Posted on 08/26/2012 3:43:19 AM PDT by Check6
When I was a cadet, Neil Armstrong stopped by USAFA and flew a 1-26 in the wave (1970). At the time, the glider program had 2 towplanes (Helio Couriers) and 4 or 5 gliders total, program in infancy. Major McMurtry was the OIC and we called it "McMurtry's Air Force". Sully was in the group. I have a picture of the 1-26 with me and some of the guys (I haven't checked to see if you can see the people's faces (slide is down in ***) -- I was always more interested in the airplanes than the people -- ) sitting around on the ground before we put the gliders away, late fall I believe with winter flight suits on, and the glider that Neil Armstrong flew not long before the photo is the subject of the picture. We never saw him. Yes, he was "hiding" :) But hey, he flew "my" glider!
It was the middle of Basic Cadet Training (BCT). Class was split in two groups roughly 700 each, one group was doing the grunt portion of BCT out in Jack's Valley, the other group (mine), was doing the "barracks" part of BCT in the dorms on the main campus. Half way through the summer, we switched. We were in the old dorms, and the upperclassmen got us up in the middle of the night and everyone sat on the floor facing an intersection of the hallways, where they put a B/W TV on a chair angled 45deg so both hallways could watch. This was repeated all through the old dorms, so that all the Doolies could see it. So the class of 73, at least half of it, got to see the landing despite BCT! I can remember being very busy and unhappy as a "squat", but knowing that the launch was a success, and each day they were getting closer to the moon ... but almost too tired (and miserable) to bemoan the lack of time and TV to watch the drama. I watched every flight prior to that one.
I soon came to realize that the first moon landing was the event marking America's apogee. Perigee is yet to come (though some think we are there).
IN CASE YOU DIDN’T ALREADY KNOW, THIS IS A LITTLE TIDBIT OF TRIVIA,
ON JULY 20, 1969,
AS COMMANDER OF THE APOLLO 11 LUNAR MODULE,
NEIL ARMSTRONG WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO SET FOOT ON THE MOON.
HIS FIRST WORDS AFTER STEPPING ON THE MOON WERE,
“THAT’S ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND,”
AND THEY WERE TELEVISED TO EARTH
BUT JUST BEFORE HE RE-ENTERED THE LANDER,
HE MADE THE ENIGMATIC REMARK,
“GOOD LUCK, MR.GORSKY”.
MANY PEOPLE AT NASA THOUGHT THAT
IT WAS A CASUAL REMARK, CONCERNING SOME RIVAL SOVIET COSMONAUT.
HOWEVER, UPON CHECKING, THERE WAS NO GORSKY
IN EITHER THE RUSSIAN OR AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAMS.
OVER THE YEARS, MANY PEOPLE QUESTIONED ARMSTRONG
AS TO WHAT THE ‘GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY’ STATEMENT MEANT.
BUT ARMSTRONG ALWAYS JUST SMILED.
ON JULY 5, 1995, IN TAMPA BAY , FLORIDA ,
WHILE ANSWERING QUESTIONS FOLLOWING A SPEECH,
A REPORTER BROUGHT UP THE 26 YEAR-OLD QUESTION TO ARMSTRONG.
THIS TIME HE FINALLY RESPONDED.
MR. GORSKY HAD DIED, SO NEIL ARMSTRONG FELT THAT HE COULD NOW
ANSWER THE QUESTION IN 1938, WHEN HE WAS A KID IN A SMALL MID WESTERN TOWN ,
HE WAS PLAYING BASEBALL WITH A FRIEND IN THE BACKYARD.
HIS FRIEND HIT THE BALL, WHICH LANDED IN HIS NEIGHBOR’S YARD,
BY THEIR BEDROOM WINDOW. HIS NEIGHBORS WERE MR. AND MRS. GORSKY.
AS HE LEANED DOWN TO PICK UP THE BALL, YOUNG
ARMSTRONG HEARD MRS. GORSKY SHOUTING AT MR. GORSKY
“SEX! YOU WANT SEX?!
YOU’LL GET SEX WHEN THE KID NEXT DOOR WALKS ON THE MOON”!
TRUE STORY......IT BROKE THE PLACE UP!
Great story.
RightOnline, USAFA ‘77
Apparently, there are people (probably none of whom were alive and kicking in 1969) who are extremely resentful of Neil Armstrong’s fame as an American astronaut. Those of us who followed the Space Race and beyond can see right through them.
It’s obvious that they’re not interested in anything so grand, so literally wonderful happening in a world that did not include them because for the most part they have nothing but the inferiority and cheapness of their own generation’s popular culture. I pity them.
Let the name, accomplishments, service to our great nation and legacy of Neil Armstrong be forever remembered and appreciated for all time.
My mother put me in front of the tv in some carrier or something like it....I was 2 months old.
I dragged my two year old son out of bed and made him wake up and watch the blurry image on our small portable TV in the bedroom
I was at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma. Watched the broadcast in the dayroom and went out to the third floor balcony and just stared at the Moon. Wow. What a night!
In the basement of our home. Minot AFB, North Dakota.
I was 9 years-old.
My mom took a Polaroid picture of the TV. She still has it.
I so, so hope that story is true.
Old Buddy Hacket joke
Boomers don't like it.
pockets=ROCKETS
The story is not true.
I keep having this image of Neil and Alan playing a round of heavenly golf....
Sad that he had to see NASA turned into a feel good program for muslims by a sitting American president. May the force be with you!
Watched the moon landing with my wheelchair bound Grandfather in my grandparent’s kitchen. I can remember my papaw being incredulous and saying it was amazing to go from horse and buggy to landing on the moon in his lifetime.
Armstrong was an amazing, humble man who helped inspire many folks. I was fortunate to work in the space industry for almost 3 decades. Love it! It gets in your blood.
Thank you Neil Armstrong!
It is far more than sad, Obunga is deliberately giving the high ground to China.
R there any things planned? State funeral?
We watched it on TV in the living room that evening in Vallejo, CA.
In any case, I think we can take this statement by Eric M. Jones, editor of NASA's Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal, as the official and final word on the Gorsky affair:During November 1995, a clever (and slightly risqué) story was widely circulated on the Internet concerning a statement Neil is supposed to have made during the Apollo 11 EVA. At the suggestion of several readers, let me state that Neil never said "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky" at any time during the mission. Indeed, on November 28, 1995, Neil wrote, "I understand that the joke is a year old. I first heard it in California delivered by (comedian) Buddy Hackett."
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