![]() When questioned about the reality of the landing-he was asked to swear to it on a Bible-he slugged the questioner. Buzz Aldrin, who was the second off the ladder during the first landing on July 20, 1969, almost exactly fifty years ago-he must have stared with envy at Neil Armstrong’s crinkly space-suit ass all the way down-has run hot from the moment he returned to earth. They had one important thing in common when I looked into their eyes: they were all bonkers. I’ve met three of the twelve men who walked on the moon. The story of the moon landing will become a little harder to believe. It will not be exactly like the moment the last conquistador died, but will lean in that direction. Within a decade or so, the last will be dead and that astonishing feat will pass from living memory into history, which, sooner or later, is always questioned and turned into fable. Some of the military astronauts selected for the program then transferred to NASA and became some of the first people to fly the Space Shuttle, including Richard Truly, who later became the NASA Administrator.Have you ever met a person who’s been on the moon? There are only four of them left. Laird in 1969 after the estimated cost of the program had risen in excess of $3 billion, and had already spent $1.3 billion. The program was cancelled by Defense Secretary Melvin R. The first launch of the MOL was scheduled for December 15, 1969, but was then pushed back to the fall of 1971. The station would be used for a month and then the astronauts could return to the Gemini capsule for transport back to Earth. The structure was planned to launch onboard a Titan IIIC rocket. The station's baseline configuration was that of a two-person Gemini B spacecraft that could be attached to a laboratory vehicle. A 1960 concept image of the United States Air Force's proposed Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) that was intended to test the military usefulness of having humans in orbit. ![]()
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