God bless them and God bless the USA.
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Space City, baby, Suck, UCF
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The Artemis mission reminded me how much I miss the fiery launches, the reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, the parachutes deploying, and the splash landing in the ocean. It took me back to the Apollo missions and the wonder of space and the astronauts.
Everyone associated with Artemis is a hero. Let’s keep moving forward in the space program.
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Query: is Cleveland the other great “Space City” besides Houston?
See here. Its NASA Glenn Research Center had a big role in Artemis.
I grew up in Northern Virgina. Went to school (at Saint Stephen’s) with Wernher Von Braun’s Son.
He was in 8th grade, I was in 7th grade when our Science Teacher decided the project for the semester was for everyone to build a model rocket.
On launch day, Wernher’s Son had built a simple 1-stage rocket, and it never left the launch pad. Wet igniters is what I suspect.
I, on the other hand, had spent weeks in the basement with my Father and built a 3-stage Saturn 5, that worked to perfection. Lots of Exacto Knives, Model Glue, Model Paint, Cardboard Tubes, Balsa Wood, Decals, and a few special modifications my Father came up with outside the instructions on the package.
For years, my Father would say, my Son beat Wernher’s Son. Finally, sharing a beer with him on the back porch, while grilling steaks (home for the weekend from Auburn), my Dad said it again, and I replied…
“No Dad, YOU beat Wernher’s Son”.
He just smiled back at me.
By that time, my Dad was retired as Chief of US Army Anti-ballistic Missile Defense, Nike-Hercules, at Redstone Arsenal, in Huntsville, Alabama.
My Father helped build the Communications for Voyager. He served for 35 years, in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.
Growing up, in Northern Virginia, he was going back and forth from DC to Redstone Arsenal, and every time he came home he would bring me back some patches.
I had every Mercury, Gemini, Saturn, and Skylab patch. We would watch space missions on our little “color” TV in the living room, adjusting the rabbit ears for a clearer picture.
Dad got his Bachelors at Cal-Berkeley (in Mathematics) and his Masters at the University of Michigan (in Electrical Engineering).
He was an Army Signal Officer, and yes, a Rocket Scientist. He had a 188 IQ, and every weekend, he would knock out the NY Times crossword puzzle over a single cup of coffee.
We would watch Jeopardy together on TV and I swear he would answer EVERY question correctly.
I knew my way around the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville as well as I knew my way around the house.
My Father and I would sometimes go over to the Marshall Space Flight Center (Dad was “on business”), and I would get tours of the 5-story tall water tank where Astronauts would train (for weightlessness) in special suits designed to operate in the water like their flight suits would operate in space.
Some days we would go on post (at Redstone) and my Dad would show his ID, and the MPs would wave us through gates that most people were not authorized to pass, and we would drive toward the Tennessee River to a VIP viewing area, and we would watch (and feel) the testing of the engines of the Saturn V.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HuntsvilleAlabama/comments/1ah44lr/yesterdays_be4_hotfire_test/
They would strap them into a huge steel and concrete structure and fire them up pumping thousands of gallons of water (per second) at the base of the structure for cooling. It was an amazing sight to behold.
In those days, NASA was basically divided 3 ways. Build and test ‘em at the Marshall Space Flight Center (and Redstone), launch “em from Cape Canaveral, and track “em from Mission Control, in Houston.
So… yeah, I’m a space nut, by default.
So. In all this “Space City” back and forth, don’t leave out Huntsville, Alabama. Which is known as “Rocket City”.
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As they say on HEE HAW…
SALUTE!!!