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https://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/the-man-whos-flown-everything-57719824/
Air & Space
Smithsonian
The Man Who’s Flown Everything
Robert “Hoot” Gibson’s priorities: (1) Fly. (2) Fly some more.
By Robin White
Air & Space Magazine
April 30, 2009
An hour before the doors of the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center opened to visitors, the vast, multi-level space was filled with a theatrical pre-curtain hush. Only a few docents were here, getting reacquainted with the 170-some air- and spacecraft on display, machines that had made some of the most important history of the last hundred years. The docents were there to tell their stories.
The Hoot List
So was the man I’d traveled to Chantilly, Virginia, to meet: Robert “Hoot” Gibson. Hoot (the nickname originated with cowboy movie star Edmund “Hoot” Gibson) knew many of these flying machines personally. From light piston aircraft to thundering World War II fighters to supersonic jets to the space shuttle, Gibson had flown them—111 types
He arrived one minute early. Though 62, he looked very much as he did in shuttle crew photographs from the early 1990s: the same trim build, the same mischievous glint in his eyes.
“So where would you like to start?” he asked.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=23550
The American Presidency Project
George Bush
XLI President of the United States: 1989 - 1993
Executive Order 12705—Extending the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism
March 3, 1990
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, and in order to extend the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism, it is hereby ordered that the first sentence of section 2(b) of Executive Order No. 12686 is amended to read as follows: "No later than May 15, 1990, the Commission shall submit a report to the President, which shall be classified if necessary, containing findings and recommendations."
George Bush
The White House,
March 3, 1990.
From 10/30/1946 To 5/14/1990 ( departing as United States Navy Fire Controlman Second Class Petty Officer Kerry Wayne Burgess my honorable discharge from United States Navy active service for commissioning as chief warrant officer United States Marine Corps and continuing to Kerry Burgess the United States Marine Corps general ) is 15902 days
15902 = 7951 + 7951
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 8/10/1987 ( Edmund Germer dead ) is 7951 days
From 10/30/1946 To 6/29/1995 ( the Mir space station docking of the United States space shuttle Atlantis orbiter vehicle mission STS-71 includes me Kerry Wayne Burgess the United States Marine Corps officer and United States STS-71 pilot astronaut and my 3rd official United States of America National Aeronautics Space Administration orbital flight of 4 overall ) is 17774 days
17774 = 8887 + 8887
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 3/3/1990 ( George Bush - Executive Order 12705—Extending the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism ) is 8887 days
https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/gibson.html
NASA official website
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas 77058
Biographical Data
ROBERT L. GIBSON (CAPTAIN, USN RET.)
NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)
PERSONAL DATA: Born October 30, 1946, in Cooperstown, New York, but considers Lakewood, California, to be his hometown. Married to Dr. M. Rhea Seddon of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Four children. He enjoys home built aircraft, formula one air racing, running and surfing during his free time. His mother, Mrs. Paul A. Gibson, resides in Seal Beach, California; his father is deceased. Her father, Mr. Edward C. Seddon, resides in Murfreesboro; her mother is deceased.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Huntington High School, Huntington, New York, in 1964; received an associate degree in engineering science from Suffolk County Community College in 1966, and a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from California Polytechnic State University in 1969.
SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) “Louis Bleriot Medal” (1992), and the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) “Freedom of Flight” Award (1989). Established world records for “Altitude in Horizontal Flight,” Airplane Class C1A in 1991, and “Time to Climb to 9000 Meters” in 1994. Military awards include: the Defense Superior Service Medal; the Distinguished Flying Cross; 3 Air Medals; the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V”; a Navy Unit Commendation; Meritorious Unit Commendation; Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal; Humanitarian Service Medal; and Vietnam Campaign Medal.
EXPERIENCE: Gibson entered active duty with the Navy in 1969. He received primary and basic flight training at Naval Air Stations Saufley Field and Pensacola, Florida, and Meridian, Mississippi, and completed advanced flight training at the Naval Air Station at Kingsville, Texas.
While assigned to Fighter Squadrons 111 and 1, during the period April 1972 to September 1975, he saw duty aboard the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) and the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) -- flying combat missions in Southeast Asia. He is a graduate of the Naval Fighter Weapons School, "Topgun." Gibson returned to the United States and an assignment as an F-14A instructor pilot with Fighter Squadron 124. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Maryland, in June 1977, and later became involved in the test and evaluation of F-14A aircraft while assigned to the Naval Air Test Center’s Strike Aircraft Test Directorate.
