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Apollo 11 50th Anniversary

GopherRock

By GopherRock
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SuingToGetAMessageBoard?

SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861

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Posted

Watched a 60 minutes interview with the notoriously celebrity-avoiding Armstrong this morning.  He said “my one regret is that my work took up so much of my time I didn’t get to spend as much time with my family as I would have liked.  Work involved a lot of travel ....”

 

me: it did, didn’t it. 

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Posted

Well when you look back and wonder where our will to return to truly deep space exploration...just remember that tonight CBS...in order to honor Cronkite's historic call of the moon landing/moon walk...they decided to air their usual bullshit including Tim Tebow and some other random Trump-esque crap.  Every one of you that's every watched "The Big Bang Theory" are complicit in the dumbing-down of American.  They had a chance to maybe do something cool between Cronkite, and the guy that was in the Hidden Figures movie, plus he's from Houston near Space Center.  And they decided to do jack fucking shit.  It fell to networks that didn't exist 50 years ago.  In a way, everybody fucked up.  Anyway.  Let's go...waking my 4 year old in a few minutes to watch it in real time and piss her mom off.  Thanks for the stories guys...but the ladies have it from here.  

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Buffsoldier

Buffsoldier 1895

Posted
Posted
On 7/17/2019 at 9:11 AM, El Diablo said:

Co-worker was on vacation last week and took their family to Johnson Space Center.. I got a NASA sticker out of the deal. Not sure where to put it now.

 

On 7/17/2019 at 10:03 AM, miguelito said:

Put it on your Johnson.  Then wait for the laughs to start rolling in.

 

On 7/17/2019 at 3:41 PM, Steamboat1874 said:

Put it on Uranus.

"NASA:  We've already seen your Moon.  Now we're shooting for Uranus."

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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13516

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Long form video history lesson of what lead up to Apollo and editorial on how Apollo has negatively impacted manned space flight since the program end.  On a side note I had never heard that JFK publicly proclaimed that we should end the Apollo program and combine efforts with the soviets, 2 months before he was killed.  No conspiracy. I guess the story is better with that part ignored.

 

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

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YouTube last night ran the NASA video of the entire first EVA to the exact second that it happened 50 years ago.  I ended up watching that.  Got damn it was magnetic.  The entire EVA, TV kicked in live at 9:53 p.m. CDT last night and ran for the 2 1/2 hours.  It was another moment that gave me the shivers.

Last installment on all this I guess... I was a little kid when it came on, but I remember it:

I don't believe I was woken up to watch it, 1969 July 20th was a Sunday so although I probably normally went to bed, I was allowed to stay up.  The family was in the living room except my brother, who was serving in the Army 22nd Signal Brigade in Germany.  In those days you had basically two kinds of TV's:  The "deluxe" color models (although you had to fuck with the tone, color and other stuff all the time!) which were encased in wood (or wood-type) furniture - we got our first one of those about 1970, too late for this.  The other TV type were the "portables", little boxes usually encased in plastic, almost always black and white, and you sat them on a rolling TV stand that looked something like an hors d'oeuvres tray.  The pictures were decent actually but small and again, in those days, "decent" had a wide range of interpretation.  Ours was 19", the standard "second TV" (a new concept in America, remember Back To The Future when Marty said he had more than one TV and they looked at him weird?).

Anyway, I think we were watching CBS, because I also recorded it on my little 4" reel-to-reel recorder (great fun back then!) and I'll never forget how Cronkite fucked up the first step (more in a sec).

