The 40th Anniversary of Apollo 13

[W2XR]

Tomorrow, April 13th, marks the 40th anniversary of the O2 tank explosion onboard the service module of Apollo 13.

And today, April 12th, marks the 49th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic first man in space mission.

As for Apollo 13, I was a 16 year old JN eagerly awaiting my Novice class license to come in the mail. It arrived shortly thereafter, I recall. I vividly remember following the entire mission over the next several days, as the Apollo 13 astronauts made their perilous journey and safely returned to Earth. I was riveted to both the television coverage and the extensive coverage provided at that time by the New York Times.

For those so inclined, an excellent book worth reading about the entire Apollo 13 mission was Jeffrey Kluger's "Lost Moon". A great book; I think I purchased it about 12 years or so ago, and I'm sure it is still available from Amazon.com, et al.

And here is a link regarding a recent reunion of the two remaining Apollo 13 crewmembers (Jack Swigert had passed on in 1982) and Gene Kranz, the mission control leader in Houston.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100413/ap_on_re_us/us_apollo13_anniversary

Here is a link I just added regarding Gagarin's flight. The man speaking to Gagarin with the hand-held microphone was Sergei Korolev, the so-called "Chief Designer" of the Soviet space program. In reality, Korolev was the main driving force, both technically and politically, behind the entire Soviet program, from the Sputnik days in October of 1957, until his untimely death in January of 1966. His name, responsibilities, and historic achievements were only revealed by the Soviets at the time of his death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGQ1ZAQJzY8&feature=related

73,

Bruce

[k4kyv]

One of those events, like the Kennedy assassination and 11SE01, for which you will always remember exactly where you were and what you were doing the moment you heard that it happened.

I was in Rome, Italy.  Passing through, but decided to hang out for a few days and explore the city. At nearly every street corner there were newspaper vendors, and you could pretty much keep up to the minute on the mission by looking at the headlines in the kiosks.  I think it had the attention of almost everyone in the city even before the disaster struck.

I remember some old fellow sitting in a café sipping on his cognac mentioned something about they were losing oxygen.  Shortly afterwards I saw the headline that read "Trying to save them".

They must have rolled out new editions of the newspapers and put them out on the street by the hour.

But who would have predicted then, that 40 years later, humans would never have returned to space beyond LEO once the Apollo mission was over.  

But, OTOH, prolonged human space travel beyond the influence of the earth's magnetic field may prove to be unattainable, due to the radiation exposure problem.

[WA1GFZ]

I was driving to work and heard the launch on the radio. I decided to spank second gear. Adams Street Manchester Ct.

[KB2WIG]

The following paper on space biological effects may be of interest .

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2004UNPSA..15...77L

[Superhet66]

When interviewed, most astro/cosmo nauts report flashes of light as comic rays penetrate the optic nerves and related nerve centers in the brain. Spooky
I quess active DNA/chromosomal repair while underway will have to be a reality for deep space exploration.
We need to focus on something forward as a country or even internationaly.

[WB2EMS]

But who would have predicted then, that 40 years later, humans would never have returned to space beyond LEO once the Apollo mission was over.

William Proxmire....

[Lou W9LRS]

If you come to Chicago, You can have dinner with Jim Lovell.

http://lovellsoflakeforest.com/

His son is head chef


Check out the Apollo  13 Page.

[W2XR]

If you come to Chicago, You can have dinner with Jim Lovell.

http://lovellsoflakeforest.com/

His son is head chef


Check out the Apollo  13 Page.

Hi Lou,

Yes, I have heard of this restaurant.

Jim Lovell has been known to occasionally show up there. Jeffrey Lovell is his son.

Have you ever eaten there, and if so, how is the food? I might be tempted to check it out the next time I am in the Chicago area on business.

Thanks & 73,

Bruce

[N0WEK]

But who would have predicted then, that 40 years later, humans would never have returned to space beyond LEO once the Apollo mission was over.

William Proxmire....

One of the funniest SHORT stories ever...

The Return of William Proxmire

http://sf.colophon.org/syllabus/assets/NivenProxmire.pdf

[WD8BIL]

Amazing what Hollywood can do..... ain't it??

NASA Mooned the World

[KA0HCP]

Well then, it should be quite easy to put on a mission to Mars, eh?   

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Amazing what Hollywood can do..... ain't it??

NASA Mooned the World

Wasn't it the "Capricorn Project" or some such movie??   

Those moon landing hoaxers are a bunch of ignorant wannabes. They have little to do with reality or any understanding of science, physics or engineering and yet they can point to "obvious flaws" in the moon shot photos movies etc.  Oddly enough someone can just as easily explain the so called flaws with a moon landing and it's effects. dumb a$$es.

Besides the fact that half the things they "think" they see, in the photo's etc. they miss the glaringly obvious.  No one organization could keep that kind of secret with all the folks who would have had to have been involved.   Total bunk that no one would have spoken "out of fear of reprisals" .    The Soviets would have wasted no time what so ever in debunking a faked US moon landing because it would have made the US a laughing stock and made them look even better, and you KNOW they had the resources in the country (still do) to do it too.   

Ah well.  Some people can't accept the fact that humans CAN accomplish great things, and frequently do despite the ignorance of nay sayers.  (good ole Chris Columbus is a perfect example, pyramids are another)  They always have to make the rest of us seem as small and limited as they are... 

[Superhet66]

Colonel Buzz Aldrin has enough and gives Moon walk hoaxer Bart Sibrel a moon blast of his own, in the nose....    

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU

[KB2WIG]

Why not include ......


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f-DbSuE1Bk&feature=related


Good luck, Mr. Gorsky,

klc

[Lou W9LRS]

[


[/quote]

Hi Lou,

Yes, I have heard of this restaurant.

Jim Lovell has been known to occasionally show up there. Jeffrey Lovell is his son.

Have you ever eaten there, and if so, how is the food? I might be tempted to check it out the next time I am in the Chicago area on business.

Thanks & 73,

Bruce
[/quote]


Hello Bruce

 It is a great suburban up scale place but a bit of a ride from downtown Chicago, about 45 minutes north.  Still it cool to see some of the NASA stuff and the food was good. Jim Lovell is usually there on weekends and you can e mail him to find out when he will be there.
Since you have been to the windy before, you know about the  great food places.

bon appetit

73
Lou

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Colonel Buzz Aldrin has enough and gives Moon walk hoaxer Bart Sibrel a moon blast of his own, in the nose....   

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU

That is perfect. Too bad you can only do one at a time...