His flight experience includes over 6,000 hours in over 50 types of civil and military aircraft. He holds airline transport pilot, multi-engine, and instrument ratings, and has held a private pilot rating since age 17. Gibson has also completed over 300 carrier landings.
NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in January 1978, Gibson became an astronaut in August 1979. Gibson has flown five missions and has completed a total of 36-1/2 days in space. He served as pilot on STS-41B (February 3-11, 1984), and was spacecraft commander on STS-61C (January 12-18,1986), STS-27 (December 2-6, 1988), STS-47 (September 12-20, 1992), and STS-71 (June 27 to July 7, 1995). Gibson participated in the investigation of the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, and also participated in the redesign and recertification of the solid rocket boosters. Gibson served as Chief of the Astronaut Office (December 1992 to September 1994) and as Deputy Director, Flight Crew Operations (March-November 1996).
Gibson left NASA in November 1996 to pursue private business interests.
SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-41B launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 3, 1984. The flight accomplished the proper Shuttle deployment of two Hughes 376 communications satellites which failed to reach desired geosynchronous orbits due to upper stage rocket failures. Rendezvous sensors and computer programs were flight tested for the first time. The STS 41-B mission marked the first checkout of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), and Manipulator Foot Restraint (MFR), with Bruce McCandless and Bob Stewart performing two spectacular EVA’s (space walks). The German Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS), Remote Manipulator System (RMS), six "Getaway Specials," and materials processing experiments were included on the mission. The eight-day orbital flight of Challenger culminated in the first landing on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center on February 11, 1984. Mission duration was 191 hours, 15 minutes, 55 seconds.
STS-61C Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on January 12, 1986. During the six-day flight the seven-man crew aboard the Orbiter Columbia deployed the SATCOM KU satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing. The mission concluded with a successful night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on January 18, 1986. Mission duration was 146 hours, 3 minutes, 51 seconds.
STS-27 Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on December 2, 1988. The mission carried a Department of Defense payload, and a number of secondary payloads. After 68 orbits of the Earth the mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 6, 1988. Mission duration was 105 hours, 6 minutes, 19 seconds.
STS-47, Spacelab-J, the 50th Space Shuttle mission, launched on September 12, 1992. The mission was a cooperative venture between the United States and Japan, and included the first Japanese astronaut as a member of the seven-person crew. During the eight-day flight, the crew aboard the Orbiter Endeavour focused on life science and materials processing experiments in over forty investigations in the Spacelab laboratory, as well as scientific and engineering tests performed aboard the Orbiter Endeavour. After 126 orbits of the Earth, the mission ended with a successful landing on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 20, 1992. Mission duration was 190 hours, 30 minutes, 23 seconds.
STS-71 (June 27 to July 7, 1995), carried a crew of seven-members (up) and eight-members (down) on Space Shuttle mission STS-71 was the first Space Shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir, and involved an exchange of crews. The Atlantis Space Shuttle was modified to carry a docking system compatible with the Russian Mir Space Station. It also carried a Spacelab module in the payload bay in which the crew performed various life sciences experiments and data collections. Mission duration was 235 hours, 23 minutes.
SEPTEMBER 1997
This is the only version available from NASA. Updates must be sought direct from the above named individual.
from my private journal as Kerry Burgess: 01/09/07 1:27 PM
6/30/2004 was the day I told Microsoft I wanted my job back. The HR person said something about talking to my "network."
From 10/30/1946 ( Robert Gibson ) To 2/19/2006 is 21662 days
21662 = 10831 + 10831
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 6/29/1995 ( the Mir space station docking of the United States space shuttle Atlantis orbiter vehicle mission STS-71 includes me Kerry Wayne Burgess the United States Marine Corps officer and United States STS-71 pilot astronaut and my 3rd official United States of America National Aeronautics Space Administration orbital flight of 4 overall ) is 10831 days
From: Kerry Burgess
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2006 1:26 PM
To: Kerry Burgess
Subject: February 19, 2006
Their contempt for my physical and psychological well-being continues.
https://web.archive.org/web/20060518210330/http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/65.html
Invent
Edmund Germer
Born Aug 24 1901 - Died Aug 10 1987
Discharge Device; Metal Vapor Lamp
Fluorescent Lamp
Patent Number(s) 2,202,199; 2,182,732
Inducted 1996
Germer received the Frank P. Brown Medal from the Franklin Institute in 1954 for his fluorescent lamp.
