First Man
Page 85
“a complex and bothersome nuisance” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, pp. 11–12.
“unique, self-adjusting system” Ibid., p. 12.
“used airplanes like the mathematician might use a computer” Ibid., pp. 39–40.
“rapidly deteriorating…near Mach 3” Hallion, On the Frontier, p. 76.
“optimum maximum energy” Quoted in Hallion, On the Frontier, p. 77.
“tended to blame the air force officials” NAA: e-mail to author, Feb. 3, 2004.
“often in the Simulation Lab” NAA: e-mail to author, Feb. 3, 2004.
“outputs to the instruments were improperly mechanized” Ibid.
“pilots didn’t really trust simulators” GLW to author, p. 3.
“Neil believed in the simulations” RED to author, pp. 7–8.
“possible to pilot an aircraft into orbit” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 34.
“watch them get sick!” RJB to author, p. 17.
“persuaded ourselves at least” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 34.
“best simulator that had ever been built up to that time” Ibid., p. 25.
“put together a little team” Ibid., pp. 25–26.
“like a streamlined brick” MOT, ATEOS, p. 66.
“sundry combinations of speed brakes and flaps” GJM to author, p. 5.
“a 360-degree spiraling descent starting at about 40,000 feet” Ibid.
“something that the pilots, with their own experience, knew intuitively” Ibid., p. 6.
“‘try theirs for a change’” Ibid., pp. 5–6.
“‘Here he is!’” RED to author, pp. 6–7.
“flight stick should look like” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, pp. 37–38.
“hinge points for one person” Ibid., p. 37.
“development of this high-speed range or ‘High Range’” Ibid., p. 10.
“flying westbound against the Earth’s rotation” Ibid., p. 32.
“contractor was expected to demonstrate” Ibid., p. 26.
“not party to those discussions” Ibid., p. 27.
“how a T-38 would perform” NAA: e-mail to author, Mar. 16, 2004.
“nice to have somebody along” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 30.
“very confined world in there” Ibid., p. 35.
“proceed with the original flight plan” Radio “X-15-1 #670, Flight 1-18-31,” Nov. 30, 1960, p. 1, History Archives, NASA Dryden.
“landing would be the same” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 35.
“Thanks, Dad” Radio “X-15-1 #670, Flight 1-18-31,” Nov. 30, 1960, p. 4, History Archives, NASA Dryden.
“Real nice flight, boy!” Radio “X-15-1 #670, Flight 1-19-32,” Dec. 9, 1960, p. 3, History Archives, NASA Dryden.
Chapter 14: The Worst Loss
“just a different man” JAH to author, Aug. 4, 2002, p. 26.
“she tripped and fell” JSA to DJH, El Lago, TX, n.d. (summer 1969), p. 4.
“teaching swimming during this time” Ibid., p. 5.
“told him I was hospitalizing her” Ibid.
“never, ever complained” Ibid.
“took the radiation beautifully” Ibid., p. 6.
“‘No, she’ll be dead within six months’” JAH to author, Aug. 14, 2002, p. 25.
“just overcame her” JSA to DJH, n.d. (summer 1969), p. 6.
“desperately wanted to do something to help” GWW to author, p. 8.
“She was a gay little thing” Ibid., p. 9.
“loved his little girl very deeply” Ibid., p. 12.
Neil being very “composed” at the funeral JGM to author, p. 10.
“always felt like that wasn’t the thing to do” GWW to author, p. 12.
“a pilot thing” Ibid., p. 6.
“hurt Jan a lot” Ibid.
“Angry at God” Ibid., p. 12.
“Ricky was so happy” Ibid., p. 11.
“did things with the kids” Ibid., p. 11.
“to be alone” Wead, All the Presidents’ Children, p. 78.
“thought his heart would break” JAH to author, Aug. 14, 2002, p. 26.
“the other men took care of the animal” Ibid., p. 27.
“time by his daughter’s gravesite” BAP to author, Dec. 19, 2002, p. 9.
“quickly stepped forward and kissed her” UPI wire story, John L. Michael, “2-Year-Old Girl Bussed by Neil,” Oct. 23, 1969. A copy of this article can be found in the archives of the WDN.
“never asked him…I couldn’t” JAH to author, Aug. 14, 2002, p. 27.
Chapter 15: Higher Resolve
“hard decision for me” NAA to DJH, n.d. (ca. spring 1969), p. 8. Copy in TLA.