I don't remember too much except that we all sat around the TV (I laid on the floor) and when the EVA began, it was a combination of the primitive TV camera used and analog black and white TV:  basically, like Stevie Wonder, I couldn't see shit.  I squinted and grimaced and saw some kind of blob moving down on the right side of the screen, and then got sidetracked because Conkrite screwed the pooch (not sure why many people don't remark about it):  At the point where Armstrong said he "checked getting back up to that first step" Conkrite shot in "Man on the Moon!  If he's checking getting back up to that first step he must be standing on the Moon!"  Only he wasn't.  Obviously he first hung off the ladder, if anything his feet on the LEM landing pods, and pulled himself back up to test the amount of effort needed to get back up the ladder (a very wise thing, after all what if for some reason he couldn't make it up if he let go of the ladder?  I mean no one knew...).  Then he landed on the LEM pod for good of course and stood on it for a few seconds.  But Conkrite already blew it and he knew it.  He kept quiet for a few seconds, until well after Neil said his "Stepping off the LEM now..." and made his now-historical "first statement".  In a way I was pissed because Conkrite felt he had to jump in there when he should have just kept his yap shut.  Anyway, I remember hearing Armstrong's "One small step" even now, but I especially remember how the end of it got sort of buried in static (you can hear it) and they had to go around and confirm what he said, finally announcing it about a minute after the first step.

As to the rest of the EVA, I remember that it was hard to see the Astronauts on my 1969 TV... it was hard to make out their definition clearly, and there was a lag at times so it looked like they were "swooshing" (kind of a slow blurry overexposure following them) around when they got in the sun.  I remember Nixon calling them and thinking "why doesn't he get off the phone, they only have so much air!" (lol!).  And after that, Armstrong spent a lot of time stationary in front of the LEM doing his experiments, but Aldrin was the one who was hopping around more, and once the pictures adjusted a bit I was amazed and delighted at watching him do that, it was unbelievable that two guys were doing this on the Moon!  I also remember (for the time) how sleek and unencumbering (or so I thought) the suits were... they seemed amazingly awesome as we were all used to the kind of sci-fi tinfoil look of the Mercury guys and the Gemini guys.  Eve the Apollo "in-craft" suits weren't so much different, but I was amazed at how (at least it seemed to me) natural the suits looked, and that "little" backpack was amazing - remember we never saw any of that yet in America - and I was so impressed with how "little" they got all that so the guys could work.

Anyway I must have gotten bored/tired as after the first steps etc. the guys really didn't do a lot of interesting stuff (they were often stationary) but I will never forget all the shots of them working in front of that LEM and the look of the bright sun.  I probably went to bed shortly after about 1/3 of the way in the EVA (which is why I really enjoyed watching the whole thing on YouTube last night).  I don't remember being excited as much as bewildered on how we did that.  It was too cool to be real.  Of course the next day my friends and I were all buzzing about it as we met on my front porch (as we did all summer) to play Risk and Stratego and talk about the shit of the day.

I will say that, although I never wanted to be an astronaut (Ramjet was safe!) the experience heightened my already keen interest in Astronomy, and I fully intended to become an astronomer... and I think I've said here that I interned at NASA a few years later, but as they had no astronomy intern positions, the closest thing they had was meteorology, and so began my illustrious "hobby" of weather-watching.  At NASA I plotted hurricane and storm data for splashdown considerations (but all I really did was plot numbers the real meteos gave to me, like "connect the dots"), but still, a few of our things got put into data for Apollo 17's splashdown(!).  Eventually I didn't go into meteorology because there were only nerd guys and no chicks (great criteria for career choices) but have kept up to this day, I guess.

Anyway, I do remember that walk and how it just made us all feel so good as Americans and as people.  Even at my young age, I knew I had witnessed a turning point in both history and culture.  And I think I did.  To paraphrase the post in this thread I liked, it was a glorious time, and a great time to be alive, maybe the best ever in my life, and I'm glad I could witness this thing and its aftermath.

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

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Posted
19 hours ago, MadTrapper said:
22 hours ago, phdhorn said:
Okay, the following is very long, but it happened yesterday, and I wanted to make it a good narrative, so I put it in a spoiler.  I hope you enjoy it.  Nothing I've ever done could have prepared me for such a great day in Houston at the Space Center.  And I'm convinced that there was no more impactful way I could have celebrated the annivesary.  It was borderline mystical and magical.  Want more?  Read it.  And there's pix in it as well.