Invention Impact
Edmund Germer's development of the fluorescent lamp and the high-pressure mercury-vapor lamp significantly increased the efficiency of lighting devices, allowing for more economical lighting while producing less heat than incandescent light.
Inventor Bio
Germer was born in Berlin, the son of an accountant. He studied at the University of Berlin during the 1920s, earning a doctorate in lighting technology. His continual goal was to invent a better light source with higher lumen output and lower energy consumption compared to the incandescent lamp.
While working so that he might continue his studies, he co-founded the Rectron Company which was involved in the development of inert gas-glowing cathode rectifiers. After resigning his position as chief physicist, he became a freelance inventor
album: "X&Y" (2005)
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/coldplay/speedofsound.html
AZ
COLDPLAY
"Speed Of Sound"
How long before I get in?
Before it starts, before I begin?
How long before you decide?
Before I know what it feels like?
Where To, where do I go?
If you never try, then you'll never know.
How long do I have to climb,
Up on the side of this mountain of mine?
Look up, I look up at night,
Planets are moving at the speed of light.
Climb up, up in the trees,
every chance that you get,
is a chance you seize.
How long am I gonna stand,
with my head stuck under the sand?
I'll start before I can stop,
before I see things the right way up.
All that noise, and all that sound,
All those places I got found.
And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand?
Ideas that you'll never find,
All the inventors could never design.
The buildings that you put up,
Japan and China all lit up.
The sign that I couldn't read,
or a light that I couldn't see,
some things you have to believe,
but others are puzzles, puzzling me.
All that noise, and all that sound,
All those places I got found.
And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand,
ah when you see it then you'll understand?
All those signs, I knew what they meant.
Some things you can invent.
Some get made, and some get sent,
Ooh?
Birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand,
ah, when you see it then you'll understand?
From: Kerry Burgess
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2006 9:44 PM
To: Kerry Burgess
Subject: Issaquah
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001966828_whycostco28.html
Monday, June 28, 2004
the former president arrives here Wednesday to autograph copies of his book, his first scheduled stop will be the discount retail warehouse Costco in Issaquah.
[When I just read something Bill Clinton read about not wanting to "pile on" to Cheney's shooting incident, I remembered this. The day I went back to Microsoft to ask for my job back
from my private journal as Kerry Burgess: 03/21/09 7:30 AM
I told that dumb chick working in HR when I went back there on 6/30/2004 asking to get my job back that the financial fraud I documented could possibly have the impact of the gravity of a large planet such as Jupiter collapsing on itself until it exploded into a star.
From: Kerry Burgess
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2006 10:33 PM
To: Kerry Burgess
Subject: Re: Every one that flatters thee
Kerry Burgess wrote:
http://www.online-literature.com/short.php/333
As it fell upon a day
In the merry month of May,
Sitting in a pleasant shade
Which a grove of myrtles made,
Beasts did leap, and birds did sing,
Trees did grow, and plants did spring;
Every thing did banish moan,
Save the nightingale alone:
She, poor bird, as all forlorn,
Lean'd her breast up-till a thorn
And there sung the dolefull'st ditty,
That to hear it was great pity:
'Fie, fie, fie,' now would she cry;
'Tereu, tereu!' by and by;
That to hear her so complain,
Scarce I could from tears refrain;
For her griefs, so lively shown,
Made me think upon mine own.
Ah, thought I, thou mourn'st in vain!
None takes pity on thy pain:
Senseless trees they cannot hear thee;
Ruthless beasts they will not cheer thee:
King Pandion he is dead;
All thy friends are lapp'd in lead;
All thy fellow birds do sing,
Careless of thy sorrowing.
Even so, poor bird, like thee,
None alive will pity me.
Whilst as fickle Fortune smiled,
Thou and I were both beguiled.
Every one that flatters thee
Is no friend in misery.
Words are easy, like the wind;
Faithful friends are hard to find:
Every man will be thy friend
Whilst thou hast wherewith to spend;
But if store of crowns be scant,
No man will supply thy want.
If that one be prodigal,
Bountiful they will him call,
And with such-like flattering,
'Pity but he were a king;'
If he be addict to vice,
Quickly him they will entice;
If to women he be bent,
They have at commandement:
But if Fortune once do frown,
Then farewell his great renown
They that fawn'd on him before
Use his company no more.
