MovieChat Forums > From the Earth to the Moon (1998) Discussion > How many Apollo astronauts have you met?

How many Apollo astronauts have you met?

posted 17 years ago by flashbuck
43 replies | jump to latest

It's a thrilling experience, ain't it??

I've met Walt Cunningham, Jim Lovell, Rusty Schweickart, Gene Cernan, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Dick Gordon, Ed Mitchell (several times), Al Worden (twice), and Charlie Duke. I've been in the same room with Jim McDivitt and Tom Stafford, but didn't get the chance to meet them. I had dinner with Ed Mitchell, and this weekend I'm going to have lunch with John Young and Charlie Duke.

On the whole, I think From the Earth to the Moon was very well cast -- ESPECIALLY that dead ringer who played Frank Borman -- but I chuckle every time I see Gary "Bill Lumbergh" Cole as Ed Mitchell. He does a fine job playing a competent astronaut, but he's not very Ed Mitchellish. I thought their Deke Slayton was a bit dumpy, though he played the part well.

Collin R. Skocik

[–] ztpt 14 years ago

I would actually forfeit my chance to see all those people the OP listed just to be there when Buzz Aldrin punched that damn conspiracy theorist/moan hoaxer right in the jaw..priceless..I really hate those lame conspiracy theorists/moan hoaxers..I think they should be all beaten slowly to death with a rubber hose..

[–] runit73 13 years ago

None. I envy those who have.

[–] gmat6441 13 years ago

I've not met any Apollo astronauts, but during the late 70s, I was stationed at Keesler AFB and NASA T-38s would stop by and I got a couple of Astronauts to give me their NASA photos. I got one of Ron McNair and I think that he signed his. One other didn't and I didn't know why at that time. I gave my photos and other stuff to my friend at Hanscom AFB later when I got transferred to Japan. I'm embarrassed to say that I remember his name as he was an African American and so it sticks out. I wish that I could have meet Ellison Onizuka as we're both from Hawaii and Japanese Americans.

[–] flyboy152 13 years ago

Never had the luck to meet any in person, but I did talk to Frank Borman on the phone for about 1 minute. I worked for the alarm company in Miami that did the monitoring for his home there. After getting his code, told him what an honor it was to talk to him.

[–] Sewergoddess 9 years ago

My dad was friends with Jim Irwin from Apollo 15. He was a nice guy and was probably responsible for my fascination with space travel.

I wore her head as a hat through three states.

[–] kmorrison1 9 years ago

Well I have only met one...but it was Neil Armstrong, and I got a picture with him.

[–] pjmcgill142 9 years ago

You CANNOT beat that. I met Vance Brand at an airshow in Australia a few years ago... Yes, I teared up a little. No way was I showing the right stuff. Just embarrassing.

[–] drjeff21 8 years ago

I met most of them when I was a kid. My father was on the team that built the engines, some of the motors and parts of the landing gear for the LM. Before that he was also on teams that built various other rocket engines, including the engine for the X-15 rocket plane so I also met several test pilots and several of the astronauts from Mercury and Gemini (some of whom also went on to Apollo.)I have a number of autographed photos of astronauts (including a photo of all three from Apollo 11, signed by each), but my real pride and joy is that I have a collection of every mission patch from Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

[–] persen1 8 years ago

Met exactly none, but at least i can brag with, that i was born during the Apollo 17 mission :-)

[–] wearetheborg-1 8 years ago

I haven't really met any, but I was a few feet away from Alan Shepard once.