SpaceX Falcon 9 launch

I have no recollection of Apollo 1 (wasn't quite 6) and never really understood the danger of Apollo 13 at the time. Just remember being angry. "Whaddaya mean they're not landing on the moon?!?" This was on the heels of my anger at Apollo 12 (Al Bean frying the camera lens and subjecting us to "animations" of the moonwalk).

 

I remember being stunned by the Apollo 1 fire, mostly because Ed White was killed in it. White's spacewalk in 1965 is the earliest news story I remember being aware of at the time it happened. I had a record album of the Gemini astronauts re-creating their communications from the Gemini 4 and Gemini 5 missions (that album is why Gordo Cooper and Pete Conrad became my favorite astronauts).

I was a huge space nerd and that fire was the biggest catastrophe I could think of at the time.

 

In HBO's From the Earth to the Moon series they had two "hated" characters playing astronauts. "Boggs" from Shawshank played Gus Grissom, and Dr. Romano from ER (who also played a guard in Shawshank) played Pete Conrad.

 

Only four of the 12 men who walked on the moon are still alive: Buzz Aldrin, Charles Duke, Harrison Schmitt and David Scott.

 

Duke is the famous Capcom voice talking down Apollo 11. Upon touchdown: "You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again, thanks a lot."

 

I remember watching PBS’s “Apollo Wives” documentary a few years back, and Pete Conrad did not come off well at all in it. His ex-wife even wrote a less-than-complimentary song about him.

 

Bob and Doug are coming back today. Live coverage on Discovery and Science Networks.

 

I've interviewed all but Scott. Also, Shepard and Irwin. One of the perks of having NASA creds back in the day.

 

Watched them release from the ISS last night. Hope somebody explains the reasoning behind landing in the Gulf. (I heard something about logistics and Pensacola, but only in passing.)

 

Pete Conrad's wikipedia:
Unlike his fellow candidates, Conrad rebelled against the regimen. During an inkblot test, he told the psychiatrist that one blot card revealed a sexual encounter complete with lurid detail. When shown a blank card, he turned it around, pushed it back and replied, "It's upside down".

Then when he was asked to deliver a stool sample to the onsite lab, he placed it in a gift box and tied a red ribbon around it. Eventually, he decided that he had had enough. After dropping his full enema bag on the desk of the clinic's commanding officer, he walked out.

 

Obviously they want to land as close to the Flora-Bama as possible.

 

Dunno why. The Mullet Toss 2020 was cancelled.