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.
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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.
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.
Yeah, like you’d have done with a show set at high school or college.
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.
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.
Wow. Kind of amazing. Even if the boys aren’t playing around the life of an astronaut wife is rough.
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.
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.
“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 ...
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!”
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
Haha. Nice one.
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