Met an historical figure!

[Big Dawg]

I just returned from a 2 day training session.

Our guest speaker was Apollo 13 commander / Lunar Module Pilot Fred W. Haise.

Apollo 13 was to be the third mission to land on the Moon. An explosion in one of the oxygen tanks crippled the spacecraft during flight and the crew were forced to orbit the Moon and return to the Earth without landing. This flight was made into a movie with Tom Hanks & directed by Ron Howard.

Fred Haise also piloted the moon shuttle test flights.

It was pretty cool to meet him!

[1925frank]

I remember the scene where the astronauts are doing mathematical calculations with a slide rule. As a kid, I used a circular slide rule to determine batting averages. That they would attempt something of that scale with such primitive technology makes me shudder.

They were very luck to get back alive. I bet it was a great discussion.

[umbro]

I live close by Kona International Airport, "International" is a funny term if you have ever seen this airport. Just outside the airport is the "Ellison Onizuka Space Center" museum, dedicated to a local Hawai'ian boy who made good, became an astronaut and was killed on the Challenger.

Whenever I have cause to visit the airport I take my boy to the Space Center. Each year on the anniversary of the Challenger disaster they have a current astronaut give a presentation. We have been to these events each year for the past six. A couple of years back Mark Polansky (commander of the last shuttle mission) gave the presentation and Oliver and I took him out for pizza at Kona Brew Pub afterward. Let me tell you that though the space program is quite different from the Apollo years the gleam in these guys eyes has lost none of its lustre.

umbro