[R-390] OT Apollo 11 Mission

[mikea]

On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 08:03:46PM -0500, wb5uom at hughes.net wrote:
> Ok, its off topic, but you guys on here let me learn that the R-390
> was used in the Apollo Missions.
>
> So, I am curious, where were YOU - today 40 years ago?
>
> I myself was 14 and was flying alone on a Braniff Flight over the
> Carribbean Ocean on my way to the Panama Canal Zone when the Pilot
> announced we had landed on the moon.

I was working a shift in the USAF comm center at North Camp Drake, in
Asaka, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, on the northwest corner of metro
Tokyo. I found out about it when I got out of the secured area, and
called my parents collect to rejoice.

Why was I overjoyed? Because I helped lay the foundation for that
mission. 

Back in 1965-67, I worked at the MSC (forget JSC; it's the MSC to all
who worked there then), during the Gemini Project and the first little
bit of the Apollo Project (including Apollo I; pray for the repose of
their souls). I was one of about 100,000 people who helped lay the
foundation and pave the way, and I'm Damn Proud of it .

It was my first job ever. I was 18, and working in the highest of
high-tech. We threw guys up into the sky, or as RAH so aptly puts it
in TNotB, "beyond the sky", and got them down safely, every one. Since
then, for some reason, every job has been a bit of a let-down.

It was just about as much fun as can be had with clothes on, and we knew
that We Were Doing Something Very Important, too.

That they paid me was just an added benefit, and that I was making union
scale ($3.65/hour to start), when my dad was making about the same as a
Registered Professional Engineer, was a whole big box of cherries on the
top.

I would have done it for free. I would have _PAID_ to do it, doing my
best to outbid the other competitors for that job.

And I get to remember it every time I look at Luna.

_That_ is where _I_ was.

-- 
Mike Andrews, W5EGO
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin