21/2015 1:10:27 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

Right now privatized space is our best hope. I just don’t see our government ever getting it’s act together enough to think big ever again. They’re too busy with infighting and social engineering to have any time for little things like vision and leadership anymore.


28 posted on 08/21/2015 1:12:59 PM PDT by discostu (It always comes down to cortexiphan)
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To: Marcus
She sees, to her horror, a group of largely African American students shouting, with clinched fists, from a racist poem penned by Gil Scott-Heron entitled Whitey on the Moon.

“A rat done bit my sister Nell
With Whitey on the moon
Her face and arms began to swell
And Whitey's on the moon.”

Images by Tyrone Greene ...

Dark and lonely on the summer night.
Kill my landlord, kill my landlord.
Watchdog barking - Do he bite?
Kill my landlord, kill my landlord.
Slip in his window,
Break his neck!
Then his house
I start to wreck!
Got no reason --
What the heck!
Kill my landlord, kill my landlord.
C-I-L-L ...
My land - lord ...

29 posted on 08/21/2015 1:13:37 PM PDT by x
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To: discostu
Forgot to mention my father was an officer on the USS Kearsarge, and IIRC was there when they fished Gordo Cooper out of the Pacific in his Faith 7 capsule. No mention if he thought he was the best pilot he ever saw. ;-D
30 posted on 08/21/2015 1:21:17 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: T-Bone Texan

That was the “Shepherd’s Prayer” as in Alan.

Clint Eastwood used it in “Space Cowboys” also.

“Oh Lord, Please don’t let me screw this up!”


31 posted on 08/21/2015 3:15:30 PM PDT by rikkir (You can lead a horde to knowledge but you can't make them think. (TnkU ctdonath2))
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To: fieldmarshaldj

When Dennis was asked who was the best pilot he ever saw he was going to say Yeager he got cut short in his answer to the reporter and said your looking at him one of many poignant parts in that movie


32 posted on 08/21/2015 3:16:41 PM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

Haha. Nice one.


33 posted on 08/21/2015 5:04:28 PM PDT by OldNewYork
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