He that is thy friend indeed,
He will help thee in thy need:
If thou sorrow, he will weep;
If thou wake, he cannot sleep;
Thus of every grief in heart
He with thee doth bear a part.
These are certain signs to know
Faithful friend from flattering foe.
From: Kerry Burgess
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2006 10:33 PM
To: Kerry Burgess
Subject: Re: Every one that flatters thee
I don't remember when I first read this. But it sure resonates with me. It is even ironic the part about May. If I'm not mistaken, it was May 31 when I gave up my apartment. I want to sit down and try to write out as much of a timeline after that as possible, but I can't remember a lot of the details, although I knew all along that my tormentors knew exactly what I was doing and where I was located every minute of every one of those days. And so in this message below, he is talking basically about how people can talk about being your friend, but it is when the world throws you down into some really dark place, it is your friends that are going to be there with you.
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 14:07:02 -0800 (PST)
From: "Kerry Burgess"
Subject: network
To: "Kerry Burgess"
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=network
network
To interact or engage in informal communication with others for mutual assistance or support.
"One key faction at Microsoft believed that Kerry was part of a military expedition to Microsoft to discover why Microsoft leadership was not sufficiently concerned about the dangers Microsoft products induced in American national security interests."
From 3/24/1990 ( as Kerry Burgess my official United States Navy documents includes: "I hereby request to be granted 51.0 days separation leave" prior to Honorable Discharge from active duty United States Navy ) To 6/23/1995 is 1917 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 2/1/1971 ( as the spacecraft mission commander onsite my biological brother Thomas Reagan the official United States astronaut and officially the United States Navy commander circa 1971 and the United States Apollo 14 spacecraft docks with the lunar module and leaves Earth orbit for lunar landing ) is 1917 days
https://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/1995/95-95.txt
NASA official website
Headquarters, Washington, DC
June 16, 1995
RELEASE: 95-95
NASA AND RSA SET JUNE 23 FOR LAUNCH OF STS-71 MISSION
Officials at NASA and the Russian Space Agency set June 23, 1995, as the launch date for the first docking mission between the U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir.
This historic mission is the first of seven planned joint missions and comes almost twenty years after the two nations took the first steps towards joint cooperation with the Apollo-Soyuz linkup in July 1975. Atlantis' crew will consist of five Americans and two Russian cosmonauts.
The STS-71 launch is targeted for 5:08:37 p.m. EDT at the opening of a seven minute window. A launch on June 23 should allow docking with Mir to take place on flight day four of the mission at about 10:30 a.m. EDT. Atlantis will remained docked to Mir for almost five days during which the crews aboard both vehicles will conduct joint life sciences research experiments.
At the end of joint docked activities, the two Russian cosmonauts launched aboard Atlantis will assume responsibility for operations of the Mir station. The Mir-18 crew, who have been aboard Mir since March 16th, will join the STS-71 crew for the return trip to Earth. One of the Mir-18 crewmembers, American astronaut Norm Thagard, will return home with the American record for a single space flight with more than 100 days in space. The previous record was held by the Skylab-4 crew with 84 days in 1973-1974.
The STS-71 mission has a planned duration of approximately 10 days, 19 hours, 15 minutes if launch takes place on June 23, with landing scheduled to take place at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility on July 4 at approximately 12:30 p.m. EDT.
https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/01/archives/apollo-14-streaking-toward-moon-after-trouble-in-space-docking.html
The New York Times
ARCHIVES 1971
APOLLO 14 STREAKING TOWARD MOON AFTER TROUBLE IN SPACE DOCKING; DECISION ON A LANDING IS DELAYED
By JOAN NOBLE WILFORD FEB. 1, 1971
February 1, 1971, Page 1
The New York Times Archives
CAPE KENNEDY, Fla., Monday; Feb. 1—Three American astronauts were cruising toward the moon early today after a harrowing two-hour struggle last night to overcome trouble with the linking apparatus between the Apollo 14 command ship and its lunar landing craft.
The astronauts were never in any physical danger. But if the two craft had failed to make a firm link-up, all plans for a landing on the moon early next Friday would have been abandoned.
Flight directors were evaluating the problem to determine if it represented any major malfunction that could still frustrate the mission's goal of landing among the rocks and craters of the lunar highlands.
