[AF] time for the inevitable......

[Kirk Harnack]

> 
> 'where were you when Apollo 11 landed?'  discussion

7 years old.  Hot summer in Winfield, Kansas.  My dad, little brother (Kris),
and I were sitting in the living room of our new house we had just moved into
that afternoon.  Mom and my sisters would follow from Louisiana a few days
later.

We adjusted the rabbit ears as best as possible to pick up KAKE-TV - channel 10
- out of Wichita on the Sears TV.  Dad let us stay up late.  I think he drank a
beer or two.  It was too hot that night in Winfield to sleep easily, anyway.
Despite the snowy reception, the live video is still clear in my mind's eye -
the descent and landing, then later the climb down to the surface.  Remember the
phone call to Neil and Buzz from President Nixon? 

In the years that followed I built plastic models of the Command Module and LEM,
and enjoyed a few years of model rocketry.  Later befriended two NASA educators
to went to schools and showed moon rocks to kids.  Eventually got a Private
Pilot license.  14,000 feet for 20 minutes (no supplemental O2) will be my
non-commercial altitude achieved.

Visited Cape Canaveral, but missed my chance to see a shuttle launch.  Grrr.

Kirk