Whatever Happened to the Surviving Apollo Astronauts? (bbc.com) 48
The BBC checks in on "the pioneers of space exploration — the 24 Nasa astronauts who travelled to the Moon in the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s."
Ken Mattingly and Frank Borman died within a few days of each other late last year. Now only eight people who have voyaged beyond the Earth's orbit remain. Who are they, and what are their stories...? There are only four people still alive who have walked on the Moon — Charlie Duke is one of them. He did it aged 36, making him the youngest person to set foot on the lunar surface... Charlie Duke now lives outside San Antonio, Texas, with Dorothy, to whom he has been married for 60 years....
Jim Lovell is one of only three men to have travelled to the Moon twice, and following Frank Borman's death in November 2023, he became the oldest living astronaut....
After leaving Nasa in 1975, [Harrison Schmitt] was elected to the U.S. Senate from his home state of New Mexico, but only served one term. Since then he has worked as a consultant in various industries as well as continuing in academia.
And when confronted by a man claiming Apollo 11 was an elaborate lie, 72-year-old Buzz Aldrin "punched him on the jaw." Despite struggles in later life, he never lost his thirst for adventure and joined expeditions to both the North and South Poles, the latter at the age of 86. While embracing his celebrity, he has remained an advocate for the space programme, especially the need to explore Mars.
"I don't think we should just go there and come back — we did that with Apollo," he says.
Last 93-year-old Buzz Aldrin got married — and thanked his fans for remembering his birthday. "It means a lot and I hope to continue serving a greater cause for many more revolutions around the sun."
Jim Lovell is one of only three men to have travelled to the Moon twice, and following Frank Borman's death in November 2023, he became the oldest living astronaut....
After leaving Nasa in 1975, [Harrison Schmitt] was elected to the U.S. Senate from his home state of New Mexico, but only served one term. Since then he has worked as a consultant in various industries as well as continuing in academia.
And when confronted by a man claiming Apollo 11 was an elaborate lie, 72-year-old Buzz Aldrin "punched him on the jaw." Despite struggles in later life, he never lost his thirst for adventure and joined expeditions to both the North and South Poles, the latter at the age of 86. While embracing his celebrity, he has remained an advocate for the space programme, especially the need to explore Mars.
"I don't think we should just go there and come back — we did that with Apollo," he says.
Last 93-year-old Buzz Aldrin got married — and thanked his fans for remembering his birthday. "It means a lot and I hope to continue serving a greater cause for many more revolutions around the sun."
they got old. (Score:4, Insightful)
some died, those few that are still alive got very old. other questions?
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, that was a really silly statement that the writer apparently thought were profound - "There are only four people still alive who have walked on the Moon". There were only twelve to begin with, and it's been 50+ years.
Re: (Score:2)
And for whatever reasons (qualifications, experience, health etc.), all selected to fly were in their late 30s/early 40s iirc.
Re: (Score:2)
And for whatever reasons (qualifications, experience, health etc.), all selected to fly were in their late 30s/early 40s iirc.
All the younger pilots were in Vietnam?
Re: (Score:2)
And for whatever reasons (qualifications, experience, health etc.), all selected to fly were in their late 30s/early 40s iirc.
"Right now, in the beginning, we are picking experienced test pilots, not because they are fighter pilots, but because they have experience in dealing with new machines, unusual situations, being scared to death yet reacting properly. We're not saying for a minute that no one except test pilots has this experience. But this group also has the engineering background that we're looking for to get our programs started."
—Gus Grissom, February 1963
From https://en.wikipedia.org/ [wikipedia.org]
The canonical answer from xkcd (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
I think you mean BLAG
https://xkcd.com/148/ [xkcd.com]
Buzz is an amazing dude. (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:Buzz is an amazing dude. (Score:5, Interesting)
Lovell flew the most and was the most experienced regarding flight hours and total missions. Neil was more than a test pilot, he was considered one the best in the Astronaut core. Why? He had innate survival instincts and kept cool under extreme pressure.
First, there was the Gemini 8 docking disaster [si.edu] where he showed cool nerve and skill in saving both himself and his colleague David Scott
Second, Surviving a nearly disastrous system failure flying the landing simulator. [nasa.gov]
Third, He was a civilian. He had resigned his commission in 1960 and was selected in 1965 for Gemini and Apollo.
Buzz was the first astronaut to be a DSc and was considered the best pure navigator in NASA. He also helped to crack the rendevous problem.
In January 1963, six and a half years before the first Moon landing, Aldrin earned a degree of Doctor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), for his 311-page thesis “Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous.” At the time he was a Major in the U.S. Air Force and had yet to be selected as an astronaut. The Mercury Program was winding down, and Project Gemini, with its explicit requirement for testing rendezvous was ramping up. Aldrin specifically mentions Gemini in the abstract to the thesis, for which he stated:
“A rendezvous guidance technique, deigned to extend man’s control capabilities, is derived, whereby, through a sight reticle programmed to vary inertially for a selected exact nominal Keplerian trajectory, the astronaut can initiate, monitor, and correct his intercept to maintain a collision course up to the braking or velocity matching maneuver.”
Sure, Buzz had issues after Apollo but he was a pure professional when he was part of the program.
Re: (Score:3)
I sympathize with some of Buzz's issues after the flight. It's poss
Re: (Score:2)
I think Buzz did it to himself. The first thing he did up there was hold communion... Clearly the kind of guy prone to elevating things well beyond human experience and into the realms of the fantastic and supernatural.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, but what I mean is that perhaps sending someone like that was asking for trouble.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I don't dislike the guy, I'm saying that given the problems he had after the moon landing it seems that NASA didn't take very good care of him.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I guess the results speak for themselves.
