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Sunday, July 19, 2009

charlotteobserver.com

PAGE 13A

TheBigPictureILL WIND BLOWSIN TURBINE DEBATE

Eyesores or clean machines?Environmentalists are split,columnist Jack Betts says. 19A

CHARLOTTES MAYORALRACE SHAPING UP

And the gloves are alreadycoming off, Editorial Page EditorTaylor Batten says. 19A

The astronauts who made the first moonlanding are still alive, and so are many of themore than 500 million people who watched theghostly images of Neil Armstrong and EdwinBuzz Aldrin Jr.s first bounding steps on thedusty lunar surface on July 20, 1969. The videogot less grainy Thursday, as NASA unveiled the beginnings of a restored version. But the gener-ations born since then have other interests: A YouTube clip of the first moon walk has 2 mil-lion views; Michael Jackson moonwalking toBillie Jean has 20 million.

John Olson, who oversees NASAs plans as itsdirector of the Exploration Systems integrationoffice, points out the agencys successes since

By Nelson HernandezWashington Post

For fans of space exploration, the 40th anni- versary of Apollo 11s mission to the moon is acelebration mingled with melancholy.

For all the promised giant leap for mankindthe mission foretold, the prophesied future of moon bases and journeys to Mars, Jupiter and beyond is still science fiction. The last of sixmoon landings, bringing two men each time tothe lunar surface, was in 1972.

Since then, no one has left low Earth orbit,much less ventured to Mars. For many advo-cates, there is a consensus that NASA is suffer-ing from what President Obama this March

called a sense of drift.

THE GIANT LEAPWHATS THE NEXT STEP?

NASA PHOTO

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (above) walked on the moon in July 1969 while a spellbound audience of millions watched o n television. But thelast of six moon landings was in 1972, and the prophesied future of moon bases and journeys to Mars, Jupiter and beyond is still science fiction.

NASA seeks new visionto focus dreams of space

NASA PHOTO

Buzz Aldrins boot and leg make sharpshadows in this close-up shot of the moonssurface, with a 2-inch rock and a distinctfootprint in the ancient dust.

SEE NASA,16A

By Cameron Steelecameronsteele@charlotteobserver.com

Forty years ago Monday, Ray Eschertand his anxious co-workers stood shoul-der to shoulder in a factory conferenceroom as they fixated on a little black-

and-white TV. As Apollo 11 touched down on themoon, the group of 80 engineerscheered, clapped, cried and smokedtheir pipes with pride, the Charlotte re-tiree recalled.

They had a lot at stake. They workedfor Grumman Aerospace, one of three

major manufacturers that built thecraft that traveled the 250,000 miles tothe lunar surface.

It felt like: Touchdown! Eschertsaid. It was a celebration, differentfrom how blas people are about it to-day.

An estimated 528 million TV view-ers also tuned in, watching Neil Arm-strong dodge boulders as he settled theLunar Excursion Module, nicknamedEagle, on the Sea of Tranquillity on

July 20, 1969.Eschert watched the first moonwalka few hours later, at 10:56 p.m., sitting beside his wife, Elaine, in their tinyapartment living room in Long Island,N.Y.

For almost three years, Eschert hadYALONDA M. JAMES yjames@charlotteobserver.com

It was a celebration, different from how blas people areabout it today, says Ray Eschert of July 20, 1969.

His years of grueling work landed in history Charlotte retiree recallsrunning tests on the Eaglelander, the 12-hour days andan 80-member teams glee.

SEE ESCHERT,17A

APOLLO 11 ONLINE

See photos and videos from the mission.MORE COVERAGE Graphic: The Apollo 11 mission, bythe numbers. 16A Charlotte-area residents share theirmemories of the lunar landing. 17A

Astronaut and Charlotte nativeremembers his time on the moon. 21A Smoke and mirrors? A vocal minoritystill insists landing was a hoax. 22A

Take a 360-degree tour of the Sea of Tranquillity. Share your memories of the lunar landing.charlotteobserver.com/special

By Dan Eggen and Perry Bacon Jr.

Washington Post

WASHINGTON Months of rel-ative cooperation among dis-parate interest groups in theheath care reform debate ap-pear to be coming to an end, asthe major political parties andtheir surrogates unleash duel-ing TV advertisements, e-mailcampaigns and grass-rootsprotests.

Friendly alliances amongmedical and business groupshave begun to splinter in reac-tion to concrete legislationfrom House Democrats, whichcleared two important com-mittee hurdles Friday.

