Wow. 50 years ago.

I feel really old.

quote:

This Saturday (April 11) will mark 50 years since NASA's Apollo 13 mission launched on an unexpectedly tumultuous journey around the moon. Now, a modern lunar orbiter has reconstructed what the Apollo 13 astronauts would have seen of the lunar surface.

https://www.space.com/apollo-1...ecreation-video.html

Yeah, tell me about it. I was riveted to the news.

My teacher brought a TV to school so we could watch.

I can't imagine what she would have said to a bunch of third-graders if the rescue attempt had failed and somebody on that TV had told us that the astronauts were going to die in space.

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
My teacher brought a TV to school so we could watch.

I can't imagine what she would have said to a bunch of third-graders if the rescue attempt had failed and somebody on that TV had told us that the astronauts were going to die in space.

Which is precisely what thousands of grade school teachers had to do when Challenger exploded.

quote:

Originally posted by Piano*Dad:

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
My teacher brought a TV to school so we could watch.

I can't imagine what she would have said to a bunch of third-graders if the rescue attempt had failed and somebody on that TV had told us that the astronauts were going to die in space.

Which is precisely what thousands of grade school teachers had to do when Challenger exploded.

Yep. A friend went home at lunch and brought it back on a VHS tape and we all watched it in the library. What I don’t know is if the teachers knew ahead of time what happened!

A half hour video from NASA with vintage footage of what happened. I love the movie and plan to watch it again this weekend, but there's something very moving about seeing the actual players in the drama.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM8kjDF0IJU

I never realized it until I looked at Jim Lovell's Wikipedia page, but at the very end of the Apollo 13 movie he makes a cameo appearance. When Tom Hanks is laying out what the whole NASA crew did with the rest of their careers, one shot shows Hanks (Lovell) shaking hands with the captain of the carrier Iwo Jima, the ship that picked them up. Lovell is playing the captain, shaking hands with Lovell.

Lovell shakes Lovell's Hand at 3' 05"