That's a truly stupid statement.
You've been here for a long time, and I've never seen you produce a truly stupid statement until now.
*Truly* stupid.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Buzz was the first astronaut to be a DSc and was considered the best pure navigator in NASA. He also helped to crack the rendevous problem.
Buzz also helped crack the problem of astronauts working outside the capsule doing EVA's. Doing this was one of the main objectives of the Gemini program and it had not been demonstrated. On Gemini 12, Buzz successfully showed that with the proper training and support accessories, EVA's could be accomplished easily ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] ). It is widely felt that Buzz's mastery of the EVA process and superior knowledge of guidance was the reasons for him being assigned to the Apollo 11 crew.
Re:Old White Men (Score:5, Informative)
And that's true whether you're being serious or being a right-wing douche who thinks mocking "wokeness" is clever, brave, and original.
Re: (Score:2)
NASA 1962: "I do not think we shall be anxious to put a woman or any other person of particular race or creed into orbit just for the purpose of putting them there."
NASA 202X: "The agency’s new Mission Equity is a bold and necessary challenge for NASA to ensure our programs are accessible to all Americans and, especially, those living in historically underserved communities across the country ... include: Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Re: (Score:2)
NASA 1962: We must beat the Soviets. Southern redneck pigs will not approve our funding if we have anyone but white men out front, no matter how merited. This is unfortunate, but we gotta do what we gotta do.
NASA 202X: Time to settle your debt to us, rednecks.
Rednecks: Waaaaah! Waaaaaah!
Re: (Score:2)
NASA 1962: "I do not think we shall be anxious to put a woman or any other person of particular race or creed into orbit just for the purpose of putting them there."
NASA 202X: "The agency’s new Mission Equity is a bold and necessary challenge for NASA to ensure our programs are accessible to all Americans and, especially, those living in historically underserved communities across the country ... include: Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality."
I heard the President of a small (but elite) technical school talk about how they had gotten their CS program to a 50-50 gender split.
Basically, beforehand they had a vast pool of applicants with a close to 1600 SAT and chose a handful that were 70-80% male and had an incoming class with close to 1600 SAT scores.
And after choosing to them be a 50-50 split... they still had an incoming class with close to 1600 SAT scores.
Maybe there were some secondary criteria they compromised on, but those secondary criter
Re: (Score:2)
So if you're looking to inspire people the additional inspiration given by another white male astronaut is a lot smaller than the inspiration given by an astronaut from an under-represented group.
That argument sounds nice, but I don't believe it stands up to scrutiny, if you make an honest attempt to challenge it.
Children have a strong sexual identity from an early age, and do look to same-sex role models, but all those other social divisions are manufactured by adults, a recent cultural phenomenon which has replaced 'class'. Children don't see race and politics. They don't need role models (teachers, parents) who "look like them", aside from being the same sex. So more male teachers in junior/p
Re: (Score:2)
So if you're looking to inspire people the additional inspiration given by another white male astronaut is a lot smaller than the inspiration given by an astronaut from an under-represented group.
That argument sounds nice, but I don't believe it stands up to scrutiny, if you make an honest attempt to challenge it.
I don't know, I think your argument falls a bit on that accord.
Children have a strong sexual identity from an early age, and do look to same-sex role models, but all those other social divisions are manufactured by adults, a recent cultural phenomenon which has replaced 'class'. Children don't see race and politics.
Don't confuse a saying with a fact. All but the youngest children perceive race [choc.org]. And I'm not sure why you threw politics into it, culture maybe, but I don't think NASA would like Astronauts trying to inspire people by talking about their political views.
You need to work at the community level, not some distant TV celebrity, if you want to raise expectations. Real men and women in the communities.
Yes, but kids also watch TV and consume media. Do you think Wayne Gretzky personally recruited a bunch of kids to play hockey in LA [thehockeynews.com]? No, kids saw a professional athlete that looked like them doin
Re: Old White Men (Score:2, Informative)
And it will be an old white man who choses a young black vagina to put on the moon, just like he picked one to be VP.
Does that DEI shit make you happy?
Re: (Score:2)
Who cares?
Image being one of only a few people to set foot on or even cirlce the Moon and being remembered for your race or sex.
Re: (Score:1)
Who cares?
Image being one of only a few people to set foot on or even cirlce the Moon and being remembered for your race or sex.
Human?
Re: (Score:2)
We are allowed to punch this racist now right?
Really hoping Atermis succeeds. (Score:4, Interesting)
Oblig: Brian Regan (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Why 50 years to return to the moon? (Score:2)
1) Space race with another nation (this time China).
2) Because someone wants to go profits be damned.
How Musk thinks vs. other billionaires: https://www.genolve.com/design... [genolve.com]
Re: (Score:2)
That sounds dumb but its not. Its the same reason people run marathons or climb mountains. Doing a complex difficult project trains us to be better.
Re: (Score:2)
While true, it doesn't cost billions of dollars of taxpayer money either to run marathons or climb mountains.
Re: (Score:2)
Space is a small part of national expenditures i (~65B$/year) compared to healthcare (4300B$/y), and defense (850B$/year).
They Came In Peace (Score:2)
I thought it was the Russians who first set foot on the moon. I've been watching a docu-drama that's on streaming...
do they (Score:2)
beyond Earth orbit? (Score:2)
Bill Anders, Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 8 (Score:1)
Bill is famous for snapping the photo of Earth, taken while orbiting the moon: "Earthrise". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Here is a nice profile of the man, from about thirteen years ago: https://www.seattletimes.com/p [seattletimes.com]