The House bill aims to cover97 percent of Americans by2015, in part through a slidingsurtax on household incomesexceeding $350,000. The pro-posal also includes a public in-surance option, which isstrongly opposed by Republi-cans and major insurers andfaces difficult prospects in theSenate.

In one sign of the changingpolitical climate, the Demo-cratic National Committee last week began running cable TVads targeting many of the par-tys wavering senators. TheDNC, acting through its Orga-nizing for America grass-rootsproject, also has ramped up anationwide schedule of meet-ings and rallies drawing onPresident Obamas 13 million-name campaign e-mail list.

Another leading liberalgroup, Health Care for Ameri-ca Now, announced an$800,000 ad campaign Friday with the American Federationof State, Federal and MunicipalEmployees that is targetingcentrist lawmakers in ninestates. The group is running atelephone campaign that has

Alliancesin healthdebatesplinterAs Democrats Housebill advances, variousinterest groups rally tohelp it pass or fail.

SEE HEALTH,14A

By Ted AnthonyAssociated Press

And thats the way it is,hed say.

It wasnt, but we wanted thatreassurance. The idea that

someone could wrangle the world each night and boil itdown to a sensible, digestiblehalf-hour was so comforting.

Barely a generation haspassed since Walter Cronkitedisappeared from our eve-nings. But the notion of oneman a single, authoritative,empathetic man, morally reas-suring and mild of temper wrapping up the world afterdinner for America seems in-calculably quaint in the tech-nological coliseum that is21st-century communications.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Walter Cronkite, in 1980,reporting on the presidentialelection.

Nightly news isntcomfort it used to be

Our nation has gonefrom the single, solidvoice of Cronkite to afree-for-all cacophony.

SEE CACOPHONY,14A

8/14/2019 His years of grueling work landed in history

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The Charlotte Observer charlotteobserver.com Sunday, July 19, 2009 17ATHE BIG PICTURE

11:24 p.m.: A plaque affixed tothe leg of the landing vehicleis unveiled and Armstrongreads the inscription. Theplaque, signed by PresidentNixon, Armstrong, Collins andAldrin, bears a map of theEarth and this inscription:

HERE MEN FROMTHE PLANET EARTHFIRST SET FOOTUPON THE MOONJULY 1969 A.D.WE CAME IN PEACEFOR ALL MANKINDThe plaque resides on themoon still.

11:41 p.m.: Astronauts plant a3-by-5-foot nylon U.S. flag.Material for the flag was wo-ven at a plant in Rhodhiss.11:48 p.m.: Astronauts receivea message of congratulationsfrom President Nixon.

JULY 21

1:11 a.m.:Astronauts re-enterlanding module.

4:25 a.m.: Astronauts sleepafter finishing work and an-swering questions aboutmoons geology.11:13 a.m.: Astronauts wakeand prepare for return tocommand module.1:54 p.m.: Descent stage ofthe lander is used as launchpad to lift off for redocking

with command module.5:35 p.m.: Docks with com-mand module.7:41 p.m.: Crew jettisons land-er and prepares for return toEarth.

JULY 24

12:50 p.m.: The commandmodule splashes down in the

Pacific about 812 nauticalmiles southwest of Hawaiiand only 12 nautical milesfrom the recovery ship USSHornet. SOURCE: NASA, SMITHSONIANNATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

THE GIANT LEAP

cords. North American Rock- well International and Boeing built all the other major com-ponents. At its peak, the Apolloprogram employed more than 400,000 people.

The entire program fromcontractor costs to scientistsalaries to rocket production cost more than $25 billion, NA-SA records show.

It was a tremendous pro-gram with astonishing conse-quences, Cecil said. It re-mains the most pre-eminenttechnological accomplishmentof our civilization to date.

Plans for a Monday toast

Eschert worked on all of thelunar modules following the Apollo 11 mission before staff reductions in 1978 forced himto leave Grumman and take anadministrative job with AT&Tin Charlotte.

He keeps a space scrapbook full of pictures, astronaut au-tographs and small, triangularspacecraft logos a touchstonethat takes him back to a time when space travel was new andexciting.

Now retired, he spends mostof his time doing work aroundthe house, going to club meet-ings at the Ballantyne Resortand hanging out with his wife,their two sons and three grand-kids.

Eschert plans to go outsideMonday night to toast themoon with a Rolling Rock.