“bit of pie in the sky” NAA to SA&DB, in Quest, p. 19.
“impossible once Sputnik” Ibid.
“absolutely changed our country’s view” Ibid.
“certainly aware of Mercury” Ibid., p. 18.
“didn’t have that feeling at all” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 60.
“At the time the Mercury Program was started” NAA to SA&DB, in Quest, p. 20.
“I always felt that ‘form follows function’” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 60.
“far more involved in spaceflight research than the Mercury people” NAA quoted in FOM, p. 19.
“risks we had in the space side of the program were probably less” NAA to SA&DB in Quest, p. 17.
“great dark sepulchral bridge coat” Wolfe, Right Stuff, p. 17.
“liked the people…at Edwards” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 60.
“our thing at Edwards” Ibid., p. 55.
“fiddled with the airplane” Ibid.
“confirmed that it could be doable” Ibid.
“pilots that were to do the development work” Ibid., p. 58.
“could have kept flying the X-15” Ibid.
“also working on the Dyna-Soar” NAA to SA&DB, in Quest, p. 19.
“I don’t think there was a Eureka moment” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 59.
“accident prone” RED to author, p. 8.
“biggest bang I’d ever heard” North American Aviation, Inc., X-15 1960 Annual Report, USAF Film Report, Sept. 15, 1961. Quote is from A. Scott Crossfield’s onscreen appearance in this film. The NAA documentary is available on the CD-ROM that comes with Godwin, ed., X-15: The NASA Mission Reports.
“whether there had been damage” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 42.
“a severe right roll occurred” NAA, “Pilots Flight Notes,” Dec. 20, 1961, p. 1, copy in NASA Dryden Historical Archives.
“aspects of the MH-96” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 41.
“impact seemed to be somewhat harder” NAA, “Pilot’s Flight Notes,” Dec. 20, 1961, p. 2.
“went pretty much on plan” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 47.
“did not see any light” NAA, “Rough Draft, Pilot’s Comments,” Apr. 6, 1962, p. 1, copy in NASA Dryden Historical Archives.
“long time the second time for that engine to light up” Ibid.
“highest I’d ever gone” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 48.
“I thought I got the g’s high enough” Ibid.179
“Hard left turn, Neil!” Transcript of radio voice communications, “X-15-2; Flight 3-4-8; April 20, 1962,” p. 5, copy in NASA Dryden Historical Archives.
“Of course, I’m trying to turn” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 49.
“no reason to suspect that ballooning would cause any trouble” Ibid., p. 50.
“sailing merrily by the field” NAA, “Pilots Comments, Flight 3-4-8,” Apr. 21, 1962, p. 2, copy in NASA Dryden Historical Archives.
“whether I would be able to get back to Edwards” NAA to SA&DB, in Quest,p. 17.
“home base in sight” Transcript of radio voice communications, “X-15-2; Flight 3-4-8; April 20, 1962,” p. 5.
“a hundred miles per hour, racing down that lake bed” BAP to author, p. 7.
“little old lady in Pasadena” JGM to autho
r, p. 6.
“How far was Neil from the Joshua trees?” Ibid., pp. 6–7.
“just barely made it back to the dry lake bed” WHD to author, p. 9.
“rather funny at the time” WJK to author, p. 4.
“giggled over it a little bit” RMW to author, p. 12.
“a lax condition” WJK to author, p. 4.
“sounded like a screwup to him” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 51.
“there were definite limitations” GLW to author, p. 10.
“didn’t realize how far up the nose had gone” WHD to author, p. 10.
“a learning thing” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 52.
“doing what he thought was the right thing” WHD to author, p. 10.
“guy was by the numbers” RJB to author, p. 15.
“like the back of my hand” Y&J, Yeager: An Autobiography, p. 181.
“think about Smith’s Ranch Lake?” Academy of Achievement, “General Chuck Yeager Interview,” Cedar Ridge, CA, Feb. 1, 1991, p. 4. This interview can be accessed online at www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/yea0int-1.
“damndest to talk Armstrong out of going at all” Y&J, Yeager, p. 182.
“touched, but we sure as hell didn’t go” Ibid.
“went up there and looked it over” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 22.
“go back and try it again” Ibid.
“Chuck started to chuckle” Ibid.
“driver came out and he had a chain” Ibid.
“don’t think anyone has ever seen the film” Ibid., pp. 22–23.
“What an air force pickup truck was doing there” Ibid., p. 22.
“Any ideas?” Y&J, Yeager, p. 182.
