NASA astronaut Michael Collins after arriving at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida in a T-38 jet in preparation of the Apollo 11 mission. 17 June 1969 [3000 × 2143]
NASA astronaut Michael Collins after arriving at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida in a T-38 jet in preparation of the Apollo 11 mission. 17 June 1969 [3000 × 2143]
You may be cool but you’ll never be “I drove my Corvette to the Air Force Base before I hopped in a T-38 to fly from Houston to Cape Canaveral to prepare to take a Saturn V rocket to the moon” cool.
DerekL1963 on
If I recall correctly from his autobiography (*Carrying the Fire*, one of the best of the astronaut autobiographies), they spent the last month before launch sequestered in the crew quarters at the Cape. So, that’s why this particular flight/date is significant.
They spent their time training in the vehicle simulators, attending briefings, and taking part in the final tests of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the CSM, and the LM. There was also various lunar surface analogs that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin used for practice and training.
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You may be cool but you’ll never be “I drove my Corvette to the Air Force Base before I hopped in a T-38 to fly from Houston to Cape Canaveral to prepare to take a Saturn V rocket to the moon” cool.
If I recall correctly from his autobiography (*Carrying the Fire*, one of the best of the astronaut autobiographies), they spent the last month before launch sequestered in the crew quarters at the Cape. So, that’s why this particular flight/date is significant.
They spent their time training in the vehicle simulators, attending briefings, and taking part in the final tests of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the CSM, and the LM. There was also various lunar surface analogs that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin used for practice and training.