"Live From Cape Canaveral": Covering the Space Race, From Sputnik to Today (34 page)

The good news is NASA has a devoted and strong man at its helm in Dr. Michael Griffin. He told my NBC colleague Tom Costello, “The space station is on the footpath towards becoming a space-faring nation. If we’re going to go to Mars, if we’re going to go beyond to live on other planetary surfaces and use what we find there and bend it to our will just as the pilgrims did, we must take all these steps to become a space-faring nation. I want that for the American people—I want that for my grandchildren.”

I find myself chomping at the bit to go. It’s the excitement of Columbus’s voyage, of the wagon trains west. The crossing of the space ocean to younger, more promising planets is the future of humankind if our species is to survive. The only foundation that will not sink beneath our feet is knowledge.

After fifty years on the job, I find myself satisfied and grate
ful and pleased with a life well spent. Life is indeed good, and we should all cherish it. Knowing that my days are numbered, I find myself missing all those good friends and loved ones that have gone on before. You have found their stories in these pages and in a way, I’m looking forward to following, meeting up with them again. But I am sad that I won’t be shouting into an NBC microphone about the building of a lunar colony or the start of a months-long journey to Mars.

God, what exciting times they will be!

What a future for those who will live it—those who will be going and those who will be staying as the flotilla sails for the fourth planet. How I would like to be there!

And don’t count me out just yet! Astronauts are to return to the moon in this century’s second decade. If my flesh makes it, I will be in my eighties. If not, my spirit won’t be far away.

Advanced Research Projects Agency ARPA)

Aldrin, Buzz

Apollo 11
mission.
See Apollo 11

celebrating
Apollo 13
return

Gemini 12
mission

mastering spacewalking

moonwalk

notified of lunar mission

photograph

Anders, Bill

Anderson, Mike

Angotti, Joe

Antares

Apollo 1
countdown

fire inside

Frank Sinatra and

funerals after

futile attempts to save men

hatch problem

incompetence leading to disaster

investigation after

Lovell prayer thanking crew of

Apollo 7

Apollo 8

Christmas message

communication blackout and return

crew

descriptions of moon/Earth from

first orbit around moon

onboard television coverage

reading from Genesis (Bible)

reason for launch time

return to Earth orbit

splashdown

transcript anecdote

Apollo 9

Apollo 10

Apollo 11
countdown

crew advised of lunar landing mission

forces on crew

if
prerequisites

Jimmy Stewart watching

linking
Eagle
and
Columbia

minute following liftoff

Apollo 11 (cont).
moon landing

orbiting Earth

prelaunch preparations

public frenzy before

splashdown parties

thunderous liftoff

trans-lunar injection

See also
moonwalk (first)

Apollo 12

Apollo 13

in circumlunar orbit

cold and lonely astronauts

Deke Slayton managing problems

diagnosing problems

explosion aboard

fuel cell problem

Lovell’s perspective

lunar module lifeboat

as NASA’s finest hour

Nixon’s celebratory visit after

prayers and support for

predicament of

preparation for reentry

re-engineering carbon dioxide scrubbers

reentry

return contingency

return to command module

shutting down systems

sleep for crew

splashdown

Apollo 14

Alan Shepard leading

Cone Crater excursion

docking/return of

leaving moon

lunar rickshaw of

moon samples

moonwalks

Nixon endorsing flight of

views of Earth

Apollo 15

Apollo 16

Apollo 17

Apollo program.
See
Project Apollo;
specific Apollo missions

Apollo-Soyuz
birth of

building equipment for

Deke Slayton and

docking in space

engendering U.S./Soviet trust

importance of

launch of

meals on

shaking hands

Aquarius

See also Apollo 13

Armstrong, Neil Bob Button pilot error and

celebrating
Apollo 13
return

controlling reentry problem

as first civilian astronaut

Gemini 8
mission

as leading candidate
for first moon landing

moon landing

moonwalk

NASA hiring

notified of lunar mission

See also Apollo 11

AstroChimp.
See
chimpanzees in space

astronauts early challenges

first civilian.
See
Armstrong, Neil

qualifications and screening

selection

women and, stories

See also
Gemini Nine; Mercury Seven;

specific astronauts

Atlantis

Atlas 10B
(Project Score)