“Keep the door open and we’ll jump aboard” Academy of Achievement, “General Chuck Yeager Interview,” p. 4.
Neil “did not rise to the bait” E-mail, Christian Gelzer, NASA Dryden Research Center, to author, “Re: Bill Dana,” Feb. 27, 2004. This e-mail communicated responses to questions posed to WHD by Dr. Gelzer, a NASA Dryden historian, on behalf of the author.
“Neil’s embarrassment” Gelzer e-mail to author, “Re: Bill WHD,” Feb. 27, 2004.
“when Bikle saw me he burst out laughing” Y&J, Yeager, p. 182.
“felt Yeager was the best” WHD to author, Dec. 9, 2002, p. 7.
“last guy at Edwards to take any advice” Y&J, Yeager, p. 181.
“I did take his advice!” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 23.
“thought I was a wild man” Y&J, Yeager, pp. 108, 121.
“rated them about as high as my shoelaces” Ibid., pp. 182–83.
“wasn’t too good an airplane driver” Academy of Achievement, “General Chuck Yeager Interview,” p. 4.
“limited understanding” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 19.
“just like we always did” Ibid., p. 45.
“decided to go to Nellis Air Force Base” Ibid.
“a no-radio approach” Ibid., pp. 45–46.
“a good jolt when I hit it” Ibid., p. 46.
“stretched the truth a bit” MOT, ATEOS, p. 113.
“Oh no, not again!” Ibid., p. 116.
“bad day all around” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 46.
“applied power to abort the landing and get airborne” MOT, ATEOS, p. 115.
“didn’t diddle around” SAB to author, p. 27.
“Bikle was very pragmatic” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 28.
NASA formally announced Memo, Brainerd Holmes to Webb, Dryden, and Seamans, “Subj: Selection of Additional Astronauts,” Apr. 28, 1962, with enclo., “Gemini and Apollo Astronaut Selection.” Also, MSC Space NewsRoundup, May 2, 1962, p. 1; Astronautical and Aeronautical Events of 1962,p. 56.
“We wanted him in” RED to author, Dec. 11, 2003, p. 10.
“his personal affairs” Ibid., p. 11.
Yet he does credit Day NAA: e-mail to RED, July 16, 1997, in author’s Dick Day file.
“He never mentioned anything to anybody” SPB to author, Dec. 15, 2002, p. 25.
“hadn’t seen anything to indicate that Neil wanted to leave Edwards” BAP to author, Dec. 19, 2002, p. 17.
“Due to commitments of Mr. Neil A. Armstrong” PFB, Director, NASA Flight Research Center, to NASA HQ, Attn: Mr. John Stack, Code RA, “Flights of United Kingdom Aircraft by Neil A. Armstrong,” May 29, 1962, copy in Armstrong’s personal papers.
“memo was a form response” NAA: e-mail to author, Mar. 17, 2004.
“looking for qualified test pilots” CCK to author, p. 2.
“Walt Williams thought he was first rate” Ibid.
“absolutely no way” Ibid., p. 3.
“somewhat affected by the situation” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 61.
Chapter 16: I’ve Got a Secret
“around the Fourth of July” JAH to author, Aug. 14, 2002, p. 27.
“happy to get that call” NAA to author, June 2, 2003, p. 5.
“definitely on the list” “NASA Test Pilot Named First Civilian Astronaut,” Washington Evening Star, July 18, 1962, p. 1.
“suspect that at least one civilian will be included” Collins’s letter to his father, written on Aug. 19, 1962, is quoted in MC, CTF, p. 29.
“odds had been good he would make this cut” Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger, Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, p. 187.
“Nobody pressured us” Donald K. Slayton with Michael Cassutt, Deke!, p. 120.
“people from my own organization” NAA to author, June 2, 2003, p. 5.
“how I would grade in those categories” Ibid.
“projects of the current space program” NAA and Euclid C. Holleman, A Review of In-Flight Simulation Pertinent to Piloted Space Vehicles. AGARD Report 403, 21st Flight Mechanics Panel Meeting, Paris, France, July 9–11, 1962, p. 7.
“smoke was obvious” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 54.
“were some painful experiences” NAA to author, June 2, 2003, p. 3.
“lot of strange tests like that” Ibid.
“‘Fifteen Men in a Boardinghouse Bed’” Ibid.
“guys who were stationed in Michigan” Ibid., p. 4.
“didn’t find it at all difficult” Ibid.
