Earthrise (6 page)

I just had to figure out how to get there.

From China Lake to Carmel

While we were still living in China Lake, Louise gave birth to our second daughter and we named her Elizabeth. We were all so happy to welcome Elizabeth, and I remember Karlyn was delighted to have a baby sister. Our young family was growing and our lives were changing.

With my mind set on going back to college, I started to investigate graduate-level programs offered by the navy. One option available to me was at the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where I could study the emerging field of aeronautics. In 1959, I decided that a move to Monterey, which is by the ocean, would be one my family would like. Elizabeth was nearly one, Karlyn was six, and Louise was eager to get out of isolated China Lake.

So we headed west from the California desert to the California coastline and found a new home in Carmel Valley. Carmel was a beautiful change of scenery with its white sandy beaches, rolling hills, cypress trees, and vineyards.

After I was accepted into the Naval Postgraduate School, I began to study more technical subjects in aeronautics. I learned a lot about aircraft, aircraft engines, and flight profiles, and it was a great change to get out of the seat of a war-plane and into the seat of a classroom. Most important, I was sticking to my plan to become an astronaut.

Recruiting All Astronauts

When
Sputnik
was launched in 1957, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president of the United States. Some of our leaders didn’t like the fact the Russians had been first in space; they were worried that a satellite like
Sputnik
might have the potential to carry something like a nuclear weapon. People quickly realized that the space around our planet could become a kind of invisible war zone where high-altitude battles might be waged.

Although the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) had fought together as allies to end World War II, there was still a great deal of discord between the two countries. Distrust was rampant because both countries possessed nuclear weapons, which had enormous destructive potential worldwide.

It didn’t take long before a new war, called the Cold War, began. This war was deemed “cold” because there was no direct military action, but there was an enormous amount of hostility and suspicion. During this era, which occurred in the late 1950s and early 1960s, children in America were taught to “duck and cover” under school desks in the event of a nuclear bomb. Some families built underground bomb shelters in their backyards. World War II and the Korean War were over, but there was still a great deal of conflict and fear.

On top of this, the Russians and Americas started to take sides in what was called the “space race,” a celestial competition to see which country would achieve more progress in space. The race was on to see who would have the best spacecraft; who would fly the fastest, highest, and farthest; and who would be top dog in this new frontier.

I paid close attention to nearly everything that was happening in the growing field of astronautics. President Eisenhower wanted America to forge ahead in space exploration and he helped form NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA was founded on October 1, 1958, to conduct civilian research for space flight.

President Eisenhower also asked universities such as MIT, Caltech, and Princeton to set up graduate programs in space science, aeronautics, and astronautics because, frankly, nobody knew what was “out there” in deep space.

Space Age Studies

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.” —Albert Einstein

After earning my bachelor of science in aeronautics from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1961, I was one of the first students to be accepted into the new astronautics program at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I was still an officer in the navy and would now focus my studies on advances in aeronautics and astronautics, and thought-provoking courses in physics and quantum mechanics.

It wasn’t easy moving from Carmel Valley to Cambridge, but a new home near Boston had many advantages. Sometimes my family went to Boston to shop or see a museum, we took summer vacations in Cape Cod, and the girls liked playing outside in the snow and ice skating. Louise was wonderful about all our moves to different towns every few years, but there’s no question it was tough on her. When we got married we hadn’t planned our lives around going off to war and having such a nomadic lifestyle. Heading to MIT was a bit of a reprieve, because we were going to stay put in Cambridge for the three years it took to get my degree.

Because the astronautics program at MIT was in its infancy, new curriculum about space needed to be developed. I took interesting courses in subjects such as the evolution of the universe and star systems, space guidance and navigation, spacecraft control systems, and rocket propulsion. I also started to learn about computer programming, which was in its infancy in the early 1960s. It was obvious that computers would be incredibly important in space.

Student discussions, sometimes exhilarating, sometimes argumentative, revolved on cosmic questions about the what-ifs and whys of the universe. I started to wonder about the cosmos more than ever and realized there were many unanswered questions. It was cerebral, fun, and fascinating stuff to consider. But I also knew there was a lot of fear and confusion. I remember hearing about Orson Welles’s
The War of the Worlds
radio broadcast that aired in 1938 when I was eight years old. The radio show pretended to be an actual newscast about an extraterrestrial invasion, and some folks thought it was real and became frightened. I also thought about the alleged UFO crash that happened in Roswell when I was 17—and the great stir it caused.

Ten Years to the Moon

I was at MIT in 1961 when John F. Kennedy became president of the United States after Eisenhower left office. In that year, President Kennedy announced to Congress the ambitious, 10-year goal of having an American astronaut land on the Moon and safely return to Earth before the end of the decade.

Ten years to the Moon? I took it as a personal challenge. I wanted to go to the Moon.

The following is an excerpt from John F. Kennedy’s famous speech, “The Decision to Go to the Moon,” which was delivered before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961.

First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar spacecraft. We propose to develop alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed, until certain, which is superior. We propose additional funds for other engine development and for unmanned exploration—explorations, which are particularly important for one purpose which this nation will never overlook … the survival of the man who first makes this daring flight.

—John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961

A Big Disappointment

Although I enjoyed studying at MIT, I was very glad to graduate. My doctoral thesis was titled “Guidance of Low-Thrust Interplanetary Vehicles,” and I earned my doctor of science (Sc.D) in 1964. Other future astronauts, such as Buzz Aldrin, Dave Scott, and Charlie Duke, were also studying and getting their degrees from MIT during the years when I was there.

After graduation I was raring to go, but not exactly sure what to do. I eventually applied for a position in the guidance control division of NASA located in Houston, Texas, and was accepted. Houston was definitely the place to be if you wanted to be an astronaut.

Louise, the kids, and I knew the drill. We packed up the car and started driving west toward Texas. Finally my dream to become an astronaut was really coming true. At least for a few hours.

On our drive, we stopped at Louise’s mother’s home in Pennsylvania. That’s when I got a phone call from Navy Captain Jack Van Ness, who delivered some very disappointing news. Jack informed me the navy wanted me to work on a new project in Los Angeles called the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, which would be part of the military’s space surveillance program.

So, although I had my heart set on Houston, we headed to Los Angeles.

For nearly a year and a half I worked on the Manned Orbiting Laboratory and oversaw many people who helped design this state-of-the-art spacecraft. But once it became clear to me that the orbiting lab project was starting to stall, I realized this job wasn’t going to help me get to the Moon. To get to the Moon, I needed a lot more time flying newer and faster jets. I remembered good advice I’d heard throughout my life: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” So I tried again.

A Great Move

I knew Edwards Air Force Base wasn’t that far from L.A. and had an Aerospace Research Pilot School headed by the legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager. Jack Van Ness understood my aspirations to walk on the Moon, so I asked him if he could help get me assigned to the school. Thankfully, he did just that.

In 1965, my next big adventure was learning to fly exotic supersonic jets at Edwards Air Force Base, which was located in the middle of the Mojave Desert. During the week I would say good-bye to Louise and the girls, who were happy to stay in Los Angeles, and I’d fly up to Edwards. I’d then return to be with my family on the weekends.

Edwards Air Force Base was an exciting place to be with an amazing agenda of flight programs. It was certainly a dynamic time in my life. Suddenly I was flying planes faster and higher than I ever had in my life, and I even flew high-performance, supersonic aircraft such as the Lockheed NF-104 that could reach altitudes of more than 100,000 feet.

At Edwards, I was both a student and an instructor in the school’s new space-training program. I taught a wide range of subjects such as advanced mathematics, navigation theory, aviation, astronomy, and orbital mechanics to budding astronauts.

Then one spring evening in 1966, I was back in Los Angeles having dinner with my family. The phone rang and it was astronaut Deke Slayton on the line. Deke was NASA’s coordinator of astronaut activities and worked in Houston at the Manned Spacecraft Center, which was named the Johnson Space Center in 1973. It seemed like I’d been waiting years for a call from him.

Deke said he’d like me to move to Houston and begin astronaut training. I immediately said yes! I was 36 years old at the time, and all my hard work and willingness to be flexible had paid off.

After I hung up the phone, I swooped up Louise and the girls in a big family hug.

Getting There

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.”

—Lao-tzu

A
fter so many years of hard work I had finally landed at NASA, and it felt great to be part of the Apollo team. In 1966 I was chosen along with 18 other men to participate in NASA’s Group 5 astronaut training. We were all test pilots and we all had college degrees.

Every day at the Manned Spacecraft Center there was a tremendous feeling that all our work was going to make history. And it certainly did. I also felt that going to the Moon was a big step in the advancement of our species, and I was honored to be a part of it.

After arriving in Houston I immediately started ground school. All of the Group 5 astronauts took refresher courses in math and physics and learned about subjects such as space science, astronomy, geology, orbital mechanics, computer science, space flight, and the medical aspects of space flight. We also learned about complex spacecraft equipment such as propulsion control systems and fuel cells, and we took courses in how to observe and photograph phenomena in space.

The Apollo Program

Named after the Greek god of light, the Sun, truth, prophecy, and music, the Apollo program’s overarching goal was to safely land humans on the Moon and safely return them to Earth.

But exploration of the Moon was not new. In the 17th century, physicist Galileo Galilei was one of the first astronomers to use a telescope to look at the Milky Way galaxy and observe the mountains and craters of the Moon. In 1959, the Soviet Union launched a robotic probe called
Luna 2,
which was the first man-made spacecraft to reach and impact the lunar surface.