Remembering Apollo One

 

Today makes the beginning of what is always the saddest week of my life.  It is the week of tragic anniversaries, the Apollo 1 fire, the Challenger explosion, and the Columbia break-up.  One of my earliest memories of childhood is sitting in the living room of my parent’s house in south Florida with my grandparents as we waited for Alan Shepherd’s first fight.  The moment he cleared the tower, we rushed outside to see if we could see anything.  I really don’t remember why it was important, but I was hooked.  So was my grandmother Froehlich. A few years later, John Glenn went up on my sister’s birthday.  I remember parents setting televisions up in the auditorium of the school so we could all watch.  That afternoon, I just assumed the party was to celebrate John Glenn, national hero, and could have cared less about my sister’s birthday.

 

A few days later we get this call from my grandmother.  She was driving along Southern Boulevard, by the airport, when President Kennedy flew into town.  No one in Palm Beach gave a rip about the Kennedys and paid very little attention to them. This time was different.  There, riding in one of those infamous open convertibles Kennedy used was John Glenn. In those days no one paid any attention to a Presidential motorcade.  They did not even bother blocking the highway.  They just took a couple motorcycle cops, and a chase care of Secret Service agents and took off, never dreaming that a nut-case would take out the President of the United States while he was riding in an open touring car.  Traffic stopped.  People pulled over to the side of the highway, so everyone could get out and line the highway, not for Kennedy but for John Glenn!

 

From that moment on my grandmother was astronaut crazy!  A few years later her sister’s son was taking a group from KSC out on his fishing boat.  He called Esther May and told her to bring his Aunt Sarah and get up there fast.  They did.  My grandmother acted like a teenager chasing the Beatles.  Twenty years later when I was hosting an event where Skylab astronaut Jerry Carr was present, my father brought my grandparents over.  Carr was so sweet, spending several hours with my grandmother.  It was one of the highlights of her life.  I will never forget his kindness to her.

 

In her house on Belvedere Road (regrettably long gone) she had framed photos of different launches and missions hanging along her stairway.  Never mind that they were just prints you bought at KSC.  They had astronauts in them, and she had once met astronauts.

 

Forty years ago today Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives in the tragic Apollo I fire that nearly wiped out the entire space program.   I remember that evening so well.  I was propped up in bed (when we were little kids, that was way cool), watching The Wild Wild West when Walter Cronkite broke the horrific news.  It was one of those times I remember him shedding a tear.  Growing up, Ed White was my very favorite astronaut.  Many years later, a cousin of Roger Chaffee’s and one of the leading space artists gave me a birthday present.  It was a hand drawn sketch of Ed White’s space walk. 

 

"I can assure you if we had not had that fire and rebuilt the command module ... we could not have done the Apollo program successfully," said retired astronaut John Young, who flew in Gemini 3 with Grissom in 1965. "So we owe a lot to Gus, and Rog and Ed. They made it possible for the rest of us to do the almost impossible."

 

Apollo One

Virgil "Gus" Grissom

Edward H. White, II

Roger B. Chaffee

 

Below the Beltway  Captain's Quarters

 

And, tomorrow is the 20th annivesary of another dark day for NASA

 

I have a new Blog Critic article:  A Baseball Fan's Survival Guide to the Super Bowl

 

Mommy Cat Update

The Saga of Mommy Cat and the babies continues as it looks like the perspective adoptive families have all backed out.  I’m back to square one.  They need new homes, this week, if they are to bond properly with their new parents.  I have hope that Kira will end up with one.  They are so cute, playing with everything.  And they have started to climb.  Any day now they are going to be climbing out of their nursery, up over the pet gate.  They are definitely using the litter box, which is quite cool, believe me.  The little calico is the scratchier of the bunch, leaving a tail of litter behind as she just gets into it. 

 

Don't forget about the Pet and Praise Blog!

Outside the Beltway is having a weekend traffic jam.

Strata-sphere is still on the Litvinenko story.

 

Headlines We Wish We Could See     from The People's Cube

 

"Russia denies role in ex-spy death, and Santa denies role in ChristmasHillary invites Obama for cup of "Russian tea" to settle differences

Media clamors to find reason to blame Bush for Lebanon riots Future of Lebanese riots in doubt as Iran threatens to withdraw sponsorship.

If capping corporate profits feels real good, try capping Ford's $16 billion loss

Scientists: Global Warming to blame for dwindling numbers of Yeti sightings

California to outlaw spanking (just as soon as they pass a bill to outlaw child misbehavior)

Redford at Sundance: if Bush apologizes for Iraq, I may finally apologize for 'Indecent Proposal

'Bird flu cases in Egypt: Pharaoh blames God of Israel for sending 11th plague"

 

Wake Up America has some interesting stats.  Do you know there is a murder here in the US every 22 minutes?  And we think Iraq is bad? 

 

Science

 

The Opinion-Journal on the science behind ethanol. 

How do you know if you are getting dementia or have alzheimers?  Try smelling things around you.  If you can't identify what you smell, you have a problem.

Progress gone wild.  One of the most important Roman sites in the world is going to be underwater.  Politicians don't give a rip.

A magnificant fossil find in Australia.

Mega fires are not new.  How do you think the midwest became one big prairie?

New information about Saturn.

Winds of change - blowing in a 180 since the Ice Age?  Well, algore?

A major archaeological find in Italy.

Want a good UFO story? More on it.   This is a very intersting 3part story.