Mission Trouble Begins
“We do not yet know what the impact will be on the mission,” Sigurd A. Sjoberg, director of flight operations at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Kouston, said at a news conference.
The trouble arose about three hours after Capt. Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Comdr. Edgar D. Mitchell of the Navy and Maj. Stuart A. Roosa of the Air Force set out on their journey at 4:03 P.M. yesterday. This was a delay of 40 minutes and two seconds caused by rain and dark storm clouds in the launching area here.
Five Futile Attempts
At 7:11 P.M., after the spaceship rocketed out of low earth orbit, Major Roosa made the first of five futile attempts to steer the command ship's nose into the docking ring of the landing craft. The latches would not catch.
The officials said that a moon landing was still possible, but only if they were sure the docking apparatus was in good working order.
The flight controllers have until Thursday to reach that decision on a lunar landing. At that time the Apollo 14 is scheduled to rocket into orbit of the moon.
If a landing is ruled out, it would still be possible for the Apollo 14 astronauts to orbit the moon and conduct scientific experiments and photography.
“We're unable to get capture,” Commander Mitchell radioed to Mission Control yesterday.
In all previous missions, the maneuver had gone without flaw. As the Apollo spaceship leaves low earth orbit, the astronauts separate the command ship, turn it around and then steer its nose into the docking collar of the lunar module.
The two vehicles must link up for the lunar module to be pulled from its attachment to the Saturn 5 rocket's third stage—the stage that was refired for the escape from low earth orbit and the beginning of the long coast to the moon.
Each time Major Roosa failed to achieve docking he backed the command ship away, discussed the problem with. Mission Control and then tried again.
Alternatives Considered
Calling it a “serious problem,” Mission Control considered several alternatives.
One was to have the astronauts depressurize the command ship's atmosphere, open the hatch to the docking tunnel and retrieve a key part of the apparatus for inspection and possible repairs.
The other was to have Major Roosa attempt a docking without using the command ship's “probe,” which is a device that enters the lunar module's docking collar.
On the sixth attempt, Major Roosa pointed the command ship's nose at the lunar module, lining the two docking units with the probe. Then, just before contact, he retracted the probe and inched the two craft together.
The 12 cocked latches on the command module clamped on to the lip of the lunar module's docking ring.
“We got a hard dock,” Major Roosa reported, bringing cheers of joy and relief at Mission Control in Houston.
“That's great. Super job, Stu,” Ground Control radioed.
The docking occurred at 9 P.M. when Apollo 14 was about 23,800 miles from the earth.
Later, at 9:52 P.M., the combined command module and lunar module separated from the third stage of the Saturn rocket.
The stage will later be fired on a course taking it to an impact on the moon. This should give scientists seismic readings suggesting the nature of the lunar interior.
The launching was delayed 40 minutes and 2 seconds because of rain and dark storm clouds in the vicinity of the launching pad. At 6:31 P.M., after orbiting the earth one and a-half times, an Apollo 14 rocket refired to boost the space ship on its planned 80-hour lunar course. It was shortly after that firing that the trouble began.
On the $400-million mission ride the hopes for a comeback after the nearly disastrous Apollo 13 flight last April and the expectations of scientists who await the return of rocks that may be as old as the solar system itself.
Apollo 14's primary objective is a landing in a narrow and rocky valley between the hills and ridges of the Fra Mauro region. It would be man's third landing on the moon.
For the 47-year-old Captain Shepard, the mission commander, it marked the return to space by the first American ever to ride a spaceship.
His flight on May 5, 1961 aboard the Mercury spacecraft called Freedom 7 was a 15-minute suborbital test that provided some of the impetus for the announcement a few weeks later of the Apollo moon-landing project.
Like the six preceding manned Saturn 5 rocket firlings, the Apollo 14 liftoff was a spectacle of explosive power, billowing orange smoke and a thundering shockwave rolling across the flat and sandy launching site.
For 8.9 seconds after ignition, the Saturn's five main engines roared to full thrust of nearly 8 million pounds. Only then did the four steel restraining arms retract to release the 6.5 million-pound Apollo 14 moon ship.
Ever so slowly, it struggled against earth's gravity. The rocket took eight seconds to clear the launching tower and begin to pick up speed as it headed into the low-hanging clouds.
In 35 seconds, it disappeared in a layer of clouds at an altitude of about 4,000 feet. Highpowered tracking cameras were able to follow the flight for two more minutes and photograph the separation of the first stage and the fiery ignition of the rocket's second stage.
