Pontefract, we have a problem

After meeting Commander Hadfield of the International Space Station last year, there was only one way to top that and that was to meet an Apollo astronaut. Today I had the honour and privilege of meeting Fred Haise the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 13; you will remember this was the one with the immortal line of “Houston, we have a problem.” And I was sat in the second row. Awesome!

Fred is now 80 years old but he had a very busy day, with an hour being spent having his photograph taken with umpteen number of people, then speaking for an hour to hour and 30 minutes, before then autographing photographs, books etc at the end of the night. It was fascinating stuff listening to him talk about the Apollo 13 mission, the Apollo astronauts must have been a special breed.

When he started his talk his microphone wasn’t working, so I came out with THAT line “we have a problem.” And yes all this took place in Pontefract, the people at Space Lectures work miracles to get all these NASA people there.

Back Blip:
Friday Friday 24th October and ¾