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Only 24 people have flown to the moon, and I'm about to see one of them! #nerdheaven!
I've never been in the same room with an astronaut, and now I'm hearing Fred Haise Jr (Apollo 13!!!) Speak!
He complained to Ron Howard that the movie didnt include all the people involved in saving the mission
Over 400K people were involved in some way on the Apollo missions, across 49 states
Howard had to add lots of drama, because in RL, the astronauts and NASA folks were so calm when talking to each other
Anomlies and problems, design questions, these were expected by all involved. All anomolies were studied after every mission, for alt procedures for next mission
Challenge for Apollo 13 was a new anomoly . . . Explosion!
Lift off stack weights over 6 million pounds!! 
"Only 4.5 G's."
Zero G feels euphoric, and makes a small vehicle feel larger. After the explosion, they powered down to the wattage of approx 2 table lamps, to conserve power.
They had to get rid if the carbon dioxide, with only the materials on board. 4 days, no heat, only sunlight to see by. Astronauts got more sleep than NASA peeps on the ground.
The spacecraft literally froze. Splashdown in the south pacific, ship had to leave combat duty in Vietnam to pick them up.
Mission control was literally too tired to have a splashdown party. Nixon flew to Hawaii to meet the Apollo flight crew
He was in a severe flight accident years later, burned over 50% of his body. Custom recovery plan so he would be able to handle rigors of flight again
Then he was assigned to the crew of the 1st space shuttle, Enterprise ( yes they were trekkies)
Enterprise "dropped" a 747! She flew better than the simulations. The astronauts had ejection seats, crew in 747 did not. NASA was concerned about long term funding at this point, no back up shuttle was built, $ cut in half
Challenger was originally never meant to be a flight vehicle. Test vehicles were eliminated due to budget cuts. Lower budget -> fewer successes -> more budget cuts. ISS was 1 vote away from not existing in the 1st place
"I'd like to see more getting done, don't know if I'll see it in my life time. . . . Can't complain, it's been a good ride" - Fred Haise Jr, Apollo 13 Astronaut
White scarf pilots are a thing of the past, NASA needs scientists, geologists (Mars!), technicians,
Only "real" line in the Apollo 13 movie was "Houston, we have a problem", apparently it was thought viewers wouldn't understand anything else they actually said
With the propulsion we currently have, only way to get to another star would be a generation ship.
Audience has tons a great questions, I'm so happy to see so many high school and college age people here!
"Secret of life is to be blessed with an occupation that fits you . . . Its hard to do!"
"When I was a kid I wanted to be a cowboy!"
A really little girl asked him how many Apollo missions there were, he counted them off for her, whole auditorium died of cute
Standing ovation!!!