 

The War Against Bush

 

If you believe the latest polls, with the exception of just about everyone I know and myself, no one else approves of the job the President is doing.  Strange, isn’t it?  Try the Newsweek one.  They herald the fact that more people disapproved after the SOTU, but then you find that only 49% of those questioned saw it.  The poll is of adults.   This one is so sleezy it doesn't even identify how many Republicans, Independents, and Dems were questioned.  Considering the response about the next president, I fear there were at least 20% more of the latter two than the former.   The latest Rasmussen hatchet job has the questions divided by 37% Dem, 31% GOP, 30% Indep.  The problem is we're a 46-46% or so country, so this is a bad poll, also.

 

I am sick and tired of every liberal and their brother dissing Bush.  And completely agree with his Dad!

 

Blog Lizards has an absolutely fascinating take on what GWB is actually doing in the Middle East.  If correct, MY President must be driving them nuttier than they already are, which explains the current nuttiness on the Hill. Unfortunately for the Dems, the very worst that can happen is we actually WIN in Iraq.  The best that could happen for them is GWB would be abducted by aliens and disappear off the face of the earth forever!

 

Blogs for Bush has a fascinating take on GOP Presidents, War, and the Anti-War movements

 

Iran, Islam, Terror & Liberals

 I don’t think Iran launching a weapon’s based satellite is a good thing.

Darn, we all know GWB cannot please the Dems.  Now he can't please Iran!

 Blackfive on Iran's latest attack.

Egypt’s top cleric says women aren’t to be leaders.  Yea, yea.  I just wish some of those dimwit (I know, I need to find another word) anti-war people, especially women, would realize what will happen if they get their way and Islam is allowed to rule.

Was Iran involved in the murder of our guys in Karbala

So Club Gitmo is like a Nazi death camp?  Oh yea, just like a Nazi death camp complete with climate control, showers, religiously sensitive food selection, and cleanliness.  I wish I had sympathy for these people, but I don’t.

 

One of his clients told him that when they took him to Camp 6: "He recalled a movie he had once seen about a Nazi concentration camp, a place where, when they take you in, you never come out. "Neither in the cell nor in recreation time do the prisoners ever see another living thing, except military police or the five other men in the pod," he said. "They never see, smell or touch plants, soil, the sea or any creature except insects. They pass days of infinite tedium and loneliness." Mr Willett said a prisoner like Hicks would spend up to 22 hours a day alone in his metal cell, with no access to sunlight or fresh air. He would have two hours' recreation a day, alone, and a change of clothes every week. Fluorescent bulbs light the cell, but they go on and off at the discretion of the guards. Sleep is constantly interrupted by shouts and banging. Some prisoners begin hearing voices. A loud air-conditioner runs constantly. The only way to contact another prisoner is to yell through the crack between the door and the floor. Guards watch Hicks as he goes to the toilet. Reading material is restricted. There are no newspapers, magazines, radios or television sets….”

 

Jihad training

Islamists after Canadian PM.

Why do liberals hate GWB and love Islamic Terrorists?  American Thinker gives it a shot.

She's back...Hanoi Jane strikes again.  Wake Up America  IraqPundit  Malkin  

Right Wing Nuthouse

 

 

Dems Gone Wild

Our National Disgrace, AKA, Lurch Kerry outdid himself today.  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/27/politics/main2404562.shtml  I wish I knew what to day, but right now, I think words fail.  So has he - and in the presence of our enemies.  Too bad we can't just ship him off to live in one of those other countries and call it treason.   The Jawa Report  Blackfive  Captain's Quarters Political Pit Bull  Hot Air Powerline Wizbang

Kurt Schilling, bless his little RedSox soul is thinking about running against Kerry.  (Speaking of baseball, they say Nolan Ryan is doing better).

Blasting GWB

Plame Blame game - part whatever  Mac"S Mind

HRM Nancy I in Baghdad - by Malkin.

John Conyers calls for defunding the troops.

 

Republicans

I do suggest reading Grand Old Partisian - specializing in GOP history.

Last year a poll of Congressional aides found that Lindsey was "Graham, by contrast, placed in the top three of four different categories: funniest, bridge-building centrist, rising star and straight shooter..."

More on that dippy RightWingNews Poll.

More dishonest '08 polls.

 

Primary Gossip and News

 Is Giuliani ‘inching’ toward the Presidency.  Hilarious commentary on Edwards.  Krusty says Romney is pulling good crowds in Iowa.  According to the Political Insider, Giuliani is in NH, speaking for free - which is a sign of things to come. Oh, Goody-Goody, Romney is flipping and flopping all night again!  With Giuliani in NH.  Also, put Rudy on the short list of hopefuls who thinks we need to give the President's Iraq plan a chance.  Liz Mair fires one at Romney.  Romney explains how he flipped before he flopped.  Does anyone really believe this  joker is ready for prime time?  Giuliani's schedule.  Two takes on Rudy in NH.  Tancredo Watch is having a few snickers.  I wonder what he is going to pull next.  Seems to me his influance is starting to wan.  Wonder what he's going to do?  Romney's religion.

 

Blogging Chicks has a carnival running manana.  I’m going to hit it early, because I like the title:  What I Learned from Blogging.

 

What have I learned?

 

  1.  Patience with Windstream’s alleged problems with antiquated DSL equipment

  2.  How to talk to male techies at Windstream Telecom (it isn’t nice, either)

  3.  How to appear busy when I am not

  4.  The real meaning of multi-tasking

  5.  Lotz a new stuff about html

  6.  I’m not the only person who makes spelling errors

  7.  People you would never expect will ‘borrow’ your ideas and not credit you

  8.  Not everyone likes the color pink

  9.  Nice people pop up when you least expect it

10.  Blogging is a world all its own