Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 08-16-2014 12:58 AM               

---

Neil Armstrong poses prior to an X-15 flight in March 1962 with B-52 pilots John Campbell (left) and Fitz Fulton.

Posts: 2176
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999

Posts: 977
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Nov 2000

Posts: 40
From: Long Island, New York, USA
Registered: Sep 2004

posted 08-17-2014 04:04 PM               

---

Neil and Fitz both look very relaxed - almost as if this was a candid photo. A caption could have been, "Just Another Day at Work".

Thanks, Ed. This is a fitting way to remember Neil, as we approach the second anniversary of his death (on August 25th). His grace under pressure would serve him, and America, well during his Gemini and Apollo missions.

It was really interesting for me to juxtapose the relaxed expressions in this picture (the "right stuff", as Randy observed in the post above), with my thoughts triggered by reading a "Space Places" topic (which has been "up" for ten years): "Memorial marker for Michael Adams (Mojave, CA)". It was striking for me to recall that there were 199 amazing X-15 test flights, each involving ever-present danger, as evidenced by Michael Adams' fatal return to earth from a hyper-sonic sub-orbital X-15 flight, five years after Neil's relaxed pre-flight candid.

Posts: 946
From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006