Neil Armstrong (1st man on the moon) Has Died

[king's highway]

Originally Posted by ogre

Must have been fascinating for your brother, and interesting for you to get that glimpse into NASA. Kind of cool to hear from someone personally related to the last link to that era, but sad too, that the great sense of adventure about space flight is gone.

I visited my brother's lab at the Manned Spacecraft Center and saw the quarantine equipment,
the medical facilities and living quarters for the returning astronauts, etc.

My brother was always worried that quarantine would be broken when he was NOT there.
He did not want to be locked out of his lunar sample lab [typical scientist mindset ]

He also learned to blow glass to make his own special test tubes, etc... couldn't get those from China



.

[NJGOAT]

It was sad to hear of Armstrong's passing, but it did give me the opportunity to pique my son's interest and help him learn about the Apollo missions and the lunar landings. He was very intrigued by the whole concept, much as I was when I learned about it decades after it had happened.

Helping me teach him about it were some articles my fathers uncle (my great uncle) left to us. He was an engineer that helped design the lunar lander and was an unabashed "space nut". He had a huge collection of artifacts and items including several things autographed by Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins and since he did not have children of his own, most of the collection got left to my father and I. His most prized piece was a double framing of the Apollo 11 crew photo:



The top frame holds one of the "autopen" lithographs of the picture that were widely distributed and collectible in their own right. The bottom holds the same photo with the actual signatures of each astronaut. Behind the picture he has a certificate of authenticity that each of the signatures is genuine, important because Armstrong and Collins didn't sign many items while Aldrin would sign anything, lol. I have no idea what it's worth, but we plan on holding onto it. My son asked nicely and it is now hanging in his room, hopefully inspiring him to chase his dreams.

[ogre]

Really cool to read about these personal connections. I envy you guys!