 
Spoiler
  Reveal hidden contents

So, as it turned out, July 19, 2019, one micrometer from the 50 years of the first moonwalk, turned out to be amazing, almost auspiciously so, a perfect synergy of elements to give me a thrill I never, ever could have imagined had I tried to plan the day ten years prior. It was a perfect horizontal alignment of good fortune and timing, and a vertical one of historical pointers across decades. I'm still shaking my head about it.

I decided to go to JSC Friday the 19th because: 1) it probably would be a madhouse the next day, 2) there was really nothing “extra” on the JSC schedule that motivated me to go that day and battle the crowds (2 concerts by some bands, that's about it), and 3) the July 20th tickets are unique – and rather expensive – starting at $50 and going up from there. So I thought going the day before, while the astronauts are “still on the mission” 50 years earlier, would suffice; I wanted to go as part of the “mission week” and so this would be a memorable day, more or less.

Little did I know how much.

I'll skip over the details of the visit in general; many here I'm sure have been to the JSC and the visitor (tourist) center, while somewhat offputting, like an overcrowded Disney theme park, is appropriate for the intended crowd – families and people who want to pay money. For this reason, a lot of gaudy things are offered – like a “virtual reality ride” which is supposed to simulate the bumps and grinds of a launch – which is four seats that are hydraulically shaken around. There are lots of hands on things for kids and nerds. I personally enjoyed the more “exhibit” type things, you know, with the little plaques that explain things, and of course some of the mementos of the historical space flights, particularly from the Mercury through Apollo programs (one pic is of the actual checklist from Apollo 13 for exploring the moon, which, unfortunately, went unused). Most of the travel sites' advice was accurate: get there early, because by late morning it's a zoo, and the crowd is thick. On this particular week, I anticipated this and left Austin with the roosters calling, and even fighting an expected Houston traffic jam somewhere (in this case it was out by Fry Road, 30 minutes to get two miles), I managed to get there about 9:40, only 10 minutes past my hoped-for arrival.

Because I was early I managed to presign for the 11 a.m. tram ticket to the Mission Control Center, yeah the famous one and all that. The tickets are free with general admission but you had to punch into a kiosk screen to get one. That was my first priority upon going in and it was the one of the best decisions I might have ever made.

I killed time for about an hour before lining up for the tram (they suggest 15 minutes early but the line was already about 40 long at 10:30 – the trams take about 80 each). However as the line worked itself out as it progressed through the doors to the tram platforms, it turns out that the huge bulk of people take the more expensive, “complete” tram tour (or the tram to other tram tours leaving from on the actual center grounds). I wasn't interested in these, just the single tram to the MCC. And that's essentially “all” you get. The tram pulls up to the center and you go in, wait a few minutes, and then climb the 90 or so stairs up to the “booth” entrance to the Control Room (it's the same glassed-in booth that you see in movies behind the actual control room). The tour guides repeatedly warned us about excessive noise resulting in a group being evicted from the room as “people are working” but in all honesty, I didn't see anyone really doing so in this room, as it's no longer a real-time area and hasn't been for some 20 years. However, I did like the idea of “keep it down.”

I also have to admit here that although I understood the “family” nature of the center, this tour was filled with little kids, say about 2 years old or younger. While I understand you can't just leave your kids hanging around back at the tourist center while you tour, most parents struck me as generally having little knowledge of the significance of this room, (most being way too young), or not really caring, expecting this to be like some “hands on” exhibit and not giving much of a shit when it turned out not to be so. However enough folks were around (though not that many, see below) who knew and understood, or more aptly felt, the significance of the place. I did, but my adventure to the moon per se, one which I never could have imagined a half hour ago, was about to launch.

