Maybe I’m an old softy, but there are several phrases from the Space Program that make me emotional - some for good reasons, other for bad.
Here are a couple of examples:
“Go at throttle up”
“Houston, we have a problem”
And the most recent one that I’m just unable to say outloud:
“Touchdown confirmed”
This last one especially, since I was watching Curiosity’s control room feed live on TV.
Do you have any examples that affect you this way?
J.
[insert name] has left the capsule. Always felt so scared for the astronaut floating in space, and wished it could be me at the same time.
In school my class was taken to an assembly room to watch all the early launches on TV. There was always a long wait before the TV actually showed Canaveral. And during those extended pauses they always played “Canadian Sunset”. Repeatedly. To this day that song brings back all my childhood memories.
The actual quote from Apollo 13 is “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.”
“That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Apollo 15 “As the space poet Rhysling would say, we’re ready for you to “come back again to the homes of men on the cool green hills of Earth.””
I don’t remember exactly what was said, but when Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died on the launch pad, I cried, and it still brings tears. I was very pregnant, my son was born exactly one month later.
Also, when Challenger broke up I was working with Christa McAuliffe’s niece.
We had a radio on and heard the broadcaster’s horror. That may have been worse than actually seeing it.
We all cried. I still think of that day with the same gut wrenching pain I felt for my co-worker.
The worst part was the broadcaster speculating that they were all alive and awake during the 3 minutes or so before they hit the water.
The good one that brings tears still is, “The Eagle has landed.”
Houston, Tranquility base, here. The Eagle has landed.
Want chills? Here’s the audio: Download Softwares for Windows
Always gets me.
We’ve just been watching lots of old footage and what has us constantly cracking up is how the astronauts have no emotion in their voice, ever.
They would say things like “This is… The most remarkable thing I’ve ever seen” but say it in a flat monotone, much the same way you would say “these oranges are a bit expensive” to no one in particular at the grocery store.
Ditto. That one still chokes me up, decades later.
If you haven’t seen the Apollo poop jokes…
I was born too late to hear the early stuff firsthand, but “Let’s light this fire one more time, Mike, and witness this great nation at its best” brought a tear to my eye.
And my name’s not even Mike.
Walter Cronkite: “Man on the Moon! By golly, we did it!”
Not words - but a sound. The sound of the windows in the farmhouse rattling when Columbia disintegrated overhead.
“Good luck, Mr. Gorsky!”
In addition to many already mentioned, one that still hits me in an emotional place is the recording from MCC in the moments after Columbia broke up (it rattled the windows here, too, like 2 booms of thunder):
“Lock the doors.”
Hello Again – yes, that controlled tone of the seasoned test pilot/“steely-eyed rocketman”, partly chosen for their ability to keep their cool when doing their work and convey their impressions in a calm, steady manner.
Speaking of which, sadly…
28JAN1986:
"*Obviously a major malfunction…
…We have no downlink.*"
He already knows the public is about to either scream or be dumbstruck in horrified disbelief.
He, OTOH, must continue to relay information.
The one I chose and am glad someone got already:
A fine message to go with a Christmas gift worth a million words.
Also:
Scott Carpenter working CAPCOM: “Godspeed, John Glenn” – remember, at the time it was still a far iffier proposition whether it would all work right.
There is one phrase from the Apollo program that is not an emotional trigger, just a routine launch checklist item, but it branded me forever as a child of my time: in a rocket countdown, at around T - 00:00:08, I can’t help but hear in the back of my mind, echoing in the PA loop, “ignition sequence start”.
I got a kick out of Slayton asking Schirra while the Atlas was boosting him into orbit “Are you a turtle?”
I know a woman whose husband was in the National Guard reserves in Texas in 2003, and his job was…well, you can guess what he did. He found, shall we say, something, although out of respect I will not say who or what.
And they found 9 bodies, not 7. Two people who hadn’t even been reported missing were found dead, and a serial killer was eventually caught as a result.
:eek: