So, I met some Astronauts last night...

[yolatengo]

Last night I attended a reception commemorating the 35th anniversary
of Apollo 11. It was at the Air and Space Museum in DC.

It was a million times better than I imagined!

First of all, the place was CRAWLING with Astronauts past and present.
I shook hands with Michael Collins, Jim Lovell and T.K. Mattingly (the
Gary Sinise character in Apollo 13 who didn't fly due to measles but
later flew on Apollo 16), and Wally Schirra. I also shook hands with
some of the large crew of the next shuttle flight (first to be commanded
by a woman).

Second, Walter Cronkite gave an awesome speech.

Third, I've read in the past that the Apollo 11 'nauts have caricature
personalities; Aldrin is the 'hard-ass', Collins is the 'poet' and Armstrong
is the 'diplomat'. Well, they lived up to their stereotypes! Aldrin's speech
mentioned Pearl Harbor, Iraq, Bush and going to Mars (!), Collins mentioned
our environment and the synergy of going to space and protecting our
earth, and Armstrong spoke of cold war contexts opening up understanding
with our 'rivals' thru science and tech, the human spirit needing to 'explore'
and challenges of the future.

They had open bar and open food and it was all awesome! Quite a spread
with some fabulous desserts...

Finally, they gave us 'kit bags' with posters and booklets, CDs a little moon
'stress reliever', etc. They also presented all the astronauts there (it was
pretty much all the living Mercury/Gemini/Apollo astronauts) with pieces
of moon rock!

I was beaming the whole time I was there. They're all getting up in years
and they're shorter than you'd think (which makes sense, big guy = more
weight) but they have a stature that's indescribable.

Bigby

[swag]

1. So cool

Certainly sounds like a dream to me.

[GOPisEvil]

2. Damn, that must have been great! You're so lucky!

Nights like that make me wish I lived in DC.

[XNASA]

6. Dude, the astronauts all live in Texas.

Here's what ya do. Go down to Clear Lake and hang out at The Outpost, Molly's Pub or Boondoggles. I guarantee that within 2 hours you'll be having a beer with an astronaut.

[Sequoia]

3. So will you be enrolling in Star Fleet Academy anytime soon?

[MissMillie]

4. Air & Space Museum is cool enough on a regular night

But your night sounds extra-special. Way cool!

[XNASA]

5. Was Story Musgrave there?

Story not only looks like an alien, but he even sounds and behaves like an alien as well.

Of all the astros I've had the pleasure of working with, he was the most interesting. Quite a character.

Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Which I could have been there. I'm sure that I would have run into a lot of old friends.