EETimes - Apollo - July 20, 2009 - 44

R ead e r F or um When Scout’s projected payload at the moon went from a few hundred pounds through zero and negative, those plans were abandoned. However, the effort left us more than ready for Apollo when it came along. — Jack Crenshaw, Apollo engineer the surface of the moon like? The NASA Gemini and Apollo missions, the moon landings—all inspired me in science and engineering. Always the consummate tinkerer, I knew what I was going to be when I grew up. Later in life I would learn science, computing, electronics and mechanical engineering; become a Naval Officer; and pilot a nuclear submarine (think of it as an underwater space capsule). My avocation would be (and still is) amateur radio. Communicating over amateur satellites was technically challenging, educational and rewarding. The Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) allowed myself and others to talk to astronauts. With the launch of the International Space Station, I volunteered to help build equipment that would be part of the Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS). The equipment went up on STS106, one of the first cargo launches to the ISS, and we were invited to watch the launch up close. What a thrill! In 2005 I had the pleasure of working on SuitSat-1, a Russian Orlan space suit outfitted with amateur radio. Deployed on Feb. 3, 2006, it transmitted its greetings from space for 14 days. I felt the exhilaration of the early pioneers of OSCAR-1. We had done something unique! For me, Gemini and Apollo were life inspirational. It was (and is) a life of science and engineering for me. — Steven Bible, engineering manager Microchip Technology Inc. IT WAS MY EIGHTH YEAR on this Earth mind’s analog memory [of the event] has better resolution and detail than the old tapes? . . . What made me marvel was the communications, that these things were happening so far away, and we were seeing them; we had sound and visuals from there. As a kid, the best I had was two cans and a bit of string! I was watching in Australia, [where we] had a slight advantage in seeing the images first as they were coming through Honey Suckle Creek tracking station. Still today, the communications over great distances— without hundreds of repeaters, networks, tin cans or string— to my mind was what cemented the technology as the path to better understanding. — Dave Williams It was an early Sunday evening (around 7 p.m.) in Arizona. I was 10 years old at the time; [it was] the summer between fourth and fifth grades. I was an avid follower of the NASA Gemini and Apollo missions. I was not going to miss this! The family was watching the entire event on television, and I remember the images, black and white, fuzzy, but all memorable, as Neil Armstrong descended the ladder of the lunar module Eagle to the moon’s surface. I was especially curious [to see] if Armstrong’s foot would sink into the dust. What was 44 EE Times | Apollo | July 20, 2009 when we sat down to watch the first moon landing, and what a memory that is, so clear and crisp. How sad it is that the current generation has not even seen it . . . that the replays of it are mocked and that the kids today do not think it looks “real enough.” We need to go back. Why is it that my

EETimes - Apollo - July 20, 2009

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