Surveyor landed on the moon 50 years ago

[PonoBill]

Wow, time flies. I remember this like it was yesterday. Space freak. June second, 1966.
http://www.gizmag.com/surveyor-1-moon-lander-feature-50-year-anniversary/43108/

It was supposed to crash, but it didn't.

[SpaceCoastPaul]

I was still pooping in my pants 50 years ago, but having recently moved to the space coast, I often imagine how exciting living here would have been during the space race. Today's Space X stuff is fun to follow and the associated technology amazing, but it lacks the human drama of manned missions.

BTW, "Angle of Attack" by Mike Gray is a good read that tells the story of the folks behind the creation of the US space program.



 

[pdxmike]

My favorite book when I was little was about space, and favorite picture was the Russian dog, Laika, in her spaceship.  My mom said when she landed back on earth, there was a big parade and then she got to live at a farm.  I'd always wanted to visit her there, but of course she would have died from old age long ago.

[stoneaxe]

and then she got to live at a farm.

That's a much better ending than " and then the Russian scientists dissected her!"

Laika actually died shortly after launch.....then burned up on re-entry....sad but true. Sorry to burst the bubble Mom created.... We had a couple animals "move to a farm" when my kids were little.

Remember when launches and landings were reason for family gathering and popcorn?

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

I lived in Ormond Beach in the early 80s when every shuttle launch was a big event. I used to love the early morning launches. I'd bicycle to the SR 40 bridge over the Halifax, watch the launch, then pedal to school. I saw the maiden launch of the Challenger from up close in Titusville. Man, that was exciting!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[SupPadre]

I'm not quite old enough to remember the Surveyor landing, but I'll never forget the landing of Apollo 11. I was ten years old and traveling through Oklahoma City with my family. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, and since there were no TV's in the room back then, just about everyone staying there gathered in the lobby to watch the landing.

[PonoBill]

Yup, 47 years ago. The big five--oh is coming up for eleven pretty quickly. I wore an Apollo 11 mission patch on my navy work jacket for years. It was the least attractive mission patch NASA ever did, but I sure liked it. Wonder where the hell that jacket is. Apollo 13 had a great patch, and all the shuttle patches are tres cool--in a geek way of course. Of course SR71 patches are all seriously badass.

 

[headmount]

My favorite book when I was little was about space, and favorite picture was the Russian dog, Laika, in her spaceship.  My mom said when she landed back on earth, there was a big parade and then she got to live at a farm.  I'd always wanted to visit her there, but of course she would have died from old age long ago.

Then Stony tells you the Old Yeller story and dashes all those memories.  It is true though.  The dog didn't live... no parades.  Basically the Soviet space program was a big snuff flick although we had a few launch explosions ourselves.  I remember the one with Gus Grissom and two others that blew up.

But nowadays you see that rocket Of Musk's that PBill posted?  Landing on some barge out in a whitecapped ocean?  Are you kidding me.  What's going on right now is out of this world.

[PonoBill]

The Apollo 1 capsule didn't actually explode, they had a fire and the three astronauts died. The capsule was destroyed, but the rocket was undamaged.  Yeah, I know, space geek. At least I didn't correct you in Klingon.

[PonoBill]

And in other news, a Texas congressman says we shouldn't have gays in our space colonies. So I'm just kind of wondering, what are folks like this doing when they're not making speeches that demonstrate what dickheads they are?

[headmount]

I guess my memory rolodex automatically relates to the word 'explosions' after the Challenger on Super Bowl sunday in 1986 .  But yeah you're right, a fire.  It was grisly.  Your pic of the capsule is rugged.