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Author
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Topic: Photo of the week 205 (October 4, 2008)
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heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 10-04-2008 03:09 AM
   
 One day before the launch of Apollo 7, mission commander Wally Schirra and Chief of the Astronaut Office Al Shepard look at an enlargement of one of the many stunning night shots showing the Saturn 1B launch vehicle on pad 34 at Cape Kennedy. Ed Hengeveld |
Wehaveliftoff
Member Posts: 2343
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 10-04-2008 11:43 AM
Just was watching "When We Left Earth" DVD which showed Wally Schirra and Gordon Cooper taking off from the ground in jets ahead of Alan Shepard's launch, so this photo is amazing seeing this so soon after. |
APG85
Member Posts: 306
From:
Registered: Jan 2008
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posted 10-04-2008 12:01 PM
Two "greats". Hard to believe that they are both gone... |
SpaceCat
Member Posts: 151
From: Florida, US
Registered: May 2006
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posted 10-04-2008 03:45 PM
Amazing how pictures like this make it seem like it was 'just yesterday' - and in my mind, sometimes it is - when the men and equipment out on "34" were the cutting edge of exploration and modern technology.Then I think of the days I worked out on 34- ten years ago already, and of course by then it had been in ruins over two decades. Everyone who visits that pad and sees that launch pedestal has the same thought: this is our Stonehenge. |
APG85
Member Posts: 306
From:
Registered: Jan 2008
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posted 10-04-2008 04:54 PM
Pad 34...What an historic place. Most people remember it for Apollo 1, but Apollo 7 was such a neat start for the program - and quickly overshadowed by Apollo 8. It makes you wish the tower/gantry could have been preserved... |
Richard Glueck
Member Posts: 15
From: Winterport, Maine, USA
Registered: Sep 2007
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posted 10-05-2008 10:19 AM
I wonder if Wally had to contend with Al Shepard's animosity, or if Al was subdued by Wally's and Deke's peerage? |
ea757grrl
Member Posts: 729
From: South Carolina
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 10-06-2008 09:46 PM
quote:
Originally posted by SpaceCat:
Everyone who visits that pad and sees that launch pedestal has the same thought: this is our Stonehenge.
How true. I'll never forget that "so there it is" moment seeing it for the first time, or the goose bumps I got being there, or the eerie silence, with no other sound but the ocean roaring in the background. Even in its current ruins, and even in its stillness (or perhaps because of it), 34 is a powerful place. jodie |
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