Thanks Patrick - loads of fun to learn mine wasn't the only misspent youth. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patrick Wiggins" <paw@trilobyte.net> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 12:55 AM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] 1969 | Ok, with all this reminiscing going on I'll add mine. | | I was in the air force stationed at Mt. Home in Idaho during the time of | Apollo 11 but a couple of weeks before the launch I was sent to a | military hospital in California for some minor surgery. | | Had a lot of time on my hands there so I sent a letter to the astronauts | wishing them luck and noting something to the effect that when they | stepped off on to the lunar surface it might be a small step for them | but a really big one for civilization. | | Fast forward to 20 July and I was at home in Elko on medical leave and | glued to the television for the landing. | | You might guess my surprise when I heard Armstrong say those famous | words that sure sounded a lot to me like the words I'd sent him. | | So for years I went around thinking that just maybe I'd had something to | do with what he said (see, I even had a ego back then <grin>). | | It wasn't until a few years ago that I heard Armstrong being interviewed | about the mission and someone asked how he'd come up with his "One small | step..." lines. I don't remember exactly what he said just that | whatever he said it ruled out any connection with my letter. Sigh... | | Kim Hyatt wrote: | | > About that time I figured it might be more fun to build working rockets than plastic models, so my friend and I retired to the garage for some clandestine design and rocket construction. We did have a few from-scratch solid fuel rocket successes. (Ground match heads and sparklers for fuel, cardboard tube body, and dime with a hole drilled in it for a nozzle.) | | Regarding the house in Elko I mentioned, to this day it has a dent in | the front porch railing where one of my attempts at a home made rocket | engine went awry. | | And I bet that if you look closely enough in the kitchen you might find | evidence of the skillet full of home made rocket fuel that decided to | ignite while I was cooking it on the stove. (Kids, don't try that at home!) | | > Our rocketry career only got about 20 feet off the ground, though - kind of hovered for a few seconds before descending into the Ellingson's yard and starting the dry grass in the backyard on fire. | | Sounds like you and Robert Goddard have something in common. If memory | serves, his first attempt at flying a liquid fuel rocket ended with the | neighbor's field alight. | | > Oh, Chuck, Rob: I still have my unfinished plastic model of a Gemini capsule. (Well, actually, I never started it.) I think I got it for Christmas in 1965. I thought it might be fun to finally build the Gemini model with my 7-year-old son. | If the box is still sealed you may have a lot of $$$ on your hands. Try | EBay! :-) | | Ok, Mr. Peabody it's time to set the Wayback Machine | (http://www.toonopedia.com/peabody.htm) to 2005 so we can get home. | | Patrick | | _______________________________________________ | Utah-Astronomy mailing list | Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com | http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy | Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com | | ______________________________________________________________________ | This e-mail has been scanned by Cut.Net Managed Email Content Service, using Skeptic(tm) technology powered by MessageLabs. For more information on Cut.Nets Content Service, visit http://www.cut.net | ______________________________________________________________________ | |