There were several notable achievements of the Apollo 14 Moon Mission. One that was abetted by the free time gained using the new flag design was that Alan Shepard became the first golfer on the Moon.
A complex system like Apollo or Space Shuttle is impersonal, amoral. It is indifferent to human objectives, human aspirations, or human lives. Like reality itself, it moves only to its internal agenda.
If you know your history, or if you’ve watched the movie Apollo 13, you have an advantage those of us working on that mission didn’t. You know how it came out.
I was young and hadn’t experienced a crushing reversal at the hands of an impersonal universe. More were to come my way, but on that day, Apollo 13 was enough.
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster demonstrated the hazard of reentering the atmosphere with a damaged heat shield. During my support of Apollo 13, that was the goblin hiding under my bed.
Public and Congressional support for Program Apollo waned after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. My company handed out layoff notices before Apollo 11 splashed down.
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