I'm ashamed that I haven't posted more in this thread - (long story, all IRL nonsense) but James Redd nagged me over here after Gene Cernan's passing was noted on the obit. thread.
It worked like this - my mom was a mid-level apparatchik in the O.C. political establishment - somewhere in the early 70s she met Skylab astronaut (and O.C. resident) Jerry Carr at a function and got us (mom, dad, & me) VIP passes to see the launch of Apollo 17. I was seven years old and liked NASA more than ice cream - nevermind that we also flew on a Pan Am 747, my dad and I hung out at the plane upstairs bar. We also went to Disney World, but fuck that shit compared with a Saturn V launch.
After the mission was over the A17 crew took a meet-and-greet around the states and somehow my mom got us into the California stop. I can't really remember what I asked Cernan - I was way too self-conscious. Nevertheless everyone signed my stuff. I just unpacked everything at my new place and have to get it framed.
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2U1aSWUoAAkm5r.jpg
I watched The Last Man on the Moon - it's not necessarily a memorable documentary, but it is worth watching. It's entirely possible that the only answer to "what was it like to walk on the Moon and how did it change you?" will be whatever we can piece together from what these guys say and I'd watch it for that reason alone.
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 27 January 2017 10:13 (seven years ago) link
wow.
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 27 January 2017 10:30 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, wow, thanks.
― In Walked Bodhisattva (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 January 2017 11:55 (seven years ago) link
holy shit elvis, that's amazing. that's gonna look fantastic in a frame.
We also went to Disney World, but fuck that shit compared with a Saturn V launch
seeing the saturn v on its side at kennedy space centre last summer was one of the more stunning things i've ever set eyes on in real life - i can't even imagine how incredible it must have been to see one of those things take off.
― the greg evigan school of improvised explosive devices (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 27 January 2017 14:57 (seven years ago) link
http://www.earthtothemoon.com/apollo_10.htmlhttps://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4U0J4RDIVNqhCva25E8vmuJCk0q05EQ9rUkOyyCQuHIekYHEAHouston, this is Snoopy! We is GO and we is down among 'em Charlie!
― In Walked Bodhisattva (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 28 January 2017 03:15 (seven years ago) link
thanks elvis! what an incredible experience.
in other news: 50th anniversary of Apollo 1 tragedy today :/
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 28 January 2017 03:57 (seven years ago) link
Very envious and impressed
― I hear from this arsehole again, he's going in the river (James Morrison), Saturday, 28 January 2017 06:40 (seven years ago) link
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/29/re-creating-the-apollo-dskys-display/#more-258907
― koogs, Tuesday, 30 May 2017 08:24 (seven years ago) link
weirdly tempted to chip in some cash for that
― heck i've even been an 'oyster pirate' (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 30 May 2017 08:26 (seven years ago) link
Greatly enjoyed the first four stories I read this weekend in The Dream Life of Astronauts, which are set on Merritt Island and read like a mix of New Yorker stories written by a Southerner like, say, Padgett Powell, with Ballard's Memories of the Space Age. Which may not be quite accurate and will probably put you off reading it but perhaps I can describe better upon reading the rest of the stories.
― Two-Headed Shindog (Rad Tempo Player) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 2 October 2017 04:11 (six years ago) link
Did not know of that book, but now i want
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Monday, 2 October 2017 09:10 (six years ago) link
RIP John Young
― The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Blecch (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 6 January 2018 23:04 (six years ago) link
;_;
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 6 January 2018 23:44 (six years ago) link
dammit :(
― pee-wee and the power men (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 6 January 2018 23:46 (six years ago) link
Crap
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Sunday, 7 January 2018 01:35 (six years ago) link
Curious about this new Apollo 8 book
― The Sound of the City Slang (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 31 January 2018 01:39 (six years ago) link
One of the most haunting radar images I think we'll ever see...the Space Shuttle Columbia debris field, 15 years ago today. pic.twitter.com/5Ba8IdBFLZ— Matt Lanza ⛄️ (@mattlanza) February 1, 2018
― mookieproof, Thursday, 1 February 2018 22:03 (six years ago) link
oof :(
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 1 February 2018 22:04 (six years ago) link
fuck that’s a real gut-punch
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 1 February 2018 22:10 (six years ago) link
the OPEN DSKY thing i mentioned above launched on kickstarter last week (and is already at 250% of goal)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/438986934/open-dsky-apollo-50th-anniversary-make-100
― koogs, Friday, 2 February 2018 20:01 (six years ago) link
why do i want that
― i gotta be a gazpacho man (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 2 February 2018 20:08 (six years ago) link
Why wouldn’t you?
― The Sound of the City Slang (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 3 February 2018 01:49 (six years ago) link
tru
― i gotta be a gazpacho man (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 3 February 2018 08:21 (six years ago) link
RIP Al Bean :(
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 26 May 2018 20:06 (six years ago) link
RIP
― omgneto and ittanium mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 26 May 2018 21:23 (six years ago) link
O bum
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Sunday, 27 May 2018 05:21 (six years ago) link
He was top of my list of Apollo astronauts I would have loved to meet. Such a quirky, enthusiastic, genuine-seeming person. There’s a lovely quote in the obituary about how he & Walt Cunningham were bffs & ate cheeseburgers together once a month <3
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 27 May 2018 06:50 (six years ago) link
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/astronaut-footprint-moon-warming-180969362/
― And Nobody POLLS Like Me (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 15 June 2018 02:02 (six years ago) link
That is mental.
