posted 07-12-2006 10:10 AM               

There is what looks to be a comprehensive list here, but although it includes the Apollo 11 astronauts, Apollo 13 astronauts, and Apollo 13 mission operations team, there's no mention of Bales.

posted 07-12-2006 10:41 AM               

Steve Bales, my twenty-six-year-old, bespectacled quidance officer, accepted the Medal of Freedom on behalf of the entire team for flight operations

posted 07-12-2006 10:49 AM               

There has to have been some mix-up, though, because I've found an alphabetical list of recipients, and neither Steve Bales nor the Apollo 11 team is on it (although the Apollo 13 team is).

posted 07-12-2006 11:21 AM               

His fifteen minutes of fame occurred in California, shortly after Apollo 11's triumphant return. When President Nixon presented Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins the Medal of Freedom, Bales received one, too.

"He certainly deserved it," Aldrin was quoted in "Apollo Expeditions to the Moon," edited by Edgar M. Cortright for NASA, "because without Steve, we might not have landed."

"I accepted that award for all the thousands of people who worked on the Apollo program," Bales says. "And yes, all the young guys who came in and helped make our nation's dream a reality."

ALDRIN: Back in Houston, not to mention on board the Eagle, hearts shot up into throats while we waited to learn what would happen. We had received two of the caution lights when Steve Bales the flight controller responsible for LM computer activity, told us to proceed, through Charlie Duke, the capsule communicator. We received three or four more warnings but kept on going. When Mike, Neil, and I were presented with Medals of Freedom by President Nixon, Steve also received one. He certainly deserved it, because without him we might not have landed.

posted 07-12-2006 11:39 AM               

• Multiple sources on the internet say that Bales got a Medal of Freedom.

• So does Buzz Aldrin. (And I could be wrong but I think this is the source for many of the statements on the internet.)

• Bales himself says he accepted an award on behalf of the people who worked on the Apollo program.

• Gene Kranz says that Bales accepted the award on behalf of the Apollo 11 flight operations team.

• Yet a rather comprehensive-looking website makes no mention of an award to either Bales or the Apollo 11 team, and states that the only group award ever given was to the Apollo 13 mission operations team.

• All the biographical summaries of Gene Kranz on the internet do say that he was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom... but all of them mention Apollo 13, and none of them mention Apollo 11. If he had received two, wouldn't there be some mention of that?

posted 07-12-2006 05:36 PM               

I blame Buzz Aldrin.

When we think of the achievements of our astronauts, we also are aware of what we have often been told by those who have been on flights before.

And I recall that over and over again, the same theme runs through what they say. The theme is that it wouldn't have been possible except for all of those who worked on the ground.

Four hundred thousand, perhaps over 400,000, men and women made possible the success of the space flights.

So, tonight, we not only want to honor the men who made this great achievement, but we also want to honor those who helped them make it possible.

And we are honoring them through a citation, a Group Achievement Award, which will now be read, a citation by Dr. Paine.

[Dr. Paine read the following citation:]

THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PRESENTS THE
GROUP ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
TO APOLLO 11 MISSION OPERATIONS TEAM

For exceptional service in planning and exemplary execution of mission operational responsibilities for Apollo 11--the first manned lunar landing mission. The distinguished performance of this team was decisive in the success of this first extraterrestrial exploration mission, a major milestone in the advancement of mankind.

Signed and sealed at Washington, D.C. this eleventh day of August Nineteen Hundred and Sixty-Nine

T. O. PAINE

Administrator, NASA

[The President then resumed speaking.]

Anyone who has visited Houston or who has had an opportunity to visit some of the other installations of our space program is enormously impressed by the men and women who work in it. We are impressed by their intelligence, by their dedication, and when I was in Houston I was greatly impressed by their youth.

The man that has been selected tonight to receive this Group Achievement Award for the whole 400,000, who. in one way or another, have contributed to the success of this program, is a young man, 26 years of age. But Steve Bales, who was the Flight Control Engineer on this project, made a critical decision just before Eagle 1 landed on the Sea of Tranquility that could have made the difference between success or failure. And if he would step forward to receive this Group Achievement Award, representing all of those on the ground who made the venture to the moon possible.

This is the young man, when the computers seemed to be confused and when he could have said "Stop," or when he could have said "Wait," said, "Go."

posted 07-12-2006 06:30 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Naraht:
...while Steve Bales accepted a Group Achievement Award (awarded by NASA) on behalf of the Apollo 11 mission operations team.

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posted 07-13-2006 10:07 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Sy Liebergot:
Sadly, I have added eight more names to Appendix E

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quote:

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Soon we will all be gone along with the intimate, anecdotal knowledge.

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posted 07-13-2006 03:48 PM               

• Frank Degenova - CSM G&N
  
• Jim Nelson - LM ECS
  
• Chuck Stough - FAO
  
• Jon Harpold - MPAD
  
• Don Bourque - LM Systems
  
• Don Puddy - Flight Director
  
• Pete Frank - Flight Director
  
• Chuck Filley - Recovery Ops
  
• Bob Myers - Training
  
• Merril Lowe - Requirements