First Stage Separation
“Good step,” Captain Shepard radioed to Mission Control in Houston, which replied, “It's day's work is done.”
The second stage dropped away about nine and a half minutes after liftoff. Then the third stage fired for two and a half minutes to place the spaceship into a 117-mile-high orbit.
After the third-stage engine shut off, Mission Control assured the astronauts, “Your orbit is good.”
“Roger, good show,” Captain Shepard replied in even, matter-of-fact tones.
Flight controllers could see no hint that the storm clouds had affected the rocket's performance. On Apollo 12, which was also launched into dark clouds, the spaceship caused two lightning discharges that briefly knocked out the main power in the command ship.
After checking the Apollo 14 spacecraft for two and a half hours, the astronauts ignited the engine in the Saturn 5 third stage, which was still attached. The six-minute firing, called trans-lunar injection, boosted the vehicle's speed to 25,000 miles an hour on its lunar course.
The beginning of the Apollo 14 moon mission came on the 13th anniversary of the nation's first satellite launching and the 10th anniversary of the flight by a chimpanzee named Ham that cleared the way for Captain Shepard's first space flight.
Start of U.S. Efforts
On Jan. 31, 1958, a 70-foottall Jupiter-C rocket boosted the 30.5-pound Explorer I capsule into earth orbit. The launching was the American response to the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, which began the space age on Oct. 4, 1957.
On Jan. 31, 1961, a Redstone rocket with one-hundredth the power of the Saturn 5 lofted I Ham to a 15-minute suborbital flight. The Mercury spacecraft bearing Ham, similar to the one Captain Shepard rode the folowing May, weighed 2,100 Pounds. The combined spacecraft for the Apollo 14 flight weighs 102,000 pounds.
Countdown preparations for the Apollo 14 rocket and spaceship went smoothly all week.
The only problems were relatively minor, such as a small leak in a hydraulic unit in the rocket's second stage, some suspected trouble with the lunar module batteries and a trace of sand found while loading fuel for the spacecraft's electricity-generating system.
During the night before the launching, with the thin sliver of a new moon overhead, technicians ran the final checks on the spacecraft and then began fueling the three, stages of the rocket. They pumped nearly three-quarters of a million gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the huge tanks.
There were still no engineering problems, although concern about the weather began te mount early in the day. The storm front was moving in from the west.
A liftoff delay of nearly four hours could have been tolerated. But if storms had prevented a liftoff, it would mean a month's postponement until the moon was again in position for a landing at Fra Mauro.
By the time the astronauts awoke at 9 A.M., had breakfast and underwent brief medical examinations, the crowds were filling the beaches and streaming in, bumper-to-bumper, to the space center. Local officials estimated that there were half a million visitors, the most since the Apollo 11 launching.
Some came with knapsacks on their backs. Some arrived by motorcycle and autocamper; others by helicopter, private planes and even a chartered 747 jetliner.
Among the viewers were Vice President Agnew, Henry A. Kissinger, Presidential adviser for national security affairs; movie stars, and Prince Juan Carlos of Spain.
With three hours to go, the astronauts left the crew quarters where they had been in semi-isolation for 21 days, a precaution against colds or other illnesses that might have delayed the flight.
When they reached the 320-foot-level of the launching support tower and walked acros the access arm. Gunther Wendt, the pad leader, presented Captain Shepard with a walking cane, a joking reminder to the astronaut that he is the oldest American to go into space.
Mr. Wendt closed the spacecraft hatch, a duty he also performed before Captain Shepard's first flight. The three astronauts began checking the switch settings in their cockpit. They tested communications and emergency procedures. To Captain Shepard these final countdown min-utes are the most nerve-racking.
“I don't see how anybody can stay busy enough not to feel nervous at a time like this,” the Apollo 14 commander said recently. “I don't think anybody who has flown has been completely relaxed. You're relieved when it's finally under way.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_14
Apollo 14
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the United States Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon.
Docking with LM
Docking date February 1, 1971, 01:57:58 UTC
https://media.bizj.us/view/img/2667721/horizon-air-q400*750xx2916-1640-42-0.jpg
https://flyawaysimulation.com/media/images2/images/microsoft-flight-simulator-x-box-artwork.jpg
- posted by Kerry Burgess 5:32 PM Pacific Time Spokane Valley Washington USA Tuesday 14 August 2018
