posted 12-10-2002 03:16 PM               

concerning the photography of Ranger VII...

"The 4,300 images transmitted in those final 17 minutes were the first finely detailed pictures of the moon's surface. Run on film like a movie, they gave a remarkably realistic illusion of an impending crash. When the film was later shown to the astronauts in Houston, fun-loving Wally Schirra broke up the house by shouting, when impact seemed imminent, "Bail out, you fool!"

That Wally Schirra was, and is, quite a character!

Noah