ON NOW: 12:35 am 12/20/2023 MeTV channel Spokane
The Twilight Zone
AND WHEN THE SKY WAS OPENED (S1, EP11)
When three U.S. astronauts return to Earth after the first flight into space, they begin being erased from history one by one.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/may-19-2000-early-morning-liftoff-of-atlantis-sts-101-mission/
http://articles.latimes.com/1997-02-22/news/mn-31286_1_night-landing
Los Angeles Times
Shuttle Lights the Sky in Rare Night Landing
February 22, 1997 From Washington Post
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Putting on a spectacular light show, the shuttle Discovery returned to Earth before dawn Friday like a blazing comet, leaving the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope behind in orbit with a new lease on life.
Leaving a trail of fire as it streaked above Houston at 8,700 mph, Discovery settled to a ghostly nighttime landing at the Kennedy Space Center just 18 minutes later, at 3:32 a.m. EST, to close out a five-spacewalk, $350-million overhaul of the famous telescope.
"You lit up the entire sky with the orbiter and its trail," astronaut Kevin Kregel radioed the crew from mission control in Houston. "It was pretty impressive."
"It was a pretty good view from here too," commander Kenneth Bowersox replied. "We almost saw the Astrodome."
It was only the ninth night landing in shuttle history and just the fourth at the Florida spaceport. But Bowersox and pilot Scott "Doc" Horowitz had no problems picking out the shuttle runway's brilliant lights in the darkness.
The Twilight Zone
"And When the Sky Was Opened"
(from internet transcript)
Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes: Where's my buddy's drink?
Bartender: Who?
Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes: My buddy's drink. Colonel Harrington, The... His beer... The beer he had in place of the one he dropped on the--
Bartender: I don't know what you mean. You came in here alone.
Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes: You a wise guy Or something--? You're crazy! You're...You're crazy! You're crazy, You know that? You're... You're... You're crazy!
From 12/11/1959 ( premiere USA TV series episode "The Twilight Zone"::"And When the Sky Was Opened") To 6/27/1994 ( the US NASA Stargazer Pegasus rocket failure ) is 12617 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 5/19/2000 ( ) is 12617 days
From 2/21/1997 ( the landing of the US space shuttle Discovery orbiter vehicle mission STS-82 includes me Kerry Wayne Burgess the United States Marine Corps commissioned-officer and United States STS-82 pilot astronaut and my 4th official United States of America National Aeronautics Space Administration orbital flight of 4 overall ) To 5/19/2000 ( ) is 1183 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 1/28/1969 ( premiere USA TV series episode "Bonanza"::"The Burning Sky" ) is 1183 days
From 5/7/1992 ( the first launch of the United States space shuttle Endeavour orbiter vehicle mission STS-49 includes me Kerry Wayne Burgess the United States Marine Corps commissioned-officer and United States STS-49 pilot astronaut and my 1st official United States of America National Aeronautics and Space Administration orbital flight of 4 overall ) To 5/19/2000 ( ) is 2934 days
2934 = 1467 + 1467
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 11/8/1969 ( premiere USA TV series pilot "Night Gallery" ) is 1467 days
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734555/
IMDb
The Twilight Zone
S1.E11
And When the Sky Was Opened
Episode aired Dec 11, 1959
Three astronauts return to Earth after seemingly having made an encounter that dooms them and their craft to erasure from existence itself.
IMDb
The Twilight Zone
And When the Sky Was Opened
Quotes
Rod Serling - Narrator: [Opening Narration] Her name: X-20. Her type: an experimental interceptor. Recent history: a crash landing in the Mojave Desert after a thirty-one hour flight nine hundred miles into space. Incidental data: the ship, with the men who flew her, disappeared from the radar screen for twenty-four hours.
Rod Serling - Narrator: [continuing narration, subsequent to character dialogue] But the shrouds that cover mysteries are not always made out of a tarpaulin, as this man will soon find out on the other side of a hospital door.
IMDb
The Twilight Zone
And When the Sky Was Opened
Quotes
Major William Gart: [after Forbes explained the story to Gart] Clegg? I don't know Ed Harrington. I've never heard of him before. I think he must be an illusion or something.
Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes: [eerily calm] Oh, I know he's not an illusion. I know. He's been yanked out of here. He's been taken away. He told me, remember? He told me maybe someone or something made a mistake. Let us get through when we shouldn't have gotten through. It's gotta come back to get us, somebody up there.
[Overcome by the same feeling Harrington has]
Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes: Oh, Bill, this is weird. It's just plain weird; like I just don't belong. Just like I... I don't belong.
[sees he no longer has a reflection in a mirror, horrified]
Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes: Oh, no! OH, NO! I DON'T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN! BILL, I DON'T WANT IT TO HAPPEN! I DON'T WANT IT TO HAPPEN!
[runs out of room]
Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes: I DON'T WANT IT TO HAPPEN!
Major William Gart: [hobbling after Forbes] Clegg! CLEGG!
[looks into the hallway to find that Forbes has disappeared]
Major William Gart: Somebody get him! Somebody get him... Somebody... Somebody get him...
Nurse: [sees Gart standing in his doorway and walks over to him] Major, you shouldn't be out of bed. Why, if the doctor could see you...
Major William Gart: Somebody's got to help him. Colonel Forbes. Somebody's got to help him right away.
Nurse: Who?
Major William Gart: COLONEL FORBES!
[sighs]
Major William Gart: You know Col. Forbes. Why, he was brought in here with me. Why, he was right over here on this...
[turns to see there is only one bed in the room, his. The bed next to him which Forbes' occupied has disappeared]
Major William Gart: Oh, my dear god.
Nurse: Major. Major, let me help you get into bed. And I'll-I'll call the doctor. Come here.
[helps Gart into bed]
Nurse: A-Are you alright?
[leaves the room]
Nurse: Major? Major Henderson?
[when the nurse leaves, Gart looks at the newspaper and sees only his photo. Horrified, he also disappears]
IMDb
The Twilight Zone
And When the Sky Was Opened
Quotes
Rod Serling - Narrator: [Closing Narration] Once upon a time, there was a man named Harrington, a man named Forbes, a man named Gart. They used to exist, but don't any longer. Someone - or something- took them somewhere. At least they are no longer a part of the memory of man. And as to the X-20 supposed to be housed here in this hangar, this, too, does not exist. And if any of you have any questions concerning an aircraft and three men who flew her, speak softly of them - and only in - The Twilight Zone.
- by me, Kerry Wayne Burgess, posted by me: 01:32 AM Pacific-time USA Wednesday 12/20/2023
