Edgar Mitchell RIP

[GrahamS]

http://news.sky.com/story/1636986/apollo-14-astronaut-edgar-mitchell-dies-85

Graham

[Troy Smith]

co-incidentally I have been dipping into "Moondust" recently,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moondust-Search-Men-Fell-Earth/dp/1408802384

In 1999, Andrew Smith was interviewing Charlie Duke, astronaut and moon walker, for the Sunday Times. During the course of the interview, which took place at Duke's Texan home, the telephone rang and Charlie left the room to answer it. When he returned, some twenty minutes later, he seemed visibly upset. It seemed that he'd just heard that, the previous day, one of his fellow moon walkers, the astronaut Pete Conrad, had died. 'Now there's only nine of us,' he said. Only nine. Which meant that, one day not long from now, there would be none, and when that day came, no one on earth would have known the giddy thrill of gazing back at us from the surface of the moon. The thought shocked Andrew Smith, and still does. Moondust is his attempt to understand why.

Edgar Mitchell was an interesting chap, the book is an interesting read, quite thought provoking.

The book is interesting as when written there were only 9 out ofthe 12 moonwalkers still alive.

A quick check here shows we still have 7

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apollo_astronauts#Apollo_astronauts_who_walked_on_the_Moon

[Eric Mc]

I think with the death of Mitchell, Apollo 14 is the first full Apollo crew to die of natural causes.

[JeffreyK]

RIP

Next to the excellent "Moondust" book I also recommend the film "In the Shadow of the Moon" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9d9-pHZzIE

There's also nearly an hour of material that didn't make it into the film on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUu6LZXE-uc, well worth watching!

Jeffrey

[GordonD]

Ed Mitchell, LMP on Apollo 14 and the sixth man to walk on the Moon, has died.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35506000

There are now only seven men left alive who have stood on the lunar surface. It also means that Fourteen is the first Apollo mission where all three crew have passed away.

[SleeperService]

RIP and Godspeed Sir.

It's been a bad start to 2016...

[Eric Mc]

He was 85 so not a major shock. Sadly, the Apollo era astronauts are almost all into their 80s now and we must expect that we will lose almost of the remaining over the next few years.

The really sad aspect of this is that I expect none of them would have thought they would not see more humans on the moon in their own lifetimes.

[Eric Mc]

There are quite a few good documentaries and dramas available on the Apollo missions. As well as the ones mentioned above.

I would also recommend -

the HBO mini-series "From the Earth to the Moon".

the Discovery series "Moon Machines"

any of the Spaceflight Films DVD

One very interesting old documentary is "The Other Side of the Moon". This was shown on BBC TV on the 10th anniversary of the first moon landing and was presented by James Burke. When it was shown, it was quite revealing - although most of what is discussed has now become the stuff of legend. The unique thing about it is that Burke managed to interview nearly all the top NASA people who had been key decision makers in the Apollo programme - virtually all of whom have now passed away.

Big names interviewed include -

James Webb (top man at NASA from 1961 to 1967)

Harrison Storms - head of the Apollo division at North American Aviation

Rocco Petrone - head of Apollo Launch Operations at (the then) Cape Kennedy

Dr Thomas O Paine - successor to James Webb as NASA Director

George Low - head of the Apollo Program Management Office

It's available on youtube and is well worth a watch -

[mekon]

I had the good fortune to meet Dr Mitchell on several occasions. Not only was he a real hero, but a true gentleman who was very gracious to myself and my son.

Blue skies Ed.