While we were downstairs grouping up to go in, our nice young tour guide again warned us about the noise, and said that pictures were fine as long as there was no flash, and in the case of “some interviews” possibly not allowed. He mentioned that “for example when I was last here about twenty minutes ago, Gene Kranz was upstairs setting up for an interview.” I assumed that this meant: 1) Kranz did an interview and took off by now, and 2) no pictures would be allowed if he were there (shit!). So I kind of actually hoped he'd be done so we could take some pic of the historic room, but I said this thinking there was no way he'd be around for mere mortals to see, and that at his ripe old age of 85 he'd be doing anything more than a few quick quips and be gone (although he was here like many actual participants in the mission to celebrate the 50th).

We get upstairs and the seating is cinema-like; that is, there are about five rows of about 15-20 chairs per row. They urged us to go “all the way down” to avoid people stopping and then having others have to climb over them. As I was in the front 15 or so of the crowd, I decided I wanted to “start” my own row and not be trapped inside the cluster, so I went down all the way to the end (the very left of the booth looking into the room). This meant I had a wide space (aisle) to my left where I had some room, plus you can actually see the entire room better from this angle (as it's rowed, you have a better angle into each row of consoles, monitors and tables.

This began one of the several episodes of ethereal timing for me, for I had no idea that the entire control room had just, as in July 1 just, finished its five-year restoration as a National Historical Landmark and had not looked so much like the original room as it was in the 60's for at least 40 years! Many of the original workers had taken their “stuff” home for years as personal souvenirs, but with the historical restoration, lovingly returned many things back to the room – and I'm talking stuff like the original coffee cups, pipes, papers, and even pocket protectors that they had worn during their tenures! It was absolutely amazing. The room itself was mimicking roughly the moments 50 years ago (on a running basis) so for me, the day before the moonwalk, they had a big map of the moon up on the huge screens (usually it was the Goode (or “orange peel” map of the earth, as many projects in the room of coruse from the 60's were earth-orbit only), showing where the LEM was at that moment. The other screen featured data from the LEM (left hand white screen) and an actual locator graphic of Armstrong and Aldren while on the Moon next to it on the right). It was all pretty breathtaking. No, it was borderline beautiful. And here I was, almost as if I was there in 1969 watching it. The only things missing were the actual men (sorry kids, that's about what there was there) at their consoles.

But there were two who where there, and it sent me for a complete, utter loop of amazed awe.

A few seconds after we all got situated in the room and took a few pics, the young guide informed us, that yes, Gene Kranz was “still here” and “wrapping up” his interview. Then I looked and to say my jaw dropped was unfair to dropping in general.

Because not only was Gene here, he was sitting in the EXACT seat/console where he used to sit for all of those missions! I mean, you could never, ever have imagined such a perfect vertical/horizontal storm of time and place coming together, here, now, in front of my eyes. Yeah, I get that it was “possible” given the date, auspiciousness of this time and place, and the fact that, fortunately, Gene is still alive and kicking. But nothing can actually prepare for a moment like that. If I had paid a thousand bucks and got to hear Gene speak on some dais, then shook his hand, it still wouldn't have matched this perfect display of gawk-inducing appropriateness. Gene Kranz, in his historical seat, in this room, at this time! “Fantastic” cannot fully describe it. I almost had to fight back tears, this was so overwhelming.

And it wasn't done yet.

The sector of our group who could fully anticipate this (and again, there were a number of younger folks and “Disney types” who were either bored by this tour or simply were underwhelmed that there wasn't some Tilt-A-Whirl in there giving the kiddies a ride) performed their involuntary ooh's and aah's and everyone, even the bored types, were snapping phone pics.

But I noticed that there was someone else in the room that even our young guide didn't seem to know about. The face looks right, though older, seems like it... yes, could it be.. yes, it is!!

Charlie Duke was also in there, sitting right where he sat, chatting it up with Gene (and the now-done and relaxed interview crew of about three)!!! Just chatting away with Gene in a scene that could have come right out of 1969!