Ill think about how Ameri-cas the only country thats putfootprints on it. STAFF RESEARCHER MARION PAYNTERCONTRIBUTED.

logged 12-hour days for $125 a week testing the thinner-than-aluminum-foil metal of the lu-nar module, sometimes sleep-ing on a couch at the Bethpage,N.Y., plant.

Those long hours of work were sometimes more real tohim than his wife and1-year-old son at home.

Eschert, then 23, was one of 600 engineers who ran tests on both parts or stages of thelander.

The astronauts operatedand occupied the top part of the lunar module, the ascentstage. The descent stage, theunmanned bottom portion,helped the craft land safely andalso relaunch from the moon.

Eschert supervised a six-person team that attached ex-ternal side panels, assembledengine compartments and in-stalled generators for the stag-es. As a supervisor, he spent histime hopping back and forthfrom the assembly line, the en-gineer offices and the pressur-ized rooms where the space-craft was tested, adjusting cali- bration screws and schedulingdiagnostic tests.

Never a typical day

Jerome Goldmacher was thedeputy spacecraft manager who oversaw all of the Apollo11 construction and one of Escherts bosses. He and Esch-ert agree there was no suchthing as a typical day on the job working on the Eagle.

We were always excited; we were always worried, saidGoldmacher, now 83 and re-tired in Florida. Everyone was working close to 16-hour days, but sometimes we sat back andthought Are we crazy?

Eschert got the job becausehis dad, a plant manager at an-other Long Island manufactur-er, had a friend who worked forGrumman. Eschert said a year-long stint in the military and agood background checkhelped him land an engineerspaycheck.

Grumman Aerospace hadone of the most important jobsin the Apollo program, saidGerard Cecil, an astrophysicsprofessor at UNC Chapel Hill.

For $388 million, 2,400Grumman engineers designed,assembled and tested 13 lunarmodules at the6,000-square-foot Bethpageplant, according to NASA re-

Where were you?We asked Observerreaders to tell us theirmemories of the Apollo

11 moon landing:

Neill Lee, 79, Lumberton:I was watching it with mywife in our family room inLumberton. Our childrenwere already in bed whenit happened. It was really just beyond belief to see aman on the moon, leapinglike a rabbit. The skill anddaring of those men wasfascinating. I had followedthe space program fromits beginning, and Iwatched with great in-terest. Jim Webb, an N.C. bureaucrat whomKennedy chose to organize the program, was areally wise man and did a wonderful job.

Katharine Monk, 57, Charlotte: The principalof Myers Park High School, Dr. Laird Lewis,took a group of students to Europe each sum-mer, and I was fortunate enough to go. Wewere in Zermatt, Switzerland, during the land-ing. We gathered in the lobby of one hotel thathad a TV. I remember feeling so patriotic andso proud to be an American!

Paul Gilbert, Statesville: I went to Florida tosee the launch of Apollo 11 with my family. Mybrother-in-law was on the launch team andtold us where to go see the launch. We wereabout 11 miles away on a bridge when a heli-copter hovered behind us. The launch oc-curred, and the noise of the helicopter waslouder than the rocket motors until secondstaging occurred, and only then did we hearthe rocket motors. We stayed in Florida for therest of the week and returned to Statesville just in time to watch the landing on the moon.

Ken Kapps, 64, Charlotte: I remember beingin Bien Hoa, Republic of Vietnam, and whenthe news came out on the moon landing, Ishowed it to the 40 or so Vietnamese men andwomen I worked with, and none of them be-lieved it. These were not illiterate peasants butpeople who had at least high school educa-tions and some had higher education opportu-nities. I think over a period of months, some ofthem came to believe it but most did not. Asthat leap for mankind helped us gain a tech-nological edge, we should remember to contin-ue the search for knowledge and share theresults accordingly.

Jack Howard, 60, Charlotte: When the Apollo11 Lunar Excursion Module landed on the sur-face, I was in Mexico City with a church group,mostly high school students, visiting Presbyte-rian churches and missionaries in Mexico. Thishotel only had one TV on the whole building ...in the bar. Since this was such an historicaloccasion, however, we were all invited into thebar to watch the landing on that single TV set.(I was 20 years old at the time, still underagefor Mexico City.) During the entire decade of

Katharine Monk holds the banne r in front of her MyersPark High School classmates. They watched the first moonwalk on a field trip in Switzerland.

ESCHERT from 13A

the 60s, I wanted to be anastronaut. Losing part of myhearing to disease killed thatdream, but the success of theearly space program definitelycemented a lifelong interest in

science and space.Michael Foley, 58, Charlotte: I

grew up in Washington, D.C., as my dad was apolitical newspaperman. We went to OceanCity, Md., and we were at our oceanfront rentalhouse. The night was very clear, and we werewatching TV, and also the moon at the sametime over the ocean. When the landing oc-curred we saw it on TV and the moon reflect-ing over the ocean at the same time outsidethe porch! My dad was crying, and I asked himwhy. He said, You dont realize what justhappened.

Joane Fiore, 72, Charlotte: We lived in upstateNew York and were so looking forward to thisepic journey. I had just turned 32 on the 17th,and we had four children. The astronauts weremy heroes and bigger than life. We lived in ahouse, high on a hill, and we had two largepicture windows looking down into the valley.Looking into the sky and picturing someoneactually walking on that moon I was looking at,seemed insane. My husband decided to go to aneighbors and watch it on color TV (they werescarce then), and I was pretty disappointedthat I couldnt see it in color, too. However, heset his 35 mm camera to appropriate settingsand set up the tape recorder. I ended up takingremarkably good pictures from the TV andalso recorded all the audio on tape. The words

were captured on my tape Thats one small step forman, one giant leap for man-kind. I was so completelyoverwhelmed with disbelief Ihad a hard time really grasp-ing the situation. I really be-lieve well make it to Mars, butmaybe not in my lifetime. I

wonder if theyll get excited then or will they just wonder if they can text or Twitter upthere. How sad.

Howard

Fiore

YALONDA M. JAMES yjames@charlotteobserver.com

Ray Eschert shows a printed poster with signatures of individuals who helped man land on the

moon. Escherts job was to test the thinner-than-aluminum-foil metal of the lunar module.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KATHARINE MONKYALONDA JAMES STAFF PHOTO

Ray Eschert holds his oldwork badges.

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NOTICE OF A CITIZENS INFORMATIONAL WORKSHOP FOR THEPROPOSED CLOSURE OF THE SR 1102 (LANGTREE ROAD),SR 1170 (CROSSRAIL ROAD), WALNUT STREET, CATAWBAAVENUE, AND NORMAN DRIVE / DOSTER ROAD AT-GRADE,

NORFOLK SOUTHERN (NS) RAIL/HIGHWAY CROSSINGSIN CONJUNCTION WITH THE EAST-WEST CONNECTOR

PROJECT IN MOORESVILLETIP Y-4812S & T IredellCounty

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and theTown of Mooresville will hold a Citizens Informational Workshop for theabove-mentioned railroad project on Thursday, August 20, 2009,

beginning at 5:00 p.m. and ending at 8:00 p.m. at the Charles MackCitizens Center (Merchant Room), located at 215 N. Main Street,Mooresville, 28115.

NCDOT and Town of Mooresville representatives will be available in aninformal setting to answer questions and receive comments about theproposed project. The opportunity to submit written comments and/orquestions will also be provided and are encouraged. Interested citizensmay attend at any time during the above mentioned hours. Please note:there will be no formal presentation.

NCDOT proposes to close the existing at-grade NS railroad crossingsat two state roads: SR 1102 (Langtree Road) and SR 1170 (CrossrailRoad). The Town of Mooresville proposes to close the existing at-gradeNS railroad crossings at three municipal streets: Walnut Street, Catawba

Avenue, and Norman Drive / Doster Road. These existing railroadcrossings are to be closed as part of an effort to reduce the number of redundant and/or unsafe rail-highway at-grade crossings statewide, andalso in conjunction with construction of a new at-grade rail/highway

crossing for the East-West Connector project in Mooresville. Anyone desiring additional information regarding the East-WestConnector project may contact the consultant for the Town of Mooresville, Brian Dehler, WSP- Sells (704) 662-0100, or Neil Burke,Transportation Planner, Town of Mooresville (704) 663-2891. Anyonedesiring additional information regarding the NC state roads / railroadcrossing closures may contact Jahmal Pullen, NCDOT Rail Division (919)715-8748 or the NCDOT consultant, Robert Pressley, Gannett-FlemingEngineers (704) 375-2438.

The NCDOT and the Town of Mooresville will provide auxiliary aids andservices under the Americans with Disabilities Act for disabled personswho wish to participate in this workshop. Anyone requiring specialservices should contact either Mr. Pullen or Mr. Burke as early as possibleso that arrangements can be made.HA6366414

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