Apollo

[MikeyDude]

Remember how exciting the space race was? That was at a time when we had real heroes. People that kids could look up to and wanna be like. I did a science fair project on the Apollo Saturn V rocket and won 3rd place out of 3 counties. Woo Hoo! That thing was so awe inspiring. And here I've lived in Texas over 40 years and I've not made it to the National Space Museum in Houston to see the damn thing. It's on my bucket list for this year.

My brother served on the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier in 1961 and was assigned to a recovery mission of the Mercury Capsule (7?) where Gus Grissom pre-maturely blew the hatch and sank it, almost killing himself. He survived... Those were exciting times!

What do you remember of the Space Race?

 

[CallMeKate]

Space Race... interesting that you should mention Gus Grissom because my own most vivid memory of "all things space" is the fire that took Grissom, White, and Chaffee (Apollo 1) in early '67. And I have to say that I seriously don't know why it's stuck with me so strongly... maybe just the shock of a little girl hearing about that fire. I was 9 1/2. I wasn't into space at the time but that day is very clear in my memory.

 

[Tommy]

I recall standing in the yard with friends trying to see sputnik in the night sky.

 

[SeniorBen]

Remember how exciting the space race was? That was at a time when we had real heroes. People that kids could look up to and wanna be like. I did a science fair project on the Apollo Saturn V rocket and won 3rd place out of 3 counties. Woo Hoo! That thing was so awe inspiring. And here I've lived in Texas over 40 years and I've not made it to the National Space Museum in Houston to see the damn thing. It's on my bucket list for this year.

My brother served on the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier in 1961 and was assigned to a recovery mission of the Mercury Capsule (7?) where Gus Grissom pre-maturely blew the hatch and sank it, almost killing himself. He survived... Those were exciting times!

What do you remember of the Space Race?

I went to Texas around the same time you did. For me, it was 1978 when I was 20. I left and moved to Colorado about eight years later when the economy in Houston tanked.

I think what you want is the Johnson Space Center, which is south of Houston, maybe 50 miles. They have one of the Apollo Rockets displayed horizontally on the lawn near the entrance, or they did when I was there. It's pretty impressive!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Space_Center

 

[Alligatorob]

What do you remember of the Space Race?

I kept newspapers for every one of the launches for years. Finally got rid of them, gave them to the Goodwill incase anyone wanted them.

NASA is trying to play on those memories to get money for the new ventures, much less useful. A waste of money now, I believe.

 

[NorthernLight]

I must be the only person who didn't care about all that. I love astronomy, but I think humans should leave those rocks alone.

 

[HoneyNut]

My main memory of the space race as a youngster was being forced to watch the moon landing on TV by my mom who told me it was an important event and so I should watch it. Mom turned out to be right, but that didn't really make it interesting to me at the time. More interesting retrospectively.

 

[MikeyDude]

I think what you want is the Johnson Space Center, which is south of Houston, maybe 50 miles. They have one of the Apollo Rockets displayed horizontally on the lawn near the entrance, or they did when I was there. It's pretty impressive!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Space_Center

That's the one. They have other rockets there as well, I believe.

 

[MikeyDude]

Space Race... interesting that you should mention Gus Grissom because my own most vivid memory of "all things space" is the fire that took Grissom, White, and Chaffee (Apollo 1) in early '67. And I have to say that I seriously don't know why it's stuck with me so strongly... maybe just the shock of a little girl hearing about that fire. I was 9 1/2. I wasn't into space at the time but that day is very clear in my memory.

I remember Apollo 1 as well. It was an extremely sad day. I was pretty shook up - it almost didn't feel real. I just didn't understand why they didn't blow the hatch - til I learned that NASA did away with that escape tool for Apollo. They put it back fast enough.

 

[Disgustedman]

Watching Ron Howard's "Apollo 13" and at one point, the movie showed the announcers showing a softball and basket ball and showing how thin the "angle of entry" with a sheet of paper was.

Then another announcer showing how the flames would burn the capsule. I saw this and remembered "I REMEMBER THAT!! I was watching it!" To not realize this was a pivotal moment in history, makes me blush.

The thing they didn't show in the movie was when Apollo came through, NASA lit cigars up all around. The Grumman guy was the only guy true to form, I don't believe they banned it till 2000 or do at the space center.