I was clearly the only person in the room who knew this.  I think I mouthed "wow, that's Charlie Duke!" and even said it in a low voice, but absolutely no one seemed to grasp who that was with Gene.  I guess that was my at-the-time-unique-to-me secret.

Even now it can be expected that some might not quite grasp who Charlie was/is. First, he was an astronaut from the 60's, though he never flew a mission until Apollo 16. This in turn makes him one of the twelve men who set foot on the moon! But Charlie is also known for two things in particular: first, he was the CAPCOM (voice from Houston) who was the primary communicator with the Apollo 11 crew, and second, he was the guy in this role who uttered the now ubiquitous “Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a buncha guys here about to turn blue. We're breathing again.” quote after Armstrong's “the Eagle has landed” near-immortal statement. There he was, Charlie Duke!

Probably the two most significant historical figures of this day, 50 years earlier, after only the astronauts themselves! Right there! Right now! It was almost more than I could bear. It's as if I were experiencing a flashback in a movie, where the swirly, wavy screen leads into the past. It was just amazing, that both of these guys are still alive, and here there were chatting together just like they did in those days in 1969, and I didn't have to use one single bit of imagination. It was awesome.

And it still wasn't over. The best was up next.

After a few minutes of gawking at all this and taking a few oodles of pictures, Gene hit a pause in the conversation out there. Having a second, he glanced around behind him as he probably had so many times before, and panned across us in the room. Again, for the most part amost everyone had their cameras up and snapping, but I looked and almost no one was reacting beyond that.

Then Gene eventually worked all the way to his right, were I was in the room. Not wanting to violate the “no-noise” rule but too excited to just sit there, I stood up and wildly “air-clapped” with my arms spread wide, right as he was looking at me. He stopped for a second then focused on me. At that point I put my hand over my heart to say “thank you” and put my arm out and palm up (notoriously not down, as in the Hitler salute!) again as if to say “I get it, I saw it, thank you!”

At that moment, he threw his head back, let out a big laugh (which admittedly I couldn't hear), raised his arm up to me, and cocked his hand in a “thumbs up” position. It was a double blessing to sort of for a second see into the soul of this giant historical figure, one who helped change the world, being still humble and genuine enough to accept, and more astonishingly, respond to my gestures. It would have been nothing for him to ignore it, or even just politely nod. But nope, he almost seemed like a kid who was genuinely taken with some schlub tepidly trying to show appreciation.

How will I ever forget that moment? I guess by dying. That's about it.

The rest of the day seemed like nap time. We went back to the center, I did a few touristy things, bought a NASA T-shirt, looked at a few more exhibits, and left by 2 p.m. What possible reason was there left to stick around in the thick, sweaty crowds? I had climbed the Mt. Everest of Possibilities of this day (at least as far as I could probably get). If I would have driven from Fairbanks and back just for that 10 minutes in the Control Room, it would have been more than worth it. And I only had to drive three hours!

I won't ever, ever forget the day. And there is no conceivable way I could better have felt, and celebrated, the juxtaposition of time and space than I was lucky to have done. Those guys, in that room (again, fully restored to 1969), and those moments, on this anniversary.

I do believe, like some of these missions, I understand what “almost perfect” means now.

Here are a few pix:

The real 747 used to transport the shuttles across country with a mockup of a shuttle (entrance to the center).  Took this mostly because of the sky/clouds being pretty and all).

