Chasing The Moon: The Book

"The People, the Politics, and the Promise that Launched America into the Space Age" Companion book to the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary series.

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

"A brisk narrative, deft anecdotes, and abundant illustrations enliven a well-researched history."— Kirkus

https://t.co/rkc7FG8E2e

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

‘Starman’ Review: An Outer Space Documentary That’s Out of This World https://t.co/TZr6gW6JKz via @variety

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

A performance of Kosmos from 2017

https://t.co/OTxa2kbTOr

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

Peter Eotvos, Evocative Modernist Composer and Conductor, Dies at 80
“Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s flight into outer space in 1961 —‘the first major event of my life’— inspired him to write the piano work ‘Kosmos’ when he was 17.”
https://t.co/uIp2JwG78G

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

And oops from me also. In my haste I botched the second line. It should read:

GT 7 left on Dec 4, ’65; GT 6A launched Dec 15, three days after the dangerous Dec 12 sudden shutdown.

Thanks.

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

Huh? NYT’s Tom Stafford obit reports Gemini 7 was “launched a few hours before Gemini 6 left its landing pad.”

GT 6 left on Dec 4, ‘65; GT 6A launched Dec 15, 3 days after the dangerous Dec 12 sudden shutdown.

And what is its “landing pad”?

@nyttypos @wmcdonaldnyt @paxr55

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

The innovative turn-around schedule launches of GT 7 and GT6A in a few days was a risky labor intensive operation by the crews at Launch Complex 19 at Cape Canaveral. It would have been impossible to accomplish in “a few hours.”

[CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 @CBSSunday]

Jane Pauley looks back at Newton Minow, a one-time chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, whose many accomplishments were overshadowed by the withering criticism he laid at the feet of commercial television in 1961. https://t.co/oq4Sk2oWQb

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

@SpitfireMarkIX @somogyianthony And anyone wanting to dig further into the transcript of the April 17, 1967 hearing may find this published transcript of interest.

https://t.co/9joNVmJTSU

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

April 17, 1967: Astronaut Frank Borman probably saves the future of the Apollo program on this day. On Capitol Hill, he joins Jim McDivitt, Donald Slayton, Wally Schirra and Alan Shepard to testify before the House Science & Astronautics Committee about the Apollo 1 fire. 1/6

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

@SpitfireMarkIX @somogyianthony There were multiple hearings on Capitol Hill. Mondale sat on the Senate committee. The House committee was where Borman’s “Are you confident in us?" speech occurred. Transcript PDFs are found here:

https://t.co/rRwi4cRiuu

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

A footnote to this story. When Borman was traveling to testify on Capitol Hill, he rode in NASA Administrator James Webb’s famous Checker. Webb made one request.

From Borman’s NASA oral history:

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

A good day to recall a pivotal moment in Frank Borman’s NASA career which took place not in space but in a congressional meeting room in Washington DC.

Sadly it appears no film cameras recorded the moment.

(It was later somewhat fictionalized in “From the Earth to the Moon”.)

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

April 17, 1967: Astronaut Frank Borman probably saves the future of the Apollo program on this day. On Capitol Hill, he joins Jim McDivitt, Donald Slayton, Wally Schirra and Alan Shepard to testify before the House Science & Astronautics Committee about the Apollo 1 fire. 1/6

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

Another good Frank Borman story. His role in preventing Vice President Spiro Agnew from using the Apollo 13 crisis as a photo op.

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

April 14, 1970: As Mission Control is dealing with the emergency on Apollo 13, astronaut Frank Borman takes an urgent call from Robert Gilruth, director of the Manned Spacecraft Center. “Vice President Agnew is on his way here. Can you do me a favor?” 1/4

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

RIP Frank Borman (1928-2023)

[100YearsAgoNews @100YearsAgoNews]

“Is Utopia Really Possible?” touches off a Soviet science fiction mania. By one count, 250 articles are published in Russian in the next decade on space flight, far more than in the U.S. A 1924 Soviet film “Aelita: Sunset of Mars” (1st tweet) imagines a trip to the planet. 2/2

[100YearsAgoNews @100YearsAgoNews]

Oct. 2, 1923: An article titled “Is Utopia Really Possible?” appears in Russian newspaper Izvestia, promoting space travel to expand humanity’s horizons. The piece notes that U.S. scientist Robert Goddard’s rocket experiments provide a possible means to escape Earth’s orbit. 1/2

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

Telstar broadcast 23 minutes of live TV of the 1963 March on Washington to European networks. Soviet TV was to carry the live feed, but canceled it five minutes prior to broadcast.

[Bill Geerhart @CONELRAD6401240]

Published #OTD 60 years ago: Kay Gardella's media column on the March on Washington.

[1976 Live @50YearsAgoLive]

Members of former President Lyndon B. Johnson's family, including former US First Lady Lady Bird Johnson and NASA Administrator James E Webb pose with a bust of Johnson during a ceremony naming the Center in the honor of the former President in Houston, Texas.

[Andy Saunders - Apollo Remastered @AndySaunders_1]

Here it is - the first photograph taken from the south pole region of the Moon!
Credit: @isro

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

@Ravi3pathi Looks like you fell asleep.

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

@AndySaunders_1 @NASA A fun bit of trivia about this photo taken at the Cape on September 8, 1966: that evening NBC premiered Star Trek.

[Chasing The Moon: The Book @ChasingMoonBk]

September 8, 1966: Four days prior to the launch of Gemini 11, NBC attempts to best their competition at CBS and ABC by premiering a new prime time space-themed dramatic series a week before its official announced premiere. Star Trek debuts with the episode "The Man Trap."