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Friday, 15 June 2018 02:30 (six years ago) link
wow
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 15 June 2018 05:13 (six years ago) link
There's some great stuff in NASA's historical archives, my fave is the oral history project - long interviews with everyone before they pass away A recent fave of mine are the 2004 interviews with Joe Engle - the X-15 pilot who got bumped from Apollo 17 by geologist (and later Senator and climate-change denier) Harrison Schmitt. More to the point, Engle talks about the life of being a badass-casual Air Force fighter/ test pilot - dogfighting & partying with Yeager, hand-wringing over stick-and-rudder vs. spam-in-a-can space travel, flight-testing every goddamn thing at Edwards, rolling the X-15, having to pee while you're in the middle of an abort, getting the phone call from Slayton, training for not going to the Moon and then finding a place in NASA and picking the Space Shuttle because it had wings and a stick-n-rudder.
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 28 September 2018 02:42 (five years ago) link
ooo cool, thx elvis!
kinda heartbroken to hear harrison schmitt is a climate change denier, he and gene cernan are maybe my favourite apollo duo
― heteroflexible pansexual polyamorous relationship anarchist (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 28 September 2018 09:30 (five years ago) link
:/
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 29 September 2018 19:59 (five years ago) link
Hadn't noticed that this came out: https://iansales.com/2016/11/18/apollo-quartet-5-a-visit-to-the-national-air-and-space-museum/
― Harper Valley CTA-102 (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 10 October 2018 22:14 (five years ago) link
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-hidden-figure-space-program-20190101-story.html
Oceanside resident Shelby Jacobs, 83, is responsible for one of the most iconic video images of NASA’s race to put a man on the moon in the 1960s.It’s the oft-seen, slow-motion color footage of a ringlike section of the Saturn V rocket separating from the Apollo 6 spacecraft and spinning slowly away toward Earth, 200,000 feet below.Yet for all of his 40 years working his way up to the executive level on the Apollo and space shuttle programs, Jacobs, who is black, faced near-constant discrimination from his white colleagues and was never paid as well as other engineers doing the same work.To avoid rocking the boat, Jacobs kept a low profile in his working life. But in recent years, he has stepped into the spotlight to serve as a role model for minorities and women who face workplace discrimination.
It’s the oft-seen, slow-motion color footage of a ringlike section of the Saturn V rocket separating from the Apollo 6 spacecraft and spinning slowly away toward Earth, 200,000 feet below.
Yet for all of his 40 years working his way up to the executive level on the Apollo and space shuttle programs, Jacobs, who is black, faced near-constant discrimination from his white colleagues and was never paid as well as other engineers doing the same work.
To avoid rocking the boat, Jacobs kept a low profile in his working life. But in recent years, he has stepped into the spotlight to serve as a role model for minorities and women who face workplace discrimination.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 3 January 2019 03:59 (five years ago) link
Shel-by! Shel-by! Shel-by!
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Thursday, 3 January 2019 06:50 (five years ago) link
"Taschen teams up with NASA for an archival look into the great beyond"
https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/taschen-nasa-archives-publication-060219
― koogs, Tuesday, 26 February 2019 18:15 (five years ago) link
ooooh
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 26 February 2019 20:00 (five years ago) link
hell yespreordered a copy
― Backdoor Pathway To Making Human Penis Started With A Wallaby (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 26 February 2019 20:09 (five years ago) link
speaking of which, have we talked about this astonishing-looking apollo 11 doc anywhere else on ilx? cuz i am fucking psyched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Co8Z8BQgWc
― Backdoor Pathway To Making Human Penis Started With A Wallaby (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 26 February 2019 20:12 (five years ago) link
me & mr veg are going to see it in IMAX
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 26 February 2019 20:58 (five years ago) link
:D
jealous tbh
― Backdoor Pathway To Making Human Penis Started With A Wallaby (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 26 February 2019 21:11 (five years ago) link
we have tickets for this Saturday at 1:45pm
I'm going to space, basically
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 27 February 2019 05:40 (five years ago) link
the Apollo 11 doc is insanesome of the footage is of things you’ve seen a hundred times on tv but seeing it HUGE in imax and so pristine with the audio matching, it’s like watching it in real time, it was wild. even the liftoff becomes new again...it’s like watching an A-bomb explode in your face, it put me back in my seat in a way i wasn’t expectingand good lord all that 70mm found footage is glorious. there’s a good rundown of the cool behind the scenes work that went into it here https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/12/apollo-11-50th-year-anniversary
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 3 March 2019 02:08 (five years ago) link
ooh and easter egg breakdown here if you need more convincinghttp://www.collectspace.com/news/news-030119a-apollo11-documentary-film-details.html
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 3 March 2019 02:10 (five years ago) link
Wow
― Elly Mae Bumpit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 3 March 2019 02:20 (five years ago) link
god I wanna see this so muchin the meantime my copy of the nasa archives arrived and i clearly hadn’t read the description too clearly or thought too much about what it being a taschen production would mean because i was shocked at just how massive and heavy it is - it comes in a box with a carrying handle ffsit is absolutely incredible to look at though, just gorgeous
― Backdoor Pathway To Making Human Penis Started With A Wallaby (bizarro gazzara), Sunday, 3 March 2019 09:22 (five years ago) link
I had missed this a couple of years back - it's wonderful and features some of the Apollo 11 production team:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMDdaNLc8DU
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Sunday, 3 March 2019 11:28 (five years ago) link