766031195_Pic1.thumb.jpg.a9874cbeb7939409b73a6299b1ec51e7.jpg
 
Gene Kranz in the controll room, at his traditional spot!!Pic3.thumb.jpg.98c5a7356e85a11e41b1a99126d1506b.jpg

Charlie Duke and Gene Kranz!  I mean, can you believe this picture?Pic2.thumb.jpg.3d1fdd9077f5e9a75a8ef4fc1a78c86e.jpg

Newly-restored (as of July 1) 1969 control room!  From L→R on screens:  some data on Apollo 11 LEM (sorry too bright); barely visible but doable screen with two graphics of bodies (Aldrin and Armstrong) showing their "current" positions in relation to LEM (tracking); surface map of moon showing LEM "current" position (you can see it almost smack in middle of map along horizontal white guideline);  Little screen to right showing broader view of landing area (Mare Tranquillitatis) Neil's first step (okay, a bit mocked up for effect, but hey, what better place to loop it??)Pic4.thumb.jpg.ff6da2c99f7bb3d941878fd41393838b.jpg


Checklist of procedures for exploring lunar surface by Apollo 13 (obviously never gotten to!) Pic6.thumb.jpg.fa4ab70f4d3ac81ddb7bed014debe1bd.jpg

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I was in the mission control viewing room with you. Amazing moment that I will never forget.

Really?  COOL!! Rep.

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RamjetFDO

RamjetFDO 10577

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Posted
33 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

Anyway, I do remember that walk and how it just made us all feel so good as Americans and as people.  Even at my young age, I knew I had witnessed a turning point in both history and culture.  And I think I did.  To paraphrase the post in this thread I liked, it was a glorious time, and a great time to be alive, maybe the best ever in my life, and I'm glad I could witness this thing and its aftermath.

Same same.

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Nueces River Rat

Nueces River Rat 5539

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Posted

I've been watching some of the coverage and documentaries of era related to Apollo 11.

One of them went it to how it transformed what was basically empty land in both Houston and Florida into bustling neighborhoods with instant wealth thanks to all the engineers, administrators, etc. who were brought into the run both facilities.   It was like if you were hired by NASA in the 60's, you pretty much had working lifetime job security if you wanted it and could stay at the same location too for the duration.

It would be cool to hear from anyone on here who grew up in the Clear Lake area during that era and I guess going into the 80's and 90's as the shuttle program took over.

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MAROON

MAROON 445

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 7/21/2019 at 9:14 AM, Nueces River Rat said:

I've been watching some of the coverage and documentaries of era related to Apollo 11.

One of them went it to how it transformed what was basically empty land in both Houston and Florida into bustling neighborhoods with instant wealth thanks to all the engineers, administrators, etc. who were brought into the run both facilities.   It was like if you were hired by NASA in the 60's, you pretty much had working lifetime job security if you wanted it and could stay at the same location too for the duration.

It would be cool to hear from anyone on here who grew up in the Clear Lake area during that era and I guess going into the 80's and 90's as the shuttle program took over.

we moved to Clear Lake City in 1965 from San Antonio.  My Dad took a job with Lockheed - they had a contract related to mapping the moon, among other things.  My Dad had two years of college and was working at the "Army Map Service" (I have no idea of the actual company or if it was a government job - he just always called it that).

We lived in an apartment for about a year waiting for a house to be built.  Right across the street they opened the new Clear Lake Movie Theatre and Chuck Conners came down for the grand opening - search lights, parades, etc. The area was mostly cattle land and oil fields (owned by Exxon).  Actually Exxon gave the land that JSC was constructed upon to Rice University, who then either sold or leased it to Nasa.  Exxon owned all the rest of the land and their subsidiary (Friendswood Development) constructed Clear Lake City. We would play at this playground just down the road

00912af6bf9d03ec7da59297686f4182.jpg

We at first were buying a house in Clear Lake, but my Dad said the construction was shoddy, so he instead bought a house in League City.  I think he paid $18k for the house.  The neighborhood (Newport) was in the middle of a cattle ranch.  The morning after we planted our yard we woke to a herd of cows out front eating the new sod. Newport was basically nothing but Nasa people.  I think on our street every Dad except maybe one, worked at Nasa or for a contractor. 

My Dad would bring home moon maps, and also these cool 3D maps of various sections of the moon with potential landing spots indicated and all the craters named.  He also brought home one of the original computer terminals so you could call into the NASA computer and run programs, etc.  Mind blowing stuff for the late 60's.

Of course we all had all the mission patches, and actually we got a little jaded with the actual space center.  A groan would go out in the class when they announced another field trip to Nasa. But Nasa was the epicenter of everything.  Heck my 8th grade Webster Intermediate football banquet was held in a NASA building. It was cool to drive down Nasa Road 1 and see that every major network had a permanent studio on top of the hotels opposite JSC. (Photo belo , you can barely make out the NBC Studio on the top left of the hotel

s-l640.jpg

A lot of the astronauts lived in El Lago and Nassau Bay.  Those were the two upper end areas at that time.

ellargo_astronauthomes01-lg.jpg

astronautshomes04-lg.jpgastronautshomes02-lg.jpgastronautshomes03-lg.jpg

I went to school with a few astronauts kids, and lots of mission control kids. Kids were from all over the country at our schools, and new kids arrived daily, and each year would be interesting to see who showed up and who left.  It was also interesting mix because you had the Nasa people, then you had the kids whose Fathers ran oyster and shrimp boats, or worked in Texas City at BP and Monsanto.

There was very little in the way of retail establishments back then. The closest mall was finally opened in 1968 - Almeda Mall.  The other option was driving to Galveston the the mall.  Restaurants were actually pretty plentiful, and there were some great hole in the wall seafood places.  What is now the Kemah Boardwalk was nothing but shell roads and seafood companies, with Jimmie Walkers restaurant on the end, and a bunch of dive bars full of shrimpers all wearing their San Leon Ropers - picture the bar in Airplane with the two chicks fighting.

 

Anyway, it was an amazing place to grow up.  I'm very thankful my Dad made the decision to leave San Antonio and take the chance on working at Nasa.  This past week watching all the documentaries and listening to the podcasts has been really special.

Edited by MAROON
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HouTex

HouTex 1887

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6 hours ago, MAROON said:

we moved to Clear Lake City in 1965 from San Antonio.  My Dad took a job with Lockheed - they had a contract related to mapping the moon, among other things.  My Dad had two years of college and was working at the "Army Map Service" (I have no idea of the actual company or if it was a government job - he just always called it that).

We lived in an apartment for about a year waiting for a house to be built.  Right across the street they opened the new Clear Lake Movie Theatre and Chuck Conners came down for the grand opening - search lights, parades, etc. The area was mostly cattle land and oil fields (owned by Exxon).  Actually Exxon gave the land that JSC was constructed upon to Rice University, who then either sold or leased it to Nasa.  Exxon owned all the rest of the land and their subsidiary (Friendswood Development) constructed Clear Lake City. We would play at this playground just down the road

00912af6bf9d03ec7da59297686f4182.jpg

We at first were buying a house in Clear Lake, but my Dad said the construction was shoddy, so he instead bought a house in League City.  I think he paid $18k for the house.  The neighborhood (Newport) was in the middle of a cattle ranch.  The morning after we planted our yard we woke to a herd of cows out front eating the new sod. Newport was basically nothing but Nasa people.  I think on our street every Dad except maybe one, worked at Nasa or for a contractor. 

My Dad would bring home moon maps, and also these cool 3D maps of various sections of the moon with potential landing spots indicated and all the craters named.  He also brought home one of the original computer terminals so you could call into the NASA computer and run programs, etc.  Mind blowing stuff for the late 60's.

Of course we all had all the mission patches, and actually we got a little jaded with the actual space center.  A groan would go out in the class when they announced another field trip to Nasa. But Nasa was the epicenter of everything.  Heck my 8th grade Webster Intermediate football banquet was held in a NASA building. It was cool to drive down Nasa Road 1 and see that every major network had a permanent studio on top of the hotels opposite JSC. (Photo belo , you can barely make out the NBC Studio on the top left of the hotel

s-l640.jpg

A lot of the astronauts lived in El Lago and Nassau Bay.  Those were the two upper end areas at that time.