“All thirty-two of the finalists” Ibid., p. 5.
“We did not have military pilots” NAA: e-mail to author, Mar. 27, 2004.
“difficulties…Mercury astronauts” NAA to author, June 2, 2003, p. 10.
“lookout for any abnormal behavior” MC, Carrying the Fire, p. 29.
“completely quiet” NAA to author, June 2, 2003, p. 7.
“checked in as Max” Ibid., p. 8.
“plenty of missions for all of you” Gilruth quoted in Tom Stafford with Michael Cassutt, We Have Capture, p. 40.
“test pilot’s creed” Slayton quoted in TS with MC, WHC, pp. 40–41.
truly remarkable group of men A few women did apply for astronaut selection in 1962, but as Bob Gilruth explained at the September 17, 1962, press conference, “none qualified.” The other four civilian finalists for the second class of astronauts were Thomas E. Edmonds, John M. Fritz, Orville C. Johnson, and John L. Swigert. Of these, only Jack Swigert ever became an astronaut, as part of NASA’s fifth class, chosen in 1966. Swigert, the first—and for many years—only unmarried astronaut ever accepted into NASA’s astronaut corps, journeyed to the Moon as part of Apollo 13, replacing Thomas K. “Ken” Mattingly on the crew after he was grounded for being exposed to the German measles.
“best NASA ever picked” MC, CTF, p. 30.
“more like junior executives” Homer Bigart, “9 New Astronauts Named to Train for Moon Flights,” NYT, Sept. 18, 1962, p. 1.
“general challenge of the unknowns” NAA quoted in Manned Spacecraft Center, “Trainees Comment on ‘Why?,’” NASA Roundup, Sept. 19, 1962, p. 5.
“like to be on the first team” FB and the other members of the “New Nine” quoted in Manned Spacecraft Center, “Trainees Comment on ‘Why?,’” NASA Roundup, Sept. 19, 1962,
p. 5.
“fairly unsophisticated questions” NAA to author, June 2, 2003, p. 8.
“variety of aircraft available to fly” Ibid., p. 7.
“make a ‘rag wing’” NAA to author, Nov. 26, 2002, p. 57.
“Where’s Milt?” BAP to author, p. 20.
“problems developing a good flight-worthy vehicle” MOT, ATEOS, p. 147.
Part Five: No Man Is an Island
E MC to author.
E Eugene Cernan with Dan Davis, Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Gene Cernan and America’s Race in Space, p. 145.
Chapter 17: Training Days
“the three grimmest days” See McDougall, The Heavens and the Earth, pp. 318, 328, and Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox, Apollo, pp. 79–80.
218 “the mantles of the single-combat warriors” Wolfe, Right Stuff, pp. 101–03.
“right on the brink of World War III” NAA to SA&DB, in Quest, p. 23.
Pete Conrad watched Conrad’s reaction described in Stafford, We Have Capture!, p. 41.
first in a series of contractor tours Armstrong’s itinerary has been reconstructed from his Travel Request and Authorization forms, MSC, in NAA’s personal papers. Signing the forms at MSC were Donald K. Slayton, the “approving official,” and Paul E. Purser, the “authorizing official.”
“lots of food and plenty of booze” Stafford, We Have Capture!, p. 42.
“Every Monday morning all astronauts would get together” Ibid., p. 43.
“hardest-working bunch of guys” George M. Low, Deputy Administrator, NASA Headquarters, to Robert Sherrod, “Further Comments on Astronaut Chapter,” Oct. 8, 1974, copy in NASA History Office Archives, Washington DC, File 87–12, Box 15.
“I didn’t find the academic burden to be overly difficult” NAA to author, Cincinnati, OH, June 2, 2003, p. 11.
“Vomit Comet” Flight Crew Training Report No. 27, “Period: April 22–27, 1963,” in NAA’s personal papers.
Dilbert Dunker Flight Crew Training Report No. 49, “Period: September 23–28, 1963,” in NAA’s personal papers.
“at sixteen g’s” Glenn quoted in MC, Liftoff: The Story of America’s Adventure inSpace, p. 31. Glenn detailed his experiences on the Johnsville centrifuge in “The Wheel” in We Seven, pp. 180–87. Glenn also discusses his rides on the wheel in John Glenn: A Memoir, pp. 236–37 and 276–81.
“get up to twenty g’s” Faget quoted in WMS, “Our Cozy Cocoon,” in We Seven,p. 146.