On 40th Anniversary, Moon Landing Examined [podcast 3 min 20 sec]
Forty years ago today, astronaut Neil Armstrong took that fateful first step onto the moon, effectively putting an end to the space race and expanding the boundaries of science and engineering.
Drive 30 miles south of Houston in the dead of summer, and it's easy to imagine what it must have been like back in 1963, cruising along with your young wife, hearts pounding with anticipation as you close in on your incredibly bright future as one of America's chosen astronauts.
"We arrived in Houston under the sweltering heat, staying at the Rice Hotel," says Buzz Aldrin, the second human to walk on the moon. He doesn't have to imagine — he remembers everything about his seven years at the Manned Spacecraft Center, as it was called back then.
Last week — some 40 years later — the space shuttle Endeavor blasted off to rendezvous with the space station orbiting above. The nation barely looked up from its preoccupation with growing unemployment, the Sotomayor hearings and the latest on what killed Michael Jackson. Perhaps no person has borne longer witness to the arc of NASA as an institution than spacesuit engineer Joe Kosmo. For the past 48 years, Kosmo has been at the heart of the organization, designing spacesuits for Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and the space shuttle astronauts.
Read entire article at NPR All Things Considered
Drive 30 miles south of Houston in the dead of summer, and it's easy to imagine what it must have been like back in 1963, cruising along with your young wife, hearts pounding with anticipation as you close in on your incredibly bright future as one of America's chosen astronauts.
"We arrived in Houston under the sweltering heat, staying at the Rice Hotel," says Buzz Aldrin, the second human to walk on the moon. He doesn't have to imagine — he remembers everything about his seven years at the Manned Spacecraft Center, as it was called back then.
Last week — some 40 years later — the space shuttle Endeavor blasted off to rendezvous with the space station orbiting above. The nation barely looked up from its preoccupation with growing unemployment, the Sotomayor hearings and the latest on what killed Michael Jackson. Perhaps no person has borne longer witness to the arc of NASA as an institution than spacesuit engineer Joe Kosmo. For the past 48 years, Kosmo has been at the heart of the organization, designing spacesuits for Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and the space shuttle astronauts.