Personal Heroes

Below is a list of some of the folks that I consider heroes. You don't find too many of those around today. Each person below took extraordinary steps to better themselves and mankind. You will notice that a majority of my heroes are astronauts. They are today's explorers. In the 60's, they set out to conquer and define the black void known as space. They walked on the moon, they walked in space, and they put their lives on the line so that the rest of us could learn. While most people, when asked who tops their list of heroes, will name scientists, philosophers, and thinkers, this is not my idea. These folk, while they do better our lives and educate us, they do not push the limits or put their lives on the line.........Fester

"If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life." -Gus Grissom (John Barbour et al., Footprints on the Moon (The Associated Press, 1969), p. 125.)

"You'll be flying along some nights with a full moon. You're up at 45,000 feet. Up there you can see it like you can't see it down here. It's just the big, bright, clear moon. You look up there and just say to yourself: I've got to get up there. I've just got to get one of those flights." -Roger Chaffee (The New York Times, January 29, 1967, p. 48.)

"I think you have to understand the feeling that a pilot has, that a test pilot has, that I look forward a great deal to making the first flight. There's a great deal of pride involved in making a first flight." -Ed White (The New York Times, January 29, 1967, p. 48.)

January 27, 1967.

Tragedy struck on the launch pad during a preflight test for Apollo 204 (AS-204), which was scheduled to be the first Apollo manned mission, and would have been launched on February 21, 1967. Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a fire swept through the Command Module (CM).

The exhaustive investigation of the fire and extensive reworking of the CMs postponed any manned launch until NASA officials cleared the CM for manned flight. Saturn 1B schedules were suspended for nearly a year, and the launch vehicle that finally bore the designation AS-204 carried a Lunar Module (LM) as the payload, not the Apollo CM. The missions of AS-201 and AS-202 with Apollo spacecraft aboard had been unofficially known as Apollo 1 and Apollo 2 missions (AS-203 carried only the aerodynamic nose cone). In the spring of 1967, NASA's Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, Dr. George E. Mueller, announced that the mission originally scheduled for Grissom, White and Chaffee would be known as Apollo 1, and said that the first Saturn V launch, scheduled for November 1967, would be known as Apollo 4. The eventual launch of AS-204 became known as the Apollo 5 mission (no missions or flights were ever designated Apollo 2 and 3).

For more about Apollo 1, the entire Apollo program, and NASA, visit http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-1/apollo-1.html This is the source of all NASA information/pics on this page.

In July of 1999, "Pete" Conrad was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident. Not as well known as the Apollo 11 crew, Pete was a member of the Apollo 12 crew. After an incident during the launch of Apollo 12, the crew went on to successfully complete their mission. While the Saturn rocket was clearing the tower, it was struck by lightning several times. It was the crew's quick thinking and cool heads that saved the mission from being a failure. After landing on the lunar surface, Pete added a little comedy to the dramatic scene. After stepping onto the moon's surface, he said "Whoopee!.....That may have been a small one for Neil, but it sure is a big one for me!". After Apollo, Pete went on to work on the SpaceLab project, and later worked with a company whose goal was to make spaceflight available to all. He will be missed.