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I went to school with a few astronauts kids, and lots of mission control kids. Kids were from all over the country at our schools, and new kids arrived daily, and each year would be interesting to see who showed up and who left.  It was also interesting mix because you had the Nasa people, then you had the kids whose Fathers ran oyster and shrimp boats, or worked in Texas City at BP and Monsanto.

There was very little in the way of retail establishments back then. The closest mall was finally opened in 1968 - Almeda Mall.  The other option was driving to Galveston the the mall.  Restaurants were actually pretty plentiful, and there were some great hole in the wall seafood places.  What is now the Kemah Boardwalk was nothing but shell roads and seafood companies, with Jimmie Walkers restaurant on the end, and a bunch of dive bars full of shrimpers all wearing their San Leon Ropers - picture the bar in Airplane with the two chicks fighting.

 

Anyway, it was an amazing place to grow up.  I'm very thankful my Dad made the decision to leave San Antonio and take the chance on working at Nasa.  This past week watching all the documentaries and listening to the podcasts has been really special.

I wonder about the date of the phone/address list.  Shepard's address is listed in River Oaks and some of his contemporaries had moved to other parts of the country.   Eventually, Cernan moved to Houston proper.  I used to see him at the car wash on Voss in the 90's.

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jdhorn92

jdhorn92 1552

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Just got back from a weekend trip to DC with the family.  Pretty cool to be there during the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11.  As you can imagine, a ton of activity in and around the Mall.  Air and Space Museum was a mad house (more so than normal, as it is the 3rd most visited museum in the world).  Each day for the last month or so they have been projecting A11 on the Washington Monument after dark, we caught a glimpse of it Thursday from our hotel (the W on 15th).  Then on Friday and Saturday this past weekend they played a 17 minute movie, projected on the WM as well, very cool. 

DC was packed and very-very hot!

Incidentally the two new museums, African History and the Holocaust Museum are must sees! CSB

Edited by jdhorn92
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Deej

Deej 76873

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1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Gotta love the metal playground equipment in the Texas sun. You learn quickly to not ever touch metal in the direct sun. Pain teaches you some lessons.

This was the best. Nothing like a giant piece of sheet metal in the summer sun of Texas.

 

5377_49162_720_Trangle_Slide.jpg

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AUinHsv

AUinHsv 579

Posted
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On 7/21/2019 at 9:14 AM, Nueces River Rat said:

I've been watching some of the coverage and documentaries of era related to Apollo 11.

One of them went it to how it transformed what was basically empty land in both Houston and Florida into bustling neighborhoods with instant wealth thanks to all the engineers, administrators, etc. who were brought into the run both facilities.   It was like if you were hired by NASA in the 60's, you pretty much had working lifetime job security if you wanted it and could stay at the same location too for the duration.

It would be cool to hear from anyone on here who grew up in the Clear Lake area during that era and I guess going into the 80's and 90's as the shuttle program took over.

Not correct on the lifetime part. Growing up in Huntsville I knew several families affected by a NASA layoff. May have been true in Houston but everywhere.

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MadTrapper

MadTrapper 153

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Really?  COOL!! Rep.
Sorry to long quote a few days late. But yeah, I was standing in the back and was the guy who had to recuse himself a couple times because my 2 year old daughter was getting too rambunctious. Thinking back in it, I honestly had no issue getting her to calm down in the stairway where so much history happened. We shared a moment together in our own way...

Seeing Charlie Duke there, too, was freaking awesome. I didn't put it together that he was CAPCOM for Apollo 11.
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Gunsup

Gunsup 56

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On 7/23/2019 at 4:19 PM, huge said:

My FIL has a rent house on Biscayne in El Lago.

I think he is looking to sell.

We used a map like this one to go astronaut stalking after our latest JSC trip last week.  It's amazing that such extraordinary men lived like the guy next door.   Among a few others, saw James Lovell's old house that backed up to a canal-I think John Glenn's house backed up to the same one, but I could be wrong.  

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