Friday, 28 July; Oshkosh

Wow;  it is really nice and cool this morning with a lovely breeze.  I'm not sure how long it is supposed to last, but it is certainly delicious at the moment.
We unpacked the laundry that they did for us yesterday.  It is in two plastic bags, but the funny thing is that the socks (unfolded) are wrapped together in Syran wrap, as are my bras, Rob's boxer's and my underwear.  Funny!  Anyway, we put it all away.  Boy is it nice to have that done, and to have clean clothes.
There aren't a whole lot of things that we want to do today as far as the Air show goes.  There is a forum later this afternoon and then later this eve where we get to meet several of the still living astronauts so we definitely want to go to that.
So, Rob is off playing golf.  I did not want to go, and Bella and I are staying back catching up on the blog and enjoying time together.
He played the 18 holes in about 2 and a half hours.  He said it was a pretty course and he got his "fix" in.
When Rob got back we had a little lunch and then he went to the forum.  It is a more in-depth lecture by the man who travels around with his Kit fox, trailer and RV.  It will tell him all the do's and don'ts he has learned along the way and how to do it all cheaply.  I stayed back and cleaned the rig, then showered and got ready for the evening.
We took Bella out for a little walk and then went into the Airshow again. 
Our program was starting at 8pm and we got there at about 7:40.  Wow we got there as the interview with the Blue Angles was finishing up.  We only got to listen to a few minutes of it. I wish we had known about it, I would have loved to been there for the entire show.  
Needless to say, the place was packed.  Most of the people who were there remained for the Apollo program as well.  We made our way up toward the front and ended up sitting in the aisle on the floor.   

It was amazing: Most of these pictures were of the screen above them so you could see better.

The astronauts on stage with the screen above them!

David Hartman was the moderator.
David Hartman deftly maneuvered the panelists - astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Frank Borman, Walt Cunningham, Joe Engle, Fred Haise, Jim Lovell, Al Worden and flight director Gene Kranz - through the succession of Gemini and Apollo missions.  Throughout the discussion there were good-natured references to the inter service rivalries between Air Force- and Navy-trained astronauts - and among all the astronauts - for mission assignments.

Gene Kranz- Flight Director now

Gene Kranz- Flight Director back when he was "Houston control

They talked about the program from the first to the end.

This is Jim Lovell (with the mike) talking about Gemini 7 where he and Frank Borman (in yellow on his left) spent 14 days together orbiting and the unusual connection that can develop in such close quarters.  Borman asked, "How many people in the audience would want to spend 14 days in a vehicle as small as a front seat of a Volkswagen Beatle with a sailor?" to which Lovell responded, "I know plenty." (Frank is Air Force and Jim is Navy).
They were both hysterical 

Jim Lovell was also on Apollo 13 which experienced the near-catastrophic explosion that transformed the mission from a flight to the moon to a fight for survival.

Buzz Aldrin said,"I believe Humanity will move and settle on Mars, and people will go there and will spend the rest of their lives there.....I think that is our destiny.

Recounting his experiences in the program, space shuttle astronaut Joe Engle, who had to give up his seat on the last Apollo mission in favor of geologist Harrison Schmitt, said, "I don't want to get all gooey, but I got to know this incredible bunch of true American heroes you've got on stage tonight.

Fred Haise talked about the experience on Apollo 13 with Jim Lovell.

You look out into space and it's dark.  Everything is so dark.  The only thing with color out there is our Earth.

These two pictures were actually taken by Fred Borman on Gemini 7 while orbiting for 14 days.

It was an incredible experience meeting these men and hearing first hand their experiences with the space program.
When summit up what space travel taught him, Lovell said, "we all think about, 'I hope I go to heaven when I die.' Ladies and gentlemen, you go to heaven when you're born.  You arrive on a planet with the positive mass that provides the gravity, that contains the water, and an atmosphere and the essentials of life....God has given mankind a stage that we saw out there for us to perform on.  How that play turns out is up to us."
We walked home in a daze and went to bed.