Aurora Seven

Bailey, Terry

Bales, Steve

Barbree, Jay breaking
Challenger
story

Christmas Eve with John Glenn

enduring test chambers

family taking more attention

flying Messerschmitt plane

future vision

Jimmy Carter and

losing son

love of flying

military background

move to Merritt Island

photographs

radio broadcasting

reflections on career and space program

sudden death experience.
See
sudden death, of author telling whoppers

Barbree, Jo Reisinger

handling moon-launch crank callers

losing son

meeting/marrying author

photograph

responding to sudden death

watching
Challenger
disaster

Bean, Alan

Beatty, Morgan

Beckman, Dan

Bedard, Chris

Beddingfield, Sam

Benedict, Howard

Bloom, David

Bluford, Guion

Borman, Frank

Apollo 8
mission

on
Apollo 12
fate

Gemini 7
mission

investigating
Apollo 1
fire

NASA hiring

Brand, Vance

Brinkley, David

.
See also Huntley-Brinkley Report

Broad, Bill

Brokaw, Tom

Challenger
disaster coverage

Columbia
disaster coverage

Hubble repair coverage

John Glenn return coverage

Brown, Curt

Brown, Dave

Browne, Don

Bubb, Mary

Button, Bob

Bykovsky, Valery F.

Caidin, Martin coauthoring Titov book

flying with author

N–1 information

novel inspiring space rescue

photograph

as reference for author

Russian sources

secret space book

Yuri Gagarin sharing memories with

Cain, LeRoy

Cape Canaveral history/ecological makeup

naming of

Capra, Frank

Carpenter, (Malcolm) Scott

Carr, Jerry

Carter, Jimmy

Caskey, Martha

Casper

Cavanaugh, Brian

Cernan, Jim

Chaffee, Roger

Challenger
debut

Challenger
disaster

author experience

black smoke indicator

breaking story of

breakup statistics

Christa McAuliffe and

countdown

countdown delay

crew photograph

crew surviving blast

crew unaware of problem

death of crew, unknown cause

flames and destruction

liftoff

O-ring seal problem

premonitions of

press reports

reactions to

recovering remains

weather conditions

Chancellor, John

Charlie Brown

Chawla, Kalpana

chimpanzees in space

Christmas mission.
See Apollo

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Clark, Laurel

Clemons, Ed

Cocoa, Florida, early days

Coledan, Stefano

Collins, Eileen

Collins, Mike

Apollo 11
mission

Gemini 10
mission

on Presidential Goodwill Tour

Columbia
(
Apollo 11
command ship)

Columbia
(Shuttle) first mission

last mission

See also Columbia(Shu
ttle) disaster pre-launch security breaches

rollout of

second mission

Columbia
(Shuttle) disaster

countdown/liftoff

flight safety risk assessment

investigation after

Israeli on board

known foam risks

losing foam

ominous signs

planned mission

reentry and disintegration

search-and-recovery for

what-ifs

Conrad, Charles “Pete”

Apollo 12
mission

celebrating
Apollo 13
return

Gemini 5
mission

“honoring” Mercury Seven

NASA hiring

Cooper, (Leroy) Gordon

accolades to

“buzzing” incident

cheating death

cleared for Mercury flight

Deke Slayton and

drag races

filling pool with fish

in
Gemini

image and qualifications

Mercury flight

photographs

practical jokes

saving Mercury mission

traffic-cop incident

corned beef sandwich prank

Costello, Tom

Couric, Katie

Covey, Dick

Crippen, Robert “Crip,”

Cronkite, Walter

Destiny Laboratory

disasters and near-disasters
Apollo 1

Aurora Seven

Friendship Seven

Gemini 8
reentry

Mercury-Redstone rocket

Mir
fire and docking problem

Polaris launch

Soviet Voshkod

Vanguard

See also Apollo 13
;
Challenger
disaster;

Columbia
(Shuttle) disaster

Discoverer spy ship

Discovery
flying after
Challenger disaster

flying after
Columbia
disaster

John Glenn returning to space on

releasing Hubble

station keeping with
Mir

docking in space, first

Douglas, Bill

drag races

Duke, Charlie

Eagle
(
Apollo 11
lunar module)

Eagle
(Russian ship)

early days

Eisenhower, Dwight David message in space

responding to
Sputnik
pressure

response to
Vanguard
failure

Sputnik
beating U.S. to space and

Endeavour
(
Apollo 15
)

Endeavour
(Shuttle)

Engle, Joe

Enos, the chimpanzee

equal rights battle

equigravisphere

Evans, Ron

Explorer 1

Faith Seven

Falcon

Farley, Jim

firefly-like lights

firsts American black astronaut

American in orbit.
See Friendship Seven

American satellite.
See Juno 1

American woman astronaut

American/Soviet mission.
See Apollo-

Soyuz
docking in space

landing on moon

man in space

moonwalk

orbit around moon

rendezvous in space

Russian satellite.
See Sputnik

Shuttle mission

spacewalk

women in space

See also
McAuliffe, Sharon Christa